Of all of the design cues of recent years, the implementation of LED lights in the front fascias of Audis certainly shines brightly. As Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer at Audi of America, put it in talking about the Super Bowl ad that you’ll be able to see in the first quarter on Sunday or can watch right here right now:

“With LED, there’s no mistaking an Audi. Since pioneering the technology nearly 10 years ago, LED lights have established the Audi persona, have become one of the most recognizable features on the road.”

If only Audi had been able to patent the use of those lights because the pioneer has had many followers in this space.

As in:

Chrysler

Mercedes:

Cadillac:

Ford:

Kia:

And there are more where those came from.

While there is that sincerest form of flattery thing going on, we wonder what the next iconic look will be.

Thank goodness the faux side air vents have come and gone.

While the Fiat 500 is still fresh in the U.S. market, it has been available in Europe since 2007. Yes, the 500 is arguably five years old. To be sure, there have been extensive modifications made to the original vehicle in order to make it meet the tastes of the consumers in the U.S., but if you were to see one from 2007 and another from 2012, chances are unless you are some sort of Fiatestia, you’d probably shrug.

All of which is to say that if you’re an Italian, the Fiat 500, cute though it may be, is somewhat long in the tooth, a phrase that isn’t often conjoined with cuteness.

Consequently, Fiat has been rolling out with different executions of the car, like the performance-oriented Abarth and the Cabrio for that free-spirited JLo in all of us.

In Geneva next month Fiat will be premiering another interpretation of the car, the 500L.  

That’s “L” as in “LARGE.”

Admittedly, this is a relative term. This five-seat 500 is 162.9-in. long, 70-in. wide, and 65.3-in. high. To put this into context, the regular 500 is 139.6-in. long, 64.1-in. wide, and 59.8-in. high.

So it is large in the context of the ordinary 500, but as for your average sedan. . . .

Another interesting aspect of the 500L is where it is going to be built.

One might think that what seems to be a quintessentially Italian car would come from a place like Turin, that’s not the case. The 500L will be produced in the Fiat plant in Kragujevac, Serbia.

Of course, given that the 500s that people buy in the U.S. market are built in Toluca, Mexico, maybe that’s not such a stretch.

Technorati Tags: Fiat,Fiat 500,Fiat 500 Cabrio,Fiat 500 Abarth,Fiat 500L

Has Honda lost its mojo?

There are some people who make the argument that it has. It seems that the company that produced products that were ostensibly the results of clever, committed engineering, not marketing studies and surveys, has come to a point where what it is putting on the market lacks that certain something that once characterized the company.

It is not entirely clear to me how a company that—let’s face it—is in business to make money, which means that it needs to compete, should create products that appeal, by and large, to a group largely consisting of people who would never actually buy a Honda, would stay in business if all it did was follow a path of automotive peculiarity in order to satisfy those who are looking for that mojo. (How, for example, did that route work out for Saab?)

That said, there are still plenty of uniquely Honda products out there. Like the CR-Z. And the Crosstour. And the Ridgeline. No mainstream manufacturer has anything to put truly head-to-head with vehicles like these.

Yes, the new Civic isn’t what some hoped it would be. And it will be refreshed sooner rather than later. And the Accord is getting long in the tooth. But it will be replaced before the year is out.

The engineers are still in the house. The manufacturing personnel haven’t forgotten how to work. And the designers haven’t’ taken a leave of absence.

The car that tells me more than any other that Honda still has it—je ne sais quoi—is the 2012 Fit Sport.

This little five-passenger car (four unless the fifth is little) is fun and functional. It has character and capability.

It has a base MSRP of $16,910 (throw in the $770 for destination and handling, and you’re good to go).

And it should be noted that cars like the Fit are generally bought by people who want value for money, the Fit was recently named by Consumer Reports as the best overall value compared to approximately 200 other vehicles—at all price points—that Consumer Reports assessed.

Clearly, the quality, reliability and durability mojo that defines Honda is there in spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs.

