Automobiles

Safety Agency Proposing Mandatory Event Data Recorders

By JIM MOTAVALLI

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Friday that it was proposing a new standard that would require light passenger vehicles built on or after Sept. 1, 2014, to have event data recorders, or E.D.R.’s, an earthbound and much less complex version of the “black boxes” long seen in airplanes. The rule will not apply to vehicles weighing more than 8,500 pounds.

It also will not result in a huge change to the status quo, because approximately 96 percent of model year 2013 cars and light-duty vehicles already have E.D.R. capability, the safety agency said. It also said that the cost for an E.D.R. was about $20, and that the total incremental expense associated with its new standard was approximately $26.4 million (in 2010 dollars). It identified 1.32 million light cars and trucks that do not have E.D.R.’s.

Perhaps because it isn’t a costly mandate, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is not actively opposing the standard, though it has some concerns about privacy and what the future might hold. Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the trade organization, which represents 12 automakers, said that the alliance was “genetically opposed to mandates.” She said the new requirement would simply replace “the current voluntary approach that has put E.D.R.’s in 96 percent of vehicles.”

Ms. Bergquist said she anticipated “further rule-making that will start to expand the data collection — it’s a two-step dance.” She said she expected a N.H.T.S.A. rule requiring rear-view cameras in new vehicles to be made public by the end of the year, but that the alliance considers today’s consumers smart enough to pick their own safety equipment from a widening list of options. “There are at least 19 different kinds of such driver assistance, including adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring,” she said. Read more…

Automotive Diversions of the Non-Driving Kind

By NORMAN MAYERSOHN

This weekend’s Automobiles section offers six brief reviews of recent books that readers may want to consider as holiday gifts or as additions to their own bookshelves. Covering a broad range of interests – pop culture, famous racers and marque histories are among the selections – they are evidence of a healthy ecosystem in the realm of automotive literature.

Among the books considered for review, one that did not lend itself to a conventional appraisal was “Joe’s Junk Yard,” a 143-page volume of photographs by Lisa Kereszi (Damiani, $45). There are explanatory pages by the photographer, who is on the faculty of the Yale School of Art, but it is the images, and their supporting context, that provide the book’s main attraction.

Ms. Kereszi is not a disinterested observer here, an artist with a camera simply making well-imagined images of used-up vehicles. The junkyard was her family’s livelihood through three generations, founded by her grandfather in Pennsylvania and serving as a gathering place and her creative inspiration. There are pages drawn from family albums and scrapbooks, portraits of relatives and acquaintances, landscapes strewn with ruined sedans and blown-up engines. Some might be characters from a Bruce Davidson essay, and there are scenes that may remind you of Lee Friedlander’s work; Ms. Kersezi cites Walker Evans and Robert Frank among her influences.

I can well understand the attraction of the place – many hours of my younger years were spent wandering grimy piles of cast-off vehicles — but the draw was purely mechanical. I searched for a usable transmission that would work in my ’57 Bel Air, not a still-life composition of carburetors, fenders and bald tires.

The clarity with which Ms. Kersezi compiles images, family history and the decline of a way of life make “Joe’s Junk Yard” a book that goes well beyond a photo collection. The individual pages are not all important works of creativity, but taken together with the words and the personal documentation, it is a volume worthy of examination.

Aston Martin, With New Cash, Moves to Next Step

By JERRY GARRETT
The Aston Martin Virage Coupe Year of the Dragon 88 Special Edition on display at the Los Angeles auto show in November.Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The Aston Martin Virage Coupe Year of the Dragon 88 Special Edition on display at the Los Angeles auto show in November.

A high-stakes battle for the heart and soul, if not control, of the sports car maker Aston Martin has been settled in favor of the Italian private equity firm Investindustrial.

The Milan-based investment firm, which has about $4 billion worth of assets under its management, agreed on Friday to pump $241 million (£150 million) of new capital into Aston Martin, in exchange for a 37.5 percent stake in the company.

