The Truth About 60MPG

There is furious lobbying going on, as the automakers and the greens try to sway the Obama administration on future CAFE standards.  The greens, including Consumer Reports, NRDC, and others are claiming that not only is 60MPG feasible, but it will be good for us. Here are some of their main claims.1)  60MPG will increase jobs and profitability of the Big 3.  Apparently, Citibank looked into a crystal ball and decided that...

Tuesday Night Cruisers

A few pics from Woodward Ave as the sun was setti...

The Ritchie Boys At Holocaust Memorial Center

One of the Detroit area's hidden gems (well, it isn't that hidden) is the Holocaust Memorial Center. A fascinating, if grim, museum of Holocaust history with stunning architecture.The HMC debuted a new exhibit this last weekend, about the Ritchie Boys, a unit of soldiers who were trained in intelligence gathering and interrogation techniques at the Army's Fort Ritchie, before being sent to Europe...

The MONOTYPE Car

Designer Fernando Ocana has published a Master's of Art project for an urban vehicle he calls MONOFORM. A 3-person compact city car, his design focuses on how the exterior of the vehicle interacts with the view of the city around it, by using various glass planes to reflect images.As a pure design project, it is pretty neat. As a vehicle, it is of course unworkable. Rear stearing has inherent stability...

Green Vehicles RIP

Another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust.Green Vehicles of Salinas CA has closed its doors. They were trying to develop an electric 3-wheeler, the Triac, but after burning through nearly $700,000 in state and local taxpayer funds. The Triac was supposed to be another one of those rule-dodging vehicles which was considered by regulators to be a motorcycle and not a passenger car, because of its 3 wheel design. According to the...

CR (Still) Hates American Cars

Consumer Reports, which claims to be an impartial advocate for the consumer, to my mind is really a left-leaning organization of dubious intent. CR frequently tells consumers what CR thinks is best for them, rather than primarily taking their interests into account.  Witness their love for socialized medicine and CFL bulbs.   Today's example, this blog posting from CR on "Best Used Cars Under $20,000" Several CR staffers submit their choices,...

Space Shuttle Joke

Saw this suggestion for a practical joke making the rounds."When the Space Shuttle lands, everyone wear ape suits!"Heh....

Nissan Leaf vs Chevy Volt Pricing

Nissan has announced that it is increasing the price on the 2012 Leaf, by $2,400 over the 2011 model, to $36,000.   Compare that to the price of the Volt, at $40,000.  Nissan also is capped at 20,000 units/year for the U.S. market, while GM has said it plans to produce 60,000 Volts in 2012. If the Leaf is scarce, dealer markups may continue, reducing the price advantage further.  Personally, if I was in the market for a plug-in car,...

Auto Alliance CAFE Web Site

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has launched a web site to promote the automaker's side of the CAFE debate.  You can find it here.  ...

Toyota: No Electric RAV4 For You!

According to this source, Toyota will reserve its plug-in RAV4 product (co-produced with Tesla) for fleets and government entities, and won't sell them to the general public. The Toyota RAV4 EV will make its comeback after first being sold 15 years ago. The vehicle won't be made available to consumers, Yoza said, instead they are focusing on "very strategic applications" such as fleets and car sharing programs. Despite being a BEV that could benefit...

CNG Civic: Cheap Running But Slow

The Honda Civic GX is slated to be sold to retail customers nationally in 2012 (it was only available in four states, previously).  Since it runs on compressed natural gas, it is relatively cheap to run, with CNG fuel economy in the range of 28mpg (EPA estimate) and CNG costing around $1.70/gal.   However, there are some big trade-offs involved in driving a Civic GX.  Acceleration is poor, with 0-60mph times coming in at...

A Couple Evening Car Photos

I went to Woodward to get some ice cream today before sunset. Spotted a few neat cars.This one appears to be a GM guy driving a late pre-production Chevrolet Caprice.And this is a tail light of a new Cadillac SRX crossover. It surprised me, the shape of it, I had not noticed it before. It's like a little throwback fin, back to the 1970...

Carbon Motors, Aptera, VPG, etc.

For a while, it looked like all of the smart kids knew how to make a better car, and how to run the business better than the big boys.  There was a "gold rush" of sorts, as electric car and other niche producers scrambled to set up shop and grab venture capital funding.    Then the hard economic reality kicked in.   Making cars is hard.  It takes a huge amount of money, people, and time.  And the regulatory hurdles are...

Survey: U.S. Consumers Unwilling To Pay For CAFE

The Boston Consulting Group, a business consultancy, has issued an interesting report about how automakers can achieve the stringent 2020 fuel economy and CO2 emissions standards without having to resort to electric vehicles.  There is a lot of interesting stuff in there, and as I digest it I'll probably post more about it. One thing that jumped out at me is this table.  In it, a majority...

CAFE May Cramp High End Luxury Market

An interesting piece in the WSJ, here, expains that luxury car makers such as Porsche and Mercedes may be severely impacted by future CAFE rules.Future U.S. government fuel economy regulations could saddle auto makers with steep fines or even bar the sale of certain models. Violations of proposed government standards could cost auto makers up to $25,000 a vehicle beginning in 2016, up from current levels of $5 to hundreds of dollars per vehicle.The...

The Tablet Race?

Somehow, the wizards at Apple figured out that the next big thing inpersonal computing was going to be the tablet. Apple's iPad wasn'teven that great of a computer when it first went on sale. They aregreat for consuming media (as long as it isn't Flash) but not greatfor any sort of intense productive or creative work.What amazes me is that the very smart people at companies like HP,Dell, Motorola, and Microsoft were apparently unready to compete.Only...