THE AUTOMAKERS’ DILEMMA
“MAY YOU LIVE IN interesting times.” This classic Chinese saying was intended as a curse, not a blessing. And so it would seem for automakers today. Reading the weekly Automotive … Continue reading
A RESET FOR MOTOR SPORTS
TO MANY, THE NAME John Glenn hearkens back to early days of the U.S. space program. And, to many, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would seem an odd place for … Continue reading
AUDI: VORSPRUNG DURCH SKULDUGGERY
I’VE LONG ADMIRED German automaker Audi’s slogan, Vorsprung Durch Technik, Advancement Through Technology. Back in the mid-1970s, for example, Audi was one of the first automakers to promote the safety … Continue reading
BEV LOVE OR BEV MEH?
WITH GASOLINE AS cheap as it is, battery electric vehicles in the U.S. aren’t exactly selling like hotcakes–or full-size pickup trucks either. Yet, automakers are covering their electric bets in … Continue reading
54.5 OR WHAT?
PITY THE HARD-WORKING automotive engineer. Or, should we decry the shortsightedness of people buying new vehicles? Or what about blaming government regulation for the current and approaching conundrums? Since 2012, … Continue reading
RIFFS FROM BECK AND LUTZ
JEFF BECK, rock guitarist of Yardbirds fame, and Bob Lutz, auto executive extraordinaire, have more in common than I might have thought. Both are elder statesmen: Beck, 72; Lutz, 84. … Continue reading
REDI- (SET) GO
WIFE DOTTIE ONCE said of a car that was cheap in all ways, “No one should have to take poverty this seriously.” On the other hand, if one’s family of … Continue reading
DRIVING THROUGH A BRUSSELS LOOPHOLE
THE SOOT CONTINUES to accumulate around diesel cars finagled to run clean in official testing, though not necessarily otherwise. “VW’s Diesel Scam” made news last year when the International Council … Continue reading
AIRBOATS—REAL AND VIRTUAL
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL did more than patent the first practical telephone in 1876 (not to say later giving actor Don Ameche such an iconic movie role that the device was … Continue reading
UNINTENDED ACCELERATION OF FINES
THE FEDERAL CIVIL Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 doesn’t just sound redundant, it’s causing havoc among automakers. As with many laws, there’s rationality and a spirit of … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 