2016 Detroit Auto Show Highlights

I still love the automotive world, although I haven't had time to write about it much in the past few years.  With the 2016 Detroit Auto Show (also known as the North American International Auto Show) that's going on, I find myself wanting to highlight some of the standout vehicles from the show.  In no particular order, here are some of the most interesting and exciting vehicles I read about from the show:

Nissan Titan Warrior Concept

I am hopeful for this.  It's a striking design modification of Nissan's announced Titan XD truck.  Although, I'm not a 4-wheel-drive guy, this look is awesome.  And, with all the love I have for the service department guys at Future Nissan, in Roseville, CA, I'd love to buy another Nissan vehicle.

Ford F-150 Raptor SuperCrew

After going to Ford and looking over the F-150 re-design, I haven't been a huge fan of it.  I was a little disappointed with some of the plastics and design issues.  This truck, like the Nissan concept above, is build and designed for some big-time 4-wheel-driving.  I love the exterior looks.

The Hyundai Santa Cruze and the Jeep Wrangler Truck

These two "trucks" are interesting.  I remember twenty years ago, I made all sorts of jokes about Hyundai.  Now, along with Kia, Hyundai is making really nice looking cars.  I'm not sure the life of their vehicles and the quality level, but initially the Sorento I drove and the Kias and Hyundais I see look like great vehicles.  And Jeep?  Well, they've been around for quite a while, are known for their 4x4 capabilities, and this truck idea has been kicked around for a while.  I don't think I'd move to either of these two, but they are fun designs.

2017 GMC Acadia

Aside from the price difference, in 2011 we looked closely at the Acadia and GMs other variants of this platform.  This is a strong looking crossover, with a tall stance that helps it look more like a truck than a car.  It's been a favorite of mine in the CUV class.  This refresh looks good.

Coming Sedans, 2017 Lincoln Continental and Volvo S60

These two cars are both working to reinvigorate their brands.  Lincoln, with the return of the Continental nameplate, hopes to revive a tired brand.  I am hopeful, again, for them.  I used to love the Lincoln Continental.  The Volvo has something special, to me.  I love the long oval grill and the sleek lenses of the headlights. I love this car company's history. 

Other Concepts, Acura Precision and Buick Avista

 These are two beautiful concepts, both from companies with very tired vehicles.  Acura has not designed anything I'd buy in 20 years.  I miss the named models (Legend, Vigor, Integra).  Although, I don't see the Precision coming to production, at least as seen at the show, it's a good move in design ideas.  The Buick Avista is amazing and could make Buick relavent again.  Currently, they are just rebadged GM cars and an ugly van thing built on the same platform as the GMC Acadia.


2016 BMW M2

My favorite thing to read about was this M2 from BMW.  It's a return to the small car that is a driver's car.  It's beautiful and powerful.  This is my best in show.

There were lots of other vehicles I read about on Autoblog and The Verge, but now I'm falling asleep.  And since I make no money writing this blog, I'm going to take a nap, without proof reading or reviewing for mistakes.

General Chaos at General Motors' Chevrolet Cadillac Branded Kuni Owned Dealership in Sacramento, CA

The Intro:
Buying a new car is stressful for anyone, especially when many people believe sales people and dealerships are often times working towards confusing the buyer into believing a deal is great, all the while, disguising an excessively profitable deal for themselves.  And, while I do not think a dealerships should be stuck with an unprofitable deal, an honest upfront, "it can't be done for that low of a price," would go so much further with me than being caught in a manipulative lie.  Well, I believe I caught the lie just in time.

The Back Story:

Saturday 06/13/15, my wife and I, with our two boys, spent over 4 hours at Kuni Chevrolet in Sacramento, CA, working out the details on a lease we believed was for a Chevy Tahoe LTZ.  And, while the vehicle we were negotiating the deal around was not at Kuni on that Saturday, it was a short distance away, said to be coming from a dealership in Milpitas, CA.  An agreement was reached on a Silver 2WD LTZ with a rear seat Blue-Ray/DVD system, second row bucket sheets, and a whole bunch of other features, including our favorite color. We completed some paperwork, which included a VIN number (ending 639176) for, what we believed, was our future LTZ model Tahoe, with delivery planned for Monday, 06/15/15.

