January 31, 2005
Kia Sportage: An Affordable Compact SUV
Kia has redesigned their compact SUV, the Sportage, which starts with an MSRP of less than $16,000 for a 4-cylinder model. The entry level LX can come with either the four or a six cylinder, and with two or four wheel drive.
The EX comes standard with a V6 engine, starts at $19,999 and comes standard with a power sunroof, fog lights, heated outside mirrors, remote keyless entry system and upgraded seat fabric.
Kia rather boldly includes a comparison brochure of the Sportage versus other small SUVs, the Honda CR-V, the Toyota RAV4 and the Ford Escape. Boldly I say, because while the Sportage is less expensive than its competitors, it also has less horsepower and torque.
Kia Corporate news release after the jump.
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KIA Announces Pricing for All-New 2005 Sportage
Compact SUV Returns With More Horsepower, More Passenger Space, Six Standard Airbags and Choice of Engines, Transmissions and Drive Trains
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced pricing for the all-new 2005 Sportage compact SUV with a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) starting at $15,900. The Sportage is completely redesigned from the ground up and returns the most recognized Kia nameplate to the franchise. The destination charge will be $590 per vehicle.
"We're excited to have Sportage back in our product line-up and are confident that this pricing will set it apart from the competition in the compact SUV segment," said Peter M. Butterfield, president and CEO of Kia Motors America. "Sportage has played an important role in the development of the Kia brand in the U.S., and this completely redesigned SUV is another example of Kia's unique ability to deliver modern, fun-to-drive vehicles with built-in comfort, roominess and a commitment to safety."
The all-new Sportage features a wider track and more horsepower than its predecessor and places a heavy emphasis on safety. Standard safety features include: six airbags (two advanced front airbags, two front-seat-mounted side airbags, and two full-length side-curtain airbags), four-wheel disc brakes with antilock brake system (ABS) and electronic brake distribution (EBD), traction control system (TCS) and electronic stability program (ESP).
All Sportage models come equipped with 16-inch alloy wheels, AM/FM/CD stereo with six speakers, power windows/mirrors/door locks and integrated roof rails. The five-door Sportage offers a choice of two engines -- a 2.0-liter in-line four-cylinder or 2.7-liter V6 -- two-wheel or four-wheel-drive powertrains, five-speed manual or four-speed Sportmatic(TM) transmissions and is available in two trim levels -- LX and EX.
The comprehensively-equipped "entry-level" LX model's MSRP begins at $15,900 and offers a host of standard comfort and convenience features that other vehicles in the segment charge extra for as options. Features such as rear privacy glass, power windows with a driver's one-touch down feature, power mirrors, a roof rack and an AM/FM/CD stereo system with six speakers are all standard.
Pricing for the four-wheel drive LX model starts at $17,900, while two-wheel-drive LX model with the V6 engine with automatic transmission begins at $18,500.
In addition to the V6 engine with automatic transmission, opting for the EX model adds a power-operated, one-touch sunroof, fog lights, heated outside mirrors, a leather-covered shift knob and steering wheel, illuminated ignition, remote keyless entry system, a cargo cover and upgraded seat fabric. The EX model's MSRP begins at $19,999.
Like all Kia models, the new Sportage will be covered by Kia's comprehensive warranty program, which includes a 10-year/100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty and a five-year/60,000-mile limited basic warranty.
Kia Motors America is the U.S. sales, marketing and service arm of Kia Motors Corp. in Seoul, Korea. The full line of Kia models including the Sorento midsize SUV, Sedona minivan, Amanti premium large sedan, Optima midsize sedan, Spectra compact sedan and Spectra5 hatchback as well as the Rio subcompact sedan and Rio Cinco five-door wagon are available at more than 600 retailers nationwide. For more information, visit www.kiamedia.com.
Posted by Frank at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2005
Frank Giovinazzi, Car Buyer's Notebook Editor, on New York's Longest Running Automotive Radio Show
I've been a regular guest on this radio show for a couple months now, and it is my favorite way to start the weekend. Hosted by Professor Harold Wolchok, Auto Lab reaches 400,000 listeners every Saturday.
This link takes you to the most recent program, which can be listened to over your computer speakers. This week my slot covered teen auto safety and efforts by domestic Toyota plants to snag proposed hybrid production.
Posted by Frank at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2005
Carlos Ghosn Interviewed at AIADA
The Nissan CEO is a coveted interview because he's so unlike many American business leaders, who give you a lot of yada that turns out to be a whole lot of nada.
In this piece at the American International Automobile Dealers Association, Ghosn says Nissan plans to grow in the U.S. and continue to add more products and plants.
Posted by Frank at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2005
More Ways to Ruin Your [Teenage] Life
The Virginia State Senate is working on a bill to prohibit teenage drivers to use cell phones while driving, according to the Washington Post. This, on top of a company that emblazons your car with a CAUTION: MOMMA's BOY DRIVING bumper sticker. Life's just not fair.
Besides the proposed cell phone ban, Virignia has recently limited the passengers that can be driven drivers younger than 18. Teens can get a learner's permit at 15 1/2 years old, and must spend 40 hours driving with a parent or guardian before getting a license.
But compare this to the requirements necessary to become a hairdresser at the age of 16 in Hawaii -- you either have to have 2,500 hours as an apprentice in a beauty shop or 1,250 hours of training in a licensed beauty school.
Now, I know scissors are dangerous. Especially when you're trimming your bangs while talking on your cell as you're driving over to your friend's house.
But come on, the basic flaw in teen driving is the amount of training they actually get. About two or three hours in a parking lot, maybe as much as ten hours total, of the kid giving his mother a heart attack on the way home from Target.
Sorry parents and politicians, if you want to decrease the number of teen driving deaths, and still let them drive, it's time for a complete overhaul in the concept of driver's ed. I'm talking real schools taught by real teachers [not the soccer coach's son], driving simulators, videotaped driving courses, and performance testing, etc.
I've got one auto editor friend who told me that when his kids are old enough, he's going to pony up the cash to send them to a Skip Barber driving course. Based on the famous company's racing program, there is a one-day New Driver course that goes for $695, and a two-day program for $1,295.
Someone has to step up and muster the political will to radically overhaul the way we grant young people driving privileges.
Posted by Frank at 06:55 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2005
Car and Driver Race Series -- Sponsored by Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!
