The “News. Any way you want it” syndrome is no longer an exclusive of China. You can have it from Ford as well. Looking for Ford success? No problem! Looking for Ford market disasters? We can deliver! Would you like the good news or the bad news? Read More >

Call me a cro-magnon cave dweller, but whenever I read these “car of the future” stories, I am reminded of a discussion I had with a Volkswagen engineer, some time in the late 70s. I was a wide-eyed copywriter and believed anything.

“I am working on the car for the year 2000,” the engineer announced.

“Wow! What will it be?” the wide-eyed copywriter asked in awe. Read More >

We (you?) had so much fun with the Ultra Van’s undersides, we’re going to do it again. I’m sorry nobody guessed the Silversides bus, but I’m guessing someone is going to recognize this.

Comedian Adam Carolla has been associated with so many efforts to bring Top Gear to the United States, it must have stung him just a little to not be included in the History Channel’s adaptation of the British car show. But instead of getting mad, Carolla decided to get even. With fans of the original Top Gear largely united in their indifference to the Ferrara/Foust/Wood presenter team, Carolla is joining up with several other Top Gear rejects to create a little competition for Top Gear USA. The show is untitled as yet, but according to Variety

Toyota may have won a near-monopoly on modern hybrid drivetrains over the last decade, but at least until recently its Hybrid Synergy Drive has been limited to use in car and crossover applications. Sensing the vulnerability, GM, Chrysler, Daimler and BMW collaborated to develop a large V8-based hybrid system capable of powering large light-duty trucks. The resulting “Two-Mode” hybrid system has largely proven to be a bust, as BMW and Mercedes have limited its use to one-time X5/X6 and ML Hybrids. GM and Chrysler have tried to sell Two-Mode versions of their full-sized trucks and SUVs with little success over the past several years, as relatively low fuel prices and high MSRPs conspired against the hybrid truck segment. Now Toyota may be targeting the hybrid pickup market, as its Hino truck unit has begun testing a hybrid drivetrain for light-duty trucks that it hopes to commercialize by net year.  Greencarcongress.com reports:

The hybrid system, which features a clutch between its engine and motor, offers an all-electric drive mode for the truck. Internal Hino testing showed an improvement in fuel efficiency of a diesel truck by about 50%.

Testing by the Japanese postal service, and several private firms should give a better sense of the efficiency benefits of this system, but that will still leave the question of price. And gas prices. And America’s willingness to buy pickups from Toyota in Detroit-like numbers. On the other hand, it’s not safe to underestimate any Toyota hybrid. If this new drivetrain can do for trucks what Hybrid Synergy did for cars, things could get interesting…

Automotive News [sub] reports that GM is bringing out its first round of buyouts since emerging from government-structured bankruptcy a year and a half ago. The General is offering skilled trades workers at 13 plants some $60,000 a head to leave the company, as the firm tries to cut down its ranks of skilled trade workers, of which it has “several thousand” too many. Qualifying workers who have already reached retirement age will receive $60k and full benefits, while younger workers will have to give up retiree benefits to qualify for the buyout. The offer is good at 13 GM plants, eight of which are closed, on standby, or scheduled to close, including Orion Assembly, where 40 percent of the recalled workers have been bumped into the UAW’s second tier typically reserved for new hires (or pushed to another factory to piss off yet more workers). GM hasn’t announced how many buyouts it is looking for in the current round, but with nearly half of Orion’s workers alone facing a 50 percent pay cut (and the UAW pushing for buyouts for months now), it seems likely that GM will be able to convince a whole mess of workers to leave their jobs. Especially if there are more “innovative provisions” coming down the pipe.

In 1973, Lotus shocked its fans by announcing that its seminal model, the Super Seven, would no longer be sold as a Lotus. Lotus’s largest dealer at the time bought the rights to the Lotus 7 design and began manufacturing the stripped-down roadster as the Caterham 7. Since then, Caterham has built versions of the 7 without interruption, cementing Colin Chapman’s most influential design as a modern enthusiast classic. Now could it all be about to happen again? Autocar reports that

Caterham has revealed plans to launch an all-new model at the Autosport International show next month. The firm is providing few clues as to the identity of the new model, but has said the model will not be another variant of the Seven and will be the first all-new Caterham since the 21 from the 1990s.

