DETROIT - Ever since 1989, Detroit's auto show - held in January at Cobo Hall, along the city's riverfront - has been called the North American International Auto Show. That was the year when the show gained international recognition and official endorsement. Prior to 1989, the show had served as a local event. Thus, it was far less notable than the Chicago and New York auto shows, despite the critical importance of Detroit to the auto industry, dating back to the early days of the automobile.
In years past, 6,000 to 7,000 journalists have squeezed into Detroit's Cobo Hall, to the point that news conferences turned into stifling ordeals. This year, the difference was dramatic. Seats often were available, and exhibit spaces had significantly more elbow room.
Show promoters had promised some 40 world and North American premieres of production and concept vehicles. On January 11 and through the morning of January 12, a total of 17 major news conferences were held. Smaller auto companies hosted five media presentations on Day Two, along with several suppliers and other organizations. ...
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CHIBA CITY, Japan - Known for years as one of the premier auto shows of the world, Tokyo's annual event diminished substantially this year. At the 2007 show, nearly three dozen manufacturers from a variety of countries exhibited passenger cars. In October 2009, only 11 passenger-car makers set up displays, and all but three were Japanese makes. The three exceptions were European niche manufacturers that produce performance cars: Lotus, Caterham, and BMW Alpina.
Hyundai was scheduled to appear but cancelled those plans a few weeks before opening day. That meant no cars from South Korea, China, or North America. In fact, early in 2009, show organizers had considered abandoning the Tokyo event entirely. That's exactly what happened in Barcelona, Spain this year.
Because Tirekicking Today had not covered the Tokyo show before, some might think this was a strange year to cross the Pacific for the event. Because of all the turmoil within the automotive world, though, it's by no means certain that another opportunity will emerge. More important, Tokyo's show turned out to be as fascinating as expected. While similar to the European and major North American auto shows, Tokyo's version possesses its own character and a touch of delightful quirkiness, most evident in the concept models. ...
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Suddenly, the lead car slowed, as a heavily-loaded truck came into view ahead. Each car in line dropped its speed swiftly. Along the right side of the sinuously curvy road, a sheer rock wall reached toward the sky. At the left was forest land. In between, a double yellow line separated the lanes, because it was impossible to see far enough ahead to pass with even the slightest degree of safety. As everyone knows, or should know, that double line means "No Passing." Period.
That knowledge didn't deter the group for long. After little more than a moment's delay, the lead car swung across the double-yellow, abruptly downshifting and tromping the gas pedal to roar past the truck. Seconds later, car two followed. Then the third vehicle. Car four managed to make it past the truck, too, without encountering an oncoming vehicle. Pure chance, because there was absolutely no way to know if anyone was coming toward you, hidden behind the truck.
I was in the fifth car, but wasn't about to cross that double-yellow barrier. Chances are, the sedan would have made it past the moving obstacle. Up to that point, few oncoming cars had appeared. But that didn't matter. Unlike my colleagues in the front cars, I had learned long before and still accepted the simple fact that ignoring a "no passing" warning was foolhardy and ignorant. Not to mention illegal - and just plain wrong.. ...
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Well, what's happened to GM, Chrysler, and Ford over the past nine months or so is nothing if not interesting. A year or two earlier, it would have been virtually unthinkable to utter the word "bankruptcy" in the same sentence with any of the immense "Big 3" automakers. Ever since the early days of the automobile, these behemoths had been financial giants, fully able to withstand the inevitable, challenging winds of economic change. Hadn't they?
Now that the axe has fallen on GM and Chrysler, in particular, many if not most observers assert that the decline for each corporation began long before the financial crisis that developed during 2008. For years, all three Detroit automakers had focused their attention on trucks - especially the increasingly popular SUVs, including the full-size models that sucked up gasoline like an off-duty sailor might consume cold beer. ...
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Listening to many auto-industry observers comment on the GM bankruptcy, you'd think President Obama and his Task Force boldly blazed their way into Detroit to confiscate an unwilling industry. They make it sound almost like President Truman taking over the steel industry during the Korean War. In their frenzied estimation, those big, bad government functionaries leaped in with a heavy foot to rule an industry they know nothing about, simply because they could; and to some frantic eyes, because they ultimately sought to destroy the capitalist system.
