There is hope for our automotive industry. Last night President Barack Obama vowed to hold U.S. automakers accountable for “bad practices” but promised to help create a “retooled, re-imagined auto industry.” In remarks prepared for delivery to a joint session of Congress, Obama said, “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of [...]

With their sales figures up 15% in January, Hyundai decided to pump up their Assurance program with the addition of Hyundai Assurance Plus. The Assurance Program allows customers to walk away from a financing obligation when “certain adverse life events occur”. In other words, if you buy a Hyundai and lose your job, you can [...]

“Hey, Alex, I’m wondering if there’s been a mistake. This Nissan Versa has no radio… am I looking in the wrong place?”. I emailed Alex at Specialty Transport, the organization that delivers my press cars, the day I got a 2009 Nissan Versa sedan to test drive. The response. “Holly, yup there’s no radio, but, [...]

Car companies are historically do-gooders. To some of you that might come as a surprise especially when all the talk about how the BIG THREE have overspent, underestimated and wasted their resources. That’s not the whole truth. When times are tough I’ve seen the automotive manufacturers move in and help out. For example, during the [...]

Checking in from the Chicago Auto Show. The gig is that media can access text messages on their phone to remind them of upcoming events, updates, changes or announcements. That’s a good thing when you are at the nation’s biggest convention center! This is all in tune with the Blogosphere conference that’s taking place Thursday [...]

When the Hyundai Genesis sedan won the 2009 North American Car of the Year in Detroit this year it was splash news. This is the first time that this 16-year-old annual industry award was given to a South Korean auto maker. “At the end of the day it’s just exciting to watch this brand come [...]

photo courtesy of Daniel Coyle Photography Lusting for a spin in a Maserati, a sports car that spits out 400 hp and puts out 0-62 in around 5 seconds. Or how about profiling in a sensual low-lying Lamborghini? And then, again, you could just cruise around in the luxury of a Bentley—all hand crafted interior, [...]

Mercedes-Benz has started marketing to the Y generation, the children of the baby boomers, who are between the ages of 18 and 31. It makes perfect sense. Gen Y (also called millennials and echo-boomers) are a population as big as the boomers. “The whole idea is that our product cycles are 7 years. If you [...]

Just to keep you up to date on what is happening in the automotive industry… General Motors is thinking about dropping its Saab, Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer brands, as part of their plan to secure $12 billion of U.S. government loans, Bloomberg News said last Wednesday. GM’s other U.S. brands are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and [...]

Reading Rolling Stone the other day I came upon an article about famed Rock ‘n Roller, Neil Young, turning his 1959 Lincoln (that gulped nine-miles-per gallon) into a hybrid vehicle that can achieve 100 mpg. Young, a collector of antique cars, decided that he wanted to make a statement about technology. He got his ‘ah [...]