Audi Shows New TT

Audi Shows New TT

Audi's second-generation TT coupe has been shown to the world, and was on display at theNew York auto show as a part of a fashion show with a mock runway running right through the Javits Center. The new TT doesn't showing off the Art Deco lines of the original; Audi's restyled the car in a more modern idiom, with sleeker proportions cloaking a new aluminum space-frame architecture. The new TT, a 2008 model in the U.S. when it arrives next year, will get a host of new hardware. Longer and wider than the last edition, it will be powered by either a 200-hp turbo four-cylinder engine or a 250-hp V-6. Quattro all-wheel drive will be available. A convertible version is expected in 2008 as well.

2006 New York Auto Show: Last Words

The New York Auto Show opened to the public on Friday, with a host of new vehicles from Audi, Saturn, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, and more. TheCarConnection.com has all the news from the show floor, and sums up the show in our Last Words today, and see all our coverage from New York:

New York Auto Show Coverage

Q&A: Ford President Mark Fields

Mark Fields may be young and buff, but to listen to his many proponents, he's also a man of high energy and intensity - with a clear vision of what needs to be done to revive Ford Motor Co.'s troubled North American Automotive Operations. In January, Fields and Ford Motor Chairman Bill Ford Jr. outlined the so-called "Way Forward" turnaround plan, which will lead to the closure of more than a dozen parts and assembly plants and the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs. But if it works, it will also put the struggling number-three automaker back in the black in its home market. The executive vice president of Ford Motor Co. sat down for a long chat with TheCarConnection.com's publisher, TCC Team, following the automaker's news conference at the New York Auto Show.

Jeep Going Global, Zetsche Says

Jeep is going to become a truly global brand in the years to come. Dieter Zetsche, DaimlerChrysler chief executive officer, told the company's shareholders at its annual meeting in Berlin last week that the company planned to make the Jeep into a truly global brand by expanding sales of its new models in markets beyond North America. At the same time, the Chrysler Group will continue to push the more sales overseas of cars carrying the Dodge and Chrysler brands as well, he said.

Where will Jeep go?

Schrempp Still Lingers over DC Board

The DaimlerChrysler annual shareholders' meeting put a spotlight once again on the company's long-running legal battle with Kirk Kerkorian and ex-CEO Juergen Schrempp. Hilmar Kopper, the old-school German banker who presides over the company's supervisory board, sparred with several dissident shareholders, wanting to know why the German-American automaker had never held Schrempp personally accountable for the loss of $300 million, which was used to settle a lawsuit by a group of American pension funds.

Find out why Schrempp left the meeting in a hail of catcalls

Chrysler Expects Market-Share Gains

The Chrysler Group expects to pick up market share again this year as it continues to roll out new products, despite the competitive storm that now prevails in the North American market. Dieter Zetsche, DaimlerChrysler's chief executive officer, told shareholders quizzing him about Chrysler's prospects that he expects the Chrysler Group to post a modest increase in market share this year despite the pressure from rivals. In addition, the company's goal is to produce growth that also is profitable, he said

Find out why Chrysler thinks it's ready for $3 a gallon gas

POLL RESULTS

Crossing Over: Choose Your Favorite

12.9% Lexus RX350/400h

10.7% Ford Freestyle

9.9% Chrysler Pacifica

17.1% Saturn Outlook

8% Mercedes-Benz R-Class

5.9% Toyota RAV4

13.5% Nissan Murano

1.8% Mitsubishi Outlander

15.3% Cadillac SRX

4.9% That show with John Edwards? You know, the fortune teller?

From TCConfidential

The Week in Reverse

TheCarConnection toured the New York auto show this week, and we were not left wanting. You haven't lived until you almost get run over by a taxi on your last snappy bite of a Sabrett's.

Please, don't let them do this to my Element - or as my San Diego posse calls it, my gay little refrigerator.

Okay, so we fell for this Chrysler/Jeep stunt, mostly because it involved a big fire truck and lots of dirt and our favorite car from the show. But for the record we'll remind everyone that we hate auto-show stunts. Unless they involve firetrucks and dirt.

