There are classics in car design, such as ford's Mustang and porches 911, whose shapes have persisted with subtle variations for forty years. jaguar's XJ sedan is almost equally long-lived, but sales have dropped as it passed through many iterations that were all much too closely based--even the last all-aluminum model--on Sir William Lyon's original design. Now, finally, the XJ has a completely new shape, impressively handsome and vastly better, in terms of space and comfort, than any of its forebears.
The initial presentation to the American press at Hedsor House, an archetypical English stately home, was the best I've experienced in half a century of seeing new cars before their public showing: we were marshaled onto a second floor balcony overlooking the home's beautiful park and its long driveway. Two of the new cars--one of each wheelbase--approached and moved smoothly around the area so we could see them from every direction while Jaguar design leader Ian Callum talked about their design. Given that it is impossible to properly judge a new design until you have seen it in motion, this was a brilliant way to present a vitally important product.
With GM cutting its number of brands in half, those who remain in the General's employ now have both the opportunity and the obligation to define their roles, build unique products, and sell lots of cars. As one of GM's four surviving brands, buick owes a debt of gratitude to the Chinese market, where it is considered a premium marque. In the United States, the brand urgently needs to develop a similar cachet, and the 2010 Buick la Crosse is an effort to do just that.
Give KIA credit; it's not afraid to take on a monumental task. The ambitious Korean automaker didn't start selling cars in the United States until 1994, and a mere fifteen years later it offers a full range of vehicles, from the entry-level Rio sedan to the seven-passenger Borrego SUV to the spunky, funky Soul "urban passenger vehicle." As with almost every other carmaker, its sales are down this year (although Kia's 6.8 percent drop looks positively paltry compared with the double-digit dips suffered by most of its competitors). The faltering economy hasn't stopped Kia from forging ahead with its product plans, however. In fact, the automaker boasts that not only have there been no cutbacks, but in May, it spent more money marketing its products than during any other month in company history.
For 2010, the Range Rover gets a variety of upgrades aimed at improving the driving experience: both available engines have an extra dose of horsepower, the interior is even more luxurious, and the level of technology, both inside the cabin and under the skin, is more impressive than ever.The Look
We'll forgive you if your eyes can't detect the slight changes in appearance from a distance. In addition to a revised grille, LEDs around the headlamps and taillamps, and slightly different side gills with LEDs that function as turn indicators, the fog lights move from the front bumper down to the sides of the air intake. The current Range Rover has aged quite well, so only minor changes seem appropriate.
