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The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Fine Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Purpose – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immovable. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Purpose – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobile. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Purpose – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobile. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobile. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobile. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobile. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it stationary. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it stationary. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Purpose – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it stationary. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Fine Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immovable. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Fine Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Purpose – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immovable. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it stationary. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Purpose – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, fully, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it motionless. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Fine Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it stationary. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobile. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Barred in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold embark rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

Former Lamborghini Boss Stephan Winkelmann Leaving Audi Sport to Run Bugatti in 2018

According to a report in Autocar, the rise through Volkswagen Group ranks accomplished by Audi Sport CEO Stephan Winkelmann will proceed in 2018.

Formerly a Fiat employee, the 52-year-old Winkelmann became famous in the auto industry during his decade-long run as president and CEO of Lamborghini. Winkelmann then took over at Audi’s Quattro spectacle division in March two thousand sixteen before switching its name to Audi Sport. But the Rome native’s tenure at Audi Sport will reportedly be cut brief by Volkswagen Group’s need to pack the lead position at its flagship brand, Bugatti.

If Autocar’s sources are right, look for Winkelmann to take over at Bentley in 2019, as well. Makes you wonder: Winkelmann has climbed from Fiat to Lamborghini to Audi Sport to Bugatti and Bentley. What’s next? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Fine Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobile. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I commence to turn the steering wheel (this being electrified steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Fine Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immovable. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Spank: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a spread Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold begin rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I exchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I embark to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrical steering. I looked for the response on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrical power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, downright, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

Piston Smack: There Once Was a Mark X in Myanmar…

Hailing from Myanmar, I have a first-gen Toyota Mark X. Prohibited in the U.S., and of interest to many JDM enthusiasts, I happen to think it’s just a opened up Lexus IS two hundred fifty (but not fairly a GS). It’s got the Two.5-liter 4GR-FSE engine, and I’ve had this cold commence rattle for a few seconds every morning, and sometimes during the day as well. The issue’s well known and attributed to the cam gears in the VVTI system. Mine is a two thousand five model with more than 100,000 miles on it, so I wouldn’t want to spend a substantial amount of money if it’s not necessary.

So, if there are makeshift fixes that’ll hold it up until I let it go in a year or so, I’d like to know. If it is a real issue that menaces engine failure, I’ll get it immobilized. What would you do?

Another problem: I think the Mark X is well made and mostly a nice car, but I have gripes with its (surprise!) steering feel. So I interchanged out the steering rack bushes with aluminum ones (pretty xxx, huh?). The on-center feel improved a entire lot, and I now have this hands-on-asphalt feel in a Toyota midsize sedan. The problem is, once I begin to turn the steering wheel (this being electrical steering), it’s floaty and I still can’t feel how far I’ve turned the wheels! I never thought a car with so much feedback on center would have problems with feel while off-center. For better steering feedback for the EPS system, I’m thinking of pulling the fuse for the electrified steering. I looked for the reaction on the interwebs but couldn’t find any — would running the electrified power steering system without power assist harm the innards of the system or not? I find a lot of people encouraging it as an enthusiast’s option, but no mention of possible harm to the steering system or not.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets eyed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrical car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan eventually sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, entirely, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in total sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic aim for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of preparedness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Uncommon will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Purpose – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales purpose has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, uncountable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more comfy, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

Don’t Be so Quick to Pull the Trigger on That two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry – 2017s Are Cheap and Abundant

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is the very first truly, totally, all-new Toyota Camry since 2002. Built on Toyota’s Fresh Global Architecture, it’s stiffer, safer, and by all accounts, substantially better to drive than the 2017.

Fuel efficiency took a leap forward. Horsepower did, too. The feature count, including the safety department, was elevated. The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry even has a sense of style, whether you like its sense or choose less offensive past examples.

With an all-new architecture for an in-demand car — yes, even as sedans slow, the Camry is still the 15-time best-selling car in America — comes a lack of readiness on the part of Toyota to deal. That’s made all the more true by the current cost of importing Camrys. While production will eventually be in utter sway at the Camry’s Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant, early copies of the two thousand eighteen Camry hail from Japan.

