Car and Truck Talk USA

Ford's new Police Interceptor aims to please | detnews.com | The Detroit News

2010-03-14T11:15:00.002-04:00

Ford's new Police Interceptor aims to please | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Ford's new offering to US police departments looks to keep pace with GM and Dodge. Here's a link to a story on this above the post.

Looking at the Nissan Leaf, is it the future of automobiles?

2010-02-27T09:17:00.000-05:00

It will be available later this year, you can preorder it now but is the Leaf and other vehicles like it - the future of automobiles? Only time will tell if this is the way cars will start being made or will it be just a flash in the pan.

Garia Concept Car is a head turner

2010-02-24T07:10:00.001-05:00

At first glance it looks like an upgraded golf cart, but this is the new offering from Europe called, the Garia LSV Concept Car. It's a car that you won't see on the roads, but it may interest people around the US for various other uses.

Here is some info from the Press release:

An LSV is a Low Speed Vehicle allowed to travel on public roads in the U.S. not accessible to regular golf carts or neighborhood electric vehicles.

“An LSV is ideal for shorter trips and recreational purposes, and with The Garia LSV it is possible to drive directly from your home to, for example, the golf course. This is something many people will appreciate, and it makes The Garia LSV a unique product” says Anders Lynge, Creative Director of Garia A/S and designer of The Garia.

The Garia LSV is fitted with street legal safety equipment such as seatbelts, license plate, and side mirrors.

The Garia LSV will be introduced in the U.S. in the summer 2010. In the EU, The Garia LSV will be introduced as non-street legal. For further information on EU sales, please contact Sales Manager Nicolai Andersen, sales@garia.com

The Garia LSV Concept Car will be presented on the stand of Valmet Automotive alongside three other vehicles, the electrical vehicle THINK City, the hybrid vehicle Fisker Karma, and the electrical concept vehicle EVA. The stand number of Valmet Automotive is 1245, Hall 1.

The Geneva International Motor Show is one of the most attractive motor shows in the world and ranks among the “Top 5 Worldwide” of the most important automobile exhibitions, alongside those in Detroit, Frankfurt, Paris, and Tokyo. It is the only one in Europe which takes place every year. It is the 80^th edition of The Geneva International Motor Show.

Mercury gets a small car in 2011 - hello Mercury Tracer again and Ford Fiesta

2010-02-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

Mercury gets a small car in 2011

Photo from fOTOGLIF

The Tracer is back again for another trip down the road in 2011.

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Patrick’s Nationwide debut cut short (on 69th lap) - The Boston Globe

2010-02-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Patrick’s Nationwide debut cut short - The Boston Globe

Racing Darling Danica out on the 69th Lap in Daytona 500 read link above for story, Danica wasn't the only famous female in attendance this day. Guess who was there too, getting some face time in.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

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Nissan’s New Leaf Electric Car Sign-Ups To Start In April

2010-02-15T22:23:00.000-05:00

Nissan’s New Leaf Electric Car Sign-Ups To Start In April

Photo from fOTOGLIF

All Electric car is one of the first of it's kind to reach the market, this year in 2010,

read the link above here in http://carandtrucktalk.com/!

Toyota does 'the right thing' and suspends sales on mystery problem

2010-01-27T19:44:00.001-05:00

Our own U.S. Federal government agency that is supposed to care about motoring safety wouldn't have made this move, but Toyota gets great kudos for suspending sales of models of cars, trucks, and suv's that may have a serious problem. This is the first time that a manufacturer noticed that there may be a serious problem with some of their vehicles and reacted with swift action to come to the bottom of the problem that is causing certain Toyota models to suddenly accelerate to high speeds without warning.

All in all, there are 8 Toyota models affected on this latest look at what may be a serious problem. Up to 18 reported deaths may be attributable to this problem according to published reports. If anything, Toyota took the high road on this, where other manufacturers may have waited for govenmental action that may have never came. Several dealers are still selling cars despite the announcement that sales of them have ceased however.

There will be confusion on this, but when the dust clears, the best thing to do is what Toyota did. They are putting their customer safety first, where no one else would.

Here's a news report on the Toyota action taken just today:

Toyota issues massive recall on Camry, Corolla and others following sticking gas pedals

2010-01-23T07:28:00.002-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/business/22toyota.html

Business

Toyota Issues a 2nd Recall

By NICK BUNKLEY

Published: January 22, 2010

The latest recall involves 2.3 million vehicles because of accelerators that can get stuck and cause cars to speed up unintentionally.

Read this article about how the Toyota mystery continues in regards to up to 16 deaths of cars and SUV's by Toyota that just start accelerating uncontrolled for no reason. Many people how this has happened to have said it is not the floor mats that is causing their problem. If it isn't the floor mats what is it now? Is the US Government doing all it can to insure that they are fixing this terrible problem?

See the story here from ABC News:

;

Ford's SYNC a hit with tech folks and the plain buying public

2010-01-07T10:12:00.000-05:00

    It's no secret that Ford Motors is one of the most stabile car companies in America. They've weathered the storm of the economic downturn very well. One of the reasons of this success is that Ford has embraced new technology. It's SYNC program is very well received by a public that is hungry for new tech products when it comes to riding in their vehicle. It's something that GM seems to ignore and the buying public knows it.