When Car and Driver magazine announced they were running an amateur race series starting in June, I couldn't help my non-linear thinking brain.
I immediately thought of Wrecked Exotics.com, the infamous site that features millions of dollars in twisted metal. The wrecked Ferrari pictured above had this caption: "18 year old driver went around a curve too quickly while trying to show off."
Can you imagine what kind of jaboneys are going to participate in this thing? They're all going to show up thinking they're the star of their very own Fast and Furious fantasy.
The race series will hold 20 events in 12 cities, and I bet the magazine's lawyers just love this tagline:
"No racing experience will be required and anyone can participate with their own car in a nationwide program, with no cops, no tickets and no clubs to join."
People will be attending to watch dweebs wreck their Civics, just hoping for some action like this:
Video clip from X-Wreck, a company that sells a DVD containing 150 clips of THE WORLD'S MOST SHOCKING CAR CRASHES [their emphasis], for only $10.95.
Posted by Frank at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)
Pledge to Fight Recalls ... Oops, There Goes Another 800k Fords
On the same day Ed Garsten writes how automakers are working to curtail vehicle recalls, Ford emphasizes his point with a shout out to 792,000 truck owners. Ford's recall involves Expeditions, Navigators and Supercrew trucks that are in danger of engine fires.
Garsten writes in the Detroit News that 2004 was a record year for recalls -- over 30 million -- with each incident costing a million bucks a day.
We're sure it adds up, but we're not sure of Garsten's math. He also writes the average recall takes 250 days. If you multiply all those numbers, it comes out to $7.5 billion, and that just can't be right.
Dubious math aside, the problems include greater complexity in vehicles, more shared parts across models and brands and tighter regulations.
There's also the matter of the Internet, which allows enraged customers to mass together like Frankenstein peasants, and also enables lawyers to aggregate clients for massive lawsuits.
For example, the esteemed gents of the bar behind LemonLaw.com put out a news release announcing they've expanded into their fifth state! Residents of Massachusetts now have the same ability to file lawsuits against car companies as do those in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.
Posted by Frank at 05:52 PM | Comments (0)
Welcome to the Surveillance Society
For a mere $55 annually, parents can keep tabs on their teen drivers by placing the above bumper sticker on the back of their vehicle. If someone observes the child driving erratically, they call the number and a report is taken -- then sent to the parents.
Tell-My-Mom's website tells a compelling enough story to get people to sign on. There's the statistics that 10,000 teens every year in automobile crashes, and that they account for nearly 20% of all reported crashes. And then there's the factoid that truck companies with similar programs report a 20% decrease in accidents and ticketing.
But when you flick around the site you come to a very creepy entry.
Titled, "7/10 of a Second to Die," it's a graphic description of how your loved ones perish. Here are some highlights:
"At 3/10 of a second your son/daughter is sprung upright from their seat, their knees break from being jammed under the dashboard...
"At 5/10 of a second your kid's fear-frozen hands bend the steering column into an almost vertical position as they are impaled on the steering wheel shaft. Jagged steel punctures their lungs and arteries...
"At 6/10 of a second the impact rips the shoes you bought them off their feet...
At 7/10 of a second, the entire body of the car is twisted ...the front seat rams forward pinning your kid against what used to be the steering wheel shaft and dashboard. Blood pours from their mouth...Your kids face is torn into horrible lacerations from smashing through the windshield and almost every bone in their young body is broken. Shock has frozen your kids heart . . . but they don't mind . . . because they are already dead."
Posted by Frank at 05:31 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2005
California Toyota Plant Working Overtime to Get Hybrid Line
Now that Toyota's chief, Fuji Cho, has come out and said Toyota is definitely looking to build hybrid vehicles in the U.S., the competition is on to determine which of the plants will get the business.
Officials at the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California appear to have a head start, at least in hyping their own bid, according to the East Bay Business Times. They have already assembled a package of $130 million for road construction around the plant, and company, government and union types are all working together to push the sale.
Then there was Gov. Schwarzenegger's highly publicized visit to Tokyo where he personally pitched California as the logical place for hybrid manufacturing. Schwarzenegger told Toyota he would "move mountains for them" if they brought their hybrid business to NUMMI.
Another article, in the San Antonio Business Journal, suggests San Antonio may get some of that capacity, particularly if Toyota starts selling more truck and SUV hybrids.
The San Antonio plant, scheduled to open in 2006, is set to manufacture trucks, such as the Tundra. One of the plant boosters, Judge Nelson Wolff, believes hybrids will come to Texas:
"They are going to produce 150,000 Tundra trucks in San Antonio initially," says Wolff about the South Side assembly plant. "But they will have the capacity to produce 300,000 vehicles here. It doesn't have to be 300,000 Tundras."
Toyota is expected to announce their decision by June of 2005.
Posted by Frank at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)
Buick LaCrosse: Johhny Cash Edition
In the LA Times, Dan Neil laments how the Buick LaCrosse went from a stunning concept car to a mediocre production model.
When Neil asks the question, "How big a committee styled this thing?," we immediately thought of the immortal Johnny Cash.
In his ode to line workers, "One Piece at a Time," Cash sings about wanting a Cadillac that was "long and black" so bad, he was willing to take drastic measures. [Click here to watch and listen to the music video!] If you don't know this song you're in for a treat.
Unfortunately, a great song doesn't make for a great automobile. Neil basically says the GM brass lost heart -- afraid to do something radical lest they alienate their base, they pasteurized the LaCrosse until it lost all flavor. Nothing at all like Cash's "Psychobilly Cadillac."
Posted by Frank at 06:13 AM | Comments (0)
Free Yo-Yo With Every Fill-Up of Eight Gallons or More
When you work for a daily newspaper, there are two kinds of stories you dread being assigned -- gas prices and the weather. Sometimes if you're lucky you get to do a story on how the weather affects gas prices.
In both cases, there's no story -- the price of a gallon of gas is a fact, not a sociological phenomenon. And asking people for a mind-numbing quote, like, "I can't remember when it snowed this hard," is dispiriting.
Nevertheless, we have to read these "stories," that are nothing but folderol wrapped around a piece of data.
Today's fact: The average gas price in America is $1.85 per gallon. That's 15% higher than a year ago, when it was $1.60.
To read an actually interesting story about gas prices and the fuel supply, check out this entry at How Stuff Works.
Posted by Frank at 05:27 AM | Comments (0)
Baby You Can Drive My Car ... Beep, Beep -- Yeah!