So, even the Mazda PR folks admit the closeness of the CX-7 and CX-9 are causing communication problems. If journos can't tell much of a difference, how will they get it across in a zoom-zoom ad?

Irony of the season: Ford sells off Hertz in time to revive Shelby-based Hertz Mustang. Someone alert Alanis Morissette before she re-re-releases Jagged Little Pill yet again.

Will a trio of new products be enough to revive your interest in Saturn? How about if we gave you $3000 cash back? For GM, that truly is the billion-dollar question.

Audi's Q7 is the best-looking of the trio of SUVs it calls a family - just because we said so.

The very cleverness of the "Unlimited" name over at Jeep suddenly makes us rethink all of the "Limited" models on the market - and how true the name really can be.

And finally this week, TheCarConnection applauds the organizers of the New York auto show: not for the ease of entry and exit, or for the quality of car introductions, but for the utterly logical placement of both the Starbucks kiosk and the men's rooms. You wanna talk synergy? There's your synergy.

  

FROM THE SOURCE headlines from the latest press releases

PRNewswire

Mitsubishi Motors Offers Authentic Rockford Fosgate(R) PUNCH(R) in U.S. Outlander

Ford's Twin Cities and Norfolk Assembly Plants Will Be Idled As Way Forward Plan Moves Ahead

Kia to Exclusively Offer SIRIUS Satellite Radio as Factory Standard Equipment

Name	Symbol	Last	Change
Autobytel, Inc.	ABTL	4.34	-0.03 (-0.69%)
Autoliv Inc.	ALV	54.55	+0.08 (+0.15%)
AutoNation Inc.	AN	21.96	+0.42 (+1.95%)
ArvinMeritor Inc.	ARM	15.45	+0.11 (+0.72%)
American Axle & Mfr. Holdings Inc.	AXL	16.46	-0.04 (-0.24%)
Ballard Power Systems Inc.	BLDP	7.62	-0.04 (-0.52%)
BorgWarner Inc.	BWA	59.46	-0.06 (-0.10%)
Cummins Inc.	CMI	106.75	+0.66 (+0.62%)
Dana Corporation	DCN	0.66	0.00 (0.00%)
DaimlerChrysler AG (ADR)	DCX	55.80	+0.15 (+0.27%)
Dura Automotive Systems	DRRA	2.33	+0.05 (+2.19%)
Eaton Corporation	ETN	74.62	+0.44 (+0.59%)
Ford Motor Company	F	7.35	+0.07 (+0.96%)
General Motors Corporation	GM	20.40	+0.37 (+1.85%)
Gentex Corporation	GNTX	15.61	-0.62 (-3.82%)
Goodyear Tire & Rubber	GT	13.50	-0.15 (-1.10%)
Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (ADR)	HMC	32.17	-0.22 (-0.68%)
Johnson Controls Inc.	JCI	75.33	-0.56 (-0.74%)
Lear Corporation	LEA	18.10	+0.95 (+5.54%)
Magna International Inc.	MGA	74.37	-0.61 (-0.81%)
Motorola Inc.	MOT	24.02	+0.04 (+0.17%)
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (ADR)	NSANY	23.67	-0.03 (-0.13%)
Sonic Automotive Inc.	SAH	26.45	-0.54 (-2.00%)
Siemens AG	SI	90.97	+0.10 (+0.11%)
Sirius Satellite Radio	SIRI	5.32	+0.12 (+2.31%)
Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR)	TM	113.12	-0.40 (-0.35%)
TRW Automotive Holdings	TRW	23.00	-0.25 (-1.08%)
Tower Automotive Inc.	TWRAQ.PK	0.084	+0.001 (+1.20%)
United Auto Group Inc.	UAG	41.77	+0.16 (+0.38%)
Visteon Corporation	VC	4.58	+0.27 (+6.26%)
XM Satellite Radio Hold.	XMSR	23.31	+0.26 (+1.13%)