Infrequent will be the buyer who goes into a U.S. Toyota store this Labor Day weekend with a strong preference for the old Camry, still available in abundance on dealer lots. Even with concerns (albeit modest concerns; this is a Camry) regarding first-model-year reliability, the MY2018 Camry is the bright and shiny object.

The two thousand eighteen Toyota Camry is better than the two thousand seventeen Toyota Camry: objectively, subjectively, on paper, on the road. But is it 41-percent better? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a well known legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Objective Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales aim.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic purpose for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were glad.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Fatter, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Fine Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far quicker than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales aim has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

As the summer of two thousand seventeen approaches a close, however, Volkswagen’s global boss Herbert Diess has a fresh, seemingly unrealistic objective for the brand’s U.S. operations, Bloomberg reports. With a stronger SUV lineup, Volkswagen wants to grow its U.S. market share to five percent in 2020.

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium 4Motion Review – Perky and Peppy Gives Way to Mellow and Mature

It took Volkswagen forever. But eventually, in 2008, more than a decade after the compact SUV craze began, the first-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores. The Tiguan was more premium-priced than it deserved to be and smaller than it needed to be, but with a potent powerplant and fun-loving on-road behavior, those who could afford it and fit in it were blessed.

It took Volkswagen forever. But ultimately, in the summer of 2017, almost a decade after the very first Tiguan arrived and eventually observed the release of two fresh Honda CR-Vs, two fresh Hyundai Tucsons, innumerable rival redesigns, and a bevy of fresh competitors, the second-generation Tiguan landed on U.S. shores.

The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan is now competitively priced. It’s decently sized — marginally larger than many rivals rather than distinctly smaller. This time, however, because of extra weight and an intransigent powertrain, the Tiguan doesn’t feel fairly so punchy off the line. And in place of a dynamic repertoire vaguely reminiscent of an Mk5 Golf GTI — upbeat steering, quick turn-in, grippy cornering — the two thousand eighteen Tiguan is comfort-focused, keen on absorbing and mollifying and coddling.

Thicker, more convenient, and arguably more attractive? The two thousand eighteen Volkswagen Tiguan ultimately sounds like a Tiguan American crossover buyers might actually want. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Objective – VW’s Fresh Purpose Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the insides of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales purpose.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets eyed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a legendary legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

Leave behind Volkswagen’s ‘800,000 Sales by 2018′ Aim – VW’s Fresh Aim Is five Percent U.S. Market Share by 2020

In 2009, during the innards of a global financial crisis the likes of which generations had never seen, Volkswagen of America set forward on a nine-year plan that would more than triple sales to 800,000 units in 2018.

Stuff happened. A crisis (or two) got in the way. An overly Americanized product lineup lacking in utility vehicles underachieved. Volkswagen lost its right to sell diesel models in America. Volkswagen will fight to sell 400,000 fresh vehicles in the United States in 2018.

Albeit at very first it seemed possible — Volkswagen sales grew far swifter than the market as a entire exiting the recession — the 800,000-unit sales objective has long since been abandoned. By 2014, before the diesel emissions scandal even broke, now-departed Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn was questioning the timing of the 800,000-sales objective.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Fattest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Fattest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in mitt. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Thickest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrical car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in palm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Fattest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that proceeds to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in arm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Largest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more complicated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks leaped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Problem That Won’t Go Away: Fatal Jeep Crash Puts Spotlight on Years-old Recall

It’s the same safety issue that saddled Ford’s Pinto with a famous legacy that resumes to this day, and Jeep can’t seem to put it in its rear-view.

In 2013, at the urging of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles issued a recall for 1.56 million Jeep Liberty and Grand Cherokee SUVs to correct a serious flaw. The vehicles’ gas tanks, located inbetween the rear axle and bumper, had proven especially vulnerable to rupturing in rear-end collisions. A total of twenty six deaths were recorded at the time of the recall.

After installing trailer hitches on each affected vehicle, FCA felt it had the issue well in forearm. Unluckily, the fires continued, as did the deaths. Now, it’s happened again. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed harshly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer witnessing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Largest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets eyed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrical car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Thrust My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more sophisticated shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

Despite Acute Midsize Truck Decline, U.S. Pickup Truck Sales Rose four Percent in August 2017

Noteworthy year-over-year sales declines were reported in August two thousand seventeen by the three lowest-volume members of America’s five-strong midsize pickup truck category. As a result, U.S. sales of midsize pickups tumbled eight percent last month, driving their share of the overall pickup truck category down from eighteen percent in August two thousand sixteen to sixteen percent in August 2017.

