Tercel. Echo. Yaris.

When the history of great cars is written, these models will likely not be anywhere near the short list.

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For all the rhetoric being passed back and forth between the OEMs and the CAW in this round of contract negotiations, the overwhelming feeling from our commenters is that there will be no strike, compromise will be had, and somehow, both sides will play it off as a victory. The latest bulletin from the CAW seems to support that notion.

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“The estimate of the current loss per unit for each Volt sold is grossly wrong,” GM says as a retort to the Reuters story that GM loses around $49,000 on every Volt. GM says that “it allocates Volt development costs across lifetime volume, not across the current number of Volts sold.” TTAC commenters that rushed to the aid of the beleaguered company suggested the same. Oddly enough, GM passed on a much stronger argument that would have turned the Volt into a money machine. If not immediately, then much earlier than suggested by Reuters. (Read More…)

After sharing with you the launch of the Africa Project and a couple of world updates (Top 150 best-selling models in June 2012 and our monthly World Roundup for July 2012), today I will commemorate the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in my own way: by sharing with you sales data in the US at that time.

Not in the mood? There are 167 other countries and territories in my blog ready for you to explore.

Back to the USA in 2001. That year a volume record was beaten and it was the last time a Honda led the passenger cars ranking…

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In the olden days, when a Bentley was a rebadged Rolls Royce (or vice versa), it was easy to mistake one for the other. Bentley cleverly leveraged its “smart shopper” image into sales that were an order of magnitude higher than those of Rolls. Ever since Volkswagen forgot to check the trademark files, and subsequently lost Rolls to BMW while keeping Bentley (to still much bigger success), those days are over, and the respective overlords in Wolfsburg and Munich get alarmed if there is any confusion. The news still haven’t reached Indonesia, or so it seems. (Read More…)

“China’s auto sales growth falls to 3.7 percent” if you read the Associated Press and Bloomberg. If you rather put your trust in Reuters, then  “vehicle sales in China rose 8.3 percent in August from a year earlier.” Reuters is correct, AP and Bloomberg just received a new degree in spin doctoring.
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This flag raising on uninhabitable rocks …

A long simmering dispute of islands which both Japan and China claim as theirs has risen in temperature in China. There have been anti-Japanese demonstrations in Chinese cities, and on-line calls for boycotts of Japanese goods. Now the row is officially affecting sales of Japanese cars in China, Dong Yang, secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), told Reuters today in Beijing. (Read More…)

With the CAW’s strike deadline looming, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is taking a harder line in the media, pushing his vision of a profit-sharing agreement between Chrysler and the CAW, while boldly stating what everyone knows, but is afraid to say; auto makers have “other options” when it comes to building cars.

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  Five days ago we released the first part of the 2013 Accord review. It’s not how we normally do things, but in order to get our hands on the second best-selling mid-size sedan in America we had to agree to keep you all in suspense. If you want to know about the new Accord’s […]

The Chinese government reprimanded organizers of the Chengdu Motor Show for showing way too much flesh than what’s appropriate for a harmonious society.  The exhibitionist exhibits were all foreign. A finger-wagging received the display of female charms at Citroen and Kia, and a serious finger-wagging was directed at an “almost-naked Ms Yan Yu who briefly posed with a Toyota Camry before things got so mad with ‘journalists’ taking pictures that she was quickly taken back-stage,” as Tycho de Feyter reports at Carnewschina.

The showing of almost naked ladies is standard fare at communist China car shows, but could trigger arrested hearts and mass firing in the allegedly free West. Therefore, the almost naked Camry lady was trafficked below the fold. Don’t click if you are under age, easily offended, or easily fired.  Your have been warned. (Read More…)

A couple tweaks have finally pushed the Fiat 500 to the magical 40 MPG mark – but only on manual-equipped version.

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A hot tip from a few friends in my generational cohort, the ones who don’t drive or have any interest in motoring. They all love this ad for the Dodge Dart and encouraged me to check it out.

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The midsize Celebrity came between the rear-drive Malibu and the Lumina, went through only one generation, and has been largely forgotten by now. Most examples got crushed before the turn of the century, and the wagons have become especially rare. Here’s a Celebrity wagon with the not-very-European Eurosport option package, spotted at a San Francisco Bay Area self-serve yard. (Read More…)

In a devastating blow to fans of contrived displays of ecological sensitivity and ostentatious displays of consumption, Range Rover will apparently not sell their diesel-powered Range Rover Hybrid from the American market.

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TTAC reader Tiburon Guy writes:

2001 Tiburon (yep, this one again): Gassing up clicks like it’s full, even after only a dollar, then keeps clicking. Tank is at an 8th when fueling and yes, i’ve made sure it’s not the nozzle (and does it no matter where I go). (Read More…)