Mahindra Group, the $15 billion industrial conglomerate based in Mumbai, India, had also been bidding for a stake in the British company. Read more…

Consumer Reports Questions Ford’s Fuel Economy Ratings

By PAUL STENQUIST
The 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid.Ford Motor The 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid.

Consumer Reports said on Thursday that its tests showed the 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid and C-Max Hybrid fall short of the estimated fuel economy numbers assigned by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The E.P.A. figures that appear on the window labels of both Ford vehicles are 47-m.p.g. city, 47 highway and 47 combined. In the Consumer Reports tests, the Fusion Hybrid delivered 39 m.p.g. combined, while the C-Max Hybrid SE came in at 37 m.p.g. over all. The organization said the discrepancies between its test results and the E.P.A. figures were the largest it had seen among current models.

While the fuel economy numbers that appear on the window labels of new vehicles are published by the E.P.A., along with a disclaimer saying “your results may differ,” most E.P.A.-estimated numbers are determined by the automobile manufacturers in dynamometer tests that simulate a prescribed driving sequence. E.P.A. spot checks about 15 percent of the new car fleet in its own test labs.

“Early C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid customers praise the vehicles and report a range of economy figures, including some reports above 47 m.p.g.,” Ford said in a statement in response to the Consumer Reports test results. “This reinforces the fact that driving style, driving conditions and other factors can cause mileage to vary.”

Wesley Sherwood, a Ford spokesman, said an independent forum for C-Max owners has comments on fuel economy. Some who have posted there have done no better than the Consumer Reports tests, while others have been able to achieve close to or better than the E.P.A. estimates.

The Consumer Reports challenge to Ford’s fuel-economy numbers comes after Hyundai and Kia had to reimburse consumers for overstating the fuel economy of some of their vehicles. The E.P.A. uncovered those discrepancies when it investigated Hyundai and Kia mileage numbers after numerous complaints from consumers. The automaker subsequently admitted to having produced inaccurate numbers.

Consumer Reports, however, praised the fuel economy of the Hyundai Elantra in its tests of that vehicle, although the Elantra was among those cited by the E.P.A. In a video review, Tom Mutchler, a Consumer Reports automotive engineer, said the Elantra “gets very impressive fuel economy. We got nearly 40 m.p.g. on the highway in our tests.” In a test of the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, another vehicle cited by the E.P.A., Mr. Mutchler criticized the car’s on-road behavior, braking and handling, but praised its fuel economy.

Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for Consumer Reports, when asked in a telephone interview about the organization’s Hyundai results, said that although Hyundai and Kia had admitted that its window-label fuel-economy numbers were inaccurate, the Elantra and Sonata Hybrid achieved mileage figures close to the originally published numbers in Consumer Reports testing and in subsequent E.P.A. tests. He added that the organization has not accused Ford of falsifying test results and said that the 47 m.p.g. fuel economy numbers may well be what an accurately performed E.P.A.-cycle test revealed, but they could not be achieved in the Consumer Reports tests.

In reporting on the fuel-economy discrepancy of the Ford vehicles, Consumer Reports said that it had not yet concluded testing of the Ford Fusion and C-Max hybrids, but offered some initial praise of the vehicles, saying Fusion “is a solid well-rounded package, while C-Max is “a very practical package that also drives well. They further noted that the mileage achieved by the Fusion Hybrid and the C-Max Hybrid in their tests, while far less than the E.P.A.-estimated figures, was nevertheless very good, with Fusion’s 39 m.p.g. being the best of any family sedan tested, and C-Max placing second in its class, bettered only by the Prius V.

Wheelies: The Battery-Powered Edition

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Prismatic battery cells before they are stacked at the A123 Systems plant in Livonia, Mich.Stephen McGee for The New York Times Prismatic battery cells before they are stacked at the A123 Systems plant in Livonia, Mich.

