Yellow times may shorten as the city of Billings, Montana, rushes to install red light cameras before the state legislature has a chance to ban them. The Billings City Council voted 8–3 Monday to empower Redflex Traffic Systems, a private company based in Melbourne, Australia, to issue automated traffic citations in return for a cut of the revenue collected. Billings needs to act quickly because the state legislature last Thursday entered into final negotiations on legislation that would ban red light cameras.
Let me take you down, cause I’m going to. . . GT-R Fields. Almost nothing is real, whether you’re talking about the ridiculous Nurburgring-centric engi-marketing, the programmed-to-self-destruct transmissions, or the amazing shrinking customer warranties. Still, there’s nothing to get hung about (so to speak). The entire concept behind the GT-R—building a car that more or less steers itself to people who can’t drive for shit, live in downtown Tokyo, or both– is stranger than any LSD trip John Lennon could have possibly imagined.
While GM finishes its 40-year rush to judgement, heading for its June 1 date with a bankruptcy judge, there are still such things as GM customers. You know; millions of people who own GM products. And these people are—shock!—still buying cars and getting their cars serviced. And there, on the sharp end, dealers, salesmen, service managers and technicians are all attempting to come to grips with the competitive, financial and psychological dangers implicit in a GM C11. To calm these troubled souls, GM’s North America Vice President of Vehicle Sales and Service has been Bob Marleying these forward troops, telling them that every little thing’s gonna be alright. To that end, last month, Mark LaNeve announced the launch of a “weekly conversation” with GM dealers: “reinventing GM.” There was one e-mail communication on April 3.
GM China—and by extension SAIC—had already said bu yao (don’t want) in reaction to media reports that GM would sell to its Chinese partner, SAIC, the Buick brand or the exclusive rights to use this brand in China.
I hate the word fetish. It beckons the thoughts of neurotic foot lickers and perverts the world over. I always believed the word “aficionado” was more apt for my liking of old Volvos. It’s true that a lot of normal folks idolize the Porsches and Ferarris that embody the “speed” of the automotive experience. Some of us love the luxuruies of Rolls Royces and Bentleys . . . hell some idolize the Toyonda clones for their high quality and simplicity. In times past I’ve been ‘all’ there. I love the contributions all these manufacturers have given to our culture and our garages. But these days, I really appreciate longevity . . . and frugality . . . and functionality . . . which is why I absolutely love old Volvos.
The New York Times reports that hecklers are verbally assaulting GM’s booth babes at the New York Auto Show. Worse, the glamor girls are wearing last year’s dresses. Literally. This is not what you’d call death with dignity. This is GM on federal life support, drooling and soiling itself uncontrollably as it waits and waits and waits for someone somewhere to pull the damn plug, already. As I’ve asserted in the past few episodes of this series, I no longer believe GM can be revived. The company is brain dead. No matter what cancerous parts of The General’s terminally ill body Uncle Sam’s surgeons separate from the corporate body, GM can’t function as an independent entity. Chevrolet and Cadillac? Building what? For whom? At what profit? Both of those brands are money losers losing market share right now. They may have volume, but they ain’t got game. Of course, that’s not going to stop the feds from trying to revive GM. And boy, are they—I mean “we” going to piss away a LOT of money.
Even as it heads for Chapter 11, GM isn’t giving up its plug-in hybrid Hail Mary electric – gas Chevrolet Volt without a fight. (If at all.) Turning its back on their number one fanboy, Dr. Lyle Dennis, GM PR, has blessed CNNMoney Senior Shill—I mean auto writer Peter Valdez-Depena with a drive in their Volt test mule. The bottom line: it moves. As for everything else—range, recharge time, “charge sustaining mode,” etc.—all we get is regurgitated prevarication and promises. Or, more musically, smoke gets in your mirrors. “The guts of the car were about 80% those of the final Chevy Volt, according to Vehicle Line Executive Frank Weber.” Did Depena even look under the hood? I would imagine not, as he took everything he was told on faith and neglected to mention the fact that “old” GM will never build this machine. So, children, what did we learn today?
Hi Robert – My name is Karah Street and I work for a PR firm that represents smart USA. I see that you have written about the new crash test conducted with the smart fortwo by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), in which the smart for two was paired against a Mercedes C-Class. Two other cars were paired with larger vehicles from the same automaker (Honda Fit vs. Accord, and Toyota Yaris vs. Camry). What you may not know is that this test represents a type of crash that is rare and extreme — less than 1% of all accidents can compare to this type of test — and it is neither recognized nor required by federal safety regulators. By pitting “big vs. small,” this test seems to have one goal: to imply that bigger, heavier cars are always safer.
