Archive for the ‘Design’ Category
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 »
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Jacqueline Mitchell has a informative piece in Forbes on the improvement of auto interiors. It is a Top 10 list and begins " Today's car owners, from the sports car driver to the soccer mom, want features and functions that make life easier--and they want them designed with a stylish ...
Posted in Design, Lists | Comments Off
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Alice Thorson has a review of Chakaia Booker's latest exhibition, RubberMade. Ms Thorson writes "These days she gets her tires from multiple sources, including auto body shops, salvage yards and dumps. She slices them apart and then puts them together into abstract compositions suggestive of figures, totems, masks, body parts ...
Posted in Design, Green | No Comments »
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Joanne, at The Driving Woman, has a short review on the 2008 Smart ForTwo. There are some things she liked, some she didn't but in the end wonders 'where is the value'. Read her review here.
Posted in Design, Green | No Comments »
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Edmunds has an interesting story today about a new line of belts from Kale Miles. Laura Brown writes " A line of men's fashion belts has just been released that is made using metal from classic American cars of the '50s and '60s. The 'casual luxury' belts are individually made ...
Posted in Design | No Comments »
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
JD Power released its annual initial quality survey yesterday. The survey is made up of "81,500 new-vehicle purchasers, which is used by industry analysts and insiders to objectively measure manufacturing and design effectiveness." The top five brands were Porsche, Infiniti, Lexus, Mercedes and Toyota and the bottom five were Suzuki, ...
Posted in Design, Repairs | No Comments »
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
More news about the Ford Flex, the crossover vehicle that's replacing the Freestar and Monterey minivans, has been released. The Flex is due on dealer lots this summer and has a number of unusual design elements.
Anthony Prozzi, a former DKNY designer who now works for Ford, says about the ...
Posted in Design | No Comments »