On Monday, my wife and I each made calls to Kuni late in the afternoon, looking for information on the vehicle's arrival, as we needed to arrange getting to the dealership to take delivery and provide our down payment.  Eventually, we were called back and told "the bad news," by our salesman, that "the Milpitas dealership sold the vehicle right out from under us".  He went on to say he and his manager yelled at the other dealership about professionalism and fulfilling commitments, and he assured me he was looking to locate another LTZ with all the same specifications we'd agreed to originally.  It was at this point my wife decided to use Google and look-up the VIN to locate this dealership in Milpitas.  We'd hoped to contact them and find out more information on how they could have sold our Tahoe to someone else.  But, the Google search resulted in a hit at Kuni Chevrolet in Sacramento.  I thought it was odd, but believed perhaps it had something to do with the transfer happening over the weekend to Kuni.  Perhaps, Milpitas sold it early Monday morning.

On to Tuesday and Wednesday, which went about the same as Monday, with different salesmen getting involved with the vehicle search for us.  One salesman even sent specs with another VIN for a vehicle located in Fresno.  But, that one too was sold before we could get it up to Kuni, and other Tahoes were also "sold right out from under us".

Then, Thursday evening came and I received a call from our original salesman.  He'd located "the perfect LTZ Tahoe in Southern California, with the cocoa dune (light tan) interior, just as we'd always wanted."  Although we'd always planned on gray or black in an LT model, we'd discovered gray wasn't offered in the LTZ models Kuni had been working to make the deal on.  My wife felt she'd be satisfied with the tan, as it was a lighter, cooler color for the hot sunny days, but we wanted to see it in person first.  The salesman told us they were going to put someone on a plane to Los Angeles and have the truck delivered to the dealership on Friday.  Skeptical at this point, I told him to call me when it arrived.

And Friday night, 06/19/15, at about 4:45pm, I received a phone call from the salesman.  He said the vehicle had arrived.  He told me he was sending it to be detailed and he wanted to know what time we could be down.  I told him we'd come look at it after I got off work, at approximately 6:00pm.

As we pulled into the dealership later that evening, we saw the Silver Tahoe and we initially got excited.  We looked it over, reviewing the interior color and other required features.  We then went inside to sign corrected paperwork, with the new vehicles VIN number.  For our troubles, I expected they may have even sweetened the deal.

We were introduced to a new (new to the dealership and new to us) finance guy.  Since the deal was already established, I expected it to be a quick signing process.  But, when the finance guy pulled out the new paperwork, I immediately looked to the overall cost and saw an increase of approximately $900.00 in price.  "Not to worry," said the salesman, "your payment is still the same".  I reviewed the paperwork again for where this increase was going to appear, and it had been placed into the residual value (the amount the truck will cost if we buy it out at the end of the lease, or the value it needs to be worth if we decide to sell it private party).  I explained I wasn't happy with this.  After all the issues, the deal should have been, at minimum, the same deal we'd agreed to on Saturday, a week earlier.

AND THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE.  My ever racing mind put together the following facts and connected, what I believe, was a complete manipulation of the truth to lock us in with the Kuni dealership.  Based on my experience in sales, pricing, finance, and with my training in reading people's body language, interviewing and interrogation skills, I quickly put together what I believe happened back on that first Saturday.


The Facts That Quickly Took Shape in My Head:

1.  Kuni Chevrolet did not have any Chevy Tahoes on the lot besides a blue LS (base) model, unless they were incompetent in finding others when asked about the specific LT model showing on the Kuni website.  We were eventually told, the one on the website "must be in transit."

2.  While working on pricing and payment for leasing an LT model Tahoe, the salesman presented specifications for several different Tahoes that closely matched what we'd laid out, but were never exactly right, as they all were either missing a feature or two, were the wrong color, or were found to be unavailable at the other dealerships.

3.  Upon stating I needed to go, but would return once one was found matching our desires, the salesman asked for another minute.  He left and came back with an LTZ model (a model above the LT we'd initially designed) and he managed to make it work with a relatively attractive lease deal.

4.  After reviewing the documents and the designed down payment, monthly payments, and residue value, we agreed to sign for this LTZ model vehicle.

