A former Ontario Attorney General who made a career crusading for severe auto safety laws is being held after witnesses say he killed a cyclist with his Saab convertible, according to the New York Times. Onlookers say Michael Bryant hit cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard in downtown Ontario Monday evening, causing Sheppard to grab onto Bryant’s vehicle. Bryant then ran his Saab onto the sidewalk, apparently trying to knock Sheppard off by running him into streetlights and sign posts. He succeeded when Sheppard reportedly hit a mailbox and died. Bryant was best known for a 2007 law defining driving faster than 50 km/h as “street racing” with penalties including vehicle seizure. At the time, Bryant described cars as being “as dangerous as explosives.” Savor the irony.
[Thanks to TMcA for the link]
Update: According to the CBC, Sheppard may have grabbed Bryant or his car’s steering wheel and the two may have been struggling for control of the car.
One of the lingering holdovers from the Daimler-Chrysler era, Sprinters at the Dodge dealer, is coming to an end. Automotive News [sub] reports that the commercial/recreational vans will be yanked from Dodge dealerships starting January 1, and will be sold at 150 select Mercedes dealers going forward. 45 Freightliner dealers will continue to sell Sprinters under the Freightliner brand, but all remaining Sprinters will be sold as Mercedes models under the new distribution plan. Which begs the question: why?
The National Auto Dealer’s Association is warning its members that a government audit of the $3b CARS program is imminent. “We expect that a high percentage of dealers will be audited,” NADA explains in a letter reported in Automotive News [sub]. “Please make sure that all transaction paperwork and trade-in vehicles are in order.” Widespread fraud has been reported in the German clunker rebate program, particularly in regards to vehicle disposal. Or, rather, the lack thereof. Apparently pretending to destroy a vehicle and then driving it to Poland (Mexico in our case) for sale on the black market is is not an approved disposal method. Anyway, investigating fraud seems like the prudent thing to do after spending $3b in a few short weeks, but try telling the dealers that.
From the “Again. Still.” files, comes word that Hyundai and Subaru are once again the sales kings in terms of month-on-month improvement. Hyundai‘s numbers jumped 47 percent compared to last August, on C4C-fueled increases in Accent, Elantra and Santa Fe sales. Even Genesis sales about doubled. Hyundai’s total sales volume topped 60k units, an all-time record for the Korean brand. Subaru‘s sales were up over 50 percent, led by the Forester’s 76 percent gain. Only the Tribeca failed to improve on last August’s sales, falling 8 percent.
Daily selling rates are playing silly buggers with some of this month’s sales results, but the numbers in the headline reflect Automotive News [sub]’s calculations on a pure monthly basis. Since both Toyota and Honda‘s official numbers are based on DSR though, they come out a bit higher. Either way, both firms saw increases in popular Cash For Clunker models, while trucks and luxury brands continued to sell slowly.
Ford received a huge boost from Cash For Clunkers, with Fusion (+131 percent), Focus (+55.9 percent), Flex (+106.5 percent), Escape (+49.3 percent) and Ranger (+57.4 percent) seeing huge sales increases. Taurus didn’t see a big boost from its new-model rollout, logging only 3,398 units of sales, a nearly 24 percent decrease. Edge edged up by 8.9 percent and Mustang dropped by 23 percent.
Unlike Chrysler, GM reaped substantial increases in small-car sales from Uncle Sam’s short-lived Cash For Clunkers program. And yet, Chrysler-like, the boost still couldn’t give GM a month-on-month sales increase. A 160 percent jump in Aveo sales can’t hurt; volume topped 12k units. The equally reviled (at leastin these parts) Chevrolet Cobalt was also up by 13.8 percent. The hecho en Mexico HHR up 26 percent. Malibu sales rose by 11.1 percent. The new Equinox got off to a hot start, moving 13,157 units. The last of the Pontiac G6s were hustled out the door, as volume rose nearly 26 percent to 13,133 units (Vibe up 38 percent). Otherwise? You better have plenty of room set aside in the “not so good” column.
Even in the midst of an overstimulated car market there’s always an excuse for underperforming. Chrysler is blaming overzealous production cutbacks and dealer shortages for its 15 percent month-on-month sales decline in August. Grand Cherokee had a surprising 62 percent increase in sales compared to last August, while 300 sales improved 17 percent. Otherwise, sales were down across the board. The TTAC-slated Aspen dropped 83 percent. The long-in-the-tooth Durango dropped 86 percent. And Challenger sales continued their freefall, falling by 45 percent.
Better than what, you ask? Why, better than the previous Rubbermaid-meets-snap-together-model version, of course. Is it good enough? Somehow we aren’t feeling positive enough to predict that this will reverse the Caliber’s doomed-to-China fate. Hit the jump for the most positive spin possible on the Caliber’s improvements, courtesy of Chrysler PR.
China’s recent decisions to allow defaults on commodity future contracts and subsidize raw material imports are seriously messing with the commodities markets, giving voice to paranoia in every sector of the economy. In the auto industry, that means the now-familiar cries from those who worry far too much about the availability of raw materials for battery making. Automotive News [sub] reports that worldwide demand for 15 “rare earth” elements will exceed demand by 40k tons “in the next few years,” raising challenges for the nascent hybrid and battery electric segments.
Autocar reports that BMW is considering licensing Toyota’s iQ city car platform for its long–rumored neo-Isetta EV. In return, Toyota would reportedly get access to BMW’s MINI platform. It’s understandable that BMW would want to trade for a city car platform (they all look/drive the same anyway), but why would Toyota want a platform that could be mooted by improving the Yaris’s underpinnings? Also, is BMW not aware that Aston is doing its own iQ re-skin? How did the Bavarians not pick up on the scornful reception that news elicited? Meanwhile, Toyota is also in platform-sharing talks with Daimler. When did Toyota become the new Fiat?
The LA Times interviews AC Propulsion’s Tom Gage, and sheds some light on what an actual, honest-to-god profitable EV firm looks and thinks like. The short version? Think of the exact opposite of Tesla and you’ll be getting close.
Volkswagen’s BlueSport is still in concept form, but that didn’t stop Autobild from taking it out and comparing it to Mazda’s Miata, the industry standard for affordable fun. “Not bad, truly not bad,” is how the BlueSport’s creator Marco Fabiano describes the Miata, his concept’s intended prey. Which means the BlueSport will have to be “damn good, truly damn good” to break Mazda’s 20-year stranglehold on the entry-roadster market. At least VW is clear on that much going into the project.
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