The Fit Sport has a freshened appearance, with a new front fascia and black headlight bezels to make it appear more up market. And inside there is a dark metallic dashboard, a dashboard that caused me to rethink this current obsession with “soft-touch” instrument panels. I don’t know about you, but generally when I am driving a car I have my hands on the wheel and, if as in the case of the Fit Sport I drove, the gearshift knob. The only time that I touch the instrument panel is when I am cleaning the inside of the windshield and the Windex obeys gravity. Through some evident though, the Fit interior designers have come up with an IP and gauge package that look technical. The people who molded and assembled the parts did so in a way where the edges are flush and flashless. Forget the soft-touch nonsense. (Although I’m willing to bet that the aforementioned Civic refresh and forthcoming Accord will have their share of more pliant polymers.)

The car is exceedingly roomy, with 20.6-cu. ft. of storage space. And there is the rear 60/40 Magic Seat that provides some origami-like functionality with little effort.

The car is powered by a 117-hp, 1.5-liter iVTEC four; the standard transmission is a five-speed manual, which, as mentioned, I drove. For zipping along around town it was ideal. When I was on the freeway I wished it had another gear. But you can’t sniff at an EPA 27/33/29 city/highway/combined mpg rating, a rating that I found readily achievable.

There are a MacPherson strut suspension in the front and a torsion beam suspension in the rear and electric power-assisted steering, so the chassis and suspension setup checks all the boxes.

Certainly, there are plenty of cars in this category. Plenty of good cars. Cars from essentially every make as people begin to start thinking hard about fuel efficiency again (according to the recent J.D. Power 2012 Avoider Study, gas mileage is now the most influential reason for purchasing a car).

But the Fit is a package that simply says Honda for all the right reasons.

Selected specs

Engine: 1.5-liter, i-VTEC

Materials: Aluminum block and head

Transmission: Five-speed manual

Horsepower: 117 @ 6,600 rpm

Torque: 106 lb-ft @ 4,800 rpm

Wheelbase: 98.4 in.

Length: 161.6 in.

Width: 66.7 in.

Height: 60.0 in.

EPA: 27/33/29 mpg city/highway/combined

Unless it is a high(ish)-end German vehicle or something that is somewhat quirky (e.g., a Nissan cube or a smart fortwo), chances are most people in the U.S. figure that most cars (and all trucks) were specifically designed and engineered for the U.S. market. Yes, this even includes the panoply of cars from Toyota and Honda and so on. This is not a wholly unwarranted assumption, because the U.S. market, even though it had really been down on its heels and is just now getting its footing back but is still a stretch away from where it had been before the banana peel hit, is the biggest automotive market as regards a place where a single language can be used to sell cars (think of all of the languages in the European market or the various official languages in China). That’s no small advantage. So developing vehicles to appeal to the U.S. market is thoroughly understandable.

But it’s not like that’s (1) the only approach taken (e.g., the aforementioned German luxury cars) or (2) the best approach in all cases.

Which brings me to the Lexus CT 200h.

If you look at this picture, you may assume that the setting isn’t in the greater southeastern Michigan area. And if you do assume that, you would be right. It was actually taken in France. When Lexus had an event for the global launch of the car, the company selected Chantilly. Thus, the chateau.

But arguably, the vehicle was developed for the European market, where (1) hatches aren’t suddenly a viable alternative, as they have become in the U.S. of late, and (2) fuel efficiency has long been a concern because of the chateau-like prices at the pump throughout the European community.

And this works to the advantage of the buyers in the U.S. because the CT 200h is a wonderful car for those who like small hatches (and I must admit that I do).

The first thing to know about the Lexus CT 200h really ought to be the last thing to know about the car. That is, it is an important characteristic, but it is one that I think really need not be as big a part of the equation because the rest of the car is so well put together.

The CT 200h is a hybrid. (Thus, the “h.”)

So there is a traditional engine. A 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine that runs the Atkinson cycle. Which essentially means that its combustion cycle is one that focuses more on fuel efficiency than power. This is a sophisticated engine, with four valves per cylinder and variable valve timing with intelligence (VVT-i) on the intake. It has peak output of 98 hp. Which, of course, is rather, well low by nearly any metric (e.g., a Toyota Yaris is rated at 106 hp). But that’s where the other shoe drops for the CT 200h in the form of the rest of the powertrain: a two-motor hybrid system and an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission. There is an 80-hp drive motor that is combined with the internal combustion engine, but straight math notwithstanding (98 + 80 = 178 hp), the vehicle is actually rated as having total system horsepower of 134. Why? It’s complicated. Suffice it to say that Lexus claims a 0 to 60 mph time of 9.8 seconds, and in real-world driving I found the accelerative capacity of the car to be more than ample, even when passing at “freeway speed.”

