Some overly excited blogs may report that Honda is exiting the growth market India. Careful. Indeed, Reuters reports that “Hero Investments has agreed to buy Honda Motors Ltd’s 26 percent stake in Hero Honda Motors for around $851 million in a deal that will see the Japanese automaker exit its joint venture in India after more than 26 years.” So are they outta there? Read More >
Toyota sold more than 3 million hybrids so far and thinks that they are slowly having an impact.
In August 1997, Toyota rolled out their “Coaster Hybrid EV” bus, followed by the Prius in December of the same year. 300 vehicles were sold in the first year. In 2010, Toyota sold 16 hybrid models in approximately 80 countries. Last year, Toyota moved 690,000 hybrids worldwide, 9 percent of Toyota’s worldwide output (ex Daihatsu and Hino). The 3 million mark was broken some time in February this year. Read More >
Niche vehicles are possibly the toughest task for automotive product planners, offering huge risks and often modest rewards. Many, like the Acura ZDX and Chevy SSR fall flat on their faces, often for very different reasons. A few, like the Lexus RX300 launch entire segments from which future niches will eventually grow. Others, like the Nissan Juke, simply sell in reasonable numbers to the people who like them while turning off most everyone else. But one thing is for certain: in an era when mass-market sedans and crossovers look increasingly alike, a good niche product is one of the few real brand differentiators, a rolling symbol of a brand’s identity and values. And with common platforms and components, certain kinds of niche vehicles are even becoming easier to build. But there’s one very small, very postmodern problem: it’s all been done. When you’ve tried convertible crossovers, four-door-coupe-crossovers, five-door-coupe-wagons, pickup roadsters and minivan coupes, where’s an industry to go next? Time to break out your thick-rimmed designer glasses and explain just what form of nonsense the industry should try now.
Possibly in hopes of reminding the assembled writers that the Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet is not the future of the brand’s design, part of the CC launch was spent at Nissan Design North America where we were shown a clay model representing some of the design cues that could appear on future Nissan sedans. The designer we spoke to was careful to point out that this is neither an official concept nor “the next Altima,” but rather an exploration of the evolving Nissan design language. For example, the Z-car’s “boomerang” taillights, which have spread to vehicles like the Maxima, Juke and Murano CC are now found in the headlights of this unfinished clay model. The “J-line” kick-up where the beltline meets the C-pillar is also on display. Otherwise, there are also some unusually organic, flowing forms that have yet to debut on a production Nissan. I’m not sure this next-generation design answers all the questions floating around about the Nissan brand, but it’s an interesting look at the direction Nissan design is headed.
What if Gawker redesigned their sites and people stopped coming? It’s a question being asked with more and more seriousness as the nice people at Sitemeter continue to display some genuinely terrifying statistics regarding pageviews for Jalopnik, io9, and the rest of the cutesy-name sites in the Denton Media Mafia, er, Family, er, Domestic Partnership. One recent chart suggests that Jalopnik readership has dropped by a staggering seventy-five percent since what’s been called “the worst site changes in human history, I mean, this makes that one crazy bridge somewhere that, like, wiggled and broke look like the Pyramid of Khufu, solidity-wise, kinda, uh, is my latte ready yet?”
Read on for the big picture and an alternative explanation for the crazy stats…
Read More >
The Spanish government’s crusade against cars continues this week as the national speed limit has been cut from 120 km/h (about 75MPH) to 110 km/h (about 68 MPH). The Spanish government claims the move is temporary (they say it will last until “at least” June), and that it will save some 15% on the country’s fuel bills. The opposition reckons the number is closer to five percent, asking Autocar the rhetorical question
What next? Will the government make people go to sleep earlier to reduce their consumption of light?
Spain’s many high-quality roads and relatively low traffic have made it something of a motoring destination for Northern Europeans (especially the British), but since most European nations allow speeds of up to 130 km/h on their freeways, some of that cachet could well be lost. The opposition reckons the government reduced Spain’s speed limit as much to raise revenue as save fuel. Could losses in the tourism sector cancel any revenue benefits?
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood may not be able to bring the automakers on board his anti-distracted driving campaign, but it has managed to get Consumer Reports onto the bandwagon as the campaign nibbles around the edges of the real problem. The partnership has produced a brochure on the dangers of cell phone use in cars [PDF here] which encourages schools and parents to discuss the issue of distracted driving, but comes up short of establishing a firm line between acceptable and unacceptable distractions. Though panelists at the joint DOT-Consumer Reports press conference point out that hands-free cell phone systems are no more safe than using a hand-held cell phone, the PDF makes no such distinction. And though a police officer on the panel notes that police need to lead by example, no initiative reflecting this fact seems to have emerged from this latest battle against Distracted Driving.
