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Last year, American Suzuki Motor Corporation (ASMC) launched its “Suzuki LIVE Series” (LIFE VEHICLES) – a line of brand-dedicated concept vehicles specially designed for life enthusiasts, adventurers and thrill-seekers. In concert with its “Way of Life” brand proposition, which promises products for active lifestyles, and to support the launch of the all-new XL7 and SX4, ASMC introduces four all-new “Suzuki LIVE Series” vehicles for 2007, illustrating how its cars and SUVs play an integral part of consumers’ everyday life.

The vehicles, coined BaseCamp for outdoor adventure enthusiasts; Flix for film and entertainment buffs; Zuk for motorcycle and racing aficionados; and SXBox for avid gamers; are on display at various auto shows and lifestyle events around the country.

Flix
Built by the Carlab of Orange, Calif., and based on the all-new 2007 XL7, the Flix concept offers film and entertainment enthusiasts the ultimate mobile movie experience. The Flix’s ultra-rich, super-clean and modern exterior accentuates the redesigned body of the all-new XL7. The XL7 concept is dressed in midnight black paint with platinum accents and deep crimson “theater red” perimeter LED linear emitters encircling the lower valence of the midsize SUV.

In addition to its eye-catching exterior appearance, the Flix is outfitted with an unprecedented in-vehicle movie system. After parking at the optimal film-viewing destination, Flix’s clamshell roof can be opened, revealing a maximum-size moonroof that serves as a 60-inch movie screen. Additionally, the XL7 concept’s front roof panel vents, giving way to a high-density digital projection system to display a family’s movie of choice. For those who prefer the traditional drive-in movie experience, Flix’s projection system can be positioned to display movies nearly anywhere – the side of a building, a billboard or almost any wall.

The interior look of the Flix resembles a contemporary private screening room, dressed in plush materials to evoke elegance and sophistication. The XL7 concept features four individual bucket seats that pivot 180 degrees to view the elevated giant screen. The Flix also is equipped with a next-generation, high-definition DVD player with integrated hard drive for maximum AV storage, a professional THX/SDS-theater quality sound system, pivoting quarter window speakers and red door/floor strip lighting to further enhance the in-vehicle movie experience.

2007 Chrysler Nassau concept.  Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News

2007 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Detroit News Auto salon.

Jeep Wrangler Rubicon: A ride for thrill-seekers

By Warren Brown / The Washington Post

I once traveled the Continental Divide Trail from Durango, Colo., to Chama, N.M.

It was a challenging off-road trip in a Land Rover Range Rover. But this week's test vehicle, the 2007 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, would have handled the journey just as well at a substantially lower equipment cost.
 
The Wrangler Rubicon is not for everyone, just as California's Rubicon Trail, for which this Wrangler is named, isn't for everyone.

Off-road vehicles on the Rubicon Trail, about 12 miles from Loon Lake to Lake Tahoe, travel tortuous terrain, long regarded as the most difficult in North America for people who love pitting themselves and their four-wheel-drive machines against Mother Nature.

It is an odd contest in which the only "victory" for man and machine is survival -- leaving the trail with body and vehicle intact.

If you are not a fan of off-road motoring excursions, if you are unwilling to accept risks in pursuit of the joys of such trips, you will never appreciate or understand vehicles such as the Wrangler Rubicon, the winner of 4 Wheel & Off-Road magazine's 2007 4x4 of the Year award.

It is a matter of culture, one distinctly different from daily urban life in which the primary concern of many drivers is miles per gallon. Out there on the Rubicon Trail, or along the high, narrow passes of the Continental Divide with its numerous rock-strewn and switchback roads, the major vehicle concern is prowess --the ability to keep rolling, however slowly or cautiously, over or around obstacles that could turn an outing into a lengthy hospital stay.

It is of little use to ask why people choose such adventures. The fact is that they do it and enjoy it, as evidenced by the 400,000 who subscribe to 4 Wheel & Off-Road. The Wrangler Rubicon helps them to do it better -- with more reliability and safety -- than most other sport-utility models priced under $30,000.

