“After Fukushima, I am not sure how any politician in any modestly democratic republic is going to sell a new nuclear power plant to any general population.”
“Would you like the job of trying to sell a new nuclear plant to your electorate?”
“There is one terrible casualty in all of this: The electric car. When they make part 2 of Who Killed the Electric Car? the answer is going to be plain and clear: Fukushima killed the electric car.”
On Monday, Nissan plans to reopen six factories in Japan. They will make badly needed replacement parts for the domestic market and parts needed for its overseas plants, The Nikkei [sub] says. On Thursday this week, Nissan will start assembling vehicles at five of the six factories from Thursday using the parts procured by then.
Nissan’s problem plant is an engine plant in Iwaki city in Fukushima, close to the crippled nuclear power plant. Nissan is “trying to restore operations” there. The plant makes V6 engines. Bringing it on-line could take longer.
In the U.S., Nissan battles another enemy: Fear. (Read More…)
Last month, as reported by our ever so excellent Matt Gasnier, there was a minor earthquake in Brazil. For the first time in a blue moon, a car other than the VW Gol stood at the top of the heap. That car was the new Fiat Uno. In this ongoing battle to the death (mind you, the rivalry Fiat X Volkswagen is akin to the heated relations between Ford and Chevy of yore) new weapons and tactics are unveiled at all times. Fiat just disclosed their new guns: the new Uno two-door and the Sporting line. (Read More…)
Malaise Era Molester Vans are rarely worth sparing from The Crusher’s jaws these days, what with steel prices stoking The Crusher’s hunger to insatiable levels, particularly when they’re on the rusty side. However, when that van is a ’78 Dodge Tradesman with a factory-installed 318 and floor-shifted overdrive 4-speed, things might be different. We hope. (Read More…)
General Motors Co. has halted all nonessential spending and travel companywide while it gets a better handle on the potential impact of Japan’s crisis on the company, the Wall Street Journal reports.
When the CEO of a large multinational sends out a companywide memo to hold off on any expenses that aren’t critical, things are dire. GM CEO Dan Akerson did just that, the Wall Street Journal says. (Read More…)
We love staying ahead of the curve with new engine technologies like the Ecomotors OPOC engine, but without an engineering degree it can be hard to tell the the posers from the next big thing. So when something like the Wave Disc engine comes along, we throw ourselves upon the collective wisdom of our Best and rightest to help us make sense of it. In the video above, the Wave Disc engine’s creator, Michigan State’s Norbert Muller, explains his invention and its benefits including simplicity, light weight and efficiency. And, he claims, the technology is close enough to reality to have a Wave Disc-electric hybrid within three years. Hit the jump for more technical details, and be sure to let us know if this is worth watching or just another engineering dead-end. (Read More…)
Autocar explains what happens when BMW’s X6 sells an unexpected 110,622 units since its introduction: it gets copied. By Audi.
Nothing has been made official, but in an interview with German media representatives at the recent Geneva auto show, Audi boss Rupert Stadler, alluded to the new German crossover, saying, “We can imagine a model between the Q5 and the Q7… a coupé-like, four-wheel driven model.”
The decision to provide the new model with what Stadler describes as “coupé-like” styling and standard “four-wheel drive” also paves the way for an outwardly sporting variant from Audi quattro, the same division responsible for the company’s diverse range of RS models. While still early days, Audi is thought to be considering a range-topping Q6 RS model powered by the new turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine, set to make its debut in the new-generation RS6 at the Frankfurt motor show in September.
[In this part of my West Virginia road trip five years in the making with my best friend, both of our fathers, and two RX-8s we return from Summersville, WV, to Mill Creek, where I had, um, left my computer behind in a roadside restaurant.]
At breakfast I plan the day. Or at least attempt to. The judge doesn’t want to spend all day in the car. He wants to do some hiking. I know a good hike to a series of waterfalls along the route. I’ve also always had a thing for trains and there’s a state park not far off our route that operates narrow gauge logging locomotives. They have a Heisler and a Climax, but mostly run Shays. All three types of steam locomotives have unconventional running gear that I’d love to observe in operation. I call Cass Scenic Railroad State Park and find that trains leave at 9:30, noon, and 2:30. The first is too early, the last possibly too late. So we’ll aim for noon.
Now and then a story comes along that’s right in a writer’s wheelhouse. Yesterday, Chrysler filed a lawsuit in US District Court alleging that Pure Detroit, a small chain of gift shops specializing in Motor City memorabilia, was infringing on their trademark “Imported From Detroit” tagline, popularized in Chrysler’s Super Bowl ad starring rapper Eminem. Pure Detroit started selling their version of the shirts on Feb. 7th, the day after the Super Bowl, followed by Chrysler’s own shirts a few days later, which sold out in short order. Chrysler is donating the profits from those sales to Detroit area charities, and the company says that it tried to work out a similar arrangement with Pure Detroit. Pure Detroit did agree to stop online sales, but they continued to sell the shirts in their retail stores, resulting in the lawsuit. Courts have been pretty consistent that owners of intellectual property have to diligently defend it. According to a leading intellectual property attorney, in this case the courts should side with the Auburn Hills automaker, not the small stores in downtown Detroit.
This driver had the bad luck of being on a coastal road in Japan when the tsunami hit. He had the good luck to make it through alive. And he had the amazing luck to have a video camera going while it happened, capturing the tsunami crashing into road and car. (Read More…)
Alright, so we’ve gone to South America (Argentina, Brazil), Africa (Libya) and Asia (North Korea). It’s now time to visit Europe, and why not start with Spain, a perilous but fascinating place at the moment.
If you can’t wait for the next update and want to know all about car sales in 154 countries around the planet, simply go here. Es mi blog y es impresionante, sí señor! (Read More…)
It is one of those strange twists of fate that Toyota’s arch-nemesis, GM, would be one of the first overseas automakers to experience shutdowns caused by a lack of supplies from tsunami-devastated Japan. (Read More…)
It’s been over a quarter-century, so perhaps my memory grows hazy. But I recall enjoying the small, light subcompacts of the mid-1980s tremendously. They didn’t have much power. Power wasn’t a requirement, just a willingness to rev and to be tossed sideways through curves. I’ve spent the years since trying to recapture that experience. And […]
Last year, GM’s German patient, Opel, hemorrhaged $1.6 billion. It could easily have been twice than that, if Nick Reilly had fired the more than 8,000 workers that are on Opel’s endangered species list. Letting people go can get very expensive in Europe if you are a going concern. The only factory that was closed was Antwerp, to the tune of $532 million. That came to a little bit over $200,000 per worker. Reilly didn’t want to rain on the IPO roadshow, and moved the mass firings to this year. GM’s thank you: Reilly was fired. (Read More…)
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