Have we forgotten so easily those harried days last fall, when GM executives and their compatriots at Chrysler and Ford flew privately into Washington, virtually hat in hand, to plead for government funds? Neither then-President Bush nor anyone in government, then or later, invited them to accept bailout billions, much less ordered them to do so. Having watched their corporations sink close to the breaking point, they went to Washington as an act of desperation, seeking infusions of cash to stave off the financial vultures for a while longer....
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Judging by the evident interest in environmental issues, you'd think we were all taking steps every day to make our world a better place.
Many of us are. Millions of Americans do take those small steps in their daily lives, which add up to a big difference - whether it be shutting off unneeded lights, driving less, or recycling trash. Plenty of profit-making organizations really do take environmentalism seriously, and alter their plans and products accordingly. Best Buy, for instance, has recently earned credit for "green" initiatives - and was permitted to exhibit at the 3rd annual Green Festival in Chicago, in mid-May 2009. They demonstrate that a corporation can be green and profitable at the same time.
For many, though, the claims ring false.... Click for Complete Editorial
In some parts of the country, red light cameras seem to have emerged at every other corner. In other areas, they're far less common - at least for now.
Considering how many people have complained about receiving these photo-generated tickets, you'd think they'd be outraged by the presence and use of such devices. At least theoretically, after all, a flagrantly lawbreaking motorist could receive a stack of such violation notices after a single day's driving.
Evidently, they're more popular than they'd appeared to be. In a recent voter survey by Public Opinion Strategies, motorists expressed a surprising level of approval of the red light cameras. Some 45 percent of respondents said they "strongly support" the use of camera to detect red-light runners at the most dangerous intersections, and 24 percent "somewhat support" the devices. Only 18 percent said they "strongly oppose" their use. Even more interesting, almost half of respondents believe that other people in their state oppose red light cameras, in contrast to their own support....
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Compared to the Chicago Auto Show this past February, New York's event also came across as a lot bigger. Show organizers counted 35 global or North American premiers of new models, presented by 16 major manufacturers and a couple of lesser-known companies. Many of the introduced models were bigger and more powerful than their predecessors - though typically promising improved gas mileage.
Stefan Jacoby, the president and CEO of Volkswagen of America, led off the first of two Press Days at the New York show, as keynote speaker for the annual breakfast hosted by show organizers and the International Motor Press Association. "All Americans have a stake in this industry's future," Jacoby said, while predicting that U.S. vehicle sales will fall below 10 million vehicles in 2009. "We cannot expect overnight improvements."....
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Could the legendary Big Three automakers mutate into a slimmed-down Little Two - or, horrors, even shrink to a single survivor? Namely, Ford, which appears to be on more solid financial footing than its Detroit rivals?
Surely, the ghosts of such early industry giants as William C. Durant and David Buick must be in a state of turmoil these days. Almost a century ago, in 1908, Durant established General Motors, folding in such rising-star makes as Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile - and later, Chevrolet. Over the ensuing decades, GM evolved into the global powerhouse of the auto business, assumed to be virtually impervious to machinations in the marketplace.... Click for Complete Editorial
Who will buy all those new (and used) cars if lenders limit loans to the supremely credit-worthy?
(February 7, 2009) Buying cars on time has been the rule for so long, it's difficult to recall that there was a time when nearly everyone paid cash. Granted, that time reaches back before the Great Depression. In those days, working-class and even middle-class people who could not come up with cash for a car typically had to postpone such a purchase until it could be paid for in full. Only the affluent were able to secure credit: the very people who needed it least.
Looks like that's happening again, though in a less class-conscious manner. Despite the monumental cultural shifts that have occurred over the past 80 or 90 years, the financial crisis that developed during 2008 has the unfortunate side-effect of killing credit for those who really need it. Those who don't - the folks who are able to make big down payments and have pristine credit histories - are the only ones welcomed into the installment-payment fold.
Subprime loans for both homes and vehicles - issued to people whose credit records and down-payment capabilities fell short of the usual standard - are a dominant element of the cause for our current financial mess. Far too many people, whether on their own or prodded by avaricious sellers, wound up signing on the dotted ling for a house and/or car they couldn't really afford. Those of us who support the notion that people should not buy what they cannot afford were horrified throughout the subprime-promotion era..... Click for Complete Editorial
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