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Discussing the look of the all-new XJ with its chief designer, Giles Taylor
For as long as Jaguar has been in business, it has built long, lithe and refined machines (much like its legendary hood ornament) for the well-heeled and stately. But for the last few years, the British carmaker’s design studio has supplanted its rather tame, catlike creations with more ferocious, teeth-baring, aggressive-looking machines.
The transformation started with the 2007 XK sports car and then the 2009 XF midrange sedan. Now, Jag’s designers have instilled that killer instinct into the company’s legendary flagship sedan, the XJ . Its redesign is radically different from its predecessors, which have all shared the same basic shape since 1968, but it's certainly turning heads and creating notice. The old car’s proportions were like nothing else still on the road; it appeared as long and regal as its bloodline. While the new XJ shares some of the same DNA, this is not your old man’s saloon, as you can see by this XJ.
The hallmark of the new design is a long, flowing roof line, a feature, we fear, that might alienate traditionalists. With its rakish rear window and side glass framed by a bold chrome parabola, the look is striking, though it is in keeping with coupelike 4-door cars like the Mercedes CLS. Not that the new car is without references to earlier models, but they are subtle, at best.
Yesterday, we had a chance to sit down with Giles Taylor (pictured, man on right), senior design manager at the Jaguar Design Studio and the man mostly responsible for the new XJ, at the XJ’s New York City debut to discuss the cat’s latest saloon and how Jag aficionados might perceive it. Read on to see what he had to say.
Driving the Mini Electric Car in New York
Williamsburg, Brooklyn might be my first stop, or maybe Union Square in Manhattan: Anywhere that green-minded urban hipsters congregate, so they can flip out over the MINI E.
BMW’s electric-powered Mini Cooper rolled down my Brooklyn street on a flatbed this morning, ensuring that its 573-pound, lithium-ion battery pack was fully juiced for my test drive. (Wouldn’t want to run out of power in the Holland Tunnel.) The company has 450 MINI E’s up and running in a field trial in Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey.
California woman takes to the Internet to document her struggles with Volvo
To sum up: Freya Svennson of Pasadena, Calif. (by way of Sweden), bought a Volvo XC70; after only 61,000 miles, the transmission failed. It was fixed under the extended warranty, but the problems -- slamming into gear, uncontrolled revving during acceleration -- continued. The extended-warranty company told Svennson that despite repeated attempts, they were never able to duplicate the problem, and therefore were unable to replace the transmission. That is, until the extended warranty ran out, at which point (of course), they were suddenly able to duplicate the problem, and wanted, then, to replace the transmission -- not under warranty, of course, but rather at a cost of more than $5,000.
Well, that's when Svennson went nuts -- in the good sense of the word. She went all viral-marketing on the company in order to get the word out there that Volvo was acting unfairly. She started a blog; she created videos for YouTube (see one after the jump); she printed up business cards with the name of her site and stuck them on the windshields of other Volvos to get their owners to help take up the fight.
By Hans Greimel, Automotive News
Kia is replacing its Amanti large sedan with a new model called the Cadenza, which was unveiled today in South Korea. It goes on sale there this year and in North America in 2011.
The five-seat Cadenza is shorter than the Amanti but has a longer wheelbase delivering more interior space, Kia said in a release. The Korean edition has a 3.5-liter V6 engine, but the North American version's engine specifications are still being decided.
Yet another GM deal falls through as Koenigsegg pulls out of Saab purchase
Bad news for fans of Saab (i.e., me): The brand is facing an uncertain future as plans for GM to sell the brand to a Swedish/Chinese business partnership have stalled.Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg -- up until now part of said partnership along with Beijing Automotive Industrial Holding Ltd. -- has pulled out of the deal, which GM was looking to have wrapped up by next month.
By Stuart Schwartzapfel
With the entire world moving toward greener everything, it follows that the upper crust would join in. After all, not everyone with a conscience wants to be seen driving a Toyota Prius.
That was the thought behind Eco-luxe, a swanky Manhattan event that gave journalists some prime schmoozing time with green marketers from every conceivable sector, from quintuple-filtered vodka made in low-landfill facilities to carcinogen-free water bottles. Eatery Rouge Tomate was brimming with worldly conversation, stiff cocktails and a few celebrity eco-product evangelists, such as Mariel Hemingway.
Car and Driver names its cars of the year
The expertise of the writers and editors at Car and Driver shows up right in the name -- they know fun to drive, and if they say a vehicle passes muster, you can be sure it's been put through the wringer to earn that distinction. And, for the 28th year in a row, they've compiled their 10 best cars of the year.
The requirements are fairly straightforward: Eligible vehicles are those that are all-new for 2010, all of the 2009 winners, and cars with significant updates for the new model year. In addition, all vehicles must be on sale by January 2010. The price ceiling for vehicles this year was raised to $80,000 (from $71,000), with the belief that that ceiling represents the point past which the price increases with significantly diminished performance returns. Amazingly, the aggregate MSRP for the 2010 10 best list wasn't even half that, clocking in at around $35,000.
By Dale Jewett
The first nearly 200 buyers of the Porsche Panamera in the United States are getting a little something extra--the Porsche luggage set, priced at $3,580--for free.
Porsche is giving away the specially designed luggage because the first batch of Panameras are late--they've been held at the ports while a problem with the car's key and software have been fixed. The expectant owners were sent a letter from Porsche explaining the delay.
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Josh Condon has covered everything from cars and personal technology to entertaining, fitness, and science for the likes of The New York Times, Esquire, Men's Journal, Ralph Lauren's RL Magazine, and Popular Science. He spent many years in the magazine and media industries in New York before relocating to Los Angeles, California.
James Tate began a career in automotive writing as Senior Editor of Sport Compact Car magazine. Since then, his work has appeared in publications like Car and Driver, Popular Mechanics, Automobile, Motor Trend, European Car, Edmunds Inside Line, Kelley Blue Book, Stuff, and specialty publications. When not writing, Tate can be found fantasizing about vintage Porsche 911's.
Lawrence Ulrich tests roughly 100 new cars and trucks each year, attempting to park them in Brooklyn. Born and forged in Detroit, he's the former auto critic at The Detroit Free Press and Money magazine. Ulrich writes for The New York Times, Automobile, Popular Science, Maxim and more.
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