2003 Buick Park Avenue Ultra
’03
PARK AVE GETS PORTHOLES
The
restyled 2003 Buick Park Avenue Ultra has something no other Buick has had in
decades — portholes. GM showed off the new Park Avenue Ultra on Wednesday in, of
all places, Manhattan and unveiled the Park’s new shape, which incorporates
portholes on the front fenders. The refined styling complements the Park’s
240-hp supercharged engine, 17-inch chrome-plated aluminum wheels, vertical-bar
grille, P235/55R17 Goodyear Eagle LS blackwall touring tires and a standard Gran
Touring package that features a specially tuned suspension and rear stabilizer
bar. The Park Avenue Ultra goes into production in September 2002.
CAMRY
IS MOST STOLEN AGAIN
For the fifth year in a row, Chicago’s
CCC Information Services says the 1991 Toyota Camry is the most stolen vehicle.
Theft has gone down nearly three percent year over year, but CCC says three
vehicles — different models of the Camry, Honda Accord and Honda Civic — still
dominate the top 25 most stolen vehicles on the annual list. Chevrolet’s
full-size trucks were the top-ranked domestic vehicles, and five of the top 25
were American-branded trucks and SUVs. For more info, see
www.cccis.org.
2002 Subaru Impreza
IMPREZA
IMPRESSES IIHS; RAM “GOOD”
The latest vehicles to earn a
“good” crash rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) are
the Subaru Impreza, Mitsu Lander, Volvo V40 and the redesigned Dodge Ram, the
industry information group announced on Wednesday. The Ram’s rating is a
significant step forward from the last model’s “poor” rating. The IIHS performs
a 40-mph offset crash, while the Feds use a 35-mph standard. The lowest finisher
in the most recent tests was the Kia Sedona minivan, which earned a “fair”
rating.
CHRYSLER
PVO SET; SRT RAM, NEON, VIPER, TOO
DaimlerChrysler
has confirmed release dates for a series of vehicles from its new Performance
Vehicle Operations group, which was launched in January. A spokesman for the Chrysler Group's
new Performance Vehicle Operations unit says the first vehicle tuned by PVO, the
Dodge Viper SRT-10, is now due out in October. The Chrysler Group also plans to
bring out two more PVO vehicles next year: the Dodge Neon SRT-4 will debut in
early 2003 and the Dodge Ram SRT-10 will come out later in the year, says David
Elshoff, a Chrysler Group spokesman. GM also is getting closer to unveiling
plans for its new and as yet unnamed performance vehicle group, a spokesman said.
"We'll be making some moves in the not too distant future," said a GM
official.
SRT Ram: ’02 Detroit Show,
Part V by TCC Team
(1/14/2002)
FORD
SINGS SAFETY WITH BLUES
Ford,
Nickelodeon and Scholastic are teaming up to teach children car safety. Using
the popular characters from Blue’s
Clues, the trio hopes to educate kids in schools
about safety in and around cars. Lisa Owens, Ford Division marketing
communications coordinator, said in a statement that “partnering with industry
leaders like Nickelodeon and Scholastic enables us to reach a large audience of
children and positively influence how they think about safety.” Children can go
online to
www.clueintosafety.com to play educational games; print
and in-class materials are part of the campaign, too.
Ford
Wants You in A Diesel (3/17/2002)
BIG
CAR-SEAT RECALL UNDERWAY
Child
car-seat maker Graco says it will recall almost one million SnugRide car seats
made for infants because of a possible design flaw, USA Today reports. The company
has already pulled the seats from store shelves, the paper reports, because it
suspects the seat could detach from its base in a crash. The seats, produced
under the Century brand, cannot be sold until the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) decides on further action, which could include an
official federal recall.
GM
HANGS WITH FASHIONISTAS
What do you get when you put Minnie
Driver and a Cadillac CTS in the Hollywood Palladium together? Not an Oscar, but
a charity event. Last night’s ten (that’s the name) fashion show paired ten
celebs including the entirely apropos Driver, LeAnn Rimes and Jane Leeves with
ten GM concept vehicles including the Caddy CTS, Hummer H2 and Chevy SSR. The
items worn by the celebs will be auctioned on eBay, with GM matching the bids
and proceeds going to the celeb’s charity of choice. In case you missed it last
night — if your Blahniks were in cold storage, for example — GM is replaying the
Webcast of the show at
http://easylink.playstream.com/hittv/GMshowcase.wmv.
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