ON THE TABLE

May 12, 2010

Cadillac, Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Think the new Cadillac ad campaign has a familiar look and feel to it? There's a reason for that. The same copywriter/art director team from BBH who worked on the recent Jaguar campaign also worked on the new Cadillac campaign. Go to YouTube and compare them for yourselves. Oh, the horror... the horror...

Ann Doyle. Publisher's Note: The former local TV news "personality" and ex-PR hack who once worked at Ford let loose with an embarrassing guest editorial in the Detroit Free Press this week, equating Susan Docherty's demotion at GM to yet another public humiliation of women executives in the workplace. Huh? No, Docherty was demoted because she represented the highest ranking residual member of the "Old Guard" in GM marketing who finally had to be exited from power if the company was ever going to get out from under its two steps forward, five back march of mediocrity. People get demoted or fired in this business - and in corporate America - all the time. And it has been a long, long time since a woman executive losing a job has been "news" just because she was a woman - as well it should be. Doyle was way off-base, to put it charitably, but then again she has a new book to promote, so that basically explains everything. - PMD

 Ford, Alan Mulally. Here's what we'd like to hear Alan Mulally say to the shareholders at the company's annual meeting today in Delaware: "We're very pleased with our progress up until now but we have a long, long way to go, which is why we're cutting this meeting short so we can all get back to work. But thanks for coming, and enjoy the coffee and breakfast stuff on your way out...." A 15-second annual meeting? It would be a beautiful thing...

Bob King. From the "Snake In The Grass" File comes word that the next UAW leader warned automakers at an auto industry conference at the Detroit branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago that when auto industry sales recover, "Equality of sacrifice, there's got to be equality of gain. It's our responsibility to make sure that in that turnaround, our members are treated fairly." Memo to the Detroit automakers: That's about as benign of a statement that you'll ever going to hear come out of King's mouth going forward. Make no mistake, if this guy sees an opportunity to stir shit up, he won't hesitate for a second to make the Detroit automakers' lives miserable as soon as the words "record profits" come across the wire. We see a train wreck coming...

GM. The recovering automaker wants back in to the auto lending business after the Cerberus-GMAC debacle that began three years ago. Duh. Ceding control of GMAC remains the most crucial mistake that GM made leading up to its bankruptcy filing. It may be the most critical mistake in the company's history, come to think about it.

(Pebble Beach Concours)
From the Pebble Beach Concours: The 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance poster is being painted by Harold Cleworth and features one of the world’s most legendary and prized cars, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza. Designed by Vittorio Jano, the 2.3 liter was Alfa Romeo’s primary racing engine throughout most of the 1930s, and it also powered 188 production road cars. Alfa Romeo’s victory at the 1931 Italian Grand Prix at Monza gave the “Monza” name to the twin-seater GP car — a shortened version of the Spyder. Cleworth, who began his painting career in England where he produced album covers for the Rolling Stones, The Who and others, has lived in California for a number of years. His paintings have a strong sense of place and often employ dramatic use of open, negative space that adds tension and serenity to his work. A member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society (AFAS), his work now often features spectacular cars.

(Pebble Beach Concours)
The 2010 Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance poster celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta. Specifically, the poster will show the ultimate SWB 250, a 1961 SEFAC (as Ferrari’s racing team was then known) competition berlinetta, chassis and engine number 2807. While specifications varied, most SEFAC “Hot Rods” (as the competition berlinettas were popularly named) featured a lighter, more rigid chassis, a Testa Rossa-spec engine and were stripped of road car interior pieces and insulation. These cars were very successful on the race track, including a first in class at Le Mans in 1961. Capturing the magic of this powerful machine is British automotive artist Barry Rowe. This is Rowe’s ninth poster for the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. Rowe has also painted four of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance posters, so he is the Concours’ most commissioned artist. Making distinctive use of light, shadow and movement, Rowe has illustrated the style and beauty of some of the world’s most sought-after classic cars.

