Archive for the ‘Design’ Category
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Nothing's guaranteed yet, but if there's enough interest in the machine GM and Segway hope they can put a two-seat transportation device on the market one day. It's not the answer to all of our transportation issues, but it could help a lot of people.
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Gadgets, Green, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
The third version of the popular RL crossover model will go on sale soon, with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $36,800 for the front-drive model and $38,200 for the all-wheel-drive. There's also a handling fee of $825, which you do not have to pay, though the company and the ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Design, Marketing, Pricing, Product News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
The Converj concept coupe from Cadillac is essentially the stylish follow-up to the Chevrolet Volt, since it will share the same power source -- a battery that will provide a majority of the world enough electricity-driven range to live a normal life, with a small gas-powered engine onboard to keep ...
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Green, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Before consumers got scared off by high gas prices, many of them found the Chevrolet Equinox a nice compromise between a car and the bigger SUVs on the market. Well now the Equinox is back and features a lot of the charms of the Malibu sedan that won the auto ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Design, Green, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
At the end of a few words from an auto journalism's widely appreciated for being a smartass, there is a wealth of information on the BEV available in the press releases from Ford and Magna.
Posted in Design, Green, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
If electric vehicles and hybrids are ever to make a significant impact on the amount of oil used on this continent, they will require a steady and stable stream of batteries. Which is why a lot of companies, including General Motors, are determined to see that they come from North ...
Posted in Design, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Lots of revisions to the droptop little car make it safer and more accommodating, though not much was said about fuel economy. Maybe this car is just too much fun to worry about that. After the short introduction in the attached story there's a link to the entire press release, ...
Posted in Accidents, Design, Driving Matters, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
The 2010 Buick LaCrosse debuts at the Detroit auto show next week, and it's the intention of the GM division to recast the brand in a more upscale and premium light. The primary charms of LaCrosse include its exterior and interior styling, extra-useful personal technologies, and -- of course -- ...
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Marketing, Product News, Technology | 1 Comment »
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan says new sedans from Ford and Mercury have leapt to the top of the hybrid car sweepstakes.
Posted in Buying Tips, Design, Driving Matters, Gadgets, Gas Issues, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
That's the thinking of a bunch of researchers, hoping to help poor farmers while making car interiors more environmentally friendly. Anything's better than preserved animal flesh.
Posted in Design, Green, Parts, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
In an effort to get a line of credit from the U.S. government, Ford is promising to accelerate its plans for more electric vehicles and hybrids in the next four years.
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Financing, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
If you really want to attach pretty much anything you like to the outside of your car so you can exhibit your artistic genius or just get people to stare at you, then you can probably get away with it. Some of the examples of this will amaze or disturb ...
Posted in Cute stories, Design, Program For Change | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
This article describing the economics of the auto industry should be instructive for anyone who thinks it's as simple as just building a small electric vehicle. At long last, the vastly over-hyped Tesla Motors may do something worthwhile by showing the uninformed how incredibly difficult it is to actually build ...
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Pricing, Program For Change, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Friday, November 21st, 2008
The first thing people will want to do when this recession is over is buy a new car, says the man in charge of Nissan and Renault, so he and his colleagues at other car companies are busy making sure there'll be something new and trendy for you when the ...
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Car companies from all around the world are rethinking their plans for greener vehicles in the light of the ongoing collapse of new vehicle sales. Without the cash from those sales, they can't afford to research and develop more fuel-efficient technology.
Posted in Design, Gas Issues, Is There A Lesson Here?, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
By Susan Winlaw
A new version of the Ford Mustang and a revised Lincoln MKZ sedan may get the glamour coverage, but most consumers will be interested to see what Ford's doing to its Fusion mid-sized sedan line for early next year.
Posted in Design, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
This seems like a good idea, since you have to do your seatbelt up for the colorful and large corsage to be visible, and anything that gets people doing up their seatbelts is a great idea.
Posted in Advertising, Cute stories, Design, Parts, Warnings | No Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
You have to see the picture of this car in action to appreciate how it works, and how wonderful it would be to have one in many, many situations.
Posted in Cute stories, Design, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, September 19th, 2008
To prevent another car crashing into her house, a Dallas woman addresses the negative energy she long ignored with some Chinese therapy.
Posted in Accidents, Cute stories, Design, Is There A Lesson Here?, Program For Change, Repairs | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Pictures of some cool outfits and why certain colors are and aren't used.
Posted in Cute stories, Design, Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, September 5th, 2008
You don't have to be going very fast in a small car to do a lot of damage, a study by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) makes clear. For example, if you hit something (like the wall in a parking garage) with the rear end of a Prius ...