In that regard, the Wrangler Rubicon's strengths constitute its primary weaknesses in routine city-suburban commuting, where it is least efficient, least comfortable and generally less than enjoyable.

For example, consider the Wrangler Rubicon's suspension system. It uses live axles front and rear. A live axle is one of two kinds of beam axles. Live axles contain drive shafts that transmit power to drive wheels. Another type of beam axle, a dead axle, transmits no power.

Beam axles are simple, relatively inexpensive to install and usually tough. They are good for carrying heavy loads and taking the abuse generally encountered in off-road travel. They are lousy for pavement driving, where their ruggedness often translates to a brutally bumpy ride.

I have driven the Wrangler Rubicon and other four-wheel-drive models in a number of off-road venues where I fell in love with their brawling personalities. But my assistant, Ria Manglapus, got the assignment to drive the Wrangler Rubicon in regular city-suburban commuting, during which she took a daily motorized beating.

"It was so bumpy, it made me feel like I was driving in Manila," said Ria, a native of the Philippines.

She had other complaints: "There was a lot of play in the steering wheel," which meant that handling at expressway speeds was sometimes dicey. "The headrests in the back seats are so big, they limit rearview vision."

Also, according to Ria, getting in and out of the Wrangler Rubicon wasn't always easy.

I almost felt sorry for her. But life is tough, and it's historically tougher on assistants. But she got the final laugh. She handed me the bill for filling the Wrangler Rubicon's 18.6-gallon tank with regular unleaded gasoline: $48.

ART’s Program 216 is aimed at the new CL in the exclusivity of the Mercedes- Benz luxury class with an abundance of top-quality tuning components.

The ART aerodynamics set for the front and rear optimizes the contours of the vehicle with an individual touch. In perfect harmony with the series design of the front spoiler, fine parallel grooved lines enhance the vehicle’s front silhouette. The eye-catching elegant lines of the ART rear skirt give the series rear an entirely new appearance. A rear spoiler shaped like a separation edge on the rear hood is the third element in the ART design system for the exterior of this beautiful coupé.

The ART interior upgrades the vehicle with an alcantara roof liner and upholstery. Elegant combinations of alcantara and leather, in one or several colours, leather with contrasting seams, quilting and perforations, provide marked elegance. In conjunction with fine wood paneling in a variety of different woods and nuances, carbonized surfaces in magical colours, sports steering wheels with paddle shifter, steering wheels in alcantara/leather, leather/wood, and leather/carbon offer an ART tuning GmbH, IGA, 04.01.2007, 14:31, Pressemitteilung Programm 216 extensive range to choose from for the design of the CL interior. Every custom feature is the owner’s choice. There are no limits to the individualization.

And under the hood: engine performance from ART includes a Vmax delimiter for the CL and electronic performance optimization of the motor control. They give the powerful series V8 and V12 power units that final performance kick.

The four highly polished chrome-plated 80mm tailpipes of the ART sports exhaust system with the ART logo draw the gaze to this successful rear skirt solution. One right and one left rear muffler ensure the sound is right.

The electronic suspension system from ART for the series ABC suspension system lowers the ride height by 25mm. All other built-in chassis control functions remain unchanged. Only the speed-dependent ride-height control is suppressed.

For the wheel concept, ART proposes the monoART1 light-weight metal rims in dimensions 18, 19 or 20 inches for the CL class. This individual choice of rims is multiplied by the range of three different surfaces:
- TITANIUM special coating with highly polished spoke backs
- TITANIUM special coating with allover silky-matt surface
- Black or customized color, even two-tone, special coating in NANO technology

The stylish three-part ARTstar2 light-weight metal rims are an equally good choice. With a 6-spoke design, with 36 titanium screw joints, inside valve, shiny-silver rim star and mirror-finished rim base it is offered in sizes 19 and 20 inches.

To customize a car still further, it is possible to have the rim star and wheel-base painted in a special color. Of course, with a protective nano technology coating.

The 2007 Honda Accord Coupe Concept was unveiled Monday at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. Detroit news