5.  The finance guy created paperwork for the deal and included a VIN number we later Googled and found as an LS at Kuni.

6.  We were told our LTZ was "sold out from under us," by a dealership that was supposedly in Milpitas, CA.


The Realization of The Facts and What I Believe Happened:

While sitting there on Friday, realizing they were trying to make an additional $900.00+ out of the deal, hiding it in the residue to keep the payments the same, I connected the original VIN's Google Search results, to the blue LS model still sitting out on the Kuni lot.  I then surmised there was never an LTZ from Milpitas on it's way with the original VIN used on the GM Financial Leasing form and the CA DMV 262 form we signed.  Instead, I believe the original deal was made without an actual LTZ model located, but rather Kuni fabricated this deal and unmatched VIN for the purpose of running our credit, locking us into a deal with them, and giving them time to find a vehicle they could actually make a relatively similar deal on.

Why I Believe There Was an Ethical Issue Here and The Aftermath of My Rage:

I sent the new finance guy out and called for the original finance guy and our salesman to confront them both.  With prior conversations and all the facts, I put together my mental interview notes and decided to go straight into interrogation mode.  When the original finance guy and our original salesman arrived, I told them I knew what they'd done and I could not believe they would try to manipulate me like that.  The finance guy's immediate reaction, one of self preservation was to pull the file in toward himself as a way of protection.  He then got indignant and frustrated and said, "oh you think you've got us figured out, do you?" I explained, I did and his reactions was my proof.

I explained, my belief was the original LTZ model from Milpitas didn't exsist and because Kuni couldn't find a vehicle that matched our desired specifications, they manufactured one for the purpose of running our credit.  I explained, I believed the VIN used was to the LS model on the lot because they needed a VIN for the paperwork, which I told him I wanted back.  I explained I needed the originally signed DMV 262 form and the originally signed lease contract.  He refused and said they were his file copies and I couldn't have them.  I told him, I wasn't going to allow an ink signed contact and DMV form to be left intact on a vehicle I never agreed to purchase.  He then said, "it was a simple typos," pulled the forms out, and ripped them in half.  He then angrily threw them on the desk and left.

The salesman pleaded with me to give them a second chance.  I told him to go get the original features list and VIN for the Milpitas LTZ Tahoe.  He couldn't produce it.  Even after searching for several minutes, a saleswoman involved in the original negotiations came with a piece of paper and showed me a list of VIN numbers, one without a sales date and said, "see, it's right here."  I explained to her and the salesman that she was showing me the same VIN for the blue LS...AGAIN!  The salesman told her, "you are doing the same thing the others did."


So, we left the dealership.  We eventually went to a different dealership and bought an LT model for about $9,000.00 less than the LTZ.  We filed a case with GM, but "GM doesn't get involved with sales disagreements," even though this is an ethical issue, from my point of view, not just a sales disagreement.  The operator told me, she had "checked with her resources and this wasn't something they'd get involved in".  She did tell me if I gave her my new VIN, she could offer On-Star for a couple years, but that service is crap.  Kuni was supposed to reach out but never did.


One more point:  There is no dealership in Milpitas, CA.  This may be where the train stops to drop off the inventory of new Chevy Tahoes for Northern California, but there's no dealership.  The fact that ethics in car sales is always a question in people's minds, makes me so angry.  I've been a car nut for years, but the industry is so corrupt.  I hate that I bought a GM product after all the bailout BS, but it's a superior SUV to the rest.  And the fact company wasn't willing to look at this issue for what it was, an ethics issue not a sales dispute, makes me more disgusted with my purchase.  There was no dispute with the original sales deal.  I actually think it was an amazing deal...too amazing perhaps, and Kuni couldn't live up to that deal.

GMC Granite Concept

 For some reason, I find myself liking this.

