Stimulus We Can Believe In: More Cash for Cash for Clunkers

DETROIT - Yes, it’s an economic stimulus program we can believe in. After one week, so many American drivers have traded in clunkers for $3,500-$4,500 in cash toward a new car that the program is nearly out of money. The Obama administration promised Friday morning that it would fund such trade-in deals signed over the weekend, even though the government has nearly used up the program’s $1-billion funding. Dealer applications have crashed the program’s computers. Friday afternoon, The Washington Post reports, the House voted 316-109 to throw another $2 billion into the clunkers pot. The money was slated for energy loan guarantees as part of the Obama economic stimulus package.

While the aptly named Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-California) complained the money was being re-directed without any input from the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Candice Miller (R-Michigan) called the original program “the best $1 billion of economic stimulus funds that the government has ever spent.”

She’s right.

General Motors and Chrysler have received about $64 billion in federal loan guarantees so far. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) budgeted up to $700 billion in federal loans to banks, financial institutions and AIG Insurance. And nine failing banks that received $165 billion from the government last year paid more than $32 billion in bonuses to their employees. Each of the 4793 bankers received a minimum of $1 million. They may have been the only American consumers buying cars in the past few months.

So at the risk of raising the ghost of Senator Everett Dirksen (”a billion here, a billion there and sooner or later, you’re talking real money,” although the number in his time may have been a million), what’s $3 billion if it gets people in showrooms again? If the last week is any indication, the extra $2 billion in Cash for Clunkers money won’t last more than, er, two weeks. Nice problem to have: if enough of the clunkers are sputtering into GM and Chrysler dealers, the cash may help GM and Chrysler pay back their loans more quickly.

We’ll know more on Monday, when the automakers announce their July sales numbers.  If they report sales spikes after the Clunkers program commenced, it had better spur the Senate (where the $2-billion extension faces stiffer opposition) to quickly pass the House bill.

Audi Bucks the Trend, Promises More Product, Not All for U.S.

Hyundai’s U.S. CEO John Krafcik said it best earlier this year: “flat is the new up.” By that measure, Audi AG is riding high. Global sales fell 11 percent in the first half of 2009, versus 18 percent for the whole industry. What’s more, Audi was comparing its number to a record-setting 2008. In North America, sales fell 12 percent in the first half of the year, versus a one-third drop in sales for the industry.

More important, Audi is making money. Its global first-half profit was 823 million euro ($1.17 billion), off 36.6 percent. Chief Financial Officer Axel Strotbeck said Friday that the company posted a “clear profit” in both of the first two quarters. “We’re the most profitable premium manufacturer, at the present.”

Audi continues its struggle for more premium market share in the U.S., of course. It’s been about 17 years since it nearly left our market. Audi’s still a pretty small player here, only its fourth-largest global market (after Germany, China and Great Britain) whereas we’ve traditionally been the second-largest market for Mercedes-Benz and BMW (though their Chinese sales undoubtedly rival U.S. sales now, too).

Nevertheless, Strotbeck said Audi will “not push sales by artificially pushing lease prices down” in the U.S. Instead, it will continue to move upmarket. In terms of features, quality and luxurious interiors, Audi’s reputation is nearly that of BMW and Mercedes. While its A4 and A5 can get very expensive with optional equipment very quickly, the A4 especially strikes many upper-middle-class buyers as an accessible step up from an entry level Lexus, Infiniti or Acura, and perhaps a step-and-a-half up from a loaded Camry or Accord.

The other element that’s working for Audi is marketing. While other luxury brands cut marketing and advertising budgets and get out of racing, Audi is a marketing powerhouse that led Super Bowl XLII advertising and spent a truckload of euro to go to Le Mans. It’s setting itself up well for the next decade, when strong marketing will pick the winners in a plethora of good new product.

Strotbeck pointed to three new models Audi will introduce in coming months: the A5 Sportback, an all-new A8 coming in calendar 2010 and a new A1 in the third quarter of ‘10. Two will not be imported to the U.S. Audi said this about future models/strategy in the North American market:

• No U.S. production plans for now. This became a big issue for models like the A4 last year when the euro’s value went past the $1.60 mark. Volkswagen is building a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which will build the Passat replacement beginning calendar year ‘1l, but Audi won’t be part of it, for now.

• No plans to bring the 2011 A1 to North America. Audi hopes to grow A3 sales with a new diesel version coming to the U.S. in December. Problem with the A3 is that it costs nearly as much as a base A4 in the U.S., and despite the Mini’s popularity, we don’t like hatchbacks here. Given the expected technology, the A1 could cost Audi at least as much to build as the A3 or even the A4. Still, if the new A1 is as cool and cutting edge as the original, won’t it be as desirable as a Mini Cooper?
• While Audi still considers diesels the best green/fuel-efficient technology, it will have a hybrid Q5 on the market in one-and-a-half to two years.
• All of Audi’s 2010 gas-powered models will have direct injection, and it claims it will be the first to achieve that milestone.

Driving the Future: Nissan’s All New Electric Vehicle

Since April, we’ve been continually updating you on the progress of Nissan’s electric vehicle (EV) program with up to the minute news bulletins like this one.

And this one.

This one over here.

And, yup, this one.
 
Well today, Nissan essentially stuffed all of this information into one giant EV gyoza and reheated it for us at the automaker’s Advanced Technology Briefing at the Oppama Grandrive test track in Yokosuka, Japan.

