by Ken Zino | Jun 9, 2010
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. is promoting its so called Star Safety System, which combines five technologies as standard equipment on all new Toyota models as part of a new national advertising campaign in its latest attempt to increase sales. (See Toyota Incentives...
by Joseph Szczesny | Jun 9, 2010
Chrysler Group LLC has announced plans to buy 8-speed transmissions from Germany’s ZF. The automaker will initially import the gearboxes from Europe then begin production of its own at an updated plant in Indiana, saving, the maker says, more than 1,000 U.S. jobs. The...
by Ken Zino | Jun 9, 2010
This Saturday at 3 PM, the 24 Hours of Le Mans begins. It’s a grueling endurance race that has been dominated over the years by Porsche, which has more than 50 class wins and, arguably, Ferrari, a perennial crowd pleaser. Well,yes, Ferrari, an enduring favorite except...
by Joseph Szczesny | Jun 9, 2010
I spotted it tooling down I-94, what looked to be a new, smallish Ford Truck. The pickup was camouflaged, but the distinctive Ford grille was clearly visible through the netting over the front of the vehicle. The truck had four doors, something long missing from the...
by Bryan Laviolette | Jun 9, 2010
Despite all the talk of electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells, industry insiders agree that the internal combustion engine will remain the choice for powering the world’s cars for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, a group of experts gathered by the...
by Ken Zino | Jun 9, 2010
The Volkswagen Group is expanding its production in China, the world’s largest auto market. Contracts for the construction of a new plant at Foshan, in the Southern Chinese region of Guangdong, were signed today by Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the...
by Ken Zino | Jun 8, 2010
General Motors Company is recalling 1.5 million 2007-2009 model-year cars, trucks and crossover vehicles to disable a heated washer-fluid system module that goes up in flames. Because the accessory will be disabled, GM says it will make a voluntary payment of $100 to...
by Mike Davis | Jun 8, 2010
Since last winter, when the imported Ford Transit Connect small delivery van was proclaimed as the 2010 North American Truck of the Year, little has been heard about it as a mainstream product. Yes, Ford announced Natural Gas and Electric versions of the TC, which got...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jun 8, 2010
Even high-performance automakers are getting charged up about electric propulsion, it seems, drawn to the technology’s potential performance even more than its environmentally-friendly aspects. With Mercedes-Benz already developing a battery-based version of its SLS...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jun 7, 2010
A dozen top General Motors executives will share millions in a potential stock bonanza added to their base pay, the automaker revealed Monday in Security and Exchange Commission filings. The stock could help sweeten things for senior GM managers, many of whom have...
by Ken Zino | Jun 7, 2010
Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) has confirmed that it sent Visteon Corporation (OTC: VSTNQ) a letter late last week that said it remains interested in pursuing its rejected proposal to buy some of the bankrupt company’s assets. It gave no further details on how it would...
