Straightline
Frankfurt Auto Show
September 14, 2007
One new vehicle at Frankfurt that should at least get a mention is the new Subaru Justy, not because it's a great vehicle, but because it's the first Subaru in over a decade to be sold outside Japan that is not AWD, or at least even offers AWD as an option.
This is surprising because the the Daihatsu Boon, of which the Justy is just a rebadged version of, offers as AWD as well as FWD models. So might this be a hint of things to come? Meaning do you think Subaru may offer FWD on some of their other vehicles sold outside Japan?..
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- Posted by: Bob Holland September 14, 2007, 6:16 AM
- Categories: All Auto Shows, Frankfurt Auto Show, Subaru
September 13, 2007
There's an interesting article over at China Car Times (here) about the stumbling blocks that the Chinese auto industry is facing as they try to become a world player. China Car Times took a story that ran in the Shanghai Daily on this subject.
Straightline, other auto blog sites, and other auto and general interest news sites have commented on many of the problems—but as perceived by Western eyes. Now we have a Chinese perspective...
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- Posted by: Bob Holland September 13, 2007, 4:00 AM
- Categories: All Auto Shows, Frankfurt Auto Show
September 12, 2007
I thought this looked interesting - like a GTI or Civic Si but with a little more character and spunk. The Seat Leon 2.0T FSI Cupra has a name that says it all. That 2.0T FSI engine is VW/Audi sourced and is good for 240 hp. 0-100km is listed at 6.4 seconds - more than quick enough for U.S...
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 12, 2007, 11:29 PM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show
Look familiar? Both the Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C Crosser are essentially the Mitsubishi Outlander. Each version has a slightly different nose but inside it looks just like the Mitsu, chevron or lion logo on the steering wheel notwithstanding.
My favorite part is how garish and un-European the large subwoofer and Rockford Fosgate logo look when you open the rear tailgate...
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 12, 2007, 11:10 PM
- Categories: Citroen, Frankfurt Auto Show, Mitsubishi, Peugeot
You see Renault Kangoos everywhere in Europe. Mostly they're driven by small-business owners, but the Kangoo's low price and highly space-efficient design make it a draw for small families as well. The original Kangoo had been on sale since 1997, and Renault has just redesigned and enlarged it to help fend off the competitors it spawned (Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner).
What you see here, though, is not a standard Kangoo, but the Kangoo Compact Concept...
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- Posted by: Donna Derosa September 12, 2007, 12:05 PM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show
Excess pudge and average performance credentials relegate the production Suzuki SX4 to blah status in the economy car class, despite the fact that it's an attractive car. Recently, a Suzuki product planner told us that younger owners of the car were asking for a turbocharger option -- a fair request, we think, given that the hatchback version already has all-wheel drive.
The existence of the Suzuki SX4 WRC offers reason for hope. Suzuki had the 2007 version on display in Frankfurt, and the '08 iteration of this car will enter rally competition in the 2008 calendar year. --Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 12, 2007, 10:19 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Hatchbacks, Motorsports, Suzuki
It's very easy to see where Honda is going with the Accord Tourer concept. This is pretty much the exact shape the new European-market Accord will take when it debuts in production form next year in Geneva. This is a good-looking wagon that we'll never see in the U.S...
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 12, 2007, 9:48 AM
- Categories: Acura, Frankfurt Auto Show, Honda, Sedans, Wagons
If VW continued to sell the Westfalia Camper in the U.S., this is what it would look like. This is a camper or caravan conversion of a VW Multivan plus it's a limited-edition California No Limit -- love Euro names.
Part of the special edition includes suede seating and painted appliances which consist of a two-burner stove, sink and fridge. Of course there's the pop-up sleeping compartment and hidden storage spaces throughout...
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 12, 2007, 9:34 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Volkswagen
Please enjoy these pictures of the Porsche 911 GT2. We don't have much to add to our First Look story (link below) other than that seeing it in person, in red, brought us a great deal of joy. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit, Inside Line
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund September 12, 2007, 8:19 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Porsche, Sports Cars
Walking around the modern, sterile halls of the Frankfurt auto show, with all their escalators and moving walkways, you might get the impression the whole city is stuffy and all-business. But within a couple miles of the Messe, you see things that just wouldn't be possible in the United States. For instance, a Mercedes-Benz dealership where human-size stuffed rabbits are allowed to ride in SLK350s.
