{"id":546249,"date":"2010-04-28T17:17:31","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T21:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.caranddriver.com\/?p=20213"},"modified":"2010-04-28T17:17:31","modified_gmt":"2010-04-28T21:17:31","slug":"the-continental-focus-on-china-audi%e2%80%99s-lightweight-progress-woes-in-sweden-and-japan-dusting-off-the-old-maserati","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/546249","title":{"rendered":"The Continental: Focus on China, Audi\u2019s Lightweight Progress, Woes in Sweden and Japan, Dusting Off the Old Maserati"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.<\/em><\/p>\n

The main action took place in Beijing<\/a> last week, and we paid close attention to the announcements from the auto show there. BMW, for example, unveiled further details on its “megacity vehicle,” aka “Project i.” It will be fully electric, and thanks to extensive use of carbon fiber, it will tip the scales at just around 1500 pounds. Now if we could just get one of BMW’s motorcycle engines with that package!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

BMW’s Gran Coup\u00e9 concept<\/a> (above) is the answer to the Mercedes-Benz CLS, but the enthusiast community in Europe would rather have an answer to the Audi R8 and Benz\u2019s SLS AMG instead. We continue to wait for a smashing re-interpretation of the legendary M1, preferably one superior to its forebear\u2014which, incidentally, was underpowered, overpriced, and not one of Giugiaro’s greatest efforts at the time.<\/p>\n

The Power Escalation Stops<\/strong><\/p>\n

Audi is working hard on further lightweight variations of the A5, the first one of which we sampled last December<\/a> at the Boxberg test track in Germany. One will be an extremely efficient diesel, another will provide S5-beating performance with a four-cylinder gas engine.<\/p>\n

Even before cutting weight significantly, it seems that Volkswagen and Audi are dropping out of the power race. The W-12 versions of the A8L<\/a> and the just-face-lifted Phaeton<\/a> (which is still not ready to re-enter the U.S. market) stay naturally aspirated and thus keep a significant distance from the turbocharged Mercedes-Benz S600 and BMW 760i\/Li. It probably makes sense; these are prestige versions for China and the U.S. market. Sales in Europe, where you could actually use the power of a twelve-cylinder engine, are negligible. A few months ago, we tried to locate two similarly spec\u2019d Mercedes S600s in Germany\u2014it was virtually impossible.<\/p>\n

Life Goes On<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Beijing C71<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Saab lives on, at least in China. The old 9-5, in production since 1997, will continue to be built as the Beijing C71. Its manufacturer, BAIC, is also Daimler’s Chinese cooperator. Stuttgart will have fun with their ambitious partners. Meanwhile, Saab is inviting enthusiasts to a huge celebration in Trollh\u00e4ttan, Sweden, on July 15-18, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the quirky 96, and to show the new 9-5<\/a> to the hard-core brand aficionados. We welcome it as a sign of life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa by Zagato<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Many of us who didn’t travel to China gathered at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este in Northern Italy last weekend. Besides a large number of solitary historic vehicles, the most fascinating concept was the Zagato TZ3 Corsa, a tribute to the 90-year relationship between the coachbuilder and Alfa Romeo. Zagato has seen better times, and an unannounced visit we paid to headquarters last year proved to be a surreal experience. Chased by dogs, we finally found our way to a sort of reception, and tried to find an English-speaking person for well over a half-hour\u2014without success. It’s fitting that a German collector, Martin Kapp, paid for the TZ3.<\/p>\n

Low on Style<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lada Niva<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The week was short of vehicle launches: \u0160koda showed a face-lifted Fabia and Roomster, two exponents of VW’s\u00a0 Eastern European cheapo brand, and Toyota let us drive the plug-in Prius, which allows you to actually drive in fully electric mode for over ten miles before it switches to its typical gas-electric dance. We were more excited by news of technical upgrades for the iconic Lada Niva, a Soviet-designed off-roader which has carried on faithfully since the mid-seventies. We hope it will carry on for a long time.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the spectrum, Daimler’s Maybach face lift brought the luxo-barge without brand equity visually even closer to a Kia Amanti, but we get the fact that something had to change aesthetically. After all, today you can pick up a used Maybach for a quarter of what they cost new, and up until now you couldn’t even tell the difference.<\/p>\n

Mitsubishi’s future as a contract manufacturer was confirmed by an announcement that the Japanese carmaker would deliver 50,000 units of the Outlander Sport<\/a> to PSA, re-badged as Peugeot and Citro\u00ebn <\/strong>models. We hear that development of future models has been slowed, and the business case for the current lineup, including the i<\/a> and the Lancer, is weak.<\/p>\n

Autobahn Tested: Citro\u00ebn C6, Volvo V70 Diesel, BMW 550i GT, The Old Maser<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Citro\u00ebn C6<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Our Citro\u00ebn <\/strong>C6 tester with its 238-hp V-6 diesel looks great, but the driving experience is a far cry from those of the DS, CX, and XM models of yore. The suspension is soft but jittery, and the experience reminds us of some not-so-great, recent American front-drivers.<\/p>\n

We were supremely put off by the driver-assistance systems in the Volvo V70 2.4 D, which seem to constantly sense an impending crash and make sure you notice their presence in the most annoying way.<\/p>\n

And we thought it was amusing that the BMW 550i Gran Turismo features a trip computer that won’t provide readout for average fuel economy below 5.9 mpg. If you care to know how much gas you\u2019re consuming, take your pocket calculator. That said, if you have one of those, you’ll probably figure out that the wiser choice is the diesel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maserati 430<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By far the most rewarding driving experience was awakening this writer’s 1990 Maserati 430 from a two-year hibernation. It fired up without hesitation, and we’ve put on 500 miles in two days without the slightest hiccup.<\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Saab Resumes Vehicle Production in Sweden<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Saab Sells Powertrain and Tooling Assets to China’s BAIC<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. 2009 Maserati Quattroporte S – First Drive Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental. The main action took place in Beijing last week, and we paid close attention to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6406,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}