The complete overhaul of Nissan's compact crossover seems to have been a success, according to reviewer Aaron Bragman. A new style inside and out and optional third row are impressive, but the engine — carried over from the old Rogue — doesn't offer a lot of thrills.
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The Rogue moniker may conjure up images of reprobate political figures and the status of ladies' undergarments in some quarters, but the badge has been no barrier to sales success. Here in the U.S., the compact crossover is Nissan's second-bestselling model, slugging it out in showrooms with popular players such as the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Toyota RAV4. READ MORE ››
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So I read earlier this week that Bob Lutz is saying that the US Government killed Pontiac. He says that GM had big plans to rescue the struggling brand with innovative, rear-wheel designs that included small performance cars that would have set the Germans back on their heels. Had these plans come to fruition, he hints, enthusiasts would have been busting down the doors and the brand would have quickly returned to good health. A new golden age for Pontiac was just around the corner, he asserts, and it would have worked too, if it weren't for those meddling Feds. That's what Bob says anyhow, but I'm not so sure. I'm pretty sure had a hand in killing Pontiac, too.
Oh sure, there were probably some government guys there at the end but they just turned off the machine that was keeping Pontiac alive. I'm one of the guys who put it in the hospital. I'll tell you honestly that I didn't want to kill the brand, I actually really liked it, – well I liked what they said they were building anyhow – but the truth is that they never delivered. Now that I think about it, they sort of had it coming…
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By the time I started buying new cars in the 1980s, Pontiac's heyday was already long gone. Even so, if you had walked into your local Buick/Pontiac/GMC shop smack-dab in the middle of the spandex decade you would have found lots of interesting models to choose from including a mid-engine two seat sports car, a muscle car, a RWD personal luxury coupe, a smaller, more modern FWD personal luxury coupe, a full-size RWD luxury barge, a generic FWD mid-sizer, a generic RWD mid-sizer and a couple of different economy cars wearing the Pontiac arrowhead. Hindsight tells us that some of these cars were less than stellar, of course, but for the most part they were a step up from the darkest days of the malaise era and owning a new Pontiac was something a young man could be proud of. If I'd had my way, I'd have taken one home, but a person making a whopping $3.35 an hour really shouldn't be buying new cars and so I didn't.
Just five years later, much of that formerly huge Pontiac line-up had gone away. With the exception of the very dated Firebird all the rear wheel drivers had been dropped and customers were left with, in addition to the aforementioned F body, a choice between the Bonneville, 6000, Grand-Am, Grand-Prix, Sunbird, the Transsport min-van and the foreign built Lemans and Firefly subcompacts. With the exception of the Turbo Grand-Prix, there is nothing of interest there for me and so I stayed comfortably at home, my money in my pocket.
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From this point in the article I could talk about how Pontiac's line-up changed every so often and how, basically, they never really made anything else I ever wanted. I won't do that because you're probably already familiar with the cars Pontiac sold over the past couple of decades and you don't need me to lead you on a walk through year after year of silly looking designs. So, cutting to the chase, I'm simply going to say that over the past two decades there were only a few Pontiacs that really got my attention. They are: The WS6 Trans-Am, which was pretty on the outside but cramped on the inside, later model Bonnevilles, which, depending upon your angle of approach are either really cool looking or a hopeless mish-mash of bodylines coming together at odd points, the Vibe wagon, which is actually a Toyota and the Torrent CUV, (which I did eventually buy) which is really a badge engineered Chevrolet Equinox. That's all, folks.
Those rear wheel drivers Bob Lutz was depending upon to save Pontiac? Yeah, they weren't even on my radar. Sure, I saw their pictures in the magazines but the G8 and the GTO were not what I was looking for. To put it plainly, the GTO looked bland and the G8 was a modern take on the 1972 Dodge Polara – big and high powered, but not really the tough-looking upscale luxury sedan I would have liked. OK, I know that's insulting, I actually kind of like the old-school Polara so I don't want you Dodge boys getting on my case, but you get my point. These cars weren't going to save Pontiac and, while they were good enough that didn't deserve to have their runs cut short, they weren't ever going to chalk up huge sales numbers either.
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So, there you have it. I stood dead center in the middle of Pontiac's target demographic for almost three decades and the only car they managed to sell me was a badge engineered Chevy. (Maybe they should put that on the back of TTAC's next T-shirt.) Bob Lutz can point his finger at the evil Feds and talk pie-in-the-sky Pontiacs all day long, but the truth is that Pontiac let us down year after year and eventually we cared so little about the brand that on the day it died most of us didn't even know it was sick. Instead of blaming the evil Feds, GM needs to think about what really happened, otherwise history could repeat itself.
Thomas Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.
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Zero-emissions vehicle mandates in California and several other states have brought about a smattering of specialty electric cars, and GM has obliged with the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV — a punchy runabout that ought to sell on its own strengths, not regulatory mandates.
Based on the Spark hatchback that hit U.S. dealers 15 months ago, the electric version is on sale in California and Oregon. We took a brief spin at a Midwest Automotive Media Association event near our Chicago offices, and GM ought to expand availability like Ford has done with the Focus Electric. The electric Spark has all the inherent issues that limit EV popularity, but as the class goes, this one's impressive.
