Recent Comments:
Toyota Alphard gets facelift, Vellfire sibling {Autoblog}
May 13th 2008 1:42PM Toyota just remade the Aztek...
Enter the Rumormill: Ford considering F-100 small pickup {Autoblog}
May 12th 2008 3:05PM You're right 500, I realized that after I posted. However cars are also not boxes and it's hard to tell what they actually mean 9/10th size. It's not like this information is 100% set in stone anyways since it's talking about a 2012ish vehicle.
Enter the Rumormill: Ford considering F-100 small pickup {Autoblog}
May 12th 2008 1:50PM 90% is fairly standard size down
F-150 211 * 90% = 190 in
Ranger 189 in
Toyota Tundra 210 * 90% = 189 in
Toyota Tacoma 190 in
Honda Accord 194 * 90 = 175 in
Honda Civic 175 in
70% would put it at 148 in or about the same size as a MINI (146 in)
Toyota responds to Ford's new initial quality ads {Autoblog}
May 12th 2008 12:38PM I just ran some statistical analysis on JD Power initial quality and vehicle dependability by brand. I ran correlation between 2004 IQS and 2007 VDS and 2004 VDS and 2007 VDS. The correlation between 2004 IDS and 2007 VDS was .79 meaning that in general, brands with high initial quality would have high long term dependability (3 years in this case). The correlation between 2004 VDS and 2007 VDS was .74 meaning that in general, brands with high long term quality in the past would also have high long term quality today. However, this is a slightly lower correlation than IQS. I'm not claiming to be an expert in statistics, but I would gather from these results that if I were to buy a car today, I'd look more closely at IQS than VDS because IQS is a better predictor of future dependability.
UAW strikes GM Malibu plant {Autoblog}
May 5th 2008 11:48AM +1 for you. This is the smartest comment I've read all day.
Tesla Motors opens first factory store in Los Angeles {Autoblog}
May 2nd 2008 3:52PM I think they've fundamentally misunderstood the purpose of a dealership...
Kerkorian's boy says Ford should offload Mercury, Volvo {Autoblog}
May 2nd 2008 2:14PM You simply don't understand how the average person thinks. I have a friend that mistook a Camry as a Mazda3. To me those vehicles look nothing alike, but the average American probably would have trouble telling you which automaker owns Mercury. The fact is the consumer does see something different in Mercury and the cost of maintaining Mercury is relatively low. There are no stand alone dealerships and the only true cost is advertising. You said yourself that it's just a rebage so the cost of rebaging should be minimal. Ford has a lot more problems on its mind than what to do with Mercury.
Kerkorian's boy says Ford should offload Mercury, Volvo {Autoblog}
May 2nd 2008 2:07PM Nowhere in the article does he actually say Ford should "sell" Mercury. The only part of the article that does is when Automotive News clarifies what York said as sold. At the end of the quotation York states: "You have to see how many Ford customers would stick with Ford if you closed Mercury."
He might be suggesting selling the name, but he is by no means suggesting that Ford could actually sell Mercury's operation.
British study suggests that older drivers are safer drivers {Autoblog}
May 1st 2008 8:29AM +1
British study suggests that older drivers are safer drivers {Autoblog}
May 1st 2008 8:28AM +1
