Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 commentsFiled under: Government/Legal, Chrysler, GM
Without the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, the U.S. auto industry would likely have two fewer domestic automakers and hundreds of thousands of high paying jobs would be history. The Detroit News reports that ex auto task force chief Steve Rattner recently told an audience at a bankruptcy conference that the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit would have faced municipal bankruptcy if Chrysler and GM were liquidated.
Instead, Rattner claims the government bailout not only saved untold thousands of jobs and two enormous American car companies, but the price tag for the government is shrinking as time goes on. Initial estimates by the task force showed that the auto bailout would cost U.S. taxpayers $20 billion or $30 billion after GM and Chrysler’s initial stock sale, but Ratner claims that the current price tag is $10 billion or less. The estimated loss has gone down due in part to the fact that old GM’s assets are worth more than previously estimated and The General is turning around its operations more quickly than originally estimated. If GM continues to surprise and delight, the government may even make some money when it goes public with a stock offering this year or next.
Would the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan have gone bankrupt if GM and Chrysler were liquidated? There is no way to be sure, but if the government hadn’t stepped in and bailed them out, its inaction would have probably cost taxpayers untold billions of dollars as well.
[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Neilson Barnard/Getty]
Ratner: Auto bailout saved Michigan from bankruptcy originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 commentsFiled under: Truck, Work, GM, GMC, Luxury
2011 GMC Sierra Denali HD – Click above for high-res image gallery
GMC, the “Professional Grade” truck maker under the General Motors umbrella, isn’t finished adding luxe touches to its Heavy Duty series of Sierra pickup trucks. Just yesterday, GMC rolled out a brand-new Denali version of the HD pickem-up truck, but later this year at launch it will be available only as a crew-cab, four-wheel drive, single-rear wheel, three-quarter-ton model.
Before the end of the year, though, GMC will begin spreading the Denali love down its entire line-up of heavy haulers, and PickupTrucks.com is reporting that the dual-rear wheel dually chassis will be included. Naturally, a choice of either the 6.0-liter gasoline-powered V8 or the torque-tastic 6.6-liter Duramax diesel V8 will be the biggest choice at the time of purchase, followed by the buyers selection of either black, gray or white. Pricing has not yet been announced.
[Source: PickupTrucks.com]
Report: New GMC Sierra Denali HD to get the dually treatment originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 comments Writing for the web means abusing superlatives, but no OMGWTFBBQ can describe how amazing the legal opinion in Jarvis v. Eliot. It’s a tour de force of jurisprudence quoting freely from Richard Petty, Days Of Thunder and Talladega Nights. More »
Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 commentsFiled under: Etc., Design/Style
Ji Yong-Ho Shark 6 – click above for high-res image gallery
Art and cars is always a tricky subject. We saw what happened when BMW selected art world mega star Jeff Koons to design their next art car. Long story short, confusion, blinking eyes and a whole lot of chin scratching. However, we think in the case of South Korean artist Ji Yong-Ho, there’s just going to be nodding heads and wide smiles. Why? Just look at how amazing his work is.
For those of you that are forced by your significant others to watch Project Runway (“Hi, honey!”) no doubt remember last week when style guru Tim Gunn sent them all to the hardware store and contestant Jay won over the judges with his pants made out of contrasting garbage bags. Don’t ask how, but we see a similarity (or are just hot to confess that we watch Project Runway in the most manly way possible). Either way, the New York-based Yong-Ho is using old tires to craft his creations. We enthusiastically approve.
[Source: Gana Art]
Ji Yong-Ho’s tire creatures are steel-belted radness originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 commentsFiled under: Motorsports, Videos, Audi, Racing
Walter Rörhl throwing an Audi Quattro WRC racer up the Col de Turini – Click above to watch video after the jump
Can we pause for a moment and give it up for Walter Röhrl? Here’s a racer whose professional career began in 1973, first person to win the World Rally Championship twice, winner of the Pikes Peak race and the title Rally Driver of the Century in Italy and Rally Driver of the Millennium in France, and who simply never gave up the habit of winning or doing fast laps.
