The Problem With the Cute Chevy Trax

To be perfectly honest, I've always liked the Chevy Trax and its cousins (the Groove and the Beat) right from the start, when they were debuted as Korean-designed concepts at the 2007 New York Auto Show.

It has evolved nicely since then (it's been sold worldwide since 2012, coming to America only this year) and though the originally concept's round headlights gave it an adorable face, they've been replaced with respectable, mid-2010s-era lamps that are well proportioned, if a bit anonymous-looking. The front grille and other treatments are well within the Chevy family's current look. Which is either a good thing, or not, depending on your view of that look.

Original Trax concept, upper right.

Reminiscent of the well-put-together looking Sportage, the Trax sports some neatly designed roof rails (functionally, not sure how well put-together they are, but they'd probably hold skis.) The entire vehicle looks like it was a larger GM SUV that was shrunk in the lab, which is both good and bad. Good, because it's stylin'. Bad because it's not a huge SUV, and sometimes pretending to be big and tough isn't the same as achieving it.

The beefy hood bulges, but not too far, since it's micro-tiny, and doesn't need to contain a huge engine. The slow, downward slant of the side creases are attractive, though common to almost all mini-Utes like the Rav-4. In fact, This car is a great competitor, or at least imitator, of that popular Toyota's style.

The narrow rear window is likely to be an issue with visibility, along with the huge C-pillars. The large rear lamps are attractive, and how they merge into a crease that flows to the rear door handle is unique and adds great visual interest.

It must be noted that the Trax shares a platform with the rather popular Buick Encore, which looks nearly identical except for the hood and grille. (Way to badge-engineer, GM!)

A key problem, unrelated to the styling of the thing, is the Trax's price. 

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but charging $19,500 for the Chevy Trax is a travesty. It's a $16,000 car, at best, closer in price to the Honda Fit, which in truth (and I'm not going out on a limb in saying so) is probably far higher in quality and dependability. One could also mention GM's audacity to charge north of $25,000 for the Buick version of this micro-car, but one need not get one's blood pressure up.

Micro cars need to stop trying to demand macro prices. Other than that quibble, the Trax continues to evolve nicely and COULD be a good seller, if dealers are generous in their discounts.

The Chrysler 200 Goes Under the Knife - and Comes out Pretty

Chrysler's 200 has, since it's introduction in 2012, had a problem. And that problem was the headlight design. The headlights are ghastly on the current model. Almost literally laughable.

In one of our first posts here, Auto Styling News eviscerated the 200 for this and other sins, but mostly the sin of actively advertising this vehicle as 'distinctive' and having funny little eyebrows, and a grille "that's shaped just like the interior clock," somehow made it so. To have "luxury car" pretensions, and have such a glaring mistake right there on the front of the car seemed unforgivable.

In fact, the car's introductory ad itself was called "Why do the headlights have eyebrows?" Why, indeed. (The video screenshot below doesn't do justice to the silliness that ensues when one of these is seen on the road.)

The sad part about the 2011 re-do of the Sebring is that the rest of the car looked pretty good. The rear was very attractive and the proportions were fine.

Anyway, let's just say all is forgiven. The 2015 model, released at the Detroit Motor Show this week, is a far better looking vehicle on many levels.

The headlights, along with the entire grille, has been refurbished, and now has the class that was sorely lacking on the 2011-14 models. The well proportioned Chrysler "wing" logo is now more prominent as well, and gives the car a proper identity.

Had they stopped there, the company would receive great plaudits from this quarter and many others, I'm sure. But they kept going, and tweaked the entire vehicle (which is now built atop a Fiat chassis.)

The rear end - which they actually got right on the previous 200 - also received a completely facelift, and while the rear spoiler from a certain angle seems to give it a bit of a "duck face" (or duck's a**?) it's tolerable. And while the previous tail lights were just fine, the new ones are certainly appropriate, if not a bit hum-drum.

The side view also looks completely different, and this yields one of the few criticisms, since it looks a lot like most other cars on the road, and it is not at all distinctive.



The rear looks a bit like a Hyundai and one could mistake the profile for a Lexus or even (if you squint) a Jaguar F series. Which isn't a bad mistake for a car seeking to enter "luxury" status (and a $21k luxury car would certainly be welcome.)

With this complete re-think, Chrysler shows that it's serious about reaching into the luxury market - or at least that it knows how to recover when it makes a mistake, and the previous 200 was a big one.

It's too early to say whether the 200 can actually compete with the luxury brands it hopes to take on, or whether it's rather anonymous styling makes it more of a competitor with the Hyundai's and KIA's of the world. But at least it's now a full competitor.

