by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 13, 2012
Like its Korean sibling, Kia is moving up-market and is offering up a first series of sketches hinting at what’s to come when its new rear-drive flagship sedan rolls into showrooms in the coming months. The look of the new 4-door, codenamed KH, is likely to be...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 10, 2012
With what one jealous competitor once described as “more money than god” in its treasury, Toyota has traditionally been a company that liked to keep things in-house. Even when it worked with outside suppliers it focused on those within its extended family, or...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 10, 2012
As many as 830,000 Toyota sedans and crossovers could be involved as federal safety regulators open an investigation into reports of fires in the driver’s side doors of the maker’s popular Camry sedan and RAV-4 crossover. Six fires have so far been reported to the...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 10, 2012
It’s not rocket science. Well, maybe it is. Using his other big venture, the Space X rocket factory, as a background, Tesla Motor Co. CEO pulled the wraps off the company’s next new product, the Model X crossover. Sharing the same basic platform as Tesla’s upcoming...
by Joseph Szczesny | Feb 10, 2012
Daimler AG, parent to Mercedes-Benz and Smart, is wrapping up its 125th anniversary with a series of all-times records, the maker has announced, including all-time earnings and revenues. The German maker posted a net profit of 6 bllion euros, or roughly $8.2 billion,...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 9, 2012
For automotive journalists it can be frustrating when a news release comes across the digital transom revealing details of an intriguing new product entering some exotic foreign market and never destined for U.S. showrooms. It’s all the more disappointing when that...
by Joseph Szczesny | Feb 9, 2012
Volvo is committed to using only four-cylinder engines across its entire model line but it could take as long as five years to implement the strategy completely, according to John Maloney, the Chinese-owned Swedish maker’s U.S. president and chief executive officer....
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 9, 2012
Chicago Auto Show-goers will be the first to get a close-up look at the updated 2013 GMC Acadia, as well as the premium spin-off, the Acadia Denali. The two new models will likely play a critical role for GMC, now the second best-selling brand in the General Motors...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 9, 2012
If you’re worried about the cost of insuring your next car consider this simple mantra: “boring is better.” Or so finds a new survey of automotive insurance, which finds that sports and luxury cars are the most expensive products to insure, while minivans – the Toyota...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 9, 2012
Two of the most senior and respected members of the Ford Motor Co. management team will retire, the maker announced this morning, but CEO Alan Mulally stressed that he himself has “no plans to retire,” and insisted the executive shake-up will have no measurable impact...
by Joseph Szczesny | Feb 8, 2012
Toyota Motor Co. plans to move production of the hybrid version of its Highlander SUV from Japan to an assembly plant in Princeton, Indiana, the company’s top North American executive said during an appearance at the Chicago Auto Show. The move will be part of a...
by Joseph Szczesny | Feb 8, 2012
Cupcakes to go? How about some macaroni and cheese? The food truck at the corner of the Nissan stand suggested just one of the reasons why the Japanese maker is optimistic about the opportunities for its new NV 200 van, which is getting its U.S. preview at the 2012...
