Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabrio and Coupé 2014

Some weeks after the traditional-family versions’ release, now it’s time to get some renewed E-Class to that bachelor uncle, too. It would be a nonsense to hope this facelift would've been applied only to the sedan and the station wagon, but these first official pictures show that Mercedes hasn’t gone too further in some aspects. The bright side, however, becomes very easy to see when we remember their goals here. This article will show why doing this leaves everyone with a “mission accomplished” thought.

It’s very pleasant to see an automaker perform the true interpretation of a vehicle’s version. This consists basically in deciding how far the new option will go from the original one, in order to find a nice proportion of individual personality and physical and/or conceptual resemblance with its own line. In other words, in fact it is possible to visually stretch a hatchback’s lower rear section and create a sedan. Than stretch the upper one too and achieve a station wagon. Take off the rear windows to have a pick-up. Cut them all and the rear doors to obtain a convertible, and cover it all to end up with a coupé… but even the fairly acceptable projects from nowadays already invest much more in differentiation. Therefore, climbing to the Mercedes-Benz level leads to results such as what these pictures show. Okay, the updates have the exact same labels of the four-door versions, such as “new single-unit headlights with LEDs” or “redesigned bumpers”, but it’s interesting to notice how they match the slight visual differences brought by these two. For instance, they feature exclusive rear fenders, with a much more appealing design in order to highlight that these are the sporty E-Class options. Not to mention it enables bigger differentiation from the other Mercedes sports cars: they became more opulent than the two-door C-Class and, at the same time, more classical than CL or SL.

This means presenting more particular designs is only those last mentioned ones’ proposal, which is totally appropriate for them because each one is its entire own line. These Cabrio and Coupé, in turn, show a different interpretation of their E-Class genes: the headlights use the same basic structure but in a more casual design, with irregular shapes and a different LEDs drawing, while the front grille received a bigger and more aggressive design. These differences may seem small, but the fact is they are the true responsibles for achieving what was stated at the last paragraph’s start. It isn’t necessary to invest that much into a vehicle’s new version, but achieving this “new personality” is really useful to attract better sales. After all, if a given automaker sold the exact same car only with more or less doors and with or without roof (like the Opel Corsa or Renault Mégane families in the mid-1990s, for example) there wouldn’t be many reasons to sell a particular one, leading most customers to end up with the biggest or the cheapest one – this situation could be translated into one or two variations selling very well and the others having much smaller numbers. Following the opposite strategy allows the car family to divide their public more equally, because each member brings exclusive details to please only a specific part of those buyers.

Entering these vehicles shows smaller updates, such as the redesigned dashboard with a central analog clock and the relocated gear selector, which went from the central console to the between the front seats. As what was seen in the four-door E-Class, there are much bigger improvements at the technical field: the power steering now uses an electromechanical system, which allows a self-parking function. The stereoscopic camera can monitor a much bigger surroundings’ area, the Collision Prevention system is now a standard item, and the optionals list brings a lot of similar technologies, such as lane-keeping, Pre-Safe, adaptative cruise control and the mentioned parking assist systems and 360°-camera. The only AMG-related information released so far is the item package, like what was seen at the new E-Class station wagon and now at the Coupé: exclusive bumpers and wheels are the responsibles of the more aggressive look, but the full-modified versions mustn’t take too long to appear. These cars won’t have lots of surprises about their engine options: they’ll surely maintain the E250, E350, E500 and E550 trim levels, each one with a different engine or a particular engine configuration but always using excellent transmissions, such as the seven-speed automatic gearbox. The complete E-Class will make its official debut at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show.

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Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible

How about starting the new year reading about what’s claimed as the fastest four-seat convertible in the world? Bentley’s modesty must have expired with 2012, but the fact is this car really stimulates big expectations. The first ones were made some weeks ago, when the first official pictures were released with no technical information. But now the English automaker has finally given the remaining data about this stunning dark-pink cabriolet. That’s what you’re going to read at this blog’s very first 2013 article.

