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Filed under: Trends , Government/Legal , Green The nation's Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards will swell to 27.3 miles-per-gallon by 2011. That's the word coming out of Washington, where the U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to bump...
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Filed under: Motorsports , Trends The winner-take-all points system hastily introduced and then hastily rescinded for this year's Formula 1 season truly has no friends outside of Bernie Ecclestone. NASCAR drivers commenting to Fox Sports on the proposed...
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Filed under: Trends , Euro , Supercars , Earnings/Financials , Celebrities , Special/Limited Editions The Top Gear we know and love includes hordes of outlandishly expensive exotic and luxury cars that we could never afford. Lamborghini and Ferrari will still be represented for Series 13, but if rumors are true, the BBC boys are going to dedicate more air time to the everyday cars that the rest of us drive, and less time with costly stunts like the one seen above. Executive Producer Andy Wilman is shooting for fuel efficient, affordable transportation in light of the global recession. Series 13 was originally planning for a road trip including a Lambo and a Porsche, but instead the excursion will include more sedate transportation like the Toyota iQ. That doesn't sound very exciting, but we have faith in Top Gear to make their episodes equally entertaining... after all, we've seen what they can do with a Chevrolet Lacetti. Top Gear should grip on recessionary economics because even...
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Filed under: Trends , Toyota , Earnings/Financials The Toyoda family has felt the pinch of the global automotive crash in the worst possible place: their wallets. Toyota share prices have plummeted by a very substantial 46% in the past nine months, costing the Toyoda family hundreds of millions of dollars. Soon-to-be company president Akio Toyoda's 4.6 million Toyota shares has dropped $145 million; a fantastic decline, but less than half of his father's loss. Former company president and honorary chairman Shoichiro Toyoda has lost $304 million during the past nine months - enough money to buy over 10,000 loaded Camrys. The Toyodas have a great deal of stock in the company Kiichiro Toyoda founded, yet the family only owns 0.8% off all shares. And while the Toyodas have lost quite a bit of stock value, the company scions aren't likely to sell off their shares. That means the family probably won't lose much real wealth in the long term, though a potential dividend cut could...
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Filed under: Trends , Marketing/Advertising , Earnings/Financials , Tokyo Auto Salon What if one of the world's preeminent auto nations threw a party and nobody came? That's the question on everyone's minds today as the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) has announced that most of the world's major automakers have decided to sit out this fall's show. We already knew about the Detroit 3 taking a pass, but now, word from Automotive News is that Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Renault, Volkswagen and Volvo will apparently be skipping out as well. In a news conference that JAMA chairman Satoshi Aoki called a "once-in-a-hundred-years crisis," the organization confirmed to media members that just 122 exhibitors will hawk their wares - nearly half of 2007's total of 241. The departure of those manufacturers represents a loss estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars for JAMA and the local economy (if not more), as costs associated...
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Filed under: Trends , Convertibles , Sports/GTs , Etc. , Green , Tech , Mazda , Rumormill Click above for a high-res gallery of 20 years of the Mazda Miata/MX-5 Low weight and greater efficiency might not be the sexiest of selling points for a sports car unless you're a devotee of Lotus founder Colin Chapman's "add lightness" philosophy. Thankfully for those less-is-more enthusiasts, however, Mazda has steadily adhered to that formula with its MX-5 Miata - and now, word from the crew at GoAuto is that company engineers are working even harder to adhere to that design philosophy, with thoughts of smaller, force-fed engines and lighter curb weights dominating discussions for the next iteration of the iconic roadster. There have long been rumors of a rotary-powered MX-5, but that's probably not in the cards. A modern take on the RX-7 is supposedly being worked up to take a new version of Felix Wankel's whirling dervish of an engine zipping into the future, with the...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Trends , Etc. , Earnings/Financials With today's dire economic climate, it should come at no surprise that delinquencies on automotive loans climbed last year. But what's perhaps counter-intuitive is, despite a particularly acute financial crunch, Michigan's residents owe less on their car and truck loans than their counterparts in any other state. In fact, 35 states have a higher delinquency rate than Michigan, according to the latest findings of TransUnion, one of the country's largest consumer credit agencies. In a news blurb in the Detroit Free Press , TransUnion president Peter Turek reasons that the reality behind the perception disparity is likely the result of many Wolverine state residents having access to special discounts afforded to auto company employees and their friends and families. According to the Freep, Nevada residents have the highest balance owed on its vehicles ($15,225), while Michigan owners carry the smallest balance (at...
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Filed under: Trends , Japan , Marketing/Advertising , BMW , Mercedes-Benz , Volkswagen , Volvo , Earnings/Financials , Tokyo Auto Salon Although Volvo has already said that it would not participate in this October's Tokyo Motor Show, the Swedish automaker's German contemporaries are reportedly dragging their feet on similar public announcements in an effort to not be the first from their country to do so. According to a brief Automotive News item, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are "unlikely to participate" as part of an effort to limit expenditures, and Volkswagen AG and supplier Bosch are among those said to be on the fence. Speaking about the pullout possibilities, an unnamed Automobilwoche (AN's Germanic sister publication) source has said that "No one wants to be in the unpopular position of being the first to announce their exit." Perhaps, but that didn't stop Volvo from letting some air out of Tokyo's balloons, nor did it keep the Detroit 3 from doing...
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