William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 28, 2012

Chrysler and General Motors are banning campaign stops for the candidates running for the U.S. President. The banning hopes to sidestep criticism that might stem from the bailout the two automakers got back in 2008.

"This fall, Chrysler will not host campaign events inside its facilities. The company is focused on meeting production demands," a Chrysler spokeswoman told Automotive News.

“We’re a car company, not a political platform,” a GM spokesman said.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 21, 2012

Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk recently gave an interview with Automobile Magazine talking about the company and what lies ahead. Musk also took the opportunity to rip into Fisker.

“It’s a mediocre product at a high price. The car looks very big, and yet it has no trunk space and is very cramped inside, particularly in the rear seats.”

Musk also spoke out against Fisker founder, Henrik Fisker.

“The fundamental problem with Henrik Fisker — he is a designer or stylist…he thinks the reason we don’t have electric cars is for lack of styling. This is not the reason. It’s fundamentally a technology problem. At the same time, you need to make it look good and feel good, because otherwise you’re going to have an impaired product. But just making something look like an electric car does not make it an electric car.”

Musk went onto to say, “[Fisker] thinks the most important thing in the world — or the only important thing in the world — is design, so he outsourced the engineering and manufacturing. But the fact is…that’s the crux of the problem. And he’s outsourcing to people who don’t know how to solve the problem.”

So why does Elon Musk have so much hatred for Fisker. Well, Musk alleges that when Fisker was tasked to design the Model S, he took specifications of the vehicle and used them for the Karma.

“We were paying someone to do styling for his own car,” Musk said.

Tesla sued Fisker over this, but was unsuccessful.

Automobile Magazine asked Henrik Fisker for comment. This was his response.

"Obviously, Tesla and Fisker are appealing to two different customer bases with two totally different technologies. Tesla has pure EV and Fisker has a range-extended offering with no compromise on range. We are proud to have delivered over 1000 Karmas to customers in the U.S. and Europe and are now moving into the [Gulf Cooperation Council countries] and Chinese global markets.

We wish Tesla all the best with their latest model and hope that both companies go from strength to strength as they challenge the automotive rulebook."

Source: Automobile Magazine

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 20, 2012

Over the weekend, Fisker announced a recall of over 2,000 of its Karma plug-in hybrid sedans due to risk of fires. The recall was issued a couple weeks after a fire engulfed the driver's front side of a Karma sitting a parking lot.

Fisker called on the help of Pacific Rim Investigative Services Group to figure out the cause of the fire on August 10. The investigation found the ignition source was a low temperature cooling fan, which “had an internal fault that cause it to fail, overheat and start a slow burning fire.”

To keep this from happening again, dealers will replace the cooling fan with an updated one. Also, dealers will add an extra fuse to the system for protection.

This is the second fire that has claimed a Karma and the third recall since December. The first recall dealt with a coolant leak for 240 Karmas. Then, 600 Karmas were recalled due to a battery defect.

Source: Wired's Autopia

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 16, 2012

Fisker is looking to raise another $150 million to help keep the company afloat.

"We need money on our balance sheet" to fund operating expenses. "And we need money to fund the development of the next car," said Ray Lane, a Fisker director and a managing partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to Reuters."We're raising some of that money now, and some later."

The reason for the extra $150 million? Earlier this year, Fisker's request for $264.5 million in government was denied by U.S. Department of Energy. Couple that with development costs of the new Atlantic and production costs of the Karma and easy to see why they're asking for money.

Source: Reuters

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 14, 2012

A new study conducted by Maritz Research finds that 11.4% of new car buyers are skipping the test drive. The implication for skipping the test drive are due to more consumers doing their research on the internet (8 out of 10 consumers the study found) and the universal dislike of the car sales practice.

"I just find it quite fascinating and a little baffling. As cliché as perhaps it sounds, there's that new-car smell that needs to be experienced firsthand and cannot be experienced over the Internet," said Chris Travell, vice president of strategic consulting for Maritz Research.

Dealers aren't happy with this news. The test drive is one tactic used to get people excited enough to part with their hard earned cash.

"My manager said, 'The feel of the wheel will seal the deal,' " said Philip Reed, a former dealership representative who now serves as senior consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com.

The test drive can also tell a potential buyer whether they're making the right decision or not.

"Everything that you read isn't necessarily true. There's nothing online that tells you how that car feels. I enforce it with the salespeople that they have to at least offer a test-drive with every customer," said Ken Thomas, general manager of Telegraph Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Taylor, MI.

Source: Detroit Free Press

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 9, 2012

Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors have been making great strides in quality. J.D. Power and Associates' recent Vehicle Dependability Study saw Buick, Ford, and Lincoln above the industry average. Also, Cadillac, GMC, Chevrolet, and Ram trucks all ranked above average in J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study.

However, there is still many people who view these three as inferior vehicles. A new poll from Harris Interactive says that out of 2,634 U.S. adults, 35% said they find the quality of american vehicles to be inferior to imports. The poll also found that 24% of adults find imports to be inferior and 42% find quality to be the same.

Part of this comes from certain studies which place most american vehicles below the industry average. Also, the wording Harris used in the question has us wondering. The company asked people what they thought about the quality "American made vehicles" - which would lead many, but not all, people to assume Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors.

Source: Kicking Tires

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 7, 2012

New legislation introduced into the House and Senate this week aims to end rental car companies renting or selling vehicles that are under recall.

The legislation, co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) want to prohibit the rental of vehicles under a safety recall. The bill was introduced after two people were killed in 2004 when their unrepaired recalled Chrysler PT Cruiser,rented from Enterprise, caught fire and crashed.

Rental car companies have been under immense pressure for some time to make these rules standard. Earlier this year, Boxer sent a letter out to several rental car firms urging them to stop renting recalled vehicles. Only Hertz agreed to stop.

Enterprise, Avis and Dollar Thrifty say they repair their vehicles whenever it is practical to do so and park vehicles when a manufacturer recommends it. They argue some recalls are for only minor issues and with vehicles parked, it would disrupt their business.

General Motors and Chrysler have told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that only about 30% of cars sold to rental companies were repaired within 90 days of a recall and more than 50% were repaired within a year.

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

August 6, 2012

If you're one of those people who wanted a H1, or the actual wartime vehicle that inspired it, have we got some news for you.

After a twelve year break from the civilian market, AM General is reportedly set to offer a kit-car of the C-Series HMMWV, or Humvee. The kit will meet U.S. government regulations and has been made possible by a deal with GM.

The kit will include a body with 2,800 installed rivets, chassis with springs, cross members, geared hubs, half-shafts, differentials, a cooling package, two fuel tanks, and a soft top with soft doors. The only items you need to add is the engine and transmission (Duramax V8 diesel anyone?).

Options will include protection plates for the rocker panels, driveline parts, a winch, heated windshield, geared fan drive, and a central tire inflation system.

Pricing for the kit is expected to start around $59,000, with a completed Humvee costing around $75,000.

Source: Hummer Guy

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

August 2, 2012

According to research firm Baum and Associates, American buyers are taking a liking to diesel vehicles. Through June of this year, 61,214 diesel-powered vehicles have been sold in the U.S., an increase of 27.5%.

That number might not sound like a lot, but sales of diesel vehicles are steadily climbing. From April to June, Diesel vehicles saw increases in sales ranging from 14.4% to 28.2%.

This news comes in the face of the high price of a gallon of diesel compared to gas. AAA reports that the national average cost of a gallon of diesel is $3.780, compared with $3.521 a gallon for regular gas.

"Despite some volatility in the auto market, clean-diesel auto sales have increased in 22 of the past 23 months with double-digit increases in 20 of those months. And diesel auto sales increased by more than 30 percent in 12 of these months," Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, said in a statement.

Source: Kicking Tires

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 26, 2012

This week, Tesla announced that it's considering boosting production of its Model S sedan to 30,000 units in response to a waiting list that stretches for 10-11 months.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a conference call with analysts that the company is expecting to sell 5,000 Model S sedans by the end of 2012, with 20,000 sales expected next year. That could increase to 30,000 with the addition of a second shift. Currently, Tesla has 12,200 reservations for the Model S sedan.

"Our key objective for the rest of the year is to ramp production with a focus on quality and to rollout the Model S experience to a broader audience through customer deliveries, test drives and store openings," Tesla said in its second quarter 2012 shareholder letter.

Source: Inside Line

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 19, 2012

With the advent of ever-tightening fuel economy and emission standards, no automaker is safe, not even boutique luxury automakers like Aston Martin.

Consider this, besides the Aston Martin Cygnet which is a Scion iQ in drag, the rest of the Aston Martin lineup comes with either a V8 or V12 engines. Aston Martin has reduced the emissions of its engines by 25% over the past six years, but that might not be enough.

Aston Martin head Ulrich Bez recently revealed to Autocar the company is open to downsizing their engines.

“The job is not complete. Four or even three cylinders are possible. If the spirit of the times demands six cylinders, then it has to be looked at.”

However, if a move like that was done, Bez said it would “never undermine exclusivity. We must stay special”.

Source: Autocar

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 17, 2012

The current Suzuki SX4 is going on six years and its beginning to show its age. Suzuki knows this and is working on the next generation SX4.

Some new spy shots show how much progress Suzuki has made on the next SX4. The next SX4 appears to be much larger than the current model, thanks to larger greenhouse. Other design changes include a new grille and headlamps.

There also appears to be a large intercooler that is hiding behind the lower fascia, meaning the next SX4 could be packing a turbo engine. This is a play for fuel economy and not performance.

Source: Autoblog

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersansGears.com

July 12, 2012

From the we're a bit skeptical on this file; Autocar had the chance to talk with Tesla’s chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen. von Holzhausen told the magazine that work on a new model has begun and will be an entry level model.

“The third model will continue to drive down the price point as fast as possible,” said von Holzhausen.

von Holzhausen goes onto say the new model will have more distinctive styling than recently released Model S.

"We will become more experimental as we develop as a brand. Our cars need to have some personality.”

