Nissan: Nemo Wins In Cars
While the rest of the country frets about pornos being played on in-car DVD players, Nissan is taking a characteristically chill stance by asking instead, "What's your favorite in-car DVD?" After asking a thousand adults about their preferences and those of their children, Nissan found that Finding Nemo, the animated Pixar film and winner of the Best Animated Film Oscar, is the best movie to watch on a road trip. The Nissan survey, meant to boost interest in the in-car DVD system in its Quest minivan, put Nemo at the top of the list, followed by Seabiscuit, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and Mystic River for adults. Kids' favorites after Nemo were SpongeBob SquarePants, Sesame Street, Rugrats, and Bob the Builder. Nissan says its survey also found 90 percent of adults think in-car DVD players are a great way to keep kids occupied during long car trips, and actually reduce "behavior problems" like fighting, seat-kicking and being generally obnoxious.
E3 Takes A Look Around Hyundai
Geneva isn't what you'd call Korea's back yard, but by the twin displays from Hyundai and Kia, you'd think they felt as much home here as anyone. Kia's display, however, was a letdown of a four-door sedan, enlivened only by the mocking redhead who laughed at journalists trying to scramble for press kits. At Hyundai, the display was several notches more interesting; the E3 is said to be Hyundai's future styling direction for its two-doors, so look for this around the time the next Tiburon is due. A panoramic sunroof and rear-view cameras that replace the side mirrors are items of fancy, but the rear access doors-similar to those on Saturn's ION coupe-could easily make it to the next generation of Hyundais.
Fraternizing with the Concepts: A Good Thing at SuzukiNormally, you'd expect an automaker showing a hot bike-derived car concept and a rather dainty mini-SUV to put them as far apart as the Menendez brothers. However, Suzuki isn't like that; they were particularly pleased to let the S-Ride sportster and Landbreeze live together as lion and lamb. That's so sweet of them! We asked them to sign our yearbook after they told us more about the pair. The S-RIDE, unfortunately, looks to be the less likely candidate for production: it's a two-place convertible commuter car with tandem seats and an aluminum body, borrowing freely from Suzuki's sport-bike heritage (and from its friends come pizza time). The Landbreeze keeps it way more real, with a recyclable aluminum chassis, a hybrid 660cc engine and frosty white paint inset with green translucent plastic, which also adorned its wheels and its cockpit.
Toyota Pays for Play with MTRC
Getting media coverage of your latest concept car is gratifying-but landing one in a video game? That's cool. Toyota's MTRC (for Motor Triathlon Race Car) has done just that; it's the main vehicle in the Gran Turismo 4 game just released. Toyota had the dune-buggy-esque concept (designed by Toyota's European studio ED2) set up with stations where journos could play the game as well. Though we couldn't drive the concept's fuel-cell powerplant or corner dramatically around the Palexpo, we did crash enough times to win disapproving glances from the Toyota PR people. On the other hand, maybe that was the noises we were making and the accompanying wild hand gestures.