 

Gmc Granite Concept -- Autoblog

Don't Buy What GM's Selling Now **UPDATED**

In GM's newest ad, they want you to believe they paid back all the money they owe. While they may have paid back the federal loans, they are still about $45,300,000,000.00 short of paying back the American people. On top of that is the $20,000,000,000.00 that was wiped in the bankruptcy process. If you can't tell with all those zeros, both numbers are BILLIONS of dollars. According to David Kiley with AOL: Prior to today's (4/21/2010) announcement, GM owed the U.S. government $4.7 billion and the Canadian government $1.1 billion. The U.S. government invested a total of $50 billion in GM to get the company through bankruptcy. Besides the debt, the U.S. holds $2.1 billion in preferred stock and stock warrants for a total 61% stake. The U.S. also aided GM with more than $20 billion more before the Chapter 11 bankruptcy to keep it afloat, but that money is not expected to be paid back. See the rest of his article here. The Truth About Cars says this. Don't buy what GM is trying to sell you in this commercial. They still took close to $100,000,000,000.00 from the American people. BUY FORD! **UPDATED** Autoblog added this today.

The A-Team Movie

I was watching reruns of The A-Team a few years ago, when I had 3 and 4 days off in a row. Man, that was the life. And now, they have a movie coming out. Although, I'm not holding out hope that his will be a good movie, I'll probably go see it as a fan of the old TV show. Here is the first trailer to be released.

It does have an All-Star cast (from IMDb) and some of the originals: Bradley Cooper ... Lt. Templeton 'Faceman' Peck Liam Neeson ... Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith Sharlto Copley ... Capt. 'Howling Mad' Murdock Jessica Biel ... Lt. Sosa Patrick Wilson ... Lynch Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson ... Sgt. Bosco 'B.A.' Baracus Dirk Benedict Dwight Schultz Gerald McRaney ... General Morrison Brian Bloom ... Pike Omari Hardwick ... Chop Shop J Maury Sterling ... Gammons C. Ernst Harth ... Gilbert Raj Lal ... Private Silyman Neil Schell ... Army Meddac Hospital XO

R8 vs ZR1

Watch it while it's still up. Clarkson is so fun to watch. And the Stig is a great driver.

American 3 After The Shake Up

One website coined the phrase the "Carpocalypse." In my blog reading I came across an article on Autoblog.com that pointed to Mint.com which had this pretty interesting graph of the before and after ownership matrix of Ford, GM, and Chrysler. I broke the graphs down a little with my amazing "Windows Paint" skills. (I need a Mac.) Below is the full graph embedded from Mint.com; then below that are my cuts for each major company.
Personal Finance Image from Mint.com Here's Ford (click image to enlarge): I think they are staged to do well. Here's GM (click image to enlarge): I think they are still looking weak. Here's Chrysler (click image to enlarge): They are still hosed. Poor Fiat. Honestly, Ford looks okay. It seems they could still do a lot better without the union making horrible decisions and costing so much money. I can guarantee that, if given the opportunity, I could help shape a smarter, even more lean, company. The problems I see are: the over sized and over powerful unions, too many politics involved in company business, so much wasted money on things like bad advertising methods and an R&D department that doesn't seem to do any research or development among true automotive fans or around what consumers really want, decisions to give up huge market shares like the 85% of police and taxi vehicle sales for reasons that probably stem from tired vehicles and lagging sales of those vehicles among the civilian consumers, and so much more. I have ideas that I know would work. They have to do with what vehicles have been successful and why. It's about making the best, safest, sexiest vehicles available. Get rid of the politics, the back room deals, the greed and lies, and simply make great cars and trucks that are designed around quality of build and the desires of the consumers. Reduce the overhead and reduce the costs. Remove the waste and become a more profitable company. Create a company that is well respected and grow through that reputation.

Jimmy's New GM

So Pontiac was killed off by GM in the "reinvention." Speaking of reinvention, Sean Hannity lost so much credibility with me when he endorsed the new GM and talked about supporting them as an "American Company." I don't care about GM because they were not a well run American car company. They cost us $90 billion and still went bankrupt. Boo Sean. Now back to this post. Autoblog posted a story and pictures about a Chevy Camaro conversion kit that transforms the Camaro into a retro Pontiac Trans Am. I picked a really retro front end to post here, but there's a whole gallery here. Pontiac is now dead, but this is a car that should have come out. I think GM should have taken all the name plates and called the new company just GM. They could sell all the best selling vehicles with there original names but as a GM vehicle not a Chevy, GMC, Pontiac, Buick, or Saturn (or Saab, or Hummer). Here's my line-up, based on my favorite vehicles, not the best selling (this would be the designs I'd keep): GM Sierra GM Tahoe/Suburban GM Trailblazer (I would refresh this, it's really stale. The Saab 9-7x is the best looking on this platform.) GM Acadia GM Van (pick one, I don't car. Nobody makes a van look good. Someone should try. I say, the GMC that BA drove in the A-Team. That's my vote. The A-Team Van.) GM Corvette GM Camaro/TransAm GM G8 (Full-size, I think a rear wheel drive option that could be used for cops and taxis would be good. Here's a start.) GM G6 (Malibu) GM G4 (Cobalt) Just like the rest of the car world, a luxury brand would be okay. Cadillac is safe in my book, acting as the luxury brand of GM. Most of the line-up is good, except the big DTS being a front-wheel-drive boat. That's just stupid.

