One of the key lessons learned by American automobile marketers in the 1990s was: friendly cars flop, aggressive cars sell. Have they learned this lesson too well? (Read More…)
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Volkswagen Polo is the German automakers entry level offering in India. It is offered in three engines – 1.2-liter diesel 75 BHP, 1.2-liter gasoline – 75 BHP and 1.6-liter gasoline – 105 BHP. It is by no means a hot hatch, but is positioned as a premium hatchback in India. DC Designs is one of the leading after market car designers in India. He has done various projects, including one-off specials for movies. Recently, he worked on the Volkswagen Polo for a client, transforming the vehicle from a 5-door hatchback to a 3-door crossover. (Read More…)
Less than a week before Nissan’s stockholder meeting on the 26th at the Pacifico in Yokohama, Carlos Ghosn’s inner circle in Paris and Yokohama finds itself chasing a warmed-over rumor. Today, Bloomberg writes that “Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn is considering stepping down before the company’s next mid-term business plan begins in about five years.” A source close to Ghosn calls it “absolute nonsense and a yawner.” (Read More…)
Last March I shared some preliminary car reliability stats for the FIAT 500 and new Volkswagen Passat. The 500 looked very good at the time. The Passat was at the other extreme. Another three months have passed, and TrueDelta’s car reliability stats have been updated to include owner experiences through the end of March 2012. In these updated stats, the FIAT remains excellent while the Passat has improved. But in J.D. Power’s annual Initial Quality Survey (IQS), released yesterday, they’re both awful. What gives?
Turmoil at GM’s new European partner PSA Peugeot Citroen. As if rumors of embargo-busting and of an impending guillotining of CEO Philippe Varin aren’t enough, now there are reports that BMW wants out of the hybrid alliance with PSA. (Read More…)
Once upon a time, Land Rover was a classic British marque and I counted myself proud to have taken delivery of not one (which is mere interest), not two (which is simple optimism), but four new Discoveries and Range Rovers in my twentysomething years.
Now, of course, the “Britishness” of LR is a marketing angle, designed to con the “punters” into parting with increasingly ridiculous amounts of cash for ever more nouveau-friendly vehicles such as the absurd Range Rover Sport HSE Luxury. To make that Britishness more palatable, Land Rover has “formalised” a relationship with the crazy people who used to make the Bowler Wildcat.
Again and again, executives at Japanese car companies warned of a “hollowing out” of the Japanese industry if the yen remains as overvalued as it is. The yen remains unimpressed. Now, the executives start hollowing. A day after rumors of a reduction of domestic capacity at Toyota had hit the wires, Nissan is said to trim domestic output capacity by 15 percent. It will happen as early as next month, The Nikkei [sub] says. (Read More…)
Beads of sweat start to form.
Dollar signs. Bills. Lots of money flowing into that great abyss known as repair costs.
Does this car have a blown head gasket? Are the valves bent?
Did I really betray my enthusiast bent and ignore a little problem until it became big?
You want rare? This car is rare! (Read More…)
Instead of a thank you for the well-meant career advice, I had an irate Dr. Carsten Krebs on the line, who identified himself as the Director of Corporate Communications at Volkswagen Group of America, Inc, before he tore into me. He demanded a takedown of the story, which was denied. Herr Dr. Krebs claimed that Barnes “loves his new job.” It turned out as huey. (Read More…)
In much of the undeveloped world, wealth and poverty have a permanence for individuals. The governments own or subsidize the most lucrative businesses. Access to credit and capital is scant for the average citizen. Food resources are a priority, and higher education is often times solely for the wealthy and well-connected.
It’s hard to build a good life when corruption, bribery, and the ‘thug mentality’ are a big part of daily life. Arab Springs, Civil Wars, Fascisms of every stripe. The aftermath of allying with all these dictatorships and other criminal organizations is a culture that preys on weakness.
What does this have to do with cars? Everything and then some, sad to say. Let me introduce you to two groups that epitomize everything I see in this business as a car dealer here in the United States.
PSA’s owners are not happy with CEO Philippe Varin. They would already have sacked him, would a replacement be on hand, reports France’s La Tribune. Reason for the disenchantment: Catastrophic sales, and the alliance with GM. (Read More…)
Interested in meeting your least favorite TTAC author? Perhaps you’re a fan of my unique lyrical styles, or you’re a lonely female journalist stuck on the West Coast with a boyfriend who plays Goth music through a Les Paul that isn’t even from the f**king Custom Shop. Maybe you’re one of the GM forum loons who nearly crashed your ’96 Grand Am GT automatic into a Jersey barrier when you saw that my awesome article on the Crapillac ATS was translated into German, complete with fun illustrations, and now you want to choke me with the power of your massive, Cavalier-tattooed biceps. Failing all that, perhaps you’d like to appear in the next TTAC video?
Good news! I am doing an international tour during the next two weekends!
Rounding out our day of Top Ten lists, news reaches us that Total Car Score came up with a list of the Top Ten Convertible Cars for 2012. (Read More…)
One of the worst things about the Malaise Era (other than the ascendance of Captain and Tennile) was the lack of cars with convertible tops during the period. The last convertible Cadillac Eldorado rolled off the assembly line in 1976, but the decline of the convertible had started a few years earlier. The top-down drought held until the last of the Malaise years, when machines such as Rabbit Cabriolets and LeBaron convertibles became available. Chrysler kept making the K-based LeBaron convertible until 1995, but you don’t see many of them these days. Here’s a pair of early-90s examples I found side-by-side in a Denver wrecking yard. (Read More…)
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