BMW sets price on new 5-er; says no price too high for independence

Filed under: Car Buying, Sedan, BMW, Luxury

Base model 5-Series? $44,500. Top-line 5-er? $59,700. Independence? Priceless.

Those were the key messages from a luncheon with BMW’s U.S. marketing and product planning chief Jack Pitney, who snuck into Motown to discuss, among other things, the upcoming American launch of one of the maker’s most important product lines.

The all-new 2011 528i, 535i and 550i models have gone through a significant transformation, and now share much of their underlying platform with the latest-generation BMW 7 Series. But they also share a lower price tag with other high-line sedans, something that reflects what Pitney admitted is a “highly-competitive” U.S. luxury market. The 528i will officially hit American showrooms, on June 19, carrying a sticker that’s $1,400 under that of the outgoing model.

Notably, all three models will offer the option of all-wheel drive, as well as a no-charge pick of either an eight-speed automatic or a six-speed manual, the latter likely only to account for about five percent of overall sales, but still critical, stressed Pitney, to reinforcing the brand’s “Ultimate Driving Machine” image.

And yes, he stressed, while BMW has been playing with a second advertising tagline, “The Joy of Driving,” that long-lived “Ultimate” slogan isn’t going away. “That,” he insisted, “would never, ever occur.”

Photos by Chris Paukert / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading BMW sets price on new 5-er; says no price too high for independence

BMW sets price on new 5-er; says no price too high for independence originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Safety, Toyota

Toyota conspiracy theorists have it wrong

We’re becoming a nation of conspiracy addicts. It’s not just the shots fired at the Kennedy motorcade from the grassy knoll in Dallas. These days it seems just about everything is up for some wide-eyed explanation, often pointing to some wicked government department or another. Even the Toyota safety scandal.

As a long-time NPR correspondent and commentator, I have spent a lot of time in recent months on the network’s chat shows fielding questions about the sudden acceleration phenomenon and the safety of Toyota vehicles. Like clockwork, at least one listener per show will confide the “fact” that the crisis is really a concoction of federal bureaucrats trying to protect Chrysler and General Motors – the Treasury now owning a 61% stake in the latter maker.

That might make for good talk radio fodder, but even if the president himself were hoping to see Toyota stumble, the real facts are these: The Japanese maker’s problems with runaway cars dates back long before Washington was asked to bail out Detroit; and as newly-uncovered internal documents reveal, Toyota knew it had a problem and went out of its way to hide that fact as long as possible.

If you aren’t convinced by we media scribes, how about taking the word of Irv Miller, the recently-retired head of public relations for Toyota here in the U.S. Towering over the mere mortals of the automotive press corps, Miller seldom missed an opportunity to speak the company’s praises – and call out an errant journalist who might have taken an inappropriate shot at the automaker.

To his credit, Miller was equally stern on keeping the story straight behind the scenes, as becomes apparent when you read the e-mails he sent to his Japanese counterparts demanding that they “come clean” on the worsening sudden acceleration mess. The most damning document was sent by Miller to Katsuhiko Koganei on January 16, 2010, in which he used capital letters – the web world’s way of shouting – to underscore his concerns.

“WE HAVE a tendency for MECHANICAL failure in accelerator pedals of a certain manufacturer on certain models,” wrote Miller, just weeks before his retirement. “The time to hide on this one is over,” he concluded.

What triggered his wrath? Well, let’s go back and look at the chronology to understand.

Follow the jump to read more.

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TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Wagon

Return of the Wagon…?

We all have our favorite memories from childhood, and one of mine was piling into the back of the family station wagon, along with a passel of friends, to head to the Jersey Shore for my eighth birthday. Growing up as part of the “Leave it to Beaver” generation, the wagon was as essential a part of life as Tang, TV and my mother’s inevitably over-cooked pot roast.

By the time we Boomers began to raise families of our own, the wagon had largely vanished, replaced first by the minivan and then the seemingly ubiquitous SUV. Oh, there were the odd few “two-box” models left on the market, usually a European offering, and maybe the occasional Asian import, but for all practical purposes, the wagon was dead.

Here, in the U.S., anyway. In other parts of the world, Europe in particular, it has actually gained strength over the years, leaving global planners – and a few of us diehard wagon fans – scratching our heads and wondering if this most utilitarian of automotive designs might ever make a comeback here.

There’ve been a few false starts, promising new entries like the Dodge Magnum failing to gain traction. But if this year’s New York International Auto Show is any indication, a new era of the American station wagon may finally be upon us. Maybe.

Continue reading TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein

TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls

Toyota Crisis Likely to Trigger Change Across the Auto Industry

Don’t be surprised to see yet another recall or two from Toyota in the coming weeks. Among other things, the embattled automaker may reveal a fix for unexpected stalling involving hundreds of thousands of recent Corolla and Matrix models.

That will be another setback for a company that is desperately struggling to push past its recent safety problems and get back to focusing on the business of selling cars and trucks. The maker has taken a more aggressive stance in recent weeks, underscored by efforts to discredit skeptics who insist there are unknown electronic gremlins with Toyota products, as well as an assault on a motorist who now looks likely to have staged a well-publicized incident involving a “runaway Prius.” But each step forward seems accompanied by two in reverse.

A number of key competitors have been hoping to take advantage of Toyota’s uncharacteristic stumbles, including General Motors and Hyundai, targeting Toyota owners with incentives and less than veiled marketing pitches that raise the specter of unsafe Toyota products. But the competitive efforts have, on the whole, been surprisingly subdued – and for good reason. Every automaker knows it could be next under the microscope. And, worse, Toyota’s near-term problems are likely to become a matter of concern for the auto industry as a whole, going forward.

Continue reading TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein

TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Geneva and the Decline of the Auto Show

While I’m not likely to get a lot of sympathy, do be aware that I’ll be wearing out a lot of shoe leather, this week, during the two day press preview of the Geneva Motor Show. By my preliminary count, I expect more than 50 news conferences, with as many as 75 cars and concepts to make their debuts at the sprawling PALExpo conference center.

Put another way, that’s nearly as many vehicles as were previewed at the most recent Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago shows combined. And that’s good news for those who worry that the classic car show is an endangered species.

Well, actually, it is. There’s a growing consensus that car shows simply aren’t doing what they’re supposed to, which is to move metal. “Auto shows don’t sell cars,” insists the oft-controversial Mike Jackson, chairman of the nation’s largest dealer chain, AutoNation.

Continue reading TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein

TheDetroitBureau.com on Autoblog with Paul Eisenstein originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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