BERLIN – Germany's retail sales fell unexpectedly in December but the figures were still higher for the year as a whole indicating consumer sentiment was buoyed by a strong labour market.
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
Filed under: Podcasts, Government/Legal, Plants/Manufacturing, Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Mazda, Diesel
BMW M goes Diesel, Ford Focus fleet sales numbers, California 2025 green car mandate
Episode #267 of the Autoblog Podcast is here with Chris, Dan, Zach and Chris Paukert this week. Topics include the addition of diesel-powered BMW M models overseas, the surprisingly high fleet sales figure for the Ford Focus, and a new green car mandate coming out of California. Your questions and comments power the end of the ‘cast, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. We’ve embedded our Q&A module after the jumpfor you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #267:
In the Autoblog Garage
2012 Mazda3 Skyactiv
2012 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab
2012 Audi A4
2012 Dodge Durango Citadel
Hosts: Dan Roth, Chris Shunk, Chris Paukert, Zach Bowman
Feedback
Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com
Voicemail: 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763)
Review the show in iTunes and take our survey
Continue reading Autoblog Podcast #267
Autoblog Podcast #267 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Hatchback, Chevrolet
The Chevrolet Sonic has been busy lately – taking part in a host of adventurous activities like sky diving, bungee jumping, kickflipping, and making a music video. We’ve seen snippets of a lot of the extreme sports activities the Sonic hatch has been involved in, but we have yet to see the music video for OK Go and its song “Needing/Getting.” Chevy has just released a teaser to whet our appetites, however, as well as its latest full-length Sonic ad for the Super Bowl, both of which you can view after the jump.
The 60-second extreme sports spot is part of an onslaught of seven ads that Chevrolet will run before and during the game, and at least four of the brand’s ads will be devoted to the Sonic. Follow the jump to check out the new spot called “Stunt Anthem,” and if you like the song in the ad – The Fun’s “We Are Young” – you can download it here.
Continue reading Chevy Sonic teases Ok Go music video and extreme sports ads for Super Bowl
Chevy Sonic teases Ok Go music video and extreme sports ads for Super Bowl originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
NEW YORK – European Union leaders, grappling with a debt crisis, reaffirmed their commitment Monday to strengthen a financial firewall and 25 of the 27-nation bloc agreed to sign a new fiscal pact lim
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
BEIJING – In a move to stem the increasing incidents of violent protests by Tibetans that have left at least three dead, a top Chinese official has asked for police to be sent to monasteries in Tibeta
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
Filed under: Aftermarket, Motorsports, Etc., Europe, Celebrities
Gianpiero Moretti, driver and founder of race equipment manufacturer MOMO, passed away in his home in Milan this month after a lengthy illness. The 71-year-old began making steering wheels in his 20s, eventually translating his business into international success after Ferrari factory driver John Surtees adopted a MOMO wheel in his 158 F1 racing car in 1964. That car went on to carry Surtees to his only Formula One title, but Moretti’s success blossomed. He opened a factory in Verona in 1966 and ran MOMO for three decades before selling it to a larger supplier.
In the interim, Moretti tried his hand at both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Daytona 24 Hours, campaigning multiple Ferrari and Porsche models but only managing to take the checkered flag once. In 1996, he came within a minute of victory at Daytona, but lost to the Riley & Scott team. Moretti returned in 1998 to seal the deal on his 15th attempt.
Moretti has left behind an indelible mark on the motorsports industry. His humble steering wheel operation grew into a mammoth race supply operation with everything from racing suits to shift knobs and the MOMO brand is synonymous with quality and style even now.
MOMO founder Gianpiero Moretti dead at 71 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
Filed under: Car Buying, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota
Domestic automakers have much to be happy about, with Chrysler, Ford and General Motors all gaining market share last year for the first time since 1988. Yet according to Bloomberg, 2012 won’t be as good to Detroit. Total sales are projected to grow from 12.8 million vehicles last year to 13.6 million, according to the report, but increasing competition from Korea and a Japanese recovery from the natural disasters of 2011 mean those extra sales aren’t likely headed to the Big Three.
The news agency spoke to five analysts, and predictions have the U.S. automakers losing 1.3 percentage points this year. The analysts estimate that GM will drop 0.6 of a percent, Ford will lose 0.5 percent, and Chrysler will be down 0.2 percent. Toyota is seen gaining 0.9 percent, with Honda grabbing an extra 0.5 percent, while Hyundai and Kia are only projected to see their combined market share improve by 0.01.
If all this comes true, GM would have the top market share in the U.S. at 19 percent, with Ford in second at 16.3 percent, followed by Toyota at 13.8 percent, Chrysler at 10.5 percent, and Honda at 9.5 percent.
Analysts: U.S. automakers will lose marketshare in 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
More: continued here
Powered by SmartRSS
Popularity: unranked [?]
Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Hatchback, Chevrolet, GM, Electric
In the wake of last week’s bruising hearing on Capitol Hill about the safety of the Chevrolet Volt (which itself followed an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that concluded plug-in vehicles do not “pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles“) former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has written a column for Forbes that strikes back against the media (especially conservatives) who are attacking the car he thought would be one of his most important legacies.
Politicians and members of the media on the right, from Mitt Romney to Neil Cavuto, have talked smack about the Volt, and Lutz says this “has attracted my attention and ire.” In typical Lutz fashion, he doesn’t mince words, writing:
The Oscar for totally irresponsible journalism has to go to The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News, with, as its key guest, Lou Dobbs. Amid much jocular yukking, the Volt was depicted as a typical federal failure. … Boiled down to the subtext, Dobbs’ message was this: “All Volts catch fire, and therefore all Volts have been recalled.” That simply isn’t the case. …
To top it off, these two media pros lamented the fact that the same government that had forced GM to produce the Volt was now extending $7,500 tax credits towards its purchase, thus squandering even more of “our taxpayer” dollars on this failed Socialist-collectivist flop. Truth? The $7,500 tax credit was enacted under the Bush administration!
Don’t let Lutz’s words make you think he’s taking a left/liberal stance. He’s still a self-declared “conservative Republican” who hates that right-wing talking heads are spiraling downward into this sort of “deliberate misstatement of facts.” They “have managed to make me embarrassed to describe myself as a conservative,” he writes, adding, “Let’s leave the ‘invention of facts’ to the left-wing climate-change alarmists.” There – that should offend pretty much everyone who’s not in the dead political center.
Bob Lutz: Hey right-wingers, stop attacking Chevy Volt originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama has confirmed and defended the use of unmanned drone aircraft to kill suspected militants in Pakistan a fact that had not been officially acknowledged so far.
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Marketing/Advertising, Lexus, Luxury
Lexus has a redesigned GS that it truly believes can compete with the likes of the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. So it’s going where the eyeballs are with its marketing, ponying up for the brand’s first-ever Super Bowl ad. Lexus’ commercial is just a 30-second spot, joining the likes of Acura, Audi, Cadillac and other brands buying time during the big game.
Lexus is calling its ad, “The Beast,” which calls to mind both President Obama’s limo and the 2009 documentary by Eric Bana. The actual spot, however, has a rather hackneyed sci-fi theme: A GS350 is locked up in a shipping container sized cage in a lab, and uses its new “Lexus spindle grille” to break free in a destructive orgy of CGI.
Click past the jump to watch the whole ad.
Continue reading 2013 Lexus GS unleashed in Super Bowl ad
2013 Lexus GS unleashed in Super Bowl ad originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
More: continued here
Popularity: unranked [?]
Recent Comments