Cars! Cars! Cars!

Too Little, Too Late?

"Hey, I'm here!" says the little smart car. "I'm ready to tackle the big gasoline prices." ... "Doeth!" Kicking Tires reports: Smart Really Coming to U.S. in 2008. Oh, never fear little smart, gas prices will go back up. Thanks to the recent election happenings, we are going to have to revise our gas prices prediction (more on that when we actually make the predictions).

In any event, the smart car is on its way (for sale in 2008). Not familiar with the smart car? Think of the smallest car you know. Then chop it in half. And now just a pinch more. No, a little more. There. That's a smart car. You can see more of it here: smart goes USA.

What do we think? In an age of excess (excess), we appreciate seeing some restraint. These smart cars make 100% sense in a big city like New York, San Francisco, Portland. But they don't make a lot of sense for folks who have to do a lot of highway driving or who have a lot of people to tote around.

We haven't found prices or sales expectations, so we can say if DaimlerChrysler has its head on straight, but the idea could work. What do you think? Would you buy one?

That's a snap of a smart car. Small ain't it? Is that good or bad?

Smart Fight!

Edmunds reports on the 2008 Toyota Aygo. Go check it out. Maybe we'll have a small fight rather than the fight of who can make the bigger SUV!

Smartageness

Worst. Kept. Secret. Ever. AutoWeek reports: It's (finally) Official. Heck, they might as well waiting to announce it after we all were driving one around, bumping into each other in a playful manner. Our concerns:

1. Price. $15k! Yikes! For another grand we could get a Honda Fit.
2. Sales estimates. 20k? Yikes. Smart only sells 20k world-wide! Seems a tad optimistic to us.
3. There is no step three!

Holy cow, lookit that picture! The Smart is small.

Am I Smart Or Not?

The Car Connection reports: Smart Decision Due Soon. "What the hell is that?" "That's so cute!" "You'll totally get killed in that thing." "Alison Krauss may be touted for her fiddle playing and angelic voice, but we're chubbed 'cause she's a hottie." "That's a great city car! Where can I get one?" That's right folks, this month good ol' DC is going to come up with the answer to "Can I get one?" So, what ya'll think DC's decision will be? Yea or nay on the Smart Car in the U.S.

Morning News: Awards, Smart, Detroit, Wagoner

Detroit Wins Suck Of The Year Award!
The Detroit News reports: The year of the Honda. The Detroit News has picked its car and truck of the year. Both Hondas. Car of the year shouldn't come to much surprise to Detroit, but we bet the truck award sent some shudders through Detroit. Especially when we read stuff like: AutoWeek reports: Ford struggling to sell 900,000 F-Series pickups in 2005. And, yes, we understand there is no comparison in sales of the F-Series and Ridgeline... but when Ford has trouble meeting sales goals for its key product... well, that's gotta spell trouble. We're betting Ford sells 10% fewer F-Series for '06. But we're a car blog so we don't focus on that. Ha! See? Focus is a car by Ford. No extra charge here for cleverness!

Is It Smart Or Not?
Oh, another two-fer here at Cars! Cars! Cars! We got CNN/Money reports: Smart cars coming to U.S.? Meanwhile, AutoWeek reports: DCX pushes back decision on whether to launch Smart brand in U.S. Seems to us that Smart could sell 20,000 in the U.S. if it is marketed correctly and in the right cities. The right cities being crowded ones like Boston, NYC, San Francisco. There are other cities, but we're over-caffeinated and can't think clearly.

Detroit: Oy!
We read these in this order:

The Detroit News reports: Kerkorian unloads GM stock

The Detroit News reports: Hyundai to add 600 jobs in state.

The Detroit News reports: Toyota on pace to become No. 1.

Man, those are all bad things if your name is General Motors. First, we got Kerkorian dumping his stock and sending GM's price into the crapper. Then Hyundai announces it's doing well enough to hire more people (rather than do layoff after layoff). And, finally, Toyota is totally looking to be #1 in car sales. We're not saying things look really bad for GM, but... Wait. We are. It's exactly what we sayin'. GM is hurtin' and it's just not going to get better. Here's a great example: First, GM's Pontiac division comes out with the Aztek that, upon arrival, made people begin vomiting. It was truly unbelievable that GM/Pontiac thought the vehicle was good. Holy cow are they messed up on goofballs. Then, after getting their asses kicked, they go back and make the Torrent. Which is better than the Aztek, but so mediocre that... Well, The Car Connection says it pretty nicely:

In all, the Torrent offers plenty of utility but comes up a little short in other areas. For those who haven't caught the underlying message, no we don't see a Torrent of buyers storming the Pontiac dealership.

Full review here: The Car Connection reviews: 2006 Pontiac Torrent. Oh, here's another article on that stock move: General Motors' European Stock Falls as Kerkorian Pares Holding.

Wagoner: I'm Not Conceding!
The Car Connection reports: Toyota Edging Closer to Number One.

Toyota Motor Co. has announced it plans to build 9.06 million vehicles next year. The expansion of the Japanese automaker's production plan will pose a direct challenge to General Motors, which has been the world's leading automaker for the past 70 years. However, Richard Wagoner, GM's chairman and chief executive officer, said that GM isn't about to concede its claim to the number-one spot, which has been a key element of the company's corporate identity for decades.

"I'm not conceding anything to anybody," Wagoner said in a statement released after Toyota announced its plans to boost production in 2006. "We respect our competition around the world, and we're realistic about our challenges and opportunities. We know we have to earn the right to maintain our global sales leadership, and we're doing that day after day," the statement added.

Dude. Dude! DUDE! What day are you referring to? You guys are bummin'! You guys gonna continue down the path that leads to Toyota making 9.06 million cars while you make 9.06 million mistakes? Somebody better wake up Mr. Wagoner.