Car News Articles

“Across government, the vast majority of E85 purchases made with government-issued credit cards don’t register as E85,” FederalTimes.com reports. “One recent study suggests as much as two-thirds of E85 purchases are incorrectly recorded; another puts the figure at 82 percent.” In other words, no one knows how much U.S. tax money is being spent on corn juice. In other other words, the feds are spending hundreds of millions of dollars propping-up the ethanol industry without a clue whether it’s a waste of money or not (hint: it is). Yes, it’s a major SNAFU. “To adjust for discrepancies in alternative fuel reporting, GSA [General Services Administration] in fiscal 2006 began reporting all fuel purchases for E85 vehicles governmentwide as E85 transactions when the cars went to stations that sell E85. But according to the November study… 45 percent of fuel purchases for E85 vehicles actually are gasoline rather than E85, meaning that GSA may be overestimating the amount of E85 purchased. “Our reports to Congress on alt fuels are suspect,” says Marc McConahy of Vista Consultants, who studied the problem for two years for the Energy Department. “and I’m being kind when I say ‘suspect.’” 

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There’s no official obituary for GM’s HUMMER brand yet, but haters are lacing up their dancing shoes while lovers wring their hands. Dealers with HUMMER franchises have a lot of skin in the game, so the uncertain future is bound to give business officers ulcers. Not willing to wait around to the bitter end, Milwaukee’s Bergstrom HUMMER is planning to move into the same space as the group’s Chevrolet store. The HUMMER-specific Quonset hut style dealership building will be toned down and pressed into service as an outlet for Certified used GM vehicles. Other HUMMER dealers across the nation are staring down the same conundrum, being on the hook for that big, rugged showroom, test track, inventory, and staff, while the parent company looks to clamp off bleeders. Some might follow Bergstrom’s lead and shove the big trucks into a corner of a showroom dominated by a more stable brand, while others are shipping inventory as fast as they can.

Moving product is a tremendous challenge when the bobbleheads on the nightly news continue shrilly about the price of fuel and you’ve got a lot full of low-mpg, high weight trucks that happen to be a favorite target of vandals euphemistically masquerading as “activists.” Customers that do make it through the door are looking for deals, and HUMMER will spot you five thousand bucks to take an H3, PLEASE. Existing customers are looking to get out of their vehicles any way possible, even if it means a financial hit. The mass exodus isn’t solely due to hysteria, when it costs over $100 to fill the fuel tank, it chafes to watch the fuel gauge’s precipitously quick drop toward “E.” Retail issues aside, HUMMER still offers capable vehicles with a high level of style. If you’ve got a boat to pull, and want to look like the Governator, an H2 could still be just the thing, and now you’ll be able to find one for a song; most likely the blues.

Gallery: 2009 HUMMER H3T

[Source: Inside Line]

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DETROIT - “Memo may signal cuts to come,” exclaimed the Detroit Free Press Wednesday morning, following leak of an e-mail Chrysler LLC CEO Bob Nardelli distributed to employees. Well, it’s a stretch, an extrapolation garnered from analysis of the market and Nardelli’s memo. The fact is this: the trend is toward a much worse year for auto and light truck sales than anyone expected, far worse even than May’s dismal sales results, when overall sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 14.25 million units per year, and Chrysler is in the worst position to weather it. “U.S. light-vehicle sales are predicted to fall to an annual rate of 12.5 million vehicles in June, according to forecasts by J.D. Power and Associates and Citigroup,” Nardelli writes in the memo.

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Ford Motor Co.’s plan to cut truck production a third time this year points to a growing financial crisis at a company long dependent on the revenue from its big pickups and SUVs.

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Lotus Engineering has won a contract to develop two low-carbon vehicles – a large luxury hybrid executive saloon called Limo-Green and a zero-emission London Taxi – as part of a £52m raft of green projects initiated by the government’s Technology Strategy Board.

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Audi’s upcoming new S4 – caught here in saloon and Avant forms, shorn of any disguise and with a current RS4 in tow – may look just as you’d expect it to, but it will be a radically different car compared to the one it replaces. Ignore the to-be-expected lowered ride height, subtle body kit, 18-inch alloys and quad exhaust pipes, because the big news is under the bonnet.

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Infineon Raceway in California’s beautiful Napa Valley wine country is a fun place to see a NASCAR race, but it’s a challenge for both the drivers and fans. While the Sprint Cup stars are turning right and left, most of the fans have quite a hike to get to their seats. Infineon, formerly known as Sears Point, is built on and around the wine country hills and the parking lots are steep and spread out. Add to that 90-degree temps, very limited shade, and a dusty wind and the fans in the terraced seats earn their stripes at Infineon. Sun screen and cold beverages are an absolute necessity. But the hiking and sun exposure are all worth it if you get to see one of your favorite drivers win here. I was fortunate to see Juan Pablo Montoya’s first Sprint Cup win here last year. Maybe we’ll see another first-time winner Sunday … perhaps one of Saturday’s fastest guys in practice, Marcos Ambrose? Or maybe Boris Said? After watching practice Saturday and listening to the Speed TV guys on the scanner, look for a strong effort from Dale Earnhardt Jr. A 76-race win drought to a two-race win streak? That would be an outcome both Junior Nation and NASCAR would enjoy.

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Leaving the hospital with our first baby, my husband and I bounded out to our car and promptly freaked out over putting our bundle of joy into his child-safety seat. Even with a combined 37 years of formal education, not to mention baby classes that covered car seat safety, we panicked and forgot how to use that darn contraption. How embarrassing. After a few deep breaths I figured it out, and we drove home at a whopping 20 mph (new parents, what do you expect?).

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I was wrong. In spite of indications to the contrary, the GMC salesman blogger defending your right to suck-up fuel and clog the roadways with oversized trucks didn’t have a change of heart about hybrids. In his latest anonymous posting on the Commercial Auto Dealers web site, the same person who warned us about the dangers of hybrids (so quiet we’ll all fall asleep behind the wheel) is “irked”  about environmentalists who “who think hybrids are God’s gift to humankind” because of “Al Gore’s half-truths and theories.”  And he’s specifically “annoyed” with those of you who’ve commented about his views on trucks vs. hybrids. Just to make sure you understand where he’s coming from, he states “I’m sticking with my truck and I’m not going to feel guilty about it.” Neither should anyone else “feel guilty about going to your local GMC truck dealer and getting the biggest, baddest truck you can find and driving it for no reason at all.” Gas prices be damned. After all, “when [hybrid owners] need a tow, the guys with the big trucks are the ones they’re going to call first.”

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