Automotive Trends

      Unlike with the Car of the Year “surprise” (we incorrectly predicted the Passat) the North American Truck of the Year award actually went to the vehicle your humble editors expected. The Land Rover Range Rover Evoque simply advances the entire luxury crossover segment to stylish new heights unmatched by the other finalists to be ignored by the judges. Awkwardly enough, Jaguar/Land Rover didn’t choose to participate in this year’s NAIAS so they won’t be able to brag about their new award to the 800,000 people expected to attend the upcoming public show. Oops.

      One of the most anticipated industry awards is the annual North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. The title is highly coveted by automakers due in no small part to the proprietary nature of the voting by 50 journalists from the United States and Canada. The Hyundai Elantra beat out the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Passat to take the 2012 award even though your humble editors had publicly predicted a Passat victory. Though photos and video of the 2011 Elantra were mistakenly displayed as a Hyundai executive accepted the award, make no mistake that the 2012 Elantra is a car that appears to be deserving of the accolades. Read more…

      Properly covering an International Auto Show requires a lot of hardware and the AT Crew brought enough gadgets to produce a 24-hour cable news channel. Unfortunately the show doesn’t open until tomorrow and we’ve got things to say today so we repurposed our hotel suite into a makeshift soundstage and set the camera rolling. We highlight some of the expected stars of the show and go on the record with our predictions for North American Car and Truck of the Year in the best 36 minutes you’ve ever seen produced in a hotel living room.

     Normally we’d be asking for sympathy as we setup residence in the winter wonderland of Detroit to cover the North American International Auto Show, but truth be told the temperatures this year are mild and there isn’t a snowflake to be found. But even if a blizzard descended there’s no place we’d rather be since the annual kick-off to auto show season always delivers the stunning concepts and fresh production debuts we crave. We’re expecting a good show this year as the automakers close the books on a resurgent 2011 and look forward to a growing market this year. Tomorrow we’ll be onsite bringing you all the pictures, news and video you’ve come to expect from us, but for tonight here’s a preview of what’s to come. Read more…

     Christmas day has past. The kids’ stockings have long been emptied and stowed. We are now a mere 10 days from the opening of the 2012 North American International Auto Show. So before we make our annual pilgrimage to the auto show in the D we figured we better get our wits about us (our Executive Editor may have been hitting the egg nog heavy) and sort the rumors from the fact about what we’ll be seeing in Detroit. Read more…

Lexus Caters Less to the Realtors and More to the Racers 

     Over the course of the last decade Lexus seems to have become the official conveyance of realtors across the country. Realtors seeking an isolated, quiet, plush yet inoffensive cocoon to shuttle prospective clients to and fro have adopted the Lexus lineup as their transport of choice. Until recently the company seemed content with the reputation they’ve earned as a builder of reliable but staid luxury vehicles. But now executives are convinced that to grow the brand and attract some interest from Audi, Mercedes and BMW drivers they’ll have to add some sport to their currently soft sedans and after a day spent throwing the new 2013 GS lineup around the infield road course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, we can confidently report that they’ve done just that. Read more…

      While we have always regarded the GM large crossovers as great vehicles, the fact of the matter is their class-leading days are firmly in the rear view mirror. Editor Dye discusses this while driving the most premium of the GMC grade, the Acadia Denali. It is still a great vehicle, but at the end of the day this crossover was designed in an era of hard interior plastics and, like many Americans, needs to lose a few pounds. Read more…

      Stand by because the heroes of automotive banter are back in front of the video camera. In our season premiere we cover GM’s hotly anticipated new vehicle of the century: the Chevrolet Volt. We would be remiss to give it all away here, but in a nut shell, the boys are smitten. Read more…

The “Perfect Size” Crossover Wants Its Sales Crown Back

     Of all the vehicles in need of a redesign Honda’s CR-V isn’t one of them. The current generation of the entry-level crossover went on sale as a 2007 model and won the sales crown for its class every year through 2010, averaging about 200,000 sales per year. The streak would most likely be in place this year had Mother Nature not put on a shocking show of force first with the earthquake in Japan and then devastating floods in Thailand. Honda says it has lost more than 200,000 units of production for the U.S., including significant shortages of the ever-popular CR-V, which spelled an end to the little crossover’s sales reign. But despite the vehicle’s continued popularity anyone who knows Honda knows they plan five year lifecycles for their vehicles, which means we should see an all-new CR-V for 2012. And despite the aforementioned significant supplier and R&D interruptions, come December 15^th, we will. After a day spent with the Honda team learning everything there is to know about the new CR-V one thing is clear: they want their sales crown back. Read more…

Chasing a Dream

      It is 3:24 in the morning and I am sitting bolt upright in my bed, awake a whole six minutes before my alarm starts blaring. There is a 2011 Mini Cooper S Countryman All4 parked in the driveway gassed up and washed with clothing and gear for four days. The reason? A Roadtrip! The culmination of a great story, not just the beginning of one. Read more…