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Archive for the 'daimler' Category

Jaguar: Next XJ “closer to Bentley than BMW”

Friday, September 26th, 2008

Click above for more shots of the 2009 Jaguar XJ Portfolio

The current-generation of the Jaguar XJ sedan is a perfectly capable car, if a bit boring on the eyes. Jaguar’s design language had always been daring and beautiful, but until the current XF appeared, had lately been stuck in a rut and seemed to be producing endless copies of itself. No longer, as the brand, now under new Indian management, looks to move its flagship XJ upmarket to take on the likes of Bentley according to David Blackhall, the managing director of Jaguar Land Rover in Australia. If the XF is akin to a BMW in Jag’s current line, the next XJ will distance itself as it moves up to cater to the fickle and always fashion-conscious upper crust. Considering how much we like the new direction Jaguar is heading with the XF, we look forward to seeing what the company is capable of with its range-topper, which should debut in the next 12-18 months. So, will it wear a Daimler badge?

[Source: GoAuto]

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Posted in Uncategorized, Jaguar XF, JaguarXf, jaguar, daimler, jaguar xj, JaguarXj, jaguar daimler, JaguarDaimler | No Comments »

Tesla considering SUV, $20,000 Bluestar

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, USA

The head of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, was in the house at the Always On Going Green conference giving a talk yesterday and had lots to say about possible upcoming products from his company. First off, in contradiction to what we heard earlier from Tesla marketing guy, Daryl Siry, there may very well be an SUV in the pipeline. Although it might seem antithetical to the green agenda Musk espouses, he believes it would be a strong driver of sales. Of course, his idea of an SUV might be closer in size to a Captiva than a full-blown Tahoe but we guess we’ll have to wait for an actual sketch before we make too many assumptions. We suspect he hasn’t gotten the memo that the stationwagon is the new SUV though. If an SUV EV does come to fruition it would be built on the Model S platform most likely at it new factory in San Jose.

While talking about making cars less expensive in the future, he let slip that they are “confident in being able to get to a $30,000 car, or perhaps a $20,000 car, in partnership with a major car company,” sometime in the future. Whether or not that major car company is Daimler is unknown but in a phone conversation with Earth2Tech, Mr. Musk said that “Tesla’s partnership with Daimler won’t focus on its Model S”.

Speaking of the Model S, Musk said that the as-yet-unseen luxury sedan would feature a swappable battery. Not that they plan on jumping into bed with Better Place but having that function would make the vehicle easier to service. Of course, it also leaves the door open to some future battery-swapping-station scheme. We hope it also has the ability to accept a quick charge.

[Source: Earth2Tech / greentechmedia]

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Posted in Uncategorized, Tesla Motors, whitestar, white star, daimler, TeslaMotors, Always On Going Green, AlwaysOnGoingGreen, Elon Musk, ElonMusk, model S, ModelS | No Comments »

Autoblog Podcast #58

Wednesday, December 31st, 1969

Filed under: Podcasts, Audi, DaimlerChrysler, GM, Maserati, Volkswagen

Being the pundits we are, we have plenty to say in Autoblog Podcast #58. We start right off addressing the rumors of a GM/Chrysler deal, and offer myraid reasons why it’s not a good idea yet may be justifiable to some folks. We move on to flogging the VW/GM suicide commercial debate for a little while, which sets the stage for us discussing the Daytona 500, naturally. It’s also revealed that John’s on board to give NASCAR as much of a chance as he can stomach this season. So far, that amounts to about an hour and a half before the siren song of video games becomes too loud to ignore. Wrapping up, we trade opinions on the Maserati Coupe and the Audi A5 before touching briefly on the impending XM/Sirius merger. It’s chock-full of good stuff this time around, so enjoy the ‘cast! We’ll try and have an enhanced version with video up for you as soon as possible.