With more than 30 years of advertising under my belt, I’m no stranger to spin. Once in a while, I’m impressed by the gumption of some spinmeisters. This is one of those times.

So I read at Reuters that Jaguar is “ready to leap back to pre-crisis sales.” Reuters quotes Jaguar Land Rover’s head David Smith, who said: “In the past, Jaguar built more than 100,000 vehicles per year. We can return to such levels once the crisis is over.” Reuters says  Smith gave those optimistic remarks to Germany’s Wirtschaftswoche.

So over to Wirtschaftswoche I go. At first, I think I found the wrong article. (Read More…)

Volkswagen has grand plans for the U.S.A. Volkswagen wants to “increase sales and market share in 2010.” Ok, who doesn’t.  Now, for the delusions of grandeur part: By 2018, Volkswagen wants to more than triple annual car sales in the U.S. to 1 million a year, with  Audi accounting for 200,000 sales, reports the Wall Street Journal. Seen any flying pigs lately?

Why 2018? By 2018, Volkswagen wants to rule the world, and trounce Toyota in unit sales, profitability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and most likely size and quantity of cup-holders also.

Everybody in the company has to do his or her share for the grand plan.
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If I had the choice to meet anyone in this world, it would be Dolly Parton. Politicians, rock stars and ‘modern day philosophers’ are always aplenty. Look at who wrote this sentence! But there is only one Dolly and every time I see a car get no-saled at an auction and revisit it’s old haunting grounds, I can’t help but think of this song and smile. (Read More…)

A major study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has determined that even if EV battery costs drop by a projected 65% by 2020, the economics will still constrain their widespread adoption. It challenges the industry assumption that a $250 per kWh cost for automotive batteries can be achieved by that date. Nevertheless, the report projects that hybrids, plug-ins and pure EVs will make up 26% of new cars sold in major developed markets. Specifically, the study projects 1.5 million EVs, 1.5 million range-extending EVs, and 11 million hybrids produced in 2020. Regarding the manufacturer’s holy grail of $250/kWh batteries:

Given current technology options, we see substantial challenges to achieving this goal by 2020. For years, people have been saying that one of the keys to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels is the electrification of the vehicle fleet. The reality is, electric-car batteries are both too expensive and too technologically limited for this to happen in the foreseeable future.

—Xavier Mosquet, Detroit-based leader of BCG’s global automotive practice and a coauthor of the study

The study takes on the expectations that current EV technology with its range and cost limitations can effectively replace the IC powered car head on, (Read More…)

I’ll wrap up Van Sunday with this collection of vans that fit the stereotype of the kind of vehicle you warn children about. Why? because I have a compulsion (no, not that kind) to document all the old vehicles in Eugene, no matter what they are. Maybe these are of limited interest today, but who knows; fifty or a hundred years from now they’ll be a time capsule. Right! Actually, these snub-nose Econolines are getting pretty rare. More unhealthy vans: (Read More…)

Running into this Japanese Domestic Market Toyota Hi-Ace in Eugene was about as unusual as the cold weather that week. It was a frosty December morning after an overnight low in the single digits; pretty uncommon hereabouts. Well, it did have British Columbia plates on it, so that helps explains it. But it’s right hand drive, and a long way from home. (Read More…)

The last post on Mercedes campers got me thinking (wistfully) about the open road and how I have a grand total of four digital photos I could share with you from our six years and thirty-five thousand miles worth of travels in our 1977 Chinook. Like lots of amateur photographers, I have boxes and boxes of prints from our early years, and our first two kids. Guilt and a nagging wife kept me shooting film through our younger son’s childhood. And I took some nice shoots in a few dramatic places with the Chinook, on film. I transitioned very late to digital, partly because I couldn’t bear to give up the Canon 35mm rangefinder I bought new in ’77 and still works perfectly (I’m on my second digital, and the lens motor is already acting up). (Read More…)

I’m a lover of vans, especially those suitable for camping. Few things beats hopping into a vehicle with all the basic necessities of life and hitting the road. I have a vintage ’77 Dodge Chinook that I bought for $1200 in which we’ve racked up 35k memorable miles in trips to Mexico and all over the west. And in my younger days, I had a ‘68 Dodge A100 that I converted to a less wife-friendly (no bathroom) spartan camper. But all along, I’ve had my eyes on Mercedes vans. As a kid in Austria, I was absolutely in love with the delightfully rounded L319 (van) and 0319 (bus) Mercedes: (Read More…)

Bloomberg read it in Sweden’s Dagens Industri that General Motors will send the tools for Saab’s new 9-5 model to China. Mind you, these are not the old 9-5 tools sold to BAIC. These are the tools for the new Epsilon 2 based 9-5, or what Dagens Industri calls “the crown jewels of Saab.”
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Beijing’s drivers can get off their anti-anxiety medication. Beijing’s government has decided that Beijingers can go forth and buy as many cars as they desire. Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform spokesperson Zhao Lei said that Beijing will not take administrative measures to restrain residents from buying automobiles, People’s Daily reports.
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Truck Saturdays is when I can safely indulge my love of big rigs. And BigLorryBlog is the place to do it. Here’s a few selections picked for your truck viewing pleasure. This is described as a 325-ton transformer and 6000hp of go-power courtesy of five 8×8 Tractomas monster pullers and a 10×10 Tractomas pusher up the back crossing a bridge. Here’s another view: (Read More…)

You want see the power of torque? Watch these over-boosted big rigs lift front wheels and twist frames as they haul full (oversize?) loads up a hill at the 2009 Rodeo du Camion in Quebec. There’s several more races to chose from after the first. Who said those Canucks were all mild-mannered socialists?

Yesterday’s pursuit of ugliness is going to spill over a bit into today’s TTAT. I consider the late’55- ’56 Chevy’s face to be one of the finest ever in the history of trucks. It’s a terrific adaptation of the remarkably clean ’55 Chevy sedan. The classic egg crate grille is nicely balanced by the single headlights, and ornamentation is kept to a minimum. GMC has been in the business of trying to differentiate their otherwise almost identical trucks forever, usually to poor effect. The other day, I ran into what has to be the most egregious example of ruining a fine face. Brace yourselves: (Read More…)

General Motors has contracted with a 78-year old man to debut a new Buick model meant to reorient the brand away from 80 year old buyers.

Robert A. Lutz, a Korean war veteran, helped himself up to the stage to announce the new Buick. Shown beside him in classic Buick white, Lutz said it would “be the final nail in the coffin for the old Buick brand image.” The new Regal GS is equipped with new-era technology, such as power seats, locks, and windows, as well as a full-sized trunk.

Another General Motors spokesman, Harold Braudel, told media members: “This new Regal is a classic American sedan. It marries European engineering with European design, all brought together by European manufacture.

Mr. Lutz had already teamed up with General Motors for work in the past; the octogenarian charmingly brought his Cadillac sedan to a track contest some months ago.

“Our goal is to show how youthful Buick has become. We’re shattering perceptions, and also hips,” Braudel concluded.

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Saab’s extended January 7th deadline came and went. Four groups handed in offers: Spyker put in its third bid. Luxembourg-based private equity group Genii Capital joined with Formula 1 tycoon Bernard Ecclestone and Hakan Samuelsson, former head of truckmaker MAN, in a bid. Wyoming-based Merbanco Inc., and a Swedish investor group also submitted proposals. Apparently, the proposals did not impress. Saab declared bankruptcy, for the second time in a year.
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