by Joseph Szczesny | Dec 21, 2010
Honda Aircraft Company Inc. has successfully completed the first flight of its FAA-conforming HondaJet advanced light business jet. The event is a significant step in Honda’s aerospace program, which is expected to deliver an aircraft in 2012. “This is a...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 21, 2010
Toyota has agreed to pay a record $32.4 million in fines levied by federal regulators for admittedly delaying the recall of six million potentially unsafe vehicles. The settlement of the two separate probes by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration caps a...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 21, 2010
While most automakers have been encouraging motorists to use ethanol-based E85 fuels in their latest “FlexFuel” models, the industry has joined a lawsuit aiming to block a government-mandated increase in the use of ethanol for older vehicles. The controversy surrounds...
by Bryan Laviolette | Dec 21, 2010
From the time Mazda introduced it, the CX-7 seemed like a cool, sporty crossover, just with the wrong engine. The 2.3-liter turbocharged direct-injected four cylinder, such a wild and lusty engine in the MazdaSpeed 3 and the short-lived MazdaSpeed 6, was an odd choice...
by Joseph Szczesny | Dec 20, 2010
General Motors’ efforts to burnish the Chevrolet Volt’s “clean and green” image have now extended into the oil-soaked waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The maker has been able to recycle the polypropylene plastics used in the oil booms that were set out to contain and...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 20, 2010
Remember the future? It was supposed to be hydrogen-powered. At least that was what energy and auto industry leaders were saying for most of the past decade or so. That was before everyone’s attention turned to lithium-powered battery cars. Suddenly, hydrogen...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 20, 2010
When it’s time to set up a joke on late-night television, there are several things that will always get you a laugh. Mention New Jersey, for one. Or minivans. The much-maligned people mover is seemingly a stand-in for everything worth jibing about with suburban...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 20, 2010
More than a quarter-century after Chrysler launched the first truly mainstream minivan, Ford Motor Co. remains a company in search of its own alternative. It’s not that Ford hasn’t tried; far from it. It has tried repeatedly to crack a segment of the market that once...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 20, 2010
Lotus is the latest automaker hoping to convince buyers that small doesn’t have to mean cheap, as it releases the first images of a proposed city car that could hit market by late 2013. As urban streets get more crowded and regulators press for big increases in fuel...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 17, 2010
What appeared to be a bright future is now a bit more cloudy for Bright Automotive, one of the many start-ups hoping to capitalize on the growing interest in electric vehicles. Launched in January 2008 by the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute, Bright seemed...
by Joseph Szczesny | Dec 17, 2010
Vladimir Antonov, Saab owner Victor Muller’s former business partner, has been cleared of the corruption charges that had forced him out of the bidding for the Swedish Automaker. Swedish newspaper, Dagens Industri, has reported Antonov was cleared after a Swedish...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Dec 17, 2010
As the new global marketing czar for General Motors, Joe Ewanick knows that the worst thing he can do is try to dictate how to advertise a Chevrolet in China or an Opel in Austria. “All good marketing is done locally, first,” said the 50-year-old Ewanick, who first...
