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PAG lights it up in Frankfurt
Ford luxury branch features showstoppers
By Bradley Horn
Thursday, September 25, 2003
FRANKFURT, Germany - Wrapping your head around the solar system-like size of the Frankfurt Motor Show can be a bit frustrating. At a near jog, you can make it from end to end in about 25 minutes using escalators and moving sidewalks. Seeing every vehicle in the catacombs of displays is equally challenging. Some automakers have figured out that the best way to attract patrons (and reporters) to their stands, is with truly impressive and impactful products. Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG) managed to wrangle our attention with new offerings from each of its four divisions: Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. Here's a look.
Aston Martin
Easily the biggest news from PAG, if not the whole Frankfurt show, is the all-new Aston Martin DB9. Representing a new era for the British exotic builder, the DB9 is the official replacement for the soon-to-be-retired DB7. The 2+2 coupe will be built at the automaker's new headquarters in Gaydon, England, where all future Aston Martin products will be assembled. Purists need not fret - despite Gaydon's world standards of car assembly, there's still only one robot at the plant. The DB9 challenges, and dare we say, surpasses the über-exotic Vanquish in its styling and proportions. Under the skin is a 6.0-litre V12 engine pumping out a eyeball-flattening 450 hp and 420 lb-ft of torque through either a 6-speed manual or sequential automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Inside, the centre stack can be finished in any number of wood trims, including bamboo, and it takes nine cows to provide the leather for the interior. The DB9 is built extensively of aluminum and magnesium - even the drive shaft is made of carbon fibre. Careful attention to weight and balance gives the DB9 near perfect 50:50 weight distribution and a zero to 100 km/h acceleration time of 4.9 seconds. Priced around $200,000, the DB9 will be in showrooms next spring.
Jaguar
Unlike our neighbours to the south, Canada will be getting the all-new X-Type Estate wagon next year. Sharing the Jaguar stand with the R-D6 concept car, the stretched X-Type is the first wagon from the British saloon builder. The Estate is actually unique from the B-pillar back and offers a split tailgate with a glass hatch that opens independently. With the rear seat folded, Jaguar claims the X-Type Estate has more cargo room (at 1415 litres) than comparative wagons from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. The same 2.5- and 3.0-litre V6s from the X-Type sedan will be offered, along with standard all-wheel drive.
The R-D6 concept car was designed to show what the future of Jaguar might hold. Developed by some of the youngest designers in the automaker's stable, the coupe is made extensively of aluminum and actually carries a lot of design elements from another Ford family vehicle, the Mazda RX-8, with clamshell doors and a long hood. Under the hood is a bi-turbo V6 engine making 230 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque. While the R-D6 isn't likely to see production, a version of its engine will be seen next year in European S-Types.
Land Rover
Following the launch of its all-new Range Rover and revised Discovery, Land Rover came to Frankfurt with a refreshed and improved 2004 Freelander. Both the 3- and 5-door versions of the compact SUV have been significantly restyled outside with new body-coloured front bumpers, grilles and headlamps similar to the Range Rover's. Strangely, there's now a black strip under each headlight that makes the Freelander look like it smudged its mascara. In the rear, the bumper is also colour-keyed and the taillamps are repositioned higher up. Inside, there are major updates in materials, instrumentation and switchgear. Unfortunately, the improvements don't completely take away from the quirky look of the interior. The previous Freelander was notorious for its cheap looking plastics and materials relative to its price, so the changes are welcome nonetheless. Freelander continues to offer standard 4-wheel drive and a 2.5-litre V6 engine making 174 horsepower.
Volvo
The main objective for Volvo in designing its new S40 sedan was to not only make it a dynamic competitor to the BMW 3 Series, but also just as safe as the full-size S80 sedan. While there were no test drives through the halls of the Frankfurt Auto Show, we can tell you the performance and safety specs are impressive.
Styled after the larger S60 sedan, the S40 is actually shorter than the outgoing car. To make up for the decrease, Volvo engineers stiffened the car by 68 per cent and added two cross members under the hood to keep the engine out of the passenger foot well. The engines themselves are actually 200 mm slimmer than the previous generation, meaning more crumple room up front. We actually took a trip after the show to the Volvo Safety Centre in Göthenburg, Sweden to witness a crash test between the new S40 and an XC90 SUV. The side impact crash was remarkable, not only because of the noise and flying bits, but also because of how well the S40 held up. Despite the XC90 hitting at 50 km/h, the crash test dummy inside the S40 was surprisingly intact and unaffected, thanks to steel beams in the doors and standard front, side and curtain airbag protection. Volvo engineers said the driver probably would have walked away with minor bruising.
There are other notable safety features, but, as with all modern Volvos, the S40 has other noteworthy properties. The centre stack is possibly the coolest in the industry, doing the uncanny job of organizing climate and radio controls on a panel only an inch thick. There's even an optional transparent faceplate for the stack that reveals the storage space in behind. All S40s are powered by 5-cylinder engines, including a 220 hp version for the high performance T5 model. Its manual shifter is borrowed from the high strung R cars and it will be offered with all-wheel drive in the future.
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