House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi appears at
Detroit's auto show


Tirekicking Today at Detroit's Auto Show (January):
Lincoln launches reworked MKX ... Toyota unveils FT-CH compact hybrid concept ... Ford reveals next-generation Focus ... Cadillac shows CTS-V coupe and XTS Platinum concept ... BMW has Active E Hybrid ... Mercedes-Benz introduces E-Class Cabriolet ... BYD (China) brings e6 electric crossover ... Bentley shows Mulsanne flagship ... Buick exhibits Regal GS show car ... GMC unveils Granite concept ... Mini Beachcomber concept debuts ... Volkswagen reveals NCC hybrid concept ... Audi shows e-tron concept ... Chevrolet brings Aveo RS show car ... Honda has production CR-Z hybrid ... Hyundai reveals Blue-Will concept ... Electric Avenue features battery and hybrid models

See our report from the 2010 New York Auto Show

Green Scene

How will the horrific BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico affect gasoline prices and availability? Isn't it finally time to think seriously about reducing oil use - and do something about it? Tirekicking Today will be looking into these questions as the Gulf disaster continues into summer.

Tirekicking Today covered the China conference on "green" cars, in Detroit ... Detroit's auto show featured electric theme
• Fuel-efficiency takes many forms
• Is your clunker worth government cash?
• Green Themes at 2009 Chicago Auto Show
• "Green" Gathers Speed at Detroit's 2009 Auto Show
• Editorial: Going Green isn't good enough
• 2010 Hybrid Reviews: Ford Fusion Hybrid ... Honda Insight ... Toyota Prius ... Lexus HS 250h

News Headlines
• 2011 Ford Explorer debuts, promising notable fuel-economy boost (7/26)
• Ford posts $2.6 billion profit for second quarter of 2010 (7/23)
• Redesigned Kia Sportage earns ALG residual-value forecast of 61 percent (67 percent for base-model) (7/23)
• Auto dealers to be exempted from oversight by new federal consumer-finance agency (6/25)
• Volkswagen retains Jetta nameplate to designate what had been billed as "new compact sedan" (6/18)
• J.D. Power: Ford now ranks No. One in Initial Quality among non-luxury brands (6/18)
• Mercury brand set to expire; production ends in fourth quarter of 2010 (6/2)
• Fiat-based Chrysler compacts may arrive in U.S. in last quarter of 2011 (Automotive News - 5/19)
• GM posts $865 million profit for first quarter of 2010 (5/19)
• GM repays $4.7 billion of its government loan, amid allegations that funds came from other federal assistance (5/10)
• Chevrolet decides not to bring Orlando crossover to U.S. market (5/10)
• April shows increase of 290,000 jobs, though unemployment rises slightly to 9.9 percent (5/7)
• Ford boasts $2.1 billion profit in first quarter, citing strong products (4/27)
• Reacting to allegations of stability problems, Lexus halts sale of GX 460 (4/14)
• Toyota fined $16.4 million for delay in notifying NHTSA of "sticky pedal" defect (4/6)
• New fuel-economy standard approved: 35.5 mpg by 2016 (4/5)


Tirekicking Today at the Tokyo Motor Show (October 2009)
Honda reveals coming-soon CR-Z sporty hybrid in concept form ... Mitsubishi shows i-MiEV electric cargo van and concept PX-MiEV ... Nissan exhibits motorcycle-like Land Glider ... Lexus unveils LFA supercar ... Toyota displays Prius plug-in hybrid, FT-86 concept ... Suzuki shows Swift plug-in hybrid and Alto concept ... Mazda exhibits scissor-door Kiyora concept, announces Sky-series engines ... Subaru reveals Hybrid Tourer concept ... Daihatsu features innovative basket utility model ... Lotus, Caterham, and BMW Alpina are the only non-Japanese automakers exhibiting.

Tirekicking Today editor Jim Flammang, a veteran independent auto journalist, contributes product reviews and feature articles to such publications as autoMedia.com and Kelley Blue Book. He has written extensively for a variety of major outlets, including J.D. Power, cars.com, and the Chicago Tribune. Flammang serves on the Board of Editors for In These Times magazine, and is a member of the Freelancers Union. The author of more than two dozen books also contributes to Consumer Guide publications, and to the Auto News Blog at autoMedia.com.

Toil & Trouble

Turning to something completely different, Tirekicking Today is developing a new section on work and labor issues, along with consumer concerns, to augment our automotive coverage. Toil & Trouble builds upon the uncommon views expressed in Work Hurts, one of our Books in Progress. Please check the sampling below, starting with notable headline news items. Tirekicking Today attended the Labor Notes Conference near Detroit, in April 2010; please see our Special Report.

