What do you do if you want your very own yellow Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster, but you can’t afford it? No problem, said a man in China, I just build my own. Read More >
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Category: News Blog
Last year, Nevada was the first state to legalize driverless cars – in a way. The law stipulated that Nevada’s Department of Transportation “shall adopt regulations authorizing the operation of autonomous vehicles on highways within the State of Nevada.” Probably hoping that this would take a while. The Department worked overtime and finished the regulations in eight months. The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles announces: Read More >
Opel Chief Karl-Friedrich Stracke told reporters that an agreement with unions about a fix of money-losing Opel is a while away. “I expect this not to happen in a month or so, rather than in a couple of months, that’s at least how I see the timetable,” Stracke told Reuters.
Analysts think that Stracke is an optimist, and that restructuring Opel won’t come cheap. The guesstimate is more than $1 billion, and the payback will take a while. Read More >
The early 90s were tough times. Stock markets had crashed, real estate bubbles had popped, budgets were slashed. The fabled Daytona 24 hours endurance race survived (barely) with Rolex as a sponsor.
In 1992, the field was down to 49 cars, one of them a newcomer from Japan, Number 23, fielded by Nissan’s Nismo (Nissan Motorsports International) factory team. Read More >
Days after Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney penned an op-ed in the Detroit News over his thoughts on the bailout, UAW President Bob King is firing back.
Chrysler alerted the Securities and Exchange Commission that they’d be withdrawing their request for as much as $3.5 billion in loans. The money was to be used for the development of unspecified “green” vehicles.
With GM’s recent announcement of $7.6 billion in profits for 2011, you would think that the taxpayers would get a nice chunk of those proceeds.
Well, we’re not even half way to that ship yet. UAW shareholders though are a different story. GM recently announced that they will cut nice thick checks in honor of their UAW shareholders. As much as $7,000 in certain cases.
This will indeed be GM’s largest profit sharing payout in history. The prior high? $1775 per UAW employee in the glory days of 1999. In the meantime Ford plans to fork over $6200 as a maximum. Part of that has been paid out already. As for Chrysler? $1500.
As Porsche prepares to launch yet another product that’s not a sports car, Ferrari has steadfastly ruled out diluting their brand with anything approaching a crossover or a sedan. The closest we’ll ever get is the all-wheel drive FF shooting brake (above).
One of my favorite sites to visit is Bobistheoilguy.com. Why may you ask?
Well, it isn’t because of the riveting commentary on various forms of vehicular lubrication. It isn’t the 475th Amsoil ‘associate’ visiting the site to hawk their premium priced wares. It’s not even the never-ending flame wars on Lucas oil products and “fuel treatment” fix-em-ups in a four ounce bottle.
It’s because of the deals on stuff I use. Namely motor oil.
Once upon a time, Volvo built the V40 at the Nedcar plant, alongside the Mitsubishi Carisma. Volvo ended that partnership in 2001, but the Dutch managed to pull one over on Volvo, leaking early pics of their new V40 compact in advance of its Geneva debut.
No gullwing or “falcon wing” doors here. Ford’s new B-Max MPV has a unique solution to the problem of getting into a minivan without making a fool of yourself – pillarless sliding doors.
GM’s track record has been less than stellar. First we had the Saturn Vue Green Line, a very “mild” hybrid that paled next to competitors like the Ford Escape. Next came the extraordinarily expensive 2-mode hybrid system used in GM’s pickup trucks and full-sized SUVs, which cost far too much and delivered far too little. Finally, we have the Volt – ’nuff said. No wonder GM’s latest hybrid endeavor has come to market with little fanfare, no “hybrid” logos on the vehicle and no hybrid branding from GM. Can we honestly call the 2012 Buick LaCrosse eAssist a hybrid?
We advance into adulthood by degree, and every one of the degrees is a first time that cannot be duplicated or get a do-over, no matter how much we would like to change our personal history. So we romanticize the clumsy moments and brash decisions of youth as we get older and view our teenaged pasts in a nice golden hue. It may shave several layers of reality off the actual events but it makes our younger years more glamorous and heroic in a Paul Simon ‘Kodachrome’ kind of way.
One thing that never changes in my memories is my first car. We should remember our first cars with the same degree of reverence as other really big first time events from our youth. The kind not found on the pages of a collector car website. Read More >
Volkswagen keeps dominating Europe’s Top Ten list (as compiled by Jato) in January. An 11.3 percent decrease of the Polo did not cost it its number two place, thanks to the number three Ford Fiesta dropping even more. Read More >
Growth at the world’s second largest automaker, the Volkswagen Group, took a breather in January. As indicated by its passenger vehicle division a few days ago, growth at the Volkswagen Group turned to a 1.3 percent trickle globally. This was caused by a calendar-induced decrease in China, combined with a soft European market. Read More >
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