Scion to Sell a Subaru?
There is a brief snippet in Monday's (7/2/07) Automotive News about the possibility of Scion selling an SUV and in particular a rebadged Subaru Tribeca! I really can't fathom the rather portly Subie in Scion's smaller lineup of vehicles nor how it would fit Scion's demographic. There will be more info on Sunday night when the full story is released. For now, let's file this one in the "Say What!?" department.
Update: Okay, so AN is simply reporting on a Mag X rumor. Sure seems like a crazy idea to me.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
The Return of Fiat
A nice little article on Fiat's reversal of fortune in London's Sunday Times. The article doesn't mention anything about Fiat's plans for the United States, but it won't be long and Alfa's will once again be headed to our shores. Of course, there is the rumor that a performance version of the Fiat 500 may make it here in limited numbers, but I'd say it's only a slight possibility at this point. I mean look how many false starts Alfa has had with its US plans.
I welcome the Italians and hope they can make it a go here. As Jonny Drama would say about Italian cars, "They're a delight.” Full article here.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
smart fortwo "street smart" road show
As the publicity train continue to rumble throughout our great land, I though I'd link over to a few stories on automotive websites.
Edmunds has a take on the road show and you can read it here. I don't particularly care for this writer's style from insulting people in line to getting things wrong such as stating that the USA gets the pure, pulse and passion models. Everything I've seen and read states that we get only the pure and passion models.
A more peppy review can be found over at cars.com. Either this writer drank the Kool-Aid they were serving or he genuinely liked the car. You can read the full article here.
On another note, Autocar magazine is stating the the UK will get the diesel version of the of the fortwo after all. The 45hp bantam weight was thought to have unacceptable performance for the the Brits. The 0-62mph time for the diesel is, gulp, 19.5 seconds! You can read about it here.
Finally, yes I realize the above photo shows the previous generation fortwo--but I found it post worthy nonetheless.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Larger "Hybrid Only" Vehicle on Tap for Toyota?
Toyota really took the bull by the horns when it came to plunging into hybrid technology. That risk has paid rich dividends for the company when it comes to a "green" image. You might as well stick a picture of the second generation Prius in the dictionary next to the word hybrid.
Rumors are now leaking out that Toyota has a larger 2 to 3 liter "hybrid only" on the way. For comparison the current Prius uses a 1.5 liter engine. A model that uses double the size engine would be a pretty big deal.
One thing I've noticed about Toyota as of late is that it's getting bigger and perhaps even more Americanized when it comes to new products. The funky xB is a much more of a whopper now with a larger engine. The new Highlander has also packed on more pounds and engine size. Certainly a strategy for success a few years ago, but now this lineup has me wondering. Is this what we as Americans want? I'm beginning to think about "adding lightness" as Colin Chapman used to say.
You can check out the source article at MSNBC.
The wacky Toyota i-unit pictured above has nothing to do with this story, I just thought it was eye catching.
Auto Express Reviews Mitsubishi i
Straight outta the future, the Mitsubishi i really looks like nothing else on the road. The bottom line for the AE folks is that the i acquits itself rather well in town but don't take it out of the city. The other gripe against the i is that it is priced rather steeply at £9,084 (on the road price).
Jolly olde England will only get 300 examples of the car as Mitsu is testing the waters for such a vehicle. If you recall Mitsu also brought several examples to Los Angeles for market testing. I've never heard anything else about the car here in the USA.
Full review (actually it's a mini review) is here.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Countach + Cessna + FBI = Lawsuit
FBI agents on a "familiarization flight" and a 68 year old man driving his prized possession collided last year at Oregon's Aurora State Airport (the third-busiest airport in Oregon, just behind Portland International and Hillsboro).
As described by one of the FBI agents: the plane was "moving down the taxiway about to enter our hangar area, moving at about a fast walk and crossing a narrow inner taxiway perpendicular to us when the aircraft crunched to a sudden stop.
"Out the left side window of the aircraft I saw a small black sports car dart from under the prop moving to my left, gushing fluid," the unidentified agent wrote.
In the end the NTSB concluded that car's owner and the agents shared blame for the wreck. Investigators said both failed "to maintain an adequate visual lookout and their failure to see and avoid one another."
The car's owner is seeking $105,500 in damages. Here is the full article.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Win a 2008 Ford F-Series Super Duty
Click here for you chance to win!
Read This Article Before Trailering Anything 
Stories like this LA Times expose on U-Haul and its trailer rental practices are written with an intent of pulling on heartstrings and in this example it really works. You can draw whatever conclusions you want, but hopefully you'll take away the knowledge that trailering anything isn't easy.
Sometimes it might be better to not take it with you...Click here to read the article.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
smart fortwo receives 3 stars from Auto Express
The next generation smart fortwo left AE less than impressed. It rides better, is roomier and the quality of the interior has stepped up but AE still found a fiddly transmission and overly heavy steering.
I still predict that the fortwo will sell like gangbusters here for the first few years as everyone who has been clamoring for a smart in the USA will descend upon dealerships. However, it might behoove you to wait a bit. Firstly, you'd be able to pick up a slightly used model for less (unless MINI fever hits the smart) from someone who underestimated their size needs. Secondly, smart will hopefully work out some of the bugs and may bring a stop/start version of the car here. Of course, my pick would be a diesel model for the thriftiness or the turbo model for speed--I predict that we'd see the turbo before the diesel here in the USA.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Nice Ditty on the 2008 Malibu and It's Replacement
You gotta love the automobile industry! The 2008 isn't even on the lots and we're already talkin' about its 2010 replacement. The article on MSNBC discusses GM's new designer driven approach to creating cars.
The crux of the article is that designer get to dictate what GMs cars are going to look like rather than having to meet a list of demands from marketing/accounting/engineering. Sounds good to me!
It also sounds like GM products are only get to get better as the next generations roll out over the next five years.
Click here for the article.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Sync My Ride
Watching Autoline Detroit this weekend, one of the featured highlights was Microsoft's Sync system. We've seen the "all in one" communication system featured before at auto shows, but what was new to me besides a demo of the product was a plug for the Sync website. You can check it out here.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Fiat 500 to Be Marketed in the USA?!
It's understandable that more manufacturers want a piece of the MINI pie when it comes to huggable hatchbacks. If any car could come close, certainly the new 500 would be at the top of the list. The news stems from Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne's quote "We cannot exclude that our new 500 would go in some form to the U.S. market." The 500 would make it here no sooner than after 2010.
Did Ford Try to Sell Jaguar / Land Rover to Fiat?
Boy, strange day huh? Paris is back in the clink and Automotive News will be reporting on Monday that Ford and Fiat were in talks for months about the potential sale of Jag/LR.
Now that Fiat has apparently decided to walk on the deal, maybe Alan and Bill are headed out for a smoke outside HQ to discuss how they lost the sale.
Are there other suitors out there? Renault was rumored to be interested at one point, but as with Fiat thought better of it. It's tough b/c even though Land Rover is doing quite well for itself, Jaguar has yet to pull out of a sales tailspin. The new XF and reskinned XJ need to be absolute home runs or all hopes for the cat will begin to dim.
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