Source: Autocar

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 10, 2012

In 1939, Oldsmobile introduced the first automatic transmission dubbed Hydra-Matic. Hydra-Matic came four forward gears and a reverse gear. Fast forward 73 years and we have vehicles with six, seven, and even eight-speed automatics. And then there is the talk about vehicles getting nine and even ten speed transmission. This of course has the peanut gallery making comments of when we're going to see an eighteen-speed transmission.

"We are coming close to the limit," said ZF North American president Julio Caspari.

Caspari believes automakers are adding more gears for marketing and not for fuel efficiency gains, citing that there is only an 11% gap between the best transmissions today and a perfect transmission.

"Can we produce a perfect transmission, and what would it cost? We would need to look at things like ceramic ball bearings to reduce friction, which would be expensive," Caspari went onto say.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 5, 2012

The Highway Loss Data Institute, part of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), released a study this week looking into crash avoidance technology. The results are a bit surprising.

The study looked property damage liability (PDL) claims, meaning drivers who had a accident with another vehicle. The study also limited the number of manufacturers in the study to four; Buick, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.

Unsurprisingly, vehicles equipped with crash avoidance systems saw a decrease in claims as high as 14%. Also, vehicles equipped with adaptive headlamps saw a 10% drop.

The surprise is with the lane departure warning system. The number of claims rose when vehicles were equipped with lane departure. IIHS said “the increases were not statistically significant [and] the results suggest these particular systems aren’t reducing overall crashes.”

No one is quite sure as to why there is an increase when a vehicle is equipped with a lane departure warning system. Matt Moore, vice president of HLDI gave his best guess.

“Lane departure warning may end up saving lives down the road, but so far these particular versions aren’t preventing insurance claims It may be that drivers are getting too many false alarms, which could make them tune out the warnings or turn them off completely. Of course, that doesn’t explain why the systems seem to increase claim rates, but we need to gather more data to see if that’s truly happening.”

Source: New York Times’ Wheels, Autopia

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

If you happen to be visiting Saudi Arabia, don't drift your rental car, you could lose your head.

A popular amateur sport in the kingdom, drivers push their cars into skids at high speeds through traffic while spectators gather on the side of the road to watch and cheer, sometimes with disastrous results. Scores and scores of videos of the practice, called “Hadwalah”, are available on Youtube. In the video below, a Honda Accord is seen speeding down a highway with guns blazing out of the windows. The driver later turns around and drifts next to a school bus full of children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGt0RnZcO88

Saudi police have been cracking down on the practice and are now charging offenders with negligent homicide.

One man, who calls himself “Mutannish”, Arabic for “he who ignores”, has been sentenced to beheading after killing two people while drifting his car.

Source: Reuters

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

June 28, 2012

The average age of a vehicle in the U.S. has hit a record high. According to Experian Automotive, the average age of the 245 million vehicles registered in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2012 was 11 years. That's an increase of just over 2 months when compared to last year.

Experian Automotive goes onto say that more than 52 million cars and trucks in the U.S. are 16 years or older.

Experian Automotive's analysis also found that Ford has the most models on the road compared to any other automaker. That really shouldn't come as a surprise since the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 30 straight years. The top four automakers with the oldest models on the road include;

• Ford: 17.2%
  
• Chevrolet: 15.8%
  
• Honda: 10.4%
  
• Toyota: 7.3%
  

The four most popular models are;

• Ford F-150: 3.4%
  
• Honda Accord: 2.6%
  
• Toyota Camry: 2.6%
  
• Chevrolet Sliverado: 2.0%
  

Why are there more old vehicles on the road? For one, the recession and sluggish recovery has caused people put off buying or trading-in for a new or used car. Also, vehicles are just better built. During the 90's, improvement in quality picked up serious momentum.

Source: CNBC

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

June 21, 2012

The EPA gave its ratings for the Tesla Model S are they are very good. The EPA rates the new Model S at 88 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) in the City, 90 MPGe on the Highway, and 89 MPGe combined. Range is estimated to be 265 Miles, a 12% decrease from Tesla’s original estimate.

(Note, these EPA ratings are for the the top of the line Model S. We’ll learn what the ratings for the other Model Ss in time.)

So where does the Model S fall into the EV MPGe ratings? Well it's behind the Honda Fit EV (118 MPGe), Mitsubishi i (112 MPGe), Ford Focus EV (105 MPGe), and Nissan Leaf (99 MPGe). But well ahead of the Coda Sedan (73 MPGe).

However, the Model S is larger than any of the vehicles listed and can seat up to seven (five + two jump seats).

Source: Autoblog

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

June 19, 2012

The internet is a wonderful place for things to leak out before their official debut. The latest leak comes from Aston Martin as their new flagship, the Vanquish was revealed before its official debut.

From the few pictures that were leaked, the Vanquish appears to be mix of the current DB9 and some new designs. Under the body lies a heavily revised version of Aston Martin’s VH platform.

Power will come from a revised 6.0L V12 engine producing 565 HP and 457 lb-ft of torque. Power will be sent to a six-speed "Touchtronic 2" automatic transmission. Reportedly, the Vanquish will hit sixty in 4.1 seconds and a top speed of 183 MPH.

We'll have more on the new Vanquish when Aston Martin officially shows it.

Source: Motor Authority

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

June 11, 2012

Apple's 2012 Worldwide Developer's Conference keynote is coming to a close as you're reading this, and among the announcements of iOS6 and new laptops, Apple is making their way into the vehicle once again via a button.

Called Eyes Free, its a button on the steering wheel that will activate Siri on your iPhone or iPad in the vehicle. Most likely paired with Bluetooth, Eyes Free will let you talk to Siri through the car, giving you access to information without taking your hands or eyes off the road.

Nine automakers; BMW, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda are on board to offer Eyes Free within the next twelve months.

Source: Engadget

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

June 8, 2012

Transportation secretary Ray LaHood has made it his mission to end distracted driving, calling it an “epidemic.” To help end it, LaHood and Department of Transportation has unveiled their Blueprint for Ending Distracted Driving. The blueprint calls for:

• Get the last eleven holdout states to pass laws banning distracted driving.
  
• Challenge the auto industry to not provide vehicle content that the government considers distracting.
  
• Educate young people about the perils of distracted driving.
  
• Continue a public education campaign that "Provides all stakeholders with actions they can take that go beyond personal responsibility to helping end distracted driving nationwide."
  

The government also announced pilot programs in California and Delaware to provide each with $2.4 million for increased law enforcement and to create a public campaign reminding drivers the dangers of distracted driving.

Source: Department of Transportation

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

June 7, 2012

Tesla's sales and financials have been taking a plunge since the company pulled the plug on their only model, the Roadster last year. However, the company has great hopes for improvement when the new Model S is launched.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told shareholders yesterday that he is “highly confident” that the company will achieve sales of 20,000 vehicles in 2013.

The Model S, which will start at $57,400 (before a $7,500 federal tax credit), will initially be offered in the U.S.. Tesla will then expand availability to Europe and Japan in six months, followed by China next year.

Tesla will also begin to offer leases next year, recognizing that many luxury car buyers lease.

“We may see an even greater proportion of our cars leased. The best way to see the cost advantage is through leasing. That way you can see the total monthly cost to operate a [Tesla] car versus a gasoline car,” Musk said.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

June 3, 2012

With gas prices going up and up, automakers are offering fuel-efficient versions of their compact cars to help stretch a gallon of gas farther.

Consumer Reports wanted to see if these fuel-efficient compact models are worth the extra $500 - $800 from their non fuel-efficient models. They picked up a Chevrolet Cruze Eco, Ford Focus SFE, and Honda Civic HF to test the claim. Each of the vehicles were equipped with an automatic transmission.

The Civic HF and Focus SFE is rated at 33 MPG combined, and the Cruze Eco is rated at 31 MPG combined.

CR found in their testing the Civic HF got the highest combined MPG with 33, the Focus with 31, and the Cruze Eco was last with 27.

The news gets even worse for the Cruze Eco. Consumer Reports found that Cruze Eco would only save about $20 per year in gas if prices stayed around $4.00. The Focus SFE would save $145 and the Civic HF would save around $135. That would mean you would need to own the vehicles between 3 to 38 years for the savings to offset the higher price.

CR points out that the Mazda 3 SkyActiv and Toyota Corolla can achieve similar mileage without any special tweak.

Source: Consumer Reports

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 31, 2012

Despite the fullsize car getting a kick in the pants with vehicles like the Chevrolet Impala, Toyota Avalon, and Ford Taurus, the fullsize car is becoming an endangered species.

R.L. Polk & Co reports that the fullsize sedan market has seen its relevance halved. Fullsize sedans have seen their market share drop from slightly above 5% of all vehicles sold in 2006 to just 2.3% in the first three months of this year. Also, the number of full-size vehicles on sale has dropped from fifteen to seven.

R.L. Polk & Co points to rising gas prices, the discontinuation of makes (i.e. Pontiac, Mercury) and certain models (Crown Victoria), and the rise of mid-size vehicles as factors to the decline of the fullsize.

Polk believes if more consumers opt for mid-size vehicles and gas prices keep rising, then automakers will not do anymore fullsize sedans.

Source: Kicking Tires, R.L. Polk & Co

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 29, 2012

Last fall, the Department of Transportation and eight automakers began a study to assess drivers' acceptance of accident-avoidance technologies. The study, called the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program put people on closed roads in cars that were equipped with the technologies and asked what did they think about it.

Out of the 688 participants in the study, 92% wanted the technology in their vehicles and more than 90% believed it would improve the safety of driving in the real-world. These numbers covered most age ranges.

But there is a catch. A majority of drivers said they wouldn't pay a modest amount for the technology. When asked if they would pay “more than $250” for a suite of accident-avoidance tech, all of the participants say that was too high.

The study isn't finished yet - the next phase involves 3,000 test cars trying out the features on open roads in Ann Arbor, Michigan starting this fall.

Source: New York Times Wheels

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 21, 2012

The annual "Car Wars" report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch states that Ford, General Motors and Toyota will gain back share and that Hyundai and Kia will lose share by 2016.