Labor Headline: Congress votes against extending unemployment benefits. (6/28)

• Editorial - Needed Now: Health Care Reform (3/21/10)
• Headline News on Work/Labor
• Overview: All too often, Toil Is Trouble (Updated: February 2010)
• Where do workers stand now, financially? (Updated: May 19, 2010)
• Needed Now: Jobs, Not Careers (Updated: February 2010)
• New Ways To Look at Work (Updated: February 2010)
• Solidarity Forever? Are unions still needed?
• Quit calling us consumers! (Updated: February 2010)
• Let's break the chain of consumer debt (Updated: February 2010)
• Prioritize! Living with Less and Liking It (4/22)

Special Report: Highlights from Labor Notes Conference in Dearborn, Michigan (April 23-25, 2010):
• Day One
• Days Two and Three

Coming Soon:
• Job Search shouldn't be a career in itself
• Traditional worklives no longer work
• No more bosses: Can you leave that job behind?
• UAW: Culprit or victim in automakers' woes?
• Reject! For some applicants, job search is futile exercise

"No man is good enough to be another man's master."
George Bernard Shaw,
in Major Barbara

Books in Progress

Jim Flammang, the author of more than two dozen books, is at work on several more. Outlines and excerpts may be seen by clicking on each title.
• Steering Toward Oblivion is a caustically critical but humorous observation of the car culture and auto business.
• Work Hurts questions the conventional wisdom on work and careers.
• Hotel Life, subtitled "Living small in an age of large," assesses the satisfactions of simpler living and minimal consumption.
• Absurdities: Lapses in logic and reason (coming soon) is a collection of stinging essays that gaze with disbelief at various aspects of modern life.

True Travel

During 2010, Tirekicking Today will be adding Travel stories to its selection of feature articles. Geared toward travelers on a budget, who prefer a suitcase to a backpack, our articles look at such issues as picking sensible hotels, deciding what to do in a new city, and the easiest ways to book trips. We'll emphasize blending into the community rather than spending valuable travel time among folks from back home. That includes staying at hotels favored by local people.

Here are some of the stories that will appear:
• Historic Hotels Don't Have to Break Your Budget
• What's Wrong With High-end Hotels?
• Even expert travelers can make mistakes
• Online Booking Saves Time, Money, Stress
• Is Mexican Travel Finished?
• Looking Back: Train Travel in Mexico
• Cheap Hotels: Horror or Delight?

City Views:
• Mexico City hasn't lost its charms (updated 4/22)
• San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico (updated 4/22)
• Tokyo
• Barcelona, Spain
• Palma (Mallorca)
• Paris
• Bruges, Belgium
• Luxembourg City
• Puebla, Mexico
• Veracruz, Mexico
• New York City
• San Francisco
• Miami
• Seattle
• Las Vegas

UPDATED: July 26, 2010

Tirekicking Today: Expert Automotive Views,
News, and Reviews ... now expanding beyond cars

Online since 1995, Tirekicking Today has presented a fresh and distinctive approach to the automotive world, including: Preview Drives of selected coming-soon models; Test Drives of current vehicles; feature stories of interest to car buyers and owners; plus automotive commentary with a distinct and tangy twist. Now, in 2010, much of the auto business is in crisis mode. In addition to sagging sales and hard-to-get credit, media outlets such as Tirekicking Today are affected adversely, too. Automakers are hosting fewer media drive programs to launch new models. Invitation lists to those that occur - especially from domestic automakers - have shrunk sharply. Availability of test vehicles has diminished. Cutbacks are all around. Growing numbers of bloggers and pseudo-journalists vie for attention alongside those, like ourselves, who have covered the auto business for years, if not decades.

Although our coverage of cars will continue, it’s bound to lessen, at least for a while. Therefore, we expect to be writing more editorials and feature stories, and fewer reviews. In addition, we are broadening our scope. Tirekicking Today will be expanding coverage of work and labor issues, with an emphasis on new ways to look at jobs. (See Toil & Trouble in box at right). True Travel (bottom right), which emphasizes traveling like the locals on a modest budget, begins with a series of stories on Mexico.

New: Tirekicking Today editor Jim Flammang now contributes to the Auto News Blog at autoMedia.com
Click here for highlights from the 2010 New York Auto Show
Click here for Auto History: 1955 - a boom year for auto sales
Click here for a full report on Detroit's 2010 auto show
Coming Soon: Highlights from Automotive Economic Forecast and Financial Forum

Highlights: 2010 New York International Auto Show

17 automakers introduce new or redesigned models at New York's Javits Center, in a remarkably upbeat atmosphere
NEW YORK - Strolling the auto-show floor and listening to industry executives, an observer could be excused from thinking that virtually all the troubles faced by the automobile business over the past year have disappeared. Or, at least, they’re well on their way to extinction. In contrast to comments made at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show in January, where practically everyone spoke about “new beginnings,” hosts of the press conferences in New York demonstrated a remarkably upbeat note - as if that new beginning has already begun and is proving itself.

