Travel on cars

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Lifestyle

What’s the second biggest purchase after a home? Most of the time, it’s a car. And with so many people losing their homes, it’s really no surprise that so many people are also losing their cars. Repossession companies are reporting record business — so much so in fact that they are securing additional lots on which to store the delinquent goods.

It’s estimated that this year will see a 10-percent rise in car repossessions, with 1.6 million vehicles expected to disappear from driveways and streets. It would be the second year of double-digit rises in repos. (And that doesn’t count recreational vehicles like boats, which should suffer even higher rates of return.) And it appears no one has been spared — repo men report taking back high-end trucks as well as luxury cars from gated communities.

The culprit, as in the housing debacle, has been claimed by some to be the generous auto loans given to those who perhaps should have got a bit less to spend. One repo man said it would have been worse if employment hadn’t stayed relatively strong. That will be little comfort to banks like Wells Fargo that — by itself — wrote off $1 billion in bad loads last year.

[Source: USA Today]

Filed under: Car Buying, Green, Lifestyle

It could be CAFE, it could be gas prices, it could be the everpresent chatter on all things green, it could be that it’s just so bloody hot on Earth nowadays, it could be all those folks in California begging for clean air. But according to recent data and a study by Edmunds.com, V8’s simply aren’t in vogue anymore, with overall uptake among new car buyers dropping four percent over the last two years.

Along with the decline in SUV purchases, those who are still buying SUV’s are shunning V8’s twice as quickly, with a nine-percent decline over the last two years. Among full-size sedan and coupe buyers, seven-percent fewer checked the “Big V8″ box on the options checklist.

The only place V8’s aren’t sliding down the mountain is in the full-size pickup market, where four-percent more buyers are still going for stump-pulling power. The theory is that “casual” pickup buyers are opting for something less thirsty, leaving more of those folks who actually haul things to buy pickup trucks powered as God intended. But with even full-size pickups feeling the sales pinch, it looks like the march toward 35-MPG has begun.

[Source: Inside Line]

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Lifestyle

Forbes has a slideshow of the best and worst places to own a car, and you might be surprised at a few of the winners and losers. The rankings are based on the results of Edmunds.com’s True Cost to Own (TCO) study. That study takes into account depreciation, financing, insurance, taxes and fees, fuel, maintenance, and repairs, and figures out how much those little costs you rarely consider as a lump sum will really subtract from your bank account over time. (Or pockets or shoeboxes, depending on where you keep your money.)

Depreciation and fuel are, of course, the biggest costs, and insurance can add a fair chunk over time. The difference between the last spot and the first spot on each list wasn’t great — about $4,000 in each case. But the difference between the best place (least expensive) to own a car and the worst place (most expensive) — which wasn’t New York City — worked out to almost $12,000 over five years. Click the link to see if your state made either list. And if you want to get the TCO for your specific car, then check out the TCO calculator for yourself.

[Source: Forbes]

Filed under: Hirings/Firings, Plants/Manufacturing, GM, UAW/Unions

Once you have cut everyone, who is left to cut? That’s the problem facing GM, according to UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. The General has already harvested the low hanging fruit with previous buyouts, but they’re embarking on another round to try and further reduce labor costs. We’ve already covered the specifics of GM’s latest buyout offer that attempts to sweeten the enticement to leave so that cheaper labor can be brought in. The new offer was made to 74,000 employees, and Gettelfinger estimates that about 15,000 will accept the offer. Uncertainty over what the US economy is likely to do in coming months is playing a role in the decision for the roughly 46,000 GM employees eligible for retirement. Money is no longer pouring out of the housing market, and people who thought they’d cash out for a retirement in tropical climes are rethinking their plans while we all wait on tenterhooks to see what our brush with recession will look like. Read the rest of this entry →

Filed under: Minivans/MPVs, Sedans/Saloons, Geneva Motor Show, Euro, Ford

Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2009 Ford Mondeo.

