In the face on an onslaught by the insurance and traffic camera lobbyists to convince the public that red light cameras and speed cameras save lives, state lawmakers around the country are fighting back. Representatives in Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Washington and Virginia from both the Democratic and Republican parties have noted the lack of effectiveness of automated ticketing machines in their respective states and have proposed severe restrictions or outright bans on their use. Later today, the Virginia House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee will discuss legislation that places a moratorium on further red light camera deployment in the commonwealth.
“No locality shall implement or expand a traffic light signal violation monitoring system on or after July 1, 2011,” House Bill 2327 states.
Volkswagen has a problem every carmaker dreams to have: Weeks before the new generation of a car is launched, the old generation is totally sold out. According to a Volkswagen press release, this is exactly what happened to the Touareg’s little brother, the Tiguan. (Read More…)
We thought we know all the problems that could face the plug-in EV. As there are cost, range, charge time, unavailability of charging stations for apartment dwellers, road tax, the unexpected emergency while the car is on the drip, and sundry others.
Gas 2.0, a site very sympathetic to anything that helps the “world coming to terms with its oil addiction,” found yet another problem that hadn’t even occurred to us: (Read More…)
The new year doesn’t start well for UK auto sales. New car sales on the islands are down 11.5 percent for January. This is the gist of data given by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) to UKPA (via Google). The society is not surprised, said they expected it, and that the decline was in line with its forecast. (Read More…)
Germans bought 211,056 cars in January. It could have been more than twice as many – if automakers would make enough autos. According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, published in the German Newspaper Die Welt, Germans are waiting for 264,000 cars which they had ordered, but which the car companies are unable to deliver. And who do Germans blame? The Automakers?
No, they blame the Americans and Chinese who snap up the cars before the Germans can lay their hands on them. (Read More…)
We had intimated it a few days ago, now it’s official: Toyota’s Prius is no longer primus (or make that ichi ban) in Japan. The hybrid that had been Japan’s best selling car for 20 months in a row had to relinquish the throne to Honda’s Fit. (Read More…)
When GM’s head of North American operations, Mark Reuss, was giving The Detroit Bureau some choice quotes about GM’s newfound commitment to excellence, it may not have occurred to him that Mercedes had recently laid claim to the very cliche-laden territory he found himself on. To wit:
Reuss insists the new GM philosophy is to “be the best, or we’re not going to do it,”
Yes, Daimler may have to answer to some higher power for the insipid video above, but at least its lack of imagination has pedigree: the line “The Best Or Nothing” killed for Gottlieb Daimler back in the “good old days” of the early 20th Century. Reuss’s lyrical inspiration, on the other hand, is a corporate process. To be fair, the “knothole” as it is known, is a Lutzian legend of a mythical corporate process, aimed at
The perpetuation of excellence and the destruction of mediocrity.
Which sound like mighty fine goals for our fine public investment. So let’s give Reuss a pass for stomping into Mercedes’ marketing-cliche territory, and ask: what is this amazing “knothole” and why doesn’t every automaker have one? (Read More…)
Denver being the Land of Subarus, I see plenty of 20-year-old GLs, Loyales, and whatever else the marketing wizards at Fuji Heavy Industries decided to call the Leone over here. What I don’t see often is examples of the hatchback coupe version of the Leone, so I did a double-take when this car caught my eye today. (Read More…)
Wherever you fall in America’s cultural geography, you have to cop to one cold, hard truth: trucks sell. In fact, in a market experiencing such odd automotive sales phenomena as no Honda Accord in the top ten, Altima taking second in the D-Segment and a Compact CUV in the top six, it almost seems like the only sure thing anymore is the F-Series and Silverado selling at or above 30k units per month. Whether you find that fact comforting or troubling, you’ll be sure to want to know the truck’s secret to success… which you’ll find just below the fold (along with a more extensive best-sellers chart).
