The German car market ended the year with a bang – to the chin. Germany had shrugged-off the European contagion for most of the year, but in December, sales sagged by an unfestive 16.4 percent. (Read More…)

It’s the first sales day of the year, where automakers report their sales for the month, and in this case, for the whole last year. Chrysler is first out of the gate with the good news that December group sales rose 10 percent for the strongest December since the heydays of 2007. (Read More…)

By the time the last few years of the Mercury-ized version of the Ford Crown Victoria rolled around, every single Grand Marquis sold was an Ultimate Edition. Back in the late 1990s, however, Mercury shoppers had more choices. Including, apparently, a Safety Edition. Here is an example I found in a Denver self-service yard last week. (Read More…)

The fluidic design of the HB20 has impressed Brazilians greatly. The car has already broken into the top 10, and Hyundai claims there are 24 thousand people who have already ordered one and have plunked down some money. Undeniably, the car is a looker. In my opinion, the side is the highlight. That swoosh is […]

We’re all familiar with the Mercedes-Benz GLK, from its new-for-2010-looks-like-2002 exterior to its “they want how much for this?” interior. But the fourth model year is MCE time. Mid-cycle, has Stuttgart enhanced its compact crossover enough that previous rejecters should reconsider it?

Good news for Lafayette, Indiana: Fuji Heavy will spend $230 million to increase the capacity of its Subaru of Indiana plant by about 30 percent, says The Nikkei [sub]. Subaru’s sole overseas plant currently works at full tilt, and about half of the 330,000 Subarus sold in the U.S. must be imported from Japan. (Read More…)

As part of the publicity campaign to promote the upcoming Barrett-Jackson charity auction of GM CEO Dan Akerson’s personal 1958 Corvette to benefit Habitat For Humanity in Detroit, GM Design chief Ed Welburn brought that car along with three Corvettes from GM’s Heritage collection to the Big Dog Garage for an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. I have a ton of respect for Leno and not just because we both own Lotus Elans (in Leno’s case, he owns two, one a 26R racer that he’s restomodding, mine is in pieces, in what is now my ex’s garage). He’s a knowledgeable car guy whose collection is broader and deeper than that of many car museums. Sure, he’s promoting himself, and helping GM promote itself as well, but then that doesn’t hurt when Jay wants a one-off eco supercar. Still, PR aside, Leno loves cars and it shows in which of the four Corvettes most catches his fancy. In addition to Akerson’s ’58, Welburn brought one of the first Corvettes, a 1953, a perfect ’63 split window coupe, and the 1959 Stingray race car, Leno’s apparent favorite. He refers to it as “the rarest and most valuable” Corvette there is, though it wasn’t officially a “Corvette”. Watch Leno grin as he listens to the engine roar after Welburn lets him fire it up.

(Read More…)

It’s hard enough to find a decent used car for $3,000. Nissan’s new line of Datsun cars are being designed in mind with a starting price of $3,000, and there’s only one way to make sure the cars come in at such a rock-bottom sticker – use a pre-existing low-cost platform.

(Read More…)

Flashes and pulses.

I was staring at an archaic diagnostic system on a 1992 Volvo 940 wagon.  It was located underneath the hood, inside a plastic cover, with six little holes for each one of the six digits, along with a cheap plastic wand.

What came out was morse code. Three little reds, stop. One little red, stop. Two little reds, stop. Code 312. Time to visit the brickboard, where the code could be translated to about fifteen different potential issues.

21 model years later, and we’re still not quite there yet.

(Read More…)

Auto sales are expected to have ended the year up by around 5 percent. This according to analysts at Scotiabank and elsewhere. China, where a quarter of the world’s automobiles are sold, is probably up 4 percent, Europe is expected to be down some 8 percent. Auto sales in the U.S.  on the other hand are seen to have risen some 14 percent for the year.  More precise data are expected  within hours or days, so let’s have a look forward. (Read More…)

Renault COO Carlos Tavares may not be exaggerating  when he calls Dacia a “cash cow”. A report in Automotive News suggests that the low-cost marque may be as profitable as some premium brands.

(Read More…)

Yaw A. writes:

Hey Sajeev,

Long time fan of the blog. Sad that I have to ask this but the time has come. My mom bought a ’99 Lexus RX300 AWD a couple of years ago and has been having problems with it. She just came up on 135K miles and has been having oil lights come up + oil consumption problems. She got someone to look at it and the diagnosis is the dreaded 1MZ-FE sludge monster. The only logical repair seems to be to replace the engine; Lexus quoted her something crazy like $10K for a new engine and another $5K for labor. (Read More…)

Zipcar, the leading player in car sharing in North America, is about to be acquired by Avis Budget Group for $500 million in cash. The rental car firm will pay $12.25 per share, a whopping 49 percent premium relative to Zipcar’s closing price on December 31st.

(Read More…)