Today's press conference for the 2009 Bentley Azure T at the LA Convention Center was like no other we've ever heard from a top-end manufacturer. With no warmup, Stuart McCullough, member of the board for income and marketing, started in:

"We expect the year-over-year decline to continue. Every company is affected and Bentley is no exception. We've moved swiftly to adjust production."

After the conference, we asked McCullough to elaborate: "Right now I think worldwide we're probably anticipating a similar level of start for 2009 with the market not bottoming out until at least 2010," he offered.

"It's new model introductions that are driving what little growth there is to be had at the top of the luxury car segment."

The Brooklands has been a help for Bentley in this regard, he said, and the company is hoping for the same from the 2009 Azure T, a higher-performance version of the company's classic four-place convertible. Bentley decided to unveil the Azure T in LA, said McCullough, as California typically accounts for about 10 percent of worldwide Azure sales.

As we reported in an early news story, the 2009 Bentley Azure T should be suitably frightening to drive, despite the fact that it's still a big, old, heavy, old-money convertible at heart. Twin turbos help its 6.75-liter V8 deliver 500 hp at 4,200 rpm and 738 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 rpm. A 5.2-second 0-to-60-mph estimate might sound tame, but hitting the 179-mph top speed in this yacht would undoubtedly be memorable.

The Azure T's cross-drilled brake rotors are appropriately enormous (16.5 inches crossways up front, 14 in back). Its 20-inch two-piece wheels are wrapped in 255/40ZR20 Pirelli PZeros — a little on the skinny side for such a powerful car, but big, sloppy burnouts are what you want in an Azure T, not outright grip.

Erin Riches, Senior Editor

The Model T Ford debuted in 1908, making it exactly one hundred years old. What better way to celebrate and honor this oh-so-important vehicle, than to have a design contest aimed to create the Model T for the next century.

Can it be done? Is it doable to create another vehicle that will have the same profound impact over the next 100 years as did the original Model T for the past century? Wow, talk about a challenge!

Full story here.

We haven’t even loaded up our 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI and the smack-talk is thick. saint Tate and George Achorn in the number 4 Q7 are already talking a big game. Seems they’re not planning to take even a fuel-miser competition lying down.

We’re committed though. No air conditioning. Windows up. We’ve deflated the Q7’s air suspension to its lowest, most wind-cheating ride height. Driving like there’s an egg on the accelerator pedal. Heck, we’ve even turned off the daytime running lights in order to reduce the parasitic load on the alternator. We have every itention of winning this thing.

Wait, we’re keeping the air off when we’re driving through Death Valley?

It’s commonly assumed by many (and incorrectly so) that for larger vehicles diesels make more sense than hybrids. That’s probably because this site is so focused on cars, rather than big trucks. The fact of the matter is, that hybrid technology is making headway with larger trucks as well. There are number of city buses that are hybrid powered, as well as commercial trucks. It should also be noted that all these large hybrids are diesel-hybrids.

Navistar, maker of International trucks, has been building diesel-hybrids for some time. They have just introduced a new Class 7 (up to 33K GVW) diesel-hybrid tractor in their DuraStar line.

The new DuraStar diesel-hybrid can wage a fuel savings of 20-25 percent on standard in-city pickup and delivery applications. In addition the vehicle emits up to 33 percent less hydrocarbon emissions and 35 percent less nitrogen oxide emissions as compared with standard diesel trucks.

Full story here.

Some time ago it had been reported that Toyota was going to offer a hybrid version of everything they sell, likely by 2020. Now more details are starting to trickle out.

Here’s a snapshot of what we might expect:

• Many of the vehicles will be ‘mild’ hybrids, not ‘full hybrids.’ The first likely recipient of such technology is the iQ, which could be to market by 2010.

• Toyota will also continue to use nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, rather than lithium ion batteries, alternative in order to save cost.

• Pure electric vehicles (EVs) are of less interest to Toyota, as they believe that technology only makes sense for some limited higher-end segments.

• Toyota is also looking at fuel cells, though at this point its technologies are not nearly robust enough for consumer use. Also, infrastructure issues in sourcing and distributing the hydrogen to power the fuel cells remains a major issue.

• Plug-in hybrids, like similar to the GM Volt, is being looked at as well.

Full story here.

<

So, we’re in the midst of the worst financial mess since the great depression, and Bentley and Bugatti are thinking of pairing up, and taking on Rolls-Royce? Are they nuts? Or are they and their customers just sooooo wealthy that they’re immune to everything that’s going on around them? So what if they or their customers drop a few million on the stock exchange? That must be chump change to these guys.

Full story here and here.

More über-rich silliness: Captain Mercedes, a.k.a. Dieter Zetsche, says technologist will not kill the Maybach–and that it’s making money!

Last year they sold 146 cars. With the addition of the new 62S Landaulet (pictured), they should sell 150 cars next year. Wow.

Full story here.

Zoom-Zoom-Smile…

Interesting. It looks like Mazda has discovered the happy grappling (as opposed to Mitsubishi’s angry face) as the new look for their cars. We saw it first on the facelifted Miata, and now again on the 2010 Mazda 3. The new car will debut at the LA auto show, and will be acquirable with both 2.0L and 2.5L engines.

Here’s Inside Line’s take: 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show Preview: Beefier 2010 Mazda 3 Sedan Set for Debut