Car Throttle

Covering the New York International Auto Show was awe inspiring, even though you could feel the tension in the air surrounding the industry in these very dark and turbulent times. If you were a casual observer walking into the front enterance of the Jacob Javitts Convention Center, you couldn't help but marvel at the sights and sounds of the place, from the din of music, and conversation happening everywhere, to the sheer number of flat panel displays hanging seemingly all over the place. All this before you even walk into the assembly hall with each manufacturer showcasing an endless number of models, some on revolving turntables, others with huge, brightly lit signs behind them, and most of them with open doors welcoming you into their sumptuous

As many of you know, I was covering the New York International Auto Show, and it was truly breathtaking to take part in such an event. This was like some kind of dream, because I remember reading about the event in the pages of Car and Driver, Road & Track, and even CAR. This is the type of show the manufacturers debut their concepts, or introduce their brand new production ready models. With these introductions, there is the usual staging extras like a car draped with an appropriately colored silk cover, background lighting, smoke machines, and sometimes musicians. This year, most of the manufacturers had some kind of opulent stage performance. What was surprising however, was the number of manufacturers that didn't. Most of the

This posting is a bit late because I'm knackered from running around on the floor of the New Your International Auto Show, but I promised you a couple of significant debuts that happened today, and so here they are: The first major debut was from Subaru, with the new 2010 Outback Wagon. Subaru stated that they were the top brand within the US so far in 2009. So with the introduction of the Legacy and the Outback models, Subaru is in a strong position to weather the current market conditions, with some of the most loyal core buyers in the industry. The Outback will offer two different “boxer” style engines; a 2.5L, fuel injected flat four producing 170HP, and a new 3.6Lflat six producing 256

Now this is a cool Mercedes Supercar! Yes, the SLR McLaren was insanely fast but I found it could have done a little bit more in the design department. Mercedes-Benz looks to rectify that (all on it's own too) with the AMG SLS supercar. Definitely more of a heritage look inspired by Mercedes' of old. I particularly like the long, elongated-type headlights. Much better then the pedestrian Mercedes trademark squircles on the SLR McLaren. Good thing Mercedes is ditching that look for their new cars, I was getting sick of it. It's a good problem though, probably roots from me seeing so many of them. Means they're doing something right, huh? The SLS AMG is a throwback to the 300SL. Check out those gull-wing doors (err, sorry... "swing wing"

Land Rover has been rolling out a lot of significant debuts at the New York International Auto Show, including significantly revised versions of the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and the LR4 (renamed replacement for the LR3). The most significant is the line-topping Range Rover. The Land Rover Range Rover is oh-so-important to the company right now. Shockingly, the Range Rover's sales have been holding up the best in comparison to it's lesser siblings. That's an impressive feat and something I'm sure Land Rover is taking note of. I'm sure the margins are quite nice on this! The exterior design has been subtly updated, with more modern detailing the headlights and taillights, and a flatter, more aerodynamic front fascia. It's a refresh, to keep it updated. The Range

Thanks, BMW! With the X6 (and 5-Series GT, for that matter) you've helped start a whole new generation of vehicles that are utterly confused as to what they are. It's not a crossover, or a wagon. It's a "provocative luxury four-door sports coupe - plus". Got that? Umm, OK. Acura says it's a "segment-bending"vehicle, and that it is. While a concept, it's a very good preview of the production vehicle that goes on sale this fall. Acura hasn't made any secret that it's thinly-veiled either. It's certainly unique, and at least with what I'm seeing in this concept, world's better (Acura TL, RL; I'm looking at you) then the styling language as applied to the current lineup. Except for the grille insert piece (which somehow manages to

Well, it a wrap for today, and I thought I'd do a recap of some of the other debuts that happened today. I was over at the Subaru display area, and their new Legacy took the stage, in three different versions. They include the 4 cylinder 2.5i available with a new CVT transmission, the 2.5GT that receives a 265HP turbocharged engine, and the 3.6R with a new, more powerful, 256HP flat six. The Legacy itself, celebrating 20 years as a nameplate, competes with the much larger mid-sized vehicles in it's class like the Camry and the Accord. While Subaru was introducing their Legacy, Volkswagen has introduced the new GTI and Golf models. The Golf will introduce a 2 liter TDI clean diesel with 140HP and

Range Rover's sporty intermediate model, the creatively named "Range Rover Sport," is getting a refresh for 2010.  The mid-size luxury SUV competitor was due for a refresh, and it comes back packing new technology and a lot more firepower.  Considering how tough the competition in this field is, Land Rover needs to bring their A-game - and the new Sport looks like A-game material to me. Most importantly, both engines available in the Sport have been upgraded.  The base engine jumps from a 300bhp 4.4L port-injected V8 to Jaguar's new 5.0L direct-injected V8, now with 375bhp.  The big news is the Sport Supercharged, whose engine goes from a 4.2L port-injected supercharged V8 to a 5.0L direct injected blown V8, now cranking out a brawny 510bhp and

Well, it's now time to get to work defining the sights and sounds of the NYIAS for 2009. My initial impression was overwhelming, but after I caught my breath, it was also a bit disappointing. Why? Because the number of debuts have been lackluster, because of the general Malaise that the Auto Industry is currently in right now. However, I will try and bring you, the reader, up to speed. One of the first debuts this morning was the Mercedes-Benz ML 450 Hybrid, a car designed for the US and Canadian Markets only. It is a conventional Gas/Electric Hybrid, that produces 335 HP, and 381 lb/ft torque. According to Mercedes, is uses 50% less fuel than their conventional ML series. Also on stage was the debut

Today is SUV and crossover debut day at the New York International Auto Show! Land Rover has rolled out three SUV's and Jeep has released information and pictures on it's 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee crossover as well. We already got a good look at the Grand Cherokee ahead of New York, thanks to Chrysler's Viability Plan shown to the U.S Government. The Grand Cherokee, along with the 300C, show a similar vein of development inside and out. They're much improved and reimagined to suit a wider range of customers. The design is a lot better then the previous Grand Cherokee, with a more smoothed out look. It's at the same time more aggressive and yet - what's the right word? - blander. It's a good thing though; the Grand Cherokee