Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

The new Lexus corporate face will be appearing on the newest Lexus ES – a startling trend for a vehicle so conservative it makes Mitt Romney look like a chaps-wearing “lifestyle” devotee.

A spy shot out of China shows a vehicle purported to the 2013 Lexus ES250 – a smaller displacement model similar to the world market G...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Hammered by the tsunami, the Thai flood and a monster yen, the Japanese car industry is looking back at one of the worst years in modern history. Amazingly, Japan’s top three, Toyota, Nissan and Honda survived the year intact, and are looking at a profit.

Of all Japanese automakers, Mazda is bleeding the most. 70 percent of Mazda’s production...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

When the GM Fremont Assembly plant took on Toyota managers and became NUMMI in 1984, the same supposedly inept lineworkers who hammered together sub-par Buick Apollos suddenly started building Corollas that were at least as well-made as the ones made by their Japanese counterparts (you are free to draw your own conclusions about GM management in...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

I received a press release from the Atlanta Motorsports Group this morning talking about their 2012 Speed World Challenge program. Press releases from SWC and Grand-Am teams usually boil down to one or two things: announcing recent race wins and/or crowing over the “signing” of drivers whose MASSIVE TALENT just happens to be...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Everybody in the business knows that the BYD S6 SUV is a blatant copy of the last generation Lexus RX350 SUV. The rip-off is so blatant that BYD even registered a European patent for their carbon copy. If you don’t look close enough, pretty much the only parts that differ are the grille and some BYD badges. Mei wen ti! No problem!

For only...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

TTAC Commentator halftruth writes:

Hey Sajeev,

I see a lot of manufacturers using the binocular style gauge motif (see Hyundai Elantra, 2011 Avalon, Chevy Cruze for example) and I hate it! I also see a lot of carmakers using the upside down triangle motif in a lot of their steering wheel designs.  We can even throw in the obligatory fuel AND ...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

GM and PSA Peugeot Citroen have a mutual problem: Losses in Europe. Now, the two want to share the burden. General Motors and PSA are discussing a broad manufacturing alliance, if today’s media reports from Europe are to be believed.

PSA and GM?

Number 2 in Europe PSA had been looking for  a partner for years. The logical ally used to be Fiat. At ...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Michigan’s upcoming Republican primary has made the Bush and Obama administrations’ bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler a political football that both the Republican candidates and Pres. Obama are kicking around. The Seattle Times published an Associated Press fact-checking piece that was fairly balanced in that it pointed out that...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Back in the Clinton Era I worked as a financial analyst. My job was to make numbers dance on a computer while the masters of all things corporate made their decisions. It was brutally boring work. But when you’re only 23, you figure this rite of passage is just part of being a grunt before finally making it headlong into middle...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

During the late 1980s, my future wife spent several years teaching English in northern China. Back then, many Chinese manufacturers felt that showing off Western-language brand labels indicated worldliness, and so this Chengdu passenger van got a “CD” grille ornament and some somewhat garbled lettering above. I found this photograph,...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Travel on U.S. roads fell to its lowest level since 2003, while Americans hold on to their cars longer than ever, two Detroit newspapers report to the horror of their carbuilding readers.

Last year, U.S. drivers logged 35.7 billion fewer miles over 2010 — down 1.2 percent — to 2.963 trillion miles. That’s the fewest number of miles since 200...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

“If you want a Veloster Turbo,” quipped Hyundai CEO John Krafcik, at September’s launch of Hyundai’s oddball, front-drive Veloster hatchback, “you can buy one right now. It’s called the Genesis Coupe.” The Veloster Turbo ended up materializing at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show – and so did a new Genesis Coupe. Apparently, Hyundai never planned on makin...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

This ’84 Plymouth Colt Turbo caught my junkyard weather eye instantly, because early-to-mid-80s turbo econoboxes are always interesting. Then I realized that you hardly ever see regular fifth-gen Colts, on the street or in the junkyard these days, though they were once among the most commonplace subcompacts on American roads. After that, I...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

It’s probably fair to say that, of all the ridiculous Special Advertising Awards in the print rag business, the Car and Driver “10 Best” comes closest to being a legitimate honor. True, the years where the awards had to be split equally between “import” and “domestic” were kind of ridiculous, and the...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Toyota plans to more than double its exports to South Korea to 20,700 vehicles this year, says The Nikkei [sub]. The cars come from places that used to be import nations for Toyota: The U.S. and Europe. After announcing plans to export U.S.-built cars to South Korea, Toyota now is looking to bringing made-in-Europe cars back to Asia.

The strong yen...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

A mere 72 hours after I picked up my Mazda3 SKYACTIV hatchback with the 6-speed automatic transmission, Mazda informed me that they had a 6-speed manual transmission hatch available, and that I was welcome to return the automatic version in exchange for the stickshift. The next day, I dropped off the white automatic for a bright blue manual...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Fisker Automotive CEO Henrik Fisker is doing some major damage control after the Department of Energy announced that loans  totalling roughly $336 million would not be issued to the company. Fisker Automotive is apparently seeking private equity funding to solve what’s being called a temporary cash-flow issue, but the company may be facing...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

If you are lusting for extra oomph, and if all you have to transport is that sadly childless trophy female of yours, then Ferrari has good news from you. The Italians will show a successor to the 599 GTB Fiorano two-seat coupe at the Geneva auto show next month.

According to Automotive News Europe, the new coupe will be lighter than its...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

Auto blogging sites large and small are going gaga over Rinspeed’s announcement of a backpack. The Swiss tuner promises a rear extension for compact electric cars such as the smart fortwo EV. The extensions are modular. One is a motorized appendage that had been fueling the fantasy of EV enthusiasts for a while: If you want to go beyond the meager ...

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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 23:38

TTAC commentator kericf writes:

Sajeev,

I have been a previous emailer with some questions about my Rodeo.  Now I turn to you in need of help with my wife’s 2005 Nissan Pathfinder (115k miles).  The HVAC system doesn’t emit heat properly.  A google search of the problem reveals I am certainly NOT the only person dealing with this pr...

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