Maybach makes its return in L.A., Lexus and Audi show off their future design and why automakers are giving away free hydrogen. All that and more coming up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily for November 20th, 2014.

CHRYSLER REVEALS NEW 300
Chrysler took the wraps off the 2015 300. It features an updated exterior design, including a new front grille. A seven-inch infotainment display is now standard, along with a rotary shift knob. Fuel economy has been improved thanks to the eight-speed automatic transmission that’s now standard throughout the 300 line-up. And the new 300 offers a number of new amenity and safety features. Production kicks off at the end of the year at Chrysler’s Brampton, Ontario plant. Check out our interview with Al Gardner, the president and CEO of Chrysler, to learn more about the new 300. Just head to our website or Youtube channel to watch that and our other coverage from the L.A. Auto Show.

MAYBACH MAKES ITS RETURN
About a week ago we reported that Mercedes was going to revive the Maybach name and first attach it to an S-Class. Now that the car has made its debut in both LA and China we’re getting some of the details. The wheelbase has been stretched by nearly 8-inches and a 520 horsepower turbocharged V12 was stuffed under the hood. The best place to be is sitting in the back seat of what Mercedes claims is the quietest production sedan in the world where you get fully adjustable seats with leg support, luxurious leather and air-plane style trays. Of course it also gets all the latest and greatest in safety technology and we could go on and on about all the amenities, but we don’t want to bore you to death. It will be interesting to see how Maybach does this time around, because it was a disaster last time.

Still to come, Lexus shows off its future design, Toyota updates the Prius v and a look at Chevy’s wild concept race car. But first, here’s a quick message about tonight’s AAH.

LEXUS REVEALS ITS FUTURE DESIGN
Lexus showed off a concept that hints at the brand’s future design. Called the LF-C2, it’s a convertible that doesn’t have any type of top to cover passengers. Since this car is all about the styling, there aren’t many details about the car. But what do you think, should Lexus adopt this design for its line-up?

PRIUS v UPDATES
Toyota is updating the Prius v for 2015, or as you may know it better the “big Prius.” The front styling has been tweaked with a new bumper, grille and optional LED low- and high-beam headlights, a Toyota-first. Out back it gets a new set of taillights. Moving to the inside a new 8-way power adjustable seat is available for the driver. Also available is an updated 4.2-inch TFT display mounted between the gauges and the Advanced Technology Package has been upgraded to include Lane Departure Alert and Automatic High Beams for 2015. No word yet if the price will be going up or when it will be available.

CHEVY’S CHAPARRAL INSPIRED RACE CAR
Last week Chevy teased us with a concept race car inspired by the Chaparral race team. Called the Chevrolet Chaparral 2X VGT, it was developed to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo racing series for the Sony Playstation. As the teaser shot hinted, it does have a wild design. But that’s not the only wild part about the car. Since it’s for a video game, the car’s powered by something more suited for space travel. It features a mid-mounted laser beamed-energy propulsion system, which pulses beams of light that creates shock waves to generate thrust. The car has a top speed of 240-mph in the video game and can move from 0 to 60 MPH in just 1.5 seconds.

Coming up next, a look at Audi’s new design direction and VW reveals a fuel cell car.

AUDI’S NEW DESIGN DIRECTION
Audi revealed a two-door coupe concept that hints at the company’s design direction. Called the prologue, it’s a bit shorter than the current A8. One of its unique features is its lack of door handles which open electromechanically when sensor surfaces are touched. The front end features a larger grille and high-resolution Matrix laser headlights that allow designers more flexibility. The instrument panel is one large touch display divided into three sections for ease of use. To learn more about Audi’s new design direction, check out our interview with Audi of America President Scott Keogh.

AUDI FUEL CELL IN A7 SKIN
And in other Audi news, it showed off its own version of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle as well. It comes wrapped in an A7 Sportback body and has a range of just over 300 miles. The h-tron quattro, as its called, is a plug-in hybrid with the fuel cell stack driving an electric motor up front and a battery that powers a separate motor out back. While the h-tron is only a demonstration piece, Audi says its ready for real-life traffic.

VW SHOWS MQB FLEXIBILITY
But not to be outdone, Volkswagen is showing off the flexibility of its MQB platform with its own fuel cell vehicle under the hood of a Golf Sportwagen. VW calls its powertrain HyMotion and has the same range as the Audi of just over 300 miles. One advantage of the MQB platform is it allows the four hydrogen tanks to be mounted in the underbody where they do not cut into interior space. Also like the h-tron, the HyMotion is just a research vehicle.

WHY AUTOMAKERS ARE GIVING AWAY HYDROGEN
And in other hydrogen news, we praised Hyundai for not charging customers for fill-ups in its fuel cell Tucson and Toyota’s doing the same with it Mirai, but they shouldn’t be getting much praise because they have to give it away for free. Autoblog reports that at the moment hydrogen stations are not set up to accurately measure the hydrogen they dispense and because of that inaccuracy they aren’t able to charge customers. This is a big problem and as you would expect new technology is being worked on which should be accurate within 1%.

And that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great day.