Like any other diverse, multiethnic state, the US of A doesn’t so much have a distinct national culture as a no-holds-barred cultural cagematch of competing values, lifestyles, and perspectives. We call it “pluralism,” although more politically-minded commentators might call it “the war for America’s soul.” Anyway, with America’s cultural divide still creating yawning chasms between the experiences of citizens in “red” states and “blue” states, it’s not enough to simply look at sales statistics for the whole country. No, to truly understand the different cultures forming America’s automotive melting pot, we must look at car sales region-by-region in hopes of identifying the constituent parts of our larger car culture. And that’s exactly what TrueCar has done, breaking out both sales and discounts for the top-performing vehicles in one West coast state (California), one East coast state (New York), one Midwestern state (Illinois), and one Southwestern state (Texas). The result: a snapshot of our diverse market for cars, and a peek at our conflicting car cultures. [Data after the jump]
Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation, one of the biggest auto retail chains in the country, argues [via Bloomberg] that lower inventories and more-efficient offerings have prepared the US auto industry for higher gas prices. As a result
Consumers are signaling it will take higher gasoline prices than the worst of 2008 to curb new- vehicle sales… The “freak-out number” at the gas pump is likely about $4.50 a gallon for unleaded regular
“A dramatic spike is not good for economy and not good for our industry, but we’re better prepared for it than we were in summer 2008,” said Jackson, 61. “Even though we’ve moved 40 to 60 cents higher at the pump in the past three months, we haven’t seen any change in consumer behavior.”
Interesting theory… but does it hold up for you? What are your “freak-out numbers,” and what will you do when gas prices hit them?
Approximately $33 million in credits for plug-in electric and alternative-fueled vehicles credits were erroneously claimed by at least 12,920 taxpayers through July 24, 2010, according to a report publicly released today by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
That means about 20 percent of the $163.9 million in credits claimed by taxpayers from January 1, 2010 to July 24, 2010 for plug-in electric and alternative motor vehicle credits were claimed in error.
The erroneous claims TIGTA identified resulted from inadequate IRS processes to ensure information reported by individuals claiming the credits met qualifying requirements for vehicle year, placed in-service date, and make and model. TIGTA’s review of electronically filed tax returns identified individuals who erroneously claimed the same vehicle for multiple plug-in electric and alternative motor vehicle credits or claimed an excessive number of vehicles for personal use credits.
As TTAC has arguedbefore, electric cars are great… as long as you don’t have to own one. Now, even the automakers are starting to wonder if they should even bother selling the things. BMW, which has already experienced issues with consumer EV letdown, is already starting to back away from the idea of selling (rather than, say, leasing) its much-anticipated Megacity electric city car. Sales Boss Ian Robertson tells Automotive News Europe [sub]
We’re looking for an alternative to traditional purchase or leasing of a vehicle. We don’t want to sell the car, but rather the use of the car. The ‘Car to Go’ concept “is an interesting approach. More and more people in large cities are looking for an alternative to the ownership of a vehicle
Or, more accurately, BMW is looking for an alternative to trying to sell an extremely high-cost, premium EV with killer depreciation. Either way, it seems that OEMs and consumers are starting to meet in the middle on this whole EV thing…
As a long time reader and a new financial advisor, I am seeking advice from you and your readers concerning choices for a second-hand automobile. Here are the constraints:
1) $10,000 or less
2) Would prefer avoiding GM & Chrysler
3) 4-doors required (for clients and/or two under-five children)
4) Reasonable annual maintenance
5) Sporty OK but not flashy — message is ”prudently successful” not ”mid-life crisis on the client’s dime”
6) I’m a 47 year-old, married, 2 children, in southwestern Connecticut.
As a starting point, I see this as two basic options — Audi/BMW/Acura on the sporty side or Mercedes sedan on the prudent side. Which cars(year/make/model) do you or your readers suggest I consider? Thanks!
Germans bought 211,056 cars in January
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