<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!-- generator="WordPress/2.8.6" -->
<rss version="0.92">
<channel>
	<title>The Truth About Cars</title>
	<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com</link>
	<description>The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:43:31 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	
	<item>
		<title>Study Validates Common Sense: Air Cars Are Hot Air</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
All the hot air about the MDI air car may experience a sudden cold downdraft. Not that cool breezes questioning its efficiency weren&#8217;t already wafting in the air. But now there&#8217;s a genuine academic study questioning the questionable. The NYTWheels has mined a study by the University of California at Berkeley titled &#8220;The Economic and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/study-validates-common-sense-air-cars-are-hot-air/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Ask The Best And Brightest: MINI or BMW Zero-Series?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
After the 1 series, BMW pretty much committed themselves to the smallest they were going to make under the BMW marque. Or did they? You see, there is actually another number lower than 1 and BMW plan to release a series of cars based on that number. Now we&#8217;ve known this for some time, but [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ask-the-best-and-brightest-mini-or-bmw-zero-series/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Curbside Classic Outtake: 1954 Allard K2</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Our twice-weekly urban hike from our house to the top of Skinner Butte, which marks the geographic center of Eugene, affords some nice views. But not just  from its peak, because along the way when we have to pass the Sports Car Shop. Owner  Bob Macherione&#8217;s crew does superb restorations along with sales and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/curbside-classic-outtake-1954-allard-k2/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s Wrong With This Picture: That&#8217;s Riich Edition</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
We got a good giggle (and several excellent limericks) out of Chery&#8217;s Bentley-aping Riich brand logo back in March, so we thought we&#8217;d show off a peek at what qualifies as upmarket for Chery. Priced at about $8,165, the Riich X1 makes do with an 84 hp, 1.3 liter engine which motivates the tiny crossover [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/whats-wrong-with-this-picture-thats-riich-edition/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Will The Prius Usurp The Camry?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, sure seems to think so. “I think long-term, Prius as a nameplate could even outsell Camry as a nameplate, into this next decade,” he tells Wards Auto. When asked if the Prius&#8217;s success would trade off with the Camry, he replied in the negative, saying &#8220;I think [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/will-the-prius-usurp-the-camry/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Wild-Ass Rumor Of The Day: Brilliance Buying Dealers, Saturn Brand For US Launch?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The long-rumored Chinese invasion may be coming sooner than we expected. Automotive World reports that Chinese automaker Brilliance has signed letters of intent with 36 US dealers in preparation for a US market launch. According to the report, Brilliance intends to launch products in the US as soon as it acquires 100 dealers. Apparently Brilliance&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wild-ass-rumor-of-the-day-brilliance-buying-dealers-saturn-brand-for-us-launch/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Ford Invests Big In Brazil</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

While Ford are making some headway in North America, their real Western Hemisphere focus is on the growth market of Brazil. Bloomberg reports that Ford will invest 4 billion Brazilian Reals (that&#8217;s $2.3 billion to you lot, I only deal in UK pounds) on Brazilian production capacity. Naturally, Ford aren&#8217;t doing this alone, the Brazilian [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ford-invests-big-in-brazil/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Volt Birth Watch 172: 3rd Generation Sustainability?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
&#8220;In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation,&#8221; goes a famous line in the Great Law of the Iroquois, &#8220;even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine.&#8221; Though TTAC tests the thickness of GM&#8217;s skin on a daily basis, GM is ahead of the seven-generation [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/volt-birth-watch-172-3rd-generation-sustainability/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Review: Ford SVT Raptor</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
It would be difficult to conceive of a vehicle better-suited to demonstrating TTAC’s diversity of automotive reviewers than the massive and massively outrageous Ford Raptor. Robert Farago would have eviscerated it with a zero-star diatribe on the inadvisability of building three-ton boutique trucks with borrowed funds. Sajeev Mehta would rhapsodize about the graphics but demonize [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/review-ford-svt-raptor/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>SS Is Alive. Should Anyone Care?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

