– Honda Element prices for 2004 range from $16,100 for a front-wheel-drive DX model with manual transmission to $21,350 for a four-wheel-drive EX model with automatic and side air bags. A new LX price series includes a FWD/manual model for $17,100, 4WD/manual model for $18,500 and 4WD/automatic for $19,300. The prices do not include the $490 destination charge.
– Hyundai will unveil the HCD8 concept coupe at the Detroit Auto Show. The flowing lines of the HCD8, denoting the eighth concept vehicle created by Hyundai’s California design studio, may indicate the styling direction for a successor to the Tiburon coupe.
FYI
– Ford says it will expand the availability of roll stability control offered on its ’04 Lincoln Aviator and Lincoln Navigator sport-utility vehicles to the ’05 Ford Explorer and Expedition and Mercury Mountaineer sport-utes. The complex system, which uses a gyroscopic sensor to determine whether a vehicle is going to roll, reduces engine power and/or applies the brakes to one or more wheels to regain stability. The system was developed by Ford but first appeared in 2003 on the Volvo XC90.
– Though Ford lost some full-size truck output while adding the redesigned ’04 F-Series pickup, the automaker should sell more than 800,000 F-Series this year to keep the title of best-selling pickup in the industry for the 23rd consecutive year, according to Steve Lyons, president of Ford Division. And, looking to calendar ’04 and a full year of output: “We’ll set a new record for full-size truck sales,” Lyons boasts. “The record was 911,597 in 2001, and we’ll beat that in ’04.”
– While enthusiasts await the next-generation Ford Mustang coming out next summer as an ’05, the old model is holding its own, says Steve Lyons. Sales should top 150,000 this year,” he says. “Mustang has done well enough to drive two major competitors out of business,” he adds, referring to the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird.
– For those who think the original Pontiac GTO was fast in the 1960s, Bob Reuter, GTO chief engineer, points out the ’64 could accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in 7.4 seconds, the ’04 in 5.3 seconds, though the ’04 outweighs the ’64 by about 700 pounds. “The ’04 weighs 3,700 pounds, but it has a lot of equipment the ’64 didn’t, such as ABS [anti-lock brakes], four-wheel disc brakes, air bags and three-point safety belts. The original had drum brakes and an optional lap belt,” he says.