In which we bring you motoring news from around the Web:

• The auction for the bankrupt battery maker A123 is under way, and at least four companies have qualified to bid, according to Inside E.V.’s. The four were the Wanxiang Group Corporation of China, NEC Corporation of Japan, Johnson Controls of Milwaukee and Siemens AG of Germany. The bidding was scheduled to begin Thursday and could take days because of the complexity of the deal. (Inside E.V.’s)

• Those driving dogs in New Zealand have nothing on 10-year-old Pepper the parrot. She gets around on a battery-powered buggy that she steers with a joystick. The Bird Buggy was built by Andrew Gray, a retired Navy officer who is working on a master’s degree in engineering at the University of Florida. (CNET)

• The Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has put his brand on another product: cigars. Earnhardt has joined forces with Ted’s Cigars on a mild-bodied, one-size cigar branded with his signature No. 88. The “88,” which is rolled in the Dominican Republic, is sold in packages of three or boxes of 10 or 25. The price for each cigar is about $12. (Cigar Aficionado)

• This week Honda marked a milestone, the millionth car it was exporting from the United States. The Japanese automaker says it plans to become a net exporter of vehicles in the United States. The car identified as the millionth export was an Accord sedan sold in South Korea. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

BMW 4 Series Goes Long and Low

By PHIL PATTON
The BMW Series 4 Concept.BMW of North America The BMW Series 4 Concept.

BMW models have been growing lower, longer and softer, as if they were being heated up, then gently tugged from each end. The new Concept Four released in advance of its appearance during press days at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January is longer, lower and less angular than the current 3 Series coupe, whose successor it seems to be.

It continues trends supervised by Karim Habib, who directs BMW brand design. Mr. Habib is credited with the current 7 series (Adrian van Hooydonk heads up design for the entire BMW Group as senior vice president).

The new model is also the beginning of a new and possibly more confusing numerical nomenclature for BMW models.

The company said in its release that “BMW has given the new model its own individual character and a stand-alone design – and, in so doing, has turned “4” into segment shorthand for aesthetic and dynamic appeal. The latest addition to a nomenclature that sees BMW building on the fine tradition of its large BMW 6 Series and BMW 8 Series Coupes, the “4” stands for greater sportiness, greater exclusivity and even clearer differentiation from the BMW 3 Series range.”

The 3 Series coupe, convertible and Gran Coupe models are to become 4 Series, with an added image of luxury and exclusivity, much as the sportier models of the 5 Series came to be denoted as 6s. In essence, all the coupes will be even numbered, but the company has not announced a formal change in its model naming policy. “For now, that’s the evident pattern but it’s not a rule,” Matthew Russell, a BMW spokesman, said in an e-mail.

At first glimpse the Concept Four seems most to resemble the 6 and 7 Series tweener called the Gran Coupe. It is Munich’s entrant in the four-door coupe contest to rival Mercedes CLS and Audi A7.

Representing the fourth generation of the 3 Series coupe, for more numerical confusion, the concept is very close to production, judging from comparison with past BMW show cars. It therefore also offers an important look at the overall themes of the evolution of the company’s 3 Series.

The critical theme of the new design is the shifting downward of air handling areas. The familiar kidney shaped grille is there, but the company says it is closed off. The serious business of feeding the engine takes place in a lower apertures whose form follows the LED headlights. These lower air vents are echoed in striking angled exit shapes along the rear valance, which will probably be toned down in the production model.

The metal frames and other details are executed matte metal. The current “double swage” theme of side character lines is made more striking. It leads to visual focus on the large rear fenders expressing BMWs traditional faith in rear-wheel drive.

Also on the side just behind the front wheels are new large parentheses-shaped side vents, which the company called air breathers. They appear to offer aero benefits and resemble the air curtain in front valance that smoothes air flow over front wheels.

Inside the car, familiar BMW forms are carried out in the idea of layering of information. The concept has attractive brown and black leather along with a lush chestnut wood.

The really cool braided leather cupholders are probably a designer’s whimsy for the concept vehicle. And if the flush door handles make it to the factory it will be a surprise as well.

Information about engine options and other beneath-the-skin facts will have to wait for Detroit’s press scrum.

Dogs Behind the Wheel? Bad News for Cats

By NEIL GENZLINGER

News out of New Zealand this week that dogs there are being taught to drive is discombobulating on so many levels that it’s difficult to know how to process it. A branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals there, as a stunt to show that dogs awaiting adoption are smart and have all sorts of potential, has apparently taught three shelter dogs to drive and will showcase their skills behind the wheel of a Mini Countryman in a television broadcast on Monday.

