The News for August 1st, 2014

bmwi8lead Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of some of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. I just throw in a little opinion of mine because I can. This week:

  • BMW gets in the Concours d’Elegance spirit with a one-off i8

  • Jaguar shows us the new XE’s face

  • Kia teases the all-new Sorento

  • Ford prices the F-150 lineup, each one sees a price bump

  • Mercedes-Benz prices the C-Class and GLA

BMW i8 Concours d’Elegance Edition

P90157946 This year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is just two weeks away and BMW is already in full celebration mode. Among all of the other phenomenal, historic, and groundbreaking cars that will be on display in Monterey, BMW will be showing their most groundbreaking car in recent memory – the i8. Deliveries of the BMW i8 are underway in most markets, but on August 16th one lucky (or just rich) person will go home with one of the first North American BMW i8s. But it won’t be just any i8. It will be a one-off special edition i8 appropriately named the Concours d’Elegance edition. What separates a regular BMW i8 from the Concours d’Elegance Edition is…. Frozen Grey Metallic paint.  So yes, BMW’s idea of a one-off special edition is to give it matte paint. To be fair, the interior is really what makes it one-off. The actually unique interior is crafted with Dalbergia Brown leather upholstery which is tanned with dye from plant extracts (after all it is one of BMW’s most efficient cars). In addition to the brown leather, BMW i Blue accents and stitching are used throughout the cabin. The interior probably looks stunning, but the lack of a photo of its insides means we’re just going to have to imagine for now. This car will also be the first i8 in the US to feature BMW’s new laser headlights, but only if the government approves it first, and it will also come with a special display key and the first BMW Charging Station. Everything else about the car is the same, including its innovative drivetrain which combines a three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with a powerful electric motor to create an all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid sports car. 0-60 mph takes just 4.2 seconds and its efficiency can’t be beat by many other hybrids. Those who want to bid on a piece of BMW history can bribe their way in to the Pebble Beach Auctions on Saturday, August 16th. [Source: BMW]

Jaguar teases new XE

jag_feel_xe_image_300714 Jaguar has a new sports sedan on its way with the new XE, which as you can see here, has a pretty face. And there’s a person touching it. The XE still hasn’t had a lot of its details go public yet, and this is the first clear picture we have of its exterior before its world debut in September. That world debut in September is really what this announcement is about as it goes into detail about how Emeli Sandé (the artist who has been cropped out on nearly every auto site… including ours) and other British artists and personalities will be part of the FEEL XE platform which will celebrate British innovation and creativity before ultimately leading up to the XE’s world debut. All we really care about from across the pond is how nice that XE’s face looks. The only bits of info we know about the XE so far is that it will be the first car in its segment to be built on an aluminum monocoque chassis (borrowed from the C-X17 concept car) and promises to be the most advanced, efficient, and refined sports saloon in its class. So far we know of a four-cylinder, two-liter petrol and diesel engine which will be used to power it and boost its efficiency to a proposed 75 mpg (on the EU cycle). This is a car you can expect to hear more about in this little news recap thing I do. [Source: Jaguar]

Kia teases new Sorento

sorentosketch Kia’s longest-lasting SUV is about to enter into its third generation and Kia wants us to know about it. We’ll see the all-new Kia Sorento in the flesh and know more about it when it’s revealed in South Korea by the end of August, but until then, we’ve got this lovely sketch to tease us with. Even though sketches can’t always give us an accurate depiction of the real car, we can probably expect a much more refined, sculpted, athletic, and attractive Sorento. Probably. The current Sorento is built just a few hours away from where this is written in a shiny new facility in West Point, Georgia, so I’d expect them to continue that when the new one rolls around. I would sure hope so, because I’d probably enjoy seeing a truck full of these on my way to work every day. [Source: Kia]

2015 Ford F-150 priced

2015 Ford F-150 Tows Loaded Trailer in Extreme Heat Ford’s all-new aluminum-bodied F-150 has been priced according to Automotive News, and it may be a bit of not so great news for potential buyers. Due to its new complex, and therefore expensive, aluminum construction, prices have increased a bit on every new F-150. The entry-level F-150 will start at $26,220 (including destination charges), which is a fairly small $395 increase over the previous model. The smallest price increase in the lot is that of the F-150 XLT, which is only $340 more than before. On the other end of the spectrum is the King Ranch F-150, which gets a $3,385 increase over the last model and starts at $49,460. The most expensive F-150 you can buy is the Platinum and that starts at $52,155, which is $3,055 more than before. So there you go. Progress comes at a price, unfortunately but at least it isn’t such a big price bump for the lower trim levels. [Source: Automotive News via Autoweek]

2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class and GLA priced

cclass Mercedes-Benz has detailed pricing on both the 2015 C-Class and the GLA, their new entry level crossover. Starting with the less crossover-ish one first, the 2015 C-Class will arrive on U.S. shores as three different models – the C300, C300 4Matic, and the C400 4Matic, The C300 starts at$39,325 (incl. dest.) while its all-wheel drive counterpart starts at $41,325. Each one is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 241 horsepower and 273 lb.-ft. of torque with a seven-speed automatic transmission sending power to either the rear or all four wheels. The more expensive C400 4Matic will start at $49,515, but that gives you a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 producing 329 horsepower and 345 lb.-ft. of torque. The 2015 C-Class will be available starting later this August in 4Matic versions only – the rear-wheel drive C300 will be available later in 2015. Pricing for the GLA crossover was also announced this week. Two GLAs will be available at launch in September: the GLA with 4Matic all-wheel drive which starts at $34,225 and the GLA45 AMG which starts at $49,225. By 2015, a front-wheel drive version will be available starting at $32,225. [Source: Mercedes-Benz via Autoweek]  

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