British car designers are proving the adage that a culture is best appreciated by its guests. Newsweek has this story on a trio of Britishers who are adding a foreigner's love of all things American to the most all-American of products.
First among peers [non-hereditary, of course] is GM's Simon Cox and his Coventry-based design studio. They've done a makeover to the whole Cadillac line, including the Graphyte concept SUV, as well as the new Corvette.
Then there's a chap named Trevor Creed, responsible for Chrysler's 300C, and Peter Horbury, who appears next in line to assume Ford's chief design postion:
"'It often takes an outside pair of eyes to see the design culture of a country more clearly,' explains Horbury, who transformed Volvo's bricklike cars into stylish studies in Swedish design."
Posted by Frank at 05:08 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2005
Test Drive: The 2005 Nissan Altima 3.5 SE-R
For a sport-forward family or a dazzling commuter, this car makes driving fun!
People can get so used to complaining they’re often unable to see the solution to their problem right in front of them.
Take for instance, the so-called boring midsize car segment. Yes, you want a decent ride at a price lower than what your parent’s paid for their first house. You want it to get decent mileage, be comfortable and more than passable performance. But does it have to be so boring?
That’s the litany many recite before they sign on the dotted line to drive home a car that can feel like a middle-age compromise.
But it shouldn’t have to be that way. We suspect many consumers, blinders off, are going to start taking second and third looks at the 2005 Nissan Altima.
The car hits all the fundamental marks quite well, thank you, with one added benefit:
This car is stylin!
We had the pleasure of test driving the Altima V-6 SE-R model -- but for only four short days, alas. The exterior was a welcome sight in the mornings. Before getting in to drive to work, simply approaching the car put a smile on our face and a pep in our step.
The Altima sports a sculpted look without trying to act too sleek -- though the rear spoiler gives it a devil-may-flair bit of ’tude.
The front and rear lights are cased in chrome clusters and capped with a clear cover that denotes attention to finish. Even the flush door handles seemed appropriate for the Altima’s design theme. Something that might be called mid-career cool.
The Altima’s cabin is welcoming. From the motorcycle-style gauges to the big-button air controls and a dash that looks carefully tucked under to enhance the sensation of owning a well-thought out vehicle. Even the black carpeted floor mats with the Altima name in pearl-white stitching look sharp.
All told, the exterior and interior combo feels like a half-generation ahead of other vehicles in the supposedly sedate mid-size category. Think of it as being sensible without bearing the burden of compromise.
But the Altima wouldn’t truly be capable of challenging the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord if it simply relied on good looks. The six-cylinder engine accelerates like an overachiever with all of its 260 horses. Handling a left lane merge into speeding highway traffic inspired confidence and a little heh-heh from the driver.
In one situation that would have produced anxiety with a lesser car, the combination of the V-6, rack-and-pinion steering and 18-inch tires left us impressed. Combined with the multi-link rear suspension [similar to what’s on the Infiniti Q45], the ride feels .. somehow well-orchestrated.
Every town has a badly engineered intersection or two, the kind that DOT doesn’t fix until the body count gets enough people alarmed. On the section by our house, it’s a hard-right ramp at the bottom of a blind hill. With a traffic light. This intersection often forces drivers to stop hard behind other cars, or accelerate through the yellow to avoid getting creamed.
On the night in question, we caught the yellow. In the rain. Hitting the gas and keeping the wheel tracking through the turn was easier than the gorge in our chest would have suggested. Bottom line for many drivers: sometimes performance isn’t a vanity option; sometimes it saves your derriere.
The Altima proved itself in these two, and a couple other, situations where we needed go-go punch to get through a tough spot, or sharp steering to avoid a nine-inch construction zone drop-off. In 99% of circumstances, it may be a simple, perhaps vain pleasure to drive a car that can kick up from a red light, or hug a suburban curve nicely. But when you need it, the Altima won’t let you down.
But what about the [boring] details that brings many consumers to the mid-size table in the first place? The V-6 is no fuel sipper, averaging about 20 miles per gallon in Metro D.C.’s harried suburban driving conditions. The four-cylinder model is rated at 23 city, 29 highway. And while you can expect to pay close to $30,000 for the six, Altima’s price floor starts at just under $20,000.
In terms of practicality, the Altima has easy-to-use 60/40 fold down rear seats that make the sedan so much more versatile. For people who take the time to think through their real-world use of the family car, it affords plenty of cargo room. In terms of people room, the front buckets are way comfortable for adults and the rear bench has more than enough room for two mid-size [read: teenage] adults.
The air control buttons turn with a graduated soft-click that feel precise and the six-CD changer audio system plays loud enough to drown out the driver’s karaoke practice. Front seat airbags are standard, as are four wheel disc brakes. Anti-lock brakes are standard on the SE-R and optional on other models, as are side impact airbags.
One option we particularly enjoyed was the dual-switch sunroof -- have you ever noticed how power roofs with single switches are always difficult to stop at the precise moment so the durned thing stays flat? With two switches, one flips the glass up, the other moves it back. With no jiggling.
Bottom line: If we were faced with a 20-50 mile daily commute and wanted a dependable yet sporty, peppy yet family-friendly ride, we’d stop complaining and start looking at the Nissan Altima.
This article originaly appeared at www.aiada.org
Posted by Frank at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
Senior Citizens to Cruise Chicago Auto Show for Hyundai
Hyundai has assembled a product research team of eight senior citizens, aged 60 to 78, to review new cars at the upcoming Chicago Auto Show. The panel, average age 71, will tour the show, check out new vehicles and provide feedback on their preferences.
Curt McAllister, a Hyundai representative, said, "Hyundai wants to know what today's seniors want in their vehicles to plan for future products that might appeal to this growing demographic."
Posted by Frank at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)
Toyota Deals Drugs to Keep Costs Down
A Bloomberg commmentator points out that Toyota's proactive approach to healthcare is something Detroit automakers might want to take another look at.
Toyota is now operating pharmacies in four of its U.S. plants, as a means to keep healthcare costs flat in 2005. GM, by contrast, will spend $5.6 billion on healthcare this year, an 8% increase.
Practices like these -- thinking outside the box and not waiting for the government to solve its problems -- may be part of why Fuji Cho, Toyota's chief executive, was named Asia Businessman of the Year 2005 by Fortune magazine.
Posted by Frank at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)
I'm Going to ... My Lawyer!