Was it fresh? Admittedly, no. None of what we saw today was groundbreaking stuff, but it certainly was nutritious — especially once we chewed on it for a while and digested all the details.

The real purpose of this heaping helping of electrifying info is to build a buzz about Nissan’s latest EV — which happens to be making its debut this Sunday at the company’s new headquarters in Yokohama.

Unlike previous concept vehicles and test mules, Nissan’s newest EV will not be a Frankenstein’d mashup of an existing platform and all electric power train. This as yet unnamed EV will be based on an all new, purpose built front wheel drive platform with a plug-in rechargeable electric motor up front and batteries slung low under the belly of the car.

Nissan is not using cylindrical cell type batteries like many other electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturers opting instead for flat lithium ion (LiOn) laminate cells that look a bit like giant Pop Tarts. These batteries, developed in partnership with Japanese electronics manufacturer NEC, uses manganese as the positive electrode, instead of metals like nickel or cobalt. Manganese is relatively inexpensive and abundant in comparison to those other metals, and when oriented in Nissan/NEC’s special spinel structure (think Lego blocks) versus the standard sandwich orientation, the result is a battery that Nissan claims is more stable, reliable, and cost efficient than the competition’s.

The flat shape and large surface area of the batteries  also makes for easier packaging (in stacks) and cooling. It also means the batteries use fewer components than cylindrical type cells, which also keeps cost down.

In Nissan’s EV program, these laminate cells, about the size and thickness of a magazine are stacked four to a module. Forty-eight modules and a management system, packaged as a single lumpy unit and enclosed in a metal frame, comprise the EV’s battery pack. The idea here is that this battery pack could then be bolted up into an EV on an assembly line - as car makers do with various subassemblies. Supplying these battery packs is Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), a company co-developed by Nissan and Renault.

The battery pack slots in underneath the car, between the wheels, where you would traditionally find a driveshaft or exhaust pipes running the length of the vehicle. Some of the modules in the pack are stacked horizontally and vertically to create the base for the front and rear seats in this 5 passenger car. Others lie flat in the battery pack and compose rear seat foot well. Nissan calls the arrangement high-low-high. Though heavy (each of the 48 modules weighs roughly 7.7 lbs), the battery pack’s ground hugging orientation should provide for a low center of gravity and good handling.

So will the 80KW electric motor that sits up front in the chassis. While the inverter sits relatively high in the engine bay – about the normal height of an internal combustion engine’s cylinder head - to facilitate access to the charging ports, the electric motor sits very low, between the front wheels and far beneath the strut towers – about where you’d expect to find the oil pan of a traditional engine.

Overall, Nissan’s layout is impressive because of its elegance and simplicity. EV powertrain aside, the cutaway model reveals what is essentially a blank canvas.  With the front engine/front wheel drive configuration and all of the batteries low and out of the way, the cargo and passenger area looked like they could be configured in number of ways, without sacrifices to either. Almost any type of body style could be designed on top this platform as well.  And theoretically, you could even make this a rear or all wheel drive vehicle by beefing up the rear suspension and stuffing another electric motor in the back, low and behind the battery pack. Such speculation is all fine and good, but how does it drive?

Quite well actually. We had but the briefest taste of the EV’s performance - one lap around the Grandrive test track in a Versa-based test mule - but it made a compelling case.

Acceleration is surprisingly brisk; the 80 kW electric motor doles out all of its 207 lb ft of torque in less than 100 milleseconds once you hit the throttle, providing the sensation of instant response. Nissan engineers claim it accelerates better than an Infiniti G35 by leaving the line quicker and getting up to speed more smoothly. Its top speed of only 87 mph is quite a bit off the pace of the G. On the other hand, it’s much quieter than that car or any for that matter. The electric motor and single speed gearbox mean it’s nothing but quiet thrust when you put your foot down. The only sounds come from the tires as they hum over the pavement and the greenhouse as the wind rushes over and across it. As for the rest of the ride, well, Nissan’s EV mule drives pretty much like a standard issue Versa.  Shrunken joystick shifter and tab style parking brake lever aside, the rest of this test mule’s controls feel the same as a standard Versa. Same goes for the ride and handling; the cars pushes back if you ask it to corner too fast, but it does feel more planted and less tippy as it turns. Perhaps the battery placement providing the extra stability.

With a range of 100 miles on a full charge, Nissan claims its EV will suit the average commuting needs of approximately 80% of Americans. What happens when the battery runs down?  Well Nissan has clearly thought a lot about that as well; they not only have a plan for how you can charge the car at your house at night, but how you’ll manage during a busy workweek or weekend.

Nissan’s EV battery pack can be charged in a number of ways.  A home recharging kit allows you to power up the EV from standard 110V or 220V outlets. Simply connect an SAE standardized pistol-like charger to the port at the nose of the car and wait. Charge times at 110V are claimed to be approximately 8 hours; half that for 220V.  Nissan has also developed special three phase, 200V quick charging stations can deliver 80% battery charge in 30 minutes – though it requires a larger, specially shaped charger and receiver port.

