Auto sales in the United States grew nearly 11% in December 2014, a fitting ending to a year of impressive growth for the overall auto industry. The biggest leaps forward in December were achieved by three volume brands: Chrysler, Kia, and Ram. Scion and Cadillac continued to spiral. Volkswagen reported a modest increase for the third consecutive year in comparison with what was a disappointing fourth-quarter in 2013.

• Ford led all brands in U.S. sales in 2014

• GM is the top-selling manufacturer with its four brands

• Maserati’s 171% year-over-year improvement led all automakers in 2014

• Jeep and Ram combined for 303,190 more sales in 2014 than in 2013

The market supported more than 16 million sales for the first time 2007 with strength rising most particularly in the SUV/crossover sector, but also from top-selling cars. Toyota’s Camry, the best-selling car in America, climbed to 428,606 sales. The Nissan Altima set an annual sales record. The Honda Accord reached a seven-year high.

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As of 3:03 P.M., a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil is sitting at $49.90 USD. For $42.48, you can get a fifth of Wiser’s Legacy Canadian Whisky – decent stuff, but nothing fancy. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to buy myself a Hellcat.

Last year, I made a few predictions about events in the auto industry. I firmly believe in being held accountable when making these statements. Most journalists have zero skin in the game and make outlandish pronouncements about product planning, regulations and other matters. These are quickly lost in the ether of the online news cycle, and the idiocy of their statements is forgotten as soon as you can say “brown diesel wagon”. Let’s see how I fared in 2014.

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One of the cars I’ve always admired from afar was the Fox Body Mustang Cobra. I say admired from afar because I’ve always known that it would never live up to my own fantasies if I ever drove it. But this rolling chassis presents an interesting way to get into a Cobra without running afoul of the need to preserve its authenticity.

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Today’s QOTD comes from Grandma, who is on vacation in Florida. Grandma writes:

From our friends at Jalopnik, we have our first pictures of the 991 Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

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States with right-to-work laws are in green. Wikipedia graphic.

Organized labor has had setbacks as states formerly seen as union strongholds in the industrial midwest, Wisconsin and Michigan, have enacted right-to-work legislation that makes paying union dues voluntary. Now, the United Auto Workers, which has been trying to organize autoworkers at ‘transplant’ facilities operated in the American south by foreign automakers faces the prospect of dealing with right-to-work laws at the county level, in Kentucky. The new laws present the autoworkers’ union with a double whammy. Read More >

One thing you can be sure of: when a Japanese auto maker releases a “concept” you can bet that the production version will be pretty close to it.

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Want to know what the big man on the BMW campus will be wearing in 2016? You’ve come to the right place, B&B.

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TTAC Commentator Arthur Dailey writes:

Sajeev,

Thanks very much for posting my question. Your answer and the comments from others were most informative. How about another?

We now have only 2 licensed drivers in our home. We do however have 3 licensed cars in the driveway. Please do not ask about the project car in the garage. 2 of the cars are our ‘daily’ drives, the 3rd is used primarily on weekends. We live less than 3 minutes from a 400 series highway in Ontario. That means that the cars can be required to reach highway speed before they are ‘warmed up’.

My normal practice last winter was to get up, start all the cars, turn off all possible drains on the batteries. Then take the dog to the park across the street, stretch our legs and let him do his business. After about 10 minutes we return. I then turn on the heater/defrost on the 2 cars that we will be driving and scrape/brush them. When this is completed, I turn all 3 cars off and go back into the house to get myself ready for work. You may all remember what last winter was like and the upcoming winter is supposed to be similar.

Now I understand that idling is environmentally irresponsible. And possibly against by-laws in some areas. That however is a discussion for another forum. Read More >

With fuel prices continuing their downward spiral, one would think EVs and hybrids would become the new Hummers and Escalades to be left to rust in the backlot of the dealership. Not quite.

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In a few short months, we’ll see the production version of the Scion iM, based on the European Toyota Auris. If only Toyota had sent this instead.

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Thanks to the Internet and a scan of a Japanese market brochure, the whole world now has an idea as to what the production-ready Honda S660 will look like when it hits showrooms later in 2015.

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Welcome back to the return of “While You Were Sleeping”, an overnight digest of various news items that didn’t make the cut on TTAC’s homepage.

Think tank click bait, Mansell hawking Mitsubishis and leather engine covers. 2015 is off to a wacky start, but at least you don’t have to waste your time reading individual articles about it.

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It’s official: Subaru of America has moved 500,000 units in a single year for the first time.

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