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady sues Cadillac
Look like the inaugural love between Tom Brady and Cadillac has evaporated. The Patriots quarterback intends to drive to his third Super Bowl in anything but a Cadillac. According to Reuters, Brady is suing the GM company for $2 million, for using his image a month after his 2003 contract expired.
Posted by Frank at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)
Great Caesar's Ghost! NYT Masters the Mundane
Scene: Daily Planet newsroom
Setup: Fictional conversation between Jimmy Olson and Perry White
Olson: "Hey Chief! Got a great idea for a story -- drivers are getting older, their eyesight's bad and they can't read road signs. And get this, some guys are making the letters bigger!"
White: [glaring] "Olson, do you want to get paid this week?"
Seriously, that's the gist of this article in the New York Times. A two-man team of type and sign designers, along with researchers, have created a new typeface, called Clearview, for road signs.
The picture above shows the new typeface [the one on the bottom] for the fictional town of Bergaults. If I read the article correctly, they've been working on the project for 17 years.
Posted by Frank at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)
Business Weak: The Sound of One Hand Slapping
You can't win for losing. Volkswagen gets the double-standard treatment in this Business Week article.
On one hand, VW is faulted for not having a publicity-grabbing car like the New Beetle. Then, it's criticized for not having kept up the quality in its main line cars the last few years. Then, it's criticized for having new products this year, that, while they may be good, aren't exciting.
Hmm. What's really going on here is a mix of kick-em-while-they're-down and journalistic self-loathing. The former is easy to explain. It's like an actor we used to fawn over, now that he's fallen on tough times, we love to cluck publicly about his fall. At the same time, the subtext if you will, is that the same journalists who used to do the fawning now realize their own crimes, and they add a little relish to the kick because they despise themselves for doing the fawning in the first place.
Don't believe me? Think about the connection between the go-go business journalism of the late 90s, compared to the Madame DeFarge heckling of fallen stars like Enron, WorldCom and Martha Stewart. The same people that wrote the wonder stories are writing the obits.
Wait until a couple hybrid batteries explode, or some other similar mishap. God forbid someone should get hurt -- the press will decry hybrids as "dangerous, unproven technology that should have never been brought to market."
Posted by Frank at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)
OH, WHIP-LA-AA-ASH!: Insurance Institute Accuses People of False Injury Claims
It looked innocent enough. The Insurance Research Council had a news release titled, "More Than One in Four Auto Accidents Result in Injury Claims." [PDF]
Reading closer, however, the IRC's message was this: even though property damage claims have gone down, bodily injury claims have risen. In other words, people are milking minor collisions for every dime of revenue from insurance companies.
The IRC is fairly coy about the accusation. Here's the read between the lines money quote:
"Clearly, the injury liability claim rate is influenced by the attitudes and behaviors of auto accident victims, and that rate has increased over time," said Elizabeth A. Sprinkel, senior vice president of the IRC.
By the way, the IRC is a "non-profit institute" funded by the insurance industry.
Disclaimer: The animal pictured above was not injured just for the sake of a cheap laugh.
Posted by Frank at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2005
Saab Story with a Happy Ending
We just got this logo-emblazoned blanket in the mail from Saab -- for buying a used 2001 9-3 hatchback. The swag came with a welcome letter and other literature detailing what we were entitled to from the Certified Pre-Owned program.
Mostly what it did was show me how a car company should treat customers. The blanket probably cost a buck and a half, with shipping, I figure Saab's out about ten bucks.
My experience with buying the Saab also yielded another lesson for car retailers in the Internet era. Looking for a specific model and options, it was hard to find suitable vehicles close by. At a Virginia store that did have one, the salesman repeatedly ignored us and didn't believe it was going to be a cash transaction. Result: my patronage and my cash walked out the door.
After a couple months of trying to buy locally, I widened the search radius at an Internet car locator service. The right car finally showed up -- outside of Boston. But lo and behold, the car was selling for about $3,000 less than my local retail prices.
I did the math. It was cheaper to fly to Boston, take a cab, buy the car -- sixteen large, cash, baby -- stay in a nice B&B in Princeton, and drive back to Virginia. After the travel expensives, we still saved over two grand. The salesman was cool, to boot.
For auto dealers, the idea that you own your geographical market is passe. There are no hard statistics as to how far people are traveling to buy cars but there is this anecdotal one from Tallahassee, Florida. [Scroll down.]
Dealers started noticing that hundreds of vehicles were being registered in their home counties, but had been bought elsewhere. So they formed the Tallahassee Automobile Dealers Association [TADA]and started a "buy local" campaign. Besides advertising and a website, they even have billboards posted on the outskirts of town that read: “Turn around: Don’t go so far to buy your new car."
The TADA website is stunning in its honesty. They ask consumers to e-mail dealer principles regarding negative experiences with employees. There is also a section on car buying tips and a special dealer financing report.
Judging from the website, it certainly looks like this group of dealers got the message -- they saw business migrating from their stores to those in other areas -- and concluded maybe they had better start treating customers better.
Posted by Frank at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
Hyundai Alabama Plant Goes on a Hiring Binge
Thanks to a 60% production increase for the Sonata, Hyundai's Montgomery, Alabama plant is scouring local malls and using billboards throughout the state to attract qualified workers.
Hyundai wants to hire 800 new workers by August, bringing its workforce to 2,000.
Posted by Frank at 06:29 AM | Comments (0)
Speeding Senior Stopped with Spikes
An 61-year-old Australian man was arrested for a bunch of reasons -- chief among them, annoying police officers -- after cops had to lay out a spike strip to get him to stop. Perhaps the gent was speeding home to tell his wife about the unexpected benefits of Viagra.
.
Posted by Frank at 05:36 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2005
Scion Trying to Avoid the Sophomore Jinx
Scion's top executive thinks sustaining the brand will be more difficult than launching it, acording to an article in the Detroit Free Press.
Scion sold nearly 100,000 units in 2004 -- with only 6 months of full availability nationwide -- and is now under pressure to prove they are neither a fad nor a niche. With only three vehicles, the question is whether or not consumers will continue to buy the funky xB, or check out the tC, which has done a good job of exceeding expectations.
Though not pointed out in the article, there may be lessons in both the MINI and Saturn stories for Scion to learn from. MINI appears to have reached a plateau of about 36,000 vehicles annually, and is probably doomed to the kitschy shelf of nichedom.
