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 When we’re sitting in traffic, top speed and quarter-mile times tend not to mean that much. What’s really important is how comfortable are the seats and how good is the stereo? With regard to the new Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan, the first question must remain unanswered until Dan Neil puts his tush on the case. But the other question can be answered now.
To call this system a stereo is to do it a grave disservice. Like Jaguar has its Harmon/Kardon and Lexus has its Mark Levinson, Hyundai has gone to Lexicon. This may not be a familiar name to many people, but almost everyone will have heard the fruits of Lexicon’s labor. The company’s products abound in every serious music recording studio and in many cinema sound facilities. Lexicon processing is heard on more than 80% of all professional audio recordings.
The only other car manufacturer that offers a Lexicon sound system is Rolls-Royce. So nothing too shabby. The mission is to reproduce sound as neutrally as possible, with the minimum of coloration and distortion, to be the most faithful of high-fidelity systems.
Mission accomplished. It surrounds the listener -- no matter where he or she is sitting -- with clear, detailed sound. It’s meaty enough to cope with heavy bass, even explosions on a DVD soundtrack, and sufficiently delicate to handle light cymbal touches. Door speakers are set into the metal to provide a vibration-free response, while the front screen and passenger windows are double-laminated to help insulate the cabin from exterior noise.
The system comes in two forms, the Premium Package Plus is the least expensive. For $3,000, it adds 18-inch wheels, rain-sensing wipers and a few other bit and bobs. The most significant being a 528-watt, 14-speaker setup with a six-CD changer in the dash and a compact 11-channel digital amplifier in the trunk. This system has the ability to take a conventional two-channel (stereo) recording and open it out so the listener feels more enveloped by the sound.
With the Technology Package, there’s a 17-speaker, 7.1 surround sound system (same wattage); that’s seven separate channels. This option costs $4,000, but it also includes such toys as a reversing camera, parking sensors, auto-cornering and -leveling headlights, and a cooled driver's seat. And in a way, it’s still a bargain; to get something sounding this good for a home system could easily cost twice as much.
It’s a more ingenious arrangement that can read DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 recordings and play them back through seven separate channels. Genesis owners probably will be tempted to go out to the garage, sit in the car and watch a DVD just for kicks.
 Lexicon’s engineers have been working with Hyundai since the car’s design stages, which has given a far better result than just trying to install an audio system as an afterthought. If Hyundai is to pull off this luxury-on-a-budget ploy with the Genesis, then it needs to be convincing in every relevant area. Audio-wise, it’s already there.
-- Colin Ryan
Photos: Hyundai
* This post updates an earlier version with corrected price information on the Tesla Roadster.
The pork barrel has gone high tech.
Generous tax credits for buyers of plug-in electric vehicles were among the incentives larded into the Wall Street bailout package this month to ensure its passage by skeptical members of Congress. Buyers of plug-in electric vehicles will be eligible for a tax credit of up to $7,500 based on the power of their batteries.
 Many environmentalists see plug-in electric vehicles as the next big advance in fuel economy beyond the current generation of gasoline-electric hybrids like the Toyota Prius. Unlike hybrids currently sold in the U.S., they will be able to travel considerable distances on electric power alone, with a gasoline engine or gasoline-powered generator providing backup power when the battery is depleted.
The vehicles have required costly development of a new generation of lithium-ion batteries — and that means they’ll be priced accordingly. GM’s Chevy Volt, slated to be in showrooms by November 2010, is expected to cost $30,000 to $40,000.
Supporters say the tax break will help defuse potential sticker shock.
“These kinds of tax credits will make it more attractive to an early adopter to put one of these vehicles in their garage,” said GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss. “So yeah, we’re happy.” ...
Continue reading We (tax) break for plug-ins * »
In news that came as a shock to nobody, General Motors' global sales slipped further behind Toyota's in the third quarter. After decades of worldwide sales leadership, it seems nigh inevitable that the General will cede the crown to its Japanese rival at the end of the year.
In the third quarter, GM sold 2.1 million vehicles worldwide, an 11.4% decline from the same period last year. So far in 2008, GM has sold 6.7 million cars and light trucks, a 5.8% decline from 2007.
By comparison, Toyota, which released its global sales figures Friday, sold 2.24 million cars in the third quarter, a 4% decline from the same period a year ago, and 7.05 million so far this year, essentially the same level its sales were at at this point in 2007.
Last year, GM pulled out a late victory, selling scarcely 3,000 more vehicles than Toyota worldwide, but that lead quickly evaporated and GM has trailed all year.
According to GM, total worldwide automotive sales for the third quarter reached 16.2 million, which the company said is down about 1 million from the nine-month total in 2007. With U.S. sales down 1.6 million units through September, clearly much of the blame lies in the fatherland.
Indeed, sales outside North America for GM were up 164,000 units, while North American sales were down 18.9%.
GM might want to set about revising its company description statement, which says: GM, "the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years."
-- Ken Bensinger
Photo: GM Chairman Rick Wagoner and Fujio Cho, chairman of Toyota Motor Corp.
