Ford PR: “We are also going to pay back our loans unlike other companies”
Responding to TTAC commentator Ohsnapback, Ford’s Communications rep defended his employer’s turnaround plan. “At Ford we have never said that we have won the battle already,” Jay Ward wrote. “Just...
View ArticleGM Chairman Ed Whitacre: Fitting In Already
GM’s government-appointed Chairman of the Board was out and about last night, speechifying at Texas Lutheran University. Ed Whitacre used the occasion to plea for the “modification” of Pay Czar...
View ArticleWhat’s Wrong With This Picture: Flunked in Forida Edition
A US District Judge has ruled that South Carolina’s proposed “I Believe” license plate (modeled on the already-banned Florida model, above) violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
View ArticleAre Easy-to-Recycle Cars Less Durable?
In tune with the times, automakers are making their vehicles easier to recycle. But is this effort making the vehicles less durable? Look at the designs Toyota put into the Prius to make it easy to...
View ArticleChevrolet Cruze’s “Flawless Launch” Delayed by Transmission Problems
When GM CEO Fritz Henderson promised Congress he would run the nationalized automaker with complete transparency, we knew he was full of shit. How could anyone expect New GM to do anything but lie,...
View ArticleWhat’s Wrong With This Picture: The Standard of the World Edition
Celebritycarsblog.com commentator sunbeam shows that the first cut isn’t always the deepest: “Cadillacs are for old people, or in the this case, maybe just people that are old news.” Ouch.
View ArticleAsk the Best and Brightest: Are You Having Trouble Getting Warranty Work?
Times are tough. Margins are tight. Carmakers are looking for savings anywhere they can. As mechanical work performed by a dealer under a manufacturer’s warranty comes straight off the automaker’s...
View ArticleMore Sexist Car-Related Claptrap. Have They No Shame?
Sexy+Training-+Auto+Supermarket+Hot+Parts+Video+(E Sex sells. Or does it? I’ve long argued that sex actually gets in the way of selling cars. Who can think about cars when they’re thinking about sex?...
View ArticlePay Czar Removes Salary Cap for GM’s New Hires; Who Is GM’s $500k Man?
Automotive News [sub] reports that President Obama’s Pay Czar has done an about face. Kenneth Feinberg pledged to remove the $500,000 salary cap for NEW executives hired for TARP-recipients—if he’s...
View ArticleBetween The Lines: Freep’s Whitacre Whitewash
In four day’s time, my byline will appear on this website for the last time. During the previous nine-and-a-half years, I’ve watched the mainstream automotive press slowly evolve from paid cheerleader...
View ArticleNYT: GM Tries Harder
You know how terrorism experts talk about increased “internet chatter” as foretelling some kind of attack? On Monday, GM will release its post-C11 financial results which, thanks to dubious...
View ArticleU.S. Taxpayer Repays Part of GM’s German Loan
As part of its eleventh-hour decision to hold onto its Opel subsidiary, GM has made a 200m euro ($300 million) payment on its German “bridge loan” reports the WSJ. GM Europe Chief Financial Officer...
View ArticleFord: The Worst is Over
Ford analyst George Pipas reckons the recession is over; the U.S. economy is on its way to recovery. New car sales will, uh, stay the same. “I think that we won’t fall backward from October. How much...
View ArticleAsk the Best and Brightest: Sitting Shiva?
As in Shiva, The Destroyer. It strikes me—has for some time—that nothing short of Chapter 7 could possibly “save” GM. (The title of GM Death Watch 1: “GM Must Die.”) The underlying idea is simple...
View ArticleEuropean Union Creates International Speeding Ticket
Speeding tickets are beginning to cross international borders in Europe, thanks to the European car and driving license information system, or EUCARIS. At the beginning of the year, Swiss motorists...
View ArticleCar Dealers Still Using Cheap Tricks
You might have thunk that car dealers would stop being skunks, what with the economy going thunk and the end of cash for clunk. But noooooooo. If anything, tough times have seen an increase amount of...
View ArticleGM Admits It Lied about Federal Stimulus Package’s Job Creation
First, let’s get something out in the open.The Detroit Free Press’ story on the jobs impact of Uncle Sam’s Motown mega-order forgets to mention one salient fact. As TTAC reported back in June,...
View ArticleAsk the Best and Brightest: Where Have All the Good Brands Gone?
As reported here on TTAC, Daimler has decided to start selling smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in the United States. For our international friends, the announcement is meaningless. Outside of The...
View ArticleNew GM’s Projected Cash Burn is . . . Unspecified
There’s a lot of analysis that needs doing re: GM’s first post-C11 financial statement. For now, let’s focus on the only important metric: cash burn. Never mind the headline—using taxpayer money to...
View ArticleNew Corvette, Same Old GM. Or: How The General Fails At The Fourth Wall
In 2007, our founder Robert Farago wrote this piece. It is still bouncing around on Facebook. It never stopped being true, and it became extra pertinent with the launch of the new Corvette. People...
View ArticleReview: Mercedes CLS550 (By: R. Farago)
What unalloyed pleasure it gives me to welcome TTAC’s august founder, Robert Farago, back to these pages. Robert’s a little too busy with what might be the biggest firearms news site in the world to...
View ArticleGM CEO Fritz “Transparency” Henderson: We’re Beating Secret Targets
Transparency. It’s what GM CEO Fritz Henderson promised taxpayers in sworn testimony in front of Congress, post $52 billion bailout (and the rest). As TTAC pointed out previously, bullshit. After not...
View ArticleChevy Branding Blanks Out
As you can see from this screen cap of Chevrolet’s website, the brand’s American Revolution is no more. The ridiculous catchphrase—applied as it was to Korean, Canadian and Mexican imports—has been...