     Having your iPod or mp3 player along for the ride should be second nature for car companies. Ford realized this early and now makes it simple to connect your devices to its new cars and trucks using SYNC. Having built in bluetooth and extra functionality is essential to today's motoring public. Slowly, it is making it's way towards other American car manufacturers but there is still a lot more for them to do on this front.

       Listen to a podcast about the SYNC right here

LA Auto show Dec 4-13 showcasing 2010 models

2009-11-20T14:33:00.003-05:00

       Don't look now, but the Auto Shows are poised to start again for the motoring public for 2010 kicking off with the Los Angeles Auto show in December. Of course the most exciting cars will be the debuts of the new models for '10 and some of them include:

          Chevrolet Cruze

           Audi R8 Spyder

           Ford Fiesta

     A few of the cars will be World debuts, the first time that they can be seen here in the USA.

   Visit the site here to find out more about the LA Auto Show

Cash for Clunkers, a boon to Japan?

2009-11-07T08:25:00.003-05:00

The Cash for Clunkers program is over. The numbers are in and some of the automakers benefited from this program more than others. The Japanese manufacturers faired the best, the top vehicles purchased were mostly all Japanese flagged car manufacturers.

Top 10 New Vehicles Purchased

1. Toyota Corolla
2. Honda Civic
3. Toyota Camry
4. Ford Focus FWD
5. Hyundai Elantra
6. Nissan Versa
7. Toyota Prius
8. Honda Accord
9. Honda Fit
10. Ford Escape FWD

Most of the vehicles traded in were all American car manufacturers as consumers flocked to the special deal and traded in their vehicles for the $4500 rebate that the government backed.

Top 10 Trade-in Vehicles

1. Ford Explorer 4WD
2. Ford F150 Pickup 2WD
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
4. Ford Explorer 2WD
5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD
6. Jeep Cherokee 4WD
7. Chevrolet Blazer 4WD
8. Ford F150 Pickup 4WD
9. Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2WD
10. Ford Windstar FWD Van
　
Vehicles Purchased by Category
Passenger Cars: 397,182
Category 1 Truck: 230,220
Category 2 Truck: 47,425
Category 3 Truck: 2,254

Find these numbers and a whole lot more right here

200+ miles to the gallon? Chevrolet Volt

2009-09-25T19:56:00.001-04:00

Ready for the king of all cars on gas mileage? Toyota, nah; Honda, nah; it's a Chevy!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/business/12auto.html

Opel sold off, GM now just a shell of what it was

2009-09-10T20:58:00.002-04:00

Opel cars was sold off to a company called Magna by GM. It's one of the deals that have left GM just a shell of what it was before all the economic and gasoline price rise ruined the car and banking markets starting nearly 18 months ago.

Magna is one of the biggest manufacturers of auto parts in the world. The deal's been in the works for a couple months and now it seems like it is going through. GM thought about holding on to Opel, but with the US Government now a 'partner' of GM, it was plain to see that the US interests wanted it sold off. The US advanced GM $50 Billion dollars, and that is a lot of money. Probably enough money to buy a couple cars each for every driving man or women in America. Where did all of this money go?

There was a 'board' of 13 members appointed to sell the stake in Opel. It has been reported that nearly no one on the board had any experience in cars or the overseas operations of Opel. Most of the board members were appointed by the Obama administration.

Electric powered cars still on drawing boards

2009-09-04T21:10:00.002-04:00

The rush to implement electric powered cars has slowed over the past 12-18 months after record high gasoline prices during the time that the Bush administration occupied the Oval Office. However, the drawing boards are still full of 'possible' replacement vehicles of the future that run off of electrical charging stations.

Not only is all of this happening because of the price of gasoline, it is also happening to give a solution to the global warming and pollution problems. Germany has just committed $705 million dollars into the concept of having more electrical vehicles on thier roadways in the coming years. BMW and Volkswagen are also just a couple years away from their offerings in this market. Chevrolet will unveil it's new Volt car later this year, and we will see how much consumers take to the idea when it is released. France is also giving a green light to battery powered vehicles as well.

Post Clunker auto economics

2009-08-29T10:45:00.002-04:00

The good news is that there were about 700,000 new car and truck sales in the dealerships across America for the 'cash for clunkers' deal that recently just expired. In true car dealership fashion, the program had an extremely abrupt ending as the program was pulled last week.

The question is... what now? Will the auto industry pick up steam now that the program is over and all those vehicles were sold? What motivating factors will come into play to inspire people to buy new vehicles? I've said many times in this blog that the 'average' Joe Citizen would want a new vehicle but doesn't make enough to afford one. The cost to keep up with the latest model SUV or family car has risen fairly dramatically for domestic vehicles in the past few years, and way out of proportion to what salaries have risen.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 6 months in the auto industry. Are the worst of times over, or have they just been patched up a little?

