One of Toyota’s best selling cars, with cumulative sales exceeding 3.5 million units since its first-generation launch in 1999, and with sales in more than 70 countries around the world, is the Vitz. The what? Well, Vitz is what the car is called in Japan. You will probably know it better as the Yaris. The […]

It seems like only yesterday… New Ferraris were in such demand that it was possible to make six-figure money in some markets merely by taking delivery of a new F430 or F599 and selling it later that day. Meanwhile, that unspeakably crass reanimated Italian psuedo-luxury watch brand, Panerai, had waiting lists chock-full of suckers waiting to pay five, ten, or fifteen grand for a watch with the same amount of technology and craftsmanship as an $899 ORIS.

Three or so years ago, Ferrari ditched staid old Girard-Perregaux for sexy new Panerai. The not-so-special editions flowed like sweet nouveau glacial milk and the “punters” lined up in droves. This was the marriage of true brands, to which no man may admit an unprofitable impediment.

As of today, the party’s officially over. Welcome… to the bargain bin.

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Unfortunately, the question isn’t “what car belongs in the Smithsonian?” We could probably spend most of the holiday season discussing that one. No, the National Museum of American History has only 73 of the finest cars to choose from, and has nominated only eight to be displayed. You see, this isn’t one of those hypothetical deals… the NMAH actually wants you to vote on which car you think is most deserving of the honor, and the top-two vote-getters will be displayed from January 22- February 21. And your nominees are…

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The team running Lotus’s turnaround doesn’t seem to mind being perceived as overambitious. The British outfit is developing an IndyCar engine, a family of V6 and V8 engines for its road car, and is considering building an engine for F1… and that’s in addition to developing a modular platform (and everything else) for five different world-class performance luxury cars. And on a certain level, there’s nothing wrong with a little brashness, especially if the goal is to turn a tiny specialty marque into a Porsche-beater. But when it comes to announcing product, Lotus’s over-eagerness does real harm to the firm’s prospects. [Gallery after the jump]

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Washington state’s attorney general confirmed Monday that the legislature may no longer pass authority to raise transportation tolls and fees to an unelected commission. In November, 64 percent of voters approved Initiative 1053 which stated that taxes must be approved by the vote of a majority in the state House and Senate.

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The best thing about the Soviet Corvair, aka Zaporozhets? The original idea was to rip off the design of the Volkswagen air-cooled engine for its powerplant, but Soviet engineers made their air-cooled four a V4 so that the cylinder heads would be more accessible when working on the engine in a mud-floored lean-to in Kemerovo (no doubt using tools made on the spot from melted-down kitchen utensils). So why not make a limousine version? (Read More…)

Today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety will issue its list of what it thinks are the safest vehicles in America. 66 vehicles will be on the list. 40 cars, 25 SUVs, and a minivan. Any guesses who will lead the list? (Read More…)

Usually, at this time of the year, Germany would already be closed down, to reopen some time after the first week of January.  Not so this time around. The calendar punishes Deutschland by putting the 25^th and 26^th of December and 1^st of January – all legal holidays – on weekends. Ouch. And if you are working at a German car manufacturer, you might be asked to come in “between the holidays” to make some badly needed cars. (Read More…)

“”By partnering with Volkswagen on the Fender Premium Audio System, we are creating a unique partnership with a truly innovative company allowing us to deliver a product that is as unique, expressive and dynamic as the customers who use it,” said Mark Van Vleet, Senior Vice President, Business Affairs for Fender.

Well, that may be… but do Volkswagen and Fender really want to be associated with each other? I can think of one solid reason why the two brands should have mucho distancia, hombre…

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The greatest crime in ancient Greece was hubris. And the perpetrator that carried out the sins as a result of their hubris inevitably faced great shame and retribution, most often fatal. So for the sake of this CC, we’re going to drop the Citation’s X-Car moniker, and call them the H-Cars. And just in case you’re not convinced that the Citation truly was GM’s greatest sin rather than the Vega (coincidentally numbered GM’s DS #2), let me cite you the incontrovertible evidence: (Read More…)

For all the debate about strong sales of trucks and SUVs this year, American gasoline consumption is actually going down and may have reached an all-time high. Fox News may filed the AP story under “Disasters” but the worst news in the story is that

America will continue to burn more gasoline than any other country, in total and per capita, for decades to come. China is second in total consumption, but, despite its explosive growth, still uses just half of what the U.S. uses. Canada is second in consumption per capita but is on its own path toward a more fuel-efficient economy.

While America’s diminishing demand will temper global demand, it will be more than offset by rapidly growing demand in China, India, the Middle East and Africa. As a result, declining U.S. gasoline demand will not bring lower pump prices.

The AP gives most of the credit for the projected decline in gas consumption to demographic shifts and government policies like CAFE standards and ethanol blending credits. The coming of electric and plug-in vehicles is even given some credit as a long-term driver of lower gas consumption, but the success of alt-energy cars does seem to be dependent on the pump price of gasoline. And, in fact, if you look at medium-term historical gas prices it seems that unleaded is unlikely to ever cost less than it did in 2006, indicating that a gas tax would have been at least as effective as the convoluted CAFE and ethanol policies. Now that gas seems unlikely to ever drop below the $2.50/gallon mark, baby boomer demographics and complex government policies need not take all the credit.

Every few months I get an unwanted creature in my life. It smiles. It makes nice conversation, and for as long as I’m at the auction it almost never leaves me alone. “What did you think about that car Steve?”, “How’s business going Steve?” “Are you going to bid on that car Steve?” Rarely do I get sick of hearing my own name. But when it’s said for the sake of a one sided relationship, my mind wanders to deviant thoughts.

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One of the many reasons for Ford’s surging market share are Americans who refuse to buy a car from a company that has been bailed-out with their tax dollars. In survey after survey after survey, Americans took issue with the bailouts. The backlash was so severe that one of the first measures Joel Ewanick implemented at GM was to get rid of GM. He replaced “General Motors” with “the parent company.” Smart move: You can be against Government Motors. But who dares to be against parenthood?

Ford meanwhile rode high on the perception that they didn’t accept a single dollar. “Ford did not seek a government bailout,” says a very recent Rasmussen Report,  “and 55 percent of Americans say they are more likely to buy a Ford car for that reason.”

Americans (and possibly GM and Chrysler) are the victims of a big lie, says Wall Street insider Eric Fry. And he has the numbers to back it up. (Read More…)

Good thing it’s the kind of contaminated garbage that heals the wounds of a planet and nation, yes? GM insists that contaminated oil booms used in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup wouldn’t have been recycled by anyone else and that, according to John Bradburn, manager of GM’s waste-reduction efforts

This was purely a matter of helping out. If sent to a landfill, these materials would have taken hundreds of years to begin to break down, and we didn’t want to see the spill further impact the environment. We knew we could identify a beneficial reuse of this material given our experience.

Possibly even more importantly, all that bad British Petroleum PR would have just sat there bumming people out about the impacts of oil dependence. Thank goodness GM’s PR team had the experience to break it down, clean it off and transform it into good PR about the semi-petroleum-independent Chevy Volt.
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So far, the feared Chinese car exports were nothing to write home about. Imports to China are outpacing exports from China by a wide margin. In units and especially in value. While China manages to sell a few cheap pickups to developing countries, it has become the #1 market for the (imported) Mercedes S Class. The German car industry in particular is running extra shifts to keep up with the Chinese appetite for German imports. One carmaker is determined to change that gross trade imbalance. Not Chery. Not Geely. It’s General Motors. (Read More…)