Rumored Bentley SUV refuted
Filed under: Bentley Author:
Reuter was clear in denying the rumors, saying "Bentley Motors is the maker of powerful, luxurious, grand touring motor cars and an SUV simply does not fit with our model lineup. We have no intention of producing the vehicle described in these reports."
From our own talks with Mr. Reuter, we know that Bentley doesn't intend to tarnish its exclusive image by becoming a volume seller, and the success of the Continental GT and Continental Flying Spur have already increased the brand's overall sales to nearly its maximum target volume.
In the first half of this year Bentley has already attracted the highest U.S. sales of the Exotic 8, which also includes, Lotus, Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Maybach. Seems like Bentley's doing just fine without an SUV in its lineup.
[Source: Winding Road, Automotive News]
Rolls Royce the car of choice for ultra-rich
Filed under: Bentley Author:
Illustrating the fickle nature of the ultra wealthy, a new survey of 500 bona fide rich people conducted by the Luxury Institute reveals that Rolls Royce is the most luxurious brand of 2006, a position that was held by Maybach last year.
"Too many luxury firms are looking to 'Wow' the client with extraordinary, but fleeting, gimmicks," says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, who performed the survey. "First and foremost, the wealthy want these firms to simply execute the fundamentals of each customer experience extraordinarily well. Consumers have spoken and Rolls Royce is the ultra-luxury brand they recommend to their peers most often."
Brands in the survey included Aston Martin, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Rolls Royce. The participants, who were required to have a gross annual income of at least $200,000 and a net worth of $5,000,000, said only Rolls consistently provided superior quality, reputation, and service. Only in social status did Maybach beat Rolls Royce.
Of course, what's the point of ranking these brands when you can afford to buy one of each?
[Source: Luxury Institute via The Auto Channel]
Going odd: Audi A7 renderings
Filed under: Audi Author:
CG cars assault us from all angles, whether we know it or not. These days, much of what we see in car spots on television is created from bits of data, not bits of ore. No matter, the renderings are still labor-intensive to produce. For spots, the animators are often working with CAD files provided by the manufacturer's engineering department. The ability to create a CG car out of thin air is a boon to the concept-rendering community as well. An obvious example of CG's capability is the recentSuperduty Superbowl ad. Less obvious use of CG can be found in Jeep's "Bigger, Deffer" spot, where the entire Wrangler is assembled out of 0's and 1's.
French digital artist extrodinaire Gabriel Rabhi has harnessed processor cycles to create an Audi A7 out of pure conjecture. Of course, there is no such thing as an A7 (yet), but rumors abound. Rabhi created the car as a skill-building exercise, to get a better handle on modelling techniques for complex objects. The multiple facets of an automobile's structure and skin are time consuming and often difficult to model. Cars are created almost entirely out of complex curves, and the only way to geometrically model such an organic form is by using NURBS curves. If it sounds complex, that's because it is.
Conclusion plus more photos after the jump
[Source: fourtitude]
Complexity aside for a moment, the real key to doing any kind of work like this is a healthy love of automotive form. Being a skillful digital animator is definitely important, but if you don't understand how form works in the automotive world, your cars will never look realistic. Mr. Rabhi admits that his flight of fancy isn't entirely perfect, but its born from a lifelong love of drawing cars. Clearly, he's been practicing a long time. There are some awkward elements, though, like the character line that runs across the upper third of the bodysides. We like the way it suggests motion and musculature, but the way the rear and front arched elements blend into the doors isn't entirely smooth. Of course, the design studio would have a team of people standing back and looking at this thing. For the work of one guy and his imagination, it's extremely well turned out, and Rabhi himself admits that its not perfect. The render is very realistic looking, and the lighting serves to highlight where he got the surface correct, and point up areas where some more definition would be called for were this car non-fiction. Mr Rabhi has expressed interest in becoming a real car designer some day for a brand like Audi. Judging from these efforts, he's well on his way. He can design up our AutoBlog Speedster Special when we get around to building it. In the meantime, he's turned his talents on the much-ballyhooed A1.
KTM X-Bow scheduled for Geneva debut
Filed under: Audi Author:
This time last year, rumors of a joint collaboration between Audi and motorcycle manufacturer KTM to build a lightweight, street-legal, track toy began to surface. Finally, after a year of speculation, a series of miscalculated renderings and a few hard facts, it's official: KTM will be unveiling the X-Bow in Geneva next month.
Notice however, that we only said KTM. According to Brit-pub EVO, Audi contended that if the four-rings were affixed to the bonnet, the lil' track terror would have to be weighed down with pesky safety equipment, like airbags. KTM wasn't wiling to let their baby go down like that, so they took it upon themselves to continue the project sans-Audi.
EVO has seen the X-Bow and says that there are three prototypes that are currently being built. The first is for chassis tuning, the second is doomed to crash tests and the third will be slobbered on by those of us attending the Geneva show.
As for the techy-tidbits: the six-speed manual version will tip the scales at just over 1,500 pounds, with an Audi-sourced DSG adding an additional 44 pounds. Power will come from Audi's 2-liter, inline-four turbo which should be producing anywhere between 220 and 300 HP and the engine will be placed in such a way that the added weight of the driver will balance out the chassis.
You'll also notice that the X-Box lacks a windshield, due to the fact that European law requires that if there were a windshield, the manufacturer would have to add wipers and a defogging system. Instead, buyers will get a set of custom helmets to protect them from the elements, and when not in use they can be stored in a little cubby in the cabin.
Testing has already begun and EVO reports that sales will begin during the latter half of 2007, with a one-make race series coming in 2008. Salivating much? We are.
[Source: EVO via Jalopnik]
Time To Shine: Audi Looking to Grow Sales in US
Filed under: Audi Author:
In Europe, Audi is a brand to be reckoned with. Globally, Audi
is only behind such juggernauts as Mercedes and BMW for luxury supremacy, with sales of 903,000 vehicles worldwide. Here in the USA, however, Audi is playing catch-up. With only 90,000 sales, Audi is currently behind Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Cadillac, Acura, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Volvo. As a matter of fact, both the
Lexus RX 350 and theBMW 3 Series best the Audi brand on its own. Only the A4 puts up respectable numbers, totaling about 50,000 sales in '06. Well, nothing increases sales numbers more than new product and right now Audi is in the middle of launching 19 new products between 2005 and 2007. The A3 and Q7 have been in the market for some time, the TT, R8 and recently spied A5 are coming just around the bend.
With all the new products coming on board, the next step for Audi will be to improve its image and get its vehicles to the forefront of customers minds. To do that, Audi executives are looking to improve marketing, dive head-first into internet-based ads, and add more exclusive Audi dealers. With Americans looking more and more at luxury vehicles as a source of expression, Audi is executing its strategy at the right time. Audi's long-term goal is to produce 1.4 million vehicles by 2015. That would give the German automaker about 80,000 more sales than the BMW group had in 2006. Good luck, Audi. Good luck.
[Source: Auto Week]
