Crossovers Straightline Archives

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's presentation got all "frunked" up Thursday night at the unveiling of the 2014 Tesla model X crossover electric vehicle.

The stubbly-bearded entrepreneur was happily explaining the newest Tesla EV's copious cargo space to an invitation-oly audience of close to 1,000 friends, employees, customers, potential customers and the usual handful of scruffy media types when the latch locking down the front hood got stuck.

What's a hood latch got do do with cargo space? Isn't that behind the seats? Well, yeah.

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Categories: Crossovers,Electric Vehicles,Tesla Motors

There are a number of times when pre-production test mules look completely awesome. The 2014 Jeep Liberty mule we have here is one of those vehicles.

The next-generation Liberty will be a front-drive-based crossover (Dart/Chrysler 100 platform) but will have some off-road ability left in tact. Jeep knows they can't turn the Liberty into a completely on-road vehicle. That's where AWD and this lovely ride-height come into play. One of the test mules was spotted wearing Michigan ORV (off-road vehicle) plates.

Unfortunately, the production version of the 2014 Liberty will ditch this neo AMG Eagle Alfa body and replace it with something that looks "tough." We want it to stay like this. Maybe align the hood and paint the door, but otherwise, this.

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Categories: Alfa Romeo,Crossovers,Future Vehicles,Jeep

Once again the kids over at Hyundai blog have gotten hold of photos of a new Hyundai before anyone else. This time it's the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe they've nabbed before its official debut at the 2012 New York Auto Show.

As you can see in this photo (there's a rear shot at Hyundai Blog), Hyundai has Velostered-up the Santa Fe this time around with a hexagonal grille with big, chunky cross bars. There's also a hint of skid plate and LED foglights.

It's certainly a step up, but from what we can gather from this photo, it's still got a ways to go to catch up visually to the new Ford Escape. (Who thought anyone would ever seriously use that phrase?)

Categories: Crossovers,Hyundai,New York Auto Show

 Ford has recently put up a teaser page for the 2013 Ford Escape that almost features pricing on the new crossover SUV. It would be easy to look at the page and think you're spec'ing out a new Escape, but up in the right hand corer is a disclaimer: "For Survey Purposes Only Prices and Features Subject to Change."

So we don't have an exact price, but we do have a ballpark guess into what Ford is thinking. The 2013 Ford Escape S which comes standard with a 6-speed automatic, a 2.5-liter I4, manual tilt/telescoping wheel with audio control and air conditioning will be priced right around $22,470.

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Categories: Crossovers,Ford,Future Vehicles

Packing a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4, the 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque promises better on-road performance than any Land and/or Range Rover before it while still maintaining strong capabilities off the beaten path. While our verdant Fontana, California, test site provides little opportunity to try out the latter on the 2012 North American Truck of the Year, its abundant pavement allowed us to see how this stylish, inspired-by-Posh-Spice SUV stacks up numbers-wise in the increasingly crowded luxury crossover segment.

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Categories: Crossovers,Land Rover

Earlier this month Ford rolled out the EcoSport at the New Delhi Auto Expo. While the compact crossover isn't bound for our shores -- especially not with the 1.0-liter three-cylinder -- it's still an interesting little car both stylistically and mechanically. So here's Ford Group VP J Mays discussing the product. 

Again, this one isn't set for the US, but you have to assume Ford will be watching the Buick Encore very, very closely.   

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Categories: Crossovers,Ford

In an announcement that focused around the BMW's decision to invest $900 million (and 300 new jobs) into their plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, BMW also announced that the X4 will be built here in the U.S. for 2014. BMW wants the plant to kick out more than 350,000 cars by 2014 and the X4 is key to that growth.

The plant is already the home of BMW X3 production and it makes sense that the company will build the X4 there as well. The X4 will be available with the same powertrains as the X3.

The Spartanburg facility employs more than 7,000 people and built 276,065 cars last year.

Categories: Auto Industry,BMW,Crossovers

In person, the 2013 Buick Encore is noticeably compact. It has the chunky, curvy look of a Hyundai Tucson, but it's almost 5 inches shorter in length (168.5 inches) and its wheelbase is more than 3 inches shorter at 100.6 -- barely longer than the wheelbase of a Chevy Sonic (99.4). But the Encore is still larger than crossovers like the Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman.

Like the Sonic, though, the Encore is roomier inside than you think it will be. A 5-foot-10 adult (your author) climbed into the front seat today at the Detroit auto show and still left room for another average size adult to sit in back. GM's Jim Federico tells us the platform underneath this small crossover is all-new, and with 60 percent high-strength steel in the unit-body, lighter than past designs -- at 3,300 pounds with its optional all-wheel-drive system, it's about 50 pounds lighter than a Tucson.