The report is based on the rate at which automakers launch new products. Ford has the highest rate with 26% of the lineup being replaced by 2016. GM follows next with 25% and Toyota is next with 24%. The report says with these replacement rates, Ford should gain 0.8% of market share, GM with 0.5%, and Toyota with 0.3%.

The big losers? The report says that will be Hyundai and Kia since they do not have a high replacement rate. Their market share should drop by 0.5%.

Source: Bloomberg

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 17, 2012

Fisker has a lot of problems: money, delays, and an investigation into a Karma fire are just some of them. And it doesn't look like the problems are going to end soon.

Inside EVs got their hands on some leaked documents that were dated "a few weeks ago" dealing with the new Atlantic sedan. First the bad news. Originally, Fisker said that production would begin in late 2012 before hitting the market in early 2013. The leaked document states “negotiations with the DoE have become more complicated and are expected to take longer than originally expected”, delaying the Atlantic’s 2013 launch by several months. In fact, Fisker's Deleware plant won’t even begin building prototypes until mid-2013, with full production not expected to begin in mid-2014.

The documents also reveal other details about the Atlantic, including pricing and performance specs.

The Atlantic will use a 300 HP engine from BMW that's capable of a 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds and get emissions of 50g of CO2 per km.

Pricing will be around the $50,000-$60,000 range, putting it in the same company with the BMW 5-Series, Audi A6 and Jaguar XF.

When asked by AutoblogGreen about the documents, a Fisker representative said,

"As these documents are obviously leaked investor documents and highly confidential, I am not prepared to comment any further."

Source: Inside EVs, AutoblogGreen

Related:

Fisker Atlantic makes its debut in New York

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 15, 2012

Tesla announced this week they will begin to pay back their loans from the U.S. Government later this year.

Tesla chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja told Bloomberg this week, "We are delivering on the milestones, what we're committed to...once we are delivering customer cars, that signifies completion of the project".

This suggests once Tesla begins delivering the new Model S sedan out to customers, they will begin paying back the Department of Energy loans.

Tesla also announced this week that the first Model S sedans will begin flowing out to customers in June, a month ahead when they originally put it.

“We are pleased that Tesla continues to make progress and look forward to working with them as clean, electric vehicles play an important role in our energy future,” said Damien LaVera, an Energy Department spokesman.

Source: Bloomberg

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 15, 2012

Its been working its way through the halls of congress, but according to Car and Driver, the "black box" mandate for cars could be in the books. The Senate has already voted to adopt a transportation bill that has a provision mandating event data recorders to be equipped into new vehicles starting in 2015. The House of Representatives is considering a version with slightly different language.

The current state of the bills are "vague". In the Senate version, the bill states that devices must “capture and store data related to motor vehicle safety” and release this information to an “interoperable data access port.” Changes are expected if this does go into law.

Of course, when you bring up government regulations and "black boxes", the tin foil hats come out. Currently in the Senate version, there's a provision that the data contained in the little electronic box is actually owned by the owner of the vehicle. If the law wants access to the data, they will likely have to get a court order. But there is a caveat: first responders such as paramedics would also have access to the data, without a court order, if it would help them in an emergency.

Source: Car & Driver, GovTrack.us (To see the Senate version of the bill)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 11, 2012

Automotive legend Caroll Shelby passed away last night at the age of 89 after a lengthy illness at the Baylor Hospital in Dallas, TX.

Shelby's shadow extended nearly across automotive world. In the fifties, Shelby was a highly accomplished racer. He would win three U.S. sports-car championships, the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans, and set land speed records at Bonneville. However, a heart condition in 1960 would cause him to stop racing.

But that didn't stop Shelby. During the sixties, Shelby would be known for building the Shelby Cobra and his partnership with Ford, building the Shelby GT350 and GT500 Mustangs. Racing would still be a big part of Shelby's work as Daytona Cobras and GT40s terrorized Ferrari, Porsche, and Jaguar on their own turf.

In the eighties, Shelby would hook up with Chrysler to produce a number of specialty cars and trucks, including the Onmi GLH and GLHS.

Beyond that Shelby grew his business into a "skunkworks," doing research and development for auto companies. In 2005, Shelby and Ford buried the hatchet from a disagreement in the seventies and would work together once again building high performance Mustangs.

However it wasn't always good times for Shelby. He made some shaky business deals, held grudges, and would go to court over trademarks with Ford, AC Cars (Ironically) and Cobra replicar manufacturers Superformance International, Inc. and Factory Five, Inc.

But the most inspirational and remarkable fact about Caroll Shelby's life was how hard he worked with his heart condition. That would land him with a heart transplant in 1990. Six years after the heart, he would get a kidney transplant from his son.

In a statement released today by Shelby American, President Joe Conway said,

“We are all deeply saddened, and feel a tremendous sense of loss for Carroll’s family, ourselves and the entire automotive industry. There has been no one like Carroll Shelby and never will be. However, we promised Carroll we would carry on, and he put the team, the products and the vision in place to do just that.”

Source: Autoweek, Motor Trend, Motoramic

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 11, 2012

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic deaths are at their lowest levels since 1949.

NHTSA's preliminary numbers show an estimated 32,310 people died in traffic accidents last year, a 1.7% drop from 2010 where 32,885 people died. Deaths in traffic accidents has been decreasing by 26% since 2005.

New England and the Great Lakes region saw the biggest decrease in car accident deaths in 2011, with the former down 7.2% and the latter down 3.3%. California, Arizona, and Hawaii saw a 3.3% increase.

AAA says the decrease is due several factors, primarily being motorists drove 1.2% fewer miles last year and gas prices increased 6.7%. Vehicles are also being fitting with more standard safety equipment.

Source: The Detroit News, Kicking Tires

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 8, 2012

More bad news for the Fisker Karma. A fire which engulfed a Fisker Karma and caused damage to house in Sugar Land, Texas is now be pointed at as the cause.

Chief fire investigator for Fort Bend County, Texas, Robert Baker told Autoweek that he belives the Fisker Karma started the fire.

“Yes, the Karma was the origin of the fire, but what exactly caused that we don't know at this time,” Barker said.

Barker says the owner pulled into the garage with the Fisker and walked away. Three minutes later, the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The vehicle reportedly wasn't plugged in at the time and the battery was intact.

The fire is still undergoing an investigation, and an official report is expected sometime in the future.

In a statement released by Fisker, the company says the cause of the fire “is not yet known and is being investigated.” The statement goes onto say that “multiple insurance investigators are involved, and we have not ruled out the possibility of fraud or malicious intent.”

Fisker also said in the statement, "We are aware that fireworks were found in the garage in or around the vehicles. Also, an electrical panel located in the garage next to the vehicles is also being examined by the investigators as well as fire department officials."

Fisker said they will not comment on the fire “until all the facts are established.”

This fire comes less than two months after Fisker and battery firm, A123 Systems issued a recall for 640 Karmas due to a possible battery defect. The Karma involved in the fire was a post-recalled one.

Source: Autoweek

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 8, 2012

Almost a year after the state of Nevada approved legislation to allow tests of self-driving vehicles on public roads, the state has issued its first license for a self-driving vehicle.

The vehicle in question is Google's autonomous Toyota Prius, which has currently logged 140,000 miles and one accident. The accident was caused when a car driven by a person bumped into the back of Google's autonomous car. Google hopes with these tests to dramatically reduce or eliminate these types of incidents.

The Prius will wear a red license plate, with an infinity sign on it next to the number 001.

Source: BBC

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

May 1, 2012

From the Twilight Zone file: USA Today reports that 6.5% of new vehicles sold in the first quarter were equipped with a manual transmission, which is more than double of vehicles sold with them in 2007. It's also the highest amount since 2006 when 7.2% vehicles were sold with manual transmission.

The take rate is more impressive when you take into account that 19% of the 2,360 different models on sale offer a manual.

The increase is attributed to the lower prices of manual transmission vehicles, fun factor, and ease of operation.

The increased interest of manual transmissions by buyers have surprised automakers.

For example, Ford says that 10% of Focus demand is for a manual transmission. Orignally, Ford had planned on 4 to 4.5% demand for a manual.

Source: USA Today

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 29, 2012

This past week at the SAE World Congress in Detroit, Google says that self-driving cars can be on U.S. roads within the next few years.

We don't know what it's going to take to show its safer than a driver. It's much sooner than the next decade," said Google project manager Anthony Levandowski.

Levandowski revealed that Google is in talks with auto makers and suppliers about working with them on the technology.

"All options are open. From giving the technology away to licensing it to working with Tier 1s, Tier 2s, working with the OEMs, building a car with them, everything is open and we're trying to figure out which paths make the most sense. We're talking to basically every car company to see what their level of excitement is and how do we work with them."

But before Google's prediction of self-driving cars on roads within the next few years come true, there will be many legal and insurance hurdles to get over.

So far, Google has successfully lobbied legislation in Nevada for testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads.

Google is now in talks with insurance companies about creating policies that would cover autonomous vehicle owners. Also, the company is planning to log at least 1 million miles on the technology before its allowed in the real world. Currently, Google said they have logged about 250,000 miles on their fleet of ten Toyota Priuses.

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 22, 2012

Ex-Saab CEO Victor Muller on-again, off-again affair with the sports car company he started, Spyker appears to be back on.

During Muller’s tenure at Saab, Spyker was put up for sale to the highest bidder. A few companies were interested, but none bit, which has become a blessing in a disguise. Since Saab has bid adieu, Swedish Automotive has changed its name to back to Spyker. Now, Muller has some big plans in store.

De Telegraaf is reporting Muller wants to see Spyker’s production reach 1,000 units annually. Last year, Spyker built only 12 of its C8 supercars. Muller also wants add models to Spyker’s lineup. One vehicle floated out was the 2006 D12 Peking-To-Paris Concept.

However, for Muller’s plan to come to fruition, he’ll need some investors. De Telegraaf says Muller is in talks with investors and only needs around 25 million euros ($32 million) to get production back online.

Investors are skeptical though, with Muller's failed attempts at both Formula One and Saab as examples.

