It’s Nicholas Justinian, back after the first day of the NAIAS to give you the low down on all the new reveals! As always, be sure to check Our Page because we do reviews and more news! Without further ado, lets get into the reveals!
The Ursula F7 is here! And they’ve been sure to highlight the failed 2007 concept that never actually made it to production. Because failure sure makes me want to spend a ton of money on a luxury sedan! There’s a bunch of models ranging from a hybrid V6 all the way up to a V10. They claim to have best in class interior, but I really have no clue how that’s judged. Seems like something anybody can just make up. It’s got all the latest gadgets apparently, but no word on pricing for this “best in class interior.” I’d certainly be interested to see when it hits production this winter.
There’s more at their stand too… something about a concept by Studio di design Fiorentino, which, granted, looks far better than the F7 we’re getting in production, but apparently a touch screen replaces all the hard buttons. That just means I can’t use gloves to turn on the heat when it gets cold. Lovely design. Hope that part doesn’t make it to production.
and lastly an LMP1 Prototype. Alright. Hard to get excited about something when you don’t reveal the specs. If you’re trying to keep the specs hush hush, fair enough, but I then fire back, why reveal it at all?
AL Autos had a presentation so long I needed to crack open a book. And apparently IREV doesn’t actually mean EV. Cool. that’s not confusing at all. Also I wonder how they managed to fit double wishbone suspension to a FWD car…
a larger Quaestus performance sedan/wagon. But dear god is it heavy, especially for a midsize sedan! How is this supposed to be a fun driver’s car, men?
Evgenis (Spelt correctly this time), surprise suprise, it’s a crossover… yaaaaaaaaay. Looks good, it will drive predictably and plenty of people will buy it. It’s cruelty-free, vegan friendly and personality free as well! Apparently it comes with level 2 autonomy as well, which is some actually stimulating news. Also at 31,000$ USD starting price I don’t exactly know what it’s supposed to compete with? It’s too expensive for C segment regular crossovers but too cheap for the premium stuff. Thus is the curse of selling European cars in America I suppose… There’s also a hybrid planned later in the year.
Huangdou was actually the most pleasant surprise thus far. I mean, I know we’re supposed to hate cars being remade as crossovers, but the CC was always a crummy cheap little Chinese hatchback, and this new CC crossover actually seems to have some mass market appeal, I even daresay looks athletic and nice. Maybe if they took themselves more seriously and stopped trying to be “hip” with pop culture refrences and making the navigation anime girls we’d actually have a serious Chinese threat here in America. But starting at 15,000$USD, Which is less than B segment crossovers, I’m willing to bet it’s going to be cheap and terrible to drive. Maybe if they took themselves more seriously we’d actually have a mass market Chinese threat.
They also have a new SC, which, uh, doesn’t look as good. But it’s trying to move upmarket so good luck with that.
Here’s Harada’s whole new fleet. Truck, Crossover and sports car. The truck is a truck. I don’t like the look of this one, the headlights are too small and wierd looking, and what’s the point of a truck with a DCT and can only get 11MPG? I’d stick to the base model personally, at 33,000$, it seems like a good deal, if that’s a crew cab.
There’s a new Topisa, which I thought was the one styled by Luceat, because this thing looks surprisingly good for a Harada, and it can be had for 30,000$ or thereabouts. Like the Sphinx, it’s a European crossover brought to America and sold at an odd price. I think the Evgenis is more stylish and luxurious to my tastes but let me know what you’d take!
And lastly are two sports coupes which, uh, seem to be priced exactly the same? Are you competing with yourself there Harada? Not the best marketing strategy. The sports coupe segment has pretty dwindling sales as is, and it’s hard to see how dividing your sales twice can be sustainable…
And Lastly… Studio di design Fiorentino made a concept car. apparently it’s bio-fuel and E-drive? Huh. That’s a cool concept… I don’t like the look, but show me something that moves and I’ll be officially impressed.
Tanaka is here at the NAIAS 2019!