![Rabbit in Mercedes SLK350 - E...]()
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 12, 2007, 6:29 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz, SMART
Here's another reason to love the French. They are the Japanese of Europe. By this we mean only that the car companies of both countries seem to understand what a concept car should be.
Production cars with big wheels, fancy paint and side mirrors that have been replaced by mini cameras are not concepts. But the French, they get it...
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund September 12, 2007, 5:50 AM
- Categories: Citroen, Frankfurt Auto Show
Maybe you saw our news story on the Fiat Panda Aria, a wonder version of Fiat's minicar with a 900cc two-cylinder engine that runs on a gasoline-methane-hydrogen mix.
Surprise, surprise, Fiat had no further details on how such a car would work in real life, but it's not every day you see a Panda in a field of daisies -- under the glass panels.
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 12, 2007, 5:28 AM
- Categories: Fiat, Frankfurt Auto Show, Green Tech
For those of you who might believe that Americans have a monopoly on bad taste, we offer this collection of photos as evidence to the contrary. There are three different makers of such vehicles represented here at Frankfurt. We admit that we interviewed no one in preparing this report. And we promise that we never, ever will...
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund September 12, 2007, 5:09 AM
- Categories: Carnival of Cars, Frankfurt Auto Show
September 11, 2007
According to Aston Martin's CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, the new DBS is like Muhammad Ali. It is, in other words, all about grace, elegance and power. Having been introduced to us in the James Bond movie Casino Royale, the DBS is finally available for (rich) mere mortals to buy. The first customer cars will be delivered in November and will cost $265,000. Aston claims already to have orders for a thousand cars, equivalent to two years production...
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Mercedes calls the F 700 the “future of big sedans,” and it is indeed a striking mix of luxury and efficiency. The swoopy sedan is loaded with all manner of future tech, but the biggest news is under the hood. The breakthrough 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gas engine, dubbed DiesOtto because its dual mode of operation combines conventional spark ignition with the compression ignition of a diesel, delivers 258 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque -- good enough, says the literature, to take the luxury sedan from 0 to 60 mph in less than 8 seconds while also providing up to 40 mpg.
This best-of-both-worlds technology is wrapped by a sleek, three-box design penned in Mercedes-Benz’s California design studio under the direction of Gorden Wagener, vice president of Global Advanced Design...
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Subaru's Frankfurt press conference should have been an opportunity to rally the WRX faithful in the wake of recent disappointments -- all related to the softening of the 2008 model. And indeed plenty of fanboys showed up to get a photo of Petter Solberg.
But the Subaru WRC Concept was little more than eye candy, a fiberglass shell, and no tantalizing specs were released. In fact, no specs were given at all. It was just an opportunity to take a photo to stare at on your desktop wallpaper -- something to busy your mind until the STI production car debuts next month in Tokyo.
No question, the WRC Concept recovers some of the old WRX's edginess, but it's hard to know if that will be enough until we know what's underneath.
Solberg kept his comments brief, noting that "I'm a rally driver first and foremost." He of course noted that the new Impreza's stiffer chassis provides more stable handling characteristics in the prototypes he's driven thus far. He also said that Symmetrical All Wheel Drive is a great thing. Who would have guessed? -- Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor
More photos after the jump...
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 11, 2007, 12:49 PM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Hatchbacks, Motorsports, Subaru
I'll admit it, I have odd taste in cars. I've even been accused of not liking cars at all because I'd rather spend the day in a Lexus rather than a WRX STI.
I really love auto shows like Frankfurt because there's so much stuff that we never get to see or drive in the U.S. Peugeot's 407 Coupe is a car I'd love to take home...
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 11, 2007, 12:28 PM
- Categories: Citroen, Frankfurt Auto Show, Peugeot
In almost a decade of covering motorshows, only once before has an unveil created such a stampede of attention. And that had more to do with the appearance of Australian pop sensation Kylie Minogue, than precious metal. This time, the uncivilized stampede was caused by two things -- the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, who was joined on stage by Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo.
The chisel-jawed German was in Frankfurt to unveil a car in which he has had considerable personal input...
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- Posted by: September 11, 2007, 10:55 AM
- Categories: Coupes, Ferrari, Frankfurt Auto Show
It was difficult not to feel slightly sorry for Maserati. While noisy crowds besieged the Ferrari stand in search of a glimpse of Michael Schumacher and the 430 Scuderia, Maserati quietly got on the with the business of unveiling its own new pretender, the Quattroporte Sport GT S.
