Tomorrow your humble Editor boards a plane for Michigan, en route to a date with the Chevrolet Volt. TTAC has followed the Volt’s bumpy road to production-readiness since Bob Lutz decided that the Prius had to be “leapfrogged,” and we’ve tracked every change to the Volt’s mission, message and mechanical blueprint along the way. And though cars don’t exist in a vacuum, giving the Volt a fair review will require us to leave a lot of this contextual baggage at the door.
Built on GM’s “Theta Premium” chassis alongside its Cadillac SRX sister in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, the Saab 9-4X crossover is less than completely Swedish but more than just a rebadged SRX. Specifically, at a base curb weight of 4,431 lbs (with GM’s 3 liter V6 driving the front wheels), it’s over 200 lbs more crossover than a base SRX.
Whilst doing my usual scan of today’s news I saw an article which made me do a double take. And I mean a proper “Whaaaaaaaaat?!” I saw a couple of interesting things in it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Then I saw who published it. The Tehran Times. So, treat this story with a pinch of salt. Read More >
America’s “jobless recovery” is a strange economic phenomenon: though businesses are returning to profitability, jobs are not trickling down to lift all economic boats. Though the causes and consequences of this economic conundrum are beyond the scope of a humble car blog, a snapshot of luxury/premium brand sales (via Truecar) show a similar dynamic at play in the world of car sales: luxury sales are recovering while year-to-date sales of mainstream standbys like Honda and Toyota are sitting flat (up 1.1% and 1.4% respectively). Of course the other dynamic at play in the first three quarters of 2010 is the recovery of domestic brands, but even among those successes, the luxury-premium brands are doing best (witness Cadillac sitting atop this chart, and Buick’s even faster recovery (up 57.5% YTD)). At least if you look at year-over-year percentage improvement rather than overall volume levels. Unlike past eras of economic and energy uncertainty, luxury cars, not spartan compact pickups and fuel efficient hatchbacks, are spurring recovery in the auto sector.
China isn’t the only big economy coming to play (sorry to burst your bubble, Herr Schmitt). [ED:No bubble. India is 10-15 years behind China, but they will definitely be next. China and India added will be a monster.] Just across the border, India is rising up and quickly, too. Car makers are desperately scrambling to get a foothold in the Indian market. And like the Chinese market, everyone is enjoying record growth in India. Well, almost everybody. Read More >
TTAC Commentator npbheights writes:
Hi Sajeev, I have a 2009 Toyota Corolla XLE with just over 45,000 miles on it. I purchased the car brand new with 52 miles on it and have had every oil change performed at the selling Toyota dealer at the recommended 5,000 mile increments. I know it sounds a little silly, but before you laugh, the dealer gives you free tires and batteries for life if you have all of the “scheduled maintenance” performed there. On a Corolla, the book specifies oil changes at 5K and air filters once in awhile and that’s about it. I am playing this game because it’s not worth getting crushed to death by a car over an oil change (like someone in my area two weeks ago) and I intend on getting my fair share of tires. They have already coughed up two. When it comes to unscheduled maintenance, such as replacing the alternator at 38,000 miles (I was not pleased about that) I wench it myself. Said dealership wanted $720.00, I bought a good used one on ebay for $50.00 and it works fine. New front brake pads: $38.00. This simple car is ‘idiot simple’ to work on and I enjoy it. Anyway – On to my 2 problems.
Porsche has made much of its hybrid drivetrain development efforts, pointing out that its founder helped create the world’s first hybrid drivetrain one hundred years ago. But thus far, the talk has centered on Porsche’s “rolling hybrid laboratory,” the 911 GT3R Hybrid, and the Hybrid Cayenne, with the plug-in 918 Hypercar lurking across the horizon. But, Porsche’s development chief Wolfgang Duerheimer tells Automotive News [sub]
In the future, we will have hybrid drive in every model line
First up will be a Panamera with the Cayenne’s hybrid V6 drivetrain, arriving sometime next year. Duerheimer won’t give a timeline for hybrid versions of the 911, Boxster and Cayman, but he does admit that hybrid drivetrains aren’t the only way for a sportscar firm to shave off the 41 grams of C02 per kilometer that Porsche needs gone by 2015.
Read More >
Five years ago when it was new, this Scion xB cost $14,030 (no-haggle Scion pricing, fully equipped). Another ad for a similar ’06 xB touts: “Hard To Find”. I realize that dealers’ asking prices for used cars are negotiable. But as the owner of an identical low mileage ‘O5, this makes me wonder whether I’ve hit the depreciation lottery.
Police in Victoria, Australia announced today that the point-to-point average speed camera system on the Hume Highway has been turned off until officials are convinced that a fatal accuracy flaw had been fixed. Officials admitted that at least nine drivers have been falsely convicted of speeding on that road since 2007. Officials only began to double-check the accuracy of the Redflex automated ticketing machine after police went to seize the car of a young woman accused of driving a low-powered economy car at high speed.
“It’s been a failure of the system in terms of 100 percent accuracy,” Redflex CEO Graham Davie said on 3AW radio. “It happened because of a technical glitch in the clock system…. I’m sorry this event has occurred.”
For a while, TTAC has been tracking a strange story: Instead of exporting cars, Japanese carmakers (or should we call them factorymakers?) increasingly resort to exporting car factories. The higher and higher yen makes exports prohibitively expensive. On the other hand, a higher and higher yen buys more and more production capacity abroad. From Nissan to Mitsubishi, there is a chorus that sings the song that suddenly, people in low wage countries can make high quality cars. Now nobody would assume that Japanese carmakers plan a wholesale desertion of the land of Nippon, right? Wrong.
Today, we find an odd statement in The Nikkei [sub]: Toyota denies that they will leave Japan. At least not now … Read More >
Most divorces are a bit messy, and the Ford/Mazda separation is no exception. Sometimes, it tales a while for reality to sink in. Here are the latest dispatches from divorce court. Read More >
A tipster sent us these shots of a semi-camouflaged sedan plying Texas’s I-10… can you help identify this mystery machine?
If Aston can rebadge a Toyota city car, why shouldn’t VW let Bugatti or Lamborghini make its own “yach tender” version of this forthcoming VW Up? In addition to VW, Seat, and Skoda versions, VW has already said that even Audi will get a crack at this boxy wee beastie… so why not shoot the moon with a Bugatti Petit Sport Sang de Navet?
Aston Martin’s decision to sell a worked-over Toyota iQ has raised some serious questions for “brand values” advocates across the internet of late. Does an aristocratic sportscar brand need to take on the problems of urban congestion and carbon intensity? Does the Cygnet’s noblesse oblige PR value outweigh the furor of countless Aston Martin aspirants at the thought of their beloved brand becoming a glorified Toyota tuner house? The answer to both of these questions is apparently yes…
Read More >
TTAC tested the street version of this car a few years ago: check it out for a classic example of mid-RF-era TTAC reviews, complete with withering attention to interior-quality issues and not-so-gentle comments regarding the unwillingness of the average automaker to purchase a Ford.
At the time, the Focus sold for about fifteen grand. That was for the street car. How much does a racing Focus cost? The answer: One dollar. The answer is also $2500. And $6000. And $25,000. Confused yet?
Recent Comments