Automotive Reporter/Biz News for Wk of 3-23-15

Lexus will introduce the all-new 2016 RX at the 2015 New York International Auto Show on April 1st. No fooling. 
What it will look like is still up for speculation, but it appears the "floating roof" concept is alive and well. The RX was launched 17-years ago, and the 2016 edition will be the fourth-generation in the line.

Cadillac is announcing a new generation of V-6 engines, led by an exclusive Twin Turbo V-6, "that will be one of the industry’s most advanced six-cylinder gasoline engines," according to a company release. The power plant will be featured in the new CT6 luxury performance sedan, also to be revealed at the end of the month at the New York International Auto Show.

What's in store? 
The 3-L Twin Turbo will produce 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque, which works out to about 133-hp per liter. Cadillac predicts the engine will realize a 6% improvement in fuel economy.

Did you know? In 1903, the first production Cadillac motor cars were equipped with a single-cylinder engine--rated at 10 hp. 

Military-grade Aluminum is not the only high-tech story in the 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck. There's now a considerable amount of recycled material being used to build the new trucks.
 

Ford Motor Company has been collaborating with Unifi for the past three years to bring environmentally responsible, high-performance REPREVE fiber to many Ford vehicles, including the F-150. 

REPREVE is made from 100% recycled materials, including plastic bottles. Ford estimates it will divert more than five million plastic bottles from landfills this year. The seat covers, for example, are made from recycled plastic water bottles.
Now for the bad news.
Those new aluminum bodies on the F-150 are sure pretty, lighter, and help allow for a heavier payload. But--they also are more expensive to repair, according to a test by the folks at Edmunds.com.
Glad they tried this; I can't afford to.
 
Everything's bigger in Texas. The State Word is "superlative."
Now we learn that Texas led the nation in diesel powered vehicle registrations for 2014. The Diesel Technology Forum says 893,553 diesel cars, trucks and SUV's were tagged in Texas. 

Admittedly, our higher station population helps bolster those kinds of numbers, but trends in other states indicate diesels are coming more into vogue, despite lower gasoline fuel prices. Numbers crunchers say clean diesel cars and SUVs showed an increase of 13.5 percent in 2014 over 2013, and hybrid cars and SUVS increased by 15.1 percent.  

Allen Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum, says "While diesel passenger vehicles currently make up a modest 2.88 percent of the entire U.S. vehicle market, consensus forecasts predict that diesel cars, pickups and SUVs will comprise about seven percent of the market by 2020." Schaeffer says that's just over one million diesel-powered cars and trucks on the road.
 
Nissan's all-electric LEAF now comes with a paint option that makes the car glow in the dark. The new paint theme is part of a marketing pitch by Nissan to underscore the point that many LEAF drivers are now using solar power to recharge their vehicles at home.  

Near Oss, Netherlands, there is a luminous Smart Highway--which uses the glow-in-the-dark concept to eliminate power-sucking streetlights. So Nissan thought it would be cool to film the glow-in-the-dark car driving down that glow-in-the-dark roadway.
Nissan, coincidentally, reports electric vehicle sales in the Netherlands grew 313% last year.
Dutch treat, indeed.

Finally, now that the Houston Rodeo is over, and SXSW is past, what's a body to do for kicks? Perhaps a bit of Mustang Speed-dating...watch and learn, Grasshopper.

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The Automotive Reporter/Biz News for the Week of 2-23-15

It's 67-degrees outside, just before sunrise, and 68-degrees inside the house this morning. The Weathermen tell us Winter is about to deliver one more cold blast to South Texas for the season, as the rest of the country shivers through the chill.

Baby, it's cold outside!

By now you have seen the iconic image of the frozen Jeep Cherokee grille in a hospital parking lot. Several people snapped photos of the same phenomenon, so it's definitely not a stunt.  
Jeep says a nurse captured the image as she was leaving work last week, it was a hot commodity on social media all weekend. Still, no one knows the owner of the vehicle that left the parking lot ice sculpture. Yet.

Ram Engineering is taking advantage of the chill to test its trucks for severe cold and plow testing--without having to recreate any special conditions. In Houghton, Michigan, sub-zero conditions are perfect for determining trucks' performance under circumstances only a fraction of owners will experience. Some of the experiments include Slush Testing. 

