Summary: Auto News
Latest Auto News
By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau This year’s
near-record run-up in fuel prices has clearly had an impact on the
choices American motorists are making when it’s time to buy a new
vehicle – in fact, three in four U.S. drivers now say they’re ready
to consider an alternative-fuel vehicle, according to a new study.
While many motorists still aren’t ready to trade in their roomy
SUVs for
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Mazda Reporter Dan Carney takes this Mazda2 for a ride. He says
that the car's performance on the racetrack was "genuinely
exciting." By Dan Carney, msnbc.com contributor Remember Herbie,
the Love Bug? It (he?) was an old Volkswagen Beetle, which everyone
knew back its day was as slow as a rebate check. But he could
miraculously outrace Jaguars, Porsches and Ferraris. To get a feel
for
Date Published: Jun 03, 2012 - 3:00 am
By Paul A. Eisenstein, msnbc.com contributor If the numbers in
a preliminary federal study hold true, U.S. highway deaths
continued to plunge last year – when measured in terms of
fatalities per 100 million miles driven - to the lowest level since
the government began keeping records in 1921. A number of factors
have contributed to the decline, which has seen traffic deaths dip
25 percent just
Date Published: Jun 02, 2012 - 1:30 pm
The Detroit Bureau The recall is limited to Wranglers equipped
with automatic transmissions built during the 2010 model-year. By
Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau The risk of fire is forcing
Jeep to recall nearly 87,000 Wranglers in the U.S., Canada and
other parts of the world. About 68,000 of those were sold in the
United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Date Published: Jun 01, 2012 - 9:00 am
In many parts of the country, a million bucks will buy you a
mansion. In New York City, you can get a 12-foot by 23-foot slab of
concrete. Yes, Manhattan's first $1 million parking space is
scheduled to go on the market this fall. This seven-figure private
garage is in an eight-story, prewar loft building in the city's
Greenwich Village neighborhood. It previously had been converted
into a
Date Published: May 31, 2012 - 2:30 am
By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau Facebook is not the
only place GM is unfriending. In the latest in a series of surprise
moves, General Motors has decided to boycott next January’s Super
Bowl advertising extravaganza in protest over a huge increase in
advertiser rates. The decision follows word that the maker will
also pull its ads off Facebook, the social media site that is today
on
Date Published: May 30, 2012 - 5:00 pm
Ford The 2013 Escape will offer only four-cylinder engines. Can
such engines really match customers' power expectations? Yes. By
Dan Carney, msnbc.com contributor We’ve seen this movie before:
Stagnant economy. Soaring gas prices. Government-mandated increases
in fuel economy that doom the big vehicles Americans prefer. In the
1970s, automakers responded to those conditions with that they
Date Published: May 30, 2012 - 7:30 am
The Detroit Bureau That's a Fiat 500, not the VW Up! in front
of the German maker's Swedish HQ. By Paul A. Eisenstein, The
Detroit BureauAutomakers normally take their marketing efforts
quite seriously, not surprising when you consider the billions of
dollars at stake. But every so often, a little humor creeps in –
such as the Tweets Ford has been sending out about General Motors’
decision
Date Published: May 30, 2012 - 12:00 am
Honda's Acura brand is recalling 56,881 TL sedans from model
years 2007 and 2008 in North America to replace a power steering
hose that could leak over time and potentially cause a fire. The
recall affects 52,615 TL sedans in the U.S. and another 4,266 in
Canada, the Japanese automaker said. Acura said the hose may
deteriorate and leak over time. Leaking fluid could lead to a loss
of power
Date Published: May 28, 2012 - 9:15 am
DETROIT — Federal safety regulators are investigating a
complaint that a car owner's ear was cut in half when a side air
bag inflated in a Hyundai Elantra. The U.S. National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration said Monday on its website that it's
investigating to see if the problem will recur in about 123,000
Elantras from the 2012 model year. In a complaint filed with the
agency, the
Date Published: May 27, 2012 - 7:00 pm
One unfortunate byproduct of strong sales in the new-car market
is that automakers’ are able to rein in their incentive spending.
According to Edmunds.com, incentives — including cash rebates and
cut-rate financing — are at their lowest levels in nearly seven
years. New-car sales incentives averaged $2,071 in April, which is
down 2.2 percent from March and 1.8 percent less than last April’s
Date Published: May 26, 2012 - 1:00 pm
For more than a decade, the Ford Focus was an also-ran among
small cars, unable to keep up with far-superior compacts like the
Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and even the Hyundai Elantra.
Distracted by its success with trucks and SUVs, Ford Motor didn’t
invest what was needed to keep passenger cars like the Focus in the
game. Now, however, Ford has gotten serious about fixing the car
side of its
Date Published: May 25, 2012 - 8:30 am
Photo courtesy of BMW BMW U.S. buyers gave a first impression
of the X 1 to April the New York Auto show, but only last week
revealed the crossover utility vehicle $31.545 base price. By Paul
A. Eisenstein, msnbc.com of mysteries Sometimes, you have too small
to think bigger. In the hope that its position as market leader
U.S. lock luxury, BMW is always ready, some of the smallest
products to
Date Published: May 24, 2012 - 4:30 am
By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit BureauAnalysts and investors
alike will be watching the ticker closely this week to see how the
market responds to word that the “Oracle of Omaha” has grabbed 10
million shares of General Motors (GM) stock. According to a filing
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Warren Buffett’s
investment firm Berkshire Hathaway will spend $256.6 million for
the
Date Published: May 23, 2012 - 2:00 pm
Mark Duncan / AP A new government study warns that as many as
one in 20 crashes could be linked to tire-related problems, with
underinflated tires posing an especially high risk of causing a
problem. By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau Today’s tires
are engineering marvels, improving both performance and fuel
economy, even if they tend to largely be ignored by motorists. But
that’s a
Date Published: May 22, 2012 - 5:30 pm
