Sound engineer Tony Bongiovo with a Toyota Tundra equipped with Digital Power Station.
Toyota Canada has pulled together a unique, low-cost sound system "booster" that uses expertise from a Toronto-area OEM supplier firm and the sensitive ears of sound engineer and music exec Tony Bongiovi to offer on all its 2011 models.
Called the Digital Power Station, Toyota Canada will be the first in the Toyota universe to offer the audio upgrade, which will be available starting this fall as a dealer-installed accessory for $280, plus installation (depending on the vehicle or dealer, about $50-$100).
The DPS consists of a metallic box and chip installed into the vehicle's dash, and essentially works as a high-end digital tuner to maximize the efficiency of the each speaker's signal, taking into consideration the shape of the interior and even the sound-absorbing properties of its materials.
The difference in sound is remarkable, after sitting in three vehicles (a Yaris, RAV4 and Tundra) with DPS. Each was equipped with special buttons to hear the sound with, and without, DPS engaged. When engaged, there's a fuller spectrum of sound, making it seem louder, but also clearer, with background beats and highs coming in that were muddy or indistinct, or not there before at all.
"This is the first total 100 per cent digital automotive signal processing unit," said Bongiovi, second cousin to Jon Bon Jovi, who he helped break into the music business. "The system maps out the interior of each Toyota. …We're essentially digitally re-mixing the source material (music) to fit each car."
Developed for car use by Toronto-area supplier AVG, the system is dealer-installed, and can be added to any new 2011 Toyota (even after buyers take delivery). It won't work on older or U.S. models, however, since the half-kilogram, square box does need some specific in-dash clearance.
One unfortunate aspect is that it won't work with aftermarket head units, so although it provides better sound, it may prove more difficult to customize afterward. Also, if you normally listen to talk radio, it seemed to pick up more ambient hiss during our brief and stationary sampling of the various vehicles with it, although that can be dialled down with the normal sound level controls, we're told - cars equipped with DPS won't have a button to switch it on or off.
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Correction
Toyota's Digital Power Station is not available in all 2001 models; some package options may be incompatible with the system. Incorrect information appeared Oct. 8.
Buick, Cadillac reintroduce leasing
Buick and Cadillac reintroduced leasing in Canada on Monday and GM Canada president Kevin Williams conceded that it was a tough move, but a necessary one.
"It's a very tough market to get into, but we have to be there, even with our Smart Purchase (program)," Williams told a media briefing this week. "In order to ensure GM has the financial options that customers are looking for, we need the ability to give them all the options."
Williams was speaking after a tough month for GM Canada; its September sales were down by more than 24 per cent, in a market that was up 4.3 per cent overall, according to numbers compiled by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
After GM's acquisition of AmeriCredit in the U.S. on Oct. 1, which was renamed GM Financial, GM Canada expects to use this additional inhouse credit arm to offer more flexibility on the financing and leasing side of the business; company insiders predict it won't be long before leasing returns to Chevrolet and GMC models as well. The leasing of Buick and Cadillac products in Canada will go through FinanciaLinx, a large independent national leasing company.
Auto czar's tell-all book
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's screaming tirades were easier to stomach for Canadian government representatives than GM's "dismissive" attitude to those outside the company, according to Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry, by Steve Rattner, the auto czar brought in by the Obama administration to restructure GM and Chrysler.
Marchionne's outbursts became extreme, Rattner says in the book, with expletive-laced tirades prompting various attendees in meetings to simply stand up and leave. But Paul Boothe, the senior associate deputy minister of Industry Canada and a regular contact for the auto task force, said that Marchionne impressed him much more than Fritz Henderson, the former GM CEO who replaced Rick Wagoner in early 2009. "These GM guys don't have the same sense of fear that Chrysler does," Boothe is quoted as saying. "I would feel better if GM had a Sergio."
The GM execs were found to be dismissive of outside people or ideas by the Canadian contingent, the book suggests. Carol Stephenson, the Ontario business school dean who represents the Canadian and Ontario government on GM's board of directors, expressed concerns that GM execs were not providing the data or details the board needed to make informed decisions.
The book was released at the end of September, and features very little Canadian content outside of the above. That's not counting the many mentions of Marchionne, born in Italy, who moved as a child to Canada, was educated in various Ontario universities and still carries a Canadian passport.
New European safety awards
New European safety awards were unveiled at the Paris auto show to showcase the benefits of "active safety" systems - ones that help drivers prevent crashes, instead of mitigating damage from them.
Ten safety technologies were awarded the first Euro NCAP Advanced rewards. Five of the systems are offered in North America:
- Audi Side Assist
- Honda's Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS)
- Mercedes-Benz Pre-Safe systems
- Volkswagen Lane Assist
- Volvo's City Safety system, which will bring the car to a full stop if it detects an imminent collision in low-speed city conditions.
Such systems don't make a difference on most traditional star rating systems done in a lab, but the European safety agency suggests that these systems are being considered as part of a planned redefinition of its star ratings by 2013.