Hyundai Equus: White knight or dead horse?

While other auto companies are rapidly shifting into reverse, Hyundai is pushing forward with plans to introduce its first super-luxury sedan, the Equus, to America. First seen at the New York International Auto Show, the Equus will be displayed nationwide this summer as Hyundai seeks to gauge public reaction to this high-end model. (See "The Genesis of Hyundai’s luxury brand?")

In Asian markets, the Equus competes with the prestige-brand flagships such as the BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS, and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. It’s a big, rear-drive cruiser that is a step up in size and price from Hyundai’s upscale Genesis sedan, upon which it is based. Should the Equus be sold in the U.S. market, it would likely come with the same 375-hp, 4.6-liter V8 used in the top-trim Genesis, plus the full panoply of high-end, high-tech interior amenities one expects in the luxury class.

South Korea’s Hyundai has come a long way from the old cheap-and-crummy days to become one of the top brands in quality and reliability. The Equus shows just how far the company has come.

Today, we recommend most current Hyundai models we’ve tested, which is nearly all of them., The question for consumers is how much “image” they’re willing to give up for the sake of underlying quality and value. The luxury market is hard club to join, since so much depends on positive buzz and intangible curb appeal. The key issue of price is not yet settled, either. USA Today speculated that the Equus would weigh in at around $75,000, comparable with the base BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz flagships. But that’s not the formula Hyundai has followed so far, or indeed, the formula used by Toyota when it launched the Lexus brand. To succeed, the price would probably have to be lower, say under  $60,000.

The Lexus LS met rapid acceptance because it was a terrific car that started out much cheaper than its European competitors, and because it promised Toyota-levels of reliability, something the Europeans still aspire to. Hyundai plowed the same furrow with the Genesis. The V6 version is equipped like a $50,000 car but is priced in the mid-to-high $30s. Therefore, we would expect that Hyundai would try steal a march on the $75,000 luxury corps by starting Equus pricing much lower than that.

Hyundai’s foray into the deep end is not so much a plunge as a toe in the water. The Equus has already launched in South Korea, and the company plans to import only about 100 of them into the U.S. this summer, serving equal parts consumer survey and marketing tool. This approach has much upside, and it reduces the risk of a potential flop, like Volkswagen had with the pricey, heavy Phaeton a few years ago. If the Equus has legs, then Hyundai will have only to ramp up production for its U.S. model as needed. 

How do you think the Equus would be received in the States?

—Gordon Hard

Tata leaves Jaguar/Land Rover alone

At the New York International Auto Show, we caught up with Jaguar Managing Director Mike O’Driscoll. Now that Ford has sold the companies to Indian conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd., we asked him how it was going and what’s changed.

New product plans are moving forward, he says. What’s changed is that no one is looking to base Jaguars and Land Rovers on platforms designed for other cars. The companies’ products will have to be profitable all on their own.

“We’ve gone from Ford management to Tata ownership,” O’Driscoll says with a smile.

—Eric Evarts

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

The Genesis of Hyundai’s luxury brand?

It’s all about dropping hints.

Sometimes the most important revelations at auto shows are buried beneath the headlines, or cavalierly floated as trial balloons. A hint at the automakers’ future intentions was slipped into a speech introducing the Hyundai Nuvis concept car at the New York International Auto Show.

In giving the usual generic corporate intro to the new concept car (“sales up in a down market, market share gain,” etc.), acting President and CEO John Krafcik referred to the Korean-market only luxury Equus sedan on the Hyundai show stand and asked the audience to imagine Equus “as the cornerstone of a premium Genesis line” of Hyundai models.

Hyundai already has two Genesis models: The Genesis luxury sedan and the new Genesis sport coupe. Although the two share their V6 engines and basic rear-drive platform, they are aimed at completely different audiences. The luxury Genesis sedan, priced in the mid-$30,000s, competes against a wide range of sedans, from a Toyota Avalon to luxury German marques, undercutting the Europeans by thousands. The Genesis coupe competes with anything from a Ford Mustang to an Infiniti G37 coupe, again undercutting much of the competition’s price.

