Having recently done the Ultimate CC Truck, what would its passenger car counterpart be? Let me ask it this way: how many cars have their owners replace their V8 engines with a slant six? If you understand the true attraction of Chrysler’s A-Bodies with the slant six as the ultimate long-life American car, you’ll understand why. There are several dozen A-bodies in Eugene, and I have shot many of them, and yet I still keep uncovering new ones. Many are still used to some degree or another, although most are clearly slowing down in their old age. Not this ’65 Valiant: it’s in full front-line duty, as the business vehicle for an energy specialist that regularly takes him all across the North West. Needless to say, he’s also the ultimate A-Body owner, with his type-A attention to modifying his Valiant in a way to keep it suitable for his preferences and today’s conditions. This baby is good to go for the long haul. (Read More…)

The Denver Business Journal reports that the Colorado Senate has approved fines of $10,000-$25,000 per day for any automaker that does not comply with its law (HB-1049) requiring reinstatement or compensation of culled dealers. That law was passed earlier this year, drawing a $60,000 vote-no lobbying effort from GM. It also gives culled dealers the right of first refusal for new franchises opened within five miles of their shut dealership within five years, and states that if a franchise has been re-awarded, the culled dealer can demand the return of his franchise. According to the DBJ:

Three terminated Chrysler dealers requested their re-awarded franchises back after the law was signed and said they were told by the company that it had no intentions of complying with it. Chrysler then filed a federal lawsuit on April 23 against Colorado, claiming the new law contradicted terms laid out in Chrysler’s bankruptcy agreement and violates the contract clauses in the state and federal constitutions.

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Driving slowly is not a crime justifying a traffic stop, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled last Wednesday. In an unpublished decision, Judge Anderson reviewed the events leading up to the August 13, 2008 arrest of Tommy K. Miller. At around 1:19am that morning, Miller’s white Lexus SUV passed by Hartland Village Police Officer Matthew Harper who happened to be patrolling Cottonwood Avenue. Miller was traveling 5 MPH.

(Read More…)

Did you ever arrive in a foreign country, and the plug of your battery-depleted cell phone did not fit? Or worse, it did fit, and the charger went up in smoke? That’s nothing compared to the impending EV disaster. Buy an EV, and you will find yourself between the battle lines of plugs, voltages, and technologies. Imagine the horror: Guided by your GPS, you limp into a charging station on the last watts in your battery, and their round plug doesn’t fit your square socket. (Read More…)

Arriving in Tokyo on a Tuesday noon, I find the Japanese delighted by the news of the rebounding U.S. auto sales.

To their utmost enjoyment, “Toyota’s sales grew at almost the same pace as Ford’s, rising 24.4 percent to 157,439 vehicles from a year earlier,” says The Nikkei [sub]. (Read More…)

I did it! I managed to make the last clue for the ’67 Electra convertible hard enough. Or was it the fact that the red taillight lens looked black because it was in the shade on a bright high-contrast picture? Oh well. You guys gave it quite the effort. Let’s see how you do with this one.

We love us some data here at TTAC, and since we’re already looking at a grip of sales data today, we thought we’d add this excellent infographic that appeared in Sunday’s New York Times to the mix. It depicts America’s per-capita miles driven on the x-axis, and the price of gasoline on the y-axis, and shows that the two aren’t as inextricably linked as some might have thought. As we try to make sense of monthly sales data and look for “the new normal,” this kind of data provides a crucial context for month-by-month trends. We hope you find it as enjoyable and illuminating as we did.

The Volkswagen brand grew sales across all nameplates other than the Chrysler-rebadge Routan minivan, en route to a 42 percent overall volume increase. Audi maintained its momentum, with a 33 percent improvement over its 2009 sales, on strong sales from the A5 and Q5. The new E-Class drove the Mercedes brand to a 21 percent improvement, although Smart was down nearly 50 percent to 680 units. Despite 50+ percent drops in 5- and 6-Series volume, BMW managed to hang onto a nine percent volume increase, including a five percent improvement by the MINI brand. Ze Germans may be focused on China in the long term, but for now they’re back to methodically growing their US-market business.

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These three are continuing the trend established some months ago: Subaru strongly outperforming the market; Nissan somewhat ahead of it; and Suzuki trailing it substantially. All Subarus were up except the Tribeca, which is clearly in its fade out period. The Outback was up 133%.

Nissan showed the most balanced increase, with the same increase for both cars (+34%) and trucks (+34%). All the cars did well, with Versa up 44%, Sentra plus 38%, Altima up 23% and Maxima up 25%. The Cube is selling decently at about 2k units per month. Truck sales were also up fairly evenly, with Frontier (+60%) and Rogue (+38%) being two of the stronger models.

Suzuki’s models all swooned, and the story would be a disaster except for the Kizashi, which posted a rip roaring 406 units sold.

Charts follow: (Read More…)

There’s a first time for everything. In this case, being admonished by my wife for “only doing 30.” To which I readily replied, “Babe, we’re still accelerating!” Welcome to the 2010 Prius, loved by owners, hated by many non-owners. I asked Toyota to lend me one for a week so that I might get past […]

Looks like Honda will be stuck near the bottom of the market in April, under performing with a 12.5% rise. Honda Division was up 11.7%; Acura up 21.6%. The problem is with the cars: Honda’s were down 1.4%, while trucks saved their bacon with a 41% increase. The Fit eked out a 14% increase, but the Civic slipped 5%. Accord was up 9%. Pilot (+42%), CR-V (+37), Odyssey (+14%) and even the Ridgeline (+46%) kept the Honda from the red.

Acura cars were also weak, but the MDX and RDX both showed over 50% increases. The new ZDX sold 234 units. (Read More…)

Chrysler saw its sales increase 25 percent last month, for its best year-over-year performance in “almost five years,” according to the company. On the other hand, sales improved only 3 percent compared to last March’s results and only barely met Chrysler’s 95k minimum sales goal (at 95,703 units). Still, this is the best sales news the company has had since well before emerging from bankruptcy. For those who think Chrysler has a shot at survival, this is the first evidence in a long time that actually supports their optimism.

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Nothing like igniting sales with the spark of incentives. Toyota appears to be pacing in line with most of the market, posting a 24.4% rise for April. The Toyota brand was up 24%; Lexus jumped 29%. Again reflecting a shift back to more utilities and trucks, cars were up a more modest 18%, light trucks 33%. Toyota cars were paced by the Prius and Corolla, both up 50%, while Camry had to get by with a 10% rise. Even the Avalon got a rise from its refresh, up 36%. On the downside, the Yaris tumbled by 53% and all three Scions were in the red again. In the truck sector, the Rav4 increased by 34% and the long-languishing Tundra showed sign of life with a 45% boost.And the new 4Runner ran with 204% climb. Detailed chart: (Read More…)

The ironic rap video… yeah, there’s something the potential minivan driver will find hip and edgy.

Ford continued its momentum in April, if perhaps not at quite the blistering pace as in the past few months. In a clear indication of how the market is returning to a more pre-recession composition, car sales were up only 10%, while utilities jumped 33% and trucks 38%. The F-Series had a very strong month, topping 40k units with a 42% rise. Ford also increased its ratio of retail to fleet sales, with retail sales up 32% and fleet a more modest 13%. Ford is also crowing about resale values being up 23% versus last year. In terms of brands, Ford was up 26%, Mercury 19%, and Lincoln 22%. Not exactly a knock-out month, but another strong showing. Details follow: (Read More…)