"Slush does not drip off the undercarriage," says Mike Cairns, Director of Ram Truck Engineering. "It hangs on, filling gaps and covering components." Ram enginers know that during a hard freeze, anything covered in slush becomes encased in ice -- fuel lines, diesel exhaust fluid tanks, engine oil pan, brakes, etc. Ram runs trucks through 12-inch-deep slush, and immediately park the trucks overnight in a refrigeration facility set at minus 20 degrees.

2015 Ram Truck with Snow Plow

Each truck is thoroughly inspected to assure components and systems are functioning properly. The diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tank is allowed to freeze in such conditions. The tank and lines are made of materials to allow a hard freeze without breaking. An independent heating system keeps just enough DEF above freezing temperatures to allow engine start up while meeting tailpipe emissions. 

The location of vent lines is another key design feature. Water can freeze, clogging vent lines for the axles, transmission and transfer case. And in such sub-zero conditions, windows must continue to roll up and down, as well as windshield wipers and defrost mechanisms must continue to function.

Got Snow?
Ford F-150 with optional plow.

Ford Motor Company is now offering snow plow options for all of its F-series pickup truck cab configurations, including Regular, SuperCab and SuperCrew. 

Now that Ford is using more high-strength steel in the frame, and new, high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloy in the body, there's a weight reduction of about 700-pounds. You can make up for that with a nifty $50 snow plow mount option--Ford's fine print says, "snow plow not included." In Houston, we could use these for the "Steer it or Clear it" operations on our freeways. In all kinds of weather. 

2015 Silverado Black-out option

If you're weary of white-out conditions, Chevrolet is offering a Black-out package for its 2015 Silverado pickup trucks.  The $1,595  option for regular- and double-cab 1500 WT models  includes 20” black painted aluminum wheels, P275/55R20 all-season blackwall tires, deep tinted glass and black bowties. The package is available for order now, and you can have any color you want, as long as it is black.

A chicken in every pot, a Pullman in every garage? 
Not exactly, unless you live in a very tony neighborhood. To mark the 50th Anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz 600--the epitome of luxury sedan travel, the German automaker is rolling out the Mercedes-Maybach Pullman S-600 at the Geneva Autoshow. 

1887 Pullman "Vestibule" Railcar

Historical note: The Pullman label was originally applied to railway carriages with luxurious open-plan compartments. They were built by the American Pullman Palace Car Company. The designation was soon also applied to motor cars from Mercedes-Benz which were based on an extremely long wheelbase, with a generously-sized passenger compartment. In the rear, separated from the driver's area by a partition, there was space for four passengers to recline regally in four single seats facing each other.

 The new Pullman is 21.3-feet long--another 3.5 feet longer than the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. The wheelbase is 14.5 feet, and the car is 5.2 feet tall--more than 3.9 inches higher than a Mercedes S-Class.

The absolute top-of-the-range model is the Mercedes-Maybach Pullman S 600. This behemoth is powered by a V12 biturbo engine, producing 523hp from a 5.9-L engine, generating 612 lb-ft. of torque at 1900 rpm. Growl.

If you have to ask, you can't afford it, but prices for "unarmoured models" start at $566,922. Deliveries will commence in 2016.
Grey Poupon?

Yutaka Katayama (1909-2015)

The man credited for developing the iconic Datsun 240-Z now belongs to the ages. Nissan legend Yutaka Katayama, the man known as “Mr. K,” died Thursday, February 19, 2015 at the age of 105.

Katayama joined the company in 1935 handling publicity and advertising. He built the Datsun brand from scratch--the first US exposure to the Japanese company, and assembled the pieces that would become the venerable "Z-car" series. Mr. K. was team manager for two Datsun 210's entered in a grueling rally circumnavigating the Australian continent. Their victory vaulted the brand into worldwide renown and set the stage for Datsun exports. 

Yutaka Katayama

 Katayama promoted the first All-Japan Motor Show in 1954, and in 1998 was inducted into the American Automotive Hall of Fame for introducing a generation of vehicles that redefined the US car market.

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