So far in this series, I’ve had no luck finding Chrysler Cordobas from the first couple years of production. We’ve seen this ’78 (which provided me with a beautiful Corinthian Leather garage couch), this ’79, and this ’80 prior to today, and now we’ve got a genuine, Ricardo-approved 1976 Cordoba. (Read More…)

Reuters is reporting from “a source with direct knowledge of the matter” that General Motors plans to reduce shifts at its South Korean factories by half as it aligns its global manufacturing. The move could eliminate 1,100 jobs. GM had announced last month that it was discontinuing the Chevrolet brand in Europe by the end of next year and GM Korea produces many of the Chevy branded cars sold on the continent.

According to the report, GM Korea has already approached the union representing its production workers about reducing the current two shifts at the Gunsan factory to a single shift. That plant employs 2,200 manufacturing employees. It’s not clear if the surplus employees will be laid off, offered voluntary retirement or relocated to other facilities. (Read More…)

Mike writes:

Sajeev,

Here’s a hot topic for you and the B&B. I have a 2006 Sienna LE (front wheel drive) that has been absolutely bulletproof and reliable for the past 140k miles, except for the tires. I run “all seasons” in the summer and winter tires on separate wheels in the winter. We drive about 10k miles in the summer and another 5-7k in the winter. We live in the Finger Lakes region of NY.

This thing eats any tire that I put on it. (Read More…)

Sources close to the situation tell Reuters that Carlos Tavares, Carlos Ghosn’s former second in command at Renault, could start running rival PSA Peugeot Citroen as soon as March. Tavares officially joined PSA as CEO-in-waiting on Jan. 1. According to Reuters, Peugeot had previously said only that Tavares would take over sometime this year. Peugeot Chairman Thierry Peugeot told Le Figaro in an interview published over the weekend that the company’s board of directors would soon decide on the official transition date.

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Following the departure of Volkswagen Group of America CEO Jonathan Browning, VW of America has disclosed that another high executive will be leaving the company. According to Automotive News, Frank Trivieri, the Volkswagen brand’s executive vice president of sales since 2011 is no apparently history at the company. Trivieri, 51, leaves VW following a year in which VW’s U.S. sales declined 7% in a market that grew by 8%, amid reports of strained relationships with American dealers. (Read More…)

In 2013, 3.2 million new cars and light trucks were leased in the U.S., an almost threefold increase from 2009. The 2014 Manheim Used Car Report, produced by one of the larger used vehicle auction companies, says that the auto industry will have to change the way it remarkets cars if it is going to successfully handle the increased volume of off-lease vehicles.

According to Automotive News, the Manheim report also warns that dealers who take in off-lease vehicles on behalf of lessors (so called ‘grounding’ dealers, “will not be willing or able to acquire the same large share of off-lease units that they have in recent years.” (Read More…)

It’s not secret that General Motors is depending on China to ensure a rosy future for its Cadillac brand. However, the imported ATS, complete with pinched-off rear seating and thirsty turbocharged engine, isn’t cutting the mustard. No surprise, then, that GM will be building the ATS locally in the future, with one very important change.
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“I don’t think that I have to tell you that speeding is f**king stupid, do I?” The old man had never been one to mince words, and certainly not when he spoke to me.

“No, sir.” From my front passenger seat in his meticulously clean Mercedes E klasse, I could see the needle of his speedometer ticking past seventy. The speed limit on this particularly serpentine road near the river was fifty. It didn’t come as any surprise at all to me that the old man was failing to heed his own advice on a subject. He was often a walking contradiction. He spoke of the importance of honesty, yet he lied every night to us regarding his whereabouts. He spoke of discipline, yet couldn’t discipline himself enough to avoid the temptation of women other than my mother.
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Let’s say you have $83,425 sitting around and you want to make the most economical choice possible besides, say, a Tesla, or a brace of Prius Plug-Ins augmented by suitcases of cash. Let’s also say that you’re the type of literal-minded decent human being who never once looked at the back of the mighty 750il and said, “Heh. Seventy-five oil. Heh.”

Well then, my good man, BMW has your car.
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Infiniti’s decision to name all of their products Q-something befuddled the industry and launched a thousand online forum flame wars. Their next decision was even stranger — when the Q50 replacement for the existing G37 sedan bowed, the current car was kept on as an entry-level option for buyers who couldn’t quite stretch to the more sophisticated and feature-laden Q50. (As an aside, this is the kind of thing that just murders resale value directly in the face… but if you want resale value, you need to keep rolling past your Infiniti dealer all the way to the Lexus shop.)

For 2015, Nissan’s luxury division has either simplified the Q-issue or complicated it, depending on your perspective.
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Starting with the upcoming Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona race, the highest levels of sports car and prototype road racing in the U.S. will operate under a single series. The Grand Am and American LeMans Series racing organizations have merged and are now operating as the United SportsCar Championship, sanctioned by IMSA and controlled by the France family that owns NASCAR and a number of first tier racetracks around the United States. Tudor, Rolex’s less expensive (but still costly) brand of luxury watches, signed on to be the USCC series title sponsor, which will create an interesting situation when the trophies are handed out after the USCC race in Detroit on May 31st. While the USSC has Tudor as a series sponsor, another company that makes watches, Shinola, is a sponsor and “key partner” of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. (Read More…)

In what looks like a reasonably solid victory against the automated-traffic-ticket-profit industry, the 8th Circuit Court has deemed Cleveland, Ohio’s red-light and speed-enforcement camera system unconstitutional.
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Once upon a time, there was the Accord. It had sixty-eight horsepower from 1.6 liters of four-cylinder power. And the consumer saw that it was good, and the Additional Dealer Profit stickers spread far and wide across the land. The Eye Of Toyota, concealed within the fortress of Toyota City, saw the Accord and commanded the Camry to be built. It was bigger and more powerful, but it was also powered by four cylinders.

The General Motors X-Body and A-Body, to say nothing of the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz, could be had with a V-6, but it mattered not, for not a single Accord buyer in history ever decided upon a Cutlass Ciera as an alternative. But then, one day, Toyota raised the stakes.
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Reuters is reporting that the office of the General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board has recommended that allegations brought by employees at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant be dismissed.

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For the past few months, sanctions against Iran for their nuclear ambitions have sidelined PSA and Renault from the Persian market. Behind the scenes, General Motors outmaneuvered PSA despite their one-time alliance allowing them to muscle their way into aan emerging market via loophole abuse and an unknown quantity of Camaros. With GM out of the way, however, PSA would now be free to regain their footing once sanctions were lifted.

PSA won’t be alone in the upcoming battle, of course, as their compatriots at Renault have plans to return to Iran to reclaim what was lost, and then some.

(Read More…)