With about $34.4b in debt and a selling rate that’s being propped up by incentives and fleet sales, Ford ain’t out of the woods yet by a long shot. But compared to the ongoing debacles in the RenCen and Auburn Hills, things are looking downright sunny under the sign of the Blue Oval. Most of the credit for that tends to go to CEO Alan Mulally, who left Boeing to assume control at Ford in 2006. There are people who want him gone. Read More >
BMW has filed trademark registrations for a series of new car names. According to reports, the names registered include i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8, i9 and E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9. The M50d, Urbanic, Gran Coupe, Compactive, and Compactive Tourer names were also filed.
Autocar reports on fresh brand-equity casualties in BMW’s battle for mainstream territory. According to our sophisticated car name evaluation system, “Compactive Tourer” is the only moniker in this bunch that comes close to making the cut. But hey, it’s better than naming sub-1-Series BMWs after fractions. Or worse.
The first thing I thought when I stumbled across these pictures on Flickr while searching for a photo for the previous post, was that they must be photoshopped right-wing agitprop. Not so, it turns out. According to the site mexicoreporter.com, a Fiat dealership on Avenida Insurgentes in Mexico City has changed its name to Obama Motors. As a result, we get these images which look like something straight out of a Tea Partier’s Government Motors nightmare. You just can’t make this stuff up… [UPDATE: Having successfully solved America’s major political issues, comments on this thread are now closed. Just enjoy the funny pictures.]
When we wrote yesterday that GM’s „car of the future,“ to be shown at the upcoming Shanghai Expo, “looks more like an overgrown Segway scooter,” we meant it in jest. Turns out they are serious. It IS an overgrown Segway scooter. Read More >
Artist Jeremy Dean goes “Back To Futurama,” with this “horse-drawn testament to the collapse of the auto-industry.” [via animalnewyork.com, HT Richard Chen]
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One of the few things TTAC has in common with the Weblogs Inc/AOL juggernaut Autoblog is a weird fascination with landau roofs, opera tops, and all manner of roof-paddery. But what was developing into a friendly rivalry to see who could come up with the ugliest aftermarket roof treatment has run out of control: there’s no way we will ever be able to top this padded-roofed Camaro for sheer unnecessary tastelessness. Congratulations, guys.
Umm, what’s that strange looking motorcycle up ahead? Read More >
How about 7 minutes and 48 seconds worth of Nissan Juke B-rolls? That this car exists isn’t puzzling: Europe is forever producing bizarre little segment-busters that look like they were styled by an eldritch abomination. What boggles the mind is that Nissan is going to try to sell this Versa-based “crossunder” in the US. Stare at the footage for a bit and try to imagine what business in your community you could see one of these in front of, and you’ll see what we’re on about. [Warning: more than 3 minutes of uninterrupted viewing could cause complete loss of sanity and/or a new appreciation for Toyota-bland styling]
We knew that production of HUMMER H3 and H3Ts was continuing, as an unnamed fleet buyer has ordered the final batch of 849 units from GM’s Shreveport plant, but that’s not the only Zombie nameplate that GM just can’t seem to kill. Automotive News [sub] reports that 1,037 Saturn Outlooks were built last month “to utilize existing materials” according to GM spokesfolks. According to production stats published at GMI, about 3,000 Saturn Vues were also built in February at GM’s Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico. Is GM having brand separation anxiety, or are zombie car nameplates as hard to kill as their undead namesakes?
Or is it the other way around? Based on the latest readings from our official TTAC losing-the-plot-ometer, Porsche is still at least ten years away from matching this spectacular achievement in short-sighted brand narcissism.
Draw your own conclusions. [ABC San Diego via Jalopnik]
Practice for your own sudden unintended acceleration event now, at toyotasimulator.com.
As tipster starbird80 notes, “you see the strangest things on eBay!” But a Vista Cruiser Coupe (or is that a shooting brake)? Surely not…
This is left brain – right brain weekend. While the more image driven can submerge themselves in pictures of old car ads, the other faction can unleash their inner nerd with abandon. Yesterday, we covered how ABC had entered the grail of automotive disaster-fakery, previously populated by NBC and CBS. ABC’s smoking gun video had been torn to shreds.
Today, we turn our attention to the man who aided and abetted the tricksters: Associate professor David Gilbert of the renowned Southern Illinois University. His work has been inspected by Exponent, a research company hired by Toyota. Hired by Toyota? Well, that should discredit Exponent immediately. Not so fast.
Crash Sled thankfully has found a full copy of Exponent’s retort to Gilbert’s machinations. The report is hosted on the ABC website, so we can assume it passed ABC’s scrutiny, for what that may be worth. Let’s look at the report a little closer.
Warning: This discussion needs a basic understanding of electric circuitry. If that’s not your thing, then don’t waste you time reading further. We’ll leave you to Sunday’s pictures with the message that Gilbert is a charlatan extraordinaire, and that whoever put him on the stand to make a case against Toyota needs to have his or her head examined. However, should you own a 2010 Toyota Avalon, then you have slight cause for concern. Read More >
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