Yep, S.P.C.A. Auckland issued a news release saying that with the help of Mark Vette, a dog trainer, it had taught Porter, a 10-month-old Border cross; Monty, an 18-month old Giant Schnauzer; and Ginny, a 1-year-old Beardie Whippet cross, to drive (on a closed course, because the dogs are not licensed as motorists).

If this is true — though feel free to be skeptical, given that this is a country that has wasp-larvae ice cream and an annual gumboot-throwing contest — the mind reels at the implications. The public-service-minded David Letterman devoted part of his show Wednesday night to a discussion of some of the concerns, offering the Top 10 Signs Your Dog Is a Bad Driver. (“No. 7: Insists on driving with head out of window.”) But that only scratched the surface. Me, I’ve also been worrying about these things:

DID I SEE THE RED LIGHT? I DON’T KNOW, OFFICER, WHAT’S “RED?” According to authoritative-looking sites on the Internet, dogs see colors but not in the way humans do, and they are particularly bad at distinguishing reds and greens. Remember the havoc a few weeks ago when Hurricane Sandy knocked out so many traffic lights, and at intersection after intersection no one knew when to stop and when to go? Put thousands of color-impaired dogs on the road and that’s the new normal.

HOV LANES New York City’s Web site, when it gives the rules for the various HOV lanes around the city, uses phrases like “cars with two or more people” and “motorists who have three or more persons in their vehicle.” If I’m a driving dog, I read those regulations and think, “discrimination.” Teach dogs to drive and a class-action lawsuit by doggie drivers won’t be far behind.

THE GESTURE There’s a particular hand signal that we human motorists in the New York area use to express our displeasure with other drivers who have cut us off, taken our parking space or otherwise annoyed us. It’s safe, efficient and universally understood. But it’s a gesture dogs are not physically equipped to make. Yes, dog drivers would excel at literally barking at other motorists, but think of the noise pollution.

WHY WAIT? If you’re a dog, any stretch of land with a few trees is a rest area. Picture dog drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike. “‘Vince Lombardi Service Area, 18 Miles’? Are you kidding me?” If you want to see high-speed roads turn into perpetual 25-m.p.h. crawls, just add hundreds of dog drivers pulling to the shoulder at random.

REALLY, OFFICER, IT’S ME. BEFORE I GREW THE BEARD Let’s face it, unless it’s your bichon frisé, all bichon frisés look alike. Picture one of our beleaguered police officers, having pulled over a dog for running a red light that it thought was gray, as he scrutinizes the dog’s driver’s license, trying to confirm the I.D. Also, we all know that certain dogs — pit bulls, for instance — have a bad rep. A whole other type of profiling to worry about.

Maybe you have your own concerns about the coming epidemic of dog drivers. Feel free to speak up.

BMW Recalling 30,000 X5 Sport Utilities

By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN
The 2009 BMW X5 diesel.BMW of North America The 2009 BMW X5 diesel.

BMW is recalling almost 30,000 of its diesel-powered 2009-12 X5 sport utilities because the power-assist for the steering may fail, according to a report from the automaker posted on the Web site of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

BMW says it is possible that a bolt could loosen “due to a number of unfavorable contributing factors, including very low ambient temperatures.”

If the bolt fails, the vehicle would suddenly lose the power assist to the steering. That would require greater effort to turn the vehicle, which the automaker said “may increase the risk of a crash.”

BMW says the recall was prompted by an investigation earlier this year by Transport Canada, the Canadian counterpart to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There was no mention of any accidents related to the defect. In an e-mail, Matthew Russell, a BMW spokesman, said the automaker wasn’t aware of any accidents related to the loss of steering.

In June, BMW recalled about 2,600 X5 diesel models from the 2012-13 model year because those vehicles could suddenly leak power-steering fluid. That would result in the loss of power assist, and it could lead to a fire in the engine compartment. BMW said the steering gear was not correctly machined.

