Just a few months ago seemingly everyone was criticizing Detroit for failing to foresee $4.00 gas and develop fuel efficient cars accordingly. Even today we hear that these companies should refocus on alt fuels. But how many of those who claimed that Detroit should have spent billions of dollars to develop more fuel efficient vehicles predicted that fuel prices would… More →
Category: Automotive Press
Automotive Press
Above critique vs. below notice
We’ve got the system in place to provide the most up-to-date, most “real world” vehicle reliability information. Now we just need more participants. The 35,700 vehicles signed up so far are a great start. But 100,000 would be better. How to get there? Well, media coverage would help. But it has proved surprisingly difficult to obtain this coverage. A major source of this difficulty: much… More →
Brock Yates at TTAC
I first started subscribing the Car and Driver in the spring of 1983. My very first issue contained an infamous comparison test where a group of writers led by Brock Yates took a bunch of midsized sedans to baja. Much mayhem ensued. Still my favorite comparison test ever. Yates also authored one of my favorite books on the auto industry,… More →
Why the Cadillac CTS won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award
Just the other day I wrote about how my father has ordered a 2008 Cadillac CTS, his first GM car in a quarter-century. This morning we learned that the car has won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award. Some people are bound to be surprised by this win. Off the top of my head, I can think of three reasons why… More →
Yet another “last chance”
The Financial Times is calling the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu GM’s “last-chance saloon.” Where have I seen this headline before? Oh, yeah, pretty much every time one of the domestic automakers has launched a major new sedan in the last quarter-century. But the reality is that no one product is going to make or break the manufacturer. The company’s situation might… More →
Mountains out of molehills
In late June I asked, “Satisfaction studies, is there a point?” Well, today the results of another such study, by Claes Fornell of the University of Michigan, were released. And The Detroit News subtitled an article based on these results “Customer contentment with U.S. automakers improves sharply as Asian brands drop.” Really? Let’s take a closer look. Results were only released… More →
Fusion beats Camry and Accord?
For a few months now Ford has been touting the “Fusion Challenge.” In a pair of Ford-sponsored events, 1,000 subscribers to Car and Driver and Road & Track rated the Ford Fusion higher than the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. I can’t decide what concerns me more, that the magazines had Ford pay them to conduct the events or that… More →
Long-term road tests: insufficient sample
For years the car magazines have conducted long-term road tests (links from Google). The manufacturer gives them a car to drive for 30,000 to 40,000 miles, and they write up both their impressions of what the car is like to drive and what broke. No problem with the first bit: you might learn more about a car when you drive… More →
Misleading headlines:
Prius fails emissions test
A couple days ago CNN reported that the Georgia emissions test was incompatible with the 2004 Toyota Prius. The hybrid’s engine cuts off when the car is not moving, resulting in a “fail” that Georgia automatically waives. Blogs ran the story with headlines like “Toyota Prius Fails Georgia Emissions Test.” This re-ignited the usual pro/anti debate on the Prius. The anti crowd read the headline… More →
Blurring the lines between editorial and advertising
Car and Driver has been conducting events for automakers for a few years. At these events, a few hundred people drive the client’s car and those of its competitors, then declare the client’s car the winner and praise it lavishly. Now Automotive News reports in this week’s issue that both Car and Driver and sister publication Road & Track will create… More →