Gas & Groceries

With the recent decrease in gas prices, which are slowly—but certainly—rising again, several vehicle manufacturers figured that Happy Days are Here Again! and I do mean the sort of delusions that might be associated with living in the days of the Fonz.

“Hey! cheap gas means that we can start moving those giant SUVs again!  Yippee!  Soon we’ll be awash in black ink, just like in the good old days!  And we can tell Senator Corker to put a cork in it!”

However, they might want to restrain themselves a bit.  According to a recent survey conducted by Precima, a retail analytics firm, it seems that more people are going to go to Kroger than to a dealer with the money that they’re not spending at the pump.  ...Read More

2009 Chevrolet Aveo5

2010 Ford Mustang

2009 Ford Flex

2009 Jaguar XK Coupe

Driven Archives

At Least It’s Not a Corolla
While there are so many people drooling over the forthcoming Chevy Camaro at the North American International Auto Show such that it is surprising that GM hasn’t surrounded the two vehicles in its display with sneeze guards, there are still partisans of the old F-body.  Apparently, they’re fast.  But unwieldy. – Read More

What About the Tray Table?
Chris Rini is a drag racer. He flies down the quarter mile in the Top Sportsman class for ATI Racing in a Stratus in about 6.5 seconds. Far from a stock Stratus, Rini’s has a hood scoop that’s about the size of a small jet engine. And Rini knows something about that—flying and jet engines, that is. – Read More

They Had Good Intentions
What’s a kid to do when they can’t get to school on time? A pair of teenagers from Woonsocket, RI, had the clever idea of stealing a car in an effort to avoid getting tardy marks on their attendance records. Police spotted the car parked in the high school parking lot after it was reported stolen. – Read More

This Will Discourage Speeding
A 19-year-old Australian driver prone to speeding received a stern warning from Magistrate Brian Maloney when he faced the court for the third time on driving offenses: “You’ll find big, ugly, hairy strong men [in jail] who’ve got faces only a mother could love that will pay a lot of attention to you—and your anatomy.” – Read More

A Different Kind of Gas
Japanese R&D firm Kajima, along with Tokyo University, completed research showing microbes from human waste could be used as an energy source for hydrogen fuel cell cars. The company has produced a fuel cell that generates 130-W from each cubic meter of waste processed. – Read More

Upcoming Industry Events:
Immediate Cost Reduction Approaches to Meet the Challenges of Manufacturing Feb. 9–10
COMPOSITESWORLD Investment Forum Feb. 26–27
Hannover MESSE Apr. 20-24
PMTS 2009 Apr. 28-30

Why Build the Car When You Can Sell the Battery?
Web-based Netflix gobbled up market share in the video rental business without opening a single store.  And almost immediately Blockbuster’s chain of stores became a massive cost disadvantage.  Could this same asymmetrical model be applied to the auto industry?

Maybe it already is.  ...Read More