Japan released a list of companies subject to new foreign-ownership rules on Friday, with automakers included in the document. The adjustment influences how outside investment will be handled in regard to business sectors crucial to national security by the nation’s Ministry of Finance.

Foreign outfits buying a stake of 1 percent (or more) in Japanese companies will now face a pre-screening process to ensure they’re not a threat. The old benchmark for such action was set at a substantially higher 10 percent.

While the language used in the document isn’t targeted and largely pertains to additional scrutiny in the general sense, this has everything to do with China. It also mimics measures taken in the United States and Europe to avoid further instances of intellectual property theft (or simply having sensitive information leaked to the Chinese Communist Party). It’s still risky, however, as about a third of Japanese stock is owned by investors from outside its borders. Meanwhile, the nation is hoping to ramp up investment to boost its economy.  (Read More…)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Podcast this week, mentioning that the resurrected Roadster stands to see less love as the company turns its focus to other projects. Rogan, who already owns a Model S P100D and is an avid car collector, said he was interested in picking up the new Roadster once it becomes available. To that, Musk had some bad news. Higher-volume cars would have to come first.

“Roadster is kind of like dessert,” he said. “We gotta get the meat and potatoes and greens and stuff.”

The rest of the interview saw the two men discuss Musk’s opposition to unconstitutional lockdown orders resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, as well as humanity’s growing need for symbiosis with technology in order to ensure we’re not left behind as artificial intelligence begins to surpass us — boring stuff that has nothing to do with cars.  (Read More…)

The standard Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare are primarily remembered (and not seen) because they rusted as soon as the dew settled on them on a spring morning. While that makes standard examples sort of rare today, there’s a very special model which was very rare from the beginning.

It’s the 1978 Dodge Aspen Kit Car, and that’s its real name.

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The Honda Civic Hatchback Sport Touring exists to fill a niche in the Civic lineup. If the Civic Hatchback Sport presents as the value “sporty” choice – a sleeper version of the cranked-up Si and pumped-to-the-max Type R, complete with available manual – the Sport Touring aspires to be a more luxurious version of that […]

Remember, long ago, when former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn filled headlines, rather than a virus? Good times. And it seems they’re still good times for Ghosn, whose Bond-like pre-New Year’s escape from Japanese authorities via chartered jets and a musical instrument case delivered him to the relative safety of Lebanon. Warrants are out, but the country’s lack of an extradition agreement with Japan works heavily in the fallen exec’s favor.

While Ghosn, arrested in Tokyo in November of 2018 on suspicion of financial misdealings, may have managed to side-step what he claims was an orchestrated legal hit job, the same can’t be said of the crews of the private jets that shuttled him to Beirut. (Read More…)

No longer the odd man out among its Detroit rivals, Ford Motor Company has issued an official restart date for North American production. May 18th is to be the beginning of a phased restart, the automaker said, which is in keeping with return dates offered up by General Motors and Fiat Chrysler earlier this week.

After the UAW signaled its approval of those earlier announcements, all that was left was confirmation from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer that workers could indeed return. On Thursday, Whitmer extended the state’s stay-at-home order until May 28th (the measure was previously expected to expire May 15th), but gave auto manufacturers the green light to go ahead. (Read More…)

We’ve talked about being upside down on auto loans on these digital pages before, but we’ve never really talked about being… upside down. Literally.

Sometimes all the traction in the world does nothing to keep a car’s undercarriage pointed towards terra firma. Sunroofs can become glass floors in a hurry, especially if soft earth or an impacting vehicle unexpectedly enters the scene. In the case of Jeep’s latest Wrangler Unlimited, the unexpected trip 90-degrees from vertical took place in the worst place possible: in front of cameras, in the crash test facility of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Suffice it to say the institute frowned upon the Wrangler’s unrecoverable roll to starboard. (Read More…)

Earlier this week, we reported on a bizarre story in which a 5-year-old Utah boy stole his parents’ Dodge Journey to drive to California. His mission? To procure a Lamborghini for himself. As you already know, he was picked up by local authorities before making much headway, but he wound up getting closer to his dream than anyone imagined.

Adrian Zamarripa’s junior adventure earned quite a bit of media coverage, encouraging a nearby Lambo enthusiast to visit the family this week and give the child some quality time inside his black Huracan. The car’s owner, Jeremy Neves, said he was impressed with the child’s initiative and wanted to meet him.  (Read More…)

One of the joys of watching a previous-generation JK Jeep Wrangler barrel into an obstacle at 40 mph in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s driver-side small overlap crash test was seeing the vehicle shed its front wheel and scoot away as if nothing had happened.

Well, in just-published tests of a randomly selected 2019 Wrangler Unlimited, the first half of the crash sequence occurs pretty must as it did before. The front driver’s side wheel shears off, with little to no intrusion into the driver’s footwell. Great for Jeep. It’s the second half of the test, however, that punts the model’s small overlap score from “good” to second-worse “marginal” ⁠— the Jeep careened onto its side.

Not once, but twice. (Read More…)

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reports that April was healthier than expected, resulting in an estimated 2 million new vehicle sales. This would be the first time in a couple years the market has seen any monthly growth, with CAAM taking to the Tencent-owned WeChat to announce a single-percent gain over April 2019.

Considering the pandemic is anticipated to suppress global auto sales by anywhere from 10 to 20 percent, it seems premature to call anything a victory. Likewise, influence from the Chinese Communist Party has made any statistics coming out of the country highly suspect. Much of the world is currently under the impression that the nation’s leadership is in an all-out effort to project the country’s strength after failing to share helpful information in a timely manner and downplaying its coronavirus-related deaths. We don’t know what information is credible, especially since all groups (which includes individuals, state institutions, and corporations) are required by law to have direct ties to China’s only political party.

So that’s it then? It’s all bunk? Not quite. While there are plenty of reasons to doubt information coming out of China, there are also reasons to buy what CAAM is selling.  (Read More…)

Reports indicate Tesla has idled production in Shanghai, despite plans for the facility to resume production this week. Workers had been given time off for a five-day break that incorporated China’s International Workers’ Day (May 1st), with production expected to resume on the 6th. However, the facility made the surprise decision to remain closed.

Staff have been informed that the facility will not reopen until May 9th, according to inside sources. While this may lead one to wonder if the factory has found itself at the epicenter of a new coronavirus outbreak, there’s likely another explanation. Local outlets report Giga Shanghai as suffering from part shortages. (Read More…)

With General Motors aiming for a May 18th restart of North American vehicle production, powertrain components, in some cases, need a head start. That’s why May 11th will be the first day back to work for many employees of GM’s St. Catharines Propulsion Plant, home to much-used V6 and V8 engines, as well as a transmission.

The gradual return to work ahead of GM’s restart date comes after the Canadian labor leader Jerry Dias expressed concern over workplace safety. (Read More…)

There was one prior case where a too hot to title European car appeared on these pages, and it was a boring Citroën hatchback. Today’s forbidden, ahem, “legal” fruit is a bit more zesty. Presenting an underage Fiat Barchetta from 1997.

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In addition to being a gearhead, I’m a sports fan. The long-time play-by-play man for my favorite baseball team called it quits a year or two ago, presumably deciding the golf course was more appealing than the broadcast booth as he approached his eighth decade of life. This gentleman, long ago given the nickname of […]

Hey, things crop up. Little things, like a global pandemic that ground the economy (and vehicle production, and sales) to a halt for two months, can just appear out of the blue and wreak all sorts of havoc.

Because of just such an occurrence, Volkswagen of America’s long-awaited return to black ink will have to wait. (Read More…)