BMW comes up with a pair of 7s

DETROIT--With Europe clamping down on CO2 emissions and Americans wanting to pay less at the pump, it would seem that big, luxury sedans would lose popularity. But BMW offers a couple of choices to keep its flagship 7-series sedan in favor. The company showed two new versions at the 2010 Detroit auto show, one with reduced engine size and a mild hybrid.

The new 740i marks a return to when the 7-series was powered by a mere 6 cylinders, rather than the 8 and 12 of recent years. But this car is no slouch, as its engine is a similar twin turbo 3-liter inline six that powers the 135i, 335i, and 535i, all very capable cars. In the 740i, that engine means 0 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds. BMW hasn't released EPA mileage figures yet, but the 740i goes on sale this spring.

The ActiveHybrid 7 is much more complicated, and more powerful, than the 740i. With system output of 455 horsepower, it hits 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, making it the fastest hybrid in the world. BMW's hybrid system uses a small electric motor between engine and transmission, getting power from a lithium ion battery pack. This motor gives the twin turbo 4.4-liter V-8 a little extra boost, but, more importantly, enables a start-stop function. BMW claims 15 to 20 percent better mileage than the 750i. The ActiveHybrid 7 goes on sale in the second quarter.

Tata brings its Nano to Detroit--but it's still far from a U.S. car

Yes, that's a Tata Nano on display about 2 miles up the road from the Detroit auto show. And yes, Indian billionaire Ratan Tata still intends to sell the inexpensive car in the United States.

But no, the car on display at the Detroit Science Center isn't the car intended for U.S. consumers.

"It's too early," says David Good, chief representative for Tata's U.S. holding company, Tata Sons Ltd. in Arlington, Va. "We haven't designed the U.S. version yet."

Good has been turning away prospective U.S. retailers who have contacted the company to discuss becoming Tata dealers. "We are still three or so years away from U.S. sales," Good says. "We haven't decided how this will be structured."

Company Chairman Ratan Tata recently told reporters in India that the U.S. version of the car will have a larger engine and will have to be re-engineered to meet American regulatory requirements. Such changes are certain to inflate the price beyond what it sells for in India: about $2,500.

Tata is showing the car in Detroit to draw attention to the company's U.S. automotive engineering subsidiary in suburban Detroit: Tata Technologies, formerly known as Incat.

A spokesman for the engineering group said the U.S. operation had a hand in developing the Indian car and will help develop the U.S. version

2010 Bentley Mulsanne shows how luxury is done

DETROIT--When Bentley parted ways with Rolls-Royce in 1998, it still had some co-developed models in its line-up. The last of those, the Arnage sedan, has finally been replaced with a new flagship sedan, the Mulsanne, representing Bentley's new beginning under Volkswagen ownership.

Designed for absolute luxury, the Mulsanne gets a cabin filled with detailed coachwork, a powerful and sophisticated power train, Volkswagen's latest navigation system, and an outstanding audio system from Naim.

We spent some time looking over the Muslanne's details at the 2010 Detroit auto show and found a cabin that is covered in impeccable materials. The few plastics used for buttons are wrapped in metal enclosures, while the shifter is a big, wooden spindle topped by metal brightwork. Its wood details have matching grains from side to side. At this level of luxury, customers can opt for a wide variety of cabin materials and colors, or go completely bespoke.

The twin turbo 6.75-liter engine produces 505 horsepower and 752 pound-feet of torque, that last number needed to get this heavy car moving forward gracefully. We wouldn't expect fuel economy to be anything good, but an eight-speed automatic transmission will keep the engine speed low at high speeds. In addition, Bentley fitted the Mulsanne with active cylinder management, shutting down half of its V-8 at cruising speeds.

We wouldn't call the Volkswagen navigation system in the dashboard best of breed, but it is hard drive-based, and the maps use some texturing. The real treat will be the Naim audio system, with 20 speakers and 2,200 watts of power.

Hands-on with MyLincoln Touch and Sync in the 2011 Lincoln MKX

DETROIT--At CES 2010, Ford announced a whole new cabin tech interface for its cars, dubbed MyFord, MyMercury, and MyLincoln, depending on which model brand it is installed. At the 2010 Detroit auto show, we got a hands-on look at the MyLincoln interface in the updated 2011 Lincoln MKX, and a voice-on demonstration of Sync's new smartphone application integration.

In Ford models, MyFord is divided into two variants, MyFord and MyFord Touch, the latter featuring two 4.2-inch LCDs and one 8-inch touch-screen LCD. In Lincoln models, starting with the launch of the 2011 MKX, MyLincoln Touch is standard, with the two 4.2-inch LCDs flanking the speedometer and the 8-inch touch screen mounted in the center stack.

We started our demonstration by trying out the user configurable screens in the instrument cluster. Lincoln mounted five-way button clusters on each steering wheel spoke, which let you manipulate the look of the screens and make selections. These buttons are patterned after those found on cell phones and MP3 players, and we found them immediately intuitive to use.

On the left side screen, we went through menu options, changing the look of the engine speed gauge and opting for which kind of trip information we wanted to view. The system responded quickly, and seemed no more distracting than choosing trip information from current vehicles.