Courtesy of General Motors
Wrecked Ferraris don’t fade away -– they just end up on EBay.
The 2003 Ferrari Enzo that actor Eddie Griffin famously plowed into a wall during a promotion for the movie “Redline” has been put back together and recently was offered for sale on the online auction site.
 The asking price was $1.2 million. It got 59 offers -- ranging from $950,000 to “$2 and a box of double-stuffed Oreos,” said seller Matt Groner, owner of Matthews Auto Sales in Houston. It didn’t sell and the auction is now closed, but Groner said he was negotiating with five potential buyers and was close to a sale.
Groner acknowledges that putting a value on collector cars that have been extensively damaged is controversial. The car was valued at $1.3 million before it was wrecked.
“It’s a car that has a history of hitting a wall, and some people will run away from it for that reason,” he said. “Other people who know how we fix cars will appreciate the car has been put back together.”
Griffin wrecked the car during a practice lap at a celebrity charity race at Irwindale Speedway in March 2007. The event was promoting “Redline,” a film about high-end exotic cars that Groner said “may be the worst movie I’ve ever seen.”
This isn’t Groner’s first brush with celebrity-tinged auto wreckage. He bought the Mercedes-Benz that actress Lindsay Lohan crashed on Sunset Boulevard last year, later selling it for a price “in the low $100,000s.”
-- Martin Zimmerman
Photo: Aftermath of the crash. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
 After mock-ups in Japanese car mags, spy shots taken at test facilities and speculation over the car’s name, the successor to the Nissan 350Z is finally here in all its official glory. This is the 2009 Nissan 370Z coupe, so called because it has a 3.7-liter V6 engine nestling between those distinctive headlights.
That same engine, which is in the Infiniti G37 (Nissan’s luxury coupe), has 330 horsepower. Although there’s some tuning leeway, the 370Z should have a similar rating. The G37 also has the option of a seven-speed automatic transmission, so expect that to be a choice alongside a six-speed manual.
This is the first full redesign of the Z line since the fifth generation came out in 2003. The generation-six 370Z is said to be slightly wider and shorter than its predecessor, which is good for two reasons. First, because it will enhance the car’s stance, making it even more fun to drive. And second, because the trend is usually for successive generations of cars to get bigger, put on more weight and lose the original spirit. By bucking this trend, it shows that Nissan still cares about the driving enthusiast.
 Which is no doubt why the company has been working with the makers of the next big video driving game, “Need for Speed: Undercover,” in which players can drive a virtual version before the real model hits the showrooms in the early part of 2009 (the convertible version is due later as a 2010 model). Apparently, Nissan has been making sure that the digital car has the same characteristics (as near as possible, without real physics getting involved) as the road-going machine.
The Los Angeles Auto Show, taking place in November, will be the first place to see the 370Z in three dimensions.
-- Colin Ryan
Photo credit: Nissan
 The family drama between Porsche and VW continues. Last Friday, Oct. 24, Porsche and Volkswagen had another in what has been a series of difficult talks. With all the bad feeling between rival factions in the Porsche family and the sports car (and SUV) maker acquiring a controlling stake in VW, this has been a trying time in both parties’ histories.
The two main characters in this internal combustion opera are Wolfgang Porsche, grandson of the founder, and his cousin Ferdinand Piëch, who is named after the founder and is chairman of VW and owner of around 13% of the Porsche company. Herr Piëch is generally resistant to having his fiefdom encroached upon. But after a big family meeting the weekend before and according to a recent press release from Porsche, Piëch now “unreservedly supports the course of Porsche Automobil Holding SE in all points, and is fully and entirely behind the [company’s] chairmen.”
However, there was one conspicuous absentee from last Friday’s meeting: Piëch himself. So the drama continues, much to the benefit of VW’s market value. As soon as Porsche announced that it would raise its stake to 75%, the VW share price shot from €210 to €1,000. This blip made it the world’s most valuable company (beating ExxonMobil into second place) for a while, until trading ended with shares at €643. Which is still impressive, especially for a car company right now.
What are the odds on Piëch manipulating himself into being the head of a joint Porsche/VW operation?
-- Colin Ryan
Photos: VW/Porsche
Before it even started selling them, Chrysler is spiking its hybrids.
The troubled automaker said Tuesday that it would discontinue production of its Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen hybrid sport utility vehicles at year's end, when the company shuts down the Delaware plant that makes the two trucks. Chrysler is closing the plant because sales of the non-hybrid versions of the SUVs have been selling poorly. Through September, the company has sold 35,020 of the vehicles, down from 57,979 a year ago, a 40% drop.
It's a disappointing end to the company's hybrid plans, and will leave it without an alternative powertrain model for at least a year and probably longer. No other models are in line to get hybridized, although last month, Chrysler unveiled two plug-in hybrids and a pure electric car, saying it would produce one of the models, either a Jeep Wrangler, Chrysler Town & Country or a two-seat sports car, by late 2010.