Maybe you're wondering why Buick picked such a small platform for its compact SUV rather than looking to the Chevrolet Equinox platform architecture, and the answer seems to be that the Encore is largely driven by demand in China, where upwardly mobile consumers gravitate toward small cars with premium furnishings. Buick sold 645,537 vehicles in China in 2011 versus 177,633 in the U.S.

Like most of the cars GM builds and sells in China, the Encore is engineered in South Korea, and the plant in Bupyeong will handle assembly for the U.S., though GM President Mark Reuss was careful to leave the door open for potential North American assembly when we spoke to him today. However, he closed the door to the possibility of badge engineering.

"We're not doing Chevrolets off this platform," he said. "The last thing we want to do is put a Chevrolet alongside this and take Equinox sales away." 

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Categories: Buick,Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show,Future Vehicles

Buick finally took the last bit of disguise off the 2013 Encore today just a few hours before we saw it in the metal here in Detroit. And we're still sitting firmly on the fence.

The Encore gets, as we expected, GM's multiport-injection 1.4-liter turbocharged engine producing 140 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque, hooked up to a HydraMatic six-speed automatic transmission. Suspension is a MacPherson strut with coil-over spring and stabilizer bar up front, and a torsion-beam rear with twin-tube shocks out back. Steering is electric.

This doesn't sound terribly impressive even for a crossover, but let's consider one thing: Those wheels that look pretty big on this Encore are 18s with P215/55R18 tires. We're looking at a small crossover (built in Bupyeong, South Korea, on GM's small crossover platform) that has a 100.6-inch wheelbase and is only 168.5 inches long. For comparison, the Cruze is 181 inches long. The Verano is 183.9. The Sonic is 159 inches.

Buick's new small crossover features the brand's first use of active noise cancellation as part of Buick's "Quiet Tuning" philosophy. Other quietness features include an acoustically treated headliner, "quiet-tuned" Continental tires, aerodynamic sideview mirrors, laminated 5mm side windows and foam baffles in body structure openings.

Because this is a very small car (in today's terms) Buick had to be careful with weight management and, if this does in fact ride/sound like a Buick, it has done well; the Encore weighs in at 3,190 pounds for FWD and 3,309 for AWD. The last Sonic we tested rang up 2,775 pounds.

Cargo volume for the Encore is listed at 18.8 cubic feet, which is more, says Buick, than either a BMW X1 or an Audi Q3.

The 2013 Encore will go on sale in early 2013.

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Categories: Buick,Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show

In what may be the shock of the Detroit auto show, Acura officials admitted that the current RDX gets crappy mileage. Well, not in so many words, but close enough.

To rectify the situation, the redesigned RDX will get a 3.5-liter V6 in place of the current turbocharged four-cylinder. How does putting a larger-displacement six-cylinder in place of a small-displacement four-cylinder cure the mileage issue? Well, that gives you an idea how thirsty the turbo was.

A new six-speed automatic transmission helps the situation along with a lighter all-wheel-drive system. The results are impressive, too. Acura says the new RDX is expected to deliver EPA mileage numbers of 20 city/28 highway. The current RDX only gets 19 mpg city and 24 mpg on the highway. 

As you might have guessed by looking at it, the new RDX is based on the recently introduced Honda CR-V. The wheelbase is longer and the tracks are wider so the cabin should have more room than the current model. New technology features like a Pandora radio interface, text-to-voice system and additional sound-deadening materials have been added to beef up the RDX's luxury credentials. 

Acura didn't get very specific about pricing other than to say that the new RDX wouldn't stray very far in price from the old one. We'll find out in a few months, as the RDX is slated to go on sale this spring.

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Categories: Acura,Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show,SUVs

The 2013 Nissan Pathfinder is out on the floor of COBO Hall in Detroit this morning and it looks far different from the SUV we know as the Pathfinder.

First impression? It's gone the crossover route, at least in terms of styling. No more boxy, pseudo-SUV shape, this is pure people mover. Looks closer to an overgrown Rogue, which is no bad thing. Nissan is calling it a concept for now, but don't expect much to change when it goes on sale later this year.

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Categories: Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show,Nissan

Nissan is skipping the traditional press conference reveal for the new Pathfinder, deciding instead to reveal the next-gen SUV online via Facebook.

The press release for this announcement says that the reveal will happen at 8:30am EST, but the Facebook countdown puts it at 8:30 Pacific time. If you're excited about this seven-seat, four-wheel drive crossover-suv, head over to Facebook for 8:30 EST. Carlos Ghosn will speak and you'll get to see the new Pathfinder before we have time to sprint back to the press room to upload the photos.

