Fisker responded  quickly to the fire that left a Fisker Karma  a clump of smoldering sheet metal last Friday.  Fisker issued a statement saying that Fisker engineers, working with independent investigators from Pacific Rim Investigative Group, have started examining the Karma. What they found so far does not support speculation put forth on major car blogs: (Read More…)

The Nikkei [sub] detected a brand-new trend: Cars with an internal combustion engine. In Japan, 20 percent of new cars sold are hybrids. Elsewhere, especially in China and Europe, hybrid cars have a bit of a hard time. “Although being environmentally friendly is important, saving money is tops,” an unnamed Nissan exec told the Tokyo wire, and added that consumers in these markets look more closely at how much they can save on fuel costs in relation to vehicle prices. Now this trend is reaching Japan. (Read More…)

Remember the DIY Lamborghini? In a garage somewhere in the less picturesque parts of Beijing, a man built a Lamborghini Diablo replica, fiberglass on hand-welded frame. No industrious Chinese will allow something like that to be forgotten as a one-off lunatic hobby project. Half a year later … (Read More…)

Last month, Toyota invited the Japanese press to join them for “the opening ceremony for its new plant in Brazil on August 9,” a three day event in and around Sao Paulo. The excitement lowered considerably as the Fourth Estate ventured to the bottom of the invitation. There it said that “flight costs to and from Brazil and all accommodation costs will need to be covered by participants themselves.” That’s Toyota as we know and love it. If you have dreams of lavish press jaunts, don’t dream them in Japan.  The event happened yesterday, without yours truly. The Nikkei [sub] hopefully sent its local stringer, and it reports what we know anyway: “Toyota Motor Corp.  will kick off production of a strategic small car aimed at the emerging-market middle class next month at a new plant in Brazil.” And the new car is the Etios. (Read More…)

In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said this to critics of his lavish green technology initiative:

“I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. “

Instead, battery manufacturers first get financed by double-green government handouts, then they are ceded. (Read More…)

There goes the prestige

Rarely do Dan Akerson, the CEO of GM, and TTAC see eye to eye. This time, they do. Two weeks ago, we complained that GM is leaking like a scuttled steamer.  Yesterday,  Dan Akerson took the whole company to task: “We have to stop leaking in this company. It’s an act of treason — it really is,” Akerson said in an internal video conference with GM employees. The conference tape was promptly leaked to the Detroit News, and it contained more leaks. (Read More…)

Cars that use little or no gasoline seem to have a bit of a hard time, no matter how badly people want them. 22 states decided to do something unusual: They tell American carmakers to make natural gas-powered vehicles, and the states will buy them for state fleets.     (Read More…)

Mark Stevenson steadfastly remains on his Suzuki Death Watch. “Pfft,” says the company run by the world’s youngest octogenarian Osamu Suzuki, and brings out yet another car Americans can’t have. .

Suzuki will bring out a new version of its best selling kei car, the Wagon R. According to The Nikkei [sub], Suzuki’s new midgetmobile will upset the other midgetmobiles with a “best-in-class 28.8km per liter, up around 22% from the current version of the wagon-type minivehicle.” (Read More…)

China’s auto market keeps puttering along. In July, total automobile sales in China rose 8.2 percent to 1.38 million, says the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). For the year, the market has gone basically sideways with a slight 3.6 percent upward bias. The Chinese bubble refuses to burst,  likewise, the market  does not want to go back to its red-hot former glory. (Read More…)

Over the recent years, Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR)  has come into increased use.  What has the American Civil Liberties Union up in arms is that the data are stored and can be used to compile behavioral profiles on innocent civilians. The state of Maryland seems to be in the lead when it comes to centralized aggregation and storage of ALPR data, “which raises significant privacy concerns,” says the ACLU. (Read More…)

The excitement about battery electric vehicles seems to die down amidst disappointing uptake. Range, weight and cost are in the way. At the same time, dormant interest in fuel cell vehicles is being rekindled. A month ago, we had a new look at the technology from the perspective of the Toyota/BMW linkup. Today, The Nikkei [sub] takes a broader view and says that carmakers are in the final lap of the fuel cell race. Let’s have a look at the contestants and where they stand.

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Toyota is serious thinking of breaking a taboo. It is considering moving some production of its Lexus luxury brand from Japan to the United States, says Reuters.  The oddest part: The Japanese government might help Toyota to move the jobs out of the country. (Read More…)

In the 80’s, I took a sabbatical from marketing and propaganda, and managed a record distribution company in the U.S. My warehouse manager was Rick, a redheaded bear of a guy who also could have been Master at Arms of the local Hells Angels chapter. Come to think of it, he managed the parts department of a motorcycle store before I hired him. The love of his life were a motor cycle and his Z Car. Rick would have suffered a heart attack, would he have known that his manly Z was a ladyboy. At home in Japan, the Z had a girlie name : The Fairlady.
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In 2010, when everybody was going ecstatic about EVs, PSA Peugeot Citroen said to Mitsubishi: “send us some of your i-Mievs, with our badges. Say, 100,000 for starters.”

PSA sold them (as much as they could) as the Peugeot iOn and Citroen C-Zero, the first car that sounds like sugar-free soda-pop. Now, PSA picked up the phone, called Japan, and said: “Hold the i-Mievs! We have enough!” (Read More…)

While everybody has their eyes on China and possibly India, the car market in smaller South East Asian countries is exploding right below  the RADAR screen. By themselves, car sales in a country like Vietnam don’t seem to amount to much. Now, go to the trouble and add a few South East Asian countries together. The Nikkei [sub] did and notes to its amazement that the car market in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore jumped 21 percent in the first half year to 1.6 million units.

Now why would The Nikkei be so excited about this? (Read More…)