Recent Comments:
REPORT: Opel President Carl-Peter Forster quits after sale collapse {Autoblog}
Nov 6th 2009 12:10PM Chevrolet has a good reputation in Europe? Currently, all they sell is rebadged Daewoos that had been on sale there prior to Chevrolet's arrival. They have nowhere near the reputation Opel/Vauxhall has. Sure, both those companies were percieved to have crappy vehicles up until a few years ago but they're European. Europeans are extremely loyal to European brands. That's why most of the brands from Japan and Korea are having a much harder time gaining credibility in Europe than in the US or Canada. GM has much better chance expanding it's share of the market with a company based in Germany rather than a company based in Detroit, Tokyo, or Seoul.
Also, you do realise that most of GM's engineering expertise comes from it's Opel division. Platforms, Ecotec engines, etc.
REPORT: Fiat wants Chrysler to be a Cadillac competitor {Autoblog}
Sep 21st 2009 1:47PM Lofty goal considering where Chrysler is right now. Though, I can see Fiat possibly utilizing it's Alfa Romeo to benefit the Chrysler brand.
I'm not saying we would see a rebadged Alfa 8c, but I think there could be potential for platform, engine, and technology sharing much like how Mercedes did with the 300, Charger, Challenger, etc.. Also, when you consider that VW shares tech on a regular basis with all of it's brands, it doesn't seem that out of the question.
Let's also not forget that Fiat has Maserati and Ferrari to use as well. I say that Chrysler could very well pull it off and I think GM should hurry it up with it's new models if it wants Cadillac to remain the best American luxury brand.
How important is the appearance of a green car? {Autoblog Green}
Sep 10th 2009 10:23PM Ray.. although it has a gasoline generator for backup, the Volt is an EV. Electricity is what powers the wheels of the car and not the generator.. and if people drive 40 miles or less every day.. they'll never use the gasoline at all. However.. I could be wrong and if that's the case, explain to us why the Volt is not an EV.
Officially Official: Lexus reveals LF-Ch concept in full ahead of Frankfurt {Autoblog}
Sep 9th 2009 9:43PM Horrible paint job on a vehicle that looks like it belongs in one of the many Fast and Furious movies. I wish Lexus would get some real designers who, when they're not designing boring sedans and SUVs, also don't rely on cheesy ground effects to make everyone believe that the car is sporty... as seen on this and the IS-F.
The interior continues the asymmetrical design debacle theme first shown in the new Lexus RX. It's far too busy and doesn't belong in a luxury vehicle.
Lexus will never be taken seriously in Europe with cars like these. Sport hatches are a dime a dozen and most are much more attractive than this.
Rumormill: BMW in talks to use iQ platform for future models, Toyota to get Mini in return?! {Autoblog}
Aug 31st 2009 10:33AM So not only will the iQ underpin an Aston Martin but a BMW as well? What is with this car and why are all the european luxury auto companies going crazy over it?
Photoshopped 2011 Hyundai Sonata shows up in dealer ad as 2010 classified {Autoblog}
Aug 31st 2009 10:30AM Uh... guys.. This was just on this website about a week ago. Have we already forgotten what the new Sonata really looks like?
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/21/spy-shots-are-you-the-2011-hyundai-sonata?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_autoblog
REPORT: Cadillac Converj has a new lease on life, maybe {Autoblog Green}
Aug 24th 2009 1:17AM @Nick P:
You may have gone and studied design but that doesn't make you an objective person when critiquing design. Yes, I can understand that we have different tastes but when you make a blanket statement that GM doesn't have a clue on modern design, that's an opinion and not fact. If you had worded it as such, I wouldn't have disputed your post because I respect your opinion.
However,
You also said that you don't care about accolades the Converj received implying that the opinion of the people who critique car design have no influence on your critiquing ability. Yet, in your first post, you try to back up your argument of the Model S design by referring to opinions of other people saying it's "universally admired for it's elegance and styling". From what I have gathered, you're willing to accept other people's opinions when it suits your own.
You clearly have a bias that goes way beyond design and as a result, prevents you from ever giving a subjective stance when critiquing the Converj.
While people may like find the Model S as extremely desirable and modern, I don't necessarily agree them. I think it looks nice, but it's boring.
I for one find the Converj styling to be extremely attractive and modern and I find it borrows many cues from Lamborghini (which is a company that we all can agree is on the cutting edge of design) as well as many cues from the Cadillac Sixteen concept, which was also "universally admired for it's elegance and styling".
I shouldn't have worded my first post saying you need to have your eyes checked so I apologize for that and I do respect your opinion but I guess we will disagree.
REPORT: Cadillac Converj has a new lease on life, maybe {Autoblog Green}
Aug 23rd 2009 5:45PM Nick P:
When someone goes and says that GM has no clue about modern design under the article talking about the Cadillac Converj, a concept car that not only was voted as the best car from NAIAS on this very website and voted most significant concept car at the autoshow itself, and then goes on to praise the styling of the Model S, which is nice but very unoriginal; I tend to think that person is either a plant from the Tesla corporation, a die-hard hater of all things GM, or someone who seriously needs their eyes checked.
GM knows modern styling. They've proven it again and again.
Big in Japan: Chevrolet Camaro reportedly already sold out in Nippon {Autoblog}
Aug 18th 2009 8:02PM homunculus:
"it's a piece of sh*t. it's an, it's an xlr. it's a cadillac, it's built on a cadillac f*cking, goddam cadillac platform.
this ain't hot rod magazine, pal!"
Thanks, Ronnie the limo driver.
Toyota's Bill Reinert lets loose on ethanol, li-ion batteries, plug-in vehicles {Autoblog}
Jul 18th 2009 10:54PM The downplaying of li-ion and plug-ins sounds exactly like something GM would have said ten years ago. Now look at the state of the company. The fact is, the first gen hybrids weren't at all practical or efficient when the first Prius came out. The tech was expensive and it could have all blown up in Toyota's face. But look at them and, more importantly, look at Toyota now. The Prius is the halo car of Toyota and has given the entire company a environmentally green image.. even if the car and the company isn't.
Now the executives are ramping up the negative PR against companies like Tesla and GM. Companies that are heavily investing in technology that is just as important to the future of the industry as the Prius was...perhaps even more so.
If Reinert was really speaking the truth, he'd say that Toyota wasn't ready for the onslaught of li-ion batteries or plug-in hybrid technology because they were resting on the laurels of the last gen Prius and investing heavily into a new V8 and a new full-size truck and SUV platform (shades of GM again).
Like I wrote earlier, the first gen Prius tech had a lot of the same complaints when it was being developed. Yet, Toyota went forward with it. What changed Toyota's mind with moving forward with new tech? Oh right, they didn't develop it for mass use first.
I do, however, agree with him on Ethanol. The ethanol movement was obviously a quick-fix solution offered to the government and the American people who became disgruntled after gas prices climbed to record levels and finally realizing that a good deal of our oil was being imported by countries that may not have our best interests in mind.
Little did everyone know that the E85 blend is far less efficient than the current blend and therefore more expensive overall.