The Honda Ridgeline, America’s lowest-volume pickup truck in each of the last two months, reported a 24-percent drop to Two,610 units. For the two thousand eighteen model year, Honda will make the all-wheel-drive Ridgeline distinctly less affordable. The GMC Canyon, which persistently and predictably generates far less showroom traffic than its Chevrolet Colorado twin, tumbled by a fifth to Two,698 sales. And the Nissan Frontier, which last year reported its best calendar year results in fifteen years, continued its two thousand seventeen tumble with a 51-percent plunge to only Four,637 units, its lowest-volume month since January.

But those are low-volume midsize trucks, scarcely relevant in the overall pickup truck scheme. Total pickup truck volume rose four percent in August because full-size trucks hopped six percent, thanks mainly to the best-selling vehicle line in America: Ford’s F-Series. Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enhanced for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Sated With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Probe

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed harshly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer eyeing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Thickest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the intense investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

Shove My Buttons: Ford Files Patent Application for ‘Proximity Shifting’

The traditional console-mounted transmission shifter is disappearing, being substituted by buttons or rotary knobs in many models as shift-by-wire becomes the industry standard. The two thousand eighteen GMC Terrain recently debuted — and received criticism for — pushbuttons mounted low in the center stack in order to control the transmission.

Ford is no stranger to these configurations. The Blue Oval uses buttons mounted on the left side of the center stack in the Lincoln MKZ and a console-mounted rotary knob in the Ford Fusion. Now, Ford has an idea for an even more elaborate shifting system — and this one comes with a bit of retro flair.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enlargened In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enhanced for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Pleased With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Examine

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed toughly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer eyeing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Largest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to observe a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose beau or spouse was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he ultimately had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enlargened In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enhanced for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Pleased With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Probe

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed harshly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer observing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Thickest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were dangling around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a lump of its mind.

U.S. Auto Sales Brand-by-Brand Results: August two thousand seventeen YTD

A predicted auto sales improvement in August, expected to be the very first year-over-year increase in 2017, gave way to decreases for many automakers as Hurricane Harvey’s drastic effects shut down request in one of the nation’s largest auto markets for the final quarter of the month.

According to Edmunds, Ford, Ram, GMC, Cadillac, and Mitsubishi all claim Texas as their largest market. The period surrounding Labor Day produced four percent of America’s fresh vehicle sales in 2016, but that figure will undoubtedly fall because of Harvey’s devastating influence. Read More >

QOTD: What’s Your Disaster Vehicle of Choice?

When I was in my mid-twenties I would rejoice when we got a foot or more of unexpected snow. It meant I could spend the day in my Land Rover, pulling people out of ditches. It wasn’t all joy and games; I became much more experienced at pulling people out of snowbanks, too, which meant that I could… okay, on 2nd thought it was all joy and games. Brother Bark liked to come along, because whenever I helped out a woman whose bf or hubby was with her it would give him a chance to make joy of the fellow. It was truly a no-lose situation.

I can therefore totally understand the joy this monster truck driver felt when he eventually had a chance to DO WORK with his monster truck. You spend your entire life training for the moment when your stupid jacked-up b**-dozer is useful for something besides making enemies of decent people on the freeway — and then one day the moment comes!

It wasn’t just the monster trucks. All of the lifted boxes, donks, and bubbles had their thirty-six-inch moment in the sun (or the rain) as well, cruising effortlessly through the rising floodwaters. Which leads to a question….