Autocar got the man back in the Audi Quattro with which he won the 1984 Rally Monte Carlo – Quattros took the first three positions, in fact – and sent him up the Col de Turini to see if he and the car still had it. Follow the jump to find out, and for a little more context, there’s a video summary of that 1984 rally and a clip of Röhrl discussing and flying up Pikes Peak.
[Source: Autocar]
Continue reading Video: Walter Röhrl reunited with WRC-winning 1984 Audi Quattro on famed Monte Carlo stage
Video: Walter Röhrl reunited with WRC-winning 1984 Audi Quattro on famed Monte Carlo stage originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 comments Incorporating design elements from every vehicle in the VW Group, the Audi RS7 is Austrian designer Adriano Mudri’s vision for future Audi products. Probably most successful are the minimal LED lights, eliminating the visual fuss of Audi’s current corrective lenses. More »
Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 comments The driver of this once-gorgeous silver Ford GT was cited with a misdemeanor for “failure to control the vehicle” after smashing it into a median on a stretch of Ohio Interstate 71 outside Hamilton County. More »
Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 commentsFiled under: Motorcycle, Reviews
Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP – Click above for high-res image gallery
We’re going to get ahead of ourselves a little bit with our review of the new Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP. We spend lots of time riding various two- and four-wheeled vehicles, and very few – indeed, possibly none at all – garner the same kind of ear-to-ear grins as Ducati’s oversized supermoto. It’s totally ridiculous and absolutely wonderful.
Sure, it’s fast. Yes, it’s beautiful. But what is this bike’s mission in life? Is it meant solely as a hooligan machine with either the front or rear wheel aloft at any given moment? Is the temptation to leave black stripes and huge plumes of white smoke in your wake from every single stop too much to overcome? We spent 10 days using the latest edition of Bologna’s finest all-road rocket for everything from runs to the grocery store to riding two-up for a leisurely Sunday morning ride to an out-and-out battle with the local twisty roads strewn about with pebbles and potholes. Read on to find out what we found.
Photos by Jeremy Korzeniewski / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Continue reading Review: Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP induces grins, wheelspin and wheelies
Review: Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP induces grins, wheelspin and wheelies originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 commentsFiled under: Car Buying, Marketing/Advertising, Toyota
As Toyota’s recall issues hit a fevered pitch over the past few months, customer confidence faltered and sales predictably suffered. We were wondering how Toyota would react to the comparative dearth of showroom traffic, and the answer was to take a page out of the domestic’s tattered handbook: big-time incentives.
On March 1, Toyota announced zero percent financing, subsidized leases and free maintenance for two years, and the early results appear to be extremely favorable. Automotive News reports that analysts are seeing big-time gains for the Japanese automaker, with evidence that sales are up 50 percent so far for the month. A 50 percent sales increase for the month would more than wipe out Toyota’s depressing January and February, but analysts like Edmund’s Jessica Caldwell reportedly feel sales will level out to a predicted 30 percent rise by March 31. “Incentives work best in the early going, but they start to peter out as the month goes along.”
So does news of a Toyota sales increase means that Americans are tuning out the recent influx of bad news including a pair of reported runaway Prius hybrids in the interest of saving money? AN reports that analysts like Caldwell and George Magliano at IHS Global Insight feel Toyota loyalists are jumping at the company’s big-time incentives, and the brand will have to try new things to attract new customers in the months ahead. That may be true, but we’re thinking Toyota must be more than a bit relieved that customers are coming back to showrooms, at least for now.
[Source: Automotive News – sub. req. | Image: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images]
Report: Toyota sales may bounce back big time in March originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by admin on March 11th, 2010 |
0 comments Wandering the aisles of my local auto parts store last night it struck me how much crap I wanted to buy. Haynes manuals for cars I don’t own? Sure. Ford-logo barstools? Why not. What’s your favorite auto store binge purchase. More »