Source: De Telegraaf via Motor Authority

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 20, 2012

The bad news is solidering on at Fisker Automotive. A few weeks after showing the new Atlantic concept, the company let go twelve people at their Delaware plant. This is second time this year that Fisker has laid off people at the plant. Back in February, Fisker laid off twenty-six employees due to the company not meeting the Department of Energy’s contractual milestones for their loans.

Today, Fisker employs only a small maintenance team at the site "protecting plant assets and maintaining the facility," said Fisker spokesman Russell Datz to The News Journal.

"We have always had a flexible business model that allows us to scale up and down as work demands. As we ramp up the project again, we will add a new headcount. We've accomplished a lot at the plant, using more than 40 local contract firms to recycle old material and equipment. The plant is now ready for the next phase of installing new production equipment."

One of the people laid off, Jeffrey Garland told The News Journal that the plant is "absolutely empty." Fisker has hauled used equipment away from the site but hasn’t installed the new equipment needed to build a vehicle.

"All of us who were there hoped we were still adding value. I think what happened was the budget numbers are so tight right now and they're working so hard to preserve as much cash as they can that something had to give,” said Garland

Source: The Daily Journal

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 18, 2012

New analysis from TrueCar, an online research firm, shows the average transaction price of new cars are on the rise.

TrueCar looked at sales data from last month and found that the average price was 30,748, a rise 6.9% over the previous year.

So why the increase in average price? The answer lies in the options list. Consumers are ticking more boxes on the list like never before, with the average new car being very close to “fully loaded.”

For example, Ford’s president of the Americas, Mark Fields recently told investors that the Focus is selling for an average of $3,100 more per car than the previous model year.

Aside from the option list, the other factor is automakers cutting back on the incentives. This is due to automakers, especially the big three changing their business model to focus more on forecasting and producing vehicles at a proper volume than flooding dealers with too many vehicles.

TrueCar predicts that the average price will begin to level out, sometime when the average price hits $31,000.

Source: USA Today

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 18, 2012

Shelby has been synonymous with the Mustang since the late sixties with the GT350 and GT500. Since the two got back together in 2007 with GT500, Shelby has been reestablishing itself as the halo car producer for Ford. But Shelby is looking to expand.

Autoblog talked with Shelby president John Luft about what the future holds for the company. Luft said the company is looking at whether to branch out to other vehicles in the Ford stable.

"Our plans include everything from the Mustang to looking at future development of the EcoBoost motor. There could be a Focus or Fusion development in our future."

Luft also revealed that Shelby considering doing another halo sports car like the Series 1 in 1999.

"We always pose the 'what if'. If you remember when the Series 1 was developed, that was a purpose-built halo sports car for the Shelby brand. We always put those things in the plan because maybe down the road we would want to readdress a purpose-built Shelby sports car. It doesn't mean we'll build it, but we always want to challenge ourselves to put it on the table and talk about the practicality of it."

However, Luft said the conditions have to be right before Shelby decides to go forward.

"All the variables have to come into play – what's the economy like and what the industry is doing – but I've learned to never-say-never. It could very well be that we could collaborate with Ford and create a new one-off Shelby halo vehicle. Who knows? But we always add things like that into our product plans because it causes us to pause and look at things beyond the Mustang in the Ford lineup."

And if you're wondering what will happen with the Mustang, Luft says they have a product plan through 2020.

Source: Autoblog

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 16, 2012

To say Suzuki is hurting would be a large understatement. The brand is showing many signs of trouble which include,

• Suzuki's first quarter sales totaled 6,561 vehicles, a drop of 2% over last year. Meanwhile, in the same quarter, the market rose 13%.
  
• Suzuki skipped the Los Angeles and Detroit Auto Show
  
• Suspended their social media activity (i.e. Facebook & Twitter) two months ago
  
• Steve Younan, the top U.S. product planning and marketing executive, left in January and will not be replaced.
  
• Suzuki hasn't aired a ad nationally since 2009
  
• In January, Suzuki stopped getting data from J.D. Power and Associates
  
• Since 2005, Suzuki has been losing dealers. Last year, 32 Suzuki dealers closed (about 12%)
  
• A Suzuki dealer told Automotive News that about 60% of Suzuki's remaining dealers sell five or less vehicles per month
  

Now, a report from Automotive News says Suzuki is focused on short-term profitability than investment.

"They seem to be more interested in controlling expenses than increasing revenue," a source said.

The brand has been cutting costs wherever possible. A good amount of those cuts have effected the promotional aspect of the business. Not a good thing since Suzuki has refreshed versions of the SX4 subcompact and Grand Vitara SUV coming out later this year.

"The strange thing to me is, even at this bare minimum, when the opportunity is presented to make some news and provide something positive for customers and the dealers, they avoid it," said another source.

The question being asked now is whether Suzuki is planning to rebuild their U.S. operations or make an exit out of the U.S.?

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 10, 2012

The self-driving car; a dream that has talked about and tested for many years. But the dream could be a reality by 2020 according to a former GM R&D Chief.

Larry Burns, former head of GM’s r&d division spoke yesterday at University of Michigan Robotics Day said predicted that self driving vehicles will be on U.S. roads by the year 2020. Burns goes even farther, saying the tech needed for self-driving will be available in 2015.

“By 2015 we’re going to have auto companies selling features that are akin to cruise control on steroids. We’re in this five- to 10-year window when it’s going to be really exciting… By 2020 we’ll have self driving cars,” said Burns to Automotive News.

During his time at GM, Burns oversaw he development of a self-driving Chevrolet Tahoe SUV nicknamed Boss, which won the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007. However, development of self-driving vehicles screeched to halt when GM went into bankruptcy.

However, search engine giant, Google has taken the torch with self-driving vehicle development for the past several years. The work being done by Google will likely play a major role into getting the technology into hands of people.

But there are many hurdles to figure out before we see self-driving vehicles on our roads. Burns is confident those barriers will eventually work themselves out.

“We’re going to have to have policies and laws to figure out whose liable when driving this car,” he said. “As an innovator, you’ve got to anticipate all of this. I think the market is really going to be the thing to drive this, not the government.”

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 9, 2012

A new study published by R.L. Polk said only a third of hybrid owners bought another in 2011.

The study showed that only 35% of hybrid owners bought another. Take out the most popular hybrid, the Toyota Prius and the number falls to 22%.

Brad Smith, director of Polk's loyalty management practice told Automotive News the biggest problem for hybrid vehicles is the advancements made with conventional gas engines.

"The premium price points for hybrids are just too high when so many conventional small and mid-size cars have improved fuel economy," Smith said.

However, hybrid vehicles are making an impact for automakers. Smith said hybrid vehicles seem to attract new buyers and help retain them.

That is especially true for Toyota, a brand that has pioneered hybrids. In 2011, Polk found that 60% of Prius owners back in the market bought a Toyota. The study also showed 41% of Prius owners in the market bought another Prius or a hybrid wearing a Toyota badge.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

The Fisker Atlantic, which debuted this week at the New York Auto Show, could built somewhere else besides their facility in Wilmington, Delaware.

"The whole plan has changed," said Fisker CEO Tom LaSorda to Automotive News. "Wilmington is our primary site…but there are other options. We have to look at what's best for the company and the shareholders."

LaSorda went onto say that a decision on where the Atlantic will be built will be made by the end of summer. This would cause another delay on the vehicle, which was set to begin production sometime within the second half of 2012.

Asked if Wilmington was chosen, how fast could Fisker get the facility up and running, LaSorda said "really quickly."

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 2, 2012

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened investigations into the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze and the 2010 Jeep Wrangler for engine fires.

The government agency received two complaints about fires on the Cruze and eight for the Wrangler, with some owners reporting their vehicles were completely destroyed.

In the two complaints for the Chevrolet Cruze, both reported the fires began while the vehicle was in motion. A Cruze Eco owner reported seeing smoke coming from the engine bay, and the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames five minutes after coming to a stop.

In the eight complaints for the Jeep Wrangler, seven of them report the fires began while the vehicle was running. One said that a burning liquid was pouring onto the ground and that couldn't be put out with water.

Back in 2010, Chrysler issued a recall for certain Wrangler models to address automatic transmission fluid that could overheat and expel onto hot surfaces, causing a fire.

Both Chrysler and General Motors are cooperating with NHTSA.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

March 16, 2012

This week, Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee criticized the Energy Department on their handling of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing initiative.

Created in 2007, the Energy Department has only given out less than half of the funds during the four years of existence. Only four companies have gotten their loans; Ford, Nissan, Fisker Automotive, and Tesla.

The Energy Department hasn’t given out any loans within two years and that has caused many companies to drop out.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said many companies have expressed deep frustration about not getting a loan answer. She went onto say the program was "virtually dormant.”

Energy Secretary Steven Chu defended the handling of the program,

"We would like to see private equity invested in these companies," Chu said, adding the government wants to see evidence of private support.

Other senators on the committee wonder why the program even exist.

When leaving the hearing, Chu told reporters that the department was working with "many qualified applicants" to complete new auto and other green energy loans. When asked if any would be approved before the election, Chu said,

"There's no reason not to. The conditions of the program haven't changed."

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

March 15, 2012

The hopes and dreams of having a small diesel Indian pickup in the U.S. are now put to rest. A British arbitration panel ruled in favor of Mahindra, the pickup truck maker in question in a lawsuit with their U.S. distributor, Global Vehicles. The panel said in their verdict the contract between the two companies had expired and that Mahindra had not violated the terms of the contract or any U.S. laws.

This verdict ends a six year saga between the two companies which began back in 2006 when the two announced that Global Vehicles would distribute Mahindra’s T20 and T40 compact diesel pickups in America.

Four years later, the deal began to unravel. Mahindra said Global Vehicles let their contract expire, thus Mahindra went looking for other importers. Global Vehicles said it was Mahindra who ended the contract. From there, it went into arbitration.

Global Vehicles has been told by the panel to pay all of the court costs.

In a separate case, a group of dealers that had signed up to sell Mahindra pickups sued the Indian company in U.S. District Court, but the case was thrown out due to Global Vehicles not being the agent to Mahindra in the U.S.