What do you think? Is Hyundai trying to beat Toyota at its own game, introducing a discount luxury brand to undercut Lexus? And if so, would you buy one?

—Eric Evarts

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

Earth Day: Future panel says electric cars are inevitable

We’ve seen the future of the car, and at least some of them are electric.

That was the conclusion of a panel discussion about on The Future of the Automobile at the New York International Auto Show. The discussion was interesting, and the highlights seem relevant on Earth Day.

The three-member panel, presented by Newsweek magazine, included Henrik Fisker, the man behind the luxury plug-in hybrid planned for early next year; Lou Rhodes, head of advanced vehicle development at Chrysler, and head of the company’s electric vehicle program; and Kevin Smith, editorial director at Edmunds.com.

The highlights:

• As many as half the cars sold in 2020 will be electric cars, hybrids, or plug-in hybrids.
• Since the other half (at least) will not be, it is important to continue to improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines.
• Automakers are improving the efficiency of gas engines by one- to two percent a year. This will not be enough to meet upcoming fuel economy and carbon emissions standards.
• These upcoming electrified cars won’t be boring. It’s human nature for people to make purchase decisions based on emotion, rather than logic. So automakers will have to find ways to make the cars fun and/or good looking.
• Electric cars will help automakers create more interesting designs. The car companies will be freed from the packaging constraints of traditional internal-combustion engine power trains. New flat battery packs can go under the floor, electric motors are small, and other components can be placed most anywhere.
• The electric cars showing up at auto shows today don’t have many of these advantages, because they’re based on existing cars to keep production costs down.
• Batteries are still much too expensive and have limited longevity. While engineers are working on these issues, costs will not come down significantly until enough electric cars are sold to bring greater efficiencies from mass production.
• Since the gasoline engine in plug-in hybrids (in which only the electric motor is attached to the wheels) only acts as a generator, they don’t need advanced technology and should be much cheaper than the engines available today. (Fisker said he’s looking to spend $500-800 wholesale, on gasoline engines for upcoming plug-in hybrid models.)
• The future of cars with 7.0-liter V8 engines will be in museums.

These plausible predictions suggest the near future will be an interesting, and maybe even electrifying, time in the auto industry.

—Eric Evarts

Learn about driving green in the Consumer Reports special fuel economy section

 

Happy Birthday, Mustang! Share your Mustang story

Today marks the 45th birthday of the Ford Mustang, which was first shown to the public at the New York World’s Fair on April 17, 1964.

Ford introduced fairgoers to the Mustang at the Magic Skyway exhibit, where various Ford models including 12 Mustang convertibles were drawn through a Disney-designed vision of world history, from the dinosaurs to the “City of Tomorrow.” The voice of Walt Disney himself narrated the automated journey, piped through the cars’ radio speakers.

Henry Ford II handled the official Mustang unveiling duties and introduced the Magic Skyway. Some show attendees queued up in long lines for the Disney spectacle, others simply wanted to ride into the future in what would become an American icon. As a raving young gearhead, I fell into the latter category, and my parents were kind enough to let me slide behind the wheel for the ride. I’m not sure I even noticed the dinosaurs.

 Mustang sales took off from day one, with customers flocking to dealers even as the exhibit opened, and some 22,000 were sold the first day. First-year sales topped 400,000 units, far beyond the original projections of 100,000 cars. The Mustang was off at gallop to become what is now the longest-running nameplate in the company’s history.

As a lifelong car enthusiast, I have fond memories of being there for the birth of the Mustang, and it is with the same sort of youthful enthusiasm that I look forward to getting behind the wheel of the revised 2010 model.

Everybody has a Mustang story. What’s yours? Post in the comments below.

