This new Dodge Durango commercial starring Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy is hilarious. You can see more of them at the Dodge YouTube page.
The inspiration for this particular “MPG” commercial has to have come from this old promo video where Ron Burgundy couldn’t pronounce ESPN, which has to be one of the funniest Burgundy clips ever.
Ferrell will be back soon as Ron Burgundy again in “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.”
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I was able to snap these photos at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show as Porsche unveiled the much-anticipated 918 Spyder supercar. As you can see it’s a beautiful vehicle, but the real story here involves the plug-in hybrid engine and performance elements.
This concept was designed to be a high-performance hybrid, with 887 horsepower and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than 2.8 seconds. Like the Ferrari supercar announced earlier this year, the 918 Spyder features a combustion engine combined with an electric motor-based drive to optimize the dynamic performance of the vehicle. The electric motor allows for the faster acceleration from zero and then the gas motor kicks in.
This is the new reality of supercars. They are obviously becoming much more exotic, and in a way we’re seeing a real departure from traditional sports cars with a traditional stick shift. For that reason, cars like the new Corvette that still embrace the stick shift and powerful gas engine will probably still command a legion of fans.
But for sheer performance, these new hybrid supercars will be a beast on the track.
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I was on hand in Frankfurt for the 2013 Motor Show as Ferrari unveiled the new 458 Speciale. Derived from the 458 Italia, Ferrari touts the Speciale as the most high performance Ferrari V8 sports car ever. This lightweight, track-ready Ferrari is powered by the same 4.5-liter V-8 as the standard 458 Italia, but also featuring an additional 34 horsepower for a total of 596 hp. The blue and white racing strip across the top also gives it a distinctive stylistic feature as well.
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I was on hand in Germany this week at the 2013 Motor Show and snapped these photos of the all-new Infiniti Q30 Concept. Expectations are that this new concept car will be very close to the compact CUV that Infiniti will ultimately release.
The gold color really grabs your attention and the reveal came across as a big hit. The front end is very similar to the current design language we’re seeing from Infiniti, but the back end really stood out with the back window blending into the rear tail lights. The effect was very impressive.
I got shots from all angles so you can get a feel for the vehicle. The compact CUV market is very hot right now and the luxury brands are trying to grab their share as well, so it will be interesting to see how quickly Infiniti can get to a production model here.
“We are becoming the younger, trendsetting brand, more relevant and more exciting,” said Johan de Nysschen, President of Infiniti Motor Company, Ltd. “Infiniti Q50, and now the Q30 Concept, deliver on this promise.” Infiniti executives have been stressing the importance of design in the Infiniti strategy, and they are definitely pushing the envelope in an attempt to challenge the other luxury brands. It will be interesting to see if the buyer mix starts to skew younger. The company notes that “by the end of this decade, Gen X and Gen Y will represent 80 percent of buyers in the premium segment.”
The design of the Q30 is intended to create “a unique blend of features reminiscing of a coupe, a hatch and a crossover.” It definitely inspires a sporty vibe that should grab the attention of buyers looking for luxury and fun in their driving experience.
During the press conference de Nysschen was joined on stage by Sebastian Vettel, a 3-time Formula One world champion who has been assisting the company. He was presented with a special helmet to use in testing engineering prototypes of the future compact premium model, the first Infiniti model that he will have a role in influencing from its inception.
Hyundai Motor America announced pricing today for the refreshed 2014 Hyundai Equus during a media event at its Ann Arbor, Michigan facility. The Equus comes in two model options – the Signature and the Ultimate. The Equus Signature has an MSRP with freight of $61,920, and the Equus Ultimate has an MSRP with freight of $68,920. Hyundai expects a sales breakdown of 70/30 between the Signature and the Ultimate.
Hyundai has positioned Equus as a competitor in the high end luxury segment, with vehicles like the Lexus LS460 and Mercedes S550 seen as the primary competitors, and the BMW 750i, Audi A8 and Cadillac XTS seen as secondary competitors. Hyundai’s strategy has emphasized packing the Equus with safety and technology features buyers are looking for in luxury vehicles and then making them standard in the Equus, while offering a price point that is roughly $30,000 less than comparably equipped target competitors. The emphasis on buyer experience has also helped Equus, with features like a dedicated Equus premium ownership champion at each dealership, at-home vehicle demonstrations branded under “Your Time, Your Place,” a valet service program with pickup and delivery on a flat bed truck with service loaner vehicle dropoff and a 3-year/36,000 mile no-cost maintenance.
John Krafcik, president and chief executive officer of Hyundai Motor America, said he’s been very pleased with Equus sales since the launch of the vehicle, noting that many auto analysts were skeptical that Hyundai could even compete in this space. Krafcik pointed to the 2013 year-to-date market segment numbers for Equus of 5.5%, which is greater than Hyundai’s overall brand share. He also pointed out that Equus scored highest among the luxury brands in the 2013 J.D. Power Customer Service Index Study.
Like other Hyundai brands, Equus sales are being held back by Hyundai’s capacity issues. When asked whether Hyundai would be adding production capacity, Krafcik declined to comment, though it should be noted that in the past he was quick to squelch any notion of new production facilities. With the American car market rapidly bouncing back near pre-recession levels, Hyundai is likely reconsidering its ultra-cautious approach to production capacity in order to take advantage of increased demand. Krafcik noted that Hyundai’s overall market share in the US has contracted a bit to 4.7% in 2013 due to those production constraints. Demand is not the problem, as Hyundai has among the lowest inventory and days supply levels in the industry. Hyundai’s incentive spend remains among the lowest in the industry second only to Subaru. With these statistics, it appears that Hyundai can easily absorb more capacity, though auto executives have to look years ahead, and the volatility of the past seven years has to be taken into account.
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