Variance

Kia has yet to show me a product that impresses me greatly. Hyundai on the other hand is making greater strides.

Gonna buy one of those male breastfeeding kits?

<----You big dummy.

The Miata has been known as "MX-5 Miata" or just plain "Miata" here and "MX-5" (no "Miata") overseas. With the new generation, Mazda has been stressing the "MX-5" name more. But they all refer to the same car, it desn't have anything to do with a perfromance variant.

In case anyone's wondering why the X-Type wagon sells so horribly, the starting MSRP is about $37K. That's about $2300 more than a BMW 325Xi wagon (and BMW aren't exactly a value-priced, low-cachet brand). It was doomed from the start, IMO.

Thanks guys. I must say it shold be quite interesting not being a teenager anymore. But it's still one more year until I can hit the bars. Ah well, can't wait to see what happens today.

Yeah, I've actually seen a couple '06s running around. Yes and it was quite possibly one of the biggest flop in the history of cars. It was pulled from our shores after only one model year.

RL: They're around but BMWs and MBs are (unsurprisingly) more plentiful. Crossfire: Needs to get caught in one. Rare that I see one of those. Ranger: There's some irony in the "Ranger" not being able to best the "Frontier", "Tacoma", "Dakota", "Colorado", or "Canyon" but I'm not clever enough to make a joke out of it. Insight: The most impractial hybrid ever made. No shock it's a limited-supply vehicle (I think). Axiom: It followed the old axiom that Isuzus do not sell these days. X-Type wagon: I've seen more Bentley Continentals on the road than this thing. They might as well put this kitty to sleep. Mazda5: I've seen one on the road so far. I'm not sure the idea of a small, nimble minivan is all that popular. Monterey: One on the road. I can't imagine why Ford is considering getting out of the minivan business. Raider: Again, one on the road. Admittedly, it looks better in person (and better than the Dakota) but I still think this isn't taking off in sales any time soon. Relay: Let's just forget it ever happened. S80: They're actually not too uncommonly found around here but the new S80 is much more handsome and can't get here soon enough. Suzuki: I've seen none of their new products. None. They're supposed to bringing over the new Swift, so we'll see how that goes.

I think he's alluding to the fact that Lexus in a way is more of its own company. Ever since the new GS, Lexus cars have been just that: Lexus cars (not relabeled JDM Toyotas). They're still of Toyota but calling a new Lexus an expensive Toyota isn't particularly accurate these days.

By JENS MEINERS AND HARALD HAMPRECHT | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS AutoWeek | Published 01/26/06, 9:00 am et Dieter Zetsche is getting serious with plans to make Daimler- Chrysler’s Mercedes and Chrysler divisions work more closely together. The new chairman, who took over January 1, sees engines and transmissions, assembly processes and purchasing as areas where cooperation can be improved. “We think the biggest opportunity lies in sharing all know-how and technological processes. There is opportunity in sharing parts as well,” Zetsche said at the Detroit auto show. Asked about the possibility that Chrysler vehicles could be built in Mercedes’ plants and vice versa, Zetsche said: “Plant sharing is not an objective in itself. It would be interesting to have flexibility ‘in case of.’ ” Zetsche, 52, also is CEO of Mercedes Car Group, a position he took over temporarily September 1 but now intends to hold for the foreseeable future. Until September, Zetsche was CEO of Chrysler. M Class/Jeep sharing One option for sharing is in the development of next-generation Mercedes and Chrysler SUVs. Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s vice president of product development, said: “The successors to the Jeep Cherokee and the M class won’t necessarily have identical platforms, but they will surely have many more common modules and systems,” Thomas Weber, D/C board member for research and development, said: “We don’t want any common platforms, but we are discussing an intelligent module strategy. This isn’t putting a new hat on an old floor pan.” Technology sharing between Mercedes and Chrysler likely will go in just one direction – from Mercedes to Chrysler. “I don’t really see a transfer from Chrysler to Mercedes, but we will have integrated committees and common standards,” Weber said. That makes sense, analysts say. “On the technological side, clearly the expertise is at Mercedes-Benz,” said Georg Stürzer, an automotive analyst with HypoVereinsbank in Munich. Stürzer said: “But in terms of production efficiency, Chrysler is ahead of Mercedes in some respects.” Link: http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...1024/LatestNews

