General Motors on Thursday named Jonathan Browning as vice president of global sales, service and marketing, effective June 1. Browning currently is GM’s vice president of sales, marketing and aftersales in Europe. He succeeds John Middlebrook, 67, who will retire July 1 after 49 years with GM.

“John Middlebrook has made tremendous contributions to GM in a variety of roles over the past 49 years,” GM CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement. “He is well-known and highly respected and admired throughout the industry as a true sales and marketing professional.”

Browning, 48, has been GM Europe’s head of sales and marketing since 2001.

continue reading "GM names Browning head of global sales:"

Buyers wanting a hybrid Saturn Vue wagon will have two choices later this year: mild or full hybrid.

The 2009 Vue Green Line 2 Mode mates a direct-injection, 3.6-liter V6 with a front-drive transmission that houses two 55-kilowatt electric motors.

That setup lets the Vue 2 Mode run in electric-only mode at low speeds and reverse. It also has fuel shutoff during deceleration and regenerative braking. GM says this hybrid Vue will get 50 percent better fuel economy than its nonhybrid counterpart, with a range of 500 miles on a full tank.

Oh, and it will run from 0 to 60 mph in 7.3 seconds and can tow up to 3,500 pounds, GM says. The Vue Green Line 2 Mode goes on sale late this year.

continue reading "Double the hybrid fun: Saturn Vue gets second hybrid version"

Mercedes-Benz will take the wraps off a new compact sport/utility model at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The little ute we’ll see in Detroit will be a concept called the Vision GLK Freeside. The production version bows at the Beijing show in April.

“All the compact SUVs look exactly the same,” said Mercedes-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche, “and we wanted to be different.” Mercedes definitely accomplished that. The GLK, codenamed X204, doesn’t look like any other compact ute on the market; the edgy vehicle looks like a miniaturized Mercedes GL. At 180 inches long, the GLK is nearly two feet shorter than a GL.

continue reading "Mercedes GLK Freeside: Itty-bitty Benz: Mercedes unleashes a compact SUV"

SENIOR EDITOR BOB GRITZINGER: For those looking for “just right” packages—ones that combine value and luxury, form and function, sturdiness and stylishness, snowdrift and dry-pavement traction and handling—there may not be a better choice than this XC70. It’s not a stunner in any way, but it is handsome, it’s seemingly airy inside (even without the sunroof open), and it has some of the most comfortable and supportive seats in the business. Need function? Start flipping and folding seats, and you’ll find a way to carry just about anything you need to haul—and if it won’t fit inside, a couple of crossbars would let you carry it on the roof in typical Volvo style.

continue reading "DRIVERS LOG: Volvo XC70:"

Chances are you’ve seen spy photos of Subaru’s 2009 Forester circulating, but here are the first official pictures of the new wagon that will debut at the Detroit auto show.

The third-generation Forester sits on a new platform that is 3.6-inches longer than its predecessor. It moves to a double-wishbone rear suspension for sharper handling and allows for more interior cargo space. Dimensions remain mostly the same, aside from growing roughly 3vinches in overall length.

The styling adopts Subaru’s new front end design language with a chrome spread-wing grille that we first saw on the Tribeca and Impreza. For the cabin, Subaru promises better-grade materials with double-stitched fabrics, standard side-curtain airbags and will offer navigation as an option on the Forester for the first time . Pre-wiring for satellite radio and input jacks for MP3 players is also included.

continue reading "2009 Subaru Forester: Roomier, safer, better handling Forester to debut in Detroit"

EDITOR’S NOTE: Land Rover asked that nothing be published about this concept until Dec. 18. But other Web sites have broken that embargo. In light of that, we don’t think you should have to wait.

Land Rover will show what it calls a vision of its future at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January with the world debut of the LRX concept. Why is the LRX a vision of Land Rover’s future? Company design boss Gerry McGovern said the LRX’s design signals Land Rover’s shift into new areas of the market. In other words, Land Rover hopes to attract a whole new group of customers with a compact, environmentally friendly SUV.

continue reading "Ready for a Baby Rover?: Then you’ll like Land Rover’s LRX concept"

Comments by AutoWeek editorial staffers on a car that’s been in our fleet:

EXECUTIVE EDITOR WES RAYNAL: ’Tain’t a bad driver, this WRX. In fact, it’s a whole lot of fun. Even as it feels as if Subaru has softened it up some (not a bad thing, in my book, because it wasn’t softened up too much), the WRX is still one of the more fun cars to toss around that I’ve driven this year. It has good acceleration (you have to keep stirring the gearbox, though, which is sort of a chore, because the shifter is crappy) and grip beyond the imagination. And the engine sounds just as agricultural as ever.

continue reading "DRIVERS LOG: 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX Five-Door:"

OUR TAKE: Infiniti designers have come to an understanding of what they are and what their marque is trying to accomplish, and that’s proven with this EX35, a version of the FX45 all done up in a pretty little package.

The EX35 arguably represents the best of the “bionic cheetah” styling first applied to the much larger FX. Where the larger vehicle was a touch too big to properly evoke a wild jungle cat, the svelte shape and size of EX35 fixes all of that. The underlying hardware also makes good on the promise, with a powerful V6 and controlled chassis providing all of the strength one might expect from a vehicle in this price class and truly “sport” utility category. Not sure about the utility part, but at least there’s a bit of sport in there.

continue reading "2008 Infiniti EX35:"

Toyota introduced the first Matrix five-door in late 2002, during the best-forgotten height of carmakers’ “create a new segment” shootout, and promptly dubbed it a CUV–crossover utility vehicle, aimed at attracting coveted young, cool buyers.

Despite decent sales, the Matrix did not quite hit the mark–and not solely because of its take-it-or-hate-it styling and questionable sporting pretensions.

“[It] was seen far too often as a small, conventional, practical wagon,” said chief engineer David Terai.

Not to mention that Toyota’s Scion division came along and really targeted the fabled trendsetters companies covet.

continue reading "‘09 MATRIX: Keeping up with the Joneses?: Toyota takes another crack at cool with the new Matrix"

OUR TAKE: Anyone who thinks of this as anything other than a high-riding, muscular sedan is fooling himself. Hey, it’s one thing to have nearly enough torque to move mountains, it is another to know that it’s there but never use it for such manual labor.

This is the life of the ML, has been and always will. If five percent of all Jeeps make it to the off-road world of dusty trails and slanting rugosities, then the percentage of these Mercedes-Benzes to do that is infinitesimal. Like point-oh-oh-oh percentage we’re talking.

This is okay. It’s not that it couldn’t if it wanted to; it just doesn’t want to get mucked up, which is entirely different than a Land Rover’s DNA (or, for that matter, even the stout G-wagon, whose recent ancestors have done duties in the depth of mines and the tips of mountains.) The ML is a gentleman’s–more precisely, a gentlewoman’s–work horse. The stables and paddock are more asphalt-laden than filled with mud.

continue reading "2008 Mercedes-Benz ML 550:"