by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jun 3, 2010
Remember Packard? Or Plymouth? How about Eagle or Oldsmobile? A search of the automotive morgue yields the name of more than 800 different brand names that have vanished from the U.S. market alone over the last century. Some, like Packard and Olds, were immensely...
by Ken Zino | Jun 2, 2010
Ford Motor Company made the demise of Mercury official today by confirming that the production of Mercury vehicles will end in the fourth quarter of this year. (See Rest in Peace, Mercury) Of Ford Motor Company’s 16% market share in the U.S., Mercury accounts for 0.8...
by Ken Zino | Jun 2, 2010
Dealers for the four remaining brands at General Motors – Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC – sold more than 222,000 vehicles in May, up 32% from the year earlier when GM was bankrupt. Retail retail sales were up 11%. This is the fifth consecutive month of...
by Ken Zino | Jun 2, 2010
The problem with all-season tires is just that. By trying to come up with rubber compounds and tread designs that work year round, engineers trade off such things as maximum traction on dry pavement, or noise generated by the tread, or the best grip in snow. Moreover,...
by Ken Zino | Jun 2, 2010
A study of accident data from 250 stretches of U.S. Interstate highways shows that Florida, California, New Jersey, Louisiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Delaware and Tennessee are the top ten states when it comes to fatal crashes on our aging interstate highway system....
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jun 2, 2010
Perennially the number two domestic automaker, Ford Motor Co. could be on a path to catch its long-time rival General Motors, according to a new report. Ford and the Japanese maker Honda are the two likely winners in the increasingly bitter battle for U.S. market...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jun 2, 2010
Apparently, $1.5 billion doesn’t go quite as far as it used to – or so Elon Musk, the Internet entrepreneur and electric vehicle visionary, has discovered. The South African-born Musk made $1.5 billion, a few years back, selling his share of the online Paypal service,...
by Ken Zino | Jun 1, 2010
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is warning owners of 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan vehicles not to place any unsecured floor mats on top of the standard, carpeted floor mat in the driver’s side footwell. A stuck gas pedal can result...
by Ken Zino | Jun 1, 2010
Starting with the next race at Windsor, Canada, on 6 June, Volkswagen will be providing support to the increasingly popular Red Bull air races as a global sponsor. It is an extension of the marketing cooperation that VW and Red Bull have done since 2004 when the logo...
by Joseph Szczesny | Jun 1, 2010
Mahindra & Mahindra’s takeover of the REVA Electric Vehicle Company of Bangalore, India has prompted General Motors Corp. to withdraw from a GM India joint development project. “GM India and Reva Electric Car Company have decided to discontinue the joint...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jun 1, 2010
There were plenty of surprises when General Motors made it through bankruptcy, last year, including not only the demise of the Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab divisions – but the decision to keep Buick. Founded in 1899 as the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company, it was...
by Ken Zino | Jun 1, 2010
The largest oil spill in U.S. history is creating the obvious need for the rebranding of BP so that when it inevitably uses bankruptcy to escape its still growing multi-billion dollar liabilities, the new, clean corporation can remove itself as much as possible from...