—Jim Travers

2009 New York Auto Show: Mini charges up Mini E customers' garages

At the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, Mini introduced the Mini E, a battery-powered Mini Cooper that it will lease to 450 consumers in California, New York, and New Jersey starting in May. With one sitting on the show-floor at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, we decided to check in on the project to see how it’s progressing.

The cars have been built and Mini has chosen the applicants who will get the cars to drive for a year, said Nathalie Barthmuss, a Mini spokeswoman. But before the cars are delivered, Mini is sending electricians to the customers’ homes to install 48-amp/240-volt charging outlets in the garage or where the cars can be recharged. With that kind of power, the Mini E's giant, 35-kwh battery pack can be recharged in about three hours. Using a regular 12-amp/110-volt outlet, it would take 26.5 hours.

The lithium-ion battery pack is more than twice the size of the one in the upcoming Chevrolet Volt and takes up the Mini's whole back seat. It gives the car a range of about 100 miles and will only cost about $3.30 to "fill up."

Still, it would only cost about $6 to drive a standard Mini Cooper the same 100 miles. And the monthly lease would cost a whole lot less than the E's $850-per-month lease price.

More info on the Mini E.

—Eric Evarts

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

2009 New York Auto Show: Behind the wheel with Ford Active Park Assist

Ford will soon roll out a self-parking system that promises to help the parallel-parking challenged sit back and let the car do the work. Much like the system introduced by Lexus a couple of years back, Ford’s Active Park Assist lets the driver sit back and watch the steering wheel spin back and forth as the car glides smoothly into an available space. But unlike the Lexus system, this one promises to be truly usable in the real world – at least some of the time.

Impressive as the Lexus system was when we first tried it, it had severe limitations in the name of safety. (See our claim check video on the Lexus self-parking system.) If you pressed the gas, it canceled out, making backing into a space on a hill impossible. It also needed a lot of room, because it had to get into a space on one try. It couldn’t jockey back and forth.

Active Park Assist addresses both of those concerns, and in a brief test drive, it got us into a space set up in front of the convention center several times without incident. It eased a demo Lincoln MKS back and forth into a space, relying on the driver to avoid hitting cars in front and back with the aid of ultrasonic sensors, a camera and audible signals. But the system still couldn’t be relied on to consistently get us close to the curb, neatly lined up with cars in front and back.

Still, progress is being made, and maybe parallel parking skills are destined to go the way of the manual transmission and clutch.

Active Park Assist will be available on the Lincoln MKS this summer, and it will follow on the Ford Flex, Escape, and Mariner in the fall. Ford says the price will be less than $1,000. 

—Jim Travers

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

2009 New York Auto Show: Will the Ford Transit Connect with families?

In an effort to gauge consumer interest in the Transit Connect van as a potential replacement for the family minivan or SUV, Ford is showing a version called the Family One concept at the New York International Auto Show.

With added side windows, under-floor storage for a folding baby stroller, video screens for the kids in back, and sensors linked to a dashboard screen that can alert parents if a child seat is improperly installed, the Family One appears to be family ready. And better still, the in-dash screen can also let parents know if a wayward Rollerblade or some other piece of gear has been left behind, thanks to a radio frequency identification tag (RFID) inventory control system, like that used in the Ford Works System.

Electronic wizardry aside, the Transit Connect’s high ceiling, generous passenger room and cargo capacity relative to its small footprint, EPA fuel mileage estimate of 25 mpg highway, and $21,475 price tag should all make sense to non-commercial buyers. Seating for five will be available when it arrives this summer, but most non-commercial buyers will likely find the stock interior on the Spartan side.

It’ll be interesting to see whether buyers or aftermarket suppliers pursue adding a degree of personalization and more creature comforts to the Transit Connect. While Ford appears to be interested in seeing what develops, the carmaker seems unlikely to get creative with this people-hauling niche market until somebody else makes the first move.

