We have run out of patience. We have been calm so far, listened diligently and made comments, but that is over now. If nothing changes from General Motors’ side by the end of this week, then we will be active, and there will definitely be spectacular measures from us.
Opel Work Council (Labor Union) Boss Klaus Franz glowering on German radio (via Automotive News [sub]). Meanwhile, anonymous GM sources tell the Financial Times that “Germany have expressed interest in having Magna, but there might be other [financing] sources. This is what we are currently exploring.” It doesn’t sound like anyone is anticipating peace for our time.
Is the owner of this Zap Xebra hoping the trash collector will take away this pile of junk? He may as well, because it’s been sitting there with a For Sale sign for well over six months. When I finally decided to stop and take a look at what he wants for it, I found out why. He’s been Zapped!
GM-volt.com‘s Lyle Dennis got a test drive of GM’s two-mode plugin CUV at GM’s recent PR event. First planned as a Saturn Vue (canceled due to the Saturn spin-off), then planned as a Buick rebadge (only to be murdered by Twitter), the two-mode plugin is currently homeless. Will it ever see the showroom floor? Which brand will it be sold as? How long will it take to restyle it in such a way that even the biggest fanboys won’t diss it as an obvious rebadge? Even GM executives probably don’t know yet.
We’ve missed the actual anniversary- Japan’s first “kei car” specifications were first announced on July 8 1949- but Japan’s city cars still deserve a party.Auto Motor und Sport has a 51-image gallery of Kei-cars throughout the years that is sure to delight fans of tiny, sub-liter whips. For those unfamiliar with the Kei class, can get an update at wikicars, but here are the broad strokes. Original Kei-cars were limited to 2.8 meters in length, 1 meter width and 2 meters in height, and could have no more than 150cc of displacement. The latest rule changes (in 1998) limited Keis to 3.39m in length, 1.48 meters in width and 2 meters height. Displacement is now limited to a heady 660cc, and thanks to Japanese OEM mastery of tiny engines, horsepower must now be limited to 64 hp. Otherwise, the tiny rides come in a staggering array of flavors, from work trucks to baby exotics. Though they’ll never be a viable option on American roads, let’s thank the gods of automotive diversity that these weird whips have flourished with such vigor.
For those of us who are pistonheads and think that the 21st century is going to be a clone of the 20th, this ought to be a wake-up call (along with the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, as well as the current inability of Toyota to make money in North America). Hyundai Group (which includes 50 percent owned Kia) is now the fourth largest automaker in the land. As in, all of the land/world. It just passed Ford Motor Company this month. With the upcoming major offensive by Hyundai and the ongoing downward spiral of General Messup, the only question remains: how long before Hyundai becomes number three in the world?
“The work that Crispin did was memorable and award-winning, but they have to sell cars. They’re not going to leave any stone unturned,” an unnamed marketing expert tells Automotive News [sub]. Except, of course, for the stone that has VW’s high-tech European engines under it. The big news is that a TDI Golf will be available in 2010, but if the unlovable 2.5 is the only the only gas engine on offer, VW will remain in the wilderness for some time.
After years of driving on one side of the road, Samoans are making the switch. The tiny Pacific island nation has become the latest country to change traffic patterns (the last was Ghana in 1974), but Samoa’s change-up is unique in that it is actually switching from right-hand traffic (used by 70 percent of the world’s nations) to left-hand traffic. Why? Supposedly to improve access to used vehicles from Australia and New Zealand. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, not everyone is happy with the switch. The People Against Switching Sides, or PASS campaign has held protests, villages have refused to change over and petitions have been signed. The problem with debates about traffic, though, is that compromise isn’t exactly an option.
Honda will be showing a prototype electric car at the Tokyo Auto Show in October, as the EV-adverse automaker prepares to offer a battery-electric option. And though development is going forward now, according to reports from Automotive News [sub], the Honda EV won’t be reaching the market until 2015. Honda had previously committed to its nickel-metal hydride battery technology (along with its hydrogen fuel cell system), and it’s not clear that this new vehicle represents a shift to lithium-ion technology. That might explain the long delay; Nissan’s Leaf EV and GM’s Volt EREV are supposed to go on sale in late 2010. But Honda’s not slacking, it’s just doing things the old-fashioned way. The Motor Company will be releasing electric motorcycles around the same time the Leaf and Volt come out and building from there. Sound familiar?
