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Bad news if you want to buy a Lexus LFA

November 23rd, 2009, 11:00 am by Matt Degen

Aside from the fact that Lexus will only make 500 of its $375,000 LFA super-cars, reports today have surfaced that the Torrance-based luxury automaker will only lease the cars instead of offering an immediate, outright sale.

Automotive News reports that Lexus will take the action to “head off speculators” when the 552-horsepower, 4.8-liter, V10-powered car goes on sale in January of 2011.

The site reports:

The company will offer only two-year leases for the $375,000 two-seater, said Brian Smith, vice president of sales and dealer development for Lexus division. Lexus will hang on to the vehicle’s title.

“If someone buys it the first month and then decides to sell it, that could be damaging for the ownership experience,” Smith said. “If it is not controlled and hits the speculation market, all bets are off.”

In the interview, Smith goes on to say,”We want people out driving the car and not just parking it in a museum or selling it at an inflated price.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: New cars • • | 4 Comments »

11/21 Weekend rewind: Did you see these stories on Auto Motion?

November 20th, 2009, 9:15 pm by Matt Degen
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Lots of automotive news and features to get caught up on from this past week, so let’s get right into it. Here’s a recap of what you might have missed in the past days on the Auto Motion blog. Click any link to check out the whole post:

Find out news when we do: Follow Auto Motion on Twitter at Twitter.com/mattdegen

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Tesla reportedly planning an IPO

November 20th, 2009, 3:10 pm by Matt Degen

The Tesla Model S is unveiled in Hawthorne on March 26

California electric-car maker Tesla to go public soon, according to inside sources.

Reuters is reporting that San Carlos-based Tesla is “outlining plans to sell stock and cash in on investor appetite for green technology and interest in battery-powered vehicles.”

The sources quoted by Reuters say an initial pubic offering is expected any day.

Reuters reports:

Tesla would mark the first public offering from a U.S. automaker since Henry Ford’s Ford Motor Co debuted its shares in 1956. The IPO represents a landmark in the resurgence of electric car technology that most carmakers had dismissed as impractical until recently.

The company’s chairman Elon Musk said early last year that an IPO was a possibility in either late 2008 or 2009.

But the financial market turmoil following the collapse of Lehman Bros. in the latter half of 2008 virtually shut down the IPO market. The appetite for IPOs has picked up since mid-September this year with a robust pace of new filings.

Tesla’s IPO would follow the successful debut of lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems, whose shares rallied 50 percent on their first day of trading on Sept 25.

Read the full Reuters report on Tesla.

Tesla currently produces a Lotus Elise-based roadster that runs on batteries and sells for more than $100,000.

In March, Tesla unveiled its coming car, the Model S (above). That car is a sedan that is expected to go on sale in 2011 and start at $49,900. It will compete with green cars from the likes of Irvine’s Fisker Automotive.

With the L.A. Auto Show just two weeks away, an IPO announcement could be centered around that.

Stay tuned for further developments.

More on Tesla:

Posted in: Green trends • New cars • • | 1 Comment »

These cars earn highest crash-safety ratings

November 18th, 2009, 11:09 am by Matt Degen

A new batch of cars have earned the designation “Top Safety Pick” by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for 2010.

This year, the parameters to make the cut were tougher than ever because vehicles had to show good roof strength to measure protection in the event of a roll over.

The new requirement for roof strength winnowed the winners from a record 94 in 2009 to 27 this year.

Subaru was the only manufacturer with a winner in all four vehicle classes in which it competes, the IIHS said. In total, five Subarus earned the Top Safety Pick (including the Outback, above).

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Ford Fusion named Motor Trend Car of the Year

November 17th, 2009, 5:33 pm by Matt Degen

Motor Trend magazine lauded the Ford Fusion with its Car of the Year award today, citing the 2010 model of the sedan as “Better, Smarter, Nicer, Prettier, Comfier, Leaner, Meaner, and Greener in Every Way.”

The mid-size sedan is available in several forms, including a hybrid version that we reviewed earlier this year.

Motor Trend states: “The original Ford Fusion came to market for the 2006 model year. The basics were there, but the car wasn’t fully baked. For 2010, Ford’s product teams gave the lineup a soup-to-nuts redevelopment so thorough, it’s as if the first-generation car never existed.”

Read more on Motor Trend’s selection of the Fusion as Car of the Year.

The Ford Fusion is available in seven models, as a front- or all-wheel-drive sedan with a four- or six-cylinder engine, or the aforementioned hybrid version that mates a four-cylinder engine with an electric motor to get up to 41 mpg.

The vehicle starts at $19,620.

In related news, the Detroit Free Press reports that billionaire financier George Soros’ investment arm today purchased $52.9 million in Ford stock.

In other news:

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First look: We get our paws on Dog Friendly Honda Element

November 17th, 2009, 10:27 am by Matt Degen
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Honda’s Dog Friendly Element officially went on sale today, and we’ve already put one through the wringer with the help of my canine companion.

The special-edition Element features a built-in crate behind the rear seats and a ramp that can be pulled out so your dog can walk on up. A plug-in fan keeps circulation moving back there, and there is also a water bowl affixed to the crate portion. The kennel can house a dog up to 80 pounds, Torrance-based American Honda says.

The crate features a plush, washable mat, and the whole contraption can be removed if you don’t want to house your groceries in the same place your pooch has drooled.

Other traits that distinguish the Dog Friendly Element from regular models include rubberized floor mats with a bone pattern, removable seat covers that also feature a canine theme, and some paw-centric badging on the outer panels.

The Dog Friendly edition is only available on spruced-up EX models of the new Element, which is available in two- and four-wheel drive. The package adds $995 to that of regular EX models, which start at $22,635 for the two-wheel-drive version and $23,885 for the four-wheel-drive model.

Under the hood is the same 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine making 166 horsepower and 161 pounds-feet of torque.

EPA mileage is a little disheartening: 20 city/25 highway for the two-wheel-drive and 19/24 for the four-wheel-drive model, which is what we are testing this week.

Stay tuned for our full review of the Dog Friendly Element after we are done with a full week of testing.

You can also read what Pet Editor Samantha Gowen had to say about the new accessories.

Follow the Auto Motion blog on Twitter: twitter.com/mattdegen

In other news:

Posted in: New cars • | 19 Comments »

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