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese playmate, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enlargened In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enlargened for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Pleased With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Investigate

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed toughly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer observing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Largest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the good outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese playmate, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enlargened In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enlargened for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Pleased With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Probe

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed harshly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer watching an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Fattest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the fine outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese playmate, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enhanced In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enhanced for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Sated With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Explore

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed harshly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer witnessing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Largest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrical car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and utterly unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the powerful investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese playmate, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enhanced In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enlargened for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Pleased With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Explore

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed toughly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer observing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Fattest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrical car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will joyfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the superb outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to see a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were draping around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Excellent Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking fucking partners that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strong investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese fucking partner, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was liking their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enhanced In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enhanced for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Sated With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Investigate

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed toughly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer eyeing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Fattest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrified Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrical cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets spotted its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, however most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will gladfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down infrequent discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were suspending around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Superb Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the strenuous investments made into electrical and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrical automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

August two thousand seventeen marked the 2nd consecutive month in which the Chevrolet Bolt, GM’s all-electric hatchback, generated more U.S. sales than the Chevrolet Volt, GM’s range-extended electrified liftback.

Now available across America, the Chevrolet Bolt produced its best sales month to date in August.

The Chevrolet Volt, meantime, suffered its fifth consecutive month of decline.

This North Korea Thing Has Major Implications for Hyundai

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese fucking partner, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was liking their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enhanced In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enlargened for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Sated With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Explore

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed harshly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer witnessing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Thickest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your discreet author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrical vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrical car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units bashful of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

Junkyard Find: one thousand nine hundred seventy seven Ford Pinto

Ford sold more than three million Pintos during the 1971-1980 period, tho’ most of those were one thousand nine hundred seventy four and earlier models. By 1977, Corollas and Civics and Rabbits had taken a big bite out of Pinto sales, so these later cars are even more uncommon in junkyards than their older brethren. Not that Pintos are effortless to find in your local U-Wrench-It yard; most of these cars were crushed long before the end of the 1990s.

Here’s a ’77 I spotted a few days ago in a Denver self-service yard. Read More >

Could Bringing Classic Cars Into Dealerships Create a Halo Effect?

While there are dealerships that will cheerfully service your vintage automobile, there are reasons a lot of classic cars are wrenched at home or taken to speciality shops. It’s not typically in a service center’s best interest to hunt down uncommon discontinued parts and train employees on the reassembly of carburetors. But it still happens, especially among premium brands.

Porsche is rather obsessive about its heritage and has extended that to maintenance and repairs at a large number of stores. It isn’t alone, either. Mark Rogers, a twenty Group consultant with the National Automobile Dealers Association, estimates as many as 1,800 U.S. franchised dealerships are willing to service vintage cars. Some are even selling them — putting desirable classics on the showroom floor in the hopes they might garner positive attention. Read More >

Subaru Believes Dog-focused Advertising Has Been a Large Part of its Success

Automotive advertising has always been an amalgamation of information and hype. Carmakers use commercials to inform the public of what makes their model different and fresh, while at the same time promising an intangible goodness. Mid-century ads were less specific, reassuring prospective customers of a nondescript better way of life, but modern marketing has become much more focused. If ads are to be believed, buying a car today means purchasing more than just the hardware its comprised of — you’re buying an identity.

I’m reminded of a collection of car commercials from the 1960s that essentially vowed to nerds that, if they bought a specific car, they would be pursued endlessly by attractive women. It was a bold and enormously unsubtle way to kick off the fresh trend.

We’ve come a long way evolved slightly since then, but the concept of identity-focused advertising is more popular than ever. In fact, Subaru attributes a large portion of its own success to marketing that closely associates the brand with good values, family, lovable mutts, and the excellent outdoors. Read More >

No One’s Kicking the Tires on Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Says

He came to witness a race, but Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne took some time out from a busy Saturday at the Italian Formula One Grand Prix to squash some rumors.

You know the ones. Reports emerged last month that Chinese automakers were stringing up around FCA’s door, just waiting for a chance to sweep the company off its feet. An unnamed company pitched a buyout suggest, the story goes. Not high enough, FCA allegedly responded. Another company, Good Wall Motors, isn’t interested in FCA, just its lucrative and growth-poised Jeep division.

Is a Chinese-Italian-American automaker in the works? Will the buck one day stop in Beijing or Shanghai, instead of at the desks of Auburn Hills executives? Hardly, says Marchionne. No one wants to dance with FCA. Read More >

Ford’s Autonomous Driving Effort Doesn’t End at Pizza Delivery

Earlier this week, we griped about Ford Motor Company’s market research into the validity of self-driving pizza delivery vehicles. Gratefully, that’s not the foot avenue the automaker is exploring. Since abandoning Uber Technologies’ self-driving program in April, Ford’s fresh vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, Sherif Marakby, has spent the summer seeking playmates that might want to put autonomous vehicles on the road in the near future.

