Seventy seven years. That’s how long Allen Swift owned this 1928 Rolls-Royce P1 Roadster, a graduation gift he received in the same year. When he passed away at the age of 102, what may well be the world’s longest car ownership relationship ended (Guinness doesn’t keep this particular record). But Rolls-Royce does, and in their meticulous record books, he was undoubtedly the longest owner. RR bestowed him with a crystal Spirit of Ecstasy award in 1994. The Rolls, built in Springfield, Massachusetts, had 170,000 miles on the clock, and Mr. Swift drove it right up to the year of his death (2005). It reputedly “runs like a Swiss watch”, and is still cosmetically perfect. It now resides in the Springfield History Museum, as per an arrangement Mr. Swift made with them in when he was 99.
At least one Curbside Classic owner might be able to best Mr. Swift’s long run. This 1950 Ford was bought by its owner in 1964, when he was fourteen. If he lives to at least 92, he’ll have Mr. Swift beat. How about you; what’s the longest you’ve owned a car?
The core consumers would be interested in technology and kind of early adopters
Coda Automotive senior VP for sales and distribution Mike Jackson (yes, the former GM marketing whiz) describes the market for his firm’s forthcoming electric car. So what is Jackson’s “kind-of-early-adopter” Californian consumer looking to get out of the Coda? A redesigned Mitsubishi platform, built and bodied in China for one thing. Chinese lithium-ion batteries delivering “90-120” miles of range, and guaranteed for eight years or 100k miles (3 years, or 36k miles for everything else) for another. 134 HP and 221 lb-ft, good for a top speed of 80 MPH. An 8-inch navigation screen with real-time traffic updates. And for you, they’ll throw in 17-inch alloy wheels. But the Coda EV’s most striking feature (at least in terms of appealing to tech-oriented Californians) is best summed up in the measured prose of AutoWeek
It has fairly bland, universal styling and is roughly the size of a Chevrolet Cobalt.
Since taking office in June, UAW President Bob King has ramped up the rhetoric level at Solidarity Hall considerably, as he seeks to portray the union as a defender of the American middle class. But, as the old adage goes, actions speak louder than words… and King’s actions this week couldn’t paint a clearer picture of the UAW’s priorities. Read More >
Jeep has released the first pictures of its next refreshed product, the 2011 Jeep Wrangler, but the changes don’t exactly jump out. That’s because, besides a new body-color hardtop and five new exterior colors, the changes have all taken place on the inside. You know, where they’re most needed. Have they done the job? Hit the jump for the first peek…
Some of the world’s biggest automakers are relying on continued strong growth in the Chinese market in the face of sluggish US and European sales, but those plans are facing a challenge as Chinese sales have slowed this summer. Total vehicle sales grew 14.4 percent over July 2009 levels last month (sales grew 70 percent year-over-year in July 2009), the lowest rate of growth the Chinese car market has seen since March of last year. China’s government is doing its part, instituting a $443 subsidy for cars with 1.6 liters displacement or less in the beginning of July. But that doesn’t seem to be helping much, as the percentage of cars with 1.6 liter engines or smaller actually declined last month. What’s a growth-addicted automaker to do (besides slash prices)? The same thing they do in every other market: extend credit in hopes of boosting sales and upselling customers on more expensive cars.
I will be appearing on Fox Business again, at 11:15 Eastern (8:15 Pacific) to talk Volt and GM’s IPO. Please excuse a brief slowdown in content this morning, and rest assured, TTAC will be back in action ASAP.
We are not even considering abandoning our campaign. Like every guarantee offer, ours also has conditions and these conditions are presented very clearly.
Opel’s sales and marketing boss Alain Visser fires back at Germany’s Wettbewerbszentrale (competition authority), which recently accused Opel of misleading consumers with its newly-launched “Lifetime Guaranty.” The Wettbewerbzentrale had argued that Opel’s warranty was “a lie” because, despite having no time limit, it only applies for the first 160,000 kilometers… which by definition is less than a car’s lifetime, right? According to Opel’s Visser [via Automotive News [sub]], that might not be the case.
0%. Sounds good doesn’t it? The title pawn billboard clearly showed that big beautiful numerical goose egg with some illegible lettering underneath a mini-asterisk. “Interesting?” I thought. Since I was stuck in Atlanta with my 17th traffic jam of the week, I decided to give the place a call and see how good the deal really was.
Well the 0% was good for balances over $2500… for 30 days. Then there were fees. Then a recalculation of the smaller balance. Finally I just got ticked off after over a minute’s worth of recalculations and doubletalk, “Let’s say I come by and get a $1000 loan. How much interest would I pay the first month?”. The answer came out to 17.6%.
A San Diego, California Superior Court judge on Monday found elements of typical red light camera court evidence packages to be inadmissible hearsay. Eight consolidated cases were dismissed by Commissioner Karen A. Riley after she considered a motion to exclude evidence generated by automated ticketing vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS). In light of the recent Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts ruling by the US Supreme Court (view ruling), Riley found the accused had a right to confront ATS witnesses.
China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) has formed an alliance of 16 Chinese government-owned businesses, aimed at unifying EV standards and speeding up research and development. According to CRIenglish.com, the non-profit group has a startup budget of about $186m, but Peoples Daily claims the group is ramping up to spend $14.7b on EV development over the next ten years (time to start worrying about an EV subsidy gap?). The alliance is said to include the country’s top three oil majors, top two power grid operators, battery and charging equipment makers, as well as the automakers China FAW Group Corporation, Dongfeng Motor Corporation and China Changan Automobile Group. And though this smacks of a response to US government spending on EV stimulus, the Chinesse industry is not exactly praising the new state-owned alliance with one voice.
In Europe, governments are ramping up their electric car programmes in order to usher in a new era of alternative propulsion vehicles. Some more successfully than others. And just as the countries are doing their part, the automakers are doing theirs. GM has an Ampera (or “Volt”, as our North American friends will know it as) in the offing while Nissan preps the Leaf. Much has been made of this fight, in part because it is playing out globally. But in Europe another contender is looking to steal the march on GM and Nissan: Indian upstart Tata Motors.
Editor’s Note: With GM’s S-1 IPO filing hitting the web today, every IPO and auto industry analyst is weighing in on the offering, and the state of GM. Here’s a collection of some of today’s more notable comments.
It looks to me that GM should be worth no more than Ford. If that’s the case, then the taxpayers will lose about 50% on their investment.
Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop.com, commenting in the WSJ [sub] on GM’s IPO. More analyst commentary on GM’s just-released S-1 filing after the jump.
The most interesting section of every S-1 filing is undoubtedly the “risks” section, in which companies are legally compelled to disclose all possible material risks associated with investing in their IPOs. Unfortunately, these risks are typically overstated, as no firm on the verge of going public wants to run into trouble with the SEC for under-reporting risk. As a result, many of the risks disclosed are fairly mundane, everyday risks in the world of business (currency, commodity price, and other economic fluctuations, etc). At the same time, companies rarely give reporters a full tour of their major risk areas the way these sections do, so they’re usually worth a read. GM’s just-released S-1 filing is no exception…
The classic front bench seat, affording seating for six (well, usually there was a bench in the back too, but not always). But just how often was it used? My father couldn’t bear to have anyone sit that close to him, so the middle spot in the family Fairlane languished. That’s right, it wasn’t really about family at all, but for your sweetie to slide over and sidle up real close to the man behind the wheel. Did you ever see it the other way around? And with a necker’s knob to go with it, your right hand was never in bind, no matter how tight the corner.
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