Saturn, on the other hand, started off strong as a revolution in the ways cars are bought and retailed, yet has since fallen into disrepair as a brand.
It's doubtful Toyota will abandon their nascent line. Rumors of a fourth model, the dL sedan, are rampant. But there's no secret about Toyota's strategy -- they're using Scion to bring otherwise inclined consumers into the Toyota fold.
One thing I haven't seen yet is an analysis of whether they're making money on Scion. My gut feeling tells me they are using it as a "loss leader" the way supermarkets give away certain items to get customers in the door. Scions seem suspiciously inexpensive for what they're offering consumers.
Posted by Frank at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)
UAW Rally to Stop Ford from Exporting Jobs to Mexico
Police estimated about 600 Ford workers demonstrated outside corporate HQ Friday, to protest what they see as a plan to abandon another Michigan plant, according to Reuters.
Union organizers feel a plant in Mexico will be used as a wedge to eliminate production of Lincoln currently done at the Wixom, MI plant. That plant has already seen hours cut in half, and with the Thunderbird line being discontinued there, UAW fears their jobs will die by attrition.
Posted by Frank at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2005
See, They Really Are Just Like Us
A China Daily story attributes the recent slowdown in auto sales to the lack of parking spaces in many of the nation's cities. Beijing has, on a daily basis, 400,000 more cars than there are parking spots.
One car owner who said he felt China didn't have the infrastructure to support an auto-centric society gave a money quote:
"If my car breaks down, I worry the repair shop will ask for an exorbitant fee or use shoddy parts," says Miao Jie, a company employee in Beijing.
Not only shoddy parts, Miao, they might even use counterfeit parts!
Posted by Frank at 05:48 AM | Comments (0)
January 21, 2005
Constant Vigilance: Safety Technology Can Save More Lives
Two reports issued this month show that while hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved by safety technology, even more can be saved with changes to the law.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminisistration estimates that seat belts alone are responsible for more than half of the 329,000 lives saved since 1960. NHTSA's report further shows that safety equipment added about 125 pounds and $839 to the cost of new cars.
In a bizarre fit of actuarial analysis, NHTSA estimates that each life saved costs approximately $544,482. The government professors arrived at that number by taking the total cost of all safety equipment and divided it by the number of lives saved. So much for romance.
While its great to have all that technology in vehicles, they don't do much good if they're not being used. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that an additional 700 lives can be saved annually if certain states toughen their seat belt laws.
A real wonk might argue that if more people buckled up, not only would more lives be saved, but it would also reduce the cost. On an averaged-out basis, of course.
Posted by Frank at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2005
Volkswagen Touareg V-10 Diesel: An Ultra-Powerful Luxury SUV
During the course of road-testing the Volkswagen Touareg V-10 Diesel, I practically sold one to a married couple in the market for a new family vehicle.
Actually, VW’s luxury SUV sold itself – first to the husband for its power and styling, then to his [initially] reluctant wife for its looks and versatility.
Once in the middle of the discussion, I gladly stepped out of the way, if not for safety reasons, then to observe the psychological dynamics of vehicle buying firsthand.
The experience with my friends convinced me to weave it into this article – after all, these reviews are meant not only to discuss what vehicle’s are all about, but also to speak to the people most likely to consider buying one. Here goes:
He loved the Euro-styling of the Touareg, even going so far as to pat the flank of the vehicle as we did the first walk-around. This may be subjective, but the car looks substantial – indeed, at 5,825 pounds, that’s nearly three tons!
Even though we are now in the age of Electronic Stability Control, the Touareg simply doesn’t feel, or drive, like a “tippy” vehicle.
Even though I told him it was a diesel, the subject of engine noise didn’t come up at all – driving around town does little to alert either the driver or passengers that the Touareg is diesel-powered.
At a standing idle, it would be dishonest to say there is absolutely zero engine noise – there is. But after getting used to it for a few days, it mostly faded into the background, or gave the impression of being behind the wheel of a vehicle with authority.
The engine did become a point of discussion when we went out on the road. On a favorite winding highway, empty of commuter traffic at night, we put the 310-horsepower engine to the test.
Oh, boy – the Touareg V-10 has every right to lay claim to being a “muscle” SUV!
With 553 lb-feet of torque, this thing gets up and boogies. Though the Touareg looks stately, when you hit the gas it feels like you’ve hitched a ride on an angry rhino that’s been stuck with a trank dart. For an unsuspecting passenger, at full throttle, the impulse to grab the armrest as if on a speeding roller coaster is definitely something I’ve observed.
The VW not only delivers instant acceleration, there’s also a sensation of a limitless reserve of power should the situation call for it. Compared to the Turbo Cayenne from Porsche, with whom VW developed their model, the Touareg delivers more instant power at lower RPMs. VW claims the Touareg does 0-60 in 7.5 seconds – which I didn’t test – and tops out at 130 mph, which I got nowhere in sight of. Quite frankly the V-10 diesel has so much power it caused me to hang back a little and use only what was necessary.
Getting back to my friend, what he liked about it was that the vehicle had the power without advertising it. Someone who can afford $55,000 to $65,000 for a luxury SUV often buys it for the “pleasure of ownership” as the copywriters say, not to impress random strangers.
Braking was also surprising – powerful without the whiplash effect of some big vehicles. And handling was nimbler than you would expect. While the Touareg is certainly no “sport” SUV, steering is precise, even pleasurable. You get the feeling you’re piloting a well-engineered larger vehicle that always gives a little more than what you’d expect – especially considering the curb weight.
This is one finely tooled machine. Everything about the Volkswagen Touareg speaks of intelligent design and lovely appointments. The sunroof control, for example, is a graduated-control knob that allows you to precisely control the opening. There’s no need to fiddle with a toggle switch to get it to stop where you want.
For some reason, I loved the sculpted door handles that seem to flow naturally out of the panel. They’re “heavy” in the good sense, as in the opposite of flimsy, and feel like a natural extension of the door. My friend loved the larger VW-badge on the front and rear lids, as well as retro-Euro ignition key in the dashboard touch.
His wife, however, was a different matter. When I told her what we were driving, we got the dreaded nose wrinkle. She said she was thinking about the Volvo XC-90, a comparable vehicle in several respects.
When she saw the Touareg parked in the lane outside their townhouse, she upgraded her opinion to an optimistic, “hmm.” She said she liked the Reed Green paint, a slightly pale shade, which, again, was stately without being arrogant.