Compared to the Chicago Auto Show this past February, New York's event yielded a lot more introductions. Some two dozen global or North American premieres of new or redesigned models took place, presented by 16 major manufacturers. Two notable additional new models were exhibited on the show floor, after first being seen at off-site events.

Alan Mulally, the president and CEO of Ford Motor Company, led off the first of two Press Days at the New York show, serving as keynote speaker for the annual breakfast hosted by the Greater New York Auto Dealers Association. Mulally outlined four steps that Ford needed to take to avoid financial disaster: 1. Restructuring ... 2. Accelerate product development ... 3. Finance the plan ... 4. Pull all resources of Ford, from around the world

One big step involved focusing on the Ford brand, divesting all non-core assets. Mulally pointed out that the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands accounted for 85 percent of sales, so the loss of Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda, and Volvo wouldn’t be a monumental change.

As a result, “If you want to be in the automobile business,” Mulally said, “it’s really cool to be Ford.” ...
Click for Complete New York Auto Show story
See more Excerpts

Books in Progress: Editor Jim Flammang, author of more than two dozen books, is working on four more: Steering Toward Oblivion, Hotel Life, Work Hurts, and Absurdities. Each title views its subject from a similarly uncommon and lighthearted - yet serious - perspective. Also in the works: observations on society and major issues of the day from Mr. Maurice, a stuffed pig who just happens to know everything. Flammang's biography of the Google founders, for fifth-graders, is available at bookstores. Three more books for youngsters were published in summer 2008.

Publishers Invited: Outlines and excerpts now are available online. Please see the box at center right. For further information, contact us at JF@tirekick.com.


   • Early Drive: 2011 Ford Fiesta
   • 2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet
   • 2011 Kia Sorento (updated: 3/10)
   • 2010 Acura ZDX
   • 2010 GMC Terrain
   • 2010 Cadillac SRX (with Turbo updated: 3/10)
   • 2009 Audi Q5 (with 2010 update)
   • 2010 Acuras (TSX V-6, RDX, MDX)
   • 2010 Subaru Outback
   • 2010 Ford Flex EcoBoost
   • 2010 Subaru Legacy
   • 2010 Lexus HS 250h (hybrid)
   • 2010 Ford Taurus
   • 2010 Ford Taurus SHO
   • 2010 Kia Forte
   • 2010 Lexus IS convertible
   • 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
   • 2010 Toyota Prius
   • 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
   • 2010 Kia Soul
   • 2010 Volvo XC60
   • 2010 Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class
   • 2009 Nissan cube
   • 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
   • 2009 Honda Fit
   • 2009 Acura TL
   • 2009 Kia Borrego
   • 2009 Hyundai Genesis
   • 2009 Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC diesel SUVs
   • 2009 Nissan Maxima
   • 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan
   • 2009 BMW X6
   • 2009 Hyundai Sonata
   • 2009 Subaru Forester
   • 2009 Acura TSX
   • 2009 Nissan Murano
   • • All Preview Drives

   • 2010 BMW M3 sedan
   • 2010 Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum
   • Special Drive: 2010 Aston Martin Rapide
   • 2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport convertible
   • 2010 Lincoln MKT
   • 2010 Mazda6
   • 2010 Lincoln MKZ
   • 2010 Suzuki Kizashi
   • 2010 Honda CR-V
   • 2010 Buick LaCrosse
   • 2010 Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon
   • 2010 Chevrolet Equinox
   • 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid
   • 2010 Chevrolet Camaro (including SS update, added 2/10)
   • 2010 Lexus RX 350
   • 2010 Mazda3 hatchback
   • Special Drive: Ford Transit Connect van
   • 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid
   • 2009 Mazda MX-5 (Miata)
   • 2009 Nissan 370Z
   • Long Drive: 2009 BMW 328xi
   • 2009 BMW Z4
   • 2009 Mini Cooper S convertible
   • 2009 Volkswagen Routan
   • 2009 Volkswagen CC
   • 2009 Chrysler Hybrids
   • 2009 Chevrolet Traverse
   • 2009 Dodge Ram pickup
   • 2009 Toyota Venza
   • 2009 Dodge Challenger
   • 2009 Suzuki Equator
   • 2009 Mazda6
   • 2009 Lincoln MKS
   • 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid
   • 2009 Ford Flex
   • 2009 Jaguar XF
   • 2009 Pontiac Vibe
   • 2009 Mitsubishi Galant
   • 2009 Dodge Journey
 • • All Vehicle Reviews