'Clunkers' program to end abruptly next Monday at 8 pm

2009-08-20T22:06:00.002-04:00

Sounding like a true Car dealer, the US Government have announced, this is the last weekend you can trade in for your 'clunker credit.' A program that did jump start the car buying market, is coming to a really abrupt ending all of a sudden. Some dealers had to rent lots just to put the clunker cars on, so now they have to complete all the required details of ridding their lots of the clunkers as they continue to pile up!

The clunker cars have to have their engines seized thus taking them out of commision for good and then off to the scrap yard. Could there have been a better way to dispense the clunkers? Say at a public auction? One man's trash is another man's treasure they say, but now all these clunkers appear to be headed off to the junk yards.

One thing will be for sure, last chance to trade in that clunker and get something for it! Don't be late it ends this coming Monday at 8.

Get your motors running.... Manufacturers gear up on increased demand

2009-08-18T21:24:00.002-04:00

Ford says that it thinks the worst is over for US auto sales. The 'cash for clunkers' program has proven to get those buyers out there and making purchases with the incentive of getting a nice trade in on that old car that didn't get good gas mileage that has been laying around the yard.

US based car manufacturers are trying to gain ground on Toyota and Honda. A lot of marketing is getting airplay and print and web ads to bring the buyer back and make them buy American. People are splitting their purchases again and all manufacturers have been prospering, so it's going to take a while to see if US automakers will come out on top as they try to convince us that the clunkers were trading in now, aren't going to be clunkers that you can't get rid of in 5 years after you've paid the new car off.

July almost saw 10 million cars sold in the USA, and that's been a great shot in the arm to dealers that have been on life support for the past two years or so since high gasoline prices and economic uncertainty filled the air. What will the future sales hold? That's a great question after this round of buyers get finished making their purchases.

Cash for clunkers ... think about calling a car a clunker

2009-08-16T11:11:00.002-04:00

Well, the 'Cash For Clunkers' program on the surface seems like an overwhelming success. The auto industry is again selling cars, but is this the total answer to all of the problems of the car industry? Probably not.

The average working Joe can't afford a brand new car anymore, and in the future as the price of cars continues to climb, the difference will still be whether or not someone has the down payment or making the salary required to pay for a vehicle that keeps raising in cost.

The cost of living is not keeping up with salary, and there lies the problem. Unless you strike it rich, or get into a position where you start to make a lot more money, you're still not going to be able to take on a 400-500 dollar a month car payment, which is what the car or truck in the $35,000 price range costs to have.

What exactly is a 'clunker' is that to say that this car shouldn't have been sold in the first place? That is what this all comes down to, is the car your buying today going to be tomorrow's clunker?

Cheap liability auto insurance in Texas

2009-08-13T18:56:00.002-04:00

These days every penny counts in Texas, so if you can save money on things in your life that are essential like auto insurance, you’re going to be way ahead of the game. Introducing a great website to save you money when you are shopping for auto insurance in Texas, Cheap liability auto insurance in Texas.

This website will help you get the insurance you need while giving you the opportunity to compare rates from the best insurance companies in Texas. Just enter your zip code into the box and you’ll be given a lot of great economical choices on really cheap auto insurance in the area where you live. This is the service that all Texans should take advantage of!

The great state of Texas has minimum requirements for car insurance coverage to legally operate a motor vehicle on the state's roadways. These minimums are stated as 25/50/25. This translates to required coverage of at least $25,000 USD for bodily injury liability per person, $50,000 USD for bodily injury liability total per accident and $25,000 USD for property damage liability per accident. In this day and age you need a lot of coverage to protect yourself and your loved ones and your property. If you choose to insure more than the minimum, you can find a great place to save money, or if you choose to just carry the minimum requirements you’ll find those great rates as well.

You’ll get instant quotes for your vehicle wherever you live all over Texas, from Houston to Dallas to San Antonio, or El Paso and everywhere in between. Put this great website to work for you if you live in Texas, you owe it to yourself to check out how much you can save by comparing your auto insurance rates right here at Cheap Auto Insurance in Texas.

Should Cash for Clunkers be gov't sponsored?

2009-08-03T08:32:00.002-04:00

Should the 'cash for clunkers' be a government sponsored activity? While the economy may be down, I don't think it should. Why should our tax money be used for giving breaks to people who want to buy a car?

The market should be permitted to correct itself. If the car companies aren't able to attract buyers, why should the government step in and subsidize people that may just want to buy a car.

Two Are Better Than One.. Nissan to use double injectors!

2009-07-28T15:19:00.001-04:00

Two Are Better Than One... - Zephyrhills, FL, United States, 33542 - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

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Honda 1.8 Belt Route Update

2009-07-23T11:02:00.001-04:00

Honda 1.8 Belt Route Update - Riverview, FL, United States, 33569 - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

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Removal of Ford 5.4 Broken Spark Plugs - Riverview, FL, United States, 33569 - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

2009-07-23T10:44:00.001-04:00

Removal of Ford 5.4 Broken Spark Plugs - Riverview, FL, United States, 33569 - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

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The Ferrari dealership at the Wynn

2009-07-05T09:57:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-30T10:54:00.002-04:00

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.