We already know that women influence about 80% of vehicle purchases and actually purchase about 50% themselves. New statistics, however, show that car buying is women's least favorite retail experience. In response, automotive consultant Donna Kane, courtesy of Hyundai, has put together a "do-it-herself" workshop for women (and men) interested in better preparing themselves for buying a car. Called Power of the Purse, the workshop educates women about researching vehicles and wa

VW announced it's entered into a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) to build hybrid cars in China. The first hybrids to roll off the VW-SAIC assembly line will be 500 Touran people movers to be used for the 2008 Olypmic Games in Beijing, with large-scale production to start before the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. VW is a late comer to the game as SAIC is already working with GM on hybrid technology, as well; Toyota has already been working on building the Prius with

While Ford of Europe has dropped its plans for an ultra high performance Focus RS that was said to produce up to 350 bhp, it has soldiered on with the development of a new Focus ST. While it doesn't live up to the hype generated by the RS rumors, the new ST will handily trounce the old Focus RS around the Nurbürgring. It features a 2.5L Duratec five-cylinder that's turbocharged to produce 222 bhp, which will propel the hatchback to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds. The suspension and brakes hav

Back in college, a few years and pounds ago, my friends and I did some endurance mountain bike racing, including a few stints at the 24 Hours of Canaan. We did so by traveling throughout the country in my '85 Chevy G20 van, a vehicle that was worth less than any one of the bikes that hung off of its rack. For those that are inclined to push the limits of their bodies and have more money than the average engineering student, Land Rover is offering a specially equipped LR3. It has teamed up

Tom Stephens, GM's group VP of global powertrain, told AutoWeek that value will be a key selling point for Saturn's VUE Green line, a quality that he believes other hybrids don't posess. The article states that Ford charges an extra $3,300 for the hybrid version of its Escape, Honda adds about $4,000 to the price of a normal Civic and Lexus has been getting $5,300 more for its hybrid RX400h. While Stephens didn't say exactly how much extra Saturn would be charging for the VUE Green line

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is looking to waive the seasonal minimum vapor pressure requirement for "summer" gasoline sold in the state until Oct. 31st. This move would follow those made by several other states in recent days. The damage caused by Katrina could reduce California's gas supplies by up to 10%, which has the potential to cause severe pricing shocks if such a waiver is not granted. The increase in allowable vapor p

A reader pointed out yesterday in the Comments section of the post on Motor Trend's "Automotive Photo of the Year" contest that Road & Track was also running the exact same contest. Unlike the MT contest, however, which offers a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT as its grand prize, R&T is giving away the nicer Canon EOS 20D. Kind of weird that R&T is offering a better camera from the same company for virtually the same contest. I'm assumi

MT's website has posted its Future Vehicle Forecasts for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. It's an exhaustive collection of every vehicle that has even the most remote possibility of being produced in the next four years. Honestly, not only do I not have the time to put something like this together myself, I don't even have the time to go through it all. Kudos to you if you get through it all. I'm telling you, Autoblog needs some unfunded interns who can be locked away in a windowl

While many in the industry feel that low pricing has been good for the domestic auto industry based on sales rates, Jerry Flint doses them with the cold water of reality. He notes that despite generally favorable economic conditions, the domestics simply cannot make money right now. That's a sharp contrast to previous bad times in Detroit, which usually followed downturns in the overall economy. It's interesting that he identifies low pricing and its primary drivers - overcapacity and pro