Author Archive: George Peterson

Cadillac's Hollywood-designed Elmiraj coupe was dramatically unveiled at Clint Eastwood's Tahama Golf Resort during the 2013 Pebble Beach automotive week. Cadillac and General Motors management is coy when asked if they will build the Cadillac Elmiraj concept coupe. To a person, journalists who were at the unveiling want to believe Cadillac can find the means to build this car.

At this year's Pebble Beach automotive weekend, Lincoln announced its new top of the line - the Black Label editions. There will be four versions of the Black Label but only three were shown at Pebble Beach. Jim Farley, Ford's Group Vice President of Global Marketing and head of Lincoln Motor Company says these are the flagship cars of the brand. Unfortunately, Lincoln's flagships were completely upstaged later in the day when Cadillac showed its Elmiraj concept coupe at Clint Eastwood's Tahama Golf Resort. The Elmiraj was the talk of the town and Black Label became an asterisk. The ultra-premium Black Label is a combination of product upgrades - primarily to the interior - and special customer service efforts like a personal concierge - to make the Black Label client feel that the premium they undoubtedly will spend is worth it.

AutoPacific's Ideal Vehicle Awards for 2o13 are given to brands and vehicles that best meet the expectations of their buyers. The person driving the truck does not want it to be bigger or more powerful or have better info/entertainment systems. Based on the results of over 52,000 respondents, the IVAs are owner-based awards that can serve to give truck buyers an idea of how well manufacturers have designed vehicles with their customers in mind.

AutoPacific's Ideal Vehicle Awards for 2o13 are given to brands and vehicles that best meet the expectations of their buyers. The person driving the car does not want it to be bigger or more powerful or have better info/entertainment systems. Based on the results of over 52,000 respondents, the IVAs are owner-based awards that can serve to give car and truck buyers an idea of how well manufacturers have designed vehicles with their customers in mind.

One thing that every artist worries about is self-censoring their creations. There’s nothing worse than hours of painstaking work having to be taken down or covered because there’s a threat of someone being upset or it being deemed inappropriate.

In the last few years self-censorship has been on the rise within the art community and it’s oddly ironic that a medium that’s supposed to be about self-expression is being limited in such a way.

But why exactly do so many artists have to self-censor themselves in such a way?

Well according to the Director of the Tate Galleries, Sir Nicholas Serota, these artists are taking it upon themselves to cut their work down in order to avoid upsetting their sponsors or the media which could in turn see them losing their sponsorship or worse.

For some artists unless they self-censor they run the chance [...]

About 20 American journalists and analysts had a chance to drive the Volkswagen XL1 at the Autostadt near Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. Only 20 of the planned 250 vehicles have been completed to date and five were on hand for our drives. A Volkswagen engineer guided each drive through Wolfsburg and even included a short autobahn blast hitting the car's top speed limited to 160kmh (about 99mph).

The 2014 Fiat 500L is on sale now. Fiat unloaded the first boatload of 500Ls in early June and by mid-June they had begun arriving at nearby Fiat Studios. Adding this larger four door vehicle to the Fiat line-up is very welcome to Fiat dealers who have been limited to the Fiat 500 albeit with two bodystyles and a multitude of models. The 500L is based on Fiat's new "Small Wide" platform and shares nothing with the smaller 500 except for the "500" nomenclature and its engine.

Acura’s MDX has been the shining star in their lineup for years now.  Having invented the three-row crossover, Acura has polished that shining star in their lineup for the 2014 model year with an all-new model.

I know, it really doesn’t look all that new.  Trust me, it is.  I’ve seen it from the inside out.  Everything you can’t see is new and even the exterior (YES, it is!) is new.  The MDX is a formula not to be messed with and Acura knows this quite well.  So, they made an all-new MDX but modernized the exterior a bit and significantly improved the interior.  The MDX is one of the few crossovers that has enough cojones that men of all types need not fear [...]

Very Nicely Done "Front and Rear Six" The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a dramatic mid-cycle update that takes a relatively milquetoast car and gives it a striking personality make over. The major change is a much more aggressive front end appearance including all-LED headlamps with integral running lamps. The lower front fascia includes larger scoops and is accented by a chrome strip at the leading edge of the front air dam. Given these are the sporty models of the E-Class, the coupe and cabriolet include Mercedes' bold three pointed star in the grille opening. All-in-all, the front appearance change practically makes the E-Class coupe and cabriolet look like all-new cars.

Mercedes-Benz premiered its all new S-Class sedan in Hamburg on May 15, 2013. Held at the Airbus factory where final assembly of the Airbus A320 and A380 is occurring, Mercedes took advantage of an over-the-top venue for an over-the-top introduction to their new Flagship. While an introduction like this should showcase the car (which it did), the showmanship used by Mercedes in this occasion was second to none. A very official looking YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U94OftPwcAc) shows the event up to just before Deiter Zetsche announced Alicia Keys who was sitting in the back of the center stage S-Class. They probably were prevented from showing her performance for contract reasons, but it was pretty darn good. She even worked very well with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra that was playing original compositions prior to her arrival.