voidhawk
06-07-2002, 08:21 AM
I found this article on the news wire service, about how all car makers are trying to beef up their cars' performance in the US market. Honda is bringing out 240 hp minivans, and the word celica is nowhere in sight :angry: .
Horsepower wars: automakers soup up staid vehicles
DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) Jun 07, 2002
Honda's popular Odyssey minivan is about as mainstream a vehicle as any on the US market, but these days it's packing a punch: "240 horseys," in the words of the marketing men.
That's as much as many muscle cars boasted only a few years ago, and while Honda officials shy away from talk that might alarm their soccer mom customers, it clearly reflects a growing trend in the US marketplace.
Virtually everywhere you look, automakers are beefing up performance.
Cars may be a means of getting from A to B, but in the words of industry-watcher David Cole "functionality is a whole lot better when you're having fun at the same time."
Honda recently reintroduced a more powerful version of its staid little Civic subcompact.
The SI is aimed at young buyers who aren't willing to settle for the "stone ponies" they could buy on a budget.
Other manufacturers, such as Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Toyota are pursuing similar strategies, as is Ford, which scored a solid success with its SVT Focus -- a high-performance version of its popular compact car.
DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group is going after the youthful performance crowd with a new spin-off of the hot-selling PT Cruiser, dubbed the PT Turbo.
In the high-end sports car segment, Chrysler is also rolling out a second-generation Dodge Viper later this year.
Already the fastest American-made sports car, with a 450-horsepower V-10 under its hood, the 2003 roadster will get 50 more horsepower, putting it into one of the world's most elite clubs.
Not that many years ago, carmakers struggled to pack 300 horsepower under the hood, noted Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now they strive for 400.
The muscle cars of the '60s often boasted more horsepower, but all-too-typically played fast and loose with the figures. More recent calculations are more accurate.
The Viper was the first domestic model to hit the 400-horsepower mark, though that figure has become commonplace among high-line European brands, such as Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Now the race is on to top the 500 mark. And according to research conducted by both the California consulting firm, AutoPacific Inc., and the Internet "e-zine," TheCarConnection.com, at least 20 and possibly as many as 25 different models will break the 500-hp barrier by mid-decade.
What's notable about this new performance shootout is the fact that it is not limited to sports cars and supercars, points out AutoPacific analyst Nick Twork.
"With the rare exception of cars such as the Porsche Carerra GT, these aren't race car," he notes.
"And only a few of these are traditional, high-performance sports cars. A lot of these are sedans," starting out with an emphasis on luxury, then adding plenty of muscle.
The US market is the world's largest for high-performance cars, says analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities.
That might surprise some in light of the looser speed laws in Europe, "but it's a reflection of our (cheaper) fuel prices," said Healy.
The US consumer may buy them, but Europe currently is and will likely remain the largest supplier of vehicles with more than 500 horsepower.
These include classic high-performance machines, such as the Ferrari, with its 515-horsepower 575M engine and the upcoming, 650-hp Formula One-inspired
But there's also a new generation of players. Mercedes-Benz' revived Maybach marque will hit the road with two ultra-luxury sedans boasting a minimum 550-hp.
At the top of the power chart is the revived Bugatti brand.
It's readying a super or high-performance car dubbed Veyron, which will deliver an estimated 1001 horsepower. The Volkswagen-owned carmaker expects to deliver just one hand-built Veyron a week, at one million dollars a pop.
Whether you're talking about a 550-horsepower Bentley GT Coupe or a 240-horsepower 2002 Honda Odyssey minivan, not everyone is pleased with the direction automakers are taking.
The US insurance industry for one has openly and aggressively tried to slow the horsepower race.
The next-generation Chevrolet Corvette, codenamed C6, likely won't exceed 500-hp because "it would make insurance rates unaffordable," says a senior General Motors product development executive, who declined to be mentioned by name.
A limited-edition model, the next version of the Corvette Z06, may top 500-hp, however, in order to maintain the brand's bragging rights.
Fuel prices pose another potential challenge to the performance push.
But even a surge to two dollars a gallon, or more (it's currently bubbling under two dollars a gallon in the Midwestern United States) likely wouldn't shut the race down, cautions Cole, because this class of buyers is perhaps the most affluent and least cost-sensitive of any.
Then there's the issue of fuel economy.
The US Congress vetoed efforts to raise the current average fuel-economy standard for passenger cars (currently fixed at 27.5 miles per gallon) earlier this year.
But in Sacramento, California, state lawmakers are debating a strict new measure that would allow the California Air Resources Board to set limits on carbon dioxide emissions for the first time.
Carbon dioxide is believed to be one of the causes of global warming; it's also inextricably linked to vehicle mileage.
The lower the fuel economy, the more the carbon dioxide, so any limits on the gas would effectively mandate higher mileage which many of the most powerful engines would have trouble complying with.
