(BroBible.com)
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The 2016 Detroit Auto Show Is A Mix Of SEMA, CES & Car Show
2. Dodge Viper Challenge
- Blurring the lines between reality and make believe, the Dodge Viper Challenger allows auto show visitors to step inside a Dodge Viper that is actually a full-scale video game controller. Complete with sounds and motion, this is as close as you can get to actually racing a Viper.
- To show just how capable Ford’s new F-150 Super Duty is in the virtual world, a simulator complete with terrain replicating hydraulics awaits you in Ford’s massive display in Detroit. It takes drivers around a test course complete with water crossings, muddy ruts and steep inclines.
- Are you a fan of Lego? Why not head over the Ford booth and play with some small interlocking plastic bricks? There are even a few replicas of Ford vehicles like the F-150 and Mustang.
The 'Current' Fastest Import Uses A Suprising Power Plant
The GT86 is often criticised for being a bit slow. No such problem here.
This 2JZ-swapped Toyota runs an incredible 5.774sec quarter mile at
247mph, making it 'the fastest import in the world!'
(CarThrottle.com)
(CarThrottle.com)
The Car Looks Ok But It's N/A & Not Boosted
How Akio Got His Groove Back
With the debut of the 2017 Lexus LC500 at the Detroit Auto Show, Toyota Motor Company President and CEO Akio Toyoda showed us the kind of leader he really is.
The man is many things. Yet as the man stepped onto the stage at the NAIAS yesterday, he chose to describe himself as the "master driver" for the Lexus brand. A brief video montage flashed by, showing Akio Toyoda donning his Nomex suit and helmet to drive a variety of dedicated race cars and Lexus prototypes. Then it was time for the man to speak. Which he did, in English that was correct and conversational, on a subject that was dear to his heart.
Detroit press conferences are typically opportunities for chief executives and company spokespeople to recount their successes in terms ranging from the merely boastful to the unpleasantly hubristic. Yet Toyoda, at the helm of the world's most successful car company by right of both birth and demonstrated ability, chose to exhibit humility and remorse. He said nothing about the staggering success of the Lexus brand in the United States and its growing reputation in the global market. He failed to mention the fact that the two core products of Lexus—the LS sedan and the RX crossover—have essentially reshaped the luxury-car business in their own images. Instead, the man talked about emotion.
Opening a folded sheet of paper, Mr. Toyoda read a few comments that were critical of Lexus and its ability to emotionally connect with its customers. "Boring to drive," he read, then he looked up at the audience in a manner that was apologetic, rather than challenging. What other CEO of an automotive company would forthrightly reiterate the chief criticism of his products like that? Even his choice of reading from a sheet of paper, rather than the teleprompters, meant something. It was meant to convey that he had read, and understood, that criticism. That he had accepted it.
Having accepted the criticism, the master driver of the Lexus brand proceeded to refute it. First, there was a typically concept-looking concept, a four-door sedan/fuel-cell thing that looked no more or less likely than any other concept car debuting at this or any other show. The audience clapped politely but nothing more. It didn't matter. It was only prologue to what would come next.
The production-ready 2017 Lexus LC500 that rolled onto the stage, to somewhat fevered applause from the standing-room-only crowd, is as important for what it is not as for what it is. This is what it is not: A hybrid. A four-door compromise "coupe". Turbocharged. Supercharged. Small-displacement. Modestly sized. Sensible. Socially responsible.
No, the LC500 is exactly the car for which we'd hoped. Big and bold. Beautifully proportioned yet unashamedly Japanese in its shape and the detailing of the greenhouse and interior. It is a pure and proper coupe, powered by the mighty titanium-valved five-liter Lexus V8 that we already know (and love) from the RC-F. This is an era where even Porsche feels compelled to greenwash every new-vehicle introduction by talking about environmental responsibility and CO2 emissions, but Toyoda chose instead to play a thunderous recording of the LC500's V8 changing gears at redline. Not a word was spoken about the environment or about the responsible usage of dwindling resources. Akio Toyoda stood before his glasspack-voiced crimson monster with perfect confidence, knowing that, as the world's foremost manufacturer of hybrid vehicles, Toyota cannot possibly be shamed out for this singular indulgence.
(Road&Track.com)
With the debut of the 2017 Lexus LC500 at the Detroit Auto Show, Toyota Motor Company President and CEO Akio Toyoda showed us the kind of leader he really is.
The man is many things. Yet as the man stepped onto the stage at the NAIAS yesterday, he chose to describe himself as the "master driver" for the Lexus brand. A brief video montage flashed by, showing Akio Toyoda donning his Nomex suit and helmet to drive a variety of dedicated race cars and Lexus prototypes. Then it was time for the man to speak. Which he did, in English that was correct and conversational, on a subject that was dear to his heart.
Detroit press conferences are typically opportunities for chief executives and company spokespeople to recount their successes in terms ranging from the merely boastful to the unpleasantly hubristic. Yet Toyoda, at the helm of the world's most successful car company by right of both birth and demonstrated ability, chose to exhibit humility and remorse. He said nothing about the staggering success of the Lexus brand in the United States and its growing reputation in the global market. He failed to mention the fact that the two core products of Lexus—the LS sedan and the RX crossover—have essentially reshaped the luxury-car business in their own images. Instead, the man talked about emotion.