Pathfinder Reveal on Facebook

Categories: Crossovers,Nissan

 Ford has just released their new Fiesta-based crossover, the EcoSport, at the Delhi Auto Expo. According to the press release, the new crossover "has a contemporary shape that conveys confidence while combining refinement and an adventurous spirit in an intelligent and modern package." It also "sports key SUV cues such as a confident stance, command driving position and signature spare wheel mounted on a swing-gate at the rear of the vehicle." Of course. Without that tire I'd have never known.

"EcoSport has a tough, robust attitude that says 'I can play with the big boys.' But it also makes you want to play. It's friendly and sociable, and this unique mix is its secret formula." said Ford's J Mays.

The EcoSport is powered by Ford's new 1.0-liter turbocharged EcoBoost three-cylinder that makes 118bhp and 125 pound-feet of torque. To offset the natural crappiness of a three-cylinder, Ford has intentionally unbalanced the flywheel and pulley instead of adding additional mass and drag in the form of balance shafts.

The EcoSport will be sold in 100 markets worldwide including South America, China, Brazil and Europe. The U.S. will not be one of them.

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Categories: Crossovers,Ford

We've already seen the new Pathfinder a couple of times. First we saw spy shots of a camo-clad, front/all-wheel-drive crossover we caught testing. Then there was a dark silhouette teaser of the Nissan Pathfinder Concept that will be shown for real at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show that was graciously provided by Nissan.

This time we've got two quick teaser vids showing the Pathfinder's new face and a quick shot of the backside. It's not enough to make a real decision, but from what we can see this new Pathfinder is going to be a handsome crossover.

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Categories: Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show,Nissan

And as everybody expected, here's the third teaser of the 2013 Buick Encore on the company's Facebook page. Honestly, we were expecting them to take off the lower-rear first and save the dramatic face for the end, but we're glad they gave us the interesting bits first. And interesting is exactly the right word. The Encore ditches the smooth, sleek face of the current crop of Buicks in favor of this bulky tuner Mercedes type look.

Teaser 1, 2.

I'm on the fence here. What say you?

Categories: Buick,Crossovers,Future Vehicles

Who could've seen this one coming? After releasing a teaser image on Facebook last week consisting of four panes, one removed to show a partial image of the 2013 Buick Encore, Buick has released a second picture that has...wait for it...another panel removed!

 With this new peek we get a look at the back of the encore and like so many things coming out of Buick lately, it looks tasteful bordering on cool. That rear quarter panel might be a bit of a blindspot based on what we see here, but aesthetically it looks sharp and just a bit like an EX35.

Now if only they could get rid of those hood vents.

(Facebook)

Categories: Buick,Crossovers,Future Vehicles

Oh good, another teaser image of a car headed for the Detroit Auto Show. This time it's the 2013 Buick Encore.

Buick chose Facebook as an outlet to release the image that shows the new small crossover partially obscured by the Buick badge. What do we see from it? Hood vents. There may be other details but all we can see are those hood vents.

Expect to see another three "teasers" as Buick slowly strips away panels of the logo before showing us the full car. Fingers crossed for a leak so we don't have to put up with another multi-week strip show.

Categories: Buick,Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show

(Another day in auto show season, another teaser image. Stop me if you've heard this one before. )

This is the EcoSport Concept that Ford will be showing at the 11th Auto Expo in New Delhi, India next month. The EcoSport is an all new vehicle "planned for introduction in India and other global markets in the near future." The current EcoSport  is built on the B3 platform that held up the Fiesta before that car moved to the new global platform in '08. There's no reason that this EcoSport won't follow the same path. It also won't be sold in America.

Ford is estimating that some 1.4 million people will go to the Auto Expo. In 2011, 735,000 people went to the Detroit Auto Show.

Categories: Concept Vehicles,Crossovers,Ford,Future Vehicles

We've seen spy photos of the 2014 Nissan Pathfinder but this teaser is the first official image we have of the new Pathfinder concept bound for the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.

The assumption on this next-gen Pathfinder is that it would switch to a unibody design instead of carrying on with the body-on-frame chassis it employs currently. The press release that came with this photo did nothing to refute that belief...

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Categories: Concept Vehicles,Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show,Nissan

Nissan today announced two of the vehicles they will be bringing to this year's Detroit Auto Show.

The first, and most important, is the Pathfinder Preview Concept. We got spy photos of the new Pathfinder late last week and from everything we're seeing, this will be a traditional crossover and not the body-on-frame truck it will be replacing. Expect it to look like the vehicle you see above, but with paint instead of plastic bags, 21-inch wheels replacing these and some sort of crazy brakes and tiny wing mirrors replacing useful ones.

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Categories: Crossovers,Detroit Auto Show,Nissan