But the possibilities are intriguing, and the Family One drew plenty of attention during the show’s media preview. In fact, it was among the most crowded show vehicles. You’d have to think customizers, young families who have outgrown their Scion xBs, and even motorhome makers all have their eye on the Transit Connect, too. 

While the RV market implodes, could the Transit Connect be the basis for a conversion van revival?

—Jim Travers

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

2009 New York Auto Show: Consumer Reports Videos

To further bring our New York auto show coverage to life, Consumer Reports Television joined our editors, engineers, and analysts at Jacob K. Javits Center this week. (Videographer/editor Brian Goldstein is shown here filming the Chevrolet Volt.) For video coverage, we chose to focus on significant new models that would be of interest to our readers. As a result, we have a mix of models, with some seen for the first time in New York, and a few others that had appeared at events previously.

All the auto show videos can be found within the OnLocation report on a video landing page and also on the appropriate model-specific page. In addition, all Consumer Reports videos can be seen in our video hub, and there you will find tabs for road tests, how we test cars, Top Picks, safety & gear, and auto shows. (These are available using the small tab button on that page.)

From the 2009 NY auto show, we produced segments on the Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Volt, Ford Taurus, Honda Insight, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Cube, Subaru Legacy and Outback, and Toyota Prius. Check them out to learn more about these new vehicles and also meet some of the Consumer Reports Cars team.

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

—Jeff Bartlett

2009 New York Auto Show: Driving the Volvo XC60 with City Safety

At the New York International Auto Show, I tried out Volvo’s low-speed collision avoidance system, dubbed City Safety. The demo was great fun, and the system might even be helpful to those of us who, in a moment’s inattention, are perfectly capable of crashing into the car ahead while inching through stop-and-go traffic—especially when dealing with NYC rush-hour traffic.

Volvo safety engineers had set up a short roadway of Jersey barriers in the parking lot outside the Javits Center, where the New York auto show takes place. At the near end was a 2010 Volvo XC60, and at the far end, a couple of hundred feet farther along, was a sponge-rubber object vaguely similar to a small car. The City Safety braking feature is a radar-activated low-speed collision avoidance technology. It is active only at speeds of 18 mph or less, and it fully stops your car only when traveling at about 9 mph or less. Between 10 and 18 mph, the system provides “mitigation” rather than complete avoidance. In other words, you may still hit the car ahead, but less forcefully.

With a Volvo rep riding shotgun, I was told to drive straight toward the target “car” at up to 10 mph and see what happens. Approaching the Red Grooms-like soft sculpture, the XC60 jammed on its brakes, preventing collision—as promised. With my foot on the gas pedal, the antilock brakes intervened with a satisfying crunch, and the SUV halted prior to impact with no more drama than found in the typical Big Apple cab ride.

Volvo says the system can prevent whiplash injuries in the car ahead, and perhaps whiplash to yourself that may arise from the rebound effect where your head snaps forward and then back. And even if no one is hurt, it goes without saying that any crash you avoid will save you a heap of trouble and expense. If you don’t want this safety nanny sharing the brakes with you, you can easily switch her off. And the system deactivates itself if you hit the brakes or take any sort of evasive maneuver, so it’s not second-guessing you constantly.

Dynamic collision avoidance is not new. A number of luxury cars employ some kind of autonomous braking, usually as part of their adaptive cruise control systems. But City Safe provides brake intervention in the urban environment, adding an extra measure of safety without requiring the driver to be using cruise control. City Safe is standard equipment on the XC60 and it will be standard on the S60 starting with its 2010 model year.

Volvo statistics show that 75 percent of all crashes occur at less than 18 mph and that such a system could prevent half of them. As it happens, Consumer Reports has just bought its own Volvo XC60, and we’ll soon have some real-life driving experiences to pass along. (See our first impression from the 2008 NYIAS unveiling in the embedded video above.) As the survivor of a Manhattan mishap or two, I like the City Safety concept. It helps reduce stress in a nerve-wracking drive, just like many of us had on the way home from the show.

—Gordon Hard

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.