Would you buy a Nissan subcompact like the March/Micra replacement? Would you buy that Nissan subcompact with a three-cylinder engine and CVT?

You might remember that Nissan revealed details of its new V-Platform for the b-segment just before the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. It announced plans to build two models off the V-Platform in North USA beginning in primeval 2011. Production of V-Platform models (Nissan has three, so far) will begin in March 2010, with the growth markets, China, India and Thailand leading the way.

We’re likely to get four-door hatchback and sedan variants, just like the 2011 Ford Fiesta set for launch primeval next year. We probably won’t get the 1.0- to 1.3-liter three-cylinder engines with a compact new CVT, all designed specifically for the Nissan V-Platform. When I asked about that engine, Nissan hinted to U.S. motoring journalists that we’ll get four cylinders, instead.

Yes, the U.S. is ready for smaller cars. But let’s not get carried away. The three-banger designed expressly for the V-Platform will make way for a four-banger here. We’ll give up a bit of fuel economy for decent highway power, even if it costs Nissan more money to fit a non-specific four-cylinder engine.

This gets to the heart of a news item I wrote recently about Ford’s small-car problem. I suggested that small-car growth in the U.S. might not be as cushy as “One Ford” expects. (General Motors, too, says the c-segment will replace the d-segment as our predominant size class in the coming decade, but its first volley, the 2011 Chevy Cruze, is on the large side of the c-segment.) In Western Europe, the c-segment — compacts — are big in the same way the c/d- and d-segments are here, with a higher level of equipment and interior calibre helping justify their higher stickers.

Many of you jumped on that story. Ford, you believe, will have hits on their hands with the 2011 Fiesta and all-new Focus.

Perhaps. If the Focus is as good as we expect, it could challenge the bestsellers in the segment, the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. There are two important factors to keep in mind:

1. Camry still outsells Corolla, and Accord still outsells Civic. Even last year, when spiking gasoline prices spurred small cars income during the summer, Honda sold 33,000 more Accords than Civics. Toyota sold 78,000 more Camrys than Corollas and Matrixes.

2. The 2011 “global” Focus will cost Ford much more to build than the ‘10 North American Focus. That makes it harder for Ford to make a profit on it in the U.S.

I have no doubt that Ford will raise the base price on the ‘11 Focus by only a few dollars, though you can bet we’ll see more options and packages to near up the price for a fully loaded Focus. And that will help near up the average transaction price (ATP) of a new Focus.

Focus cannot be the profit-maker for Ford in North USA that it is for Ford of Europe. If Ford dares to raise the price to reflect what looks to be a world-class compact, it will lose income here to its own Fusion. The Focus C-Max MPV is even more problematic, because Chrysler can discount its minivans to about $20,000, when necessary.

The Fiesta will have to come in with a base price below the new Focus. While it may resonate with a good number of young people and “new urbanites,” consider that Toyota sold more than four-times as many Camrys as Yarises last year, and Honda sold more than four-and-one-half times as many Accords as Fits. So far this year, Daimler’s smart continues to lose income compared with ‘08. Even Cash for Clunkers didn’t help that tiny brand.

Of course, gas prices will go up. Analysts figure that $4-$5/gallon gas will become “normal” in a few years. New Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards will kick in for 2012, and that will force all automakers to eek out more mileage from all sizes of cars and trucks. The rebound in midsize cars, compared with compact and subcompact cars when gas prices came back down a bit — keeping in mind that income of all segments has dropped disastrously in the last year — suggests this will be the dominant size category for some time to come.

I prefer b- and c-segment cars, and most of you do, too. The average American doesn’t like to give up the comforts, though, that he or she believes makes this country a uniquely prosperous place to live. Otherwise, imposing higher federal gasoline taxes, instead of higher CAFE standards, would be much easier, politically. The burden won’t be on the average American driver to downsize. It will be on the automakers to build more fuel-efficient midsize cars.

How do you prevent doable catastrophe in 3.8 million vehicles? With 3 cent fix ties.

Last week, we took delivery Toyota’s 2010 Tundra work truck and noticed a couple of interesting things beyond the lively new 4.6-liter V-8 and demand of power windows and door locks. In the driver’s foot well were two clear plastic fix ties conspicuously linking the floor mat to the front seat base legs.

