General Motors made some big headlines this morning with word that its Chevrolet Volt electric car will get 230 miles per gallon in the city. That’s an impressive feat to be sure. It will certainly leap frog any car on the market except for all-electric cars like the Nissan Leaf or the Tesla Roadster when the Volt goes on… Read the rest

Since the government started the CARS program, better known as Cash for Clunkers, we’ve been busy trying to find an impossible-to-pass-up deal for every one of our clunker-owning employees. But many of these clunker owners are inexplicably attached to their trusty fuel-inefficient mounts despite the prospect of getting up to $4500 towards a new car. Take, for example, our… Read the rest

The Senate approved another $2 billion for the “cash for clunkers” program by a vote of 60 to 37, but don’t expect the same mad rush of sales that dealers enjoyed when the program opened. First, dealers are already reporting that showroom traffic is slipping now that the initial buzz of the program has worn off. Plus, many of… Read the rest

At a time when the public is growing increasingly tired of government handouts, bailouts and rescues, the Obama Administration goes and hands out $2.4 billion for electric car and hybrid technology projects. This could be money poorly spent, since other like-minded programs such as President Clinton’s Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles and another Bush-era program for fuel… Read the rest

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler , Dodge , Jeep , Earnings/Financials What do you do with a program that is driving so many customers into your showrooms that inventory is now running low? If you are Chrysler, and it’s the popular incentive plan tied to the government’s C.A.R.S. (a.k.a. “Cash for Clunkers”) program, you extinguish it and replace it… Read the rest

Filed under: Europe , Plants/Manufacturing , GM , Opel , UAW/Unions There are five noteworthy parties involved in the negotiations over Opel’s fate: GM, the German government, the Opel trust, states with Opel manufacturing plants, and the Opel labor union. The Opel trust is the body created to run Opel after GM’s bankruptcy, and consists of five members: a… Read the rest

Ford Motor Co . on Monday will post a single-digit sales gain over the same month a year ago, the first monthly sales gain the automaker has posted since 2007. Company officials said Sunday they attributed the sales gain to the Federal Cash for Clunkers program, as well as a feeling among a growing number of consumers that the… Read the rest

If you were outraged by our neglect of your very favorite films in the 12 Greatest Car Movies post, get ready to blow your remaining head gasket! It’s time for Murilee’s Maddening Movie Machines! You might notice that there’s no Vanishing Point Challenger, no Two Lane Blacktop ’55 Chevy or GTO, no Road Warrior Falcon , no French Connection… Read the rest

Watch the recently returned winner of 91 races practice at Mugello in Kimi Raikkönen’s 2007 championship-winning car . Why not in Ferrari’s current F60, the car he is temporarily taking over from the injured Felipe Massa ? Because of the inter-race testing ban introduced for the 2009 season: teams cannot test cars between races at all. Even demonstration runs… Read the rest

The Cash For Clunkers program, which started this past Monday, has already burned through $950 million of its $1 billion budget. Not to worry though, as the House passed by an overwhelming majority, a piece of legislation that adds $2 billion to the program. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has announced that the administration believes that enough of… Read the rest