Following the product-centric interview Marchionne gave to Automobile (which is still not available online), Sergio Marchionne revealed even more Chrysler/Fiat product plans at a media event last week.

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“A disconnect is emerging between the White House and the auto industry over the short-term future of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids,” says Automotive News [sub]. The White House wants to go forward. The auto industry is backpedaling. (Read More…)

You want class? In 1984, Oldsmobile had class in dump-truck quantities. Just listen to how the name Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight Royale Brougham rolls off one’s tongue. (Read More…)

Pictures of a burning BYD e6 sent the already beaten down BYD stock on a nose-dive yesterday.  The e6 is one of the rare BYD electric cars, used in a taxi test in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. A Nissan GT-R had crashed into two taxis, one a conventional Santana, the other an electric e6. The e6 immediately did burst into flames. Two female passengers and the driver were killed. (Read More…)

A week after Nissan’s Infiniti finally, officially moved into its new digs in Hong Kong’s Citibank Tower, the company finally, officially confirmed that Infiniti cars will be produced in China starting in 2014. If you think you heard that before, you did. Nissan’s worst kept secret had kept the Chinese rumor mill in motion for more than a year. (Read More…)

If there ever was a day to wave the white flag, it was today…

A 1999 Lincoln Continental in gold with 75,000 miles went for the jaw dropping price of $4900 after the auction fee.

A 1998 Olds Intrigue in the tannest shade of brown, 135k, cloth seats… $3350.

A 2002 Ford Crown Vic with plenty of chipped paint and 173k, $4000 even.

That was just a couple of samples of irrational exuberance on the domestic front… and keep in mind these were pre-recon prices. Trade-in vehicles without a spiff, a repair or a shine.

These were only the tip of the rough iceberg. The imports which are usually in far higher demand were far, far worse.

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Japanese carmakers published worldwide sales and production numbers for April and the first four months of the year today. As expected, they look pretty wild, with triple digit percentage gains. Hidden in the numbers: Toyota stands good chances to regain the title World’s Largest Carmaker, which it lost last year. (Read More…)

Many of our readers have some interesting first-car-ride memories, but most of us had no personal choice in the matter. At some point after your very earliest hazy memory of being in a moving steel room on wheels, however, you remember the first car that made you do a double-take and say the little-kid equivalent of “Damn! Look at that thing!” In my case, this car was a thing, and I mean that literally; the Volkswagen Thing first appeared on California streets when I was six years old, and I was utterly hypnotized by the weird boxy car that looked something like an Apollo Lunar Rover. (Read More…)

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is working on a bigger version of the Range Rover Evoque, which is set to debut after 2015, if my sources in India are correctly informed, and they swear they are. This bigger Evoque has been codenamed L560. The renderings were made at the time I received this information. However, these renderings can hardly be accurate as the styling of this bigger Evoque hasn’t been frozen yet and the company is still working on the design. However, my source says the drawings are mighty close. (Read More…)

Vancouver’s a funny place when it comes to car culture. One one hand, we’ve got a downtown core that’s switching over to highly affluent residential living, similarly well-heeled Western regions and, carved into the hillsides of West Vancouver, a community that rates its own “Real Housewives Of…” unreality show.

Fuelled by wealth swirling off the Pacific Rim, there’re a lot of high-status automobiles on the streets: throw a rock at random and you’ll likely hit a Supercharged Range Rover, but only after a bounce off two 911s and a Ferrari California. I’ve seen more curbed dubs, beat-up Vantages and hack-job ‘tuner’ M3s than I care to remember. I even recall seeing an RS4 with doilies on the headrests.

Still, to each his own, and for the residents of East Vancouver that means a backlash against conspic-consump buggies and an affinity for hot-rodding. Quick, hand me a ballpoint before somebody notices I don’t have a neck tattoo. (Read More…)

A (hecho en Mexico) Cadillac SRX costs between $67,700 and $91,000 once it’s sold in China. It doubles its price compared to the U.S. because of a monster tariff in China. Soon, there will be a more affordable version. A much, much, much more affordable version. Except that it won’t be from  GM. (Read More…)

As promised last week and as per your requests, it is now time for our new monthly appointment: the World Round-up!

After giving you the Top 100 best-selling models worldwide over the First Quarter of 2012 last week, we can now have a first look at what models made the headlines around the world last month.

Not interested? That’s fine! There are 163 additional countries and territories for you to visit in my blog, so click to check out your next holiday destination so at least you will know what cars you’ll be meeting there.

Now, our world round-up.

If last month the focus was on the Toyota Prius family and its huge success in the US and Japan, April takes us to India where we witness a historical change…

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We saw a junked first-year Plymouth Horizon last week, but Chrysler’s Simca-based econobox wasn’t the only Euro-Detroito subcompact to make its North American debut in 1978. The first-gen Ford Fiesta, which had been a tremendous sales success in Europe, showed up in American Ford showrooms… where it was met by puzzled stares from car shoppers who couldn’t quite get their heads around the tiny size of the latest car to bear the blue oval. (Read More…)

Tomorrow will kick off the start of our new video series; TTAC Track Days with Jack Baruth. Our first vehicle will be a Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track model.

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My iPhone has no less than 7 social apps on it (Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Tumblr, Tradyo and Instagram), not to mention Google Maps, which like the aforementioned programs, can utilize my phone’s built in GPS beacon to share my location with others (including Apple). My recently departed 1997 Miata was the anti-iPhone. No GPS, no traction control, a barely there ABS system, no electronic throttle. Everything mechanical. My next car will be similar. Simple, robust, resilient. What if we no longer have that option anymore?

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