US CAR SALES RESULTS TO BE BAD FOR 02/08

Analysts believe the auto sales in America were likely 8% lower last month than in February of 2007.  It's worse for General Motors where the expected drop is 12%.  It's worse than that for Ford and Chrysler, with predictions for the two smaller American manufacturers to be -16%.

Last year, February sales topped an annual selling rate 16.5million automobiles and trucks.  The best hypothesis for the same period of this year pegs the annual selling rate at 15.3million.  

Meanwhile, gasoline prices averaged $3.16 in the States in February, the highest average cost per gallon since June.  Median home sale prices dropped 4.6% from a year earlier in January.  Mate this with Chrysler's truck-heavy sales structure (75% of their total) to Honda's 44% reliance on vans, SUVs and the Ridgeline.  

This means that even with the overall decline, Honda; Toyota; and Nissan will all - likely - make small gains.  

MORE LAPTIMES FROM evo

Superb British performance car mag, evo, has some interesting new laptimes published in issue 114.  The Bedford Autodrome's West Circuit is always the sight of evo's lap testing, a 1.8 mile circuit that the magazine testers call 'fast and technical'.  

Although the track was damp in places when the new BMW M3 took to the Autodrome, it's time of 1:26.60 is just two tenths behind its big brother, the heavier but much more powerful BMW M6.  That time is also slightly quicker than that put up by the Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

An obvious M3 competitor, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, was just under three seconds slower than the M3. At 1:29.50 in conditions similar to that of the M3's drive, the Benz was three-tenths faster than the previous-generation BMW M3 CS and over a half-second faster than the old C55 AMG. 

If you were to give the Pontiac G8 GT a slightly different front end, a thicker bodykit, and a supercharged V8, you'd have the Vauxhall VXR8 Supercharged.  Its 'track damp in places' time of 1:30.00 gets close to that of the C63 AMG.  Even with an insane amount of power, the VXR8 can't generate enough get-up-and-go to overcome the slower corner exit speeds which are a result of the Vauxhall's size, more than anything else.  

For context, the fastest car evo has taken around Bedford's West Circuit is a Radical SR3 1300.  The Radical's radical time? 1:17.10, although that's just 2.5 seconds faster than the Ariel Atom 300 Supercharged.  Porsche's Carrera GT has an evo laptime of 1:19.70; that's 2.5 seconds faster than the Audi R8.  The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is a second slower than the R8 but posts a laptime 1-and-1 tenth faster than the Ferrari F430.  

Bentley's Continental GT is listed at 1:32.25, the Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C is 1:34.60.  Volkswagen's Gabbit GTI splits that gap. 

Check out another evo laptime post here.

LAND ROVER LRX IN MOTION

Is the Land Rover LRX (previously seen here) the future of sport-utility vehicles?  If emission restrictions and fuel economy standards continue to grow tougher and tougher; if the societal conscience continues to garner more members of society against the sport-ute; and if - at some point - sales begin to trend more strongly away from SUVs and crossovers, will all former SUV buyers flock to station wagons and small MPVs?

I believe not.  Sport-utility vehicles are perfect candidates for a weight loss competition.  There's no use betting against the use of engine technology in sport-utes.  So, why can't the future of SUVs be seen in the same fashion as the future of cars?  

Smaller.  Lighter.  More efficient.  

Land Rover, an SUV-only brand, builds highly desirable vehicles.  It appears as though luxury SUV buyers care not one whit about fuel prices or lowering emissions, at least judging by Land Rover's sales. Nevertheless, forethought never hurts.  And with forethought, Land Rover came up with the LRX.  Read about it here. Watch it below.

ACURA TL RECALL

With struggling sales, the last thing Honda's luxury division needs is a recall on their core car.  Acura TL's from 2004 and 2005 (129,600 of 'em) could suffer from failing windshield wipers.  Another issue affects cars from the same period thru 2008: degrading power steering hoses -> cracking -> fluid leaking onto catalytic converter -> smoke & fire?

Get it taken care of if you're a TL owner.  Up to this point, nobody has been involved in accidents or injuries. Don't be the first. Recently, GoodCarBadCar named the TL a Beauty for the Boss. Fortunately, the engineering of the power steering hose and windshield wiper circuit breaker didn't need to be beautiful for the TL to garner 

#5 on the list.

MAZDA ATENZA ROARING IN JAPAN

Mazda is very pleased to see midsize success in their home market of Japan.  The Atenza, which is linked to the 6 but will not be identical to the second generation 6 we receive, sold at three times the expected rate in its first month on sale in Japan.  

Apparently, the 5-door hatch; sedan; and wagon are each making up an appropriate third of the total. Better news lies in the portion of Atenzas being optioned up.  60% of the sedans are oh-so-not base models; also true for 50% of the hatches and wagons.  Amazingly specific data also bears out the distinct colour preferences of sedan; hatch; and wagon consumers, who chose white; black; and blue, respectively most often on the three bodystyles.

PEUGEOT'S LE MANS DRIVERS

It ought to be a matter of national pride for Peugeot, not to mention the disturbing nature of absolute German dominance at France's most famous race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Audi  won this classic race in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.  Although Bentley - a Volkswagen subsidiary just like Audi - took the title in 2003, it was with Audi's help.  

1996, '97, and '98 were Porsche's years whilst 1999 was BMW's.  The most recent French company to win was indeed Peugeot, but that was 1993.  

Thus, Peugeot is ready to battle again.  This year, they'll be majoring on the drivers as seriously as the cars.  Ask any casual Le Mans follower about previous winners and you will inevitably be told about car companies; not drivers.  If Peugeot manages to wrest the Heures du Mans crown from Audi this year, the drivers will be remembered.  

Jacques Villeneuve, Christian Klien, Alex Wurz, Pedro Lamy, Franck Montagny, Marc Gene, and Ricardo Zonta all sound good.  World Rally man Stephane Sarrazin and ex-Formula 3000 racer Nicolas Minassian should help the cause.  For those keeping track, that's three Frenchmen, one French-Canadian, and not a single German.  

Peugeot's current showrooms are not full of models that could be easily linked to a win at Le Mans.  Like Audi (which uses lines like, "Audi is a trailblazer when it comes to diesel power. Since 1989, over 4.5 millions cars have rolled off the production line with the highly efficient TDI technology under the bonnet. By equipping the R10 TDI sports prototype with this technology, we have just won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a diesel-powered car for the second time") Peugeot is opting for diesel power in their Le Mans racer and it is on this point that Peugeot can claim 'trickle-down' effect and exercise marketing heft. Peugeot and its sister company Citroen are indelinly linked to diesel engines, and rightfully so.  

VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO IMAGES

Be doubtful of the fact that Volkswagen isn't pleased, deep inside the heart of the company, that images of the upcoming Scirocco were leaked ahead of its auto show debut at Geneva.  These sorts of things contribute to the hype a car generates and simply provides more chit-chat on automotive forums.  How can this hurt?

VW designers have stayed remarkably true to the IROC concept from last year but obviously lost overt show car elements like the massive wheels and the bellicose front end.  It'd be nice to see this image in another shade, but there's no denying that even in a silvery-white; the Scirocco is in impactful design .  

Alas, Volkswagen of America doesn't like what the Scirocco would do to GTI sales. 

The Good Car Guy whined, but six weeks later news was still bad. On that front, nothing has changed.  Let's hope it does. First words out of the mouth of The Good Car Girl when she saw the pics: "I'd buy that."