Meantime, Ford chief executive Jim Hackett, who took over in May, is conducting a review of the automaker’s overall strategy, including the mighty investments made into electrified and self-driving vehicles that took place under former CEO Mark Fields. While it’s unknown how viable he’ll deem every aspect of company’s Fieldsian mobility plan, early assessments hint he’ll leave Marakby slew to work with. Read More >

Labor Relations Board Files Worker Rights Complaint Against Tesla; Musk Fires Back

The National Labor Relations Board has filed an official complaint against Tesla Motors, telling the company violated workers’ rights by suppressing their efforts to unionize.

While automakers hoping to keep employees from joining a union is nothing fresh, the NLRB’s issue concentrates around an obligatory confidentiality agreement that may have prohibited them from openly discussing their working conditions and safety concerns at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. The agency also investigated allegations from the workers that Tesla intimidated and harassed them, which would be a disturbance of workers’ rights under federal labor law.

Meantime, Tesla has determined not to take any of this sitting down. The electrified automaker has issued a scathing response to the complaint by providing the United Auto Workers a chunk of its mind.

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Back in December of 2010, if anyone can reminisce that hazy, long-ago time, an oddly shaped five-door flipped out of the minds of Japanese executives and onto U.S. dealer lots. Unlike its fledgling electrified forebears, the two thousand eleven Nissan Leaf promised practical gas-free transportation for the entire family, bolstered by a warranty from an established automaker and seventy three miles of EPA-approved driving range.

The industry had just taken a big step. However, the Leaf, despite racking up an exceptional model-life sales total, soon found itself leapfrogged by competitors with greater range and more conventional styling. By the time two thousand seventeen flipped around, the Leaf’s 107-mile range and now-dated figure stood in stark contrast to sleeker models delivering two hundred miles of driving from every turn at the buttplug.

Nissan wants to switch that. For 2018, the second-generation Leaf arrives with greater — but not class-leading — range, a fresh assets (with a familiar profile), and a lower entry price. The automaker clearly feels there’s thrifty EV buyers capable of telling “no” to the Tesla Model three and Chevrolet Bolt. Read More >

Ace of Base: two thousand seventeen Toyota Yaris iA

Have you ever walked into a restaurant to find it happens to be marking some sort of special occasion by suggesting only a single dish? One time, I ambled into a greasy spoon fine dining establishment to detect the foot food available was roast beef. The solitary option? Mashed potatoes or french fries, tormentor. No substitutions.

While that treatment had me heading for the door in a hurry, sometimes it pays dividends in the car world. We’re all spoilt for choice these days, so Toyota makes it effortless for us with the Yaris iA.

QOTD: What Characteristics Make for a True Sports Car?

Back in August, Tim Cain reported on some rather strong statements made by McLaren. The company’s chief engineer proclaimed that McLaren stood alone among true sports car offerings — fairly a stance to take, indeed. Don’t worry, the statement was not without very specific qualifiers.

Today we ask you to set your own qualifiers (or definition) around that term threw around more than a football: sports car. What defines the breed for you?

Government Intervention is Intentionally Killing the Japanese Kei Car

Anyone with an interest in odd cars most likely has at least a passing fascination with Japanese kei cars. As a member of that puny subset of enthusiasts, I have a long-held fantasy that involves wielding a Suzuki Alto Works, Daihatsu Mira Turbo, Honda Today, or Honda Acty. But the closest North America ever got was the i-MiEV, which Mitsubishi spread a few inches to obey with U.S. crash ratings — nullifying its official status as a kei.

Sure, most kei cars are utter garbage from a driving perspective, but their utilitarian quirkiness and microscopic road-presence are difficult to replicate on anything other than a moped. They’re also stupidly affordable, which is one of the reasons they’ve persisted in Japan.

