Fiat has released photos of its new super-mini Uno, which will initially be produced in Brazil, and may, or may not, eventually be sold in Europe as well. The emphasis is on room and a “crossover look”, not unlike Toyota’s Urban Cruiser (Scion xD). It certainly isn’t on the handsome good looks Fiats were once known for. Times change. Read More >
There was a time when Cadillacs were all really big, way bigger than a Chevy Malibu. But in the mid eighties, the natural order of things was turned upside down, with predictable results. Oh, and do you remember when a Civic was just a speck compared to a Caddy? Read More >
To say that Chrysler’s 25 percent year-over-year sales increase last month came as a surprise would be pushing the boundaries of overstatement. Chrysler’s sales and market share have been in decline for a long time, but over the past several years, the tailspin seemed to have become terminal. So, how did the Pentastar (barely) make its 95k minimum volume level and increase sales by 25 percent over April 2009? Fleet sales, for one thing: according to The Freep, TrueCar.com estimates that a full 40 percent of Chrysler’s April sales went to fleet customers.No wonder made a big deal about publicly finding Jesus on the fleet sales issue… at the end of the month (to say nothing of the conspicuous absence of retail sales numbers in its April report and massive increase in Sebring sales). And the bad news doesn’t end there. Not only did Chrysler top all automakers in per-vehicle incentives last month according to Edmunds’ monthly True Cost Of Incentives index with $3,374 on the average Mopar’s hood, they’re actually increasing incentives even further.
Since becoming Toyota’s CQO (Chief Quality Officer) in March, Steve St. Angelo couldn’t complain about a shortage of work. Sticky accelerators have been fixed on 1.5m vehicles. 1.3m Toyotas were zip-tied to keep floor mats under control. Brake software on 110,000 Priuses has been flashed. There is more to do, and “we’re getting them fixed as fast as we can,” St. Angelo said to Bloomberg.
He also found a new, and heretofore unknown failure: A failure to communicate features of the car. Which can lead to tragic misunderstandings … Read More >
TTAC Contributor David Holzman writes:
Sajeev, my ’99 Accord (2.4L 4cyl, 170k) when cold makes noises that sound like slightly loud tappets. If the engine is around 10 degrees (scan gauge) when I start the car, I’ll hear it. If the temp is more like 30 degrees or above, if I baby the car until it’s around 140-150, I won’t hear anything, but if I push it, I’ll get the noise fairly loudly. So I don’t push it. When I described it to Ray Magliozzi (Clack, from NPR’s Car Talk show) he thought it was piston slap. What do you think?
With the Mazda RX-8 being pulled from the European market for its rotary engine’s inability to pass the new Euro-5 emissions standard, we should have guessed that its days were numbered in the US market as well. Perhaps the fact that the model is one of our favorite enthusiast options available in the US made us hope against hope that it would soldier on a bit longer. No such luck. According to Motor Trend‘s “well placed source at Mazda’s North American Operations,” the RX-8 will be phased out “most likely after the 2011 model year.” And probably not just for the obvious fuel economy or capacity-utilization reasons either: RX-8 sales peaked at 23,690 units in 2004, and have been in steady decline ever since, moving only 2,217 units last year.
Ousted GM marketing boss Susan Docherty came into her own at GM as General Manager of the HUMMER brand. How well did her stewardship of that brand work out? We’ll let this picture do its thousand-words thing on that question [HT: AsianMartin’s Twitter feed, via SpeedSportLife].
Since GM Chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre began firing holdover executives, starting with former CEO Fritz Henderson, TTAC has argued that VP for Marketing Susan Docherty is a prime example of a GM lifer who “owes her career to GM’s timid and inept culture.” Having already lost the Sales VP position to GM’s rising star Mark Reuss, “leaving Docherty time to focus on the marketing side and polish up her resumé,” we figured she was on her way out. And sure enough, several embarrassments later, the announcement came today. What we didn’t expect: that former Hyundai “Marketer of the year” Joel Ewanick would replace her.
One by one, European countries will scrap their scrappage incentives this year (if they haven’t already.) With predictable results: Without the governmental amphetamine, the market will be down. How much? Read More >
As TTAC readers well know: There is a huge E85 flex-fuel loophole in the new federal fuel economy CAFE standards. Ford will drive right through that barn door-sized hole.
By the end of this year, Ford wants to deliver 370,000 flex fuel vehicles, a number which they can trade against fuel oinkers. Let’s review: A flex-fuel vehicle is one that is capable of running on E-85. But it doesn’t have to. It can also run on straight gas. Or on any mixture of the two fuels. As long as it’s E85 capable, it counts at least for a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha at the DC CAFE. Read More >
Sykesville, Maryland yesterday became the tenth jurisdiction to reject the use of photo enforcement by referendum. The town was to be the first in Carroll County to operate automated ticketing machines after leaders approved an ordinance designating three speed camera zones on February 22. These plans fell through after a group of residents collected more than enough signatures within the thirty-day deadline to put an ordinance repeal on the ballot. Sixty-one percent of Sykesville voters insisted on repealing the use of speed cameras.
When German car sales exploded in 2009, fueled by government incentives, everybody knew there would be hell to pay in 2010. Sure enough, the market cratered in January and February. In March, new car registrations were down 26.6 percent, but at least, they had caught up with 2008 pre-carmageddon levels. So the thinking went: If the market continues that way, it might get back to its old normal, and the pull-forward theorists will be proven wrong. Then came awful April … Read More >
Within the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn must have felt like he was the king. He and Louis Schweitzer were the architects of the fourth largest car making entity in the world. Then the Board of Directors chopped his legs out by vetoing his deal with Roger Penske to supply Saturn with Renault cars and, suddenly, Carlos Ghosn had a very sharp lesson. In the Renault-Nissan alliance, no-one is too big to fail. So when it came to his re-election as CEO, no-one thought it was a cut and dried affair. Well, on Thursday the 29/04/2010, Mr Ghosn received his second term at Renault. And he set out some targets to show the BoD he means business.
Reuters reports that over his next 4 year term, Ghosn envisions the following: Read More >
The very difficult indeed Valiant rear vertical trim clue had a very worthy winner in Dr Lemming. Congratulations. Now this is vertical too, and it probably won’t be nearly so difficult. It’s also possible that this fine material was used on more than one car, so we may have multiple correct answers if you can back it up.
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