Highlights: 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show (December)
2011 Hyundai Sonata; Chevrolet Cruze; Mazda2; Ford Fiesta; Infiniti M; Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid; Volkswagen Up! Lite concept (diesel); Porsche Boxster Spyder ... Audi A3 TDI named Green Car of the Year

   • Highlights: 2010 New York Auto Show (updated April 3)
   • Special Drive: 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE convertible
   • Preview: 2010 New York Auto Show
   • Highlights: 2010 Automotive News World Congress (Detroit)
   • Highlights: 2010 North American International Auto Show (Detroit)
   • Preview: 2010 North American International Auto Show (Detroit)
   • Highlights: 2009 Tokyo Motor Show
   • Quick Appraisal: 2009 SEMA Show
   • Preview: 2009 Tokyo Motor Show
   • What's New for 2010 (updated 11/27)
   • Fuel-efficiency takes many forms
   • Highlights: 2009 New York Auto Show
   • Highlights: 2009 Chicago Auto Show
   • Highlights: 2009 North American International Auto Show (Detroit, January 2009)
   • Highlights: Paris Motor Show (Oct. 2008)
   • Special Drive: BMW Hydrogen 7 sedan
   • Preview: 2009 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe
   • Over the Mountain: a cautionary tale of highway tragey, from Mexico
   • A visit to Mexican Volkswagen factory
   • Saab's Historic Vehicles in Action
   • Maserati at Road Atlanta
   • All Feature Articles

   • Who do car-shoppers trust for information?
   • Idiots Rule: Social media shouldn't dictate product plans
   • Are auto ads changing tune?
   • Where are the "Detroit 3" headed now?
   • GM Goes Bankrupt
   • Red Light Cameras can snare safe drivers
   • Going Green isn't good enough
   • Detroit's Little Two?
   • Shrinking credit stymies auto sales
   • Is bailout an excuse to kill UAW?
   • Automaker bailout defies gamblers' rule
   • What happens when fuel prices retreat?
   • Simple Math: 0-60 = zero to silly
   • Auto Industry in Crisis
   • Street Racing on Primetime TV
   • Does bigger still equal better?
   • Where's the outcry over fuel prices?
   • Whatever happened to defensive driving?
   • Speed: They're Limits, Not Suggestions
   • Auto Ads: Push for Speed Turns to Shove
   • Too Many Car Buyers "Upside-Down"
   • Few Cars for Couch Potatoes
   • Are You Subprime?
   • Are Diesels the Answer?
   • Watch this space for new automotive observations.


Highlights: 2009 National Remarketing Conference
   • I: Market Trends
   • II: Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles
   • III: Used Car Valuations
   • IV: Trends in Used Vehicles
   • V: Pre-Owned Automobile Dealers Alliance

   • Auto History: 1955 - a boom year for auto sales
   • Is your clunker worth government cash?
   • Numbers Count in Used Car Search
   • KBB Explains Consumer Surveys
Please watch this space for helpful new Consumer Advice
Coming Soon:
• Highlights: China conference on electric cars ... Automotive Economic Forecast &B Financial Forum
• Preview Drives: Mercede-Benz R-Class and smart electric ... 2011 Volkswagen Jetta and Kia Sportage (late July) ... 2011 Honda Odyssey (late summer) ... 2011 Volvo S60 (September)
• Test Drives: 2010 Hyundai Tucson
• Features: How hybrids are selling ... Used cars are going strong ... Inside Ford Taurus and Kia plants
• Editorial: GM's Bob Lutz: Goodbye or Good riddance?

Highlights: 2010 Chicago Auto Show:
2011 Ford Edge (and Sport); Transit Connect Electric and natural-gas taxi ... 2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD, plus Diamond Edition Suburban ... Furious Fuschia limited-edition Dodge Challengers ... 2011 Toyota Avalon (plus details on recalls/safety) ... Honda Odyssey concept ... Kia Ray concept ... Suzuki concept Kizashi ... GM´s Mark Reuss addresses media breakfast ... Chrysler/Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne cancels speech to Chicago Economic Club; replaced by design chief Ralph Gilles


All editorials, reviews and articles are available for reprinting.
Editors are invited to contact us for rates and full details.

TIREKICKING TODAY began in 1993 as a monthly print publication. Created by widely-known automotive writer/editor James M. Flammang and associate editor Marianne E. Flammang, it went on the Internet in 1995. Gerald E. Flammang serves as assistant editor. TIREKICKING TODAY gives consumers, enthusiasts, and industry leaders an abundant supply of valuable automotive information. New-vehicle reviews, editorial commentary, and feature articles are added regularly.

©All contents copyright 1997-2010 by Tirekicking Today.
Material may not be reused in any way without express permission from Tirekicking Today.
For information on reprinting and syndication rights,
please contact us at JF@tirekick.com.
If you would like a response to a question or comment, please provide your e-mail address.