Power hits the front wheels through a 105-kilowatt electric motor with 140 horsepower and a walloping 400 pounds-feet of torque. Hit the gas, and the Spark EV moves out — especially if you engage the drivetrain's Sport mode, which trades efficiency for sharper accelerator progression via a center-console switch. The Spark EV feels quicker than the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan's all-electric Leaf, as it's considerably lighter than both. The drivetrain easily overcomes the Spark EV's 599 pounds of extra heft over its gasoline sibling: GM cites zero-to-60 mph times of less than 8 seconds, which is more than 3 seconds quicker than what our friends at "MotorWeek" observed in a stick-shift gasoline Spark. The electric version feels that quick, and our brief drive revealed little torque steer despite all the, uh, torque.
The hatchback's drivetrain — 75 percent of which was adapted from the Volt and GM's hybrid trucks, the automaker says — packages a 21-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery between the cargo floor and rear axle. Like in many electric cars, the results make for a low center of gravity that minimizes body roll, and the extra weight in back gives the car a gratifying degree of sling-it-around balance. Our tester's Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 tires (185/55R15s up front, 195/55R15s in back) played along well; they're stickier than the norm for ultra-efficient tires.
Four-wheel-disc brakes improve on the gasoline Spark's disc/drum setup, with the expected regenerative braking capability. Like in many hybrids and EVs, the results make for a touchy pedal on contact, and modulating initial braking takes some practice. But it's better than the Volt's bricklike pedal feedback, which is easily that car's worst attribute.
Inside, the Spark EV swaps conventional gauges for a screen similar to the Volt's. It shows vehicle speed and remaining range with helpful (if they prove accurate) maximum and minimum estimates based on how you drive. The right side of the screen can alternate between the Volt's efficiency-promoting accelerator/brake gauge and a real-time indicator of kilowatts used or regenerated — a sort of EV tachometer.
Chevrolet boasts an impressive EPA 119 mpg-equivalent, which puts the Spark EV ahead of other affordable competitors save the 121-mpg-e Scion iQ EV. The Spark EV's EPA-rated 82-mile range is competitive, but it requires a comparatively long seven hours to recharge on a 240-volt (Level 2) charger. The car accepts 120-volt household-outlet charging, though at a slow pace (nearly 17 hours from empty to full). It also takes DC quick charging, however, which GM says charges to 80 percent capacity in as little as 20 minutes. A so-called "combo" charger, which the industry has anticipated since 2012, enables all three types of charging through the same connector. It's optional.
If you have an iPhone, the Spark EV joins a growing number of cars to offer Apple's Siri Eyes Free assistant. Other strengths mirror those of the gasoline Spark: a tight turning circle — albeit 33.8 feet instead of the gasoline Spark's 32.5 — and surprising cabin room. The EV hardware drops cargo volume behind the backseat to 9.6 cubic feet, which is down a bit from the gasoline Spark's 11.4 cubic feet. And we'd still like to see a telescoping steering wheel and some armrest padding on the doors. Still, the Spark EV is based on a car whose gasoline version starts at less than $13,000. After a maximum $7,500 federal tax credit, the Spark EV starts at an affordable $19,995 including destination.
Will anyone outside of the West Coast see the car? Don't count on it. The business case is "pretty tough," according to John Calabrese, GM's global vehicle engineering chief. That's a shame, but it's hard to argue when September sales for the Leaf, Focus Electric and Mitsubishi i-MiEV — all affordable EVs that sell nationwide — totaled just 2,083 cars. Gas prices, which were down 24 cents on Thursday versus a year ago, haven't helped the EV cause.
"Range anxiety is [still] a problem" for electric cars, Calabrese said. "Certain vehicles are prone to energy swings more than others."
Therein lays the difficulty of sparking much interest in GM's latest EV. And it's a shame.
Related
2014 Chevrolet Spark EV Starts Under $20K After Federal Tax Credit
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More Chevrolet Spark News
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An Albuquerque Car Wash owner watched in shock as Christopher Chase shot police officer Matthew Hannum in the leg and then stole the officer's police car. "Seeing an individual like a police officer get shot like we noticed. I mean poor guy got shot and he was hurt. I wanted to do all I can to go there and help him," said the business owner, who prefers to remain anonymous.
"When he got in the police unit and took off I wasn't going to let the individual get away especially when no one else was around," he said.
So the gentleman got into his 2003 Corvette, a C5 with some go-fast parts, called 911 on his cellphone and proceeded to chase the fleeing Chase.
"[The 911 operator] kept on telling me to pull over and stop and this and that. That I'm breaking the law," he said.
At first it was a low speed chase, no faster than 40 mph, but after Chase stopped in the middle of an intersection to fire off some shots at a nearby police cruiser and then got back into the stolen cop car, the car wash owner says that speeds exceeded 100 miles an hour. He stayed on the suspect's tail, relaying information to the emergency operator until Albuquerque Police Department officers caught up to them.
"I have family and friends in APD and so I'm not going to allow an individual like that to get away and have those individuals suffer for the rest of their lives," he said.
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A high ranking executive of Daimler said that the German automaker would like to expand its cooperation with Tesla Motors.
Bodo Uebber, Daimler's CFO, told a press briefing in New York, "I told my guys, go back to Tesla and look for other opportunities. We want to look for more cooperation." Though he didn't get into details, Uebber said that Daimler "could use more" from Tesla.
Tesla currently supplies electric motors and battery packs for Daimler's Smart ForTwo EV and will also be supplying those components for the Mercedes-Benz B-Class EV that will go on sale next year in Europe and North America. The companies have a financial relationship as well, with Daimler holding a 4.3% stake in Tesla.
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