The Truth About Cars » North American International Auto Show

What’s Wrong With This Picture: Where The Wind Hits Heavy On The Ridgeline Edition

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:28:49 +0000

Pickuptrucks.com’s Mike Levine snapped this shot of Honda’s NAIAS booth, indicating that the Motor Company might not be quite as proud of its unibody truck as it once was. Ridgeline sold 16,464 units last year, less than half of its 2008 volume. Honda’s Alabama plant, where the Ridgeline is assembled alongside the Pilot, saw its [...]

Dr. Z Hospitalized

Bertel Schmitt — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:55:31 +0000

Daimler’s Dieter Zetsche arrived at NAIAS with his left arm in a sling. What happened? Too much arm wrestling with unions or suppliers? Nah, that would be the right arm. Turns out, Dr. Z was injured by a woman. On the ski slopes in Austria, a female snowboarder had crashed into Zetsche. Left shoulder fractured. [...]

BYD Wants To Be World’s Biggest Car Maker

Bertel Schmitt — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:42:36 +0000

So they say, if you want to be a successful car manufacturer, you must have steel in your DNA, gasoline in your blood, a history reaching back generations, and an annual output of at least 5m to stay profitable. And even then it’s not a slam dunk, as we are painfully aware. Wang Chuanfu proves them [...]

Volt Birth Watch 181: Lutz Finally Comes Clean On EV Range; His Volt Gets 28 Miles Instead Of 40 Miles

Paul Niedermeyer — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:15:59 +0000

It had to happen eventually: Bob Lutz, the father of the Volt, admits his last but not least automotive child is not going to reliably meet his lofty expectations. ABC reports that in an interview at the NIAS, Lutz let the air out of the Volt’s 40 mile EV range that has been predicted to [...]

Honda CR-Z Design Inspiration Discovered

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:47:07 +0000

Why The Honda CR-Z Is So Ugly And Should Never Have Been Built

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:37:05 +0000

Ok, it’s not exactly a new phenomena: car company shows a low and slick concept, and the final product looks like an obese baby seal. We took GM to task with its Volt bait-and-switch routine. And now we take on Honda, although probably not quite so ferociously; given that the gap between the CR-Z concept [...]

Ultimate Web Troll Alert: Weird French Hybrid Anti-Global-Warming Baby Prius

Paul Niedermeyer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:27:05 +0000

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? Toyota’s FT-CH concept raises more questions than it was [...]

New Hybrid Honda CR-Z Equals Cobalt’s EPA Mileage; Set To Stumble Like The Insight?

Paul Niedermeyer — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:44:13 +0000

One might quite reasonably have expected a smaller, lighter two-passenger variant of the Insight to achieve higher EPA numbers than its bigger brother. Say, like it did in 1989, when the CRX HF pulled a 41/50, compared to the ‘89 Civic sedan’s 27/33. But reasonable expectations have been dashed by Honda more often than not [...]

Chrysler Keeping It Quiet For Detroit Auto Show

Cammy Corrigan — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:20:19 +0000

Chrysler have seen the Detroit Auto Show as a venue for excessively extroverted stunts. Previous years saw a Jeep dropping from the ceiling, leaping minivans and cowboys herding cattle outside the exhibit hall. Top Chrysler executives even traditionally poured drinks for visitors at its Firehouse bar. But with the economy coming of recession and Chrysler [...]

AutoBlog: Detroit Auto Show Hype = End of U.S. Recession

Robert Farago — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:56:47 +0000

Scanning the autoblogosphere, I did a figurative double-take on Autoblog’s headline: 2010 Detroit Auto Show main floor is full, recession officially OVER. Since when does Autoblog do irony? Since never, apparently. Here’s the genesis . . . After a disastrous 2009, where major manufacturers pulled out of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) like [...]

Editorial: Between The Lines: Maximum Ambivalence

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:00:17 +0000

Bob Lutz needs to clear something up. Fun lovers, report to GM Fastlane stat! It seems that the Man of Maximum is steamed about a WaPo piece which he complains casts him as "ambivalent" towards his beloved Volt. In fact, the piece is a sweeping look at the Volt's place in GM, and it contains more than a few anecdotes that reflect poorly on GM management (shocking, I know). And the facts of the matter clearly illustrate that the Volt's importance arises from political considerations far more than the inherent passion of GM's product planners to create reliable, fuel-efficient transportation. Hence the accusation of ambivalence. But political motivation has to be disguised with pure intention (no matter how implausible) in order to work. And so Lutz is off to man the crumbling Maximum rampart.

GM Wants To Be Bad, Does What It Can, Beats It

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:26:12 +0000

Remember when Farago asked what wasn’t wrong with this picture of the Chevy Spark? It turns out that despite 74 comments, nobody correctly identified the Spark’s major flaw: it’s a hunk of foam. The Spark was first teased on the Today show, where GM Design guru Ed Welburn first showed off the city car’s Pokemonesque [...]

Fisker Karma Brochure/Specs. Stealth? Eco-Chic? Solar Power?

Robert Farago — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:55:09 +0000

Dear Fisker Automotive Customer, We have just published the technical specifications of your Fisker Karma. We know this communication will continue to build excitement and interest for the months to come… With a base price of $87,900 (USD), the Fisker Karma is scheduled to begin [...]

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:05:17 +0000

Fisker Practices TM

Robert Farago — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:13:34 +0000

I admire Henrik Fisker’s adaptability. When he realized that the high end market didn’t want reskinned German cars, he put his business plans int he greenwasher and emerged with cash-in-hand. Fisker decided he wanted to build a beautiful, powerful hybrid car– and that’s just what he wants to build. The Karma is quite an achievement, in [...]

Yum?

Robert Farago — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:54:46 +0000

TTAC Tests Tesla, Talks Turkey on EVs

Ronnie Schreiber — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:45:06 +0000

When I go to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), I like to get downtown early, around 7 AM. That way I don’t have to wait in any lines for credentials and I can get my favorite free parking spot about a block from Cobo Hall. While waiting for the press conferences to begin [...]

Autoblog Finds a Reason to Respect the Lincoln Concept C

Robert Farago — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:21:04 +0000

No really. (Remember: we don’t diss Autoblog any more.) Scribe Sam “Is There a Draft Out There” Abuelsamid has noticed a new technology on the otherwise Lincoln WTF– I mean Concept C that’s way cool. I think. “Take a close look at the brake caliper in the photo above. Typically, the brake rotor is attached [...]

Play Spot the Influences with Fisker Karma S Concept

Robert Farago — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:34:36 +0000

Has Lincoln Lost the Plot? (Concept C)

Robert Farago — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:24:37 +0000

Bailout Watch 334: UAW Workers Proactive Protest at Detroit Auto Show

Robert Farago — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:32:02 +0000

Hey, Reuters calls it the Detroit Auto Show. And it is an auto show in Detroit, no matter what the official organizers call it. And outside said event, United Auto Workers (UAW) employees protested the possibility that the union would comply with federal requirements on the $13.4b loan which saved GM from Chapter 11. “The [...]

Is There a MKT for the Lincoln MKT?

Robert Farago — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:50:45 +0000

R8: Will the V10 be a Better Driver’s Car Than the V8?

Robert Farago — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:33:53 +0000

Chrysler’s Last Hurrah: 200C EV

Robert Farago — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:29:48 +0000

“I didn’t get out of bed early on a Sunday and come all the way down here in snow for nothing”

Edward Niedermeyer — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:25:30 +0000

The New York Times reports that 600 GM employees “accepted a company invitation to demonstrate as reporters walked to a G.M. press conference Sunday morning.”