Source: Pickup Trucks

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

March 14, 2012

Back in 2008, then Presidential candidate Barack Obama made a pledge to have a million electric vehicles on the nation’s roadways by 2015. Obama reiterated that pledge during his 2011 State of Union address.

But a new report from the White House called the “One Year Progress Report” of the President’s “Blueprint For A Secure Energy Agenda” shows the goal won't be reached.

President Obama stated last year that “with more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.”

The plan assumed electric vehicle production capacity would stand at 1.2 million units through 2015 and that his 1 million unit EV target would “not likely to be constrained by production capacity.”

Well, President Obama was correct in assuming in assuming capacity wouldn’t be the limiting factor in EV sales. It would be the demand that would be the downfall of this plan.The Chevrolet Volt is selling at about a tenth of the Department of Energy’s projected 120,000 units per year rate, and the Nissan Leaf isn’t expected to hit annual sales of 100,000 units until two years from now.

So is the White House admitting defeat? No. What they're doing instead is changing the words. Instead of a 1 million EVs by 2015 goal, the report now says "by 2015, the United States will be able to produce enough batteries and components to support one million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.”

Source: Left Lane News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

March 13, 2012

Even after its release, Fisker has been having their share of problems with the new Karma; battery defects, software problems, and Consumer Reports having their Karma die during their testing.

A former Fisker employee isn't surprised. The employee told GigaOM that Fisker pushed the Karma before it was production ready to try and meet its milestones from the Department of Energy for its $529 million loan.

Unfortunately, the report and the source didn't go into details.

When asked for comment, a Fisker spokesperson said,

“Quality and customer satisfaction are the top priority for Fisker Automotive. With any new technology there will be unanticipated bugs and we have demonstrated the ability to quickly resolve them on a case-by-case basis. In addition, Fisker’s 24 hour VIP call centers and comprehensive vehicle warranty are also designed to give our customers complete peace of mind.”

Source: GigaOM

G.Noble

Editor/Reporter

CheersandGears.com

March 10, 2012

Life hasn’t exactly been easy for the Chevrolet Volt. Although it was just recently named 2012 European Car of the Year in Opel Ampera guise, GM announced previous to the awarding they were suspending production for little over a month because of slow sales and dealers rejecting further allotments. On top of that, the Volt has had some image issues stemming from the NHTSA’s disclosure late last year about how an example they t-boned caught fire some three weeks after it was tested in May 2011.

It’s only insult to injury then Republican politicians have turned to bashing the Volt in debates and interviews, associating the car with radical left-wing environmentalism and government bailout money. Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich decided to fault the Chevy plug-in hybrid for lack of space for a gun rack of all things (the Volt can indeed accommodate one, if you were curious), and frontrunner Mitt Romney said it was “an idea whose time has not come.” Perhaps the worst bit of uninformed criticism came from conservative group American Tradition Partnership Inc. who said the Volt was an “exploding Obamamobile.”

GM CEO Dan Akerson testifying before Congress about the Volt in January said, “Although we loaded the Volt with state-of-the-art safety features, we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. And that, sadly, is what the Volt has become.” How right you are — or were — Dan.

Mr. Akerson also went onto say that he thinks Volt sales have been pinched because of the political trash talk. Challengers to the Obama administration, on the other hand, see it as an effective way of resonating with their voters. Art Spinella, an analyst who studies new car buyers as president of CNW Marketing Research, noted Republicans buy Chevys, especially the Silverado pickup, in greater numbers than Democrats do. And while Chevy buyers tend to identify as Republican, less than 14 percent of Volt owners lean to the political right.

While it’s difficult to tell how much of an effect the political hate speech has had on Volt sales, Akerson isn’t alone in believing sales could be much better without the GOP bashing it. Volt sales totaled up to 7,671 cars last year, falling short of GM’s target of 10,000 cars by a little over 2,000. In the first two months of 2012 GM only sold about 1,600 Volts, and that sales track is falling way short of Akerson’s year-end goal of 45,000. Art Spinella says part of that huge divide is due to attacks on the campaign trail.

Buyers who identify as conservative “will not buy a car that has anything at all that they perceive being associated with the administration,” Spinella said.

Akerson isn’t the only non-political figure out there who’s upset that the Volt has founded itself stranded in political crossfire, either. Everyone’s favorite auto-exec and registered Republican who helped to develop the Volt, former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, is outraged as well.

“I don’t mind criticizing Obama, I don’t mind criticizing the Democrats, and, you know me, I think global warming is huge hoax perpetrated by the global political left,” Lutz said. “But when it comes to telling outright lies to advance your political purposes and damage an American company that is greatly on its way back, hurt employment in Hamtramck, Michigan, I just think it’s totally outrageous.”

Source: Bloomberg

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

March 1, 2012

The Fisker Karma sports some sleek lines and daring proportions for an plug-in hybrid vehicle. The one it doesn’t sport is space. One only needs to see the Karma’s trunk to realize how much of a priority the design took over the space.

However, at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, Fisker showed off the Surf concept. The Surf takes a regular Karma and extends its roofline with a hatchback/wagon/shooting brake body style to give it more space.

Word has it that Fisker has green lit the Surf for production and will be shown at the Paris Motor Show in September.

Source: Autoweek

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 16, 2012

President Obama has a goal of getting a million plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. Last year during his State of the Union address, Obama talked about changing the current $7,500 tax credit into a point-of-purchase rebate. That hasn’t happen at the moment, but in the President's proposed budget that was released this week, Obama is trying another way to reach his goal; raising the tax credit to $10,000.

To go along with this push, the budget calls for cutting more subsidies that Big Oil currently enjoys.

Opponents of the President disagree with this move, calling it a "campaign document" that would divide America. Others have pushed the PHEV credit to be removed.

Source: Washington Post

February 14th, 2012 - Drew Dowdell - CheersandGears.com

Michiganers will soon be able to get around a little faster without risking a speeding ticket. The US Department of Transportation has approved Amtrak to run 80 miles of the 97 mile section between Kalamazoo, MI and Porter, IN at 110mph, the first such service outside of Amtrak's North East Corridor. This move comes after the successful implementation of Incremental Train Control System (ITCS) along this section of the route. The two routes that use this section of line are Amtrak's thrice round trip daily Wolverine service, service Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Pontiac to the east and Chicago to the west, and the Amtrak Blue Water train with daily service east to Lansing and Port Huron and west to Chicago.

Amtrak began upgrading this line above the Federal speed limit of 79mph in 2001 to 90mph with an additional limit increase to 95mph in 2005. The new 110mph service will take 10 minutes off the current schedule and is an improvement of 20 minutes over the 79mph schedule.

Amtrak President Joseph Boardman pointed out that this is just the first of two 110mph spokes from Chicago, the other being a planned line from Chicago to St. Louis. Further development of the Michigan line will include 110mph service from Kalamazoo to Dearborn

Amtrak ended its fiscal year 2011 in October with a record 30.18 million riders. The Blue Water and Wolverine ridership ended the fiscal year up 18.6% and 4.4% respectively. Revenues for the trains were up 22.3% and 11%.

Updated schedules are to be announced at a later date.

Source: Amtrak Media Relations

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 14, 2012

Tesla’s first car, the Roadster had to bow out last year due to Lotus choosing to end production of its own Elise and Exige sports cars, which the Roadster was based on. Since then, Tesla has promised a sequel to the Roadster, but it might be a long wait.

Inside Line spoke with Tesla Chairman and CEO Elon Musk about the next Roadster. Musk said he's decided to hold up on a replacement roadster for now. The reason isn’t technical, but business. Musk said the company is going to put their focus on launching the "Gen 3" electric car, a smaller, less-expensive EV for the mass market. Musk says he hopes to have the “Gen 3” out sometime in 2015.

Source: Inside Line

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 11, 2012

Former President George W. Bush spoke this week to a gathering of auto dealers. During his speech, Bush defended his decision on bailing out Chrysler and General Motors.

"I'd do it again. I didn't want there to be 21 percent unemployment," Bush told dealers.

Bush told dealers he believed in the free market and in normal conditions, automakers and other businesses should have been allowed to fail.

"If you make a bad decision, you ought to pay," Bush said. "Sometimes circumstances get in the way of philosophy."

In late December 2008, Bush agreed to a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler as part of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Bush avoided talking about the current Republican candidates saying the bailout was a bad idea. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said both Bush and current President Barack Obama were wrong in their decision to do a bailout. Romney said he would have put both companies in a controlled bankruptcy from the start.

Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detroitne...uts-d-do-again-

G. Noble

Editor/Reporter

CheersandGears.com

Friday, 10th February, 2012

If you're waiting for the sting of high gas prices to go away soon, you may be in for one hell of a long wait. Gas prices are back at a national average of $3.48 a gallon -- a whole 36 cents more than the average during February of last year -- and are set to climb an entire 60 cents or more by May.

Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information service expects prices to top out at $4.05 a gallon, although some markets could see prices go even further beyond that. "I think it's going to be a chaotic spring, with huge price increases in some places," said Kloza.

Of course, gas prices do tend to rise somewhat going into the warmer months because of increased demand. Refiners also switch to seasonal formulas which can tack on an extra 15 cents a gallon according to Brian Milne of Televent DTN, an energy tracking service.

It's been about five years since we last witnessed national average prices reach these levels. In 2008, average prices climbed to a record-setting $4.11 a gallon. We came dangerously close to toppling that record last April with the national average going up to $3.98, but prices starting dropping soon thereafter.

With the current economic climate in the U.S. unstable, we can't help but to wonder what effects these near record prices will ultimately bare.

Source: USA Today

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 10, 2012

Earlier this week, Fisker announced they had temporarily halted work on Nina family sedan at the Fisker Automotive plant in Wilmington, Del. The temporary halt is due to Fisker and the federal government hashing out new terms of the company’s $529 million Department of Energy loan. The halt has caused Fisker to layoff 26 people at its Delaware plant and a number of contract engineers at Fisker's Anaheim, Calif., headquarters.

