Recent Comments:
Volkswagen prices 2009 Jetta TDI from $21,990 {Autoblog}
Jun 18th 2008 6:17PM "...probably have better performance than a prius without any concern about electrical issues..."
You must have never owned a Volkswagen before.
By the Numbers: April 2008 {Autoblog}
May 1st 2008 11:35PM I don't know about where you are, but in my neck of the woods (Los Angeles) Subaru had a $229/mo lease special on a new WRX with less than a grand to start. Same deal was $179/mo on a regular Impreza. I'd imagine that moved a few cars.
Subaru almost got me with that WRX deal, but I helped out with Mazda's numbers by taking home a new 3 GT 5-door.
Pics Aplenty: Cadillac Provoq Live Reveal {Autoblog}
Jan 9th 2008 12:34AM I'm quite fond of where Cadillac's been going with their styling lately, but this looks like a Chrysler Sebring that swallowed a Ford Focus.
Toyota needs big December to reach 200k Tundra sales {Autoblog}
Dec 10th 2007 1:19PM Were they to sell 200,000 in calendar 2007, or 200k pickups in its first year?
The new Tundra trickled into dealers beginning last March, missing the Crew Max cab until a few months later. The now-popular 5.7Ls were also in short supply.
I'd say that April '07 was the first full month of (new) Tundra sales and if Toyota meant to sell 200k units in the first 12 months, they have another three months to go.
Regardless, the new Tundra's up almost 60% in a collapsing full-size pickup market. Toyota's market share has certainly gone up in the big pickup segment, regardless of the perceived competitiveness of the truck itself. Clearly there were at least some customers pining for a 10/10ths Tundra.
-Drew
2008 Chrysler minivans being sold with incentives already {Autoblog}
Nov 28th 2007 8:58PM They did, in fact. My only photo from the Chrysler booth was of a "$500 Bonus Cash" sticker plastered on the side of a 300C. To think they used to have show-stopping concepts getting attention at these events. So sad.
GM loses $39 billion in third quarter, but autos are profitable {Autoblog}
Nov 7th 2007 3:56PM Well when you have a string of red quarters dating back almost half a decade, the company's credit rating starts getting battered. When that happens, it costs much more to borrow money, and the interest payments on debt rise to the point where GM pays more in interest on its debt than many of their profitable competitors spend on their R&D.
These are real losses that have been obscured by the fire-sale of assets as I mentioned above (Mesa, Fuji, Suzuki, Allison, GMAC, etc.). GM's bank accounts are very thin and borrowing funds to develop the admittedly great new products is costing them a fortune. These costs far eclipse any benefits from reduced taxes.
Now the cupboard is bare and there's not much left to sell. GM lost a very real $1.6b in its operations in the last three months and now that they can't borrow much money, can't obscure losses with asset sales, and have blown their wad on (gorgeous) new gas guzzlers just as oil is reaching for $100 a barrel, pickup-truck-buying contractors are getting laid off, and HELOC-millionaires have their ATMs foreclosed on, it could get very ugly very quickly at the RenCen.
GM would have to sell 800,000 new Malibus, each at a $2,000 net profit, to erase this one quarter's financial damage. Give that a minute to sink in.
-Drew
GM loses $39 billion in third quarter, but autos are profitable {Autoblog}
Nov 7th 2007 1:43PM The scary part about this quarter is that it includes a $3.5b net gain from the sale of Allison.
Allison, Mesa Proving Grounds, Fuji (Subaru), Suzuki and 50% of GMAC are all sold and now accounted for.
Without these multi-billion dollar infusions of cash, GM's future quarters look to be grim. This is probably why their CFO won't comment on when they'll be profitable again.
-Drew
Chevrolet adding extra Malibu production capacity {Autoblog}
Nov 4th 2007 4:31AM You appear to think that comparing some perverse combination of largely dirt-cheap sh!tboxes against the car that's supposed to save GM is going to justify an under-specced gearbox.
