It is hard to acknowledge how far—and how rapidly—the fortunes of the domestic auto industry have collapsed.  There are a multitude of reasons why this it has occurred.  While a lumberjack’s portion of blame must be placed on the short-sighted managers who thought they’d ride SUVs into the future, the overall collapse of the financial markets is a significant factor, as well.  Consider the housing scam.  People who wouldn’t have qualified under reasonable circumstances were given mortgages for homes they couldn’t afford—at least they couldn’t if some slight-of-hand wasn’t done on the flimsy paperwork.  This had a number of consequences, such as (1) those with the big houses and the big yards figured that they could use—and afford—a big vehicle and (2) builders who saw the artificial demand for big houses started building them, which led to the need for more big pickup trucks.  Gas prices fluctuated, but not much more than a bowl of Jell-O, so things “seemed” just dandy. ...Read More

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2009 Lincoln MKS AWD

2009 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sport

2009 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen

2009 Cadillac CTS-V

2009 Infiniti FX50S AWD

Driven Archives

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A Hearty 'Well Done!'
Every so often you come across a story that reignites your faith in your fellow man. Take the trainees at Bentley, for example. Having lost a colleague, Will Boffey, to leukemia in 2007, the 34-strong group banded together to raise £12,800 for the Manchester Royal Infirmary’s Leukemia Research Fund. And they went the extra mile to do it. – Read More

'A' is for 'Active'
The Audi A5 has taken the Active Lifestyle Vehicle of the Year Award in the luxury on-road category. Given out by the Active Lifestyle Network, the awards recognize, "cars and trucks that are best suited to meet the demands of an active and athletic lifestyle." – Read More

Catch 22
Britain’s Royal Automobile Club has issued a report entitled Car Ownership in Great Britain that calls for the government to incentivize the scrapping of vehicles 17-18 years old. According to the report, this would remove most of the remaining non-catalyst-equipped cars, and cut CO2 emissions. – Read More

Are They Related?
A survey by Britain’s esure car insurance shows that 54% of all British drivers polled admitted to driving off at night without their headlights on at least once. In addition, over 1 million drivers said they had crashed, had a near miss, or made a sudden maneuver because they had forgotten to turn their lights on. – Read More
 

Upcoming Industry Events:
Lean Product Development – Nov. 18–20
AutoCEE 2008 - Nov. 25–27
Carbon Fiber 2008 - Dec. 8-10

Obama's Job One
Now that the presidential election is over, Job One for Barrack Obama must be getting a grip on what’s happening in our economy and then working to correct the direction of our nation, bringing it back onto a path of prosperity and growth.  This will require some frank discussions with leaders in a number of industries, the most critical ...Read More