So why is the federal government and Fisker renegotiating details about the loan? Well, the Department of Energy’s load had certain deadlines, or milestones for Fisker to meet with Karma plug-in hybrid. Fisker failed to meet those deadlines and the department required modification of the terms of the loan to incorporate new deadlines for the company's second car, the Nina.

"DOE loan-modification negotiations are fairly standard procedure. We have to deliver on certain milestones, and we didn't hit all our targets with the Karma. This is a relatively ordinary series of events," said Fisker spokesman Roger Ormisher.

So far, Fisker has used Fisker has used $193 million of the $529 million government loan, mostly for the Karma. The remaining amount will go towards the new Nina.

Source: Autoweek

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 10, 2012

Last night, Tesla introduced their next vehicle, the Model X. Based on on an extended platform of the 5+2 passenger sedan, the Model S, the Model X is a seven passenger crossover EV.

Design of the Model X takes a Model S, enlarges it, and adds the back end of the BMW X6. The signature design feature of the Model X is what Tesla is calling falcon-wing doors, a two-piece articulated gullwing door. The trick with the falcon-wing doors is their ability to fold in while opening, thus making it easier to exit in tight spots.

Like the Model S, the Model X will be offered with different battery sizes (60 and 85 kW-hrs). Range for the Model X is expected to be 10% less than the Model S (about 214 to 267 miles depending on the battery). Recharge time is expected to be around four hours.

Tesla says the Model X will begin production sometime in 2013, with sales beginning a year after. Want to be one of the first people to get one? Tesla has opened up pre-orders starting today.

Source: Automotive.com

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 10, 2012

The House Science Committee approved a bill on Tuesday that bars the EPA from going forward with E15 till further studies are done.

The bill sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), was passed by a 19-7 vote as members voted along party lines.

Automakers and and corn growers have clashed over E15, which is made from 15 percent corn-based ethanol biofuel since 2010. The EPA has allowed E15 use in 2001 and newer vehicles, but various interest groups, including Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute protested.

"This bill will halt EPA's rush to introduce mid-level ethanol blends and ensure such fuel blends receive the proper scientific analysis before being put into the marketplace," the groups wrote in a letter sent to the House Science Committee chair Ralph Hall (R-TX).

The American Coalition for Ethanol criticized the bill, saying EPA has already studied the fuel at length.

The bill would "create new and unnecessary over-regulation for E15 and other ethanol-blended fuels and block consumer fuel choice," said the group's executive vice president Brian Jennings. "No other fuel, including gasoline, has undergone the same battery of tests. Once it hits the market, E15 will be clearly labeled for its intended use for consumers to prevent misfueling in small and non-road engines."

This latest bill is another setback for Ethanol advocates. In December, Congress ended a 30 year subsidy for corn-based ethanol, that cost taxpayers an estimated $6 billion per year. Brazilian ethanol, which is made from sugarcane, also had its tariff lifted.

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 6, 2012

Do you want a billion dollars? Well, all you need to do is build 60,000 cars that get 100 MPG and the U.S. government will send a check your way if a new bill is passed.

Representative Dan Lungren ® of California's 3rd Congressional District has introduced a bill into Congress called the Excellence in Energy Efficiency Act of 2012. If the bill is passed, the legislation would have the Secretary of Energy "establish a program to award a prize in the amount of $1,000,000,000 to the first automobile manufacturer incorporated in the United States to manufacture and sell in the United States 60,000 mid-sized sedan automobiles which operate on gasoline and can travel 100 miles per gallon."

That's right, no compacts or any electric vehicles can be used. It's unclear whether plug-in hybrids can be used, but judging from this quote, "To provide a prize to the first manufacturer of highly-efficient mid-sized automobiles powered by gasoline," we doubt it.

Source: The Hill

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

February 1, 2012

2011 was a good year for the domestics. Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors saw their market share grow. But, a new report from Bloomberg says the Big Three could see a drop in 2012.

Sales for 2012 are expected to grow from 12.8 million vehicles last year to 13.6 million, but competition from the Koreans and a recovery of the Japanese automakers mean those sales sales aren't likely headed to the Big Three.

Bloomberg asked five analysts to predict market share for automakers in 2012 and their predictions put the U.S automakers losing 1.3% for 2012. Analysts see GM dropping 0.6%, Ford dropping 0.5%, and Chrysler dropping 0.2%. Analysts also see Toyota growing 0.9%, Honda gaining 0.5%, and Hyundai and Kia growing 0.01%.

Source: Bloomberg

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 30, 2012

The U.S. Treasury Department revealed in a new report to Congress that it will lose more money than expected on the 2009 bailout loans given to Chrysler and General Motors. The Treasury now expects to lose $23.77 billion on the $85 billion bailouts, up from the $23.6 billion losses estimated last fall.

Most of the increase in the projected loss is due to GM's stock price declining over the past six months. GM's stock price at the end of trading stands at $24.37; a drop of 35% from the 52-week-high of $37.23.

The Treasury currently owns 26.5%, or 500 million shares in GM. At the current price, the Treasury stands to lose more than $14 billion. To break even, shares of GM would need to go up to an average of $53 per share.

As for Chrysler, the Treasury noted a $1.3 billion loss on the $12.5 billion bailout. The loss is due to "Old Chrysler" being dissolved.

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 30, 2012

Just as we got to the point of everyone agreeing that 54.5 MPG was an attainable goal for 2025, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has decided to change things up.

CARB has ruled to enforce the 54.5 MPG rule and to will also require at least 15.4% of all cars sold by any major automaker in the state to either be fully electric, plug-in hybrid, or hydrogen fuel cell by 2025.

Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board said she viewed the 15.4% “a relatively modest goal, but that’s all that we’re mandating. Probably the most heartening aspect of this whole rulemaking was the level of cooperation that we received from the industry… Overall, the degree of support for the package was just extraordinary.”

Eventhough the automakers are on board, the question is will consumers be on board with this plan.. The California New Car Dealers Association estimates CARB's plan would add about $3,200 to the average price of a new car or truck. Appropriately, Mary Nichols said, “direct incentives to people who buy these cars (like) rebates and credits” are being worked out.

At least ten more states will follow California’s lead, upping the projected total of advanced green vehicles near three million vehicles by 2025, 1.4 million of which would be in California.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 26, 2012

Volvo is searching for a new partner to develop new small cars. CEO Stefan Jacoby told the Financial Times the company is open to any partners to help in development of compact models in an effort to drive down production costs.

"We are open for partners. We are open for collaboration in a win-win situation for sharing platforms, for sharing engines, and for a general higher scale of economics," Jacoby said.

Jacoby added that "no decision has been made" by Volvo regarding a potential partner.

Volvo's current compact lineup includes the C30 hatchback, S40, and V50. All of those vehicles are based on technologies from their former parent company Ford.

Source: Inside Line

Drew Dowdell - January 19, 2012 - CheersandGears.com

One of the limitations of current wind turbine technology is the limited amount of power generated per turbine. Large scale installations are required to match the power output of just the smaller coal buring powerplant. The largest wind turbines in the world produce about 5mw of power while the average coal fired power station produces around 500mw. Simple math can tell you that 100 of the largest wind turbines we have would need to be built to equal just one coal power plant. The additional real estate and construction costs v. the fuel costs of coal and natural gas are a substantial hurdle in the adoption of wind power.

A new development from Japan shows a promising way to change the math. A scientist at Japan's Kyushu University has developed a simple addition to the wind turbine that can increase the power output between 100 to 200 percent. A curved ring called a "wind lens" installed around the outer edge of the blades disperses air away from the trailing side of the turbine. This has the effect of creating a vacuum behind the turbine that draws additional air through. The wind lens itself is made of fiberglass and is a relatively inexpensive addition to the turbine's construction. Additionally, existing turbines can be retrofitted with the wind lens, potentially tripling the output of existing wind farms.

Going back to the math, the number of turbines needed to equal the power output of a coal plant drops from 100 to about 34. The largest onshore wind farm in the world is Roscoe Wind Farm in Roscoe, Texas. Rated at a power output of 781.5 megawatts, if retrofitted with wind lenses, could potentially triple output to 2,344 megawatts or roughly equal to two standard size nuclear power plants.

The wind lense has another benefit. It allows the turbine to start and operate efficiently at much lower wind speeds greatly increasing a turbine's baseline power generation. Low wind situtations therefor have a less drastic effect on power output.

How does this relate to automobiles? Plug in electric vehicles and plug in hybrid vehicles are still proliferating in the marketplace and their presence is expected to grow. Charging at home can have a noticable impact on a household's financial bottomline. Typical home wind installations cost roughly $8,500 before any tax credits and generate 3,000 watt-hour of power peak. Tripling that output to 9,000 watt-hours cuts a substantial savings into the average household using 11,000 watt-hours a month.

This new development in wind technology could mean that the wind would really be blowing your Nissan Leaf down the road.

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 19, 2012

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that a prototype of the all-electric Model X crossover will be revealed on February 9 at Tesla’s design studio in California.

Originally to be shown at NAIAS, the Model X will use the Model S sedan’s aluminum-intensive platform. Power is expected to go to all four wheels possibly by utilizing the Model S’s electric drivetrain at the rear wheels while adding one to two electric motors up front to power the front wheels.

Besides the pure EV, the Model X will seek to stand out in the crossover market by having a large interior. In a filling with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in May, Tesla said that it was “designing the Model X to incorporate the functionality of a minivan with the consumer appeal of a sports-utility vehicle.”

Source: Left Lane News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 18, 2012

According to a report from research firm R.L. Polk & Co, the average of age of a vehicle on the road stands at 10.8 years last July. The report says the average age of passenger vehicles stands at 11.1 years, while for light trucks, it’s 10.4 years.

Polk says the median age of cars has been on the rise for the past 16 years because people are keeping their cars longer due to various reasons. Most recently, the economic downturn has caused many Americans to keep their vehicles even longer, waiting for a better occasion to buy a new car.

Polk says for this year, the average age will still be around the 10 year due to higher unemployment rates. But, Polk also expects the age to level off with sales increases for new cars.