GARDENA, Calif. (Jan. 24, 2006) -- Nissan North America, Inc., today announced that effective February 1, it will create a new division responsible for the sales and marketing of light commercial vehicles (LCV) and fleet sales in the United States. NNA’s Light Commercial Vehicle and Fleet Division will develop products, service and sales and marketing strategy for LCVs and Fleet. The strategy will determine specific market segments, introduction dates and manufacturing sites. “The new LCV lineup is a major part of Nissan’s future profit and volume plans for the U.S.,” said Jed Connelly, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing for NNA. “A dedicated division will help us meeting the specific needs of the American LCV customers, both in terms of products and services.” Heading up the new division will be Mike Hobson, Director, LCV and Fleet. Hobson joined Nissan in 1991. Since then, he has held a number of positions including C&I manager, truck model line manager, and he has held various marketing positions at Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., Nissan’s captive finance company in the United States. Hobson will report directly to Connelly. This move is part of a global Nissan strategy aimed at fostering its LCV business. LCVs are one of the four key breakthrough areas identified by Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., and his team to achieve the objectives of the three-year NISSAN Value Up Plan. Nissan aims at selling 434,000 LCV units globally in FY 2007, and attaining an 8% operating profit margin. Link: http://nissannews.com/corporate/news/curre...124045120.shtml

Another modern hardtop, the Mercedes CL:

What are the odds it was some type of prototype vehicle?

Ah yes, the IS300 SportCross. A rare Lexus flop. I've only seen two or three on the road in my entire life. In their defense, 3-Series, C-Class and A4 wagons are not very popular items either. Subaru and Volvo own the wagon segment.

Yeah, Tripod sucks, so...

Hyperautoenthusia -Variance January 25, 2005 The 2005+ Pontiac GTO. The 2002+ Infiniti Q45. The 2006+ BMW M6. The 1996 Chevy Impala SS. The 2007 Saturn Sky. The 1997 Kia Sephia. What do you suppose all of these cars have in common? They are all cars that I’d like to own one day. (Ok, not the Kia. That was just a sick joke.) There are many more cars I’d like to have, too. I have what is known as “hyperautoenthusia” (HA). Those infected ail from a distinct love of various automobiles and the desire to own them all. Symptoms include perusing automobile forums, car manufacturer web sites, eBay Motors and the like all day; taking note of the make and model of every car you see on the street and spending days on end daydreaming about what your next car will be. HA can really bring you down, though... I’m well aware I’ll be lucky if I even get own 5% of the cars out there that I’d like to throughout my life. You can only own so many cars at one time due to wage, insurance and space restraints. Oh, provided I had a good job (along with a nice house and family) I could buy that Q and the Sky as a weekend toy but realistically, I’ll probably never own more than two cars at a time. Also, there are some cars I know I’ll just plain never be able to obtain no matter what. That Mercedes SLR? Nope. The Porsche Carrera GT? Nein. Any Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Pagani? Hell is still pretty hot, last I checked. They’re all simply out of my league (not to mention, I don’t think I could ever reasonably justify spending more than $100K on any one car, no matter what my income was. However, I could be the wealthiest man on Earth and I still would have problems. Oh sure, I can afford that Lambo, Caddy, Infiniti and whatever else I wanted but I’m not going to be able to enjoy them all for any meaningful amount of time. “Do I take the XLR out today or the Impala? Or maybe the G55? But I haven’t driven the Gallardo yet.” I’d drive myself nuts and probably end up burning half of them to make the choice easier. The fact that new, attractive cars are always coming out doesn’t help matters, either. Despite all of this, I don’t want a cure for my HA. Sure, I can’t have every car I lust after but so what? I love the fact that more manufacturers are making cars I can aspire to own. I’d rather dream about loads of cars I can never realistically own than not give a damn about any of them. God, I can’t imagine what I’d drive if I didn’t care about cars... I’ve made myself ill. Oh, and yes, I made the word “hyperautoenthusia” up. :AH-HA_wink: Happy motoring, enthusiasts.

Phraze. (Like "werd" but stronger. ) Good sales don't detract from the ugly.

It's missing about 5 TVs, 2 Xboxes, and 12 spinners.

Seen "Orbit", never tried it. Interestingly, if you drink too much of Vanilla Coke, you cease to taste the vanilla for a while.

...Crystal Pepsi. That was teh shee-it. Image from Wikipedia.

Back to GTO-related sigs.

H.B., Josh!

Still don't care about NASCAR so...still not caring. If they want to let a "Toyota" race, let it race. The world's not going to end. I'm more concerned about a car manufacturer's actual cars that I can buy.

I've only heard Lucerne ads compare it to the ES330 in quietness.

I put the old XKR up only because the new one isn't available yet. Even with the price and performance advantage compared to even the SL500, the Cadillac has it's work cut out for it. The Mercedes is a pretty hot machine (not that the XLR isn't) and has the prestige advantage. It's not like they plan on selling hundreds of thousands of these though, so it should do fine.