The Bentley Arnage sedan will be joined by a Continental coupe in April or May.
And though it hasn’t arrived in dealerships yet, all 2,000 to be shipped to the U.S. for ’04 have been sold, according to Alasdair Stewart, chief executive of Bentley, who was in town for the Chicago Auto Show.
The Arnage ranges in price from $199,990 to $228,990, and the Continental runs $149,990. Arnage is powered by a 6.75-liter, 450-horsepower twin-turbo V-8, and Continental will be powered by a 6-liter, 560-h.p. twin-turbo 12-cylinder.
Stewart said Bentley plans to offer a sedan off the Continental coupe platform in 2006 and a convertible off the coupe a year after that. Volkswagen, which owns Bentley, has to approve both.
AWD out: With only 3 percent of consumers purchasing optional all-wheel-drive, Chrysler Group marketing vice president George Murphy said the feature will no longer be offered when the 2005 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan minivans go on sale next month.
No entry entre: When it comes to new products, Buick is looking at a convertible and a new flagship sedan as well as some other models. But CJ Fraleigh, general manager of Buick/Pontiac/GMC, said he won’t elaborate.
Still he’s not shy in ruling vehicles out at Buick.
“The [midsize] LaCrosse sedan [due this fall as a 2005 model] might not be our smallest car in the future, but we aren’t going to do any entry-level cars that would be at odds with our premium-car strategy,” he said.
And that means no small, rear-wheel-drive vehicle off the new General Motors Kappa platform on which the ’06 Pontiac Solstice roadster is built.
“Kappa is a great platform but it’s not a premium upscale platform. We’re not going to cater to 18-year-olds,” he said.
LaCrosse game: How important is LaCrosse?
“It’s critical for us and the biggest new-car launch in Buick history,” Fraleigh said.
“Never has a new car been more important because it represents our foot in the future of what Buick stands for, a defining moment and the first ground-up statement of what Buick will be as we move forward–a complete premium package.”
Wagon split: The concept Chevrolet Nomad sport wagon scored higher in the minds of the media than it did in consumer clinics, so “we’re going to do some serious research on that car to see where the serious buyers are,” said Gary Cowger, president of General Motors North American Automotive operations.
“Everyone in the media at the Detroit Auto Show said, `ya gotta build it,’ but in consumer clinics, the reactions were mixed.
“We’re going to do a couple more months of research on Nomad,” Cowger said of the concept on display in Chicago.
Looking to trucks: Hyundai will add a front-wheel-drive minivan to its lineup in 2006 that it will not share with Kia. Korean-based Hyundai owns Kia.
Kia has a minivan, the Sedona that has body-on-frame construction. Hyundai will sell a model with unibody construction.
Five of Hyundai’s six current models are cars, but CEO Bob Cosmai said sales growth will come largely from light trucks such as minivans and sport-utilities.
“We need to get into the truck business,” Cosmai said after unveiling the Tucson, a compact SUV based on the Elantra and a smaller companion to the Santa Fe SUV.
The next-generation Santa Fe due in 2006 will be larger than the current model, and Hyundai plans an even larger SUV in 2007 that will rival the Ford Explorer in size.
Kia introduced the Mojave pickup concept at the show, but Cosmai said a pickup is not in Hyundai’s immediate plans.
The Mojave has the body-on-frame design typical of pickups, but all Hyundai models are unibody, the design typically used for cars.
“We are working with Kia on product development, but we have to work very hard to differentiate our brands.
“Unibody may be one of the differentiators,” he said.
BMW not truckin’: Don’t look for a minivan or pickup from BMW. Tom Purves, chairman and CEO of BMW U.S. Holding Corp., said neither fits the brand’s long-standing image as “the ultimate driving machine.”
“The long-term damage would outweigh any short-term benefits from selling those vehicles,” Purves said.
