Blog Category Results

[T]he car did one more thing for me. It reaffirmed my belief in America. It may sound strange to say that a $45,000 Italian sports car reaffirmed my belief in America, but, as I said, it's all part of western civilization and here we were in America, the apogee of that fine trend in human affairs...

DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler has disbanded a team of engineers dedicated to rushing a range of electric vehicles to showrooms and dropped ambitious sales targets for battery-powered cars set as it was sliding toward bankruptcy and seeking government aid. The move by Fiat SpA marks a major reversal for Chrysler, which had used its electric car program as part of the case for a $12.5 billion federal aid package. I've said it before and I'll say it again...

While I'm not a fan of well-intentioned attempts to make cars safer that lead to drivers thinking they have worry about fewer things while driving, I am 100% for seatbelt use and have been wearing them religiously ever since the late 70's when my brother-in-law the doctor completed his ER rotation and noted that car accident victims who came into the ER that were wearing seatblets generally were treated and released while non-belt wearers wound up with an extended hospital stay. (If you don't buckle up in my car as a passenger, the vehicle isn't moving until you do) So I'm not surprised by the NHTSA data on seatbelt use in 2009 and this statement: Seat belt use has been increasing steadily since 1994, accompanied by a steady decline in the percentage of unrestrained passenger vehicle occupant fatalities during daytime But once humans get involved, even good things can take a perverted twist as the "seat belt cell phone caddy" illustrates. God forbid you should go 10 minutes without talking to someone on the phone...

Dear Dub, I was in a tire shop the other day when a guy pulled up in a smart car and came in saying he wanted some new tires. So the fine fellow at the desk said, "Let's go out and see what size they are", and the smart driver says, "Oh, they're not for that, they're for my Crossfire". What a green poser!..

Ford said on Thursday that beginning in 2010, it planned to be the first automaker to offer inflatable rear seat belts, a technology aimed at reducing injuries to children and elderly passengers in a crash. Sounds noble enough, and I'll even give them clever on the marketing side. But when is enough going to be enough on this quest toward the "100% safe car"...

The image is from the Charlie Chaplin classic, "Modern Times", which follows the Little Tramp through his trials and tribulations at a factory. I was reminded of the film while reading an interesting op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal about how Ford is making it comeback, and how the UAW is throwing a real monkey wrench into the works. The real issue is the job classifications...

It's a headline too good to pass up... As Chrysler sits on blocks, what will Fiat do to fix it? Given that some folks have suggested that Fiat is an acronym for Failure In Automotive Technology or Fix It Again Tony, the headline gave me a little chuckle...

How appropriate that on election we have a story about how the US Treasury is considering options for divesting itself of our stake in the auto industry. One of the options it is focuing on is on a series of public offering. Taxpayers have sunk more than $50 billion in bailout and bankruptcy financing in GM and more than $14 billion in Chrysler this year...

There are just two problems with mass transit. Nobody uses it, and it costs [too much]. Only 4% of Americans take public transportation to work...

In just two days of voting, the Canadian Auto Workers pulled off what the UAW was unable to do in weeks -- convince its membership to vote for yet another set of contract changes with Ford Motor Co. Not only did they agree to the changes in the contract that put them in line with the deals with GM and Chrysler, they did so by voting 83% in favor as opposed to roughly the same percentage in opposition at the UAW plants. Will Ford start to migrate work to Canadian plants?..