Cars Noiz

Thursday, May 7, 2009

2009- Jeep Commander : The Luxury Cars

This model is doomed, since it has been taken out of Jeep's line-up. Nonetheless, it is still available at some dealers and might attract people who want to ride a Jeep and need to carry seven people. Its box-like body is the opposite of subtlety. But the Commander has the same off-road handling qualities found in the Grand Cherokee, as they share the same platform and mechanical elements.

The Commander will likely be nixed after the 2009 model year due slow sales and a high sticker. Competition between vehicles within the same brand is never a good thing, and it seems that the Commander may have cut into sales of Jeep's similarly sized 'ute, the Grand Cherokee.
Since Edmunds.com is claiming that potential buyers of the Commander were being offered up to $8,000 in incentives towards the end of 2006, the German-American hybrid may have seen the writing on the wall. Considering that the Commander has always been in a somewhat odd segment, falling between the Grand Cherokee and full-size SUVs, it would seem that this experimental niche was a gamble that didn't pay off. Look 2009 Jeep Commander Picture above :

Interior 2009 Jeep Commader Pictures

2009- Jeep Commander Pictures

Falken Tire Unveils Factory ALMS Team at Long Beach (Video)

LONG BEACH, CA – Fontana, CA-based Falken Tire, well regarded for its high performance tires, officially entered the 2009 American Le Mans Series’ highly competitive GT2 class by competing at Long Beach with its in-house-prepared Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The car was driven by veterans Dominic Cicero and Bryan Sellers and ran on specially prepared Falken AZENIS RT slicks.

Qualified in eighth position by Sellers, the Team Falken Tire RSR ran within a second of the race podium-winning #92 BMW car, a considerable accomplishment for a brand new team and tire that has never previously experienced the unforgiving Long Beach street course. The Porsche moved to seventh on the grid after the pole-winning car was sent to the rear for a ride height infraction. Sellers started the race, but reported shifting problems early on. He continued to nurse the car for 30 laps, maintaining his position of seventh, but eventually had to retire the Porsche. The team finished 20th overall and 12th in class.

“The car was extremely consistent for a long time,” Sellers said. “I was able to run a steady pace for the whole stint never dropping off more than four-tenths of a lap until we had transmission problems.” Co-driver Cicero agreed: “The tires were consistent and held up very well in our practices. We feel we have a great product for the 2010 season.”

“Despite our race difficulties, our drivers were very happy with the Falken Azenis RT slicks,” added Stephen Mitchell, Falken’s Motorsports Manager.

“The team worked very well together for being our first race. We’ve done a lot of testing, but this was a good experience under extreme pressure,” stated Rod Everett, Falken team manager. “We noticed vibration on very high speed during practice on Friday, and we pulled the transmission and examined it. It’s a shame that we finished where we did, but that’s racing. We’ll learn from this, move forward and do better next time.”

Long Beach also saw the debut of Falken’s new tire team booth with a constant flow of traffic to the Falken paddock Friday and Saturday. Falken awarded a specially designed Falken collectible guitar to Tom Crowe as part of its at-track promotional efforts.

The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR is painted in traditional Falken teal and blue livery, now highlighted by its new sponsor, Cleveland Golf of Huntington Beach, CA. Cleveland Golf, a force on the PGA tour, embraces many of the same product development ideologies which Falken Tire Corporation applies to their Azenis RT Slick tires used for ALMS competition.

“The American Le Mans is an excellent series and the perfect platform for Falken to demonstrate the strength and capabilities of our technology and capabilities,” noted Andrew Hoit, Director of Marketing, Falken Tire. “The competition this year is extremely tough, and we knew that going in, because we wanted to be able to challenge the factory teams as well as the privateers and our competitors, the other tire manufacturers. We’re running a shorter season this year, in preparation for a full assault in 2010.”

The Falken Tire/Cleveland Golf team will next compete at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in September.

Track title: Ownage
License Type: Mass Market License
Composer: Dimitris Plagiannis (AEPI)
Publisher:Dimitris Plagiannis (AEPI)