Ferrari may be known for its sexy luxury sports cars, but the question it has raised is: will drivers be able to fill ‘er up on the farm?

    The Italian automaker showed off a “concept car” at the Detroit auto show that can run on biofuel, ethanol — a sort of grain alcohol. The company said the car — not meant for production – reflects its Formula One racing experience and a growing demand for alternative fuels in the United States.

    Ferrari chief executive Amedeo Felisa said the F430 Spider concept was part of Ferrari’s efforts to reduce emission levels by 40 percent by 2012. The Spider runs on the so-called E85 fuel that contains an 85 percent ethanol mix and is becoming more widely available.

(Photo: Reuters)

Chinese automakers at the Detroit auto show showed off their latest cars as they jockeyed for position in the race to be the first from that country to eventually sell cars in the U.S. market.

While the vehicle designs have improved from past years, the companies still need to work on the translation of their media material if they want to win over skeptical American consumers.

For example, Changfeng Motor (showing SUV pictured left) said its Liebao CS6 sport utility vehicle “emanates charm of unrestrainedness” and “it achieves the perfect combination of military industry performance and urban fashion.” The company also talked about “citified consumers loving fashion” and how its car “tightly grasp your eyeballs.”

Even when the English was appropriate, it didn’t necessarily make sense. In another brochure, Changfeng sported the tagline, “No splurge, nor scrupulousness, but only pureness.” 

Last year, Changfeng’s Black Giant SUV alerted buyers that “you will feel full momentum and great dignity.” In attempting to describe the SUV’s performance in cold weather and high altitude, the company said, “it can ignite under low temperature and anoxia.”

Changfeng was not the only Chinese automaker lost in translation this year as Geely Automobile said in a brochure: “In 20th century, China is quite change to automobiles.” It later said its debut at the Frankfurt and Detroit auto shows “broke the zero record of Chinese car in world class fairs.”

The goals of the Chinese companies are anything but funny, however, to automakers already competing in the U.S. market.

The Chinese government is pushing hard to establish the country’s industry as a global player and that includes a U.S. presence. While it may seem far of, Chinese automakers see themselves following the same path Japanese automakers took.

In fact, a unit of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings said last September it was on track to begin selling cars in the U.S. within a year.

And some Chinese automakers have learned from rivals’ mistakes. Chamco Auto, the U.S. partner of China’s Zhongxing Automobile, had several press releases and fact sheets that were clear and straight forward. Chamco has said Zhongxing plans to export vehicles to the U.S. after it opens a Mexican plant next year.

(Photo: Reuters)

You know a company is ready to move on when it has cracked a joke in public about some unwanted losses.

Jim Lentz (pictured right), the president of Toyota’s U.S. sales operations, made sure of that at a news conference at the Detroit auto show when he made light of the recent defections of Jim Press — the only foreigner ever to be named to Toyota’s board — and Jim Farley, formerly general manager of Toyota’s Lexus luxury division in the United States.

Following Toyota Motor President Katsuaki Watanabe’s labored speech in English, Lentz took the stage.

“You know, it’s never a good idea to follow the president of the company on stage at a media event, especially how much news he had in his bag to share with you tonight,” Lentz, who in November took the post previously held by Press.

“I won’t try to top the newsworthiness of what Mr. Watanabe had to say tonight. It wouldn’t be a good career move, and we all know we’re down a couple of Jims here anyway,” he continued, departing from the prepared text of his speech.

Press (pictured left), a 37-year veteran at Toyota, made headlines last September when he jumped ship to Chrysler. A month later, Farley joined Ford Motor in another blow to Toyota.

Lentz’s comment drew a few knowing laughs from the audience. It’s not clear whether Watanabe appreciated the joke.

(Photos: Reuters)

With the possibility of a U.S. recession on the horizon, American consumers are more likely to look at buying a used car than going for a new model, said Jack Nerad (pictured), executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, which tracks the value of used vehicles in the United States.

“When a recession looms, consumers traditionally put off the purchase of a new vehicle,” he said at the Detroit auto show. “This has a negative impact on new car sales and in turn slows the economy still further.”

Many U.S. dealers aren’t disappointed with rising used-car sales as their profit margins on such sales are higher.

Nerad said that even without a recession, used car sales have been on the rise thanks to a smarter U.S. consumer looking out for better value when they buy a car.

“A lot of people are getting savvier about depreciation and see the benefit in buying a pre-certified used car,” he said. “Often their neighbors don’t know the difference because the only way to tell if it’s a used car is by taking a look at the odometer.”

“This presents all sorts of challenges for new car makers,” Nerad added. “Those challenges will be exacerbated if we end up in a recession.”

(Photo: Kelley Blue Book)

Jaguar, on the brink of being sold to an Indian automaker, has worked to sharpen its brand image after earlier strategic missteps, the Ford Motor Co unit’s managing director said at the Detroit auto show. 

According to Mike O’Driscoll, Jaguar’s image was hurt in the 1990s by plans to broaden the British luxury brand’s appeal to a far broader luxury audience. In the end, analysts said the plan backfired and hurt sales.

“We have refocused our efforts on restoring the caché of the brand that was tarnished,” he told Reuters, adding the brand is once more positioned as a premium luxury car.

Ford bought Jaguar in 1990 and looks set to sell it and its Land Rover brand soon to No. 3 Indian car maker Tata Motors.

O’Driscoll and CJ O’Donnell, the company’s global marketing director, say Jaguar was not only hurt by Ford’s plans for reaching a larger audience, but also by a perception that Jaguars were cars for older, out of touch drivers.

“Jaguar was always at its best when it was breaking the rules of the industry and breaking new ground with technology,” O’Donnell said. “We have gone back to doing that.”