In other words, LaHood’s latest effort is focused entirely on the old chestnut of “raising awareness” while continuing to avoid making the tough policy choices that would seem likely to follow the tough “epidemic” rhetoric that continues to come out of DOT. Sooner or later, raising awareness won’t be enough, and real lines will have to be drawn between safe and unsafe distractions. Unfortunately, today is not that day. The half-hearted “war” on distraction continues apace…
Raghav writes:
While searching Internet I saw your replies on Toyota Corolla. I too have few problems with Toyota Corolla 2007 model purchased in India, it has 37,000 Km on the odometer. The vehicle is serviced regularly every 10,000 km. The problems are:
1. Engine growling noise steadily increases with the RPM beyond 3,000 and this happens on all gears. What could be the reason?
2. One of the rear shock absorber was leaking and the dealer replaced just the faulty one (under warranty, car had done 27,000 km) and after that I feel the ride quality is poor. Do you think changing only one shock can cause this?
I have taken it to the dealer but their response is vague like (a) sound insulation from engine area must have become weak (b) change tires because side walls have a crack.
With Sprinter back under the Mercedes sign, Chrysler Group is looking to Europe and Fiat’s Doblò (above) and larger Ducato to expand back into the commercial van segment, starting next year. The European commercial vans are a far cry from the last Ram-branded body-on-frame vans, as the Doblò is actually based on a 108.5 inch wheelbase version of Fiat’s SCCS platform, a development of GM’s Gamma subcompact platform. As a result, the front-drive Doblò comes with engines ranging from 1.3 to 2.0 liters, and are largely powered by diesel engines. The Doblò is available in everything from a two-door chassis cab pickup, a three-, four- or five-door panel van, or a five-door passenger configuration.Because the new Ram commercial vehicles will be imported starting next year, expect only the van variants to avoid the “chicken tax.“
The larger, rear-drive Ducato offers a dizzying number of body variants, with wheelbases ranging from 118.1 inches to 149.6 inches, and offers only diesel engines in displacements from 2.2 to 3.0 liters with 100-155 HP. Until we get more details, it’s impossible to know which versions of these vehicles will come to the US, and whether the diesel and (for possibly even natural gas) versions will come as well. But the real question remains the same as it was a year ago:
how will these Euro-derived efficiency-oriented urban haulers jive with the Ram brand’s overbearingly bro-magnon branding?
Gas prices are getting into the area where they affect consumers’ buying decisions. According to a new Kelley Blue Book study, more than 80 percent of car shoppers say that gas prices have influenced their buying decisions. 58 percent already have downgraded. But what about switching to diesel or hybrid instead? Be careful when you do that, says Edmunds: Choosing a green alternative can cost you a lot of green. Read More >
Wenatchee, Washington is suing to stop the public from circulating a petition that would thwart the use of red light cameras and speed cameras in the city of 28,000. In March 2009, Wenatchee officials signed a contract with American Traffic Solutions (ATS), and they claimed this agreement would be “impaired” if voters had a say in whether or not the program should continue, according to the complaint filed last Tuesday in a Chelan County court.
“The city seeks a declaration that the proposed Wenatchee Initiative No. 1 is invalid because it is beyond the scope of the initiative power and violates the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution and the Washington State Constitution,” Steve D. Smith, attorney for the city, wrote.
The Chinese passenger car market did something highly unusual in February: It declined. If the data of the usually not highly reliable China Passenger Car Association is to be believed, that is. They e-mailed to Automotive News [sub] that February 2011 passenger car sales were a minuscule 0.4 percent below February 2010 levels. Read More >
Germany is in an uproar against ethanol. Last week, motorists celebrated a win against alcohol in their gasoline: Oil companies stopped the build-out of E10 gas stations. The matter still fuels the headlines. Over the weekend, German’s Die Welt newspaper shocked its readers with the news that the bio-benzene can ruin engines which supposedly are ok for the fuel.
“E10 is under suspicion to stress the engine oil harder than conventional fuel. This causes minimized viscosity and increased engine wear,” writes the paper. Supposedly, the stuff literally waters down the oil. Die Welt quotes Thomas Brüner of BMW who said: “The 10 percent ethanol increase the water in the engine. The water condenses and mixes with the oil. The oil gets diluted and ages faster.” Read More >
Here we go again. For your perusal pleasure, you’ll find below JATO Dynamics Brazil survey of the biggest car brands in the world’s largest markets in 2010 (as reported by Brazilian car business site automotivebusiness.com.br). Mind you, we’re talking brands here. We are NOT talking manufacturer groups. So Nissan is definitely separated from Renault, Fiat’s numbers do not include Chrysler, nor does Chevrolet include Cadillac or for that matter Wuling. It’s a little different from OICA’s list. And, to me at least, very interesting. I believe this list reflects better how consumers view the individual brands. Read More >
Between recent reviews of a Can-Am Spyder, the Ski-Doo MXZ and the Goodyear Blimp, a certain TTAC writer has succeeded in shaking off this site’s usual monastic dedication to the world of four-wheeled passenger vehicles. And since this particular writer is too talented to fire (well, for mere distraction, anyway), I’d just like to remind the TTAC family that this website is, and always will be, about cars… unless we find something really cool, like this mid-to-late 60s Thiokol Spryte Snowcat. Then we’ll save it for the traditional rule-breaking period: the weekend.
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