The irony of the plant closure is that the long-awaited hybrids, Chrysler's first foray into alternative powertrains, haven't even hit dealership lots: After months of promotions and promises, they simply are nowhere to be found.
Continue reading Chrysler hybrids, we hardly knew thee! »
Sydney Allard is a pretty obscure figure in motorsports, one of a generation of British enthusiast racer-builders who, after World War II, knocked together cars for road and track, usually in a fog of penury. Unlike Colin Chapman (Lotus) and William Lyons (Jaguar), Allard’s fame did not outlive him.
Allard Motor Company built 1,908 cars, with the only notable ones being the fiery, American V8-powered J2 and J2Xs. In 1950 Allard and Tom Cole managed to wrestle a Cadillac-engined J2 to a class win at Le Mans (third place overall) and for several years thereafter the J2X was a formidable but by no means dominating presence in road racing. Among Allard’s alumni are Carroll Shelby, John Fitch, Masten Gregory, Steve McQueen and Corvette engineer Zora Arkus Duntov.
According to the Allard Registry, 83 J2Xs were built between 1951-53. There history would have left it, a dusty footnote, but for the strange passion of one man, and his coincidental last name.
Roger Allard, 62 (above), admits he is no particular kin to Sydney, except insofar as –- going back to William the Conqueror -– English-speaking Allards are probably all related. In fact, he had never heard of Allard cars until a chance encounter in 1996 at England’s Beulieu National Motor Museum, where he saw some literature in the bookstore referring to the Allard. Curious, he asked a museum docent, who led Allard to the namesake car in the collection.
“It was purely serendipity,” says Allard, when he visited the L.A. Times last week.
 He might have remained a richer man if he’d remained ignorant, he admits. Allard, a marketing consultant by trade, got it in his head to re-create Allard as a bespoke sports toy for rich enthusiasts; a modern, high-performance car with the charismatic shape of the British racing roadster. Such enterprises almost always end in tears. Then again, Allard –- a motorcycle rider, skydiver and scuba diver –- is accustomed to risk.
Continue reading Allard rides again »
A look at some of the other automotive stories in the news ...
Consumer Reports' 2008 Reliability Survey
Toyota's kid sister Scion leads the way in the annual report, with big praise for the small xD. American brands broke into the chart at No. 11 with the Lincoln MKX. For more, check out USA Today's list of fan favorites.
GM: No new Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac CTS coupe at L.A. Auto Show
Reuters reported that General Motors is canceling its plans to unveil their Cadillac CTS coupe and new Buick LaCrosse at our city's auto show next month. They'll show the Buick at Detroit's auto show early next year.
Upcoming Southern California events
Sixth Annual Classic Car Show
Showcasing pre-1975 cars and trucks, plus pumpkin patches, hay rides and live music.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, La Verne Heritage Park, 5001 Via De Mansion. www.laverneheritage.org
Love Ride 25
Part of California Bike Week, more than 25,000 motorcyclists will gather at the Harley-Davidson/Buell of Glendale on Sunday for early morning concerts before riding to the Pomona Fairplex for more music and motorcycle mayhem. Proceeds benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Children's Hospital Los Angeles and others. For more information, check out www.loveride.org.
For more events, check out SoCalCarCulture.org.
 About 25,000 cars a day come north from Mexico through the San Ysidro, Calif., border crossing. During the long waits, someone has probably wondered: "That metal-detector frame people walk through at airports — why isn’t there something similar here that allows you to drive through?" Now there is — the Z Portal, made by American Science and Engineering Inc.
It’s a giant X-ray machine that should reduce waiting times at the world’s largest land port of entry by allowing officials to eliminate manual searches, or at least narrow their focus. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have begun using the Z Portal to screen vehicles and check for explosives, stowaways, drugs and other forms of contraband.
Thomas Winkowski, assistant commissioner for field operations, said: "The Z Portal complements our currently deployed technology by providing a clearer image of low-density objects that may be hidden in vehicle fenders, tires, trunks, gas tanks or under the hood."
American Science and Engineering says the Z Portal is safe for operators, drivers and the environment; someone would have to take their car through 2,000 times to get the same amount of radiation as a hospital X-ray emits. Drivers can remain in the car or opt for a Customs and Border Protection agent to drive their vehicle through for them. Because the system displays only a silhouette of the occupant, it cannot be used to identify individuals, nor race, age or gender.
The Z Portal costs about $2 million to purchase and install, but in its first month of operation it has detected one ton of drugs and someone hiding in a compartment.
—Colin Ryan
Photo: American Science and Engineering
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When we’re sitting in traffic, top speed and quarter-mile times tend not to mean that much. What’s really important is how comfortable are the seats and how good is the stereo? With regard to the new Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan, the first question must remain unanswered until Dan Neil puts his tush on the case. But the other question can be answered now.
Lexicon’s engineers have been working with Hyundai since the car’s design stages, which has given a far better result than just trying to install an audio system as an afterthought. If Hyundai is to pull off this luxury-on-a-budget ploy with the Genesis, then it needs to be convincing in every relevant area. Audio-wise, it’s already there.