You surely must’ve read about the current trend of the visual identity. This consists in a particular brand applying some design rules to its upcoming vehicles in order to make them look more alike to each other, and therefore more different from their competitors. So if Ferrari decided to use some kind of futuristic shapes, Lamborghini sticks with the folded-paper volumes and Maserati dedicates itself to more organic designs, Bentley seems to bet at imponence. From every angle you look there’s a solidness impression, a big-car look brought by plenty of smooth surfaces and very clean lines. Some may point this design gives a mass impression which could be inappropriate for a sports car, but this big contrast is what makes this brand’s style. They offer the best trim levels and the best engines like every other competitor, but here this package receives a much more classical “wrapping”. Continental GT’s aerodynamics has been continuously improved, but it’ll never lose the simple shapes and the smooth design, completed with the round double headlights. It’s hard to notice, though, the little style updates this car received for this version: both bumpers were slightly redesigned, now using darker grilles and new exhaust tips.

However, this car makes up for the little design investment when its hood is opened. There’s a huge W-12 6.0L with two turbines, capable of producing 616 hp. Increasing 50 hp from the V-8 option’s power doesn’t exactly shower the bigger engine with efficiency trophies, but brings an even more solid performance. The torque is bigger and comes at a smallar rpm rate, helping this Continental to ignore the convertible body’s worse aerodynamics and allowing it to obtain a 0-60 mph in 4s1 and a 0-100 mph in 9s7, not to mention the 202-mph top speed achieved with its gorgeous engine sounds. This performance also gives a lot of credit to the ZF transmission, an automatic eight-speed gearbox who can even skip some gears upon driver’s request. When it comes to the handling, the all-wheel-drive gives traction priority to the rear axle, the suspension became lower and stiffer, the wheels now use 21” and high-performance tires, and the stability-control system was reprogrammed to become more permissive. Everything to match Bentley’s opulent way of ignoring the enormous weights and delivering an addictive performance, capable of match the opulent style which has characterizing Continental GT since its first phase, released ten years ago. This car will hit the streets in a few months.

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Fiat 500C e 500 by Gucci

Finalmente chegaram. Já é muito conhecida a história de ascensão do Fiat 500 no mercado brasileiro, em que bastou a enorme redução de preço ao trocar sua produção polonesa pela mexicana, e ele deixou o status de importado de vendas escassas para atingir participação importante mesmo no acirradíssimo segmento dos hatches compactos do Brasil. No entanto, se basta olhá-lo de perto para ver que seus atrativos são puramente emocionais, as versões que chegam agora são um excelente reforço para o potencial com o qual ele nasceu.

Várias vezes já se comentou da atração que os carros conversíveis exercem em grande parte dos compradores. Trata-se de uma sensação de liberdade dada pela falta de teto, mas também da sensação de exclusividade que decorre das extensas mudanças que um carro desses apresenta em relação ao seu equivalente convencional. Isso é o que motivou não só os projetos já nascidos cabriolets ou roadster, como também soluções de custo menor mas resultado próximo, como o teto solar: ele vem agradando tanto que vem deixando o tamanho de escotilha e passa a tomar conta de quase todo o teto do carro, mesmo que em alguns casos não se abra e ganhe o nome de parabrisa panorâmico. Carros como o Cinquecento precisam ter essas considerações feitas em seu projeto pelo puro fato de que seu foco são justamente as vendas emocionais, em vez de clientes que buscam espaço para cargas ou precisam levar seis pessoas. A versão de teto aberto do 500C chegou à Europa em 2009, mas a tão falada reviravolta do 500 brasileiro veio em 2011. Então a razão da demora de sua chegada ao país provavelmente se deveu à observação do desempenho do carro aqui: como a Fiat viu que as vendas do hatchback atingiram um patamar estável, tornou-se válido investir em trazer a nova versão.