To reduce any anxiety associated with the limited 100 mile range and long recharging times, Nissan has also given its EV a special monitoring system they call EV-IT. This system monitors the battery level and provides range information on a navigation screen, so users will never have to wonder how far they can go or where they can juice up.  Nissan claims EV-IT will also provide a whole host of smart features to the EV driving experience and set up an animated clip to showcase what living with its EV might be like:

You wake up to find an email on your smartphone from your Nissan EV providing a update on the battery charge – a benefit of the networked EV-IT system. Assuming you’ve had it plugged in for 8hours at 110V or 4 hours at 220V, your car should be fully charged. At this point, you can remotely turn the A/C on (and in the future, and engine oil warmer) to get the car up to suitable operating temperature while it is still plugged in.  This conserves energy for your morning commute.

While you recoup some of the power on the way to work via regenerative braking, the bulk of recharging takes place at work – via the 110V/220V system, or a quick charger. After a long day of work, you pull into your garage, click her off and plug her in. But you don’t start charging right away. Via your smartphone, you program a start time for the charging cycle; late in the night when demand and electricity rates are lowest.
 
For longer weekend trips, EV-IT will help you plan your route, by keeping up to date on your remaining battery power and driving range and locating charging stations nearby. In Nissan’s future, shopping centers and restaurants along your route will have quick charging stations, so you can continually keep your EV’s batteries charged with minimal disruption to your journey. Further off are plans for non contact charging via electromagnetic induction. Imagine being able to top off your car’s batteries by simply pulling your EV over a special recharging pad built into the ground. Whether you’re parked for hours at the local mega mall or for just a minute at a red light, the battery charge goes up.

Sound too good to be true? Perhaps. This Sunday, (Saturday for America), Nissan will unveil the first step towards this future, when it reveals its as yet unnamed, zero emissions electric vehicle at its new headquarters in Yokohama.  We’ll be there for a complete update, so stay tuned.

Driving the Future: Nissan’s All New Electric Vehicle

Since April, we’ve been continually updating you on the progress of Nissan’s electric vehicle (EV) program with up to the minute news bulletins like this one.

And this one.

This one over here.

And, yup, this one.
 
Well today, Nissan essentially stuffed all of this information into one giant EV gyoza and reheated it for us at their Advanced Technology Briefing at Oppama Grandrive test track in Yokosuka, Japan.

Was it fresh? Admittedly, no. None of what we saw today was groundbreaking stuff, but it certainly was nutritious - especially once we chewed on it for a while and digested all the details.

The real purpose of this heaping helping of electrifying info is to build a buzz about Nissan’s latest EV – which happens to be making its debut this Sunday at the company’s new headquarters in Yokohama.

Unlike previous concept vehicles and test mules, Nissan’s newest EV will not be a Frankenstein’d mashup of an existing platform and all electric power train. This as yet unnamed EV will be based on an all new, purpose built front wheel drive platform with a plug-in rechargeable electric motor up front and batteries slung low under the belly of the car.

Nissan is not using cylindrical cell type batteries like many other electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturers opting instead for flat lithium ion (LiOn) laminate cells that look a bit like giant Pop Tarts. These batteries, developed in partnership with Japanese electronics manufacturer NEC, uses manganese as the positive electrode, instead of metals like nickel or cobalt. Manganese is relatively inexpensive and abundant in comparison to those other metals, and when oriented in Nissan/NEC’s special spinel structure (think Lego blocks) versus the standard sandhich orientation, the result is a battery that Nissan claims is more stable, reliable, and cost efficient than the competition’s.

The flat shape and large surface area of the batteries  also makes for easier packaging (in stacks) and cooling. It also means the batteries use fewer components than cylindrical type cells, which also keeps cost down.

In Nissan’s EV program, these laminate cells, about the size and thickness of a magazine are stacked four to a module. Forty-eight modules and a management system, packaged as a single lumpy unit and enclosed in a metal frame, comprise the EV’s battery pack. The idea here is that this battery pack could then be bolted up into an EV on an assembly line - as car makers do with various subassemblies. Supplying these battery packs is Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), a company co-developed by Nissan and Renault.

The battery pack slots in underneath the car, between the wheels, where you would traditionally find a driveshaft or exhaust pipes running the length of the vehicle. Some of the modules in the pack are stacked horizontally and vertically to create the base for the front and rear seats in this 5 passenger car. Others lie flat in the battery pack and compose rear seat foot well. Nissan calls the arrangement high-low-high. Though heavy (each of the 48 modules weighs roughly 7.7 lbs), the battery pack’s ground hugging orientation should provide for a low center of gravity and good handling.

So will the 80KW electric motor that sits up front in the chassis. While the inverter sits relatively high in the engine bay – about the normal height of an internal combustion engine’s cylinder head - to facilitate access to the charging ports, the electric motor sits very low, between the front wheels and far beneath the strut towers – about where you’d expect to find the oil pan of a traditional engine.

Overall, Nissan’s layout is impressive because of it’s elegance and simplicity. EV powertrain aside, the cutaway model reveals what is essentially a blank canvas.  With the front engine/front wheel drive configuration and all of the batteries low and out of the way, the cargo and passenger area looked like they could be configured in number of ways, without sacrifices to either. Almost any type of body style could be designed on top this platform as well.  And theoretically, you could even make this a rear or all wheel drive vehicle by beefing up the rear suspension and stuffing another electric motor in the back, low and behind the battery pack. Such speculation is all fine and good, but how does it drive?

Quite well actually. We had but the briefest taste of the EV’s performance - one lap around the Grandrive test track in a Versa-based test mule - but it made a compelling case.

