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I understand the need for Harley enthusiasts to look tough. How else do you explain all the leather, the metal, the skulls, the buxom blondes in tow wearing leather, metal and skulls. But why is it a good idea to put a giant metal crest on the armrest of the 2010 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson edition?..

Once upon a time you could tell a BMW or Mercedes' engine size by its name. People used to marvel when I'd tell them those alphanumeric (or just numeric) names weren't just four randomly assigned digits. The first letter/number indicates the Class/Series and the subsequent numbers indicate engine displacement...

The number of Canadian automotive publications are few and far between. There are only a handful of magazines and Web sites, with a band of dedicated journalists who do their best without the resources we enjoy south of the border. Devoted newspaper sections are also of note, specifically the Toronto Star's monster weekly Wheels section...

This picture was taken at the Beverly Connection mall parking garage in West Hollywood. Note how I have parked the GLK350 in this compact parking space. True, I probably could have parked a bit better, but there was really no point because I could see by all the other parked cars that the guy who would eventually park next to me would be equally crooked...

So I was interested to read on Inside Line yesterday that GM is promising to cut eight as yet unspecified nameplates from its product portfolio by 2012. Wait a second, eight? Eight is not enough...

We're currently working on a crossover comparison test featuring the Nissan Murano, Ford Edge and Toyota Venza. While at the track yesterday, Magrath, Sadlier and I were in the Murano doing the usual chore of noting numbers, chatting, general testing assistance and since it was insanely windy yesterday, chasing down errant garbage barrels that were blowing around our test track (aka Cal Speedway's parking lot). There was also an errant Port-A-Potty I saved from taking out a Benz GLK...

The Big 3 have released their lists of "reasons they need a boat load of money and what they plan on doing with it." I'm going to look at Chrysler's plan in regards to vehicle development. Here's the paragraph about that, broken up so I can make snarky comments: "Does Chrysler plan to build cars and trucks that consumers want to buy, and that support the country’s energy security and environmental goals? Our product plan features 24 major launches from 2009 through 2012...

  While I trumpeted the amputation of brands at General Motors and I trombone the complete execution of Chrysler, I don't think Ford should be so quick to jettison Volvo. Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin were basically pretty (and often times costly) baubles that didn't really do much for Ford's bread-and-butter vehicle line-up. I doubt Explorer got any R&D help from Land Rover, for instance. However, the Ford Taurus, Taurus X, Flex and Lincoln MKS are all based on a platform that dated back to the Volvo S80. That lineage almost certainly contributes to those vehicles' superb crash performance as well as their indestructable feel...

I am sick to death of hearing this argument from mass media journalists/pundits and members of Congress. "The Big Three have found themselves in this financial crisis because they failed to make fuel efficient cars, like hybrids, that people actually wanted to buy." Wrong. That may be an issue in the here and now, but the Big Three's problems started a long long time ago...

I don't pretend to understand the business side of the car business. I'm a writer mostly because my father's business talk when I was a kid made me go cross-eyed with confusion. I barely got a B- in high school macroeconomics...