Fiat Brand May Be Sold By Competitors In U.S. Markets

July 31st, 2010 It isn't any secret that President Barack Obama toured Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant this past week. It is also no secret that this was one of a couple of tours the President was on of the American car companies. After he spoke at Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, spoke to the press and gave comment on the coming...


Ford Fiesta Takes Gold At X-Games With Foust Behind The Wheel

July 31st, 2010 Today came a steady stream of live tweets from the @FordRacing team as they watched several of their competitors take on the X-Games 16 Rally Car Event. In a turn of events that no one, except maybe Ford Racing hopefuls, could have predicted, it came down to two Ford Fiesta's in the Rally Event Finals. The two challengers: Tanner Foust and Brian...


MINI Asks: Are You An Adrenaline Junkie?

July 31st, 2010 MINI is known for some pretty interesting events and promotions in the automotive industry. In fact, you might recall the video releases the company put out during this years Geneva Motor Show entitled: MINIWOOD. The sense of humor of the company marketing folks and owners comes through just about everything they produce including bumper stickers...


Car Sales Surpass Cash-For-Clunkers For The First Time In 2010

July 31st, 2010 The economy has been a source of much discussion over the last 18 months. We all know why because we have seen it affect our retirement accounts, luxury spending and industries that we work in. The automotive industry is no exception and has been struggling. The current benchmark for sales in one month has been August 2009 when the...


Jack Roush Hospitalized after Plane Crash at EAA Air Venture Event

July 30th, 2010 This might be old news by todays standards but due to my technical difficulties as of late I am just getting to this and some other Mustang related news. About a week ago Jack Roush, owner of Roush Industries was attempting to land his Hawker/Beechcraft Premier 390 plane in Wisconsin at Wittman Regional Airport for the Experimental Aircraft...


A World Where We Launch Cars On Facebook

July 30th, 2010 Earlier this week I reported on the new 2011 Ford Focus commercial staring the Monster Rally Focus and Kent Block (more here). I also mentioned how Ford has become quite the master of using social media to promote their vehicles and expose consumers to them in a very interactive way. According to a report by Inside Line, Mazda is taking a page...


Volt Production Increase: Does It Indicate Future Success?

July 30th, 2010 The 2011 Chevrolet Volt keeps making appearances in automotive industry news. This is mostly due to the expected launch later this fall, but it probably didn't hurt that President Obama was touring the Hamtramck, Mich., plant earlier today. During his tour the L.A. Times reports that GM said it "planned to increase Volt production from 30,000...


2011 Nissan Leaf Drive Review: A Real Electric Car for Real People

July 30th, 2010 Just days after Nissan announced its 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty option for the 2011 Leaf, we've had a chance to do our second test-drive of the week in Nissan's $33,750 electric baby. Earlier this week, Nissan gave us some time behind the wheel of the Leaf in San Jose, California. We had a great time and totally geeked out about the Leaf's...

Electric Vehicle Incentives Guide: Country By Country

July 30th, 2010 Green conscience and new technology are both laudable, but getting extra money in your back pocket is nice too. Now, after all those years of paying taxes on your hard work, you can finally get some of it back. Consider it a tax refund for buying an electric car. Now that we know the purchase and lease prices of two of the biggest-hitters--the...

Are Public Charging Stations Really Needed for EV Deployment?

July 30th, 2010 There's been a lot of discussion and consideration given to the topic of public charging stations for electric vehicles. The old "chicken verses egg" conundrum is called to mind as auto makers and politicians seem to fumble around without really knowing what to do and where to allocate funds. Will people buy electric cars without a complex network...