The Truth About Cars
The Truth About Cars is dedicated to providing candid, unbiased automobile reviews and the latest in auto industry news.
10.7 entries/week | Last update: about 5 hours ago
found about 1 month ago by The Newspaper
Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled in September that speeding tickets issued on the basis of laser speed gun readings were not valid (view decision). The high court followed up this ruling in March by overturning a case where the officer in question...
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found about 1 month ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Two weeks in a minivan with three kids? There but for the grace of god goes this childless 20-something. Luckily our man Karesh is made of sterner stuff, and was happy to put the 2011 Toyota Sienna through its real-world,...
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found about 1 month ago by Bertel Schmitt
An odd collection of 35 companies and organizations, amongst them the correspondence school Benesse, and the convenience store chain Lawsons, established an association yesterday in Japan to promote electric vehicles. It’s called “APEV,” as in...
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found about 1 month ago by Bertel Schmitt
So Tesla lost $30m last quarter. Do you know who made $20m in profits on Tesla in one day? Toyota. Toyota bought 50 million dollars worth of Tesla shares at the offering price. The Tesla stock traded 41 percent higher and, “Toyota’s unrealized...
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found about 1 month ago by Edward Niedermeyer
You take some of my rescued state-owned automaker, and I’ll take some of yours. That seems to be the cunning plan cooked up by presidents Putin and Sarkozy, as the two face the prospect of rescuing struggling firms in the midst of a weak European...
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found about 1 month ago by Bertel Schmitt
It’s safe to buy Ford again. Ford as in the F share. After trading at close to $15 in April, it could be had below $10 yesterday. A bargain. Or so it seems. As we all know, Ford does pretty well selling cars, but without the help of D.C. sugar...
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found about 1 month ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Yesterday we suggested that this line drawing of a smaller-than-full-size Chevrolet pickup meant that Chevy would be “recommitting” to the US market for compact pickup trucks. Today, however, Bloomberg reports that Chevy is planning a mid-sized...
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found about 1 month ago by Bertel Schmitt
It used to be that the U.S. was Porsche’s largest market, even in the double nickel days. Number two was the land of the Autobahn, Porsche home market Germany. This is about to change. In 2012, Porsche wants to sell 16,000 units in China said...
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found about 1 month ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Today, natural gas is a rational alternative to gasoline that can provide a near-term environmental solution on the road to vehicle electrification. It is the most effective solution, in terms of costs and timing, to lessen this country’s reliance...
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found about 1 month ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Alfa’s been talking about selling an SUV for years now, as the brand has thrashed around looking for a rescue line. Now, a long-rumored ute named Kamal (after an Alfa SUV concept) has finally materialized at Alfa’s 100-year anniversary, looking...
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found about 1 month ago by Michael Karesh
My in-laws live in an Arkansas county that only received its first traffic light in the late 1990s. So it goes without saying that there’s no major airport nearby. Pay airfare for six then still need to rent a three-row vehicle and drive for a few...
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found about 1 month ago by Edward Niedermeyer
According to BusinessWeek’s David Welch, GM’s New York market share has slipped below ten percent for the first time, prompting The General to consider a 5th Avenue GM “salon” showcasing the company’s products. Now, the arguments against...
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found about 1 month ago by Sajeev Mehta
TTAC Commentator shores4now writes: I have 111,000 miles on my 2000 Volvo S40 and it does not leak any oil. Have always changed the oil around 5000 miles. have never used synthetic on it before. I have heard I have too many miles to change over to...
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found about 1 month ago by Bertel Schmitt
It’s that time of the month again. Today, sales in the U.S. will be reported. “Yucky” will probably be their nicest adjective. “U.S. auto sales this month probably posted the smallest increase since February as consumers concerned about...
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found about 1 month ago by Edward Niedermeyer
It’s no fun knocking Tesla. Having spent my most formative years growing up just South of the Silicon Valley, and as a lifelong resident of the West Coast of the United States, Tesla’s the closest thing I’ve got to a home team in the auto...
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found about 1 month ago by Bertel Schmitt
Japanese new car sales rose 20.6 percent year on year to 293,537 units in June, up for the 11th straight month, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association just told The Nikkei [sub]. And the best part is: Japan appears to says “ja ne” (see ya) to...
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found about 1 month ago by Cammy Corrigan
Pre-recall, Toyota was the company to emulate. It was very profitable, its business and production model was the envy of the world (with Lexus-owning Alan Mulally praising it) and it had an iron grip on quality and reliability (even though Honda...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Since we’re neck-deep in sales numbers today, here’s something delightfully frivolous to break up the seriousness: a few sights and sounds from the Pagani Zonda R breaking the Ferrari 599XX’s non-street-legal Nürburgring record. And while you...
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found about 1 month ago by Cammy Corrigan
Sergio Marchionne’s turnaround of Fiat was a weird one. He turned around a company, which most people thought had died already. Sergio’s turnaround was helped by GM’s unwitting “re-capitalization” of Fiat, too. Recently, worker relations...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Like several other full-line manufacturers, Nissan’s car sales lagged in June (up 2.7 percent), as the brand’s nearly 11 percent growth was driven primarily by increases in truck sales. On the other hand, few of its vehicles actually lost sales....
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found about 1 month ago by Bertel Schmitt
You think Japan is import-adverse? Have a look at that chart that follows, and you will see a wondrous trend: Japanese automakers are importing more and more foreign owned cars to Japan. Some of them even from the U.S. Now, the imports will...
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found 29 days ago by The Newspaper
At a congressional hearing Wednesday, members expressed increasingly skeptical views toward the safety claims made by the usual cast of advocates for photo enforcement. The US House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit invited five...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
There I was yesterday, nattering away about how Tesla can’t keep its focus, unaware that Tesla was releasing “Version 2.5″ of its Roadster EV. And by the looks of it, Tesla is almost taking the “Ferrari of Silicon Valley” thing too far, by...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Sales of GM’s four “core brands” were up 36 percent last month [release here], however that number is compared to June 2009 sales, when GM was in bankruptcy. Even against this backdrop, however, GM’s sales show some signs of continued...
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found 29 days ago by Bertel Schmitt
We’ll report the first ones in headline format and switch over to the usual list as more data becomes available GM + 10.7 percent Subaru + 16 percent Ford + 15...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Without Volvo, Ford sold 170,900 units last month, for a 15 percent increase compared to June 2009, when the industry was mired in one of its worst years ever. Compared to last month, Ford’s sales (like many other automakers’) were down...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Once again, Hyundai-Kia have netted another positive year-over-year month, with both brands shattering their June sales records and Hyundai setting a new all-time monthly market share record. Hyundai has been year-over-year positive for 18 months...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
A year ago, Chrysler used one word to qualify nearly every sales figure it gave in its June 2009 sales report: Retail. Today, Chrysler blithely reports that overall sales were up 35 percent, but fails to use the “R” word even once in its June...
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found 29 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
Despite struggling with a recall scandal early this year, Toyota has held on for a 10 percent sales increase in the first half of 2010. Of course, that achievement had a cost, namely a huge first-half binge on incentives. Now that Toyota is dialing...
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found 28 days ago by Edward Niedermeyer
One of these cars is two years old and has a base price of £19,365 in the UK (it is not sold in the US), while the other is brand-spankety new and starts at £88,325 in that same UK market (it arrives stateside this fall). Which is which? And,...
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