However, that’s beginning to switch now that their home country has begun taxing them into extinction. The miniature breed, brought to life specifically so budget-minded motorists can have a vehicle and always find parking, lost toughly twenty five percent of its yearly volume since Japan targeted them in two thousand fourteen — resulting in a unexpected annual deficit of almost 550,000 pint-sized vehicles. Read More >

Nationwide Availability Means Chevrolet Bolt Has Outsold Chevrolet Volt Two Months Running

August two thousand seventeen marked the 2nd consecutive month in which the Chevrolet Bolt, GM’s all-electric hatchback, generated more U.S. sales than the Chevrolet Volt, GM’s range-extended electrical liftback.

Now available across America, the Chevrolet Bolt produced its best sales month to date in August.

The Chevrolet Volt, meantime, suffered its fifth consecutive month of decline.

This North Korea Thing Has Major Implications for Hyundai

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese playmate, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enhanced In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enhanced for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Sated With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Probe

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed harshly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer watching an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume slipped eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Thickest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrified Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets witnessed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrical vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrical car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

The Truth About Cars – The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news

Latest auto news, reviews, editorials, and podcasts

Back in December of 2010, if anyone can recall that hazy, long-ago time, an oddly shaped five-door spinned out of the minds of Japanese executives and onto U.S. dealer lots. Unlike its fledgling electrical forebears, the two thousand eleven Nissan Leaf promised practical gas-free transportation for the entire family, bolstered by a warranty from an established automaker and seventy three miles of EPA-approved driving range.

The industry had just taken a big step. However, the Leaf, despite racking up an amazing model-life sales total, soon found itself leapfrogged by competitors with greater range and more conventional styling. By the time two thousand seventeen spinned around, the Leaf’s 107-mile range and now-dated figure stood in stark contrast to sleeker models delivering two hundred miles of driving from every turn at the buttplug.

Nissan wants to switch that. For 2018, the second-generation Leaf arrives with greater — but not class-leading — range, a fresh figure (with a familiar profile), and a lower entry price. The automaker clearly feels there’s thrifty EV buyers capable of telling “no” to the Tesla Model three and Chevrolet Bolt. Read More >

Ace of Base: two thousand seventeen Toyota Yaris iA

Have you ever walked into a restaurant to find it happens to be marking some sort of special occasion by suggesting only a single dish? One time, I ambled into a greasy spoon fine dining establishment to detect the foot food available was roast beef. The solitary option? Mashed potatoes or french fries, tormentor. No substitutions.

While that treatment had me heading for the door in a hurry, sometimes it pays dividends in the car world. We’re all spoilt for choice these days, so Toyota makes it effortless for us with the Yaris iA.

QOTD: What Characteristics Make for a True Sports Car?

Back in August, Tim Cain reported on some rather strong statements made by McLaren. The company’s chief engineer proclaimed that McLaren stood alone among true sports car offerings — fairly a stance to take, indeed. Don’t worry, the statement was not without very specific qualifiers.

Today we ask you to set your own qualifiers (or definition) around that term threw around more than a football: sports car. What defines the breed for you?

Government Intervention is Intentionally Killing the Japanese Kei Car

Anyone with an interest in odd cars most likely has at least a passing fascination with Japanese kei cars. As a member of that puny subset of enthusiasts, I have a long-held fantasy that involves possessing a Suzuki Alto Works, Daihatsu Mira Turbo, Honda Today, or Honda Acty. But the closest North America ever got was the i-MiEV, which Mitsubishi opened up a few inches to serve with U.S. crash ratings — nullifying its official status as a kei.

Sure, most kei cars are utter garbage from a driving perspective, but their utilitarian quirkiness and microscopic road-presence are difficult to replicate on anything other than a moped. They’re also stupidly affordable, which is one of the reasons they’ve persisted in Japan.

However, that’s beginning to switch now that their home country has begun taxing them into extinction. The miniature breed, brought to life specifically so budget-minded motorists can have a vehicle and always find parking, lost harshly twenty five percent of its yearly volume since Japan targeted them in two thousand fourteen — resulting in a unexpected annual deficit of almost 550,000 pint-sized vehicles. Read More >

Nationwide Availability Means Chevrolet Bolt Has Outsold Chevrolet Volt Two Months Running

August two thousand seventeen marked the 2nd consecutive month in which the Chevrolet Bolt, GM’s all-electric hatchback, generated more U.S. sales than the Chevrolet Volt, GM’s range-extended electrified liftback.

