Excited about the new Saab 9-5? Saab has put up a count-down timer on their homepage, for those in need to see exactly how far away the official unveil will happen. Meanwhile, the deal is still, as I wrote earlier, uncertain to say the least.
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There is nothing in the record that suggests that plaintiff’s (Lamson’s) particular act — refusing to report to work because unlawful trade practices might occur there — enjoys high social value.
Oregon Supreme Court Justice W. Michael Gillette in his opinion finding that whistleblower protection does not apply to “business practices that pose no threat to public health or safety.” The business, in this case, being the selling of cars. Kevin Lamson was fired from Crater Lake Motors in Medford, Oregon, for (allegedly) refusing to participate in a sales campaign led by Real Performance Marketing that (allegedly) used deceptive and misleading tactics. According to Gillete’s opinion (by way of the AP/Google), Lamson’s suit “did not involve interests of sufficient public importance to support a claim that plaintiff (Lamson) was discharged for fulfilling an important societal obligation.”
The national frenzy that is Cash for Clunkers will end Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, according to the government’s CARS website. “It’s been a thrill to be part of the best economic news story in America,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood enthuses in a press release (PDF). “Now we are working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program.” Though LaHood is able to put a happy face on the program (it’s what he gets paid to do), evidence suggests that there are still a number of headaches to work through.
My wife has probably driven every single minivan and wagon model of the last six years. It all started with the second kid. Before that time, we always kept our rides as sporty and nimble as possible. We love driving. But when the wife was eight months pregnant with kid two, the thought of some ignorant Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob plowing into the progeny became too much to bear and so . . . we upsized. We found cupholders and comfort in the minivans. Flashbacks of sportiness in the Subarus. Luxury and strength in our Volvos. Finally my wife got fed up with playing musical cars and wanted a ‘keeper’. The requirements? The color silver, safe, economical, and . . . a hybrid? Enter the Civic.
A BlueSport-based sub-Boxster? A “Roxster” Cute Ute based on the Tiguan? A Panamera coupe? VW CEO Martin Winterkorn’s interview with Manager Magazin is sure to make Porsche purists sweat. Sure, he says “a Porsche must remain a Porsche.” But how else does Winterkorn expect the Zuffenhausen boys to sell 150k units per year by 2012, let alone 200k by 2018? Just as a reminder, Porsche currently sells about 75k units per year, Cayennes and all. But, as Winterkorn modestly asks, “who plays the multi-brand game better than us?” Yikes!
Motor Trend has replaced its “best handling car” with a “best driver’s car” competition. Is this an opening for the Camaro? Not so much. The new SS model placed dead last in MT‘s comparo, which was won by the Porsche Cayman S. And if you think the Camaro was simply there to serve muscle car whipping post duty, check out the rave reviews that the Shelby GT500 picked up. On the other hand, the fastest car around Laguna Seca, the Corvette ZR1, ended up in 6th place. There’s just no way to hide the fact that “best driver’s car” will always be a subjective award.
GM’s experiment at selling cars in California on eBay has logged 45 sales in its first nine days, reports Automotive News [sub]. After announcing the program to considerable hype, GM is giving initial results a cool reaction. “It’s way too early in the program to have any concrete understanding of what’s going on,” say spokesfolks. No wonder they’re a bit confused: the eBay experiment received 630,000 visits and more than 960,000 searches of listed vehicles in its first week. “I’ve sold some vehicles to people that saw the vehicles on eBay, but they didn’t buy them on eBay. They called, came in and bought them,” says one dealer. Still, without a number to quantify the amount of leads that generated sales, it’s hard to point out the program’s redeeming qualities. Especially considering that GM didn’t receive a single offer for a vehicle at its listed price. Which means either GM or its dealers are missing out on profit on every vehicle sold through the eBay listings.
If you hate Hondas you’ll love watching them being repeatedly crashed and crunched. If you love Hondas, you’ll note that they do remarkably well in crash testing. And if you hate Coldplay, you’ll want to turn down the volume.
Kick ’em when they are down: The district attorney of Stuttgart has initiated a probe against former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and former CFO Holger Härter. This after Germany’s financial watchdog Bafin has filed a complaint against the two. They are under suspicion for market manipulation and illegal disclosure of insider information, Die Welt reports. Prosecutors raided the offices of Porsche and impounded files.
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General Motors has announced that it will lend dealers cash to cover their government clunker rebates for 30 days while the NHTSA figures out how to wind down the program. “We want to do all we can to provide customers with timely new vehicle deliveries and dealers the liquidity they need to run their businesses,” says Mark LaNeve in a company press release. “This will continue the sales momentum of our new fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Chevrolet Cobalt, Equinox and Buick Enclave.” Or, it could mean dealers will end up owing GM instead of the government owing them.
Larry writes:
Hi, do things fall off credit report after so many years?
Due to your knowledge I was hoping you may be able to shed some light on the subject. Would you consider giving me a couple pointers?
Sajeev replies:
This website prides itself on keeping the manufacturers honest on their business practices, so why not turn the spotlight on our personal finances? That said, my credit is quite good: I “credit” (get it?) my parents for warning me at an early age.
The last four years were rough sailing for Buick’s flagship, having traded its swank Park Avenue home for an understated Swiss bungalow. While its Enclave sibling received a halfhearted Presidential endorsement, Lucerne has been told gently that it has no place in Buick’s future. But you don’t need to be Jim Dollinger to see the silver lining in the Lucerne Super: it stands in sharp contrast to Buick’s confusing dalliances with European chassis and a variety of puny powertrains. Perhaps the Lucerne Super is more than a Buick. It’s the last stand for what was right with the brand.
Would you believe that two-thirds of all car dealers are still waiting for their first clunker check? Could you imagine that only three percent of all clunker deals have been been blessed by NHTSA? Automotive News [sub] has the survey for you! The only problem is that AN admits the poll was unscientific. Plus, it was an online poll. Still, the headline looks good beneath a headline in which NADA admonishes that dealers are “at risk” in making further clunker deals. And NADA’s internal surveys show that all the clunker money is already gone, reinforcing the apocalyptic tone of the AN survey.
For $1,595, Ford will sell you a Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) which uses radar to detect vehicles approaching your “blind spot.” But, as Christopher Jensen points out at the New York Times, blind spots don’t have to exist in the first place. Summarizing an SAE paper on blind spot safety, he explains how to get rid of the pesky things.
“The driver leans his head against the driver’s window and sets the mirror so that the side of the vehicle is just visible. Then, the driver leans to the middle of the vehicle (between the front seats) and does the same thing with the passenger-side mirror.”
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