Her husband and I had already conspired to get her to sit in the driver’s seat. The Touareg’s seat memory system retracts the steering wheel and seat when the driver gets out of the car – then automatically returns them to their original positions on reentry. It feels like an invisible attendant who’s job it is to make your life as free of friction as possible.
That experience got a, “this is nice!” from the wife.
This particular family might be considered prototypical for the Touareg. With a seven-year-old and a new baby, the back seat is roomy enough to accommodate the older child’s books and gear, as well as the infant seat.
Of course, the all-leather environment and separate climate controls reminded me of a cousin who once remarked about my father’s new Cadillac – “Tony, your back seat is nicer than my couch!”
The lady of the house was further delighted when she investigated the rear hatch area – not only was it roomier than she expected, but she liked the power-assist closer.
Safety equipment was discussed with both the husband and wife, but somewhat in passing. When I asked him about it later, he said he just assumed the Touareg came with all the requisite systems. He was right, of course, VW has front and side airbags for front-row occupants, and side curtain airbags that deploy over the glass in both the first and second rows. There’s also the usual alphabet soup of Anti-Lock Brakes [ABS] and Electronic Stability Control [ESC], among others.
VW also has an “intelligent crash system” onboard, that automatically unlocks doors, turns on the flashers and disables the alternator, fuel supply and electrical components when any airbag deploys. In the vehicle is equipped with OnStar, it will automatically send an emergency signal at the same time.
You’ve got to love the inflatable, full-size spare that VW provides, along with the compressor needed to fill it up with. With the 24-hour roadside assistance VW provides new Touareg owners with for four years, somehow I don’t think that’s going to get a workout for original owners.
As for my friends, they haven’t traded in their five-year-old luxury station wagon for a Touareg, yet. But they did add it to their list of comparables.
A question that never came up was gas mileage – with a 26 gallon tank the Touareg can go about 500 miles on an estimated 17 mpg city and 23 highway.
The V-10 Touareg has an MSRP of $57,800. With the Premium Package – Navigation system, higher grade leather and CD changer – as well as the 4-zone climate control, the invoice totaled out at $64,565.
No matter what the cost, however, drivers in five states – California, New York, Maine Massachusetts and Vermont – can’t buy a diesel due to environmental regulations.
Folks in those climes can purchase either a V-8 model for $42,640, or the V-6 for $35,900.
Posted by Frank at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2005
International Nameplates Claim 40% of U.S. Market in 2004
What if something really important happened and no one
spoke about it? In other words, what elephant?
The biggest ignored story in the automotive world this year is the issue of market share.
For the first time in history, International nameplate vehicles claimed over 40% of sales in the United States – and no where did it appear as a headline.
To be precise, International nameplates – what used to be known as foreign cars – accounted for 41.3% of vehicles sold. In simple terms, that’s two out of five.
While many try to confuse the issue by noting that the domestic automakers now hold whole or part ownership in several International marques, this point is a red herring.
Because no one is buying a Mercedes because they’re owned by Chrysler, or signing on the dotted line for a Mazda because Ford is the parent.
For example, if I bought a successful restaurant, kept the employees in place and the name on the front door and perhaps added a new dish or two, it would be ridiculous for me to say the continued success of the business was due to my backing.
No, people are buying a greater percentage of International models because of the quality, brand awareness and better products they offer.
2004
New Vehicle Sales and Market Share |
||||
Company |
2004
Sales |
2004
Share |
2003
Sales |
2003
Share |
| GM | 4,617,300 |
27.3% |
4,666,868 |
28.0% |
| Ford | 3,098,719 |
18.3% |
3,247,671 |
19.5% |
| Chrysler | 2,206,024 |
13.0% |
2,127,451 |
12.8% |
Domestic |
9,922,043 |
58.7% |
10,041,990 |
60.2% |
Toyota |
2,060,049 |
12.2% |
1,866,313 |
11.2% |
Honda |
1,394,398 |
8.2% |
1,349,847
|
8.1% |
Nissan |
985,989 |
5.8% |
794,481 |
4.8% |
Hyundai |
418,615 |
2.5% |
400,221 |
2.4% |
Kia |
270,055 |
1.6% |
237,471 |
1.4% |
Mazda |
263,882 |
1.6% |
258,865
|
1.6% |
Subaru |
187,402 |
1.1% |
186,819 |
1.1% |
Mitsubishi |
161,609 |
1.0% |
256,810 |
1.5% |
Suzuki |
73,946 |
0.4% |
58,438 |
0.4% |
| Isuzu | 27,608 |
0.2% |
30,329 |
0.2% |
Asian
|
5,843,553
|
34.6% |
5,439,594
|
32.7% |
BMW |
260,079 |
1.5% |
240,859 |
1.4% |
Volkswagen |
256,111 |
1.5% |
302,686 |
1.8% |
Mercedes |
221,366 |
1.3% |
218,551 |
1.3% |
Volvo |
139,384 |
0.8% |
134,661 |
0.8% |
Audi |
77,917 |
0.5% |
86,421 |
0.5% |
Jaguar |
45,875 |
0.3% |
54,655 |
0.3% |
| Saab | 38,159 |
0.2% |
47,914 |
0.3% |
| Mini | 36,032 |
0.2% |
36,010 |
0.2% |
| Land Rover | 35,506
|
0.2% |
39,035
|
0.2% |
| Porsche | 31,471
|
0.2% |
28,418 |
0.2% |
| Bentley | 2,479
|
0.0% |
397 |
0.0% |
| Ferrari | 1,310
|
0.0% |
1,261 |
0.0% |
| Maserati | 1,043
|
0.0% |
917 |
0.0% |
| Rolls-Royce | 420 |
0.0% |
178 |
0.0% |
| Maybach | 420 |
0.0% |
168 |
0.0% |
European |
1,147,572 |
6.8% |
1,192,131 |
7.1% |
U.S.
Sales |
16,913,168
|
100.0% |
16,673,715
|
100.0% |
Domestic |
9,922,043 |
58.7% |
10,041,990 |
60.2% |
International |
6,991,125 |
41.3% |
6,631,725 |
39.8% |
Source:
AutoData |
||||
And this increase in share occurred in an up year – nearly 250,000 more vehicles were sold in 2004 than the previous year.
