Autoblog

That's right people, the original gonzo-automotive journalist is back in the saddle, and judging by his first post on the One Lap website, he's still full of all the piss and vinegar we've come to expect. Hopefully, Yates' Engines With Attitude blog gives regular updates and editorials from its incredibly un-PC author, providing those of us with a thick skin and a disturbed sense of humor some gasoline-fueled thoughts for the day. His first rabid rambling is online and it's worth a read if you're a fan of the man and his ability to simultaneously irritate and amuse. Welcome back to the 21st century Mr. Yates! We anxiously await your next posting.

Thanks for the tip, Horst.

There's a new blog in cyberspace, and it's hosted by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters. According to Secretary Peters, she's pushing twenty-first century proposals, so she decided that she'd better communicate in a twenty-first century way. The all-new site is called Fast Lane, and at first glance, it is an interesting approach (for a government job, that is).

As the site is in its infancy, a tour only takes about five minutes. There are a dozen or so links to other DOT agencies, a who's-who list of notable contributors, and an e-mail link directly to the Secretary's inbox (yeah, right). It appears that much of their content will be from "guest" bloggers (aka other politicians). Today's guest was the the Mayor of Chicago announcing a new Bus Rapid Transit system.

While we don't see the new site competing with our own (we looked everywhere, and didn't find any reference to the Nissan GT-R or Dodge Challenger SRT8), the innovation of the site appears to be the speed at which information will make it to the public, and the interaction (via comments) that the public is welcome to partake. Don't expect to use the site to vent your frustrations towards the agency - as a dot.gov site, you can expect that all submitted comments on Fast Lane will be moderator approved.

[Source: Detroit News]

Michael Corleone said it best, "It's not personal, it's business." There's been a lot of turmoil in the Silicon Valley hills lately as the Tesla Motors saga continues. Departed founder Martin Eberhard reports on his blog at TeslaFounders.com that the reorganization has been a "bloodbath" and questions the wisdom of the corporate machinations. Tesla's Daryl Siry contends that the company needed to tighten up its organization and refocus on the goal of actually delivering cars versus burning investment dollars. It's a lot like what went on in the nascent personal computer industry 30 years ago: a passionate team of visionaries assembles around a common ideal, and eventually it becomes a business, at which point pain ensues prior to success, or failure occurs. Tesla intends to remain independent, and now wants to move forward with solving delivery holdups.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

We don't get it. Saturn has done an amazing job transmogrifying itself into a productive division for The General, and people are wistful for the Saturn of yore? In internet parlance, WTF? Three years ago, it would have been apt to predict that Saturn would be nearly done circling the drain by now and well on its way to the same fate as Oldsmobile. What has in fact happened has been an impressive brand renaissance, invigorated by GM's smart utilization of its global operations. Jerry Garrett opined in the September 5th Wheels section of the New York Times that GM's realignment of Saturn amounts to quietly smothering the brand with a pillow and then swiping its identity. Saturn's communications director Kyle Johnson shot back a reply on the GM FastLane blog, and it all makes for fascinating reading.

We'd like to point out that global asset and platform sharing has been going on for decades at GM. It's really no big thing that Saturn is selling Opels. Heck, the Chevette was an Isuzu Gemini, and who can forget the final Pontiac LeMans? Platform sharing has been going on for a very long time at all of the big three, we're not sure why Saturn's excercise of the practice is such news to Jerry Garrett. Kyle Johnson delivers a pretty good dope-slap of a reply, too. It's always entertaining when the fur flies on the interweb.

[Source: GM Fastlane]

During an interview with Brandweek, Bruce Ertmann revealed himself as Toyota's (get this) "corporate manager of consumer-generated media." That's right, he's paid to read through forums, websites and blogs -- including yours truly. Plus, it's likely he's reading your comments.

Ertmann's position was formed to keep track of consumer opinion online, and considering the fact that more and more buyers consult the web before making purchasing decisions, it's probably a smart move. The interview reveals how Ertmann spends his time, how blogs were used during the Tundra launch, which particular sites he reads, and some of the issues he's encountered while embarking into the web's wild west.

You can read the interview here and check out his own blog here. But you know where to come back to when you're done.

[Source: Brandweek]

We're fired up about a few things for episode #61. We eventually get to an enthusiastic discussion of the American LeMans Series, but we wind our way through a few subjects to get there. We start off with the snub to Chrysler by some DCX shareholders who suggest a return to Daimler-Benz AG name. Not only is that a kick in the pants to the Chrysler group, but it's incredibly arrogant and illustrates that it was never really a merger of equals. In a froth, we move on to the anti-surprise that Nissan has nixed the heavy-duty Titan. In the death match that is the US pickup truck marketplace, the Japanese are having a tough fight. The Titan has its own charms but low sales, and the Tundra is taking criticism and underperforming in crash tests. We get the truck wars out of our system and move on to rhapsodic descriptions of the GT2 finish at this weekend's ALMS Sebring kickoff. Oh yeah, there were some kind of Audis there, and Acuras, too. We can't get the last-lap dogfight between the Ferrari and Porsche for the GT2 crown out of our heads, though. Before we go, we touch briefly on Smart's recently-opened registration for US buyers, as well as marvel at the low price for the practical city car that will end up as an effette bauble, as well. That's it in a nutshell, enjoy!

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Believe it or not, we're actually impressed with General Motors for diving head first into the choppy waters of blogging. The GM FastLane blog, for instance, is used on a regular basis by top-level execs, including the always interesting orator Bob Lutz, to inform, correct and promote GM's wares to the online community.

Recently a new blog was launched by the General called the Cadillac Drivers' Blog. We've gone through all the posts that have been published since the site quietly went live on January 31st, and they're an interesting read from the perspective of Cadillac engineers charged with testing the luxury marque's prototypes out on the open road.

The inspiration for the site appears to have come from the very spy photographers these engineers are tasked with avoiding at all costs. The lengths to which spy photogs will go to catch a glimpse of what these engineers are doing made them think, "Why not let people see a bit more of what we're doing?" Why not indeed. Currently the posts focus on testing for the 2008 Cadillac CTS, both in the suffocating heat of Death Valley and the arctic cold of Michigan's upper peninsula and the Kinross facility in northern Sweden. Who knows why the Cadillac Drivers' Blog was launched, but credit must be given to the engineers who author it who seem to enjoy escorting us readers into their world.

[Source: Cadillac Drivers' Blog]

Not content with giving Bob Lutz and other execs their 21st-century soapbox (aka the FastLane Blog), General Motors launched a new blog Wednesday under the "For Your Information" banner.

The FYI Blog "will highlight the positive developments that occur at GM on a daily basis," and ought to be much more active than the FastLane Blog. We can expect to see posts in areas such as: innovations in products, technology and processes; GM employee profiles; "Good News" stories; op/ed discussions of current issues; and guest posts by non-GM authors.

[Source: GM]

Demir Barlas wrote a breakdown on the FastLane Blog, General Motors' online journal. Barlas gave positive marks to the blog itself, finding it easy to navigate and brimming with plenty of articulate writers with diverse views.

However, Barlas asserts, if GM is using the blog as a marketing tool, Fastlane Blog fails miserably. Barlas displays some of the comments by its readership, raw and unfiltered, much of it critical of the General. He then moves on to speculate if the blog is a 'failure of a success': that is, its relative merit depends on what the automaker intended to get out of it. If FastLane is meant to gather customer opinion and change business practice, then 'it is a failure.' But if it's a vehicle to hear from customers, then the blog is successful.

What's your opinion about Fastlane Blog and Barlas' article?

[Source: Line56]