Two recent developments have tarnished whatever green reputation ethanol has left. First, the news that corn-derived ethanol requires up to three times more water to produce than previously thought has cast a spotlight on the industry, especially in the dry west and southwest. A new study published by the American Chemical Society reports that previous estimates of water used to produce ethanol are inaccurate. The article’s abstract:
[The following is another contribution from our anonymous ChryCo contact] I worked for Chrysler for many years in Product Development as a Design Engineer though I no longer do. I saw comments on a recent post by another employee asking why, when Chrysler merged with Daimler, did they still share platforms with Mitsubishi?
What the hell is a “random visit to Tesla”? Is Project Better Place’s Shai Agassi an adherent to the philosophy and practice found in George Cockcroft’s “The Dice Man”? If so, that’s not exactly a better way to run a car company (unless you’re GM). Or perhaps Agassi’s a fan of Andrew “Dice” Clay. If so, Shai should ditch the mermaid joke for something with a bit more punch. Elon Musk sat on a wall. Fuck you! This stuff writes itself. Anyway, Shai’s epiphany: a machine could automatically swap out EV batteries. Kinda like you do with, I dunno, a flashlight. Except the resulting eMiles follow Moore’s law, apparently. Which means EV drivers will be racking-up zero-carbon (a.k.a. “clean electron”) electric miles at two cents a mile by 2020. Did I miss something there? Agassi says this is “fascinating to most people.” Define “most.” [Skip to to 8:36 and you’ll actually hear a non-fictional sentient being say he’s going to save the world.]
Marketing to a particular demographic is a tricky business–just ask Honda or Toyota. Honda introduced the Element in 2003. Toyota brought us the Scion xB in 2004. Both machines were designed as funky vehicles to fit the twenty-something lifestyle. Needless to say, their room and versatility immediately found favor with the quintagenarian crowd. Now Kia’s taking a shot with the Soul. Our own Eddie Niedermeyer, squarely in the demographic Kia’s aiming for, liked it. But then there are us pesky demographic-bustin’ Boomers. Will we see more Souls parked at the old farts’ home than on college campuses?
A system that warns drivers of children about to cross the road is being evaluated in Aberdeenshire.
Called the Amparo See Me, the system uses a tag that is attached to a child’s school bag to trigger warning lights on bus stops or at crossings.
This then warns drivers that children are in the vicinity, and studies have shown that the speed of passing vehicles reduces by an average of 8mph.
The system is already used in Sweden.
Recent UK Department for Transport figures show that in 2005, 28,126 children aged 0-15 were injured in road accidents. Of these, 331 were seriously injured and 141 were killed.
South African entrepreneur Alan Lubinsky bought the rights to the Cobra name and intellectual properties in 1996. Since then he’s been scamming customers, governments, investors and the media by pretending that the “legendary” Cobra would arise from the ashes to . . . what’s the word for it these days? Viability. In 2006, TTAC (and The New York Times) poured cold water all over Lubinsky’s plans to build Cobras in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The project received tax breaks aplenty and an endorsement from the Governor (no less). This is after Lubinsky left a trail of bad debts and unfulfilled orders in the UK. And before he started taking orders (i.e., cash) for the rights to be a US dealer. After that never happened, Lubinsky tied-up with Texas’ Unique Performance to build a new Cobra. Unique soon fell to pieces amidst accusations of criminal fraud. Now Lubinsky is announcing the new, new, new Cobra. And once again. the automotive press—from Autocar to Autoblog— remain blissfully unaware (or unconcerned) about the scammery involved. So, here’s the most recent press release pitch for a gull-wing Cobra (why not?), chronicled and reprinted in its entirety by AB.
The background on this billboard: AutoInc owns/owned the two Dodge dealerships in Amarillo, and the single Chrysler/Jeep dealership. Under the influence of Chrysler, they split the stock from the Chrysler/Jeep store, closed it, and turned both Dodge stores into Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep stores. Of course, since nobody knows for sure what’s happening with Chrysler, the dealer is not gonna spend a dime on redoing their signage. Their compromise was to update a nearby billboard they lease just a block away from their I-40 fronting store.
Apparently, somebody didn’t bother to think past how clever they were trying to be: to realize that dodge ball is played by knocking out your opponents by hitting them with a ball. I’m not sure what “dodge ball” has to do with selling cars, or even why “having a ball” would be a good thing if you buy a Dodge (or Chrysler or Jeep). The negative connotations are so riveting I just can’t wrap my mind around why anybody would have greenlighted this.
Sadly, I know EXACTLY what happened since I used to work for the in-house ad agency that handles this dealership. In fact, I did that billboard for the dealership a couple of years ago. The entire agency functions like a camel (a horse designed by committee).
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