In what Reuters calls “the latest exit from President Barack Obama’s cabinet,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today that he would not be staying on for the second term. Read More >

U.S. government funded and nonetheless bankrupt battery maker A123 will be Chinese. China’s Wanxiang emerged as the successful bidder in December. All the deal needed  was U.S. government approval. The deal has been approved, says Reuters. Read More >

Car people love to criticize.  For proof, just look at any review of the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet.  Or any article about a Chrysler product released in the last 20 years.  Or the comments on my TTAC posts.  But there are times when our criticism goes too far.  Sometimes, journalists and car people alike beat up half-decent cars just because we can’t see ourselves behind the wheel.  Here’s a look at a few of those half-decent cars that never quite deserved the bad rap they got.

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Elon Musk offered Boeing Tesla’s help with its troubled Boeing 787 battery packs. He wants Boeing try the packs Tesla uses in its SpaceX rockets and Tesla cars. Ever the hipster, Musk announced the unsolicited aid via Twitter: Read More >

Zack writes:

Hi Sajeev,

I’ve been following a series of discussion on a MK3 Ford Focus forum; in particular I’ve been following the technical discussion about how to squeeze more power from the MK3’s new 2.0 GDI motor. Of course, this involves talk of CAIs, Cat-deletes (inadvisable), and free flow exhaust. One of the more curious things to emerge is… Read More >

Yesterday, I took you on a visit to Tokyo, to the Japan Classic Car Association’s New Year Meeting, and on a tour of imported cars in Japan. If you believe the propaganda, there aren’t any imported cars in Japan. But it is not true.

The history of car imports to Japan is a history of Yanase, Japan’s premiere car importer. Yanase was founded in 1915 as an importer of Buicks and Cadillacs to Japan. One of his big customers was the Imperial Navy which “had nothing but Buicks,” as Jiro Yanase told a reporter. The Japanese Navy also put Yanase nearly out of business, in December of 1941.

During the war, Yanase kept the Buick and Cadillac signs up to attract service business. After the war, Yanase became GM’s sole importer to Japan. Soon, he became the world’s go-to man for car imports to Japan.

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I recently read an article that said a growing number of young Americans would rather have a smartphone than a car.  Half of American teenagers prefer web access to car access, said the article, and communicating via text, e-mail or social media is taking the place of actually driving somewhere to spend time with someone.  You know – in person.

This is, of course, because times are changing.  Years ago, turning 16 meant inheriting a dead relative’s full-size sedan with V8 power, rear-wheel drive, and no traction control.  Gas was eleven cents a gallon.  It was practically an invitation to hoon.  But today, turning 16 means spending thousands just to get saddled with a four-cylinder economy car that has annoying features like airbags and disc brakes.  No wonder teens don’t want cars: their smartphones are probably faster.  And less expensive.

Or are they? Read More >

GM’s CEO Dan Akerson gave an interview to Norihiko Shirouzu, one of the best men in Reuters’ impressive stable of automotive writers. Akerson disclosed two very scary pieces of information:

1. GM hinged most of its emerging markets strategy on its Chinese JV partner SAIC
2. GM will hinge most of its emerging markets strategy on SAIC and PSA Read More >

GM’s tattered alliance-partner PSA Peugeot Citroen  did not produce any cars in its Slovak plant today and will add more stoppage days next month to catch up with weak demand in Europe, Reuters reports. Read More >

There are people, and some of them comment on TTAC, who are convinced that a hydrogen-powered car is an insanity that will never work, but other people who work at the world’s largest carmakers beg to differ. Today, Ford, Daimler, and the Renault-Nissan Alliance signed a tripartite pact for the joint development of a fuel cell system that promises to be implemented faster, and at lower cost, both to automakers and customers. Read More >

As usual at this time of the month, Toyota released full month sales and production figures for the preceding month, and as usual in January, the numbers are for the full calendar year. Readers of TTAC will not be surprised by the data, a look forward into 2013 however can get quite exciting. Or unnerving. The podium of the World’s Largest Automakers promises to be in disarray in 2013. Read More >

The commenters already thanked the Saturday team of contestants for their great work. Let’s thank them again. It was good – at least most of it. Today, we announce Saturday’s winners. We also present a new batch of contestants. Then, we will take a break. But first, Saturday’s winners. Read More >

Keeping with the Deutsche theme, this one seemed like a reasonable segue from the M-B 250 SE featured last week. Read More >

Friday – thank God – was a great day in TTAC’s Future Writers Week. It definitely was a lot better than Dud-Tuesday. The readers loved what the Friday round of writers wrote. The winners were separated by just a few votes, always a good sign of an exciting race. My favorite came in 4^th, which again proves that my tastes are totally removed from the mainstream. And the winners are: Read More >

Industrial-strength theater

Yesterday evening, while yours truly was in seedy Tokyo bars, rubbing shoulders and more with paid informants, word reached us that Opel’s new sales chief Alfred Rieck allegedly threw-in the towel and left Opel in disgust, after only seven months of valiantly trying to move the damaged goods called Opel cars. After a few phone calls to Germany this morning, a different story emerged. Siehe unten. Read More >