Acceleration is surprisingly brisk; the 80 kW electric motor doles out all of its 207 lb ft of torque in less than 100 milleseconds once you hit the throttle, providing the sensation of instant response. Nissan engineers claim it accelerates better than an Infiniti G35 by leaving the line quicker and getting up to speed more smoothly. It’s top speed of only 87mph is quite a bit off the pace of the G. On the other hand, it’s much quieter than that car or any for that matter. The electric motor and single speed gearbox mean it’s nothing but quiet thrust when you put your foot down. The only sounds come from the tires as they hum over the pavement and the greenhouse as the wind rushes over and across it. As for the rest of the ride, well, Nissan’s EV mule drives pretty much like a standard issue Versa.  Shrunken joystick shifter and tab style parking brake lever aside, the rest of this test mule’s controls feel the same as a standard Versa. Same goes for the ride and handling; the cars pushes back if you ask it to corner too fast, but it does feel more planted and less tippy as it turns. Perhaps the battery placement providing the extra stability.

With a range of 100 miles on a full charge, Nissan claims its EV will suit the average commuting needs of approximately 80% of Americans. What happens when the battery runs down?  Well Nissan has clearly thought a lot about that as well; they not only have a plan for how you can charge the car at your house at night, but how you’ll manage during a busy workweek or weekend.

Nissan’s EV battery pack can be charged in a number of ways.  A home recharging kit allows you to power up the EV from standard 110V or 220V outlets. Simply connect an SAE standardized pistol-like charger to the port at the nose of the car and wait. Charge times at 110V are claimed to be approximately 8 hours; half that for 220V.  Nissan has also developed special three phase, 200V quick charging stations can deliver 80% battery charge in 30 minutes – though it requires a larger, specially shaped charger and receiver port.

To reduce any anxiety associated with the limited 100 mile range and long recharging times, Nissan has also given its EV a special monitoring system they call EV-IT. This system monitors the battery level and provides range information on a navigation screen, so users will never have to wonder how far they can go or where they can juice up.  Nissan claims EV-IT will also provide a whole host of smart features to the EV driving experience and set up an animated clip to showcase what living with its EV might be like:

You wake up to find an email on your smartphone from your Nissan EV providing a update on the battery charge – a benefit of the networked EV-IT system. Assuming you’ve had it plugged in for 8hours at 110V or 4 hours at 220V, your car should be fully charged. At this point, you can remotely turn the A/C on (and in the future, and engine oil warmer) to get the car up to suitable operating temperature while it is still plugged in.  This conserves energy for your morning commute.

While you recoup some of the power on the way to work via regenerative braking, the bulk of recharging takes place at work – via the 110V/220V system, or a quick charger. After a long day of work, you pull into your garage, click her off and plug her in. But you don’t start charging right away. Via your smartphone, you program a start time for the charging cycle; late in the night when demand and electricity rates are lowest.
 
For longer weekend trips, EV-IT will help you plan your route, by keeping up to date on your remaining battery power and driving range and locating charging stations nearby. In Nissan’s future, shopping centers and restaurants along your route will have quick charging stations, so you can continually keep your EV’s batteries charged with minimal disruption to your journey. Further off are plans for non contact charging via electromagnetic induction. Imagine being able to top off your car’s batteries by simply pulling your EV over a special recharging pad built into the ground. Whether you’re parked for hours at the local mega mall or for just a minute at a red light, the battery charge goes up.

Sound too good to be true? Perhaps. This Sunday, (Saturday for America), Nissan will unveil the first step towards this future, when it reveals its as yet unnamed, zero emissions electric vehicle at its new headquarters in Yokohama.  We’ll be there for a complete update, so stay tuned.

On the Trail of the Orient Express: The Finale

 It’s easy these days, as we roll along the interstate, the air conditioning on, your favorite music warbling from the sound system, cruise control and automatic transmission doing most of the driving for us, to forget about the journey and concentrate on the destination. But our marathon 14 hour, 469-mile stint from Bucharest to Istanbul took us back to a grander era of travel; to a time when simply getting there was most of the fun.

As we headed south out of Bucharest, we were driving into the unknown. Ahead lay Bulgaria, another former Soviet state, and one with an edgy reputation. We’d heard stories of genuine Bulgarian cops routinely stopping foreign registered cars to impose on the spot fines for trivial traffic offences, and of Bulgarian gangsters in fake cop uniforms that pulled over and robbed their victims of everything — even the clothes they stood in. “Unless you see a proper police car nearby, do not stop,” our helpful Romanian friend at the Carol Parc Hotel in Bucharest advised us last night. “What are they going to do? They’re not going to shoot you.” That was comforting to know…

We knew our California-plated Hyundai Genesis sedans were going to stand out in Bulgaria out like the Grizwolds in Paris, so we decided to stick to the speed limit and quietly cruise through the country without stopping, attracting as little attention as we possibly could. The border crossing would be the first test.

We’re convinced we’ve taken a wrong turn as we head towards the border control area in Giurgiu, on the Romanian side of the Danube. We drive down a dusty, pothole-filled back road into what looks like a deserted factory lot, with crumbling buildings and acres of weed-filled concrete. The border guards are friendly, though, and after a cursory glance at our passports, and the carnet documents for the two Hyundais, wave us on to the giant Friendship Bridge over the Danube into the city of Ruse, and Bulgaria. The 9186-ft span is impressive, but the bridge, opened in 1954, and bookended by classic Soviet-era concrete modernist pillars, is only two lanes wide and rougher than a back alley in Tijuana.