Another curious artifact of auto journalism the past few months has been to call sales “disappointing,” or “soft.” This is not the case, by any honest measure. The only folks who wrote this kind of fallacy were those focused on GM and Ford year-end results, both of whom finished down versus 2003.
Yet while this new milestone has all been ignored in the press, don’t think auto execs aren’t acutely aware of the numbers. It benefits neither domestic makers to talk about their losses, nor the International companies to “pile on the rabbit” over their success. The International companies, for their part, are quite circumspect about the statistics as they fear rising protectionist sentiment.
Should this issue come up, however swathed in patriotic mush, it too would be dishonest. And that’s because so-called “transplant” vehicles – International vehicles made in U.S. plants – now comprise 22% of all vehicles sales.
In other words, more than half of all International vehicles sold – so-called foreign cars – are actually made in the United States, in plants that supply jobs and myriad levels of benefits to local, state and national economies.
This isn’t to say that International vehicles are going to achieve 50% market share anytime soon, if ever. There are surely going to be additional acquisitions, and perhaps the dissolution of a marque or two.
Industry watchers are keeping an eye on the Toyota-Chrysler derby though. Toyota finished the year only 145,975 vehicles, or 7%, behind Chrysler. That’s a figure the Japanese company could gain in a single year, but with Chrysler on a roll of its own, it’s more likely the gap will stay consistent.
Posted by Frank at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2005
Top Selling Cars: Big Snooze
Top
Five Selling Cars |
||||
Model |
2004 |
2003 |
'03 Rank |
Change |
1. Toyota Camry |
426,990 |
413,296 |
1 |
3.3% |
2.
Honda Accord |
386,770 |
397,750 |
2 |
-2.8% |
3.
Toyota Corolla |
333,161 |
325,477 |
3 |
2.4% |
4.
Honda Civic |
309,196 |
299,672 |
5 |
3.2% |
5.
Chevy Impala |
290,259 |
267,882 |
6 |
8.4% |
Source:
AutoData |
||||
It's always annoyed me that the Chevy Impala is on this list. I don't know anyone who's bought a new Impala, and it's a rare sighting.
However. Last month I flew into Phoenix, and took an airport shuttle to the rental car depot. Lo and behold, the parking lot looked like a Chevy dealership where the incentives never caught on. Answer: the Impala makes the top car sales list because of significant fleet sales.
The only real news in this category is that the Ford Taurus, another big fleet car, fell off the list to number six. That, and the Nissan Altima had a big '04 gain of 17.2% sales, enough to sell over 235,000 cars.
Posted by Frank at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)
Minivan Wars: Toyota and Honda Vie for Second Place
There's no doubt that Chrysler owns the Minivan market. The Dodge Caravan is the dominant number one entry in the segment, and combined with the Town & Country, they sell more vehicles than the number two and three models combined. By a healthy margin.
The real competition is for number two. Honda nailed it in 2003, but Toyota posted a 50% sales increase with the Sienna in '04, nudging the Odyssey out by nearly 5,000 units. This year is going to be an interesting horse race, as Honda released an all-new Odyssey late last year -- and got plenty of rave reviews in the process.
It looks as if the 2-3-4 positions will go to Honda, Toyota and Chrysler, though there is a possibility the Town & Country could edge out at least Toyota for number 3, if the upscale version of the Caravan continues to sell well.
Top
Five Minvans |
||||
Model |
2004 |
2003 |
'03 Rank |
Change |
1. Dodge Caravan |
242,307 |
233,394 |
1 |
3.8% |
2.
Toyota Sienna |
159,119 |
105,499 |
5 |
50.8% |
3.
Honda Odyssey |
154,238 |
154,063
|
2 |
0.1% |
4.
Chrysler Town/Country |
137,014 |
120,767 |
4 |
13.5% |
5.
Ford Freestar/Windstar |
103,572 |
129,236 |
3 |
-19.9% |
Source:
AutoData |
||||
Posted by Frank at 06:19 AM | Comments (0)
"Kia" means "Formidable" in Korean
An in-depth look at 2004 year-end sales statistics yields a surprising achievement for Kia -- the Korean automaker is now the fifth best-selling import brand in the U.S.
To do this, Kia vaulted over BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Mitsubishi, jumping four places in one year, from a ninth place finish in 2003. While the economy car maker was aided by sales drops from VW and Mitsubishi, its 13.7% sales increase moved it past BMW and Mazda, which both posted sales increaes of their own.
While Toyota's sales strength has been well-documented, Nissan and Suzuki also had strong years. Nissan was up 24.1% for the year, and seems poised to sell one million vehicles in 2005.
Suzuki had a similar increase, 26.5%. While it may look as if Suzuki could overtake Audi for the 13th position, the German automaker has several new products for '05 that may help it regain its '04 slide of nearly 10%.
Top
Best-Selling International Nameplate Manufacturers |
||||
Company |
2004
Sales |
2003 Sales |
'03
Rank |
Chng. |
1. Toyota |
2,060,049 |
1,866,313 |
1 |
10.4% |
2.
Honda |
1,394,398 |
1,349,847
|
2 |
3.3% |
3.
Nissan |
985,989 |
794,481 |
3 |
24.1% |
4.
Hyundai |
418,615 |
400,221 |
4 |
4.6% |
5.
Kia |
270,055 |
237,471 |
9 |
13.7% |
6.
Mazda |
263,882 |
258,865
|
6 |
1.9% |
7.
BMW |
260,079 |
240,859 |
8 |
8.0% |
8.
Volkswagen |
256,111 |
302,686 |
5 |
-15.4% |
9.
Mercedes |
221,366 |
218,551 |
10 |
1.3% |
10.
Subaru |
187,402 |
186,819 |
11 |
0.3% |
11.
Mitsubishi |
161,609 |
256,810 |
7 |
-37.1% |
12.
Volvo |
139,384 |
134,661 |
12 |
3.5% |
13.
Audi |
77,917 |
86,421 |
13 |
-9.8% |
14.
Suzuki |
73,946 |
58,438 |
14 |
26.5% |
15.
Jaguar |
45,875 |
54,655 |
15 |
-16.1% |
Source:
AutoData |
||||
Posted by Frank at 05:26 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2005
Crystal Ball Prediction: Toyota Tacoma will be the best-selling small pickup in 2005
Memo to Ford Ranger product managers: That Tacoma
in your side view mirror is closer than it appears.