View ArticleWhat’s Wrong With This Picture: The Old Ennui Edition
So what about this, then? Or this? I guess some brands are meant to be broken. The post What’s Wrong With This Picture: The Old Ennui Edition appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
View ArticleDavid Cole: Ford’s Debt Adds $1500 to Cost of Every Vehicle
We tore David Cole a new one the other day, when the leader of the manufacturer and union-supported Center for Automotive Research suggested that trimming GM and Chrysler dealers wasn’t such a good...
View ArticleWhat’s Wrong With This Picture: Don’t Be Such a Pussy Edition
The post What’s Wrong With This Picture: Don’t Be Such a Pussy Edition appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
View ArticleAsk the Best and Brightest: Have the Feds Done Too Much or Too Little for...
Diners at the Motown bailout banquet are back at their tables, their plates groaning under the weight of federal “investment.” They’re just now beginning to tuck in, spending your hard-earned money on...
View ArticleSLS AMG Another Mercedes Death Car?
You may remember Mercedes’ last attempt at a “price no object” supercar: the Mercedes McLaren SLR. It was a thundering achievement, but the big Merc’s brakes were as touchy as an seventy-year-old...
View ArticleWhat Really Grinds My Gears: Gas Pumps Without A Locking Feature
I have no idea when someone somewhere decided that there was some kind of safety problem with gas pumps offering a locking clip at the end of the nozzle. You know, the little metal doo-hickey that lets...
View ArticleMaryland: Politicians, Judges, Bureaucrats Drive Toll Free
Among the 15,000 Maryland state employees who drive on area toll roads without paying are judges, lawmakers and powerful bureaucrats. The Maryland Politics Watch website used a freedom of information...
View ArticleAsk the Best and Brightest: Wave Disc Engine?
Next big future? How many times have we heard that before? [Thanks to MMH for the link] The post Ask the Best and Brightest: Wave Disc Engine? appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
View ArticleOne Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
I’ve just spent five fun-filled days looking after two flu-filled sprogs whilst suffering from the selfsame porcine virus. And on the sixth day, I took my wife to the ER to stop, well, you don’t want...
View ArticleFortune’s Alex Taylor’s Mea Culpa; Ford as Sacred Cow
Inside baseball alert. If you’re more interested in Metamucil than meta memes, this post’s not for you (I recommend any of the 1,345,483 website dedicated to bowel health). Otherwise, check out Alex...
View ArticleAutoweek Pimps Itself Again. For YOU!
The post Autoweek Pimps Itself Again. For YOU! appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
View ArticleCash for Clunkers “Green” Goal a Flop
Some politicians who supported the Cash for Clunkers program didn’t want to be seen promoting a billion dollar (or three) bailout for car dealers, what with car dealers rating just above sex offenders...
View ArticleAutoblog Kicks SEMA Ass and Forgets to Name Names
It’s not every day that our friends over at Autoblog rip someone, anyone, a new NSFW. In fact, have they ever done it? Well, now they have. “SEMA 2009 Worst of Show: This Car Stinks” tears into a...
View ArticleFoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally Links Lincoln to Ford Dealers
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: if you want proof that Ford’s water-walking CEO doesn’t “get” automotive branding, look at Lincoln. The Blue Oval Boyz’ upmarket marque is in total disarray....
View ArticlePiston Slap: Design Weak: Big Ass Wheels
Mike writes: Sajeev, what ever happened to 14-inch wheels? I mean, seriously, does the Caliber really need to be shod with 17-inchers? Why does my dad’s new half-ton pickup have 17-inch wheels? His...
View ArticleFeds to Switch from Polyvinyl Toluene Detectors to Advanced Spectroscopic...
Welcome the wacky world of nuclear bomb detection, as practiced by U.S. border guards protecting The Land of the Free from terrorist infiltration via our neighbors to the north. The Vancouver Sun...
View ArticleWall Street Journal Gives Motown Vandals the Oxygen of Publicity. As Do We.
And here’s how the Wall Street Journal wraps sensationalistic video in the mantle of investigative journalism. [Thanks to clutchcargo for the link.] The post Wall Street Journal Gives Motown Vandals...
View ArticleWreckedExotics Offers Rolls Royce Phantom Parts for Tuner Sacrilege
WreckedExotics.com heads off the reservation to offer some discarded not to say abandoned Rolls Royce parts. Apparently the bits “Was [sic] removed from an undamaged Phantom to make a custom body. It...
View Article“Is Ford Once Again Leading the Way in Auto Safety?”
Gag. And sigh. I’d kinda hoped that New York Times would stay away from the FoMoCo-flavored Kool-Aid long enough to see the potential drawbacks to the automaker’s inflatable seat belt idea. Or at least...
View ArticleARMORED CAR WITHOUT PENIS. LET’S SAVE THE WHALES. [Actual Press Release]
One month ago DARTZ presented uberluxury armored car with whale penis interior – PROMBRON’ (ex.RussoBaltique), lot of people name this car as DARTZ.KOMBAT. As the world’s resonance was very huge and...
View ArticleCA BART EMP NSFJ (Not Safe for Jettas)?
What a charming title for an automotive advice column: “Queen of the Road.” No, it doesn’t appear in a Utah newspaper. But the California curmudgeon is as credulous as the spiritual descendants of the...
View ArticleEdmunds’ Karl Brauer: May the Best GM Win
The post Edmunds’ Karl Brauer: May the Best GM Win appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
View ArticleAsk the Best and Brightest: Did Chrysler Seal its Fate by Killing EVs?
There’s a backlash a brewing over Chrysler’s decision to axe its EV and hybrid program. The move makes sense from an business point-of-view; the company doesn’t have enough money to chase sky pie....
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