In essence, this is an uprated version of the deliciously beautiful, Pininfarina-styled Quattroporte. It blends the flexibility of a fully automatic, six-speed gearbox, with a suspension setup tuned for the enthusiast...
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- Posted by: September 11, 2007, 10:30 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Luxury Cars, Maserati
The Lamborghini Reventon was back on display at the Lambo booth today, and everyone wanted a piece of it. Ten-year-olds with cameras elbowed their way through the throng, and grown men took pictures of each other posing in the driver seat. In short, dignity of any sort died as soon as the sheet came off the Reventon.
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 11, 2007, 10:06 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Lamborghini, Sports Cars
Environmental concern was the key phrase of the BMW press conference. The BMW of today and tomorrow, we were told, is all about "Efficient Dynamics" -- driving pleasure with a conscience. It was strange then, that when they took the wraps off the hybrid X5, they chose to smother it in dry ice, which is composed, of course, of carbon dioxide. 
This obsession with "Efficient Dynamics" explains why, when they unveiled the new 1 Series Coupe, the Germans chose to hero the 123d, rather than the much more exciting 135i...
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- Posted by: September 11, 2007, 9:36 AM
- Categories: BMW, Coupes, Frankfurt Auto Show
Suzuki calls the Splash its fourth world car in recent years. Hoping to capitalize on the relative success of the Wagon R, the Splash is a multipurpose vehicle that will likely appeal to those with small families and a limited budget -- maybe that's redundant.
For now, the Splash is not headed to the U.S. But given the popularity of cars like the Honda Fit and Nissan Versa plus newcomers like the Kia Rondo, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to see this car on U.S. roads within the next few years...
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 11, 2007, 9:07 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Suzuki
If there was any doubt about the theme of Frankfurt 2007, it was vividly dispelled by Mercedes-Benz’s extravagant, Cirque du Soleil-esque floor show of twirling trees, dancing flowers and giant birds, emphasizing the firm’s commitment to eco-friendly, sustainable mobility.
Oh, and there were some new cars on hand, too — 19 of them, in fact — which Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche called “True Blue Solutions” to the seemingly contradictory goal of melding driving pleasure with social responsibility.
The star of the show was the striking F 700 research vehicle, joined by seven hybrids from five different model series; an E300 Bluetec version of the E320 that was voted “World Green Car of the Year 2007”; three Smart cars with electric, gas-electric and diesel-electric powertrains; an E350 CGI with second-generation gasoline direct injection; B-Class cars with natural-gas and fuel-cell drives; S300 and E300 Bluetec Hybrids; an S400 Hybrid; and the ML450 hybrid, which, when it comes to market in 2009, will be the world’s most economical gas-electric-powered SUV in its class.
The ML’s two-mode hybrid system allows it to be driven with just its two compact electric engines or in tandem with its V6 gas engine, the combined system boasting an output of 321 horsepower and 354 lb-ft of torque. A new four-speed transmission is said to combine the advantages of a multiple-speed automatic with the efficiencies of a stepless CVT gearbox...
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We were expecting a little more from Toyota's city car concept when it rolled out this afternoon in Frankfurt. After all, Thierry Dombreval, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Europe, said in his pre-reveal speech that the iQ Concept would be as revolutionary as the Prius. So when the iQ rolled out and we saw nothing more than a really, really small hatchback, we couldn't help wonder where the revolutionary part was hiding.
To its credit, the iQ manages to seat four despite the fact that it's only 11 inches longer than a Smart Fortwo...
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- Posted by: Ed Hellwig September 11, 2007, 7:48 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Hatchbacks, Toyota
Mazda introduced the Mazda 6 with the accompaniment of a vast array of talented musicians. Once of them, whom we'll call Tambourine Boy, bopped and leaped around in a frenzy, like a Michael Flatly from Lord of the Dance on amphetamines.
Tambourine Boy scared me, partly because his antics were wholly unnecessary. The Mazda 6 looks flat-out great and needs no such forced hoopla. Here's a car with true grace...
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- Posted by: Jay Kavanagh September 11, 2007, 7:47 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Mazda, Sedans
This humdrum-looking C30 variant, the 2008 Volvo C30 Efficiency, packs a surprise. President of Volvo Cars Fredrik Arp mentioned it in his opening remarks, but we doubt the glassy-eyed jet-lagged throng of journalists in attendance caught on.