The highway in Bulgaria is smoother, but it’s still only a two lane. Our plan is to follow Route 5 from Ruse south through the heart of the country, via Bjala, Veliko Tarnovo, and Stara Zagora, then turning east on Route 8 south of Dimitrovgrad and heading for the Turkish border. It looks simple enough on the map, and we’re still in territory the Garmin Nuvi sat nav system recognizes. The reality proves a little more complicated.

Bulgarian signposting is a little haphazard, and not helped by the fact that off the main roads the signs are only in Cyrillic script, which is about as indecipherable to western eyes as Chinese or Japanese. Also, time consuming diversions around road works are common — Bulgarian roads are often lumpy and potholed, but they are clearly working to improve them as quickly as they can. Finally, even Bulgarian drivers treat Bulgarian cops with respect — only a few brave souls pass us as we cruise along the open stretches at a leisurely and legal 56 mph, and through the numerous villages at 30 mph or less.

We average barely 35 mph for 200 miles. But the slow speeds mean we get a good look at the countryside. We drive through gentle rolling hills covered with corn, sunflowers and fruit trees, passing horse drawn hay wagons that would look like something straight out of the 17th century except they all have rusty old car wheels and threadbare tires. After a couple of hours mountains appear on the horizon; it’s the eastern arm of the Balkans, which wrinkle west through one of the most turbulent regions in Europe: Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogovina, and Slovenia.

Route 5 starts twisting and climbing just past the picturesque town of Veliko Turnovo, and as we near the monument at the top of Shipka Pass that celebrates a victory by Russian and Bulgarian forces over Turkish invaders in 1877, we get diverted on yet another detour. We’re off the map, and off the Garmin, but ready reckoning suggests we’re running along a ridge roughly paralleling Route 5, which is undergoing reconstruction at one of its most convoluted sections on the southern side of the pass.

As the road climbs to over 4000 ft, we round an open corner and pull off to look at the plains stretching out below us to the south. Then we look behind us and our jaws drop: A giant concrete flying saucer appears to have landed on the peak behind us. We have no idea what it is or why it’s there, but the adjacent spire and red star — and the giant sculpture of torch bearing hands by the roadside below — clearly indicate it’s some sort of Communist monument.

Some research on the web later reveals the building is called the Buzludja Monument. Details are sketchy — in English, at least — but it appears to have been built between 1974 and 1981, and used as a meeting place for Communist Party bigwigs. Photos of the interior show it to have been richly decorated with typical cartoonish Communist imagery, but that the place is rapidly falling apart. A pity, because it’s so weird, so unexpected, it deserves to be preserved.

Religiously observing the speed limits is helping the gas mileage — the Hyundai’s trip computer shows we’re averaging 27mpg — but it doesn’t save us from getting stopped by the cops. We’d already been through a couple of checkpoints without attracting attention — traffic is slowed to 25 mph to give the police a chance to carefully eyeball passing cars — but this time the officer flags us down straight away. I check for the cop car — it’s there — and pull over, expecting the worst. “Registration,” he says pointing to the front of the car. “On the back,” I reply, point to the rear of the car. The cop walks around, has a look and walks back. “Ah, California,” he says, then smiles. “Okay, go, go”, he says, waving us on.

For some silly reason, we feel like we’ve dodged a bullet. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

It’s nearly 7 p.m. by the time we hit the Turkish border. The Bulgarian border officers glance at our papers and wave us through to the huge, sparkling new complex on the Turkish side. Then the fun starts. The Turks aren’t being obnoxious, but it’s clear there are procedures that must be followed, and that only one person can do one thing at a time. By the time we get our temporary visas, sort the import/export carnets on the cars, and the insurance (the California license plates are tricky enough, but the fact that both cars have the same number because they are running on Hyundai distributor plates takes some explaining) two hours have passed.

We wait patiently in the warm dusk air, and hear the imam calling the faithful to evening prayer at a nearby mosque. It really feels like we’ve left Europe behind now.

It’s motorway all the way into Istanbul, and with light traffic we hum along at a legal 75 mph for the first time in more than 300 miles. It feels like we’re blazing down the road; the 150 mph we saw in Germany a few days back now seems almost beyond comprehension. Our destination is the elegant Cirigan Palace Hotel on the banks of the Bosphorus, the narrow stretch of water that links the Mediterranean with the Black Sea, and separates Europe from Asia.

The sat nav doesn’t work in Turkey, and our map doesn’t clearly show our exit off the freeway. We miss it, and are forced to cross the Bosphorus on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge north of the city before we can backtrack. After our slight detour to Asia and back — not many places in the world you can say that — we arrive at the hotel at about 1a.m., tired but elated. We’d made it. And although historic, beautiful, exotic Istanbul is a city well worth visiting on its own merits, just getting here has been an adventure.

The original Orient Express pulled into Sirkeci Station, just a couple of miles down the road from where I’m writing this, some 80 hours after leaving the Gare de l’Est in Paris. One hundred and twenty six years later, it’s taken us 126 hours, though we added a couple of detours — to Moet & Chandon’s cellars in Epernay; through the Black Forest to the Zeppelin Museum in Freidrichshafen; up to Deggendorf in search of V-max; and over the awesome Transfagarasan Road in Romania to find the real Dracula’s castle — and we stopped for photography, videos, food, and sleep.