Don't Support GM!

Don't support GM, congress, Obama, or anyone who thinks a guy who helped lead a company into bankruptcy and cost the citizens of the USA $90 billion so far, deserves the following severance: $8.2 million, plus $74,030 per year for life, along with health and life insurance plans That's what Rick Wagoner who, in March, was forced out of his position as the CEO of General Motors, will be receiving from GM...or us, the taxpayers. This is more money than I'll ever make in my entire life. And, it's some of the money we pay to this stupid government we have "representing" us. Although, I keep wanting to say support Ford, I'm a little nervous because they have contracts with the UAW. Still, it's a better option than GM who is just costing taxpayers more and more money. LET GM FAIL. Let bad decision makers fail. I look at the banking industry and see that a bank like U.S. Bank is one of the healthiest and most secure banks in the nation because they were conservative and made good, sound business decisions. Let the rest fail. That's what FDIC is about. That's what capitalism is about. Let the bad fall away and become no more. We can weed out the bad and keep the good. This is a great time to help the good businesses succeed and the bad one get out of the way.

The GM Retardation

The GM Reinvention Commercial gets spoofed.

The New GM...A Negative $90 Billion Investment for All

This video, to me, is the nail in the coffin. This video is stupid. The new GM is still a horrible company. Now they aren't 8 brands; they're 4. Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick survive. Buick? Who's buying Buicks? Missing are Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn. Also, I saw a video were it talked about the fact that WE now own 60% of the company after the additional $30 billion the government is giving the new GM. That still leave $90 billion in debt. So we've "invested" $50 billions in a automotive company that is still worth -$90,000,000,000.00 afterward? We have a stupid government. Oh, but enjoy this video: Just to cover myself, if GM does survive, it will most likely be because the bankruptcy allows GM to get out of the agreements with the UAW. If they can reduce the cost of making vehicles by getting out of the horrible agreements with the United Auto Workers Union, they may be able to make a profit on the vehicles the build. We shall see.

GM is Now Part of the US Government...Support Ford?

"Let them fail," I say. This is now getting scary...well, without faith. The U.S. Government now owns a majority of the largest automaker in the world. GM's filing of chapter 11 and the now promised $30 billion more in aid from the government, gave Obama and the U.S. government a majority stake in the automotive company. That's right, the government. As a customer told me today, that's the same government that couldn't take the "Mustang Ranch" (a whore house) and make it work. The government couldn't sell sex?WHAT? That's what a lot of companies use to sell themselves. Sex sells other stuff and the government could sell sex.

Anyway, now Obama and his "team" are making the decisions on how and where to cut. It's called "restructuring" and it's something that does need to be done. Should the government be doing it for GM? NO!!!!! The government should not be taking over any companies. The government should not cause capitalism to fail. They are responsible for the disaster of Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, the two government owned mortgage companies that helped facilitate the housing crisis. They caused supply to be greater than demand, they facilitated people getting homes they could not afford, and they allowed government officials, some close to and maybe in the White House, to run off with millions and millions and billions and billions of dollars in bonuses and payouts and salaries earned by bad lending practices. And now they are taking over the world's largest automaker? Didn't like GM before? Now you'll get even crappier vehicles with more problems, less features, less safety, and less value. And Ford, although not doing so well either, is at least trying to restructure without government bailout money.

