To the people in the room the buyer of Saab the remaining assets of bankrupt Saab was known before the press conference started today at 1pm at the Saab showroom in Trollhättan. When Dalong “Kai Johan” Jiang takes a seat in the audience, and is joined by his Chairman Karl-Erling Trogen, it is clear what bankruptcy administrator Hans Bergqvist will announce minutes later:

“The buyer is the National Electric Vehicle AB.”

Jiang takes the microphone. He knows his audience and says what everybody wants to hear: “Electric cars powered by green electricity is the future and electric cars will be built in Trollhättan.” (Read More…)

Dave writes:

Sajeev,
I’m a sales rep for a corporate auto supplier in the Detroit area. I currently drive a 2008 Dodge Magnum SXT that I put around 5000 kms per month and currently has 165000kms. Bought it as a lease back with 30000kms in 2009 and it’s completely paid off.

My question is – Do I drive the Magnum for another year, putting the mileage up over 200000 and far reduce the residual value or do I trade it in on a low mileage Explorer, Flex, or Durango and start the process over again getting more cash value for the Mag. There’s no real reason to dump the Magnum – It’s in fantastic shape and aside from regular maintenance and some front end suspension work, hasn’t emptied my pockets.

Just looking for another point of view and some insight into what the residual value over time and mileage looks like for the situation.

Thanks,
Dave (Read More…)

One thing I heard over and over in the Transportation Design biz is how the real world of car design is nothing like what you learn in school.  It’s probably the same for any Industrial Designer or anyone in the creative arts, but to a lesser extent.  We are passionate about cars.  To wit: my former CCS classmate Mike Chan is taking his education and automotive (okay, motorcycle) design experience to launch his own design: the Chrono Case. Do me a solid and check out the man’s hard work, and maybe consider participating in the Indiegogo funding thing. Why?

Because we all need to save designers from creating design nightmares such as the VW Routan. The weatherstripping is reason enough to become a design entrepreneur à la Mike Chan.  From one CCS person to another, best of luck to you, Mike. (Read More…)

I may not have a Golden Disco Hoodie, but I have more experience than Jack Baruth does when it comes to karting. And I’m calling out any member of the media who wants to challenge me on a kart track. After all, I’m defending my title from last year (see above)

(N.B I did finish first here. “Scott” refers to a gentleman who crashed out and DNFd)

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Long commutes. Traffic. Inane articulations on the radio. Most folks see driving as little more than a chore in between all the fun things in life.

Auto enthusiasts pretend to be the exact opposite of this. But I’m not so sure. When it comes to getting that feeling of pure exhiliration on the road vs. enjoying the penurious plenitude of a frugal ride, many car guys tend to opt towards the cost side of the equation.

The love cars. But money takes precedence.

So imagine if you could enjoy zero transportation costs. No gas. No insurance. No purchasing costs, depreciation expense, ad valorem taxes, matinenance, repairs… not a single penny of expense.

Sounds good right, Well, here is the flip side of the deal.

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When over 60 dealers are looking at the same vehicle at the same time, your chances of a finding a good deal at an auction decline dramatically.

That 2009 Nissan Versa that you like? At least five large-scale buy-here pay-here dealers will be fighting for it along with two other wholesalers that have a warm relationship with a Nissan dealer.

The scuffed up low-end Impala with over 200k on it? A public auction on the south side of town will be all over that. As will many other used car dealers who finance older vehicles in the urban areas of Atlanta. Don’t even think about buying that car as a cash flipper these days; because financing is the new elixir of older, popular used cars.

But an 11 year old Buick? Midsized? Unpopular? Well cared for? That’s my niche!

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Lotus may not have been sold to the Chinese (yet) but someone else was. And they’ve been making cars for over a year. Supposedly, they’re not bad to drive either.

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Two years ago, we met the five-liter Mustang at Summit Point’s Shenandoah course and pronounced it to be an outstanding track car with perhaps too emphatic a nod of the head to the bare-bones aesthetic. This year, we have a 2013-model five-liter with the same performance equipment but another eight thousand dollars’ worth of options […]

A study by TrueCar confirms something most of us know in our hearts; when gas prices go down, sales of less efficient vehicles rebound.

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During the short life of the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, the car unfairly became the butt of jokes for my friends and me. Even though we all knew that it was capable of laying waste to whatever we were driving at the time, it was hard not to mock the seemingly endless yellow examples, driven by an anabolic-addled young construction worker, with his right hand at 12 o’clock, and a bumper sticker professing ancestry from one of the PIGS.

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Almost every time I go to a car show I see something that reminds me that skill in shaping metal and plastic doesn’t necessarily translate into aesthetic taste or talent. Last year at a Woodward Dream Cruise event I saw what at first glance appeared to be sort of a Dodge Viper, but actually was a C4 Corvette with some creative fiberglass work. Then, a few weeks ago at a spring shine-n-show in northwest Detroit I spotted this not-so-cute ute.

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Is the US EPA fudging the way it calculates miles per gallon equivalent ratings for electric and hybrid cars, making EVs appear to be more energy efficient than they really are, increasing their consumer appeal? That’s what Lindsay Leveen, author of Hydrogen – Hope or Hype? A Primer on Energy and Sustainability, says.

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Rear-wheel-drive AE86 Corolla GT-Ss are worth bucks these days, and you won’t see them in low-priced self-serve wrecking yards. The AE82 front-wheel-drive Corolla GT-S hasn’t held its value so well, and so examples do show up on The Crusher’s doorstep. We saw this white ’87 in California last year, and now I’ve found this silver ’87 in Colorado. (Read More…)

JP writes:

Hi Sajeev,

I though myself out of asking this question, then your asked for more questions, so…What’s the best way to sell a beat-up 2002 Hyundai “Satan Fe” without feeling guilty about it?

Not so long ago, I married into a family with an irrational preference for Hyundais. In order of purchase (all new): 2002 Santa Fe 2.7L AWD, 2003 Santa Fe 3.3L FWD, 2006 Santa Fe 3.3L FWD, 2009 Azera, 2011 Tucson. All bought with about as much consideration as I put into buying shoes. The upside: hand-me-downs. (Read More…)

Yes, that’s a real race car, and it’s expected to turn an LMP2-prototype-level laptime despite having tires that are just four inches wide and a 300-horsepower, four-cylinder, direct-injection-turbo engine.

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