First, the car. The C30 Efficiency sips fuel at a rate below 4.5l/100 km and generates CO2 emissions below 120 g/km...
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- Posted by: Jay Kavanagh September 11, 2007, 7:24 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Volvo
Although the second-generation Outlander has gone over rather well in the U.S., it's too big and thirsty to appeal to most European buyers. Much like the VW Tiguan and Ford Kuga, Mitsubishi's Concept-cX is an attempt to sate Europeans' SUV desires without losing the battle for fuel economy and CO2 reduction.
Mitsubishi officials wouldn't disclose the Concept-cX's platform origins, but considering its 99-inch wheelbase is within five inches of the 2008 Lancer and its 59.4-inch track is less than an inch narrower, it's a pretty safe bet these two are at least distantly related.
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 11, 2007, 7:11 AM
- Categories: Diesels, Frankfurt Auto Show, Mitsubishi, SUVs
I found this odd concept in some side stage among the aftermarket exhibitors. It's a four-seater -- two in front and two kids facing rearward. (A company spokesperson specifically said they were child seats.) They get in by opening the large rear hatch. Its midengine layout uses a small diesel engine...
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 11, 2007, 6:39 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show
True to the spirit of New Chrysler, Executive Vice President Mike Manley was careful to emphasize that the 2009 Dodge Journey is the product of rational thinking at today's press conference: "We focused on meeting customers' needs -- and our customers had some very practical needs." Children and cargo were apparently foremost on buyers' minds.
Somehow words like "sporty," "sexy" and "functionally cool" also entered the speech. So did quick-change artists, "David" and "Dania," who transitioned between day and evening wear on stage to re-create the fast-paced lifestyle of a prospective Dodge Journey owner...
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- Posted by: Erin Riches September 11, 2007, 6:33 AM
- Categories: Dodge, Frankfurt Auto Show, SUVs
Kia unveiled a design concept here that will set the tone for future styling from the Korean automaker. The lime green Kia Kee sport coupe is marked by uncluttered body panels that exude a simplicity rarely seen in automotive design. The front is a bit busier with an LED strip that arches from the headlight to the lower fascia. In place of the overly used quarter-panel vent, Kia has left a small accent crease...
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Designer Ian Callum and the gang over at Jaguar introduced the sedan they hope will save the storied British marque. The event was low-key in the British tradition, but the Jaguar XF is anything but boring. When it goes on sale in March the XF will replace the S-Type in the company's lineup and take the brand in a completely new styling direction.
"A very handsome car with too many references to the past doesn't make a Jag," Callum told us...
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- Posted by: September 11, 2007, 6:22 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Jaguar
OK, now I remember what Suzuki showed - two cars actually, one was this Kizashi concept. Company officials say they have a three point strategy for selling cars worldwide. The focus of those vehicles is to be sportiness, families and status. Guess which one this fulfills?
Suzuki says it's going to build a car like this but it will likely be more grounded in reality than this concept...
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 11, 2007, 6:19 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show, Suzuki
Suzuki held a press conference to unveil a new concept -- I think they were talking about the car, but I was having a hard time focusing. -- Brian Moody, Road Test Editor
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- Posted by: Brian Moody September 11, 2007, 6:14 AM
- Categories: Frankfurt Auto Show
It had no interpretive dance performed by man/birds. It had no crazy concept. And yet, somehow, Audi's press conference had its own surreal appeal. How does super-Canadian Bryan Adams performing a hit live on stage grab you?..
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund September 11, 2007, 6:02 AM
- Categories: Audi, Frankfurt Auto Show, Hybrids, Luxury Cars, Wagons
Ford wins the award for the worst press conference. In a quick 15 minutes the company introduced the new European market Ford Focus, the Ford Kuga crossover and the Ford Verve Concept. But the presentation packed all the insight of a children's book and was launched with the excitement of an insurance seminar. The girls in pink pulling the wrap off the Verve were a nice surprise, although they looked like a pack of misplaced bridesmaids.
Which was perfect considering the band...
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- Posted by: September 11, 2007, 5:48 AM
- Categories: Ford, Frankfurt Auto Show
Although the Volkswagen stand here in Frankfurt feels like it's the size of a football field, only two models were revealed at today's press conference. The first was the up! concept shown last night, while the rest of the time was devoted to the 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan. The Tiguan seems like old news now, but this was its official world premiere...
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