We’ve covered more than 2200 miles across seven countries and two continents, and the Hyundais haven’t missed a beat. They purred just as quietly across the Galata Bridge over Istanbul’s Golden Horn this morning as they did around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris a week ago. In between, they’ve been driven flat out on the German autobahn, tip-toed through the cobbled streets of medieval villages, and in Romania and Bulgaria pounded for hundreds of miles over some of the roughest tarmac we’ve seen this side of a test track durability course.

There’s a new Orient Express: Paris to Istanbul in the Hyundai Genesis. Time to crack open that magnum of Moet Imperial we brought with us from Epernay and celebrate.

-Photos by Brian Vance

ORIENT EXPRESS SERIES: Day 1: Paris to Strasbourg — Day 2: Strasbourg to Munich — Day 3: Munich to Vienna –  Day 4: Vienna to Szeged, Hungary — Day 5: Szeged to Sibiu, Romania — Day 6: Subiu to Bucharest, Romania

On the Trail of the Orient Express: Day 6

I have never motored over the Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps. After driving up the Transfăgărăşan Road in Romania on Day 6 of our journey along the Orient Express, I’m not sure that I need to. You see, the Transfăgărăşan climbs to the highest altitude in all of Romania — 6099 feet, to be exact — right near the shoulder of 8346-foot Moldoveanu Peak, which happens to be the tallest mountain in the country, and the turquoise-hued Bâlea Lake. Better yet, the 57-mile Transfăgărăşan treats drivers to innumerable esses and hairpins, over two dozen bridges and viaducts, and, at half a mile, the longest tunnel in Romania (the Capra-Bâlea). Scenery? Only if you count alpine lakes, cascading waterfalls, rock-strewn rivers, and some of the most daunting summits in the world. MacKenzie comes over the radio: “If they closed down this road, it would make for an amazing World Rally stage.” Indeed.

Open from July to October — although weather in the Carpathian Mountains can sometimes alter the open season — the twisty Transfăgărăşan usually dictates a pace of around 25 mph. But on our travel day, the traffic is relatively light and the weather is positively gorgeous, so we’re able to push our two Hyundais at a brisker clip. Much of the road, which was built under the rule of Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu in the early 1970s as a military route, is rough and bumpy, and the firm springs suspending our Genesis sedans are creating a ride that seems somewhat unsettled.

My car is suffering from a lot of vertical motion, making me long for a speedy ride that can better absorb bumps at speed — a Subaru STI would do nicely, thank you. That said, the Genesis is just a few chassis tweaks from being a stellar driver’s car.

Our impetus for taking the Transfăgărăşan was simple: it connects the city of Sibiu, our overnight stay the day prior, and the village of Arefu, which happens to be where a certain Count used to reside. Yep, I’m referring to none other than Dracula himself, or as the locals know him, Vlad Ţepeş. In Romanian, Ţepeş means “The Impaler,” a name Vlad received from the way he used to punish those who upset him. King during parts of the 15th century, Vlad was the son of Vlad Dracul, whose surname translates to dragon or devil. Thus, Ţepeş’s last name was Draculea — son of Dracul or, as most know him, Dracula.

Bram Stoker, who wrote the 1897 book Dracula, based his antagonist — very loosely, of course — on Ţepeş. The novel’s protagonist, Jonathan Harker, traveled the Orient Express so he could meet with Count Dracula in Transylvania. While Stoker’s legendary Dracula lived in the Bran Castle, located near Brasov some 50 miles east of Arefu, the real McCoy called Poienari Fortress home.

After driving over the 545-foot-tall Vidraru Dam on the Transfăgărăşan, we descend into Arefu and park at the base of the mountain that cradles Poienari. About 1500 steps separate us from the fortress, although after taking each and every one of them, we swear it’s more like 15,000. The fortress, which was first erected in the early 13th century and now lay in ruin after about 800 years, is still an impressive sight to see, if only for the 360-degree view it provides. With a panorama like this, it’s easy to see how one can feel like a king.

On the winding road leading out of Arefu, we’re moving along at what seems like a brisk 60 mph when I hear a honk behind me. I peer at my rearview and am most surprised to see a red 12-wheel Iveco semi about a foot off my back bumper. “Yikes,” I say to Vance as I inch the Genesis over on the narrow two-lane. The Iveco passes me and in another ten seconds gobbles MacKenzie’s Hyundai. A snug S-turn lies ahead, and the Iveco pilot seemingly drifts his way through it. “Maybe we should ask this guy to be our new test driver,” I say to Vance. If only we could catch him. MacKenzie comes over the radio: “I think that’s the only time I’ve been passed by a huge truck on a mountain road.” That makes two of us.

We eventually reach the A1 motorway, which will lead us into Bucharest, and are soon cruising at a speed of 80 mph. After the relatively slow going on the Transfăgărăşan, 80 feels more like 120. Just three days ago, when we were blasting down the A92 autobahn at 150 mph, 80 would have felt like 18.