Along with the production Fiesta and Kuga, Ford will be debuting a new diesel at next month’s Geneva Motor Show. The 2.2-liter four-cylinder produces 175 hp and 295 lb.-ft. of torque at an ultra-low 1,750 rpm. The new oilburner is a third generation common rail setup that uses Bosch’s piezoelectric injectors and will find its way into the 2009 Ford Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy van. The new engine also boasts an intelligent oil monitoring system that keeps tabs on atmospheric conditions and driver behavior, and then recommends when an oil change should be made - up to 12,000 miles. Read the rest of this entry →

Filed under: Geneva Motor Show, Euro, Crossovers/CUVs, Ford

click above for a high-res gallery of the Ford Kuga

When Ford introduced the Iosis X Concept back in 2006, it proved that the Blue Oval’s European Kinetic design language could transfer over to a CUV remarkably well. And when the Kuga Concept made its debut in Frankfurt, it was obvious that much of what made the Iosis X such an eye-catcher would come to the production model. It’s done just that and Ford will be pulling the wraps off its first CUV in Europe next month in Geneva. Read the rest of this entry →

Filed under: Geneva Motor Show, Hatchbacks, Ford

click above for more high-res pics of the 2009 Ford Fiesta

With two and a half weeks to go before the Geneva Motor Show, Ford has finally released details on the production version of its new global small car. After the Verve concept debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September, the speculation began about what it’d be called when it arrived in showrooms. Ford’s marketing team decided that more than three decades of brand equity was too much to throw away, so this car will be called the Fiesta everywhere in the world that it’s sold, including the United States. US fans probably shouldn’t get too attached to the 3-door hatchback shown above, though, as it’s all but certain that we’ll be getting a four-door sedan instead. Read the rest of this entry →

Filed under: Spy Photos, Hatchbacks, Ford

Since the original was introduced, the Ford Focus - at least the American version - has gone downhill. The second-generation was as staid and boring as the first one was revolutionary, and the new third-generation model went off in the wrong direction, at least styling-wise. Meanwhile, the European versions have had us longing for inclusion. Fortunately, Ford announced that the next iteration would be a global car like the first, although speculation suggests that the US could get trunked versions while markets abroad go with the hatchback.

What you see above is said to be another rendering of what the next Focus five-door hatch could look like. As with the previous sketches we brought you a few days ago, this rendering draws heavily on the theme set forth by the Ford Verve concept. Though considerably less aggressive than the previous sketches, this could be closer to the mark, but could just as easily preview the successor for the European Galaxy-based S-Max sporty minivan.

[Source: The Hollywood Extra]

Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, Pontiac

Since Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealers are in the process of consolidating their showrooms, many were likely hoping for a halo product that could draw customers into the showroom. Hey, wouldn’t a version of the upcoming Chevy Camaro badged as a Pontiac Trans Am revival do the trick? Maybe, but at the NADA conference this week, GM told these dealers that a Pontiac Trans Am is not going to happen. Blame the new, more stringent federal fuel economy regulations for killing off this cool idea. In fact, the new regs also mean that the automaker will be scaling back on transforming Pontiac into a rear-wheel-drive performance division. Though GM assured dealers that Pontiac will remain a car-only brand, the assurance that a debacle like the Aztec won’t happen a second time is little comfort to those who were hoping Pontiac would once again be the brand that builds excitement. And who says performance has to be totally sacrificed for fuel economy? New powertrains are being developed that make the most of the internal combustion engine’s efficiency, and a twin-turbo, direct-inject four-cylinder can make gobs of power while being much more efficient than an equally powerful V6 or even V8. Read the rest of this entry →

Filed under: Aftermarket, Earnings/Financials

Most of us on the Autoblog team never restored a classic with our dads in the family garage, thus our connection to aftermarket parts manufacturer Holley is somewhat limited. But we can appreciate the mark that this 100+ year old company and its many brands including Hooker Headers, Earl’s, Weiand, NOS and Flowtech have left on the performance aftermarket scene. That’s why we’re sad to report that the company has recently filed for bankruptcy, citing its rapid expansion in the late ’90s as the cause for its downfall. Read the rest of this entry →