JohnMcElroy

Car Prices Will Climb For Years Have you've been watching car prices lately? They seem to go up every month. Forget everything you've been reading about sales incentives, bargain leases or low-cost financing. They just mask the fact that automakers are quietly bumping up MSRP's every chance they ...

Don't Laugh, The UAW Could Come Roaring Back Back when I was a UAW member many moons ago, earning my college tuition by busting my ass in the factories, the union was an incredibly powerful labor organization. With nearly 1.3 million members, it had enormous political clout in Washington, D.C. ...

Ethanol Booming, Despite the Drawbacks Just a couple of years ago American-made corn ethanol was vilified in the media. It was blamed for soaring food prices, and for causing food riots in Mexico. The UN even accused the U.S. of depriving the world of food. What a difference a couple of years ...

It's Not Easy Designing Dirt Cheap Cars Some of the most famous cars in the history of the auto industry were some of the cheapest ones. The Ford Model T, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Citroen 2CV and the BMC Mini were so successful mainly because they were so affordable. Now the industry is ...

How GM Can Repay All the Taxpayer Money General Motors can be pretty ham-handed when it tries to manipulate public opinion. The latest gaffe involves the company's newest advertising campaign, bragging to the public that it paid off its $8 billion in government loans. Listening to those ads you ...

COUNT THE POUNDS, NOT JUST THE PONIES Gearheads the world over have always talked in terms of horsepower. The bigger the number, the better we like it. The type of engine and its output are always one of the first statistics covered in any test drive or car review, because we want to know! But ...

RUNAWAY TOYOTAS? WHAT ABOUT DRIVER ERROR? No one wants to touch it. Not Toyota, not NHTSA, not any politician. But the issue has to be raised. Driver error is most likely at the root of these sudden unintended acceleration incidents. Unintended acceleration is not a new issue for the auto ...

Unintended Accleration? Beware of TV Network Fraud You've already seen the ABC News piece about a college professor rigging up a Toyota Avalon so he could induce a short circuit that would cause unintended acceleration. It's a frightening demonstration. And as detailed yesterday, it's also bad ...

Today at 12:30PM EST, our friends at Autoline will be hosting a live webcast from the 2010 Washington Auto Show. Special guests include Ford CEO Alan Mulally, President of Audi America Johan de Nysschen and President of BMW North America Jim ...

DON'T BE DUPED BY THE EV HYPE With all the attention being lavished on electric cars, you'd think the salvation of the planet is nigh at hand. But don't be duped by all the EV hype. It's going to take decades before they catch on – if ever. I'm not anti-EV. Just the opposite. I am ...