The point that is more germane vis-à-vis this being a hybrid is the fuel efficiency of the CT 200h. The sticker says 43 mpg city and 40 mpg highway. According to the trip computer, during more than 500 miles of winter driving, a good bit of that on the aforementioned freeway, I averaged 37.4 mpg, which is really quite respectable if not remarkable because this is a Lexus and not only did it have one of the most comfortable seats my posterior has ever been positioned upon, but it gave up nothing in terms of amenities.

Full disclosure would require me to point out that the car as driven had a base MSRP of $30,900, and with the Premium Audio Package ($1,100), LED headlamps and washer ($1,215), Leather Package (ahh! I mean, $1,330), Navigation System ($2,445), Illuminated Door Sills ($299), and Cargo Net ($75—and I’m betting a dealer would throw that in), that price rose to $37,364 before the $875 delivery, processing and handling fee.

That said, the premium compact CT 200h is a pleasure to drive and worth the money. One of the predicates of the pleasure is actually something that hasn’t been used on other Lexuses yet: a lateral performance damper system. Briefly: Instead of fixed bracing as found on many vehicles, the CT 200h has a damper in the front that connects the left and right suspension towers and a damper in the back that connects the left and right sides of the rear structural frame. This helps minimize body vibrations, as well as provides a more linear steering feel (there is electric power steering, which is not only speed-sensitive, but which has inertia compensation control, friction feedback, and recovery control assist, all of which add up to a nicely transparent steering system.

Getting back to the powertrain for a moment: There is a nob that allows you to select Normal, Sport or Eco settings. (There is also an EV button that lets you drive for a short distance on electricity.) While some people might think that the dial does little more than cause the colors on the display to change (e.g., put it in Sport and it goes red, presumably signifying hot! not stop!), the knob actually results in throttle response settings to be modified in order to provide the driver with the appropriate performance (e.g., when doing that freeway speed overtaking, the Sport setting provides a discernible difference).

While I have been in some cars during the past that have an MSRP approximate to that of the CT 200h, I think that the level of interior materials and refinement handily bests all of them. And I suspect some of this goes to the European expectations. Some cars from luxury marques that are at or near the bottom of their offerings are typically “regular” cars in their home market; consequently the interiors aren’t as nice as one might expect. But in the case of a Lexus, it seems as though a Lexus is a Lexus is a Lexus. And the CT 200h is all that.

Selected specs

Engine: 1.8-liter four cylinder with VVT-i

Material: Aluminum alloy block and heads

Horsepower: 98 @ 5,200 rpm (not including hybrid drive)

Torque: 105 lb-ft @ 4,000 rpm (not including hybrid drive)

Transmission: Continuously variable

Wheelbase: 102.4 in.

Length: 170.1 in.

Width: 69.5 in.

Height: 56.7 in.

Base curb weight: 3,206 lb.

EPA: 43/40/42 mpg city/hwy/combined

London’s Design Museum is undertaking its fifth annual Designs of the Year Awards, which has categories including Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Product, and Transport.

It is the last category that is of greatest interest here.

And the two cars that are nominees in the Transport category have us wondering about what the future of vehicle design just might be.

The Transport category includes things ranging from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to a bicycle storage unit designed by Manifesto Architecture of New York.

There are two cars:

--The T.27 electric car from Gordon Murray Design

--The mia from Mia Electric

And here is what they look like:

The two are city cars. And both are electric vehicles. The mia has a 9.7-kW motor and utilizes a 8-kWh lithium iron phosphate battery. The T.27 has a 25-kW motor and a 12-kWh lithium-ion battery.

But look at these odd-looking cars. They appear to have been designed by someone who might otherwise be developing wooden toy vehicles for the Scandinavian company Brio.

Yet in the case of the T.27, it is worth noting that Gordon Murray is responsible for the design of such things as the McLaren F1, so he is no slouch in the styling department.

It appears that what’s occurring is the triumph of function over what many have come to expect, a sexy form.

So the future is. . .practical?