#KIA's GT4 #Stinger Concept debuts in Detroit

KIA's concept GT4 Stinger has just debuted at the Detroit Auto Show and it's a beauty, based on official images released today. The car is said to be KIA's version of the Hyundai Genesis, and very close to what the production model will look like. What do you think? Post your comments below.

 

The Amazing Rolls-Royce Wraith: Set for Production in 2015

The amazing Rolls-Royce Wraith convertible concept is going to production by 2015, according to multiple sources who said Rolls-Royce chief Torsten Müller-Ötvös had signed off on the model. The lushly produced "Official" video above shows how this shorter Rolls will likely appear, and it's extremely tantalizing.

The suicide doors, which undoubtedly alone weigh in at a ton or more, are slathered with leather, as is the entire interior, which will likely have literally millions of available permutations for a true bespoke/custom look, as is available for all Rolls orders.

The grille and lamps are squared off and are incredibly imposing, as they are on other models, like the Phantom Drophead Coupé, on which it's clearly based. The fast-back styling of the coupe are what really set this apart from the larger models currently in production. Care is taken not to sharply curve downwards in the rear quarter panel, but the D-Pillar is large and a bit bulky. While nicely rendered, as expected, this will clearly be a line-of-sight issue that will hinder visibility, but likely to be well handled by rear cameras, which are included on car makes far less expensive than this. Expect more top-of-the-line cameras here than on a Hollywood set.

The entire daylight opening in the greenhouse is extremely limiting, which, while stylish, is going to be a problem for owners who are daily drivers. Or their chauffeurs.

The trunk is likely to be ginormous, large enough for several golf bags or a huge assortment of custom luggage for the annual Hamptons holiday.

The entire rear, including the tail lamps, clearly define it as a Rolls, and its clear the heritage of the design was of paramount concern here. The entire design language and down-road graphic is instantly recognizable, and isn't a severe or radical departure for Rolls, and that's a very important and crucial decision, since the brand's customer base is conservative and loyal. Best not to stir things up with extreme and bizarre styling that will rankle the 1% who can afford this new iteration of a classic brand.

As a side note about the video's "plot," I love how the guy blows right by the beautiful woman in the video, rather than picking her up! As if to day "This car is enough for me, babe!"

Bentley EXP 9F SUV Concept to Be Reworked Before 2015 Debut

The near-universal reaction of the automotive press to the Bentley EXP 9F concept car's unveiling at the 2012 Geneva Auto Show was negative, according to several published reports. So much so, that the company now plans to go back to the drawing board and redesign the company's first SUV.

It's just as well. The thing's a dud.

Not only does it resemble a GMC Acadia from the windscreen back, its proportions are all wrong.

Bentley officials are now privately admitting what everyone is saying - that it made a grievous error in design, or as they put it "too heavy-handed." Quite.

To name one mistake, its headlamps are simply too large and too imposing even for Bentley. In fact, just chopping off the front end of its classic Continental design, giving it a garish face-lifting and huge foglamps, then gluing it onto a GMC Acadia-like SUV is hardly worthy of this luxury brand, which would likely charge up to $180,000 for such a vehicle on the market.

The rear, while not overtly offensive, is a bland combination of a BMW and Japanese Sport-Ute, and other than the nice detail work of the tail lamps, lacks something special in its execution.

Company spokesmen are on the record saying it would be the most expensive SUV ever sold. To do that, and do it profitably (and to meet their 2015 launch date) Bentley must get it right. They are, for now, pushing ahead with plans to send the EXP 9F on a world tour of sorts, starting with the Bejing Auto Show late next month, and also putting it in front of current Bentley owners. But surely,  the jury has been tainted at this point and there will be lots of criticism.

But a word of caution to Bentley Motors: There is also some rumbling that the company believes that a redesign will be less "retro" in its styling. While they may have been a bit too slavish in their devotion to Bentley themes in  this design study, one has to remember the experience of Jaguar.

I believed then, as I still believe, that their XF model was too radical for the brand, and went too far towards a "Japanese" look in order to please American and Western European customers (and Japanese ones as well, of course.) In fact, the first model year of that car looked a lot like a Lexus with horrible 1990s Chrysler headlamps attached to a rather Volvo-like grille. Some of that was fixed in Model Year Two, but going too far away from tradition is always a mistake in a luxury car, in my view. And I suspect that view is shared by many of the older buyers who can afford them.

(photos from the Bentley website)