Publisher's Note: Our "quick take" this week covers two vehicles, the Chevrolet Equinox, and the Audi Q5. Even though I'm admittedly not a crossover kind of guy, I found the Q5 to be very Audi-like, which is a very good thing. Smartly styled inside and out with Audi's now obligatory and exceedingly high level of fit and finish, the most impressive thing about the Q5 is the way it drives. The 3.2 direct-injected V6 isn't going to win any stoplight face-offs, but it's plenty good enough for the day-in, day-out urban slog and it has more than enough juice for freeway bursts too. The Q5 acquitted itself well on the road, in fact very un-crossover like in its road manners and overall feel, delivering the "three C's " - Communicative, Competent and Confident - with flying colors. After having the opportunity to test-drive a slew of the latest Audi machines, I do find Audi's MMI system (they call it 3G plus and the hard-drive-based system has many whiz-bang features like voice recognition, SIRIUS station preview function, 3D graphics) to be exceptionally tedious - even though it is well thought out and intuitive - in that you always have to go through two steps in order to accomplish the basics, like changing a radio station or the fan speed, etc. To me that's just German engineering complication for the sake of German engineering complication. I'm sure there's logic in there somewhere, but they need to re-think it because it's flat-out unnecessary. I wish we had had the Cadillac SRX Turbo back-to-back with the Audi because that would have been a very interesting comparison, but generally, I give the Q5 very high marks. It's a very solid and competitive entry in the segment. - PMD

2010 Audi Q5 3.2 quattro Tiptronic: $45,700 ($37,350 base price, Ice Silver Metallic, $475, Premium Plus – Panorama sunroof, xenon "plus" lights with LED drls, garage door opener, power tailgate, heated front seats, mobile phone prep - bluetooth, driver side memory, auto-dimming & power-folding mirrors, music interface with iPod cable, auto-dimming interior mirrors with compass, stainless steel trunk edge trim and door sills, $4,050; Audi MMI Navigation Plus Package including hdd navigation with voice control, advanced parking system with rear view camera, color driver information system, single cd/dvd player, $3,000; destination charge, $825)

Editor's Note: Reviewing the 2010 Equinox was tough for me, mostly because it arrived on the heels of several really special vehicles we've been lucky enough to drive lately. That said, I found our test vehicle - in Cardinal Red Metallic with a Jet Black Interior - to be perfectly competent and even somewhat stylish. To begin with, I appreciated the tasteful color combo - too often, GM pairs a deadly beige or gray interior with a dark, rich exterior color, and the result screams 'cheap.' So high marks for tasteful. The overall design is clean and contemporary (if a bit derivative, as other reviewers have noted). Inside, the focus is on function and convenience - everything is as expected and there's no huge learning curve for the controls. The cabin is spacious and comfortable, and the overall look and feel address previous concerns about quality materials. I often use my own personal "Costco Index" to evaluate vehicles, and the Equinox scores very well in this regard. If you need to haul stuff (or people), there's plenty of space and access to the rear seats as well as to the rear compartment is easy. Our Equinox was equipped with the optional 264-hp V6, which was matched to a 6-speed automatic. Performance was adequate, if uninspiring, but then 'experience the pure, unbridled joy of driving' is not on the list of reasons to buy this vehicle. Way better than its predecessor in the design department, the Equinox is what it is - a very competent (if somewhat boring) entry in the compact crossover segment. - WG

2010 Chevrolet Equinox AWD 2LT $33,410 ($27,370 base price, Audio System with Navigation/Infotainment, $2,145; 3.0 liter DOHC 264HP V6, $1,500; Leather Appointed Seats w/heated front buckets, $1,050; Trailering Equipment, $350; 18-inch Machined Aluminum Wheels, $250; Destination Charge, $745)

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Publisher's Note: Check-out John McElroy's daily news show covering everything about the auto biz by clicking on the graphic below. Good stuff guaranteed. - PMD

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" hosted by Autoline Detroit's John McElroy, with Peter De Lorenzo and friends this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

 

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