Autoweek apparently got an interview with GM vice president of global vehicle engineering and former chairman of Holden, Mark Reuss. Apparently, because their write-up takes a light hand with the quotation marks, using them to fill in the gaps between the author&#8217;s breathless interpretations of the topic at hand: Chevrolet&#8217;s SS line.
From 1960s Chevelles to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ss-is-alive-should-anyone-care/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Fiat Downgraded: Marchionne Eying PSA?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
UBS has cut Fiat&#8217;s rating from &#8220;buy&#8221; to &#8220;neutral&#8221;. UBS cites its cautious views on car demand in Europe and Brazil as well as heavy trucks and machinery, the areas in which Fiat are strongest. UBS notes that Sergio Marchionne&#8217;s grand scenario of spinning off Fiat&#8217;s auto division is still the company&#8217;s goal, and PSA [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/fiat-downgraded-marchionne-eying-psa/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>GM Engineering Boss: We&#8217;ll Be A Quality Leader Too!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Earlier this week Chrysler talked about taking real steps to improve its quality. Today it&#8217;s GM. Mark Reuss, GM&#8217;s head of engineering, had this to say to the Detroit Free Press:
Reliability has been the Achilles’ heel of GM for my entire career,” he said, promising he would focus the company’s engineers around the world on [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/gm-engineering-boss-well-be-a-quality-leader-too/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>SAIC Readies MG6</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
China’s SAIC, which had bought Britain’s MG and Rover in a roundabout way, is expected to unveil a production version of the MG 6 at the upcoming 2009 Guangzhou auto show next week, Gasgoo writes.

The five-door MG6 was shown as a concept at the 2009 Shanghai auto show in April. Production versions, complete with fake [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/saic-readies-mg6/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Geely Keeps Volvo Unions Guessing On Money Issue</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Sweden’s unions are on a hot trail. They think that –ohmygod- the Chinese government could be pulling the strings with Geely and Volvo. China’s Geely won’t say where they get the money for buying Volvo from Ford. Geely says its backers include Chinese banks. Sweden’s union leaders are concerned that the Chinese government may ultimately [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/geely-keeps-volvo-unions-guessing-on-money-issue/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Multinationals Move R&amp;D To China</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
On Wednesday, German German tire and car parts maker Continental AG joined the long line of multinationals who opened a R&#38;D facility in China. The multinationals are way ahead of popular wisdom that technology is developed in the West and ripped off in the East. In reality, development has long left the building and has [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/multinationals-move-rd-to-china/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>EV Mode Creates Crisis Mode For Engine Parts Makers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
For manufacturers of engine timing chains, main bearings or any of the hundreds of unique components for engines and transmissions, EVs like the Nissan Leaf pose an enormous threat. Decades of investment in the manufacturing technologies and IP are potentially rendered irrelevant if the switch to battery-powered EVs progresses at the rate that its optimists [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ev-mode-creates-crisis-mode-for-engine-parts-makers/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Quote Of The Day: Ghosn Down Memory Lane Edition</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
&#8220;Without any doubt we knew fundamentally that [a merger with GM] would work, but only if it was a collaborative effort. Frankly, there was a possibility to create something that would be extremely competitive&#8230; unfortunately, it did not happen.&#8221;
Nissan/Renault honcho Carlos Ghosn reflects on the GM merger that might have been. When asked if he [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/quote-of-the-day-ghosn-down-memory-lane-edition/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>GM: US Taxpayer-Funded Opel Plans By Christmas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Automotive News [sub] reports that GM will rush out its $4.9b restructuring plan for Opel in December, as it seeks to ease worries on the continent about the fate of the troubled division. &#8220;Our plan is very similar to Magna&#8217;s. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s worse,&#8221; GM&#8217;s Nick Reilly told reporters near Opel&#8217;s largest plant in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/gm-us-taxpayer-funded-opel-plans-by-christmas/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Remember The Aztek!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
When Pontiac&#8217;s infamously retina-searing Aztek pops up in popular auto industry analysis, it&#8217;s usually as little more than a throwaway punchline. So credit Thebigmoney.com&#8217;s Matthew DeBord for trying to leave the Thesaurus entry for &#8220;ugly&#8221; out of a recent piece dedicated entirely to one of the great modern styling miscalculations. Unfortunately, his admirable restraint serves [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/remember-the-aztek/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Whats Wrong With This Picture: Compact Co-Branding Rolls On Edition</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Autocar confirms that BMW has green-lighted a &#8220;MINI by Rolls-Royce,&#8221; featuring a &#8220;totally individual, coachbuilt&#8221; interiors finished at Rolls&#8217; Goodwood plant. The Aston Martin Cygnet and Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari have been put on notice&#8230; as have the marketing geniuses who thought they were good ideas. At least Rolls-trimmed MINIs have good precedent.
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/whats-wrong-with-this-picture-compact-co-branding-rolls-on-edition/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Curbside Classic: GM&#8217;s Deadly Sin #4 &#8211; 1983 Chevy S-10 Blazer</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
This Curbside Classic took the same trajectory as the Blazer. It started as a legitimate nod of acknowledgment to the S-10 Blazer as the trailblazer of the compact SUV market. But as I got further along, I realized just how badly GM bungled the huge opportunity for the baby Blazer in a segment that became [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/curbside-classic-gms-deadly-sin-4-1983-chevy-s-10-blazer/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Bailout Watch 573: GM Bailout Cost Taxpayers $12,200 Per Car</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
This according to the National Taxpayer&#8217;s Union report &#8220;The Auto Bailout: A Taxpayer Quagmire,&#8221; authored by Rochester Institute of Technology Professor of Economics, Thomas D. Hopkins. That number includes the $52.9b taxpayer &#8220;investment&#8221; in General Motors, as well as GM&#8217;s portion of the GMAC bailout, which brings GM&#8217;s taxpayer tab to over $60b. Chrysler&#8217;s GMAC-inclusive [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/bailout-watch-573-gm-bailout-cost-taxpayers-12200-per-car/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Hammer Time: Finding A Good Home for a 1988 Saab 900 Turbo</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