Whatever happened to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? Robin Leach’s TV series motivated class warriors and aspiring entrepreneurs alike, fortifying the former group’s conviction that they had a sacred duty to redistribute wealth (if only on aesthetic grounds) while inspiring rappers, coke dealers and other venture capitalists to redouble their efforts to reach ever-greater heights of conspicuous consumption. These days we have federal stimulus packages and MTV’s Cribs, which doesn’t include a single golden bath fixture (or a single book, but that’s another story). Ah, but we pistonheads will always have Pebble Beach, where we can watch old money compete with modern-day robber barons to pocket the world’s automotive crown jewels. One can almost hear Robin’s Harrow twang calling the tune: “One lucky collector bought home this 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Special, Ettore Bugatti’s personal car, for $1.38 mmmmmillion dollars.” Leach-like, the majority of the MSM would have you believe the collector car market defies economic gravity. The New York Times sets us straight.
King Henry III’s motto was qui non dat quod habet non accipit ille quod optat. He who does not give what he has does not receive what he wants. Henry Ford III is down with that. Autoweek.com reports that Crazy Henry’s not-short-of-a-bob-or-two great-great grandson spent two years as a junior high English and math teacher. So tell me what he wants, what he really wants. Three Sticks is a bit cagey on the “someday this will all be mine” front. “‘That’s not something I’m really focused on,’ he said politely, sounding like the young William Clay Ford, a guy who eventually did take over the company. ‘At this point in my career, there’s so much to learn about the auto industry and I really enjoy the learning aspect.'” So what has the 29-year-old scion (small “s”) learned? “I think the Ford products are far and away superior to our competitors right now,” he said. “I drove an Accord, Civic, Pilot, I don’t think they’re as well-designed, I don’t think they drive as well, I think our products are far ahead of them.” Absit omen.
Motorists have been hard hit by the increase in the cost of parking in in Chicago, Illinois that began with a deal struck in February. In the central business district, for example, the cost to park for an hour doubled from $1 an hour to $2 and will quadruple to $4 an hour by 2013. Meters must also now be fed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The hikes came after Mayor Richard J. Daley (D) leased the city’s 36,000 parking meters to Morgan Stanley for 75 years in return for an up-front payment of $1.15 billion. The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO), a liberal government reform group, fought back last Wednesday by filing a lawsuit hoping a judge would find the parking meter contract unlawful.
Mick Jagger once sang that “you can’t always get what you want,” and, to a degree, he was right. As a petrol head and committed environmentalist, I’ve found I’ve had to make compromises. After going crazy in my friend’s Porsche Boxster, I develop a painful pang of guilt of all the resources I wasted in the name of fun. No, really. Likewise, after driving greenly in my Toyota Yaris on a long drive (achieving 50 mpg for anyone who’s interested), I feel like I’ve watched a Russell Brand stand up show (i.e., I feel like my soul is damaged due to the absence of fun). But now it seems like Mr. Jagger’s words are out of date. Apparently, you CAN get what you want . . . .
Whale tail is the Y-shaped waistband of a thong or g-string when visible above the waistline of low-rise jeans, shorts, or a skirt that resembles a whale’s tail.Intentionally or unintentionally, a whale tail is exposed above the trousers mostly when sitting or bending, or even while standing. The frequency or occasion depends on the style of trousers, the style of underwear, and the way they are worn. Flashing whale tails became popular in the early 2000s, together with the rise of low-rise jeans and thong underwear. The trend, popularized by a number of celebrities including Christina Aguilera, Victoria Beckham, Mariah Carey, Melanie Blatt, Paris Hilton, Jordan, Anna Kournikova, and Britney Spears waned within the decade.
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