Os detratores logo alegarão que o 500C preserva as laterais da versão comum, e isso não se pode negar. Mas também se deve analisar outras questões decorrentes do mesmo fato: a ausência de mudanças de estrutura muito profundas para chegar a essa solução torna muito fácil repetir o nível de segurança da versão fechada, que sempre foi bastante elogiado mundialmente, e no futuro ainda trará a facilidade de usar as mesmas peças de reposição, o que se torna um problema a menos para os compradores. Além disso, a economia de escala vinda de todo esse compartilhamento traz uma vantagem ainda mais sedutora: que outro conversível se pode comprar no Brasil com R$ 57.900? Sua capota de tecido tem acionamento elétrico que se pode fazer a até 80 km/h e em três posições. O modelo virá apenas na versão Lounge Air, o que significa não só o mesmo enorme pacote de itens do equivalente de teto fechado, como também o motor 1.4 16v MultiAir de 105 cv e 13,6 kgfm com câmbio automático de seis marchas. Ele ganhou novas rodas de liga leve aro 15” e os sensores de estacionamento traseiros, mas outro destaque é a personalização: ele pode vir em vermelho (sólido), cinza e preto (metálicos) ou branco (perolizado) por fora, com cabine em preto, bege/marfim e vermelho/marfim e capota em preto ou vermelho.

Já a segunda novidade do carrinho dá atenção especial aos antenados da moda. Também chega ao Brasil uma tiragem limitada do 500 inspirado na grife Gucci, cujos primeiros destaques começam no exterior: além da vistosa faixa alusiva à marca rodeando a linha de cintura, ele leva seu nome na coluna das portas e rodas exclusivas e o logotipo nas rodas, que também são exclusivas. Como ele só vem na cor branca, é ela quem dita o estilo do interior, formando um bonito contraste com o preto desde o painel até volante e bancos em couro – estes trazem o logotipo da marca nos encostos de cabeça, uma faixa verde e vermelha no apoio das costas e usam os cintos de segurança nessas mesmas cores. Até os freios foram alterados, trazendo pinças na cor verde, mas o pacote de itens continua completo. Ele traz tudo o que a Fiat oferece para este carro, incluindo teto solar panorâmico e o motor 1.4 16v MultiAir, pelo preço de R$ 60.800 sem opcionais. Baseada na versão de topo do mercado europeu, essa série representa o hábito muito comum de associar esse tipo de carro às grifes de luxo, como sua própria edição assinada pela Diesel algum tempo atrás. Estima-se que virão apenas cinquenta unidades do 500 by Gucci ao Brasil, com as vendas previstas para começar em dezembro.

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Rolls-Royce Ghost e Phantom

Chegamos ao topo. Depois das primeiras especulações feitas meses atrás, hoje foi inaugurada a primeira revenda na América Latina de um dos fabricantes automotivos de maior prestígio do planeta. Não era arriscado apostar que essa honra caberia ao Brasil, que agora dispõe de uma concessionária Rolls-Royce em uma área nobre da capital paulista. Neste artigo você verá o que faz essa marca tão importante e destacada em todo o mundo, e ainda vai conhecer a interessante oferta que ela preparou para o nosso mercado.

Neste blog normalmente se começa descrevendo a questão do design do carro, depois se começa a falar do interior e se termina com as especificações técnicas, alternando com relatos sobre a história do carro ou sobre sua imagem no mercado. Isso levaria a falar que o Ghost e o Phantom são a expressão moderna do conceito de limusine, com linhas retas e clássicas aliadas às idiossincrasias da marca como a estátua acima da grade dianteira, para em seguida tentar abreviar uma lista quilométrica de itens de luxo e conforto e terminar descrevendo o desempenho do carro, mas aqui se tem um caso muito especial. A Rolls-Royce coleciona décadas de admiração e respeito porque vai além de vender carros com luxo. Sua estratégia não se baseia em propagandas, interação em redes sociais ou parceria com grifes de moda ou pessoas famosas porque seu prestígio não vem da exposição massiva, muito pelo contrário. A concepção de um carro desses tem como meta principal exaltar seu cliente, no sentido de que o carro melhore sua vida em todos os aspectos que puder. Trata-se de uma lealdade digna de mordomos, que muitas vezes não se compreende de imediato pelo simples infortúnio de que esse padrão de vida é muito distante do da maioria da população.