The old Saab was virtually perfect. 1988 900 model. Turbo. Convertible. It was as if the vehicle had been taken through a 21 year time warp right to my lot. The prior owner had become tired of frequent $85/hr fixes and now needed a four door instead of two (in Orwellian speak). He traded it [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/hammer-time-finding-a-good-home-for-a-1988-saab-900-turbo/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Chrysler: Quality Leader By 2012?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

&#8220;There is no other area in the field of human communications that is as rife with disinformation as the story on Chrysler quality,&#8221; then Chrysler President Bob Lutz once famously said. Some things never change. According to today&#8217;s Detroit News, Chrysler is claiming that they will be a (though not &#8220;the&#8221;) quality leader by the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/chrysler-quality-leader-by-2012/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>New Plant Plans Highlight Strengths In The US Auto Industry</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
One of the most overlooked arguments during last year&#8217;s bailout debates was the fact that America&#8217;s automotive industry was not under threat. Sure, a few companies based in Detroit were panhandling at death&#8217;s door, but so-called &#8220;import brands&#8221; have been closing the gap in terms of Americans employed for years. And America&#8217;s transplant auto industry [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/new-plant-plans-highlight-strengths-in-the-us-auto-industry/</link>
			</item>
</channel>
</rss>
<!--
This site's performance optimized by W3 Total Cache:

W3 Total Cache improves the user experience of your blog by caching
frequent operations, reducing the weight of various files and providing
transparent content delivery network integration.

Learn more about our WordPress Plugins: http://www.w3-edge.com/wordpress-plugins/

Page Caching using memcached
Database Caching 26/32 queries in 0.048 seconds using memcached

Served from: server32.autoforums.com @ 2009-11-20 17:19:09 -->