The front end is new, but contrary to some assumptions, the next generation Civic is clearly not an all-new car. CAR Middle East Online caught one in desert testing, and has a full portfolio of shots awaiting your perusal and judgment. So click the link, and come back and tell us what you think. I though so.
Popular Mechanics has just published the results of the first extended test of the Volt, covering 900 miles. The results are spectacularly unimpressive: Three different drivers drove the Volt on three successive days, starting with a full charge. The EV ranges were 31, 35 and 33 miles, for an average of 33 miles. Normal driving styles were employed. That’s well below GM’s endlessly proclaimed 40+ mile range, but not exactly terrible. We’ll save that word for the fuel economy numbers: Read More >
10-10-10 marks the tenth anniversary of the first Prius sold in the US. A total of 5800 of the pioneering hybrids were sold in that first year. North American sales peaked with 183.8k in 2007, and then drooped, and are pacing to 141k units in 2010.
Note how Japan’s Prius sales have boomed, surpassing NA, as a result of government incentives. What does the future hold for NA Prius sales in the next ten years?
Got a BMW? A little short in the nookie dept? Longing back to the olden days when a car would get you the girl? Come to China!
China’s Global Times, the English writing sister publication of the rather staid party organ People’s Daily, reports that a 24-year-old lady from Shanghai is offering herself to any man for a month in exchange for the loan of a BMW for one week. Read More >
Whenever a new technology comes to market the process is fairly simple. Ridiculously expensive for the first year, then slowly the price comes down as the customers become less willing to pay the original RRP, then competition kicks in which drives the price down even further. It happened with mobile phones, big screen TV’s, DVD players, etc. But what happens if the technology is something the government wants to implement? Then, you skip step 1 with the help of tax payer money. Read More >
As GM’s IPO draws closer, GM (and the government) is doing everything they can to make GM as attractive as possible to the market. The Freep reports that GM is promoting the Volt as much as they can to highlight how much GM has changed. Unfortunately, all it takes is one pesky credit rating agency to undo all that hard work. Read More >
Hidden deep in the bowels of a rather boring story on how the China’s Traffic Control Bureau wants to implement “nine measures to better manage autos and supervise drivers” (story brought to you by the China Securities Journal via Gasgoo) is an interesting nugget of information: “The number of motor vehicles owned by Chinese citizens is of 199 million according to this year’s figure, 85 million of which are cars.”
Now THAT is interesting. Read More >
Producers of rolled steel and car manufacturers alike are casting a wary eye towards Japan. There, Toray Industries has developed technology, that, for the first time, allows carbon fiber to be used for mass produced auto bodies. According to The Nikkei [sub], Toray will start supplying Toyota and Fuji Heavy with carbon fiber for car bodies later this year. Read More >
No, that’s not a Google Street View Prius being piloted down the 101. The roof-top device is Lidar, part of the sensors that allow it to drive by itself. Perhaps out of a desire to solve a problem they helped create (texting, mobile web use, etc.), Google has come ever closer to perfecting autonomous cars. NY Times reports that Google has a fleet of seven cars plying the highways and streets of California, with paid “sitters” behind the wheel to confirm that everything is ok, as well as to conform with CA law.The cars have driven up to 1,000 miles without any human intervention, even down twisting Lombard Street, and have racked up 140k total driver-less miles. The only incident so far was someone rear ending one of the Priuses at a red light. All we need now is for judges to mandate them for lousy drivers. Read More >
Having survived my first immersion, it’s clearer than ever to me why TTAC doesn’t “do” auto shows in the usual manner. The relentless PR pressure and hype is tedious. And in some cases, it borders on the absurd or desperate, like the Isuzu pole dancers. True, without her rubbing her oversize derriere to the booming beat on the pole installed in the back of a pickup, it’s doubtful that Isuzu would have had any attention whatsoever. Like the Honda and Mitsubishi stands, for instance, which were deserted. But there were pockets of interest, genuine and contrived. Read More >
In the eighties, the European auto makers were quaking in their boots at the prospect of a “Japanische Welle” (Japanese wave). Having seen the huge damage the Japanese brands inflicted on Detroit during the seventies and early eighties, they braced themselves for a similar onslaught. It never quite happened. Now they’re wondering if the Koreans are going to succeed where the Japanese fell short. There are plenty of indications to suggest they will. In Germany, probably the most auto-chauvinistic of all the European countries, the Golf-class Hyundai i30 (above) is currently the number one selling import car, not counting VW’s captive import brand Skoda. Toyota and Honda’s European market share is down, and Hyundai’s is up, and growing quickly. Is the Hyundai Welle unstoppable? Read More >
GM has a $530m millstone around its neck. It’s the closed and unsold Antwerp plant. Nobody wants it. The Antwerp assets are turning into a liability which endangers the GM IPO. Now it looks like GM found a savior that could take the plant off their hands. Guess where he comes from. Hint: Not from Washington. Read More >
So far, if you wanted to save gas and if you didn’t want to suffer a coronary from range anxiety, you bought yourself a hybrid. The problem: They are expensive. You choose to pay Big Car instead of Big Oil. Don’t despair: Ye olde ICE still has a lot of fight in it. Read More >
This week’s “Weekend Head Scratcher” is a little different. It’ll require quite a bit of thought, so pay attention! This week we’re going to play a little game I created. It’s called “Fantasy Car Maker”! Read More >
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