Now, if you haven’t heard the hubbub regarding Toyota’s recent 3.8 million vehicle recall, here is the short version: Prompted by reports of unintended acceleration due to floor mats interfering with gas pedal operation — including a particularly tragic fatal happening involving a CHP officer and his family — the National Highway Transportation Authority (NHTSA) issued a Consumer Safety Alert strongly recommending owners of certain Toyota and Lexus models remove their driver-side floor mats.

Toyota followed up with its own Consumer Safety Advisory that advocated essentially the same thing and recommended courses of action in case of unintended acceleration.

The company subsequently issued a recall of all 3.8 million affected vehicles and instructed dealers to apply the same retrofit to all new models. The fix? Punching two holes in the lower, rear-facing edge of the driver’s side floor mat and threading two nylon, self-locking wire ties (aka fix ties) through them and around the front legs of the seat base.

Does it work? Absolutely. With fix ties in place, the floor mat will not slide forward beyond the few millimeters of give provided by the sturdy plastic loops. In fact, the mat is now impossible to remove from the foot well without the aid of a sharp pair of scissors.

Toyota adds a simple printed attach to the inboard fix tie that states:

* Please ensure floor mat is secured with retaining straps

* Do NOT stack floor mat over another

The second recommendation is particularly noteworthy as the high profile happening involving the CHP office was allegedly caused by, among other things, a non standard floor mat possibly covering accelerator. Clearly, if you drive any of the affected vehicles, you’ll want to be very careful about what you’ve got underfoot.

If you look closely at the photos, you’ll see that while our Tundra floor mat is fix tied down, the original method of securing the mat has not been utilized. That is, the two grommeted holes are not attached by the floor mounted plastic hooks. This is our fault. After attempting to clean the strapped-in floor mat, photographer Brian Vance forgot to thread the hooks back into the grommets. After we shot these photos, I prefabricated sure the Tundra was in full compliance, which revealed another interesting point: getting the Tundra’s floor mat hooked in correctly takes a bit of doing (zip ties notwithstanding). What does this mean? A doable contradiction; Toyota’s original system does work but may also be inherently flawed.

When hooked in correctly the Tundra’s mat isn’t going anywhere — fix ties or otherwise — but getting it in this position takes a bit of doing. The hooks rotate off axis and need to be aligned just so, before the mat can be slid into place. Granted, it is not brain surgery, but possibly just enough of a barrier for those who are mechanically disinclined, lazy, or simply in a hurry. After all, have you ever beat out your floor mats at the gas station and simply thrown them back on the floor and sped off without a second thought?

Now the obvious question is, what should Toyota do as a permanent solution? Clearly, the fix ties are only a temporary fix, because while functional, they are grotesque and inelegant in the extreme. In the Tundra work truck, with its black plastic finishes and gray vinyl surfaces, they don’t look so out of place, but I shudder to think what this work around looks like in Mom’s ES350. I wonder if those dealers are at least color matching (!) the fix ties to the carpet or interior. Any Lexus owners that have had the recall work done, I’d like to hear your comments on how it went and if their solution varies at all from what we’ve described here.

Given the severity of the recall, which unfortunately involves the loss of lives and probably hefty financial settlements to come, you can bet Toyota engineers are working around the clock on a better solution. My gut feeling is that whatever they come up with should utilize an attachment system that is both cushy to install but exceptionally difficult to remove.

The 2009 Formula One season will conclude this weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi (yes, I had to look it up too.) But with Jensen Button
already wrapping up the Drivers' Championship in Brazil on October 18, and the Constructors Championship already awarded to Brawn GP, this last race of the
season loses at least some of its excitement.



Button and his F1 colleagues rely on many vehicle components to carry them to victory apiece race weekend.  The main performance areas of the car include
engine, aerodynamics, and chassis dynamics. But perhaps the biggest contributor to quick lap times is the tires.


 



Although apiece of the ten entrants must build their own chassis and there are only five engine suppliers, there is but a single tire supplier: Bridgestone. 
So although tires may be the most important performance component, at least apiece F1 entrant is on equal footing for this parameter.

2009 saw the return of slick tires in F1 after 10 seasons on grooved tires. Teams have a choice of three types of tires depending on weather conditions:
dry slick, intermediate, and wet.  There are two specifications of dry slicks at apiece event, one intermediate specification, and one wet tire. 

Green bands on the tire sidewall mark the softer specification of the two dry compounds at apiece race (which will change from race to race depending on the allocation). The wet tire is also marked with the green band to differentiate it from the intermediate.