As we pull into Bucharest, we see some of the lasting remnants of the Communist era — the cold avenues of plain, high-rise flats and Ceauşescu’s 1100-room, 12-story former palace, which is now Romania’s parliament building — and are delighted to arrive at the Carol Parc, the only five-star boutique hotel in Bucharest. According to the manager, Beyoncé and Enrique Iglesias are just two of the famous patrons who have stayed in the posh 17-room building. They, no doubt, were impressed with the premise’s Murano crystal chandelier, which, at a height of about 40 feet and a weight of roughly 5000 pounds (one Genesis 4.6 weighs roughly 4000 pounds), it is the largest fixture of its kind in the world. We’ll be sad to leave these lovely grounds, but Istanbul and a drive through Bulgaria are calling. Our two-car Orient Express is ready for departure …

-Photos by Brian Vance

ORIENT EXPRESS SERIES: Day 1: Paris to Strasbourg — Day 2: Strasbourg to Munich — Day 3: Munich to Vienna –  Day 4: Vienna to Szeged, Hungary — Day 5: Szeged to Sibiu, Romania

Coolest, Classiest Electric? Mercedes SLS AMG eDrive

While at the Nurburgring for a first-ever drive of the coming 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing, I also had the opportunity to sit down with Volker Mornhinweg as the AMG CEO showed-off some highlights of his next new vehicular baby: an all-electric version of the Gullwing.

The eDrive version, says Mornhinweg, “will use exactly the same white body as the gasoline-powered car. There’s plenty of room in the existing structure to put electric motors at each wheel and batteries on the floor, ahead of the firewall, and just aft of the seats. The only change is up front, where we’ll have to change the front axle to a pushrod suspension to accommodate the motors.”

Mornhinweg is clearly excited about the eDrive project. “This is not a concept car. The SLS eDrive will be on the road perhaps as early as 2013—certainly by 2015 at the latest.” As such, it’ll be a continuation of AMG’s goal to reduce fleet-average C02 emissions by 30 percent by 2012. “The challenge for the future is to deliver superb performance, but also social acceptance,” says Mornhinweg. “The internal-combustion engine is going to be around for a long, long time, but to improve its efficiency we’ll be using more and more direct injection, downsizing displacement while adding turbocharging, incorporating stop/start systems, and more. You’ll see more four-cylinder engines in the future, too.”

The AMG boss sees myriad benefits to the SLS eDrive. “The SLS’s lightweight aluminum body and structure will help to offset the heavy batteries we’ll need for maximum performance.” Zero to 60 mph, Mornhinweg adds, will take around 4 seconds flat, with a top speed of about 125 mph. Because each wheel will be driven by its own motor, electric four-wheel drive is inherently part of the design. “By tailoring the software that guides the motors, we can also do exciting things like torque vectoring and dynamic stability control,” Mornhinweg says.

The three modular high-voltage batteries in the SLS eDrive will be lithium ion—powering the four electric motors through two transmissions (one per axle). Peak output is equivalent to 526 horsepower (392 kW) and nearly 650 pound-feet of torque—the eDrive should be a formidable player in stoplight Grands Prix. Range won’t be outstanding—only about 95 to 110 miles—but the batteries will recharge to 80 percent of capacity in around five to six hours (plug in when you reach work if you have a long commute home). Plugging-in overnight will deliver a full charge. (Regen brakes, of course, will help to freshen the batteries when driving.)

Mornhinweg is confident that no major hurdles exist in bringing the eDrive to market. And he emphasizes that the eDrive will not replace the SLS’s 6.2-liter gasoline V-8; the two versions will coexist. “Our biggest challenge,” he notes, ”will be adding the emotion that’s so crucial to the enjoyment of a sports car. For instance, with electric drive there’s no vroom vroom during downshifts, which is a sound every enthusiast driver enjoys. So we’re experimenting with various ways simulate the experience using the two transmissions and the electric motors. I’m confident, though, that when we’re finished we’ll have what many enthusiasts will find a very desirable car.”

Which is to say, with its speed, those show-stopping gullwing doors, and that zero-emissions powertrain underneath, the SLS AMG eDrive promises to offer driving sex without the guilt.

On the Trail of the Orient Express - Day 5

We’re heading into Transylvania today. The skies should be leaden, with lightning strobing in the wet gloom and thunder grumbling like a distant artillery barrage. Instead we’re travelling in bright sunshine and a soft summer breeze. No Hollywood cliches here.

We know today is going to be a slow day — the four lane highway finished just outside Szeged, and according to the map, the next time we’ll see one is somewhere near Bucharest — but we are a little surprised when the Garmin directs us down a string of back roads to an ancient car ferry over the Tisza River. We are even more surprised to have to wait 20 minutes to board the thing, even though it is pulled up on our side of the river. Seems the ferry departs every half hour — even though the river is only a couple of hundred yards wide and takes about 10 minutes to cross.

The road the other side is a challenge. It is tarmac, but its foundations are so poor it has collapsed into a series of humps and hollows that would challenge the suspension on a Baja racer. We have both Hyundais darting and weaving all over the road as we try to keep the wheels on the high ground, and the oil pans away from the hungry road surface. We struggle to average much more than 40 mph on the run to join Route 68, the road that will take us east into Romania, and Transylvania — its most famous region.

Romania is probably best known to most Americans for its Olympic gymnasts, while Transylvania has become a pop culture icon through countless retellings of Irish writer Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel, Dracula, in which the Count himself travels on the Orient Express. The real Romania is somewhat more complicated than that.

