Credit Where Due (No, Not Financial)

One of the things that vehicle manufacturers—many of them, anyway, as for some, it seems to go without saying—desperately try to convince us of is the reliability and durability of their cars and trucks.  Funny thing about that.  When your car starts in the morning and gets you to work, you probably pay little, if any attention to it (at least after the initial thrill of a new vehicle is something that has passed).  If you turn the key (or possibly push a button) and nothing happens or you hear a strange sound from under the hood that isn’t the sound of starting, then you become annoyed, concerned, or some combination of the two that is best described by a term that ends with the word "off."

To be sure, there are considerable concerns when it comes to cars or trucks that don’t perform as expected.  For one thing, there is more than a small amount of income spent on acquiring one, and when you’re putting out that kind of cash, you believe that you should have 100% performance at the very least. ...Read More

2009 Chevrolet Aveo5

2010 Ford Mustang

2009 Ford Flex

2009 Jaguar XK Coupe

Driven Archives

And You Thought Richard Shelby Was Tough
During the Senate hearings last December for the auto bridge loans, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama seemed like a tough interlocutor. To say nothing of Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee. But they’ve got nothing on Roberto Calderoili, who is a cabinet minister in the Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi. – Read More

A Painful Getaway
Police in Cape Coral, Florida, are looking for a shoplifter who stole $1,200 in merchandise from a local T.J. Maxx. They might want to check local hospitals, as the criminal was run over by her getaway car after she fell out of it while being chased by store security. – Read More

What About Child Labor Laws?
Just when it seemed like GM’s Saturn brand was gaining some ground with its new slate of products, the company says it remains under “strategic review,” although GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz recently acknowledged the company may have set expectations too high for a brand that relied on one car for its survival for too many years. – Read More

Obama’s Beast
You may have noticed something new when President Barack Obama made his way down Pennsylvania Ave. during the inaugural parade. It was kind of hard to miss the new Cadillac limousine the U.S. Secret Service dubs “the beast” because of its sheer size—the car stands more than 6’, 1” tall. – Read More

Upcoming Industry Events:
COMPOSITESWORLD Investment Forum Feb. 26–27
Hannover MESSE Apr. 20-24
PMTS 2009 Apr. 28-30

The Cerberus (Pasta) Shell Game
The financial gurus have done it once again. First, they took the taxpayers for hundreds of billions after making shoddy real estate deals. Now they have taken a few billion more to prop up an auto company that’s worth nothing.  ...Read More