What’s most fascinating about this is that Caterham’s “entirely new” car (which, by the standards of the firm probably means the design is less than 30 years old) is coming out just as Lotus is once again moving up the sportscar ladder to roll out ever larger and more mainstream models. With the next Lotus Elise set to gain a considerable amount of weight (reportedly some 400 lbs), the Lotus faithful are doubtless hoping that Caterham snags the rights to Lotus’s mid-engined, latter-day Seven, and builds it for another 30 years. Of course, if that happens I’ll want my cut of the proceeds… not to mention a crazed R500 version. On the other hand, for all we know, Caterham is actually planning on building an SUV or four-door coupe, or some other nonsense.

We know there’s more than a little overlap between TTAC and Jalopnik, the Gawker Media empire’s car blog, so we’d like to remind our readers who do have a commenting account at Jalopnik to change their password (since Gawker was apparently too “in shock” to warn users earlier). Gawker Media was attacked by a group of hackers known as Gnosis, and at least 200,000 Gawker user accounts have been hacked, exposing commenters’ login information and allowing some Twitter accounts to be taken over and used to send spam messages. The attack on Gawker was reportedly a response to the blog pioneer’s “outright arrogance,” and some have speculated that it was related to Gawkers antagonism of the famed hacker hangout 4chan; we reckon that Lotus was somehow behind it. To find out if your account has been compromised, surf over to Gawkercheck.com, or simply change your password at Jalopnik or any other Gawker Media site. Or, you could just delete your account and become a regular here at TTAC instead. Just saying…

Drake writes:

Sajeev,

I have a 2007 Fusion with the 3.0 Duratec V6, with 83,000 miles on it.  I have owned it since new and 90% of the miles are long highway drives.  I have recently discovered that there is an engine oil leak.  I have put the engine oil dye from Ford in it to try to pin point where the leak is coming from.  It is a small leak, takes a while to get noticed (when the oil finally makes it’s way to the exhaust and smokes a bit).

Local Ford dealer does not have a clue, I have called other larger dealers in the area and had them check for service bulletins and asked if anyone has come across a similar problem and what it may be.  No luck.  Best that I and a couple of very good mechanic friends can figure is that a head gasket might be leaking.

So, I have traversed the Internet looking for and information about this problem when I came across one of your articles. Thanks!

Read More >

I’ve worked a few places where cars are tested on various types of dynos, and without exception, the cars are always “four-corner tied” to prevent both front-to-back and side-to-side motion. Do you want to know why? Watch the video.

The appropriately-named website Familycarreview.com recently got some seat time in the forthcoming 2011 Nissan Quest, and they’ve found an unusual feature for a family-oriented minivan: an “Adult Entertainment” category in its navigation system. Wildly inappropriate for a family-oriented minivan, or the key to to putting some real swagger in Nissan’s wagon? We report, you decide… [Hat Tip: our strip club-loving pals at AutoSpies]

Russia has complained long and bitterly that Western firms refuse to share technology with its home-grown auto industry, but now the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets has introduced Russia’s first home-grown hybrid cars in hopes of proving that Russia can compete in the global car industry. But, according to the WSJ, the launch of the brand known as “Yo” (“ë” in Russian) was not without its problems

Mr. Prokhorov said he intends to “break the stereotype saying Russia can’t produce good cars,” even though an executive needed three attempts to successfully start the prototype car with a mobile phone using a remote-start feature.

But then what do you expect from a Russian-built prototype of a hybrid car that’s set to cost only $10k?
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A federal judge sided yesterday with a traffic camera company by blocking anti-red light camera referendum sponsors in Houston, Texas from participating in an ongoing legal challenge. US District Court Judge Lynn N. Hughes will decide whether the November 2 vote of Houstonians against traffic cameras should be nullified. Hughes will now make his decision based solely on the arguments presented by supporters of photo enforcement — the city of Houston and American Traffic Solutions (ATS).

Read More >

Kevin Wale, head of GM China, confirmed what we had intimated a month ago: GM wants to give their Chinese joint venture partner SAIC access to GM’s sales network in the UK. “We have agreed in an MOU that we would discuss the potential for MG to be distributed in the UK,” said Wale to Reuters.

If the deal is signed, it would be unprecedented. Read More >

Thought the Toyota brand had been dealt the death blow during the recall crisis? That brand seems to be more resilient than imagined: The latest Kelley Blue Book Brand Watch study has Toyota on top “as the most-considered auto brand among new-car shoppers.” That according to a press release just released by KBB. Read More >