Did we say that Toyota is casting a wary eye on Hyundai? The Koreans are on a roll. They are boosting their production capacity in China to 1 million units per year. And they do that right in front of my nose, in Beijing. Read More >

There is no “all clear” at Toyota. The company is still “on a crisis footing a year after the first of a wave of recalls of more than 12m vehicles.” This is the bottom line of an article the Financial Time wrote after talking to Shinichi Sasaki, the board member responsible for quality at Toyota. What is even more interesting: The article was put on The Nikkei [sub] newswire, which brought it to worldwide attention.

Sasaki makes some alarming statements: Read More >

I showed a big chunk of the Clipper Coupe’s roof line, and jpcavanaugh got it right away. Congratulations. Now here’s something where google likely won’t be of help to you. It will probably take a former (or current) owner to figure this one out.

When Chrysler revealed its Five Year plan last year, product plans showed the PT Cruiser dieing off after 2010 with no planned replacement. Then, earlier this year, Chrysler rebadged a Lancia Delta and brought it along to the Detroit Auto Show without saying much about it. Now, Motor Trend says a production version of the Chryslerized Delta Concept will be shown at the next Geneva Auto Show, raising the possibility that the Lancia could come to the US… and soon. Sure, it’s possible that the Delta will simply be for other markets where the Lancia/Chrysler two-face will show its Chrysler side (the UK and Brazil come to mind), but Chrysler needs to beef up its US volume to keep the turnaround turning around. And that means not only replacing the PT, but bringing customers in with something new and fresh. Could a PT Corsa fit the bill?

…and this is Fiat’s. The Italian brand left the US market in 1982, but it has returned with a first ad that seems like it was made sometime in the late 1990s. It’s a good thing the 500 has been relatively well–received, because it isn’t cheap and it clearly doesn’t have a fraction of the MINI’s marketing mojo. Between this, the “my tank is full” Ram ads (not to mention the entire first wave of “New Chrysler” ads), and the hallucinogenic Caravan spots, it seems like Chrysler’s Olivier Francois should be up for some kind of special award this year…

China sold more cars last year than Volkswagen built Bugs in nearly 30 years. This year, China will make, sell and buy probably more than 17m cars, and Volkswagen owns a good chunk of that market.

Sou Weiming, vice president of Volkswagen Group China (and himself an import from Singapore) said VW sold 1.6 million units in China in the first ten months and unless the sky will drop, they will have sold 2 million by the end of the year. Read More >

Don’t thank us GM… thank George W. Bush. Also, do we remember what happened when Chrysler tried this? History seems to indicate that paying back every penny is the best “thank you” of all.

Every year when the first snows of the year hit the road, you’ll always be treated to some kind of madness as motorists struggle to adapt to the new conditions. This is especially true here in the Pacific Northwest, where our metropolitan centers see maybe a few inches of snow per year but our drivers are in no way used to the white-and-slippery stuff. Each year, when we get snow on the roads for a few days, I see the kinds of sights that make me despair for our collective automotive competency: front-drive minivans with chains on the rear wheels, rear-drive pickups with chains on the front, and 4×4 pickups getting stuck in a few inches of drifted snow. Or, as this video of Seattle drivers grappling with snow earlier this week shows, on some occasions the streets simply descend into a pirouetting symphony of low-traction incompetence. What’s the worst snow-related driving offense you’ve ever seen?

BG writes:

Hi Sajeev! I am a big fan of TTAC and visit it almost every day. I have a question for you, so here it is:

We’ve heard so much about the goodness of wide wheel tracks, where the wheels are pushed to its corner. And the benefit of this seem natural and easy to comprehend for me, better handling, better looks, perhaps even better interior room if the wheel wells can be made less deep. It’s the other end of the spectrum, the narrow wheel tracks, that I can’t understand. What could possibly be the benefit of having a narrow wheel tracks? For some reason it used to be so popular, nearly all cars featured them. Even after the wide tracks was popularized by Pontiac in the 1960s, most cars still came with wheels that are placed well inside its openings. The only reason for them I can think of to justify that is if you want to use wheel skirts or low, “barely there” wheel openings, the Bathtub Nash being a good example. But most of these cars with narrow tracks have full wheel openings, at least in front. Why the narrow tracks then, I wonder?

Read More >

Although it did what it needed to do, it looks awful

Peter Birtwhistle, designer of the legendary short-wheelbase Audi Sport Quattro (above), tells Autocar what he really thinks about its design… and just in time for Audi to announce that its Ur Quattro-inspired Quattro Concept will be built in limited numbers. Birtwhistle explains that the real cause for Ur-ugliness was “stretching the Quattro look over [the shorter Audi 80 platform],” a challenge that also echoes with the Quattro Concept, which slaps retro design elements on a short-wheelbase version of the handsome RS5. As a result, the Quattro Concept looks every bit as awkward and disjointed as the Sport Quattro, with just a touch of Camaro-esque retro-self-consciousness. But as Birtwhistle’s line reminds us, sometimes ugly is the best way to emphasize purpose.

The news that JLR might move at least some of their production out of “leafy Warwickshire” to some dusty place in China had people worried. I mean, the mere thought that the Tata-owned brand would lose its Britishness to Chinese schlock.

Don’t worry. Be happy. Read More >

Bloomberg reports that the General Services Administration has increased the percentage of hybrids in its fleet purchases from about one percent to at least ten percent since President Obama took over. And you better believe that the government isn’t buying the same hybrids that American consumers are.

The U.S. government buys hybrids almost exclusively from Ford and GM. It bought only 17 Prius models and five of Honda’s Civic hybrids in the past two years. Chrysler Group LLC stopped making hybrids in 2008 after about two months of production.

The government purchased about 64 percent of GM’s Chevy Malibu hybrid models and 29 percent of all Ford Fusion hybrids manufactured since Obama took office in 2009, the data show. GM stopped making the Malibu hybrid in 2009 after lack of consumer demand. GSA also bought about 14 percent of Ford Escape hybrids.

According to Bloomberg’s math, a quarter of the hybrids built by GM and Ford since Obama took office have been purchased by the government. And the fleet buys weren’t cheap… for taxpayers or the automakers.

Read More >

The drawn-out drama of who would get what was left of the busted SAIC-Ssangyong deal has come to an – at least preliminary- end.  Oneindia reports that India’s Mahindra & Mahindra bought the pieces of Korean Ssangyong. TTAC readers are not surprised. Read More >

The Las Cruces, New Mexico city council on Monday agreed once again to continue using a photo enforcement program that has proved to cause a significant increase in accidents. The jurisdiction in May reluctantly complied with a New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) order shutting down automated ticketing on state roads. Officials ignored the evidence at the time that accidents had increased, not decreased as promised, at photo enforced locations.

Read More >