Now available across America, the Chevrolet Bolt produced its best sales month to date in August.

The Chevrolet Volt, meantime, suffered its fifth consecutive month of decline.

This North Korea Thing Has Major Implications for Hyundai

Hyundai Motor Co. is squabbling with its Chinese playmate, BAIC Motor, over efforts to reduce supplier costs. The automaker has already faced a myriad of problems with its Korean workforce and witnessed diminished volume in both China and North America this year.

However, its newest problem in the Far East isn’t simply a matter of tweaking its lineup. The issue also has political undertones as the North Korean missile crisis has pitted Beijing and Seoul at odds with each other. Read More >

Where One of Your Authors Selects a Fresh (Used) Crossover

Those of you who go after TTAC regularly and with some interest (so, one hundred percent of you) are no doubt aware of a high-level used car search I’ve been conducting as of late. A rather unexpected purchase occurred this past Saturday while everyong was loving their long Labor Day weekend.

Come and have a look.

No Thanks to the Fresh Honda Odyssey, U.S. Minivan Sales Enlargened In August two thousand seventeen for Just the 2nd Time in a Year

It’s all about product, they say.

Product, product, product.

When in doubt, add product.

Fresh product, they say, will reinvigorate the American midsize sedan category. Fresh product, one might have imagined, would provide an ample boost to America’s minivan segment.

Yet in August 2017, only the third month on the market for Honda’s fifth-gen two thousand eighteen Odyssey, overall minivan sales enlargened for just the 2nd time in a year despite another sales decline from that very same fresh product, the Honda Odyssey.

American Car Buyers Less Sated With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Examine

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meantime, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed toughly the same. However, that information might not be fairly so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged eighty out of a possible one hundred points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer witnessing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged sixty four points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored eighty seven points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position. Read More >

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Has Now Been Losing Sales For twelve Consecutive Months

August two thousand seventeen represented the twelfth consecutive month in which U.S. sales at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles declined on a year-over-year basis.

FCA volume glided eleven percent in August, a loss of almost 21,000 sales, as retail and fleet volume declined. The decreases were most keenly felt at Jeep and Chrysler, which tumbled fifteen percent and thirty three percent, respectively. But Dodge, Ram, and Fiat sales also reported losses compared with August 2016.

More troubling than the poor August results, however, is the predictability of August’s results. FCA’s disappointing trendline began in September 2016. Year-over-year, FCA lost 187,000 sales over the last twelve months. Read More >

You Read It Here Very first: The Fattest Challenge to Autonomous Vehicles Is All Too Human

A bit more than six years ago, I wrote “The Blockers” for this site as a work of fiction, suggesting that there may be a bit of a popular revolt against self-driving vehicles and that it might be led by those who felt personally dehumanized as a consequence of “progress.”

Now, the nice people at MIT Technology Review have caught up to your modest author’s dystopian point of view.

Not Be Rapid”>Toyota Chairman: Shift to Electrical Vehicles Will Not Be Rapid

And electrified cars?

“We’re skeptical there would be a rapid shift to unspoiled electrified vehicles, given questions over user convenience,” Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada tells CNBC.

There is a Toyota electrified car in your future, Uchiyamada believes. But more likely than not, it’s not in your near future. Read More >

QOTD: Will Your Next Fresh Vehicle Be an Electrical Vehicle?

The full-scale rollout of Chevrolet’s Bolt to all U.S. markets eyed its sales reach fresh heights in August 2017. Not dizzying heights, mind you — with Two,107 vehicles sold last month, the all-electric Bolt’s popularity is about 34,000 units timid of the Honda Civic’s.

Still, many mainstream, gas-powered models would kill for Two,000-plus buyers per month. The Jaguar XE, XF, and XJ, for example. The Toyota 86. Oh, and the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and CT6, along with gobs of other models from various brands. It’s a grim time for cars, but certain electrified vehicles find buyers solely because there isn’t much choice when it comes to ditching your fuel tank for good.

The emergence of lower-priced EVs with ranges capable of reaching another city has made the electrified car, once an oddity, into something approaching mainstream status. But are you tempted by their gas-free siren song? Read More >

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles did not sell any Fiat 500Ls in Canada in August.