Enhancing Classics With Old-Car Style and Modern Mechanicals

By JIM MOTAVALLI
The Singer Porsche restomod.Jim Motavalli The Singer Porsche restomod.

Once shunned by purists, older collector cars and lookalikes fitted with modern engines, transmissions, brakes, electronic controls and sound systems are gaining new respect. Broadly known as restomods, cars that have been updated under the skin are as easy to drive, and often as safe and reliable, as a new model. And after modernization, these sought-after vehicles are unlikely to be garage queens, gathering dust.

The concept has friends in high places. “I’m a firm believer in upgrading old steeds with modern components,” Jay Leno, the comedian and enthusiastic collector, told Popular Mechanics. His 1925 Doble steam cars have Corvette front disc brakes; his 1966 Ford Galaxie has many improvements, including rack-and-pinion steering; and his 1955 Buick Roadmaster has a 620-horsepower General Motors big-block crate motor.

More and more companies are trying to make these sorts of enhancements into viable businesses. In California, Icon remakes classic Jeeps, Toyota Land Cruisers and Ford Broncos. In England, Eagle turns out new-old Jaguar E-Types. Many garages are willing to build classic Camaros and Mustangs to their owners’ specifications, with originality way down on the priority list. Even if you want to go green with battery power or a plug-in hybrid drivetrain fueled by ethanol, as in the latest version of Neil Young’s 1959 Lincoln-based Lincvolt, it can be done. If there’s one thing these sometimes handcrafted cars have in common, it’s that they’re very expensive.

Singer Vehicle Design, which opened in 2009, builds what the company’s founder and creative director, the former Lotus designer Rob Dickinson, calls “our expression of the ultimate air-cooled Porsche 911.” Prices vary, but the keys to one of these cars will cost more than $300,000. The cars feature custom-built carbon-fiber bodies that evoke classic 911s from the late-1960s and early ’70s, and are built with modifications on a later 964 platform. It takes six months and 3,500 man-hours to build one of the cars, Mr. Dickinson said in an interview. “The business case is a bit tenuous,” he said. “The car is very expensive, but it’s a halo vehicle that shows what the company can do.” Read more…

More Information for Used-Car Buyers May Soon Be Required

By PAUL STENQUIST

The Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday that it was considering revisions to the Buyer’s Guide that has been affixed to the window of used cars sold by dealers since 1995.

The Buyers Guide window sticker used in states that do not require used-car warranties tells a potential buyer whether the car is offered with a warranty and, if so, its terms. Also listed are the vehicle systems covered by the warranty, the duration of coverage and the percentage of any warranty repair costs paid by the dealer. An alternate version of the guide is used in states that require warranty coverage.

In a document on its Web site, the Federal Trade Commission said proposed changes to the guide “would empower consumers without adding burdens to businesses.” If enacted, the revisions would require used car dealers to add text encouraging consumers to seek vehicle history information, provide a statement in Spanish telling car buyers they can request a copy of the guide in Spanish and add catalytic converters and air bags to the list of included vehicle systems that appear on the guide. The new rules would also require boxes the dealer could check to tell consumers if the manufacturer’s new-car warranty still applied, if a manufacturer’s used-car warranty applied or if another type of warranty was offered.

John Hallerud, an F.T.C. spokesman, said in a telephone interview that the listing of catalytic converters and air bags could help prevent the sale of used vehicles where those parts are inoperative or missing. Mr. Hallerud added that incidents have been reported of air bag failures in used cars and of catalytic converters being removed for their precious metal content. Read more…

Petersen Museum Is Opening Its Vault to Visitors

By LARRY EDSALL
The bulletproof car ordered by the White House the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.Larry Edsall The bulletproof car ordered by the White House the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

LOS ANGELES — The Petersen Automotive Museum is opening its vault, the underground garage where it parks that portion of its 410-vehicle collection not on display in the museum’s first- and second-floor exhibition areas.

“It’s a part of the museum that has become almost legend,” said Chris Brown, a car designer turned museum information and marketing manager. “If you’re an enthusiast, you’ve heard about the vault of great cars at the Petersen. We get more and more people who keep asking, ‘Hey, how do I get down in the vault?’”