Um exemplo de todo esse tratamento dos Rolls-Royce aos clientes está na construção artesanal: a qualidade chega ao ponto de que existem muitos modelos de décadas atrás rodando até hoje, e com a mesma qualidade de quando eram novos. Este é o tipo de carro que se compra para usar as poltronas traseiras, mas sua dirigibilidade provoca suspiros tanto do dono como de seu sortudo chauffeur: os ajustes de direção e suspensão dão a sensação de se viajar flutuando, sem falar no isolamento acústico inacreditável. Além disso, produzir cada unidade individualmente ainda traz o louvável aspecto da personalização, que será amplamente explorado na revenda paulista: os interessados terão direito a visitar o famoso Customer Lounge, sala em que se expõem os diversos tons de couro, madeira e tecidos que se podem utilizar em qualquer modelo da linha. Também existe um telão para que o cliente configure seu carro com a ajuda de um funcionário, porque há uma série de possibilidades tanto para equipamentos extras quanto detalhes como o padrão da costura dos revestimentos internos. Toda essa atenção especial se conclui com a personalização que se pode criar: o cliente pode pedir excentricidades como pintar o carro da forma que desejar, e será atendido.

Contudo, é mais do que óbvio que isso tem o seu custo, não só preço final como também na espera pela entrega, que começa em quatro meses mas pode se estender de acordo com o que o comprador pediu. É interessante notar como se preservam várias tradições da marca até hoje: sempre produzidos na Inglaterra (cidade de Goodwood), até o painel de instrumentos contribui com a elegância geral, porque expressa a contagem de giros em forma implícita: exibe-se a “reserva de força” do carro, num medidor de porcentagem. Fora o detalhe de que eles desprezam os exageros típicos das limusines customizadas americanas: não se veem acabamento em ouro com pedras preciosas, estátuas de materiais nobres ou qualquer outro monumento ao mau gosto em um carro, mas sim um requinte discreto, formando um ambiente de altíssimo nível. O espaço da marca se encontra na Av. Cidade Jardim n° 691 e tem os modelos trazidos pela Via Italia, o mesmo importador oficial de Ferrari, Lamborghini e Maserati. Um destaque muito louvável é que a Rolls já começa oferecendo a linha completa, que inclui o Phantom em versões cupê, cabriolet e sedã com entre-eixos normal ou estendido, e o Ghost nas duas últimas opções. Na ordem, os motores são 6.7 de 453 cv e 6.6 biturbo de 563 cv, ambos V12. O Ghost começa em R$ 2,3 milhões e já tem unidades para pronta entrega.

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Opel Cascada

Is there a better way of driving than with the whole sky above you? The European side of GM now releases its third whole new product in such a short time, in a very commendable strategy of recovering from the current financial crisis of its homeland. This kind of car has a whole different focus from its urban siblings, and Opel recognizes that at first by this cabriolet’s construction, but also by placing Cascada (Spanish for “waterfall”) in a special spot of their showroom. But you can read more details about all this in the full article.

Convertible cars usually have this big emotional appeal also because this car style has been strongly associated with the high performance models. There was built a double image to expose to the public, where the automakers usually offer the same level of luxury and technology but in two different “wrappings”: the cabriolet or roadster receives the ones who only want to enjoy the weather in a fancy car, while the coupes attract the high-speed fans with the better aerodynamics that only a closed-roof car can provide. But Cascada ends up looking for a different kind of customer because it doesn’t focus at the highest top speed. Opel’s latest release makes direct competition with Peugeot 308 CC, Renault Mégane Cabriolet and VW Golf Cabrio, for example. They’re based at the mid-sized line of their brands and don’t try to seem different from them at all. Instead, they want to catch those buyers who normally would take a sedan or a station wagon, but having this option decide to travel with the family in bigger style. They come only with two doors to maintain the informal personality, instead of looking like a sedan who lost its roof, but seating four is their biggest conceptual difference from the roadsters: those are the roofless part who focus at the performance, therefore take only two occupants.

