The 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour is schizo. On the one hand, it is glomming onto the trend that Europe has known forever – 5 door hatches are the most efficient layout, but at the same time, I think the intention was to semi-obscure its hatchiness because looking too much like a wagon is a big Brady Bunch no, no these days—unless you’re a weird sta-wag fetishist. However, isn’t this just the emperor’s new Accord Wagon, with better handling?

I also think Honda was excited by the Crosstour’s hauling capabilities, at least compared to the sedan, but with just 51 cubic feet of cargo space versus the Venza’s 70 cubic feet, it means 1.5 fewer sorority girls will fit back there and that alone might make the Venza more attractive to some, not to mention the fact that the Crosstour goes from 0-60 in just 7.5 seconds, a whopping half-second lower than the Venza. Plus, girls don’t like schizos. Ok, Jennifer Connelly did in “A Beautiful Mind”, but I don’t think she’d be riding in the back of a Honda Crosstour. Or the front for that matter, but I digress. Let’s talk about the basics.

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Look, it’s even more good news out of Detroit. What with Ford actually making a profit, it looks like all the doom and gloom about the number of dealers set to be shuttered might have been estimated on the high side.

At least that’s the case if you believe David Cole, who is Chairman of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research. Cole told federal investigators that he thought General Motor’s and Chrysler’s projected dealership cuts will reduce market share in small to mid-sized markets. Cole summed it up by saying, “These cuts didn’t make any sense to me.”

David Cole cautioned the investigators that he has no research expertise or experience working directly with dealerships, and that he was asked to come speak only after he sent a letter to the Obama administration’s auto task force earlier this month stating his case for fewer dealership terminations. Although Chairman Cole did agree that terminations in larger metropolitan areas were in fact justified, he made the case that the automakers would be harming their historical stronghold in rural areas as well as modest-sized markets with many of the planned dealership terminations.

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The 2009 SEMA show started off with a lot of energy and optimism for the new year that is almost at our door. New ideas, renewed enthusiasm, and the penchant for going bigger while being eco-conscious all in the same breath. Below are a few photos that our friends from Microcarmag.com sent us. The full set can be found in the CarReview photo gallery.

More interesting tidbits and a lot more exciting stuff to follow in the next few days. Click on the thumbnail  below to view the fullsize image.

Ken Block Monster Subaru

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Interesting news from Mercedes-Benz when they announced that they are planning to open a new alternative powertrain technology center. Based on the campus of Mercedes’ Redford Township, Michigan facility, the German company made the announcement shortly after the township approved a tax exemption.

The Detroit Free Press said that Redford Township’s tax exemption would allow Mercedes-Benz to purchase $2.3 million worth of equipment for use at the Redford site. Located just 15 miles outside of the Detroit city limits, the move announced by Mercedes can only be seen as positive for an area struggling during the recent economic downturn.

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Now that hybrids and fuel-efficient cars are in vogue with the public eye, the shift towards reducing our carbon footprint is gaining momentum with the carmakers and the associated industries. Yokohama has made great strides in this green direction by producing an orange-oil infused tire that replaces 80 percent of its content with non-petroleum based products, has significantly lower rolling resistance, and has a new technology tire liner that holds air much better than the old-fashioned butyl tire liners without sacrificing performance. Read our article explaining the virtues of the dB Super E-Spec tire HERE.

If you desire more concrete evidence, Tire Rack published the results of their low-rolling resistance tire test that centered used a Toyota Prius as their test vehicle and subjected the new generation of low-resistance tires to a battery of tests (braking, cornering, mpg performance, etc.). Yokohama’s formal press release and link to the Tire Rack test follows after the jump.

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Ford made a profit. Yes, you read that right, a car company, and not just that, but an American car company, actually made money in the past quarter. After all the doom, gloom, buy-outs, shotgun marriages, bankruptcies and the like, this is the last thing you’d expect to read, but it sure looks like it’s true.

And add to that that this is Ford Motor Company that we’re talking about. The only car company of “The Big Three” that walked away from the government bailout cash. They took a look at the terms of the deal, and said, ‘No thanks, we think we can make it on our own.’ And damn if they weren’t right.

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Hyundai’s Genesis Coupe garnered a lot of good press and gearhead interest from the get go. And it seems to be fully justified and also understandable. The Hyundai Genesis is well styled (enough), rear wheel drive, and above all, reasonably priced. It’s a car that a young tuner-oriented kid can sink their teeth into, and there’s already a pretty decent aftermarket for the car.

And Hyundai just added a new wrinkle to the mix with its announcement that it will be making a Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec for 2010. With a starting price of just $23,750 and hitting the dealer showrooms fairly stripped down, that way being all the better for future customization by the end user, the R-Spec promises to be even more of what the aftermarket tuner wants.

Photo gallery of R-Spec after the jump
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Following on the heels of the Cube Krom, Nissan has decided to release a Rogue SUV Krom Special Edition version of its 2010 Rogue SUV. The factory-prepped Cube Krom, that came out earlier this year, was enough of a hit for Nissan to justify the presentation of a similar special edition version of its Rogue crossover. Going on sale at Nissan’s U.S. dealers in December 2009, the upcoming Rogue Krom will feature a host of cosmetic upgrades such as a unique grille treatment and a new front bumper with fancy side air-inlets. It will also get 17-inch brilliant finish alloy wheels with P225/60R Continental 4×4 Contact tires and a new rear bumper that has been restyled with integrated center-exit twin tail pipes.