Ford is worried about the new "playing field" saying today, "We look forward to working with the Obama administration to ensure that the government's majority ownership of GM will not change the industry's competitive dynamics and that a level playing field will be maintained." This is basically Ford's way of saying, "Don't jack us up Obama. We're trying to do it on our own, the right way." I give Ford credit. Sure I think the UAW is the whore in this whole thing, but Ford is at least attempting to restructure without doing it with the taxpayer's money and big...no huge government taking over. This is scary times people. Scary, scary times.

One last note: if you voted for Obama, I don't want to hear it. Don't start spouting your liberal agenda here. I'll simply review it and probably delete it in anger. That's right, I think you people are to blame. Yes, George looked and sounded like, and when he caved to pressure, was an idiot; but the worst things to happen have hit with Obama in office. The stock market took a dump because of investors fears of what is happening RIGHT NOW! Automotive giants crumbling under the pressures from the government. And, McCain warned about the Fanny and Freddie thing years ago. I also think the unions in this country add costs that often shouldn't be there. The U.S. auto industry is and has been a joke for some time. But capitalism works! And it would eventually fix itself. If you can't earn a buck, you can't stay in business, and you make adjustments. The government has NO BUSINESS in business.

UPDATED September 4, 2011:  Ford is doing amazingly well.  Now the government is suing the big banks, blaming them for the housing crisis.  LAME!

Is It a Limo? Is It a Tank? The Obamobile.

The new presidential Limo is a crazy heavy duty chassis with tons of "secret squirrel stuff," wrapped in a Cadillac grill for looks. Keeping The President of the United States of America safe is a really important thing. From rocket proof to bio hazard proof, from Kevlar tires to night vision, this is Obama's new ride. I don't get why the cutaway drawing I found is in England English. 300,000 pounds is listed as the price. And "tires" is spelled "tyres". Anyway, it's $442,350 according to Google. That seems cheap for that tough a car.

Sacramento Auto Show 2008 Recap

My dad and I had a good time at the Sacramento Auto Show. It was a great experience driving the vehicles we drove on the test tracks. My dad drove the Toyota Tundra on the 4X4 off-road course, and the Chevy Silverado and Traverse on the coned course. He said he liked the Silverado over the Tundra, and the Traverse was his favorite. I drove the Toyota Tacoma on the off-road course, and the Chevy Impala SS and the Corvette on the coned track. All three were fun. The SS roasted better than the Vette but the Vette handled really well on the course. The Vettes issue was some sort of governor or speed limiter. I even turned off the traction control and gassed with the brake on, hoping to spin the tires more. I took more pictures as the day went on but the upload time took away from the experience so I only sent a third of the pictures. Here is a slide show of the rest. One sad thing about Sacramento's show is the lack of concepts or future vehicles. The LA Show I went to in 2001 was so much better in terms of content; however, the drives more than made up for it. Something else my dad noted; Toyota was the only company with a gift. We received free beanies for our drive on the off-road course.

General Motors and Chrysler Talking (General Mopar)

Autoblog is reporting that GM and Chrysler are in talks about a possible merger. Looking for art work to go with this story, I found this one from February 2007, when rumors were circulating of GM's possible take over of Chrysler after Daimler decided to cut their losses and run. I'm not really in the mood to talk about my thoughts on the possibilities of General Mopar becoming the next big automotive story. GM is already the world's largest automotive company, with huge cash flow issues. Right now, they're in the news trying to sell there HQ for $500 million. They bought it 5 or 6 months ago for $626 million. There's a quick $126 million loss. (Glad I don't have stock with those idiots.) They're also talking about unloading other divisions, like Hummer and their medium-duty trucks. GM could benefit from the Charger, Challenger, and other cool cars like these that Chrysler (Dodge) would offer them. GM could get back into the Taxi/Cop car business. It can't be a bad thing to have a big car that is purchased in bulk by huge agencies like the CHP or New York cabbies. Anyway, I don't get it. Why do companies that get so large lose site of smart decision making?