Opening a folded sheet of paper, Mr. Toyoda read a few comments that were critical of Lexus and its ability to emotionally connect with its customers. "Boring to drive," he read, then he looked up at the audience in a manner that was apologetic, rather than challenging. What other CEO of an automotive company would forthrightly reiterate the chief criticism of his products like that? Even his choice of reading from a sheet of paper, rather than the teleprompters, meant something. It was meant to convey that he had read, and understood, that criticism. That he had accepted it.
Having accepted the criticism, the master driver of the Lexus brand proceeded to refute it. First, there was a typically concept-looking concept, a four-door sedan/fuel-cell thing that looked no more or less likely than any other concept car debuting at this or any other show. The audience clapped politely but nothing more. It didn't matter. It was only prologue to what would come next.
The production-ready 2017 Lexus LC500 that rolled onto the stage, to somewhat fevered applause from the standing-room-only crowd, is as important for what it is not as for what it is. This is what it is not: A hybrid. A four-door compromise "coupe". Turbocharged. Supercharged. Small-displacement. Modestly sized. Sensible. Socially responsible.
No, the LC500 is exactly the car for which we'd hoped. Big and bold. Beautifully proportioned yet unashamedly Japanese in its shape and the detailing of the greenhouse and interior. It is a pure and proper coupe, powered by the mighty titanium-valved five-liter Lexus V8 that we already know (and love) from the RC-F. This is an era where even Porsche feels compelled to greenwash every new-vehicle introduction by talking about environmental responsibility and CO2 emissions, but Toyoda chose instead to play a thunderous recording of the LC500's V8 changing gears at redline. Not a word was spoken about the environment or about the responsible usage of dwindling resources. Akio Toyoda stood before his glasspack-voiced crimson monster with perfect confidence, knowing that, as the world's foremost manufacturer of hybrid vehicles, Toyota cannot possibly be shamed out for this singular indulgence.
(Road&Track.com)
This Would Not Be Able To Happen Today
Delivering the Hope Diamond
On November 8, 1958, an employee of Harry Winston’s New York City jewelry store mailed an ordinary looking package at the mail city post office. The package was anything but ordinary. It held one of the most famous gems in America, the Hope Diamond. The employee paid $145.29 to mail the package. Postage accounted for only $2.44 of the total cost. The rest was for insurance totaling $1 million. This valuable gem traveled safe and sound to the museum through the US mail.
In Washington, the package was delivered by local letter carrier James G. Todd. He picked it up at the Washington, D.C. city post office, which today houses the National Postal Museum. It was a short trip to the Natural History Museum from here. There, Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, brought Todd into the Gem Hall where reporters and cameras watched as Todd plucked the valuable package from his mail satchel and presented it to Secretary Carmichael.
Of course, much of the intrigue of the Hope Diamond comes from its alleged curse. At the donation ceremony Mrs. Winston scoffed at the idea of a curse, noting that her family had held the gem without any ill effects. Carrier Todd had cause to question just how powerful the curse was. Within a single year after delivering the stone to the Smithsonian, Todd suffered a crushed leg and head wound in two separate automobile accidents, his wife died of a heart attack, his dog strangled on his leash, and Todd’s Seat Pleasant, Maryland, home was partially destroyed by fire.
When reached by a Washington Post reporter who asked if he attributed his misfortune to having delivered the Hope Diamond, Todd replied, “I don’t believe any of that stuff.” He went on to say that it was all in one’s attitude. Referring to the fire he said: “Perhaps I’m actually having good luck. Thank God all four children were outside instead of in those rooms.” Todd added a thought. “If the hex is supposed to affect the owners, then the public should be having the bad luck.”
(PostalMuseumBlog.SI.edu)
On November 8, 1958, an employee of Harry Winston’s New York City jewelry store mailed an ordinary looking package at the mail city post office. The package was anything but ordinary. It held one of the most famous gems in America, the Hope Diamond. The employee paid $145.29 to mail the package. Postage accounted for only $2.44 of the total cost. The rest was for insurance totaling $1 million. This valuable gem traveled safe and sound to the museum through the US mail.
In Washington, the package was delivered by local letter carrier James G. Todd. He picked it up at the Washington, D.C. city post office, which today houses the National Postal Museum. It was a short trip to the Natural History Museum from here. There, Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, brought Todd into the Gem Hall where reporters and cameras watched as Todd plucked the valuable package from his mail satchel and presented it to Secretary Carmichael.
Of course, much of the intrigue of the Hope Diamond comes from its alleged curse. At the donation ceremony Mrs. Winston scoffed at the idea of a curse, noting that her family had held the gem without any ill effects. Carrier Todd had cause to question just how powerful the curse was. Within a single year after delivering the stone to the Smithsonian, Todd suffered a crushed leg and head wound in two separate automobile accidents, his wife died of a heart attack, his dog strangled on his leash, and Todd’s Seat Pleasant, Maryland, home was partially destroyed by fire.
When reached by a Washington Post reporter who asked if he attributed his misfortune to having delivered the Hope Diamond, Todd replied, “I don’t believe any of that stuff.” He went on to say that it was all in one’s attitude. Referring to the fire he said: “Perhaps I’m actually having good luck. Thank God all four children were outside instead of in those rooms.” Todd added a thought. “If the hex is supposed to affect the owners, then the public should be having the bad luck.”
(PostalMuseumBlog.SI.edu)
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