I whinged about the rear ends that automotive design semi-genius Chris Bangle has been putting on BMWs in this post way back in February, but Jay Shoemaker at The Truth About Cars does me one better in his review of the new BMW 650i convertible:Viewed from the front, the vehicle resembles a shark. In grey or dark blue colors, the 650i has a distinctly ominous presence. If you did nothing more than stare at the front end of this car, you’d feel it was $80k well spent. Unfortunately, eventually, you will walk around to the back . . .
The 650i’s back end is the Bimmer’s most badly Bangled bit. The chopped roofline of the soft-top narrows to a slit for the rear window, with dorsal fins protruding back from the rear edges. I’m not sure quite what visual impact Bangle’s boyz intended, but the design sure makes backing-up or checking for cars on your flanks an exercise in trust in your fellow man. If you raise the 650i’s trunk, step back and imagine what the vehicle might have looked like with a more conservative tail line, you get the feeling Chris snatched pretension from the jaws of greatness.
ISN'T IT A PITY
The dual death dances of Ford and General Motors have resulted in the automakers deciding to close their two most efficient auto assembly plants in North America.
Ford will close its Atlanta assembly plant later this year when it puts the Taurus out to pasture, while General Motors will close its Oshawa No. 2 assembly plant in Ontario after it stops making the Allure, Grand Prix and Lacrosse in 2008.
Meanwhile, sales of fuel-efficient vehicles like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Hyundai Sonata all rose 20 percent or more compared with a year ago. Toyota/Lexus will soon be marketing no fewer than 20 different hybrid models, which are selling especially well, while the American Big Three have only four hybrids in their entire fleets and GM still depends for big, gas uggzling -- and now slow selling -- SUVs to keep its sales up.
I blogged at length on GM's rictus in April in a post entitled General Motors: 30 Years on and Still Clueless, in which I trace the beginning of the General’s downturn from innovative colossus to the maker of boring rental cars to 1976 when a peppy little import called the Honda Accord first arrived in the U.S.
CNNMoney.com has more here on the plant closing fiasco.
THE ONLINE WINDING ROADFord will close its Atlanta assembly plant later this year when it puts the Taurus out to pasture, while General Motors will close its Oshawa No. 2 assembly plant in Ontario after it stops making the Allure, Grand Prix and Lacrosse in 2008.
Both automakers are flirting with bankruptcy for a number of reasons, but chief among them is that they make boring cars.Chrysler, the one bright spot among the American Big Three, posted double-digit declines in May, as did GM. And in a sign of Toyota's ever growing strength, the Japanese automaker displaced DaimlerChrysler as the U.S.'s No. 3 best seller for the second straight month.
Meanwhile, sales of fuel-efficient vehicles like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Hyundai Sonata all rose 20 percent or more compared with a year ago. Toyota/Lexus will soon be marketing no fewer than 20 different hybrid models, which are selling especially well, while the American Big Three have only four hybrids in their entire fleets and GM still depends for big, gas uggzling -- and now slow selling -- SUVs to keep its sales up.
I blogged at length on GM's rictus in April in a post entitled General Motors: 30 Years on and Still Clueless, in which I trace the beginning of the General’s downturn from innovative colossus to the maker of boring rental cars to 1976 when a peppy little import called the Honda Accord first arrived in the U.S.
CNNMoney.com has more here on the plant closing fiasco.
It's got some good stuff, although as someone who has been reading dead tree auto mags for many years, using a mouse to turn online pages takes some getting used to. See for yourself here. You have to register to access a free subscription, but it's not a hassle and I haven't gotten any spam as a result of my subscription.
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