It’s been almost 20 years since the Romanians deposed Nicolae Ceausescu, but the brutal Communist dictator’s legacy is still all too visible. Romania today has ATMs and gas stations and shiny new car dealerships. But it also has tumbledown villages with dirt streets, hordes of battered old Dacia 1300s (basically badly-built 1970s Renault 12s), and a landscape dotted with ugly, rusting Soviet-era infrastructure.

Just outside the town of Arad, a beggar pushes a wheelchair into the middle of moving traffic at a rail crossing near a decaying power station, pulling up the pant legs of the poor unfortunate in the chair to show his amputated limbs. Rich and prosperous Europe suddenly seems a million miles away…

Leaving out the time spent on photography, crossing the border, gassing cars, and lunch, it has taken us about eight hours to cover less than 250 miles today. The E68, one of the main roads into the country from the west, is virtually a two lane highway all the way. If you’re not stuck behind a semi, you’re cruising at 30mph through one of the countless towns and villages along the way, and you have to crawl over every rail crossing or leave your front suspension behind. You might think it’s best to simply chill, and go with the flow. But the Romanians have other ideas.

With traffic banked up behind a truck, impatient drivers simply pull out and pass long lines of cars, relying on someone letting them back onto the right side of the road before they eat an oncoming semi. It mostly seems to work, though we saw a couple of close shaves, most notably a guy in a white BMW who decided to ignore the double lines and pass on a blind crest just as a truck appeared coming the other way. When it doesn’t work, it gets messy. We saw three wrecks — one car upside down by the side of the road, another teetering crazily down an embankment, and a third facing the wrong way with its front end pushed in.

We quickly learned to take a leaf out of the locals’ book — well, a little part of it, anyway. Being the nice guys meant we kept getting shuffled back in the line behind the trucks, so when we were certain the road ahead was clear, we made good use of the Tau V-8’s 375 hp, overtaking small groups of cars en masse so we could position ourselves to pass the lumbering semi at the head of the line. I felt sorry for those Romanians driving the Communist-era Dacias which simply don’t have the power to pass a modern truck; they had no alternative but to sit there sniffing diesel fumes. Forever.

We’re overnighting in Sibiu, one of the major towns in Transylvania. Tomorrow, we’re taking the long way to Bucharest, via the Transfagarasan Road, a Ceausescu folly through the brooding Fagaras Mountains that may just be one of the best driver’s roads in Europe. And along the way we plan to check out at the one-time hangout of the real Dracula. Yes, he existed, and yes, he was a bloodthirsty character. But not in the way you’re thinking.

-Photos by Brian Vance

ORIENT EXPRESS SERIES: Day 1: Paris to Strasbourg — Day 2: Strasbourg to Munich — Day 3: Munich to Vienna –  Day 4: Vienna to Szeged, Hungary

It’s not its name that makes the Kia Forte Koup a car to remember:

Is it possible that Kia’s new Forte Koup can single-handedly reignite an auto industry’s dilapidated sales?

GM Taking Its Sweet Time With Opel Sale

How long can General Motors hold off on choosing a partner for its European Opel/Vauxhall operations? The New GM, just born out of July’s bankruptcy, took a second round of bids from Canada’s Magna International, Belgium’s RHJ and China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding last week. GM rejected BAIC’s offer and has narrowed down the list to Magna and RJH, while further holding off on deciding between the two.

BAIC offered just 660 million euro in its initial bid, equal to about $940 million, for a 51 percent stake. The Chinese company asked the German government for 2.64 billion euro ($3.8 billion) in German government guarantees. Speculation had BAIC’s rival, Shanghai Automotive Industry Holding, waiting in the wings to come in at the last minute after BAIC’s weak bid. SAIC would have been a natural. It’s GM’s 50-50 partner assembling Buicks for the Chinese market.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel prefers Magna, for political reasons; the powerful labor union, IG Metall, likes Magna’s bid because it considers the RHJ bid a “short-term” investment. Here are Magna’s and RHJ’s bids, as reported by Dow Jones:

• Magna, automaker GAZ and Russian government-controlled Sberbank would invest 500 million euro ($712.2 million) in return for 55 percent of Opel, with 100 million euro up front and the rest in loans, which would gradually become equity. Germany would support Magna with the equivalent of $6.4 billion in loan guarantees.

• RHJ wants just 50.1 percent of Opel for the equivalent of $392 million, and seeks the equivalent of $5.4 billion in German government funding.

You can see why GM would favor RHJ’s bid. What’s worse, Magna wants to own Opel patents, and GAZ would obtain ownership of GM’s factories in Russia, where it has seen a lot of growth in recent years. The prospect that a state-owned Russian bank would be Opel’s primary investor can’t be very comforting to GM, either.

GM has been backed into a corner with Opel. It needs to maintain a substantial European presence to prevent becoming as provincial as Chrysler was before and after Daimler’s takeover. Right now, the Magna deal is its easiest way into German aide, which entails far more intervention than anything the Obama administration could devise. Working with a labor union that makes the United Auto Workers look like a pussycat (which it has been, anyway, lately) doesn’t help.

RHJ, on the other hand, looks like just the type of investor GM needs: one that gets into Opel quickly and briefly, keeps the European operation afloat while GM North America tries to get back on its feet and then takes its share of future profits, leaving the automotive operations to GM in a few short years.