On the way to selling nearly one million F-150 pickups in 2004, Ford simultaneously saw Ranger sales drop by over 25%. Many would argue they let the product go into freefall, by pushing the bigger truck with prices that would have made buying a Ranger kind of silly. Of course, there's also the little matter of not redesigning the vehicle for years.
Along comes Toyota with a newly redesigned 2005 Tacoma that won Motor Trend's truck of the year. The new Tacoma has more powerful engines than the Ranger, and comes in a dizzying 18 configurations at prices better than Ford's.
Looking at 2004 sales numbers, Toyota sold only 3,389 fewer Tacomas than Ford sold Rangers -- but only because Ford practically abandoned the product.
Going into '05, with the Tacoma outselling the Ranger by about 3,000 units every month for the least few months, I predict the Tacoma is going to be the best selling light pickup in America.
This is no small matter -- no foreign car maker has the lead in any light truck category -- often considered to be the last bastion of domestic dominance.
Top
Five Best-Selling Small Pickups |
|||
Model |
2004 |
2003 |
Chng. |
Ford Ranger |
156,322 |
209,117 |
-25.2% |
Toyota
Tacoma |
152,933 |
154,154 |
-0.8 |
Chevy
Colorado |
117,475 |
3,535 |
999.9%* |
Dodge
Dakota |
105,614 |
111,273 |
-5.1% |
Nissan
Frontier |
70,703
|
65,161
|
8.5% |
Source:
AutoData |
|||
*
The Colorado replaced the S-10 as Chevy's small pickup entry. |
|||
Posted by Frank at 06:37 PM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2005
Edmunds' Free Car Guide en Espanol!
Edmunds is making its first foray into the Spanish-language car buyers market with a free issue of its esteemed car buying guide. In Spanish, of course.
Posted by Frank at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2005
Minty Fresh Convict Breath
A woman with suspiciously good breath was arrested last week in Michigan for DUI. Turns out she had an open bottle of Listerine on the seat next to her, and admitted to cops she had "only three" glasses of the elixir earlier in the day.
She was stopped after rear-ending another vehicle, according to police, who are also charging her with having an open alcohol container in her car. That's what you get for practicing conscientious oral hygiene.
Posted by Frank at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2005
Willie Nelson grows it so you can smoke it
Yes, folks, that's right, the red-headed stranger is combusting vegetable matter once again.
This time around he's become a biodiesel entrepreneur -- he and some buds are selling, "BioWillie," a 20% blend of vegetable oil and diesel. They are trying to distribute the product through truckstops -- Willie already uses it for the tour bus.
The name of the company, "Willie Nelson’s Biodiesel," is obvious enough, and so is the signage.
Unless you've lived in Texas, folks, you simply do not understand the power of Willie. I predict this is going to send biodiesel awareness and sales through the roof, at least in the Lone Star State.
Posted by Frank at 09:57 PM | Comments (0)
Mercedes Got a Brand New Diesel
Mercedes has a new V6 diesel engine which will replace the previous in-line five and six-cylinder engines from spring 2005. The new plant boasts greater power and the emissions passed stringent EU4 limits; it is equiped with a particulate filter as standard in Germany.
The new engine comes on the heels of Mercedes' reintroduction of diesel cars into North America. The E 320 CDI got off to a good start, meeting the company's sales goal of 3,000 units earlier than expected. The engine was named one of Ward's 10 Best of 2004, as well as winning a Best of What's New award from Popular Science.
For the new diesel engine, Mercedes claims that despite a significantly higher power output, the fuel consumption remains at the exemplary level of the previous five and six-cylinder diesel engines.
The engine is the first with an aluminium crankcase, leading to significant weight reduction.
Posted by Frank at 05:44 PM | Comments (0)
Volkswagen Chairman: Diesel is the Best Hope for the Future
Bernd Pischetsrieder opened the LA Auto Show
with a stirring plan for diesel technology
Speaking in front of a crowd in a state where his company’s diesel products cannot be sold, the Chairman of Volkswagen argued that diesel technology remains the most practical means of increasing fuel economy for the automotive industry.
Opening the LA Auto Show on Tuesday, Bernd Pischetsrieder, VW CEO, said what is needed in the immediate future "are practical solutions using infrastructure that already exists," and, "the available solution is diesel technology."
Volkswagen’s cars, which command a large portion of Europe’s diesel-powered market-share, are not eligible to be sold in five American states due to environmental regulations. California, New York, Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont restrict the sale of new diesel engine vehicles.
While acknowledging that many Americans perceive diesel as "noisy, dirty and God knows what," he defended the engines with an appeal to logic: "It simply is not true or else 50% of Europe wouldn’t buy them."
Pischetsrieder detailed VW’s plans to continue reducing emissions from diesels with a dual effort -- developing high-percentage biodiesel fuel as well as synthetic fuel -- which both simultaneously reduce dependency on diminishing petroleum reserves.
Biodiesel, in particular, he said, reduces emissions in direct proportion to the amount of biomass used to produce the fuel. So a 20% biodiesel blend, which VW is developing with a major food producer, will reduce CO2 emissions by 20%.
While admitting hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are technologically fascinating, "they are not a real solution or a viable one," Pischetsrieder said.
"In the end, [it’s] not what works in the laboratory but what the consumer accepts," he said.
He also derided gasoline-electric hybrid powertrains as something of a fad, noting that the fuel savings comes from stop-and-go city traffic, and that "in long-distance travel on the highway the car has no advantage."
VW is developing a diesel-electric hybrid, and while they are excited about it, the immediate, "best solution is a diesel engine and not a hybrid," Pischetsrieder said. "This means we at Volkswagen think we are very well positioned."
Posted by Frank at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
Ray Bradbury Muses about the Future of Cars in Green Car Journal
We think Ray Bradbury's worth listening to because he wrote Farenheit 451 more than 50 years ago. In that timeless novel, he described a government that sustained a permanent state of war to keep its citizens in line. The book also had the creepy TV show where criminals were hunted from helicopters -- with help from law-abiding citizens! Sound familiar, bad boyz?
So when he talks about transportation issues, we're willing to listen -- and even buy a copy of the latest Green Car Journal, where Ray gives an exclusive interview on such topics as "traffic, women drivers, and our transportation future." The exclusive interview has just been posted online; Ray says the issue is going to be forced upon us when our freeways get so clogged with traffic no one will be able to move. Sound familiar?
Posted by Frank at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)