The Ferrari dealership at the Wynn

When in Las Vegas, be sure to check out the Wynn Hotel Casino and the magnificent Ferrari store there! It's full of everything Ferrari for the folks who love this manufacturer!

Check it out!

Extend your vehicles service life

In this day and age it is good to extend your vehicle's life a little longer. Even if the automakers want you to buy new!

Click here to find out how to extend your vehicle's service life.

GM severs another limb: Saturn being sold off to Penske

It's a sad day for automakers in the US, specifically General Motors. Once the powerhouse of the American market, GM is now the 'withering tree' losing itself one limb at a time. Today it's been announced that a deal is in the works to spin off the Saturn brand to Roger Penske. Yes, that Roger Penske. It is not being sold to some multi conglomerate world auto maker, but a guy who has been slowly building an auto empire in the USA.

What will be left of GM is anyone's guess but one thing is for sure, this will be a much different company a year from now.

Axe falls on Hummer, it goes to the Chinese

Reports are that the Hummer division of GM has been sold. A Chinese buy has been named for Hummer. In a deal that amounts to GM just getting pennies on the dollar of what the company is worth, this is apparently is a done deal. GM has struggled to survive and even filed for bankruptcy itself just yesterday.

The US government is part owner of a company called GM now. It is a majority holder of the company, and this move is unprecedented for the US Government to step in and actually be known as an owner. I never knew the US to be in the auto business before and don't know if taxpayers wanted to board this incredibly sunk ship of GM, but here we are thanks to President Obama. Hey, maybe they'll name an upcoming model after him, 'The Obama'. A built to last, piece of Americana. Debate is raging whether or not this move was communistic here in the US. Stay tuned, it should get very interesting. Why GM? and why did the US 'buy' them into bankruptcy?

Ford Motor Company has got to be scratching it's head at what is going on here. It's chief competitor now has an owner with very deep pockets, Uncle Sam. This story is getting crazier as the days go on.

GM and Chrysler despite bailout still on shakey ground

The Federal bailout was supposed to be a savior to the US automakers that needed it, instead of saving them it was just like chum to a shark. The country's biggest auto giant GM, is about to declare bankruptcy even after getting billions of dollars in revenue from Washington.

If this were going to happen all along, why then did the taxpayers have to give billions to this sinking ship? Where did all of the billions go? I didn't see great incentives offered, and I currently own a Chevy car. The incentives I saw went no where near they should have when a company is struggling to survive is trying it's best to stay afloat.

Where did the billions go? GM already has received almost $20 Billion dollars as of May 2009, that is a lot of money. They could have give cars away real cheap with a bailout that huge. It is just an incredible sinking ship, it should have been allowed to sink rather than have the US taxpayers keep dumping money down a bottomless pit.

Now, if GM survives it is promised billions more in taxbreaks from the Federal government. This is incredible now, I think the problems that this company had couldn't be fixed by anyone even our own government. As we already seen, $20 Billion is not enough to fix it, and now bankrupcy looms.

US consumers have spoken on this matter, they prefer to buy cars that last longer than 5 years and return a value that is still decent after they have paid for their cars. This is something that GM doesn't offer. They haven't been making quality products that the consumer has faith in. Auto manufacturers like Toyota, and Honda are making quality products and that is the real reason GM is failing. They are not offering quality, and the prices that they are charging are too much from what they 'are' offering.

A new way to purchase cars and trucks in the USA needed?

For most car, truck, or SUV buyers the worst part of their experience is being ripped off by a car dealer when they go to purchase their vehicle. Perhaps an approach by car manufacturers should be to deal direct with purchasers and bypass the traditional car lot buying experience.

It all seems so great when you go to the manufacturers websites to look up information on your upcoming purchase. The facts and figures look right, and you can configure specifications you want within a few clicks. Then you go to a independent dealer in person and your experience changes dramatically. You have your typical sales managers that try to stuff more gingerbread into your vehicle at really big profit margins to the dealers and you walk out of their or run with a totally different experience than what you wanted.

Is it time for the manufacturers to now deal direct with the public? The bottom line is the bottom line, why then do car dealers effectively be so hard to deal with. This is a new computer age, and all of the stuff that used to be so secret is out in the open now concerning pricing. Dealers will try to charge you as much as you'll pay believe me, I've seen it personally. So why then can't large manufacturers start to weed the shady dealers out and give us what we want as vehicle buyers; a good deal without being ripped off?

Ford gets happy with the new 'Fiesta'

Ford Fiesta: coming soon the new subcompact

  I remember as a teenager a very small boxy car from Ford called the Ford Fiesta. The good old days are back again, and so is the Fiesta. The competitors responded to $4 per gallon gas fairly quickly this time around. Toyota has it's Yaris, Chevrolet, the Aveo, and now Ford albeit a little late to the game is releasing the Fiesta. Yes, same name but it's been updated for the times and we'll be hearing about it towards the end of the month on Ford commercials.

   Ford is going after the younger driver, and had an online competition that will see 100 'young' people get a free Fiesta, gas, and car insurance for 6 months. They will in turn drive the vehicle, and make observations about it on video clips uploaded to the internet. Forget about all the old timers, maybe the ones that have money to buy a car. No, Ford is going young and appealling to the new 'younger' potential buyers. Hmmm.... that kind of leaves us older folks out of the equation just a little. The gas price see-saw has even swung back the other way and now, there is still concern about the prices, but not a panic like it was 8-9 months ago when we still had $4 a gallon gas across the US.

Hyundai goes 'Prada' over Genesis car model

As reported on The Auto Channel, Hyundai releases a special edition Genesis model that is aimed at the upscale 'Prada' crowd.


http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/04/01/455399.html



Read about the special edition vehicle of which only 3 were made, two to be auctioned off for charity and one more to be retained by Hyundai as a milestone of a car that put Hyundai at the front of many car buyers wishlists!

GM and Chrysler explore bankrupcy - as a way out of financial mess

The financial mess brought on by $4.00 dollar a gallon gasoline and economic uncertainty amongst homeowners, and financial institutions have brought the auto industry to it's knees as the big automotive giants struggle even more to survive. Despite a huge influx of cash by the US government, the automotive manufacturers such as GM and Chrysler have now wielded the 'B' word as a way to further get out of debt.

Government intervention has brought upon the retirement of GM chief, Rick Wagoner a bit earlier than he probably would have wanted. It's really unprecedented for a government like the USA to dictate to private industry on calling on any executive to resign. I wonder if any other auto executive feels uneasy about his or her own job and the scrutiny of government agencies examining private industry.

The more this prolonged dismay of the automakers in the US drags on, the more strange it is getting. More and more the line is being crossed on what or what not government intervention into private industry such as the auto industry should be considered correct. It seems now that the auto makers are being blamed because of all the economic woes of something that they don't really control.

As we go into the Spring season, it will be interesting to watch the developments that are unfolding each day. The day to day business of private companies were never run by government agencies and shouldn't be run by them today, anything else reminds me of certain countries that control industries, and they are not capitalist style governments. Let's make our voices heard.... "Keep America strong and free, and let's leave the business decisions to the companies not politicians."

The tire fix you don't want to miss!

Video on how to fix a flat tire!