Audi TT: Little bit of new, a little bit of old

As expected, the third generation Audi TT does not throw away the now familiar TT silhouette but rather chisels the edges while bringing back a few elements from its past. Certainly the biggest changes are upfront with a more pronounced hexagonal grille and slim angry head lights inspired by the recent quattro concept that are a departure from either of the previous generations of the TT. From the profile, the more pronounced fender flairs are more MKI while the roofline appears just ever so slightly more upright but is very much MKII. A very sharp character or tornado line in Audi speak is one of many that crisp up the TT. The slight kink at the C pillar is a new, if perhaps superfluous design element. At the back, the regular TT has twin exhaust pipes moved closer together a la the original while the TTS has a more traditional wider stance. The hatch mimics the front with a hexagonal design element for the license plate area while the retractable spoiler juts out just a tiny bit when down as on the A6. This time around the TTS receives wider rocker panels and emphasizes the grille with bright work, setting it farther apart rom its base model. The current TTS is too easily mistaken for its regular brother. Overall, the first impression is remarkably familiar but a closer look reveals an advanced design. How well this translates to the real world is yet to be determined but the first few live shots give the TT more credit than the media shots. The current TT is still an attractive design so it's hard to fault Audi for not messing with the shape but rather working on the details even if you are left with wanting a little more.

                 

Observations from a non major autoshow

LA, Detroit, Chicago and New York comprise the major auto show circuit in the US that gets the coverage, but you can find an auto show in any major convention center. KWF set out to find out what kind of an automotive experience one can have at these other shows and see what we can observe. No world debuts to catch, no concept cars to see, is this even worthy of being called an auto show? While lacking all the flash and glamour of the big shows you still get an opportunity to see almost every make and model on the market today.  What follows are random observations after numerous hours of looking up and down from all angles, sitting in every back seat and stroking every dash.

Geneva Preview: Audi TT MKIII

Toughest job in the automotive design? A tossup between creating the next generation of a retro inspired model and creating the next generation of a style icon. In both cases you have to make progress, give your creation a fresh new look but you are limited with how far you can push the boundry. Go too far and you break the lineage and upset some people, do too little and you are guilty of being lazy and unimaginative. Surely a sought out challenge for many designers, but the reality is that aside from the Beetle, Mustang and 911 there are few other examples of sucess with multiple generations of a unique design. The Audi TT faces the same dillemma, the first generation had as big of an impact on automotive design as any. The second generation brought a modern design that was undoubtedly stylish yet didn't capture the hearts in the same way. Sportier dimensions were offset by a look that made the TT blend in a bit more with the rest of the Audi lineup. In just a couple of days we'll find out what Audi brings for round three, from first glance the shape is very much second generation but the previously released sketches hint at some first generation influence. It certainly doesn't look like the newest TT will betray its namesake but will it advance its game enough to satisfy the critical?

 

Geneva Preview: Future? Shape of Volvo

Imagine the shape of a Volvo, the commercial asks. Curvy and swoopy is what comes to mind even if you are supposed to think boxy as you remember the last Volvo you saw. When was the last time you even saw a Volvo? Volvo has been making pretty curvy cars for a generation now even if its legend has been built on boxier shapes. The updated S60 and XC60 are curvier still as the commercial shows, and the V60 is pretty far away from the traditional Volvo wagon shape as you can get. It can masquerade as any other brand easily. Yet, just as the public finally imagines a curvy Volvo and forgets all about straight edge Volvos for good, the company is unveiling concept after concept that brings back edges. The latest estate concept from Volvo looks closer to what Volvos did last decade and it would not be a stretch to say that it certainly fits better in my dream of how a Volvo should look. It's evident that Volvo realizes that perhaps it went too far from its roots in its most recent cars and is now looking for a sharper design more coherent with its past image. And it's not a bad thing at all as the last few concepts have been interesting.  Perhaps the long overdue XC90 will be more chiseled than curvy regardless of what the latest commercial sells us.

 

Geneva Preview: Mini Fixes Its Biggest Mistake

Guess who's back? Back again. After a lengthy hiatus Kill It With Fire is back to blogging about cars. Going forward the goal will be to cover the day's most interesting automotive story. Occasionally, longer features will deviate from the plan from time to time.

Mini, as a brand has enjoyed a unique trifecta of almost unanimous praise from the media, respect from auto enthusiasts and appreciation from the general consumer. A brand that started with one core product and developed more variations than one can keep separate has made few mistakes. If one had to pick its weakest product, the easy choice would be the Clubman. A Mini that just never quite looked right as if someone forgot to check the "constraint proportions" box when enlarging. Looking a bit too long and narrow for its own good (Ford Flex syndrome) the Clubman clearly showed that Mini was too cautious in expanding its lineup in fear of critics claiming that "it's no longer Mini". The half-hearted Clubman effort was lukewarm critically or sales wise and Mini has done much better with the better proportioned yet "roots forgetting" Countryman. The Paceman follow-up was even better and for the second generation Clubman, Mini ditches the stretched look for a proportional Paceman inspired design. No longer is the Clubman an afterthought to fill a niche but rather a product with its own identity and direction from the start. In all honesty I would have not been surprised if the Clubman never made it to the next generation as it seemed redundant after the Countryman but apparently there is space in-between and this time around it won't be so awkward.

Sizing up the proposed VW Mid Size SUV

Volkswagen has supposedly finally figured out how to compete in the American marketplace by building in America and adapting its cars to American tastes, essentially doing what other imports have done for decades. With this newfound wisdom come significantly higher sales expectations from management, perhaps too optimistic as judged by most critics. With the Jetta doing better than ever and with the Passat finally competing in the midsize segment VW has its sights set on entering new segments like crossovers.  As with the new Passat, VW would be far too late to join the segment to even pretend to be fashionably late, but as with the new Passat the final product should be more than competitive, see Passat's comparison record. With Volkswagen of America CEO officially confirming a midsize SUV many went ahead and placed it between the Tiguan and the Touareg sizewise. While the long rumored midsize Volkswagen SUV will definitely be priced between the Tiguan and the Touareg it is quite likely that it would actually be slightly bigger than the Touareg. Think the difference between the Passat and the CC. Just as the previous generation Passat was a few inches short of its competitors the Touareg is a couple of inches short of comfortably fitting a third row seat which is requisite for the class. In fact the yet unnamed, hopefully easily pronounceable , SUV  is likely to at least match the Passat lengthwise to compete with the GM Lambda triplets, Ford Explorer, Dodge Durango, Honda Pilot and others.  Here is a guide as how the VW competitor might look like.

May 2012 Sales Recap

With supplies issues essentially behind them Toyota and Honda were able to post incredible sales increases compared to their May 2011 figures and even surpassing 2010 figures by a significant margin as well. Elsewhere the Chrysler Group continued its strong sales increase of the past year with surging sales at Chrysler itself, Jeep, and Ram brand. On the luxury side Lexus and Acura followed their parent brands with sales returning to previous levels while Mercedes achieved a nearly 20% sales improvement over last year. Overall May 2012 versus May 2011 sales were robust whichever way you look at it with only a couple of brands declining over a year ago. Of note was the Chevy Volt's strong month of 1,680 sales compared to the LEAF's showing of 510.

Of course as good as May was some were clearly expecting a little more perhaps indicating a possible slowing down in June or perhaps just a desire run an article about missing expectations while nearly doubling your sales.