Honda is pretty excited about its all-new Ridgeline truck, and rightly so. When the mid-sized pickup debuted at the Detroit Motor Show earlier this month, it was clear that the Japanese automaker was serious about cracking the trucking code.
The previous generation Ridgeline was a bit of an oddball — it’s shorter bed, car-like ride, and small-midsize stature didn’t really have a comfortable fit anywhere within the market. Still, it sold reasonably well — at least well enough for the conservative brand to make an encore.
With the introduction of the second-generation truck, Honda has butched up the Ridgeline’s exterior while layering in new features — one of which the automaker has decided to promote in a Superbowl spot. Using 60 precious seconds of some of the most watched moments on television, Honda showcases the Ridgeline’s truck-bed audio system that uses six exciters to play music outside the vehicle.
Talking animals has definitely been done before, but that didn’t stop Honda from employing singing sheep and deep-voiced dogs to get Queen’s “Somebody to Love” song stuck in your head.
It may not be the most laugh-out-loud ad we’ve seen yet, but Honda’s senior vice president, Jeff Conrad, defended its theme by noting that, “Great Super Bowl spots are entertaining for the fans while communicating an essential value of the product, and we believe our Honda Ridgeline commercial accomplishes both objectives in dramatic fashion.”
As for how Honda pulled off matching the sheep’s moving mouths to the music, apparently researchers had to study typical jaw movements to judge how “singing” would impact facial muscles; humor is scientific, people.
In conjunction with the Ridgeline ad, which will air during the third quarter of the game, Honda will launch a contest to reward ten winners with a trip to “Camp Ridgeline.” The winners will be flown to San Antonio, Texas where they and a guest will drive the new Ridgeline and enjoy a two-night stay in a local hotel. Maybe you will get to meet the talking animals there!
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.