ON THE TABLE
Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 10:43AM June 15, 2011
Lincoln dealers. It's "Put-Up or Shut-Up" time for Lincoln dealers who have been asked to pony-up at least $1 million in dealership improvements over the next two years in preparation for Lincoln's new product push. The haves will do it, the have-nots will rationalize how it doesn't make any sense for them to do it. And so it goes...
Toyota. The Japanese automaker formerly known as "The Juggernaut" is now saying it has no interest in being No. 1 anymore, that they're focusing on quality and customer satisfaction, according to Automotive News. This "learning the hard way" thing is... well, hard, ain't it?
VW. Ah, but there's always somebody else out there ready to pursue The Golden Sales Orb, right? VW is now well and truly in pursuit of being the No. 1 automaker in the world and they want to get there by 2018. Be careful what you wish for kids, it usually doesn't end well.
Chevrolet. Corvette Racing wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans in its class for the seventh time (See "Fumes" and "The Line" - Ed.) and the 2012 Corvette ZR1 laps the famed 12.9-mile, 154-turn Nurburgring Nordschleife course in 7 minutes 19.63 seconds, beating its previous time set in 2008 by more than six seconds. Corvette engineer and talented driver Jim Mero was again behind the wheel for the hot lap, and the new Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires had a lot to do with it too. Watch it here.
Ralph Gilles. From the "Kid In The Candy Store" File Chrysler's chief designer gives up worrying about Dodge sales and takes over the new Street and Racing Technologies (SRT) performance brand. Some guys have all the luck.
Sergio Marchionne. Speaking of Dodge, he won't admit it so we'll do it for him. The splitting of Dodge into two divisions - Dodge and Ram Truck - is quickly approaching AE's "Bonehead Marketing Move of the Year" status. It made no sense then, it makes even less sense now. They're Dodge trucks. Period. But then again, Sergio's a genius and never makes mistakes, right? Right.
(Audi AG)
Audi presented its e-tron Spyder, a concept car that features plug-in hybrid drive technology, at the “LeMans vers le futur” before the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Audi e-tron Spyder is powered by two asynchronous electric motors that drive the front wheels with a combined 64 kW (87 hp) of power and 352 Nm (259.62 lb-ft) of torque. And in front of the rear axle sits a twin-turbocharged 3.0 TDI, mounted longitudinally in the direction of travel. It delivers up to 221 kW (300 hp) of power and 650 Nm (479.42 lb-ft) of torque, which are funneled to the rear wheels via a seven-speed S tronic. The three units can summon up their power separately or in unison. The maximum system output is 388 hp, with a maximum system torque of over 900 Nm (663.81 lb-ft). The lithium-ion battery located in the front section of the car stores up to 9.1 kWh of energy. With 400 volts of three-phase alternating current, the battery takes about one hour to charge up at an electrical outlet. According to Audi, the e-tron Spyder goes from zero to 100 km/h (62.14 km/h) in 4.4 seconds and reaches an electronically governed top speed of 250 km/h (155.34 mph).
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Our "Quick Take" this week covers the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Our Volt tester looked slick in its Viridian Joule Tricoat/Jet Black color combination, but it was the driving experience that impressed us the most. The car is seamless in its performance, elegant in its execution and tremendously appealing in the way it goes about its business. The best thing I can say about GM's Silver Bullet is that once you get acclimated to the car - which admittedly takes zero time at all - there's no ramp-up learning curve necessary or anything else involved for that matter in order to enjoy its qualities and attributes. The only thing you have to adapt to is the eerie silence as you drive around, and the fact that you'll find yourself speeding in it everywhere you go (at least I did anyway). There's just something about the Volt that we find tremendously appealing, and when you factor in the story behind it and the incredible effort that went into this machine in order to bring it to fruition, and what it represents in terms of The Future of our transportation choices, well then it's even more impressive. Yes there are drawbacks to the whole electrification thing, not the least of which is the insatiable desire for precious metals involved in bringing this technology to market, but all in all, for many people the Volt will represent a most elegant solution to their transportation needs. The 2012 Volt will be more expensive (and there will be new option packages available too) but that said the Chevy Volt is a technological tour de force and one of the most impressive machines we've encountered in a long, long time. - PMD
2011 Chevrolet Volt: $43,390, ($40,280 Base Price; Battery Propulsion Lithium Ion, Voltec electric drive unit, 1.4-liter internal combustion engine/range extender; Premium Trim Package - Leather appointed seating, Premium door trim, Leather-wrap steering wheel - $1,395; Viridian Joule Tricoat, $995; Destination, $720).
