by Joseph Szczesny | Jan 19, 2012
While the final sales and production numbers from 2011 are still being tallied one new numbers is bound to catch attention of executives and analysts from Tokyo, to Stuttgart and Detroit. Chinese automakers exported more than 1 million finished vehicles to markets all...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 18, 2012
A two-year study looking for possible causes behind Toyota’s rash of unintended acceleration issues has put primary blame on driver error – but the review by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) also cautioned that some problems may have been caused by inadvertent...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 18, 2012
Blame rising prices, a weak economy, improved quality or simply the desire to add more vehicles to the household fleet. Whatever the reason, the typical vehicle on U.S. roads is now older than ever – and the number of vehicle has grown by more than 35 million since...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 18, 2012
Game Boys and backseat monitors are “so five years ago,” suggests Tom Seder, a manager at the General Motors R&D labs. Working with the Future Lab, at Israel’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, GM researchers are exploring ways to turn a car’s rear windows into...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 18, 2012
It was a good year for Hyundai – perhaps too good. The Korean carmaker, long known for providing cheap and cheerful econoboxes, scored a solid hit with its must upscale model ever, the premium-Luxury Equus. It landed its second win with a coveted North American Car...
by Bryan Laviolette | Jan 18, 2012
Americans have had a rather sordid history with subcompacts. For generations, automakers have built them, only to have them wither on the sales vine as fuel prices rise and then fall again, causing buyers to go back to their Hummers and other creatures of cheap fuel....
by Joseph Szczesny | Jan 17, 2012
The United Auto Workers is out to mend its once-robust ties to the environmental movement. In the past, the union had opposed raising fuel economy standards because it feared higher standards for trucks could lead to the elimination of jobs. During much of the last...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 17, 2012
At first glance, the MV-1 looks like an oversized version of the Checker cabs that once were commonplace on urban streets. But the vehicle, designed and built by Florida’s Vehicle Production Group has a very different passenger in mind. The MV-1 is the first vehicle...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 17, 2012
Fiat’s little 500 may be cute but it doesn’t quite fall into the performance category – or, at least, it hasn’t until now. The new Abarth edition transforms what Italians know as the Cinquecento into a pint-sized muscle car. The new version will boost the base Fiat...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 17, 2012
You likely wouldn’t expect to see those college posters of Che Guevara hanging in a corporate boardroom, but Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche turned to the legendary Cuban revolutionary in his keynote remarks during the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas –...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 17, 2012
Scott Painter has never been one to readily yield to his critics, but with state regulators taking aim and a series of huge legal battles looming across the country, the Internet car sales pioneer has backed down, announcing “sweeping changes” to the way his latest...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Jan 16, 2012
The last of General Motors’ old guard is stepping down, Chief Technology Officer Tom Stephens announcing he’ll retire in April. But the American giant is also losing the head of its strong South Korean unit, Mike Arcamone revealing he will leave the auto industry for...