Hyperbole has gotten the best of modern society. You might say, “Those chips have no taste,” when asking your grocery-shopping spouse to stop buying those Garden Veggie Straws you so detest. But there is some taste; just not much. (Recommended: the rosemary olive oil flavor.)

“Alex Ovechkin doesn’t score goals any more,” your Capitals-loving son says. No, Ovechkin just doesn’t score as many goals as he used to.

Politicians never work together. There’s no sea ice in the Arctic. Subcompact crossovers always suck.

That’s the sort of rhetoric that minimizes the value of truth when truth is introduced in an identically straightforward style. But in all seriousness, FCA Canada truly did not sell a single Fiat 500L in August 2017.

In fact, with alarming frequency, FCA Canada’s sales reports don’t include any Fiat 500L sales. But FCA Canada is sticking to its guns, unrelenting in the face of a horrifying popularity dearth, immutable when challenged by a Fiat lineup that needs an overhaul. FCA Canada confirmed as such to TTAC this morning: there will be a two thousand eighteen Fiat 500L. Read More >

2018 Nissan Leaf – The Industry’s Oldest Mainstream Electrified Car Turns Over a Fresh… Well, You Get the Idea

Back in December of 2010, if anyone can reminisce that hazy, long-ago time, an oddly shaped five-door flipped out of the minds of Japanese executives and onto U.S. dealer lots. Unlike its fledgling electrical forebears, the two thousand eleven Nissan Leaf promised practical gas-free transportation for the entire family, bolstered by a warranty from an established automaker and seventy three miles of EPA-approved driving range.

The industry had just taken a big step. However, the Leaf, despite racking up an awesome model-life sales total, soon found itself leapfrogged by competitors with greater range and more conventional styling. By the time two thousand seventeen spinned around, the Leaf’s 107-mile range and now-dated figure stood in stark contrast to sleeker models delivering two hundred miles of driving from every turn at the ass-plug.

Nissan wants to switch that. For 2018, the second-generation Leaf arrives with greater — but not class-leading — range, a fresh assets (with a familiar profile), and a lower entry price. The automaker clearly feels there’s thrifty EV buyers capable of telling “no” to the Tesla Model three and Chevrolet Bolt. Read More >

Ace of Base: two thousand seventeen Toyota Yaris iA

Have you ever walked into a restaurant to find it happens to be marking some sort of special occasion by suggesting only a single dish? One time, I ambled into a greasy spoon fine dining establishment to detect the foot food available was roast beef. The solitary option? Mashed potatoes or french fries, tormentor. No substitutions.

While that treatment had me heading for the door in a hurry, sometimes it pays dividends in the car world. We’re all spoilt for choice these days, so Toyota makes it effortless for us with the Yaris iA.

QOTD: What Characteristics Make for a True Sports Car?

Back in August, Tim Cain reported on some rather strong statements made by McLaren. The company’s chief engineer proclaimed that McLaren stood alone among true sports car offerings — fairly a stance to take, indeed. Don’t worry, the statement was not without very specific qualifiers.

Today we ask you to set your own qualifiers (or definition) around that term threw around more than a football: sports car. What defines the breed for you?

Government Intervention is Intentionally Killing the Japanese Kei Car

Anyone with an interest in odd cars most likely has at least a passing fascination with Japanese kei cars. As a member of that petite subset of enthusiasts, I have a long-held fantasy that involves possessing a Suzuki Alto Works, Daihatsu Mira Turbo, Honda Today, or Honda Acty. But the closest North America ever got was the i-MiEV, which Mitsubishi opened up a few inches to obey with U.S. crash ratings — nullifying its official status as a kei.

Sure, most kei cars are utter garbage from a driving perspective, but their utilitarian quirkiness and microscopic road-presence are difficult to replicate on anything other than a moped. They’re also stupidly affordable, which is one of the reasons they’ve persisted in Japan.

However, that’s beginning to switch now that their home country has begun taxing them into extinction. The miniature breed, brought to life specifically so budget-minded motorists can have a vehicle and always find parking, lost harshly twenty five percent of its yearly volume since Japan targeted them in two thousand fourteen — resulting in a unexpected annual deficit of almost 550,000 pint-sized vehicles. Read More >

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