Same New, Same New
AutoWeek reports: Seven Ways Forward. Lotsa pictures! We love pictures. However, only two of the vehicles shown here moved us. The rest really seemed to be the "same old" from Ford. The ones we liked? Oh, thanks for asking: the SAV (which looks like a Mazda5, which we really like) and the Bronco. We know, we know, the car dudes like trucks? We do! That Bronco is a 4-cylinder hybrid dealie, right? Ha! We're funny because we write funny things!
Toyota Is Smart
AutoWeek reports: Toyota's Camry Hybrid recipe. Holy crap, read this friggin' article! They did all whole lot of thinkin', some fancy switcherooin' and, boom, are savin' moolah. This is a good article if you are in the manufacturing sector or just like assembly stuff. Or men. In factories. Sweaty men. Good Lord, where's Claire when we need her?
It's Not Easy Being Ford
The Detroit News reports: Ford: Now it's easy being green. "Hi, ho, this is Kermit the Sellout shilling for Ford. No Miss Piggy, don't do it! Don't drive a Honda! Gah!"
It'll Be Different This Time
AutoWeek reports: Ford's 'Way Forward' plan also promises new product, marketing. Details. It's all about the details, man! Give us the details! Details. No details plus this: "Ford no longer will provide earnings guidance" really doesn't provoke confidence.
Letter Law
AutoWeek reports: M-napped? BMW demands $260 million for Infiniti campaign. Is everyone going to sue everyone over names now? Seems to be the trend. Man, if every John Smith sued every other John Smith... crap, that'd be awesome! Think of all the laws we could break while these bozos goofed around in court! For the record, there are only 26 possible combinations of letters in our 26-letter alphabet, so we plan on seeing a lot more suing. And with Acura suing Lincoln over the MDX vs MKX dealie, we want to point out there are only 17,576 combinations for the three-letter system, too. Our suggestion? Go with a 14-letter combination. "What?," you say. Hey, Lincoln! Try these wacky combinations: Continental or Town Car or Mark VIII. Also, do names have to be different? We didn't know Lincoln made a LeBaron once! Doesn't that set a precedent in regards to name swapping?
No Sale
The Detroit News reports: GM cuts jobs, production at Orion factory. Crap. Pontiac G6 sales are sliding and more layoffs are coming. We think the G6 is pretty decent, so we're sad to see this happening. What happened here? Simple over production? Competition that much better? Management bungle? Anyone have any ideas?
Love
CNN/Money reports: America and GM: Can this marriage be saved? Of course it can. We're pretty sure that folks will buy "American*" if the vehicle is reasonably modern looking and reliability is there. Design tastes come and go, but the reliability has to be there (an extended warranty proving GM stands behind its products is would also go a long way). Reliability surveys for recent GM cars have been positive and that's a good sign, but until we also see Solstice design after Solstice design, we remain pretty pessimistic. If GM dies, it's not because the automotive press did it, the unions or, heck, even the competition. If GM dies it's because GM killed itself. *We're not technically sure what buy American means anymore since GM builds cars all over and not all parts are from American companies. Is Saab an American brand? It's owned by GM. Anyway, we firmly believe GM can be turned around. We don't believe Wagoner can do it, however.