Source: R.L. Polk

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 17, 2012

If you’re one of people who wants an electric car, but have the fear of not having enough power to make it through your daily drive, you might want to hear this story.

A new study released by Columbia University says that 95% of daily trips could be made with an electric vehicles. The study done by two doctoral students used data from the Department of Transport’s 2009 National Household Travel Survey. The data showed 95% of the 748,918 recorded single-trip journeys by car were under 30 miles.

More surprisingly, 98% of single-trip journeys were under 50 miles in length. Only 1% of single-trip journeys were 70 miles and above.

The study found out the average distance for single-trip distance is 5.95, while 95% of rural residents' trips were under 50 miles.

But of course, these numbers are only for single trips, which only tell you so much. What would more helpful if there was an average commuting distances. Luckily, the study provides those numbers as well.

The study found 95% of those surveyed traveled under 40 miles to work; the average trip was 13.6 miles.

The average round trip drive for urban drivers was 36.5 miles, while rural drivers saw an average of 48.6 miles.

Source: Green Car Reports

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 16, 2012

A few years ago, a man by the name Scott Devin decided to build an American supercar to compete with the world’s best. So he called on a Swedish designer, Daniel Paulin to design his car.

Now, being a new start-up car company, Devon couldn’t develop his own platform or an engine due to not having enough money. So, he went the donor car route for his new car and picked the Dodge Viper.

Now, before you start thinking all Devon did for his new car was take a Viper and dress it up, there was more done to it. The Viper V10 was tuned and tweaked to produce 650 HP. The body, designed by Paulin was coachbuilt.

The end result was the Devon GTX and was very impressive. Not only for its looks, but also for its performance. When the GTX was taken out to Laguna Seca Raceway, it set the fastest lap for a production car.

Devon’s plan for the GTX was to put it into limited production starting in 2010 with a list price of $500,000. However, Devon’s plans wouldn’t come together. Part of the problem was the high asking price for the GTX, which meant not many orders were placed. The other problem was Chrysler announcing production of Viper would end in 2010, which would hurt the supply of Devon’s vehicles. In the end, only two GTXs were built.

Now, you have the chance of owning one of the two. This week, a Devon GTX, Serial #1 will going up on the auction block at Barrett-Jackson. No estimates have been provided, but we’re guessing this GTX will fetch a pretty penny.

Source: Barrett-Jackson

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 16, 2012

Automakers have been pushing Hybrid vehicles for the past few years as a way for owners to save gas and the environment. However, according to LMC Automotive, hybrid sales in the United States have slowed last year to 2.2% compared to 2.4% in 2010.

Mike Jackson, chief executive of auto retail chain AutoNation Inc., says that while 75% of customers that walked into his showrooms wanted to talk about hybrids, they only make 2.5% of AutoNation sales.

“What happens from the 75 percent consideration to the 2.5 percent commitment? They look at the price premium for the technology, which is already subsidized and discounted, and say ‘the payback period is too long; not for me.’ It’s a back-of-the envelope conversation on the part of the American consumer,” said Jackson.

Hybrid vehicles face two challenges: the cost of hybrids haven't come down fast enough to justify the added expense and regular internal combustion engines have become more efficient.David Champion, senior director of the Auto Test Center of Consumer Reports points out that a regular Civic gets 32 MPG combined while the Civic hybrid achieves 44 MPG combined. That extra MPG means $322 savings in fuel for a year. But with a larger price tag, the Civic hybrid takes more than six years to get the money back.

What’s more, improvements to a regular internal combustion engine can potentially improve fuel economy by 40% while costing an extra $2,000 per model by 2020. Also, putting a vehicle on a diet and doing better aerodynamics can lower consumption by up to 10% and would cost approximately $200 per car by 2020.

“The advantages of hybrids are getting harder to justify. It’s the cost differential. Consumers are rational and they understand the cost of ownership,” said Scott Corwin, vice president of consulting firm Booz & Co., New York.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

January 16th, 2012 - Drew Dowdell - CheersandGears.com

In a statement released on Friday the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), a political action committee formed by General Motors, Chrysler Group, and Ford Motor Company, announced opposition to Japan joining the currently running Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade negotiations. The original members of the TPP formed in 2006 are Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. From 2008 to 2010, five additional countries, Australia, Malaysia, Peru,United States, and Vietnam, announced they had entered negotiations to join the trade pact. On November 11, 2011, Japan’s Prime Minister announce his country’s intention to join the negotiations.

AAPC’s objection to Japan’s entry into the negotiations stems from Japan’s closed automotive market. They claim that 70% of the U.S. trade deficit with Japan comes from the auto industry with 201 cars exported from Japan for every 1 car imported. The Japanese car market had sales of over 4.7 million vehicles in 2010, however only 225,000 of those were imports. Of that, only 8,000 of the imported cars were built in the United States contrasting sharply with the 1.5 million vehicles that Japan exported to the U.S.

Japanese officials claim that the reason imported vehicles don’t sell well in Japan is because they don’t meet the diminutive size needs of the Japanese customer. Most Japanese parking spaces and garages will only fit sub-compact or micro cars which are not a specialty of U.S. manufacturers.

While the Japanese claim against U.S. manufacturers may hold some water, that claim falls flat against manufacturers from other parts of Asia and the European Union. Indeed, South Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai stated in 2009 that they would withdraw from the Japanese market after only moving 1,875 cars per year.

AAPC is suggesting a two year “time out” before Japan is allowed to enter negotiations. During which time AAPC wants to see drastic changes for rules regarding imports that honor an agreement signed by the U.S. and Japan in 1995.

In Japan, the TPP is causing controversy as well particularly among the agricultural community. Japan protects its agricultural businesses with high tariffs on imported food products and subsidies for domestically grown ones. The tariff on imported rice is set a 777.7%, wheat is 252%, and sugar is 325%. The proposed removal of those tariff as part of the TPP agreement has been causing more headaches for the already increasingly unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Noda. On Thursday, 6 members of Noda’s own political party told U.S. officials that despite PM Noda’s enthusiasm for the treaty, they would vote against it and Japan’s Parliament would not ratify it.

Source: American Automotive Policy Council, The International News

Photo Credit: Gobierno de Chile

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 6, 2012

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today released their numbers of recalls done by automakers in 2011. The total for 2011 stands at 15.5 million vehicles and 593 recall campaigns. The numbers are less than 2010 totals of 20.1 million vehicles and 648 campaigns.

Honda was the top automaker in recalls with 3.9 million vehicles recalled during 2011. Honda initially disputed the number put out by NHTSA, but later said it agreed to the number.

Honda spokesman Chris Martin said the majority of Honda's recalls were to find a small number of faulty parts.

"We're playing it safe. We want to make sure we find all of these parts," Martin told The Detroit News.

Following behind Honda was Toyota with 3.5 million vehicles recalled in 13 campaigns. Toyota hasn't had any pending investgations for five months.

"We're really just moving forward and working to satisfy our customers," said Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons.

Third place went to Ford with 3.3 million vehicles recalled in 13 campaigns. Most of Ford's recalls dealt with older vehicles.

"Ford is committed to providing our customers with top-quality vehicles. Part of this commitment includes addressing any issues quickly and responsibly. We don't focus on numbers as much as we focus on making sure we deliver safe and high-quality products to our customers," said Ford spokesman Daniel Pierce.

NHTSA spokeswoman Lynda Tran said the numbers should be put into context.

"There are a host of reasons why a manufacturer could have more or fewer recalls in a given year or over time, including its barometer for measuring risk which could be more conservative or liberal as contrasted to other manufacturers or the industry as a whole. Since these summary numbers do not factor in or weight averages based on production, the largest OEMs tend to top the list each year."

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 5, 2012

A study done by consulting firm KPMG found out two-thirds of auto execs that combined hybrid and EV sales will account for as little as 6% of the market in the United States and Western Europe as late as 2025. However, the execs say they will still invest in the technology.

"They are hedging their bets. They are saying that we don't know yet what the winning vehicle technology will be for the future, and so they are going to invest in all of it and let the market decide," said Gary Silberg, national auto industry leader for KPMG.

The study, which asked 200 auto execs also revealed;

• 81 percent anticipate larger investments in battery packs and battery cell technology
  
• 85 percent believe automakers will invest in more electric motor production
  
• 76 percent expect more investment in electronics for electric vehicles
  

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 4, 2012

It's not any news that cars are getting heavier by the moment due to new safety reguations and luxuries like power windows and sound proofing. A new report shows how both have been detrimental to fuel economy gains.

Christopher Knittel, a professor of applied economics at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management published a paper in the American Economic Review stating that if weight, horsepower, and torque were held to levels in the 1980s and fuel efficiency techologies were improved, fuel economy for cars and light trucks could see an increase of by almost 60 percent from 1980 to 2006.

In a interview with the New York Times, Knittel said the biggest contributor to the weight gain is due to consumers changing preferences.

“In 1980, just 18 percent of new cars sold in the United States were light trucks. By 2004, it was 60 percent. That led to a 30 percent increase in weight over that time, and a doubling of horsepower.”

Not surprisingly, the auto industry isn't taking too kindly to Knittel's report.

“This year, automakers are selling 270 models that achieve 30 m.p.g. or more. The M.I.T. report stops at 2006, just when automakers began meeting greater consumer demand for fuel economy with new technologies. In 2008, when gas reached $4 a gallon, we couldn’t keep the most fuel-efficient autos on dealers’ lots,” said Gloria Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in a email.

Knittel acknowledged that gasoline costing $4 a gallon in 2008 led many buyers toward fuel-efficient vehicles and away from SUVs and pickups, but it wasn't indicative of an unstoppable trend.

"They certainly were losing weight then, but as gas prices fell that shift has slowed. I’m not faulting the automakers. It’s the role of policymakers to incentivize fuel economy shifts,”

So what does Knittel think should happen? Knittel favors a gas tax than the new CAFE standards.

“Performance standards like CAFE are highly inefficient, but they’re politically palatable,” he said.