I don't think anybody's gonna say "well shoot, the ACCENT has a four-speeder in there, so this-here Malibu must be state of the art!"
The cars you list are largely comprised of cheap econoboxes, cheap SUVs, and models due for replacement. The only cars that matter to Malibu sales - the Accord, Camry, Fusion, and Altima - all have more sophisticated gearboxes on the 4cyl cars. You know, the ones that about 75% of midsize buyers choose.
The Malibu looks to be a real winner, but make no mistake: that six-speed slushbox can't get under the hood soon enough.
I've made some amendments to your list for your convenience:
Dodge Nitro (universally panned as garbage)
Hyundai Santa Fe
Jeep Liberty (a pretty lame vehicle all the way through, except off road)
Toyota Highlander (5 speed auto standard)
Kia Sportage (you're comparing a Kia to GM's savior?)
Toyota Rav4
Mitsubishi Endeavor (outdated, uncompetitive)
Subaru Forester (pretty lame for not having more gears)
Saturn VUE (a four speed here is just as lame as the one in the Malibu)
Toyota Tacoma (really, an entry-level pickup truck that's four model years old?)
Toyota Yaris (you're comparing a Yaris to GM's savior?)
Scion tC (this car is $5,000 less expensive!)
Nissan Versa (CVT available)
Hyundai Tuscon
Suzuki SX-4 (you're comparing a Suzuki to GM's savior?)
Mazda 3 (5 speed auto on all but "i" base models)
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Hyundai Sonata (this 4 speed is truly lame, same midsize class)
Suzuki Reno (might as well throw a rickshaw in here)
Scion xA (out of production)
Subaru Impreza (this 4 speed is pretty lame too, though most of these come with a stick)
Mazda 5 (5 speed auto for 2008)
Hyundai Elantra (a basic commuter car against...)
Suzuki Aerio (an AERIO!?)
Kia Spectra (Jesus, just pull a Yugo GV out of your arsenal)
Suzuki Forenza (another freakin' Suzuki?)
Toyota Corolla (new model moves to 5 speed auto on upper trim)
Kia Rio (I hear horse-and-buggies only have four-speed autos, why not use that?)
Hyundai Tiburon (this car is old, uncompetitive, and due for replacement)
Mitsubishi Galant (this is a terrible car)
Scion xB (against an HHR, I can see, but against this new "oh my god" Malibu?)
Hyundai Accent (c'mon, an ACCENT?)
In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 Honda Accord EX-L V6 {Autoblog}
Oct 29th 2007 1:02PM I was having my bike serviced and wandered over to the car side of my local Honda store and noticed the lousy door fit issues on the new Accord like the author did. The huge and deep stylized cut line running along the car certainly didn't help matters. Aside from the back doors though, the rest of the car was assembled in a traditional Honda fashion and the seats are indeed fantastic.
Couple of errors in this review though: 1. Honda has never built a Highlander as far as I can tell and I'm pretty sure that Toyota doesn't use the Accord's platform as its base. 2. The tail lamps are not LED, they're cheesy incandescent bulbs with fancy reflectors, a sad regression from last year's nice LED clusters.
-Drew
Spy Shots: Corvette SS "Blue Devil" - will it debut in New York? {Autoblog}
Mar 27th 2007 1:35AM When I saw the car at Buttonwillow, it was about two months ago. We had arrived the night prior to our track day and GM had the bank of garages where our garage was and the GM guys were running late cleaning up their equipment.
There were about four standard-issue Z06 models running around and one out on the track with glowing brake discs making all kinds of wonderful sounds.
I asked the guys loading up the Z06s if the car on the track was a blue devil and they just kinda grinned and winked.
I have six shots of the car from my RAZR phone (as such, they're terrible) where the car can be clearly seen as something special.
The sticker on the bumper is a track outline with "Nurburgring" printed underneath.
If the autoblog guys want to post my lousy camera-phone shots of the car, I'd be happy to share them.
-Drew