Other goodies include a body-colored rear spoiler and exterior mirrors. Nissan has tinted windows and added Krom emblems as well as installing steering wheel-mounted audio controls to complete the equipment modifications. The Krom Special Edition Rogue which is based on the ‘S’ trim model.

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Son, you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’, if ya don’t stop drivin’ that hot rod Lincoln. Yeah, way back when, Lincolns were not cars to be trifled with. They had big enough plants and there was enough go fast goodies out there that you wouldn’t treat them the way … well, the way you’d look at a Lincoln today.

Sure, for the past however long, they’ve been very nice and luxurious Fords, but performance cars? Not so much. Lincoln is looking to change that with three customized rides rolling out at this years SEMA show.

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Tomorrow is the Bob Lutz Cadillac V-Series Challenge. For those of you who don’t know, Bob Lutz, an auto industry icon and currently a Vice Chairman at GM, first invited writers and then any and all owners of cars comparable to the Cadillac CTS-V to apply to get all Speed Racer with him on October 29 at the Monticello Motor Club in Monticello, N.Y.

Of the 120 people who gave a crap, Lutz chose seven. Of the seven, three are auto journalists: Jalopnik’s Wes Silver and his Jaguar XFR; The Truth About Cars’ Jack Baruth; and Lawrence Ulrich of the fancy NY Times. The journalist invites are clearly a tactical move on Lutz’ part. The other four are joe-blows. Michael from New Jersey and Michael from New York are bringing a BMW M5 and M3 respectively. (Perhaps Lutz was feeling nostalgic for his days as a BMW exec.) Tom of Philly will race his Audi RS4 and Chris from Michigan will bring his Cadillac CTS-V.

It’s clear who Lutz thinks Speed Racer is, but then who is Racer X? And what about Trixie? And that weird monkey? Let’s leave those questions in the obtuse pile, and focus on the race itself.

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You can call this a good news/bad news sort of thing. The bad news is that Chrysler’s two-mode hybrid joint development program has been disbanded, and the good news is that the hybrid Ram pickup is coming in 2010.

The joint development program, which was a very big deal for a while, was created several years ago between Chrysler, General Motors, Daimler, and BMW to work out a two-mode hybrid system for light duty vehicles, is now effectively over. The four automakers involved have either launched or are about to introduce versions of the two-mode hybrid system, so the program is being wound down and the engineering office will be closed by the end of this year.

But the Ram pickup hybrid should be in dealerships by 2010.

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San Mateo, Calif., October 27, 2009 - MicroCarMag.com, your source to the microcar world, announced that during the week of the 2009 SEMA Show in Las Vegas they will be the content provider of coverage to CarReview.com.

During the week of November 3rd, MicroCarMag.com will provide the readers of CarReview.com with the most up-to-date coverage directly from the show floor. Coverage will contain daily video wrap-up, high quality photos of the latest products and industry happenings.

“We are excited to provide CarReview.com with content from the SEMA show floor,” stated Thomas Musante, founder of MicroCarMag.com. “We welcome the opportunity to reach a wider audience through this partnership.”

CarReview.com is an online community of automobile enthusiasts who take pride in maintaining and upgrading their vehicles. Visitors of the site regularly research cars and follow the latest industry and automotive technology news. CarReview.com is the perfect resource for finding the right car or truck to buy for you. Plus, it lets enthusiasts share how to make their cars go faster, handle better, and look “good“. Follow the latest news and reviews from CarReview at reviews.carreview.com or twitter.com/CarReview

MicroCarMag.com, founded in 2009, is your source to the microcar industry and can be found at Microcarmag.com and on twitter.com/microcarmag.

It looks like Ford will be moving the production of its Kuga small (-ish) SUV to a plant in Kentucky. Yes, this will be good news for those needing jobs in Kentucky (which would seem to be a lot of people), but it also has some interesting ramifications in a larger sense.

For starters, a lot of you might be asking, “What’s a Kuga?” Good question. The Kuga is an SUV primarily sold in the European market. So how can making a car in Kentucky, which is sold in Europe, make sense? And also, if they’re going to build it here, will they sell it here?

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Mercedes Benz has spent the last two years trying to figure out what the next generation A and B-class compacts should be. Traditional gas and diesels? Hybrids? EVs? A mixture of all of those? The stakes are high in the this segment of the automobile game and MB has a lot riding on it. And Merc’s parent, Daimler, has just announced that it is going to obligate €600 million in updates and expansion to the factory that builds the A and B-class compacts.

Mercedes has yet to announce which platform, whether the A- class or the B-class, it will use for the upcoming small cars, but we do know that they will start production at the Rastatt factory in late 2011. Mercedes is adding a 710,000 square foot body shop to produces the shells of the new models at the factory and they have already started construction of a new stamping facility in nearby Kuppenheim to produce the body panels that will be welded at the Rastatt body shop.

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Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, a name that should really need no introduction to serious American hot rod enthusiasts out there, will be bringing a version of the latest Trans Am to this year’s upcoming SEMA show. It’s got all of the Trans Am goodies you remember:

Duck-tail spoiler, fender vents, twin-port front grille, raised white-letter tires, a 445 cubic inch V8, honeycomb wheels and that hideous screaming chicken hood decal.

Wait a second, the Trans Am was a Pontiac, and Pontiac is now, officially, sadly, dead, you say. Indeed you are right, but that’s didn’t stop Lingenfelter, now did it?

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