O’Driscoll says that the fruits of that technological drive are to be seen in the company’s upcoming new XF model sedan, which will start hitting dealerships in some global markets in late February or early March. Advance orders are already above 6,500 cars worldwide, from people who have not yet even seen the car.

Of course, the next question raised by The Truth about Cars Web site is whether Tata can succeed where Ford failed.

(Photo: Reuters)

Scion, the Toyota brand aimed at younger buyers, is not losing its edge and becoming more mainstream, Jack Hollis, head of the unit said.

“Quirky is in the eye of the beholder,” Hollis told Reuters at the Detroit auto show, responding to criticism the brand’s designs are getting safe and boring.

Some critics have said Scion has lost the design cache that has been its trademark and morphed into a safer, less interesting brand — a criticism often made of its parent. Last year, The Truth About Cars Web site blamed Toyota for dumbing down the brand.

(Photo: Reuters) 

In a blaze of loud music and louder fireworks, and using a cast of personalities led by country music star Toby Keith, Ford today unveiled the latest reincarnation of its F-150 pickup truck.

Keith, leaning nonchalantly against the side of one of the hefty, squat new trucks and dressed in denim and sporting a cowboy hat (pictured right), was effusive if more than a little scripted in his praise of the revamped truck, the top-selling U.S. vehicle last year.

“The F-150 gets my stamp of approval,” Keith said in his relaxed southern drawl. “I love this truck.”

Keith said he planned to get the platinum version - or the most expensive and full of gimmicks like voice-activated music.

But with oil hovering around $100 a barrel, the U.S. quite possibly on the brink of a recession and the housing sector on a downward spiral, quite a few potential buyers will wish they had pockets as deep as Keith.

According to Edmunds.com, the 2008 version of the F-150 costs between $17,520 and $39, 830. Some analysts say that is going to be quite a reach for most consumers in such an uncertain market, at least in the short term.

“When the threat of a recession looms, people tend to put off major purchases like a new vehicle,” said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book. “Pickup sales are not going away, but it’s not the greatest atmosphere for car markers to be launching new models.”

(Photo: Reuters)

Speed Racer may be a “demon on wheels” as the carton theme song proclaims, but the real-life version of the beloved Mach 5 (pictured right) proved a disappointment to some at the Detroit auto show, including the auto enthusiast Web site Jalopnik.

The teen driving sensation, whose popular cartoon adventures were dubbed into English in the late 1960s, is set to get live-action treatment this year from the Wachowski brothers of “The Matrix” trilogy fame. The movie, starring Emile Hirsch as the title character and Matthew Fox as the mysterious Racer X (psst, really Speed’s long-lost brother Rex) is set to race into theaters in May.

The Mach 5 show model in Detroit lacked many of the features the cartoon version sported, including saw blades, jump jacks and a gull-shaped homing robot. It even lacks a trunk, which every true fan knows is where Speed’s younger brother Spritle and his pet chimpanzee Chim Chim often hid.

A Warner Brothers spokesman at the show assured that all the favorites will be in the move thanks to CGI magic. Phew!

Photo: Reuters 

The streets outside baseball’s Comerica Park in Detroit were never so quiet — even on a cold Sunday in January — from the inside of Toyota’s early prototype plug-in hybrid (pictured left).

The extra battery in a 2007 Prius means the gasoline motor didn’t kick in until 62 mph. The single-battery Prius  on the road today switches over at roughly half the speed.

Toyota, the global leader in hybrid production, is working to advance the technology with University of California’s battery and transportation programs.

Never having to plug in the battery has been an important selling point for the hot-selling Prius, so Toyota is proceeding carefully with potential changes. But the goal now is to see if even more and sustainable efficiency gains are possible for the mass market — even if a household wall outlet becomes part of the equation.

“Our goal with these early prototype vehicles is to begin the process of understanding customer wants and needs in order to help determine the optimal balance between electric vehicle miles, charge time, battery size and cost,” said Bob Carter, a Toyota vice president.

The second nickel-metal hydride battery pack of the prototype enables the Prius to store greater levels of electricity. With more power in reserve, the vehicle is capable of operating in electric-only mode for longer periods and at much higher speeds, saving more gasoline and further reducing emissions. The second battery only runs for 7 miles between charges now — somewhat less if the radio and heater are on.

But Carter says Toyota sees promise in the plug-in hybrid. U.S. rival General Motors also is working on plug-in hybrid technology, hoping to offer its Chevrolet Volt for sale in 2010.

(Photo: Reuters) 

Automakers dressed in “green” at the Detroit auto show, but it wasn’t enough for a vocal band of Michigan college students (pictured left) aligned with the Freedom from Oil Campaign.

Donned in green hard hats and gathered under a big blue balloon a long block from Cobo hall, the 50 activists flashed their enthusiasm. They beat their bucket drum, danced on the concrete sidewalk and fired up their megaphone, promising: “We will not drive cars that drive climate change.”

Urging the biggest U.S. and overseas automakers to go all out to arrest fuel inefficiency, the demonstrators — under the watchful eye of a few police — agitated for zero oil, zero emissions and more environmentally friendly jobs.

“If they start making super-efficient vehicles, it will stimulate the economy and curb climate change,” said Nick Magel, a director of Freedom from Oil. 

Even as automakers have unveiled hybrid or electrically powered cars they sell or intend to build, like General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt (pictured left) plug-in hybrid car, they are rolling out ever more large SUVs and pickups.

GM has said it wants to begin selling the Volt in 2010, while Toyota at the show on Sunday showed off its plug-in hybrid technology.
 

(Photos: Reuters)