Beginning Dec. 15, you get down in the vault by signing up for a guided tour. Tours will be limited to 10 people at a time and will cost $25 on top of the regular museum admission fee.

“We wanted to come up with a new thing for people, a new reason for people to come to the museum,” Mr. Brown said. “We change exhibits all the time, but we want to take it to the next level and to offer something new.”

Currently, the museum’s showcase and “upstairs” exhibits include “Sculpture in Motion: Masterpieces of Italian Design” (on display through Feb. 3 and “Aerodynamics: From Art to Science” (through May 27).

Mr. Brown said tours of the basement will be offered only on weekends “until we can gauge people’s interest and see how many want to go and how well it’s working.”

“Down the road, if it proves to be as popular as we hope it is, we’ll extend it throughout the week,” he said.

I recently was part of a small private tour Mr. Brown led through the underground section of the museum’s garage area. In the vault were cars with star power, including Jayne Mansfield’s pink Lincoln, Audrey Hepburn’s Imperial, a Cadillac owned by Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Steve McQueen’s Hudson Wasp (a relatively nondescript car he used as a daily driver), and the Magnum P.I. Ferrari with a specially built seat and roof to provide room for the tall star of the series, Tom Selleck.

Also there were cars with political provenance, including the Bugatti given to the Shah of Iran as a wedding present from France, Saddam Hussein’s Mercedes and the first bulletproof car ordered new by the White House (and ordered the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor).

Of particular interest to auto enthusiasts are the huge and spectacular “round door” Rolls, the Ferrari given to Henry Ford II by Enzo Ferrari before those two quit speaking to each other and the red Bentley with “HOT ROD” license plates driven daily by Robert E. Petersen, the magazine publisher and founder of the museum.

The vault also houses several racecars and hot rods.

Jayne Mansfield's pink Lincoln caught in a garage version of gridlock.Larry Edsall Jayne Mansfield’s pink Lincoln caught in a garage version of gridlock.

Drive-By Deals With Valpak Coupons Coming Directly to Your Car

By CHERYL JENSEN
Ford and Lincoln drivers can find local deals through Valpak.Ford Motor Ford and Lincoln drivers can find local deals through Valpak.

Say you are out to combine an errand with lunch and your budget is being hit hard by holiday spending. Is there a restaurant nearby, you wonder, offering any coupon deals? And, because there’s more holiday shopping to be done, are there deals on clothing in the area?

Given that situation, would it be helpful to hear about personalized deals in real-time from businesses you are driving by?

Now, Valpak, a direct marketer of coupons, has linked up with the start-up company Roximity to deliver Valpak’s coupon deals directly to a car.

Those Valpak offers can be downloaded by only owners of Ford and Lincoln automobiles that have the Sync AppLink, which covers about one million vehicles, according to Ford. But Roximity is testing its system with Honda and Subaru, Daniel Newman, Roximity co-founder and chief executive, wrote in an e-mail. Read more…

Suzuki Reaches Settlement Pacts With 97% of Its Dealers

By MARY M. CHAPMAN
American Suzuki Motor Corporation has reached settlement agreements with 213 of 219 automotive dealers, the manufacturer said Tuesday.Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency American Suzuki Motor Corporation has reached settlement agreements with 213 of 219 automotive dealers, the manufacturer said Tuesday.

The American Suzuki Motor Corporation has reached settlement agreements with 213 of its 219 automotive dealers, Suzuki said Tuesday, nearly a month after the unit filed for bankruptcy.

The agreements are intended to compensate dealers and smooth their transition from automobile sales to warranty-and-repair providers for hundreds of thousands of Suzuki owners. The process “makes the dealers whole and puts them at the head of the line in terms of getting paid” during reorganization, said Rachel Rosenblatt of FTI Consulting, a Suzuki representative. Specific terms were not disclosed.

The final deadline for agreements that covers dealer in the continental United States, which are subject to bankruptcy court approval, is Dec. 28. The automaker said it is hopeful that it will be able to reach agreements with the remaining six dealerships.

