Mission-critical musical lyric: “you are the victim.”
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Category: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Hey, someone from Jaguar talked to the press about the firm’s forthcoming sportscar and let them use their name! Jag’s Julian Rendell tells Autoweek that an “affordable, front-engine sportscar” is likely to be approved by management. No kids, it won’t be an R8-caliber supercar, but rather a long-awaited F-Type. Only it will be called the XE. Which sounds like a trim level on some D-segment commuter car.
Former McLaren designer Jim Doyle has announced that his firm JJAD will build 500 of these all-electric P1-E sportscars by 2012. An electric sportscar that goes 200 miles on a plug-in charge! Where do they come up with these ideas?
Sometimes cars are just hunks of metal and plastic, thrown together to transport you from home to the workplace. And sometimes cars are alive with a romantic, adventurous spirit which transcends the petty concerns of mobility and efficiency. Via Jalopnik comes this four-part Shell Documentary on the 1958 Coupe Des Alpes. While you’re watching Alfas, Triumphs, Porsches and Benzes battle it out over the passes and switchbacks of the French and Italian alps, you may find yourself wondering if this really was the peak of vehicular romanticism. You may also find yourself out of a job if you watch all four parts at work. Which would be worth it. You can always find another job. Tip o’ the hat to Mr Paul Niedermeyer.
How would you react to a spirited encounter with a Porsche GT3?
Can you say price war? How else is Toyota going to shift 180k Priora when the market for hybrids has tanked (Prius sales down 44.7 percent in December) and Honda’s Insight has arrived to do battle? In their best year, Toyota shifted 181,221 gas – electric hybrids. The obvious answer: they’re not– barring a sudden recovery of the American automotive market and an increase in fuel prices. (Federal gas tax hike?) Could be. As far as the Insight’s concerned, ToMoCo isn’t. US Prez Jim Lentz told Ward’s Auto there’s room in the market for three hybrids. “You’re going to have Honda at the entry end. You’re going to have Prius kind of in the center, and you’re going to have (the) Lexus (HS 250h) on the luxury side,” he says. “It gives consumers clear choices, a large array of hybrid products.” So much for the Ford Fusion or any GM hybrid, then. Sad; but true?
“Here in Michigan we have a problem: the automobile industry. Thanks to foreign competition and the doubtful management of the Big Three, the state’s economy is in serious trouble. Should we just sell the state to the Chinese? There is a history of this in Michigan – we once traded the city of Toledo to Ohio in exchange for the upper peninsula. So perhaps it would be a good idea. But what would be a good price?
Mrs J, Michigan”
The New York Times reports that 600 GM employees “accepted a company invitation to demonstrate as reporters walked to a G.M. press conference Sunday morning.”
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