Automotive News reports, with their usual straight face, that “GM sees new models spurring rebound from lower U.S. market share.” The question isn’t whether GM has made this claim before, but how many times it has made it.
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We have at least two dandies on staff who make Beau Brummel look like Christian Audiger, what with their Zegna blazers and tailored shirts and handmade shoes and watches that aren’t also calculators. In the ordinary course of things, I leave it in their capable, well-manicured hands to wax eloquent on the concept of style.
As far as I’m concerned, clothes are just something which keep me from
(a) freezing
and
(b) being arrested.
However, even with such a clear disclaimer to my limited scope where fashion is concerned, I feel it necessary to point out at least one simple rule: if you walk around all day wearing a baseball hat turned around backwards, you’ll look like an idiot. Or Fred Durst.
Wait, that’s redundant. Read More >
China’s March numbers are in and they are – ok. The first quarter is down a little, March is up a little. People who were hoping for a return of unbridled growth are just as disappointed as those who had wished the pox of a monster crash on China. Read More >
Commitment. It’s one of those words that is either an affirmation of your beliefs, or a fear ridden long-term deal with the devil.
Commitment also happens to be the double edged sword of automotive ownership.
It means sacrificing the fickle fashions of tomorrow for a vehicle that may gradually become more of a ‘daily companion’ than a passionate lover. While many of your friends and neighbors find new love and new trysts, you must chose to do more with an all too familiar partner for the open road.
Yes, the acceleration will gradually be in the rear view mirror of tomorrow’s front runners. The seats will age. The maintenance needs will lighten your wallet, and the avant garde of newness will give way to the less thrilling realities of beaterdom.
But then again, some partners offer a far better bang for the buck. Even when you’re reelin’ in the years and rollin’ away the time.
It may not be sanctioned by the FIA, but Group B Rallying is back in the UK, as more than 60 entrants have signed up for a competitive rally event taking place this August.
It would be a great announcement to start the Beijing Auto Show, opening to the media in the world’s largest car market on April 23. Audi has its eyes on another date in the calendar: On April 18, a day before VW’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hamburg, Audi should announce the purchase of Italy’s motorcycle maker Ducati, sources tell Reuters.
The story has been around for a while, but a due diligence check takes time. Audi’s auditors did not find any hidden skeletons, reports the wire service. Other papers, such as the Corriere de la Sera, and Germany’s Handelsblatt agree.
Ducati would round out Volkswagen’s brand portfolio nicely. It would have everything from heavy trucks, even ship engines, to screaming superbikes. It also would flip the bird at Audi’s Bavarian rival BMW.
Record new car sales are not the news one does expect from Europe. But those are the news from Germany.
One by one, German automakers – with the notable exception of Opel – are reporting unheard-of numbers. Let’s have a look. Read More >
Gary Osbal’s grandfather purchased this brand new 1964 Valiant at a local Chrysler dealership. It was his last car. This is a barebones, radio delete, three on the tree 6 cylinder “stripper” car.
Grandpa was a practical man and this was a practical car, so he drove it until he was 80 years old. Read More >
Car and Driver is reporting yet another model for the Fiat 500 lineup, using a detuned version of the Abarth 1.4L turbo engine in more discreet packaging. The model, dubbed the 500T, will also arrive in tandem with a 500C Abarth.
A Financial Times report on the “de-industrialization” of France (sub. required), and the erosion of the country’s manufacturing base took a trip to a Peugeot factory, where the new 208 is leaving the lines and gearing up for a big launch. Peugeot has been suffering financially in recent years, amid a backdrop of a declining manufacturing industry, some employees are blaming the heavy burdens of France’s welfare state.
The scuttlebutt on Mazda is that Japan’s favorite independent automaker is in the toilet, having to shed jobs in America and assets in Japan just to stay afloat. While Mazda may be strapped for cash, their less-than-liquid holdings, like a baseball team and $5 billion worth of land, don’t look so bad.
TTACers have known it for quite some while: Europeans won’t get a Prius C / Aqua compact hybrid, they will get a hybrid Yaris. Today, the first one rolled off the line at Toyota’s plant in Valenciennes, in the north of France. Read More >
Even as the EU sanctions continue to add up, Iran’s national car maker is going in the opposite direction. Iran Khodro is set to launch a new engine family that will comply with the latest Euro-IV emissions regulations for use in their Peugeot-based models.
Used car prices have been rising for a while to a degree that sometimes it can be cheaper to buy new than used. If you have been sitting on the fence, it could be time to hop on down. Used car prices are predicted to peak within the next two months. Read More >
Today, British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived at a state visit to Japan. His trip was feted as a success even before his plane touched down at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. Nissan announced that a new midsized model will be produced at Nissan’s Sunderland Plant in 2014. Read More >
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