Source: New York Times

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 30, 2011

The UAW isn't giving up on their effort to organize plants in the south, rather they're changing their main focus. Originally, the UAW was going to target Japanese automakers. However, the UAW is now going after the German automakers.

Reuters report that the UAW believes given Germany’s history of dealing with its strong IG Metall union, executives at the German automakers would be more to let UAW reps to talk workers.

Given the UAW's track record with trying to unionize transplants have failed miserably, this latest attempt seems to be a hail Mary. The UAW has seen it's membership drop more than 75 percent over the last three decades.

Source: Reuters

Related:

UAW Drops Plan To Organize A Foreign Automaker Plant

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 29, 2011

2012 is bring forth some significant changes for automakers that were planning to invest in China. The National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC) and the Ministry of Commerce announced that January 30, 2012, the country will stop encouraging foreign investment in the auto industry. The NRDC states the decision was made to help nurture their domestic brands.

Jenny Gu, a senior market analyst at LMC Automotive in Shanghai tells Bloomberg the decision will end seven years of foreign-investor benefits including reduced tariffs on imported plant equipment.

Recently, China has slapped new duties on U.S.-made cars that are imported into the country.

“It might be more difficult for carmakers to get approval for new plants in the future unless they have an investment in new-energy vehicles,” Gu said.

China isn't cutting all foreign investments. In NRDC's press statement, it says the government will "open more sectors to foreign investors and encourage investment into energy-saving and environmentally-friendly technologies, new-generation information technology, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing, alternative energy, advanced materials, and alternative-fuel cars."

Source: Bloomberg

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 28, 2011

For the past decade, the best selling luxury brand has been Lexus. However, 2011 has been a fall of grace for Lexus and caused them to relinquish their top selling crowd. Now, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are fighting to see who becomes the top seller.

At last tally, BMW holds a slight edge of Mercedes, selling 1,582 more vehicles than Mercedes in November. Now, entering the final month of 2012, both are going all out on incentives.

TrueCar.com says BMW and Mercedes-Benz are offering approximately $4,800 USD in discounts by way of subsidizing interest rates (as low as 0.9 percent), waiving lease payments for the initial months, increasing the residual value of vehicles when the lease expires, and other incentives.

Source: CarScoop

Drew Dowdell - CheersandGears.com

After 30 years, the ever increasing subsidy for ethanol produced from corn has expired. When Congress adjourned for the year last week, they did not renew the ethanol subsidy that has cost taxpayers some $45 billion during its lifetime. Every gallon of ethanol pumped provided corn growers with a 45 cent subsidy. Most of the savings from ending the subsidy to go towards reducing the US's budget deficit.

At the same time, a 54 cent per gallon tariff on ethanol imported from Brazil also expired. Brazil is twice as productive per acre of farm land by using sugar cane rather than corn. The expiration of the Brazilian ethanol tariff is unlikely to cause a rush of imported fuel as sugar prices in that country have spiked recently.

Earlier this year Congress blocked EPA approval of E15 gasoline for use in all vehicles from 2001 and newer. E15 is a blend of 85% petroleum gasoline and 15% ethanol. Automakers unanimously protested the use of E15 in engines not designed for ethanol saying that the effect of the fuel on older engines could not be predicted. They did not want to be blamed for any engine failures caused by the new fuel.

The ending of the subsidy clashes with a 2007 Congressional mandate that requires 15 billion gallons of bio-fuel be used in 2015 moving up to 36 billion gallons in 2022.

Source: GreenCarReports, Detroit News

The US government is pulling back on some of their financial support for electric vehicles.

Coming this Saturday, a tax credit which allows taxpayers to deduct 30% of the cost an electric vehicle charger (good for up to $30,000 in commercial cases) will be discontinued.

If you're thinking the 30% deduction is a bit high, last year the deduction was set at 50%.

"The timing of this couldn't be more unfortunate," coming just as more electric cars are on the way." said Genevieve Cullen, vice president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, a trade group for the electric-vehicle industry.

Cullen and other proponents have been begging congress to extend the tax deduction, possibly even retroactively if passed in early 2012.

Source: USA Today

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 27, 2011

Mahindra, the company who promised to bring small diesel powered pickups to the US has been having their share of problems. Fallout between them and their importer, Global Vehicles USA and lawsuits from dealers have delayed the introduction.

A couple of weeks ago, Mahindra Planet, "The Unofficial Mahindra U.S. News Source," reported that Mahindra and Navistar, the international truck and bus builder had worked out a deal to build Mahindra trucks at a new plant in Alabama starting in 2012.

Mahindra and Navistar? Yes, the two companies have been working together since 1963 and have a joint operation in India.

The move would allow Mahindra to bypass an importer and get their trucks on the road.

However, Mahindra has said this week the rumor is false.

“There have been reports in certain quarters of media and online space stating that Navistar USA will produce Mahindra’s T20 and T40 pickups in Alabama, USA in 2012, which are completely baseless & incorrect. If and when there are any material developments, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited will communicate them directly and transparently.”

Mahindra didn't say when or if they would be arriving in the US.

Source: Mahindra Planet, Left Lane News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 22, 2011

When the US Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood thinks the NTSB’s recommendation of banning mobile electronics is a bad idea, you know it’s a bad idea. Speaking with the Detroit News, LaHood states he doesn’t supports the NTSB’s recommendation.

"The problem is not hands-free. That is not the big problem in America."

LaHood has been banging the drum on distracted driving in the U.S. for awhile, with him prodding states to crack down on distracted driving, especially texting or making calls behind the wheel. However, banning cell phone use in a car outright is going over the line.

However, LaHood did extend an olive branch to the NTSB stating,

Anybody that wants to join the chorus against distracted driving, welcome aboard. IIf other people want to work on hands-free, so be it."

Source: The Detroit News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 20, 2011

Tesla has released pricing and specifications of their upcoming Model S and it looks pretty good if the company can meet them.

The Model S' pricing is broken down by battery capacity and the range, with the 40-kWh battery pack model starting at $57,400, the 60-kWh battery pack model starting at $67,400, and the 85-kWh battery pack model starting at $77,400. There will also be a performance model which will use the 85-kWh battery pack starting at $87,400.

Specifications of the batteries has been released, with the 40-kWh model delivering 160-mile range, a top speed of 110 miles per hour and a 100,000-mile warranty; the 60-kWh pack juicing up for 230 miles, a 120 mph top speed and a 125,000-mile warranty; and the 85-kWh battery pack delivering 300 miles of range and a 125 mph top speed in standard spec and a 130 mph top speed in the Performance version. Both versions of the 85-kWh model will come with an unlimited mileage warranty.

Standard features in the Model S include a 17-inch touchscreen console display, 19-inch wheels, and three charge adapters. The option list for the Model S is long and includes 19-inch aerodynamic wheels, metallic paint, and an upgraded onboard charger.

Deliveries of Model S begin in Fall 2012.

Source: Tesla

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 17, 2011

Steven Rattner, the former car czar that oversaw the federal bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, said on Thursday to the Detroit Economic Club that the Obama administration's Auto Task Force should have forced all the stakeholders, including the United Auto Workers, to make more sacrifices.

"We asked all the stakeholders to make very significant sacrifices. We should have asked the UAW to do a bit more. We did not ask any UAW member to take a cut in their pay," he told the club.

Rattner also revealed that the US Government gave GM too much money, but on the side of caution.

"We put more cash into GM than we probably needed to — and we knew this. It's part of why GM is so well-capitalized today."

Source: Detroit News

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 15, 2011

Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill that would overhaul the nation's auto safety laws. The bill includes measures to raise the maximum fine for automakers that delay recalls from $17.35 million to $250 milllion.

The bill also includes measures that would give states grants for banning texting while driving or the use of cell phones by teen drivers, increase funding for research, improve the vehicle recall database and website, create a hotline for mechanics, dealers and auto workers to complain anonymously about safety problems with vehicles, and new regulations on pedal placement, push-button ignition and electronic performance issues.

Automakers are mixed on the bill. All of them back certain measures of the bill, but disagree on the raised fines. A coalition of groups, which include the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Association of Global Automakers, National Association of Manufacturers and American International Automobile Dealers Association sent a letter to congress opposing the increase.

"The proposed increases are so out of proportion either to the current penalty structure or the penalty structure for other manufacturers under the Consumer Product Safety Act as to appear unfairly punitive. The proposed increases should be scaled back to a more appropriate level," the letter states.

Automakers also note that in 2010, the number of road deaths fell to its lowest number since 1949 (under 33,000).

The senate hopes to include the bill in a highway reauthorization bill coming early next year.

Source: The Detroit News

If you were thinking about purchasing a new Fisker Karma, you might want to hear this.

Fisker has announced they will be increasing prices on the Karma Plug-In hybrid sedan by 6%. That means the base Karma EcoStandard model will now have a sticker price of $102,000; an increase of $6,150. The high-end EcoChic model will see a $10,000 increase to $116,000.

However, if you have put down a $5,000 deposit on the Karma, you're in luck. Fisker says for those who put a deposit down can purchase the Karma at the lower price until January 15.

This isn't the first time the Karma has seen it's price go up. Back in 2008, Fisker projected the Karma to start at $80,000. However, when the Karma finally went into production this year, the price jumped to $96,850.

Source: Inside Line

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

December 9, 2011

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed today a new rule that would make all keyless ignition systems operate in the same manner.

The proposed rule would require the system be able to turn off the engine regardless of the position the gear selector is in. The rule would also reduce the number of seconds someone has to hold the button to turn the engine and have an audible warning if the driver tries to shut the motor without first selecting Park.

NHTSA is proposing the rule due to number of vehicles equipped with keyless ignitions. In 2002, 5,000 vehicles were equipped with keyless ignitions. In 2008, the number jumped to over 1.2 million vehicles.

NHTSA is also citing the 2009 accident of a Lexus ES330 that killed an off-duty California Highway Patrol and three other people. The Lexus required the driver to hold the button for three seconds before the car turned off.

NHTSA says the cost to implement this feature will be less than $500,000 a year for automakers.

Source: The Detroit News