Posted in Accidents, Buying Tips, Design, Insurance, Pricing, Repairs | No Comments »
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
Lots of people think the current fascination with smaller cars is a temporary aberration, that the market will go back to big cars when gas prices decline or settle or people decide what else to give up (those $8 designer coffees, for example) or something. But the chief planner for ...
Posted in Design, Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Green, Marketing, Program For Change | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
Struggling Chrysler has added its name to the long list of companies that say they're working on cars that run on batteries (either solely or in conjunction with a gas-powered engine) and can be recharged by plugging them into a regular wall socket. What's different here is that the company ...
Posted in Design, Gas Issues, Green, Marketing, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
Al Haas has a look at convertibles that have good mileage.
"It is possible to have frugal fun behind the wheel. I mean, what could be more enjoyable and more wealth-conserving than going topless in a lively convertible that gets surprisingly good mileage?
We're going to check out seven frugal-fun ragtops with ...
Posted in Design, Gas Issues, Pricing | No Comments »
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
Jere Downs has a short post on the Ford Flex and how well it will sell when it's first released.
She writes "It seems that car purchases are a function of human behavior. Shocking to think that one might drop $30,000 to be the first on the block with a new ...
Posted in Design, Sales | No Comments »
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
Christian Science Monitor's Mark Clayton has a look at plug-in hybrids and whether they will break America's dependency on oil.
"If the United States breaks its oil addiction, a measure of thanks will no doubt be due to Andy Frank, who some have dubbed the “father of the plug-in hybrid” car.
Laboring ...
Posted in Design, Green | No Comments »
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
Mark Phelan writes about how the automakers are responding to $4 gas.
"In secure conference rooms, engineering centers and design studios across Detroit, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors are working to create a new generation of fuel-efficient vehicles without repeating their mistakes of the past."
"The answer lies in advanced engine technologies, ...
Posted in Design, Gas Issues, Sales | No Comments »
Friday, July 18th, 2008
General Motors has released information about what vehicle will replace the Chevy Cobalt. The Chevrolet Cruze will be released in the U.S. in mid-2010 and "will be the first vehicle to use GM's revamped Delta 2 platform, an architecture that will be used on all GM small cars around the ...
Posted in Design, Sales | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
There were two good articles yesterday about how one company, General Motors, is responding to the high gas prices by changing their product lineup.
Scott Burgess writes " By 2010, some consumers won't recognize their local Chevrolet or Buick dealership. General Motors Corp.'s restructuring will dramatically cut back its lineup of ...
Posted in Design, Gas Issues, Sales | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
Sharon Silke Carty has an article in USA Today that looks at the challenges automakers face in the new world of $4 gas. The main issue for automakers to work on is to build smaller cars, with less powerful engines, but have all the amenities consumers have become used to. ...
Posted in Design, Gas Issues, Sales | No Comments »
Sunday, July 6th, 2008
Brendan Koerner, in Slate's Green Lantern feature, looks at whether it is more fuel efficient to use the air conditioner or to roll down the windows. There is no easy answer but he concludes "The rule of thumb is to keep the windows down while on city streets, then resort ...
Posted in Design, Gas Issues | No Comments »
Saturday, July 5th, 2008
Stefan Lonce has an Op-Ed in today's NY Times that looks at free speech and license plates.
"THE latest license plate controversy erupted last month when the South Carolina Legislature passed America’s first-ever religious specialty license plate, with the slogan “I believe” and the image of a cross over a stained-glass ...
Posted in Design, Sales | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
USA Today has a story about market researcher Kelley Styring, who is traveling around the country and looking at what kind of items are in peoples cars.
"Wearing latex gloves, Kelley Styring picks through the interior of a Chevrolet Malibu like a CSI technician searching for clues. The contents — every ...
Posted in Design | No Comments »
Friday, June 27th, 2008
Good news for those of you who would like more European-designed vehicles in the U.S. Fiat recently announced plans to re-introduce Alfa Romeo and Fiat branded vehicles in North America beginning next year, after abandoning the U.S. market in 1983.
Read more about Fiat's plans in BusinessWeek, Detroit Free Press or ...
Posted in Design, Sales | No Comments »
Friday, June 27th, 2008
Researchers at Umea University in Sweden have released a dissertation that concluded women are three times more likely than men to suffer a severe neck injury in a rear-end collision. Some of the conclusions of the study were:
"For both women and men, the findings show that the driver’s seat entails ...
Posted in Design, Safety | No Comments »