GM is Led By Morons...and so is Ford...and Others

I am a reader of automotive blogs and news. And I’m a complainer on how incredibly stupid the auto industry seems to be. For example, a story completely unrelated to the story that sparked this entry, Ford was rumored to be working on a diesel engine for their F-150 back in 2004. Why do I know this? I was in a job position where I was responsible for purchasing work trucks for a small construction company that only bought Ford’s and preferred diesel due to a longer engine life expectancy. But back to the story I’ve been hearing about for the last few days. GM or General Motors, the world’s largest automobile manufacturer, recently told the press at the inauguration of the company's new Powertrain Engineering Development Center they are ready to provide smaller engines IF the consumers indicate that’s what they want. Ah, hello?!?!?!?!?!? Don’t you people spend BILLIONS of dollars on research and development? Shouldn’t you know the answer to that by now? I mean, a few minutes on the blogs and you can get a pulse on what people want. Not only do all the blogs agree with each other, but the millions of readers that comment to these blogs on a daily basis agree with the blogs. Give us a car with a powerful yet economic engine, something that moves the vehicle with power and efficiency. I mean, how long has the automotive industry been around, and all we get it the crap that GM and Ford are producing? Let’s look at my recent purchase. My 2008 Nissan Altima was priced lower than the cars I compared it to (Camry and Accord) and was more powerful and more efficient than the two. Where is the Chevy Malibu? NOWHERE!!!!!! It’s priced decent but it’s gutless and sucks down the gas. What is wrong with the automotive industry? Are the big companies too big? Why is it so hard to fill the needs of the consumer? I’m done. This makes me upset. Check out the original story at here.

Building the ZR1

According to Autoblog, General Motors released all the official numbers for the 2009 Corvette ZR1. The price for this awesome vehicle is $103,300 plus tax and gas guzzler tax ($1,700). The one option package adds another $10,000 but gives you upgraded seats, side air bags, Bose audio, a nav system, Bluetooth, power tilt/telescoping steering wheel and leather-wrapped interior. The ZR1 boasts a 0-60mph of 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 205mph. I am proud to say the Corvette has been my dream car since I was old enough to drive, and maybe longer. I remember having Matchbox Corvettes competing against all other Matchbox cars I owned. The Vette always won. I did a 10 page paper on the history of the Corvette in high school, going through each of the generations of Vette. This is a neat video I found on Autoblog's website. Enjoy the Building of a ZR1.

The Automotive Industry of Doom Part 1.5

Looks like an agreement may have been reached with UAW Local 602 which should result in the popular Lambda vehicles (Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook, and GMC Acadia...and soon a Chevrolet version) resuming production. Oh but at the same time I read this information, I found another union striking on GM. The CAW (Canadian Auto Workers). WHAT?!?!?!? The stinking Canadians? There's a whole other issue American car manufacturers have. They build too many different vehicles in too many different places all over the world. The few times I've been out of the country, I've seen some great models that they don't build here. How about this, take all of the best in every country, build just those models, and offer them to the world. What's that? World car? Yes, it's been thought of, tried, and there's been some failures. But, if it's done better, it would work. Oops. This was 1.5 but it almost became 1.75.

The Automotive Industry of Doom Part 1

I’ve called this entry “The Automotive Industry of Doom Part 1” for two reasons. One, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is coming out May 22, 2008. And Two, I’ve been working on a fairly long rant about the UAW (United Auto Workers Union) strikes and their affects on American automotive companies. The long rant is saved on my laptop, which is currently undergoing so work due to issues with heating up and a hard drive that's full. The long rant should follow soon.

The problem I see is the idea of the union in the first place. If we go way back to when unions were started, they had a purpose they served in protecting the rights of the workers. The problem today is their power is out of control and their affect on businesses, and subsequently, consumers is enormous.

My first example is General Motors (GM). GM has been hit with several strikes by the UAW that include shutdowns of plants that produce popular models (Malibu, Acadia, all the truck lines, etc), shutdowns of plants that supply parts for various vehicles (axles, plastics), and now another one that affects metal stamping plant (doors, hoods). Now it may seem like GM has some serious issues with the treatment of its employees, but as one auto blogger writes, “Is the United Auto Workers (UAW) subjecting GM to a death by a thousand cuts? What's the point of negotiating a national contract if every plant covered by the agreement goes out on strike over "local issues?"” (The Truth About Cars).

You see, GM already dealt with a national contract for the members of the UAW, but now there are other local unions and smaller unions such as American Axle’s union that are attacking GM. Theories are that these smaller unions want in on the UAW contract and agreements. Some even believe these unions want to join the UAW.