As what was said at the beginning of this article, Cascada will have this special attention at Opel’s showroom due to the fact that this brand works with many urban categories, therefore focusing at hatchbacks, sedans and minivans instead of coupes and cabriolets – before this one they had the TwinTop versions of Astra J and Tigra B, some years ago. But Cascada is more different than these ones when it comes to the structure, because its platform is exclusive, combining parts from Astra and Insignia. This explains the car’s design, which starts looking very much like Astra but changing into a whole different style, still using lots of Opel’s design rules but with a really classy result, without any excesses of strong lines in order to compose a solid, sophisticated look which ends at one of the better-looking rears of its category. All this external talent is followed by an elegant interior, with high-quality materials and complete trim levels. However, as it comes with a much stronger charisma than the urban Astra line, it seems that Opel would like to sell it a little separated from its base, in order to also seduce some of the Insignia buyers. They all must be pleased to choose between the lots of engine options that will be available, the ten external color options or the three options for the fabric roof, whose operation takes only 17 seconds.

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Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

There it is, finally. Everyone cheered the coupe version’s release, last year, but the expectations were already heading for the roofless version. Would it be more classic or follow the closed sibling at the more masculine style? Would it be more charming, or VW would make it more like a roadster? Well, these pictures can start to answer you. The four-wheeled Bug has received its second big reinvention, but if it wasn’t as revolutionary as the previous one, the times it’ll face were never that competitive.

In fact, only the mention of “having to compete” means a whole different scenario to this car. Sure, the very first one defeated lots of rivals around the world by advantages at durability and low cost, but the second generation came with a complete different focus. The idea of creating a modern version of an old car was completely new at that time, and achieved success because VW didn’t tried to copy the objective factors, such as dimensions or engines, but focused at the design’s essence. Since the 1994 Concept One, VW showed there wasn’t any intention of making it small and cheap again, even because it would be very hard (and by hard I mean expensive) to adapt that very particular design to forty years younger safety and performance standards. Therefore, they decided to keep the basic idea but giving it a whole new interpretation, now as some kind of charming modern tribute to the previous one. Instead of small size, weak engines and tough construction, the then called New Beetle arrived at 1998 with the best VW offered at those times, but of course charging much more than they did with the original Bug. This whole new strategy surely ended up attracting an entire new kind of customers, who loved to drive sophistication wrapped in a design whose charisma is as big as its age.

This formula seemed to work very well at the next years. VW sold lots of modern Beetles around the world, specially at Europe and North America – it took this opportunity to attract the USA market’s attention as the other important brands. But more than a decade has passed, and since then New Beetle has changed. The arrival of Mini Cooper’s modern generation using similar strategy ended up also resulting on a huge success, so these two started to compete at a niche market: they differ very much at size and style, but the emotional side is so important here that allows their brands to charge similar prices and therefore attract similar customers. Some years after that, Fiat released their new 500 and once again sold lots of cars based at this retro-frenzy, so at this time it became possible to define the birth of a new car category. But the interesting part is that some of the younger competitors made the risky bet of entering that category without using the until then dictatorial vintage design and not only avoided the sales failure but helped to redefine it. And now there are lots of press articles comparing the futuristic Audi A1 and Citroën DS3 to the vintage Cooper and 500 equally. The latest Paris Motor Show even had the arrival of Opel Adam, specifically to this class.

Now you’ve read about both New Beetle’s story and the “image cars” category’s development, but… Didn’t these texts seem almost unrelated? Well, this is precisely what VW wants to change with the third Beetle. Those other cars came after it and built their own competition, but New Beetle was left aside. Now it wants to participate much more at the category he invented himself. Besides of the much more modern structure, VW’s strategy is based at using the old Bug’s charisma: the car will be sold in each country with its original nickname, such as Vocho in Mexico, Fusca in Brazil or Coccinelle in France, to estabilish an emotional connection with its own past. However, all this charm is now covered by a much more sporty design, who tries to compete also with the modern part of Beetle’s competitors. VW would be very glad if their new car attracts more male customers instead of becoming known as a ladies’ car, so they focused at the performance: the engine options include the 2.0 TSI with 200 hp. The convertible version came much earlier than the previous generation’s one, and shows the new concerns by an exterior more respectful with the old Bug’s concepts (the foldable roof became smaller and the windshield is now less inclinated than at New Beetle), but the interior became much more modern. Will Beetle finally compete equally with its own followers?

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