“Based on dealer acceptances, we continue to believe our restructuring and realignment will be completed in a timely manner,” said M. Freddie Reiss, American Suzuki’s chief restructuring officer, in a statement. Agreements include the company’s top 50 dealers and represent more than 98 percent of the total volume of American Suzuki sales in the contiguous United States. Read more…

Can Lincoln Regain Its Relevance?

By NICK KURCZEWSKI
The Lincoln MKZ meeting the press Monday at Lincoln Center in New York.Mark Lennihan/Associated Press The Lincoln MKZ meeting the press Monday at Lincoln Center in New York.

Lincoln, as most people have heard by now, is getting a change of name, and a new midsize sedan designed to help the struggling American luxury brand regain its footing in the premium automotive segment. As the luxury division of the Ford Motor Company, the Lincoln brand began on Monday the process of reintroducing itself to car buyers at an elaborate display set, fittingly enough, in the outdoor plaza of New York’s Lincoln Center. Standing alongside the new MKZ sedan, which is scheduled to go on sale next year, was Alan Mulally, Ford’s chief executive, and Jim Farley, executive vice president of global marketing, sales, and service at Lincoln. The two executives extolled the virtues of Lincoln’s long history, the brand’s coming Super Bowl ad with Jimmy Fallon and, most of all, the importance of the midsize MKZ to the Lincoln’s effort to reinvent itself.

“Today we are announcing a new beginning for a brand that has been part of our company and the American fabric for more than 90 years,” Mr. Mulally said. “The new Lincoln brand will be defined by great new luxury vehicles, such as the new MKZ, that feature quality, unique style with substance and innovative technology.”

To many car buyers, however, Lincoln’s glory days are a distant memory. Recent models have often been tepid reinterpretations of existing (and cheaper) Ford-badged alternatives. While the MKZ does share its structural DNA with Ford products, the car’s elegant exterior design and improved engineering provide a premium feel that has been sorely lacking from the brand. Lincoln will eventually introduce seven new, or significantly revised, models from now to 2015. Read more…

Lowriding: This Culture Is About More Than Cars

By PHIL PATTON
A new book by an assistant professor at the University of Kansas examines the culture of lowriding.Adrian Romero, flacosfotos.com A new book by an assistant professor at the University of Kansas examines the culture of lowriding.

Lowriding is a social medium. That’s the message brought by an anthropologist who has spent years looking at those curb crawling, brightly painted, hydraulically athletic vehicles that have become a familiar image of Hispanic culture across the Sun Belt.

Ben Chappell, author of “Lowrider Space: Aesthetics and Politics of Mexican American Custom Cars” (University of Texas Press) and an assistant professor of American studies at the University of Kansas, discovered the world of lowriding when he was in graduate school at the University of Texas in Austin. “It’s about taking your car out in a caravan and making sure that people see it out in public,” Mr. Chappell said. “A lot of time, it involves finding an empty parking lot late at night and just hanging out. It’s a chance to talk about the cars, but also discuss what’s going on in the community. It was really a public sphere where people were talking about what was going on in their lives.”

More than a decade ago, Mr. Chappell said in a telephone interview, he began to spend time with the clubs and got to know the car owners. A widespread image of lowriders as dangerous, ganglike characters is generally misleading, he said.

“Owning a lowrider generally shows a lot of stability and responsibility,” he said. “You put in a lot of time and money into a car. You have to have your life in order and don’t want to put that at risk.”

Academics tend to stereotype lowriders as youth culture, he said. But the lowrider culture has been around since the early 1950s and includes people of many ages. “One thing they emphasize is that it is not a fad, it is a lifestyle,” he said. Lowriders move through stages of life, sharing relationships inside their clubs.

“I called the book ‘lowrider space’ because in effect they create a social space, an environment where conversation happens,” he said. A parking lot full of lowriders with their music can become a temporary social space, a public sphere like a town square or plaza. For Hispanic clubs in particular, this sort of community space may be especially attractive because discrimination in the prevailing culture has denied them access to other common spaces.

Read more…