Is the Toyota FT-CH the first car deliberately designed to be a troll? It combines all the trigger elements that have kept servers warm since teh interwebs tubes were first hooked up: French, Low-CO, anti-Global Warming, Hybrid, Prius, Toyota, and Questionable Styling. Did I miss something? Read More >

Between the tooling for the old Saab 9-5 being shipped off to China and GM “starting” the wind down process, even the most optimistic, “fuel tank is half full” members of the auto world are starting to think that it’s “game over” for Saab. Well, here’s the final nail (barring a completely audacious bid, from an equally audacious company, who want to spend millions of pounds on a damaged brand) in the coffin of Saab. The Local, a Swedish website, reports that GM are officially killing all plans to bring the new 9-5 to production. “It would be so sad that it never sees the light of day despite the fact that it’s a fantastic car,” admits GM vice chairman Bob Lutz.
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BMW is rapidly becoming the Swiss Army Knife of automobile brands. Elegant and well-trained coupes, estates and sedans? Check. Interested in CUVs of both respectable and questionable utility? They got you covered. Though the X6 and 5-series Gran Tourismo are answers to a question nobody asked, the smaller, racier 750i Sport treads dangerously into well established 5-series territory. And while the 5-er and 7-er’s pasts are more than a little intertwined, should history repeat itself?

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Volkswagen has grand plans for the U.S.A. Volkswagen wants to “increase sales and market share in 2010.” Ok, who doesn’t.  Now, for the delusions of grandeur part: By 2018, Volkswagen wants to more than triple annual car sales in the U.S. to 1 million a year, with  Audi accounting for 200,000 sales, reports the Wall Street Journal. Seen any flying pigs lately?

Why 2018? By 2018, Volkswagen wants to rule the world, and trounce Toyota in unit sales, profitability, customer satisfaction, innovation, and most likely size and quantity of cup-holders also.

Everybody in the company has to do his or her share for the grand plan.
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Running into this Japanese Domestic Market Toyota Hi-Ace in Eugene was about as unusual as the cold weather that week. It was a frosty December morning after an overnight low in the single digits; pretty uncommon hereabouts. Well, it did have British Columbia plates on it, so that helps explains it. But it’s right hand drive, and a long way from home. Read More >

Blogging, like most human pursuits, is perennially torn between two competing impulses: getting paid and keeping it real. On the internet, where the basest pandering tends to yield the most bounteous rewards in traffic (if not discourse), the temptation to lose focus in search of new traffic is ever present. In a striking piece entitled “The Awesomeness Manifesto,” Jalopnik Editor-in-Chief Ray Wert admits that over the past year (or so) he and his website have strayed too far from the path of realness. The impetus for the decline in standards: pressure from Gawker bosses, and what he paints as a year of post-carpocalyptic malaise.

A year ago this month, I caved. I did what I was told, dampening our smart and snarky voice. I moved Murilee from daily to weekend duty and let go of many new names. Instead of looking forward while remembering the past, I forced my overworked and undersupported team to stumble blindly across the post-Carpocalypse automotive desert. We chased the same carrot as Autoblog, Motor Trend, and the rest, pursuing what we were told was the “growth segment” of the automotive universe — general consumers and non-enthusiasts…. we were hungry for cheap traffic, and we gorged, competing over meaningless press releases and page-view-whoring galleries because there was nothing else on the table. And dammit, we were good at it.

The good news is that Wert says he’s sorry. Jalopnik, he says, will once again focus on “a new breed of enthusiast… waiting to be freed from the shackles of a crossover culture.” The not-so-good news?

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If even the DetN prints it, then we can assume it’s official: China’s total light vehicle sales came in at 13.6m, slightly higher than the estimates. The Chinese car market grew 45 percent compared to 2008. This according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association. China’s official auto sales data for 2009 are scheduled to be released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers next week, but should not differ much from the figure which was put on the wire by the state news agency Xinhua.

Here are some of the largest players:
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The Toyota Prius.

According to Japan’s JADA dealer association data, quoted by the Nikkei [sub], Toyota’s Prius became the first hybrid to take the prime spot on Japan’s annual sales ranking of all cars, including minivehicles. 2009 Sales of the Prius jumped nearly 300 percent to 208,876 units.
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We’ve got a two-for-one deal on today’s wild-ass rumors, as neither seems likely to amount to much. First off, GM’s Jon Lauckner caught a headline at the WSJ by conjecturing that the Volt’s price “could be notably lower” than the anticipated $40,000. “We have until this summer to figure that out,” Lauckner said. Meanwhile, The Atlantic‘s Daniel Inviglio ran a few numbers, and came up with some rough estimates about possible amortization compared to a Toyota Prius at different price points ($40k, $30k, $25k). Even at $30k, according to Inviglio’s analysis, you’d have to drive 3,350 miles per month to see an economic benefit over the Prius. Yikes!