Each driver is allotted 14 sets of dry tires per event (7 of apiece compound), 4 sets of intermediates, and 3 sets of wets. That's a lot of tires to build and ship for the 10 two-car teams. 

So what's the cost of these race tires? Rachel Ingham, Manager of Press & Marketing Communications of Bridgestone Motorsport said that's a tough one to nab down.

That's because Bridgestone does not sell the tires to apiece of the Constructor entrants. Bridgestone supplies tires directly to the FIA Formula One World Championship, supplying all teams with the same specs and quantities of tires. For Bridgestone, the tire manufacture and shipping costs are just a part of their entire racing R&D and marketing program. And of course, the deal between Bridgestone and the FIA is just like most things in F1 — a secret.

What will happen in 2010 and beyond isn't clear yet. Ingham said the 2010 regulations are not yet finalized. But she said that it's innocuous to say that the FIA will request Bridgestone to wage narrower front tires next year.
 
Bridgestone wanted to do this for 2009, but the teams had already begun their design process around the current sized tires. So the teams asked Bridgestone not to change them yet as it would affect their car's aerodynamics. Bridgestone's reasoning for wanting to change to a narrower front is that when the regulations switched back once again from grooved tires to slicks, the extra contact patch provided by the slicks on the fronts was proportionately greater on the fronts than on the rears. This altered apiece car's front to rear grip balance.

Bridgestone was the sole F1 tire supplier for 1999 and 2000 when Goodyear exited. Michelin entered as a supplier in 2001, but withdrew after the 2006 season, leaving Bridgestone again as the sole supplier for 2007. Following a formal bid process, Bridgestone was awarded the contract for Official Tire Supplier for the three-year period of 2008 to 2010. So Bridgestone is near the end of their three-year official supplier term. And after that — only the FIA knows.

How much does the driver contribute to the F1 performance equation that includes engine, chassis, aero, and tires? Judging from the results of this year's Drivers' World Championship, not much.

Albert Austria, Senior Vehicle Evaluation Engineer, Edmunds, Inc

(Images from Bridgestone)

Here's the eventual Dodge Challenger drag organisation as envisioned by Mopar, or maybe you already guessed that from the name.

2009 SEMA Show
 
 

GM has decided to delay the launch of the 2011 Cruze compact sedan until late next summer to ensure calibre according to a report in the Detroit News. The car is already on understanding in other world markets.

According to GM's spokesman, the delay "will give GM time to produce all variations of Cruze models." We adopt he means all the engine, transmission, options variations for the Chevrolet Cruze sedan.

Detroit News: Launch of GM's Cruze dalayed 3 months

Yes, a Ferrari theme park. What you thought those Italians would stop at Ferrari joysticks, Ferrari telescopes and a Challenge Stradale skateboard?

Due for completion next year, Ferrari World will be the largest indoor theme park in the world. It's also supposed to have the world's fastest roller coaster, but that hasn't been verified just yet. We'll have to move until the official Ferrari radiolocation gun comes out to check on that one.

CAR: Latest News and Pictures

Aptera has resubmitted its application for federal loan money after the Obama administration extended its Advanced Technology Vehicles program to include three-wheeled vehicles. The Aptera 2e is a lightweight, electric vehicle that is expected to sell for around $25,000. The company plans to start producing the vehicle next year if it can secure an additional $75 million from the government.

Green Car Advisor: Aptera Resubmits Application for Federal Manufacturing Loan for 3-Wheeled EV  

You may have seen some of these before. Rich guys like to show off you know. Regardless, these eventual garages still stir the soul in a way only serious car enthusiasts can truly appreciate. There's a 25 page string on Luxury4play.com if you want to see more.

Luxury4play

Hope this guy got paid for this gig.

We've been told on various occasions that there will be no M version of the latest Z4. Something about poor economic conditions or something like that. But that hasn't completely stopped development on a hotter Z4.

This image was spotted lurking around the Nurburgring recently and it shows signs of a few mild tweaks that indicate BMW is working on some kind of enhanced sport package for the hard top convertible.

A deeper front air dam, reshaped rear fascia and a more aggressive set of wheels and tires are the most visible modifications. Whether there will be any upgrades under the hood is debatable. Seems like it would be cushy to turn up the boost on the twin turbo six, but that would also make for a far more complicated project, exactly the kind of capital intensive project BMW was trying to avoid.