And the UAW, it’s the same union that represents the workers over at Ford and Chrysler. They’ve become so powerful, they tell the auto companies what they will build and, probably, not build. I read an article a few months back about the Ford Ranger. It’s not even a decent selling vehicle anymore, but the UAW wants to keep building it for a couple of years. Why? Because this will keep a specific group of union members in that job. Sure, this hurts Ford and over time these types of decisions will catch up with the profitability of the automotive companies, but the unions don’t care about that. They don’t see the larger picture. Instead, all 3 American automotive companies are heading towards Chapter 11. One blog even said GM may file this year.

Of course, then the government will work on a bail out program, loaning our tax dollars to these businesses; these businesses that can’t seem to build what the people want. Why are foreign cars so much more desirable? Why are all 3 American companies struggling? It’s a tough question. And I’ll work on that answer in the next installment of The Automotive Industry of Doom.

El Camino of Assie-land (And Then I Start Rambling)

They still have an El Camino in Australia made by Holden called the Ute. Here's an ad showing the history of the Ute. The Chevrolet El Camino, which was built from 1959-87 (with a break from 60-64), was GM's response to Ford's Ranchero. Although the popularity of the El Camino carried it on for nearly 8 more years beyond the Ranchero, we haven't seen a newly designed El Camino here in the USA since the late 80s. The Aussies; however, have both the GM owned Holden Ute and the Ford Falcon (new name for the Ranchero) today. There is some buzz on the automotive blogs that GM may introduce an El Camino based off the Ute platform here in the USA, but don't hold your breath. Automakers don't bring the popular cars of other countries here because they don't think they will do well. That must be why all the foreign cars do so poorly. Wait, isn't Toyota on top now? Can you say bitter? I'm not really interested in the Ute myself but I do think American Automakers are making decisions that don't fit the pulse of automotive fans here in the USA. Ford and GM both have excellent vehicles they produce and sell in other countries, which are appealing to Americans too. This concept of "World Cars" would probably work if automakers focused there research more on what is hot and what's not. There are probably several problems that I don't know about, like: the unions, differing opinions within the corporations, poor data gathering, self glorifying designers, old school thinking (like Ford and their desire to name all cars with "F" and all SUVs with "E" in the USA). I think there should be more avenues for consumers to give input on what they are looking for. With the Internet this should be easy. Heck, if you read a few blogs and automotive magazines, you'd see what's available in other countries and what's missing here. If you think about it, why do we still have cars with problems like roominess, fuel economy, power, handling, beauty, safety. Why are all the American Automakers losing money every year when this is the county with the most advanced, most wealthy, most wide spread, self indulged, EVERYTHING? How can the automakers RIGHT HERE be so out of touch with the desires of the people RIGHT HERE? Why is it the foreign automakers are out selling, out designing, out EVERYTHINGing the American Automakers? It's sad really. Henry Ford is often thought of as the "Father of the Automobile" (I know there is some debate on this), and Ford is now known for poor quality vehicles. I could talk for hours about the first and last Ford my parents bought (Taurus) and how it killed my parents' bank account. It was a pile of.....it was horrible. And now Ford renames the Five-Hundred to "Taurus". They are so out of touch that they think the Five-Hundred did poorly because of the name? NO! READ A BLOG OR MAGAZINE, FORD! You'll see that it's a boring design, it had a gutless engine, and it's front wheel drive. The Taurus name did nothing to help. And the engine upgrade, done with the name change, wasn't enough to offset the stigma associated with the name "Taurus". At least "Five-Hundred" started with an "F". Haha. Give me an Toyota or Honda so I know I'll see 200K miles. Give me an Audi or BMW so I can love to drive the roads of this HUGE country. Give me my VW Golf with 167,000+ miles and great handling, fuel economy, comfort, sound system, design, etc. so I can know I purchased an inexpensive vehicle that has fulfilled so many of my desires. Sure it's a little small, but it does so much extra that I forget about it's stature (yeah, okay and it's color, jerk). It's blue. Stop calling it purple. Wow. What happened here. I really just lost track of the point of this blog. I need to add a subtitle to this blog. I'm a ramblin' man.