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Hi Sajeev and Steve, I’m looking to buy a new car in the next year or two.  I have a 2006 Toyota Corolla CE with 35k on the clock.  It’s a manual transmission, which is the only thing that’s kept me from going insane.  When I bought it, I didn’t have much choice in the matter (time crunch) and the price and gas mileage (something like 41 mpg hwy, though I regularly get 35 mpg in stop and go traffic).  It has been servicable, reliable (mostly), cheapish, and gas efficient.  There is nothing wrong with it, other than it’s just kind of boring.

I’m looking for something a little more fun.  I want something that is fun to drive, not just a machine to get from point A to point B.  I used to have a fabulous 1991 Nissan 240SX SE Fastback (again, manual) that I loved.  However, I moved to Phoenix and didn’t have the funds (because of the move) to take care of the things that it needed.  I still regret selling it. So now I’m looking for:
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First it was the Prius, now Audi has come out with an ad featuring failed suicide. In both cases, the intended message (our car doesn’t spew poison) gets a bit lost in shuffle due to the fact that consumers of these products are portrayed attempting suicide. So this is what Audi’s CMO meant when he said rational arguments don’t work in the marketplace. Unfortunately, as the California Air Resources Board helpfully points out, diesel fumes contain arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, nickel, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. So, you know, professional driver on a closed course, and all that. Don’t try this at home, kids!

GM’s VP got a guest spot on Edmund’s Inside Line to promote his “to-do list for 2010.” The top two spots on the list are dedicated to Lutz’s resolution to “remain focused on the product above all else,” presumably because “stop repeating self” was cut by GM PR. But number three on Lutz’s list is of considerably more interest. Labeled “change minds,” Lutz uses the entry to defend the General’s “perception gap” hobbyhorse. You see, when GM accuses consumers of being too stupid to understand how great GM’s products are, they aren’t actually calling consumers stupid. In hopes of clearing up the confusion, Lutz does what any other savvy marketer would do: call the media stupid.

Let me digress for a moment and say that I’ve seen it written that GM’s marketing strategy is based on the fact that the consumer is too dumb to know what great vehicles it makes. I take huge issue with that. That’s an example of the media trying to ascribe some of the old GM arrogance where none exists.

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After registering a 33% increase in sales for December 2009 (albeit with a rumored 35 percent fleet mix), Ford aren’t letting the grass grow under their feet. industry.bnet.com reports that GM and Ford are to announce the updated versions of their in-car communications systems. Ford announced first that their “Sync” system is turning more towards Apple for new applications, despite the system being developed with Microsoft. Naturally, Microsoft is free to develop Sync-like features for others car makers. Doug Vandagens, director of Ford’s Connected Services Solutions Organisation justified this move at a press conference by saying that many Apple iPhone customers are customising their phones with Apple, therefore, Ford had to follow that trend. A clear indication of Ford marketing to towards younger customers, with the Fiesta being pushed at young, trendy types. GM will have an announcement tonight about their updated GM OnStar.

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Speaking to Bloomberg yesterday, GM Sales Boss Susan Docherty called December’s sales results “very encouraging.” Her argument: heavy fleet sales in December 2008 explain why December 09 results look worse by comparison. But spinning sales results as the product of conscious fleet percentage reductions is just one longstanding GM tradition that Docherty indulged in: talking points touting falling incentives and improved inventory weren’t far behind. None of which is necessarily indicative of a satisfactory performance. In fact, if you dissect the spin, it’s clear that what lies beneath is not nearly as attractive as the PR would have you believe.

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Honda, Toyota, Ford, Chevy, Tata, Renault and Volkswagen are all gunning for India’s small car market, with a number of new models unveiled or featured at today’s India Auto Expo. Some, like the Renault ULC, or “Ultra Low Cost” car still haven’t been revealed. For a look at some of the competitors that are on the road or have just been unveiled, check out our gallery below. With Toyota and Volkswagen publicly aiming for ten percent market share (and others surely hoping for a similar performance), the competition couldn’t be more cutthroat.