But barring such steps -- and CARB has long been the only state agency granted the right to set emissions standards stricter than federal guidelines -- most analysts believe the horsepower wars will continue.
Horsepower wars: automakers soup up staid vehicles
DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) Jun 07, 2002
Honda's popular Odyssey minivan is about as mainstream a vehicle as any on the US market, but these days it's packing a punch: "240 horseys," in the words of the marketing men.
That's as much as many muscle cars boasted only a few years ago, and while Honda officials shy away from talk that might alarm their soccer mom customers, it clearly reflects a growing trend in the US marketplace.
Virtually everywhere you look, automakers are beefing up performance.
Cars may be a means of getting from A to B, but in the words of industry-watcher David Cole "functionality is a whole lot better when you're having fun at the same time."
Honda recently reintroduced a more powerful version of its staid little Civic subcompact.
The SI is aimed at young buyers who aren't willing to settle for the "stone ponies" they could buy on a budget.
Other manufacturers, such as Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Toyota are pursuing similar strategies, as is Ford, which scored a solid success with its SVT Focus -- a high-performance version of its popular compact car.
DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group is going after the youthful performance crowd with a new spin-off of the hot-selling PT Cruiser, dubbed the PT Turbo.
In the high-end sports car segment, Chrysler is also rolling out a second-generation Dodge Viper later this year.
Already the fastest American-made sports car, with a 450-horsepower V-10 under its hood, the 2003 roadster will get 50 more horsepower, putting it into one of the world's most elite clubs.
Not that many years ago, carmakers struggled to pack 300 horsepower under the hood, noted Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now they strive for 400.
The muscle cars of the '60s often boasted more horsepower, but all-too-typically played fast and loose with the figures. More recent calculations are more accurate.
The Viper was the first domestic model to hit the 400-horsepower mark, though that figure has become commonplace among high-line European brands, such as Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Now the race is on to top the 500 mark. And according to research conducted by both the California consulting firm, AutoPacific Inc., and the Internet "e-zine," TheCarConnection.com, at least 20 and possibly as many as 25 different models will break the 500-hp barrier by mid-decade.
What's notable about this new performance shootout is the fact that it is not limited to sports cars and supercars, points out AutoPacific analyst Nick Twork.
"With the rare exception of cars such as the Porsche Carerra GT, these aren't race car," he notes.
"And only a few of these are traditional, high-performance sports cars. A lot of these are sedans," starting out with an emphasis on luxury, then adding plenty of muscle.
The US market is the world's largest for high-performance cars, says analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities.
That might surprise some in light of the looser speed laws in Europe, "but it's a reflection of our (cheaper) fuel prices," said Healy.
The US consumer may buy them, but Europe currently is and will likely remain the largest supplier of vehicles with more than 500 horsepower.
These include classic high-performance machines, such as the Ferrari, with its 515-horsepower 575M engine and the upcoming, 650-hp Formula One-inspired
But there's also a new generation of players. Mercedes-Benz' revived Maybach marque will hit the road with two ultra-luxury sedans boasting a minimum 550-hp.
At the top of the power chart is the revived Bugatti brand.
It's readying a super or high-performance car dubbed Veyron, which will deliver an estimated 1001 horsepower. The Volkswagen-owned carmaker expects to deliver just one hand-built Veyron a week, at one million dollars a pop.
Whether you're talking about a 550-horsepower Bentley GT Coupe or a 240-horsepower 2002 Honda Odyssey minivan, not everyone is pleased with the direction automakers are taking.
The US insurance industry for one has openly and aggressively tried to slow the horsepower race.
The next-generation Chevrolet Corvette, codenamed C6, likely won't exceed 500-hp because "it would make insurance rates unaffordable," says a senior General Motors product development executive, who declined to be mentioned by name.
A limited-edition model, the next version of the Corvette Z06, may top 500-hp, however, in order to maintain the brand's bragging rights.
Fuel prices pose another potential challenge to the performance push.
But even a surge to two dollars a gallon, or more (it's currently bubbling under two dollars a gallon in the Midwestern United States) likely wouldn't shut the race down, cautions Cole, because this class of buyers is perhaps the most affluent and least cost-sensitive of any.
Then there's the issue of fuel economy.
The US Congress vetoed efforts to raise the current average fuel-economy standard for passenger cars (currently fixed at 27.5 miles per gallon) earlier this year.
But in Sacramento, California, state lawmakers are debating a strict new measure that would allow the California Air Resources Board to set limits on carbon dioxide emissions for the first time.
Carbon dioxide is believed to be one of the causes of global warming; it's also inextricably linked to vehicle mileage.
The lower the fuel economy, the more the carbon dioxide, so any limits on the gas would effectively mandate higher mileage which many of the most powerful engines would have trouble complying with.
But barring such steps -- and CARB has long been the only state agency granted the right to set emissions standards stricter than federal guidelines -- most analysts believe the horsepower wars will continue.