The intersection of presidential politics and automotive technology can be found in the White House motor fleet, a staple of executive travel since 1909 when Congress appropriated money for the first vehicles for a chief executive: a seven-passenger White Model M steam car, two gasoline-powered Pierce-Arrows, and a Baker Electric.
Back in those days presidential cars [...]
There’s no question that consumer automotive preferences have changed. Just go by a dealership and look at the lonely lines of SUVs and pick-ups that Americans, burned from their foray into $4 a gallon gas this summer are eschewing in favor of smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles and hybrids. Some drivers, however, are going a [...]
In today’s edition of the New York Times, Bill Vlasic has an interesting piece called “Fully Loaded” (well that’s what it’s called online, at least, my Kindle edition bills it as “Cars With the High Tech Comforts of Home.”) To read the piece you will have to have a NYTimes free account, so I’ll hit [...]
iPod Becoming Standard Auto Equipment
I read an interesting statistic on MacUser the other day. A study be iSuppli reports that 58 percent of new cars in the United States, regardless of trim level, now have iPod integration — meaning the day may come when you don’t have to endanger yourself and others on the road [...]
Although gas prices are, at last, thankfully coming down a bit, the price per gallon is still hovering around $3 and larger economic woes continue to make a trip to the pump a pain in the . . . well, you get the idea. People are trading out of their monster SUVs and trucks and [...]
The first folks to sign up for an electric Tesla Roadster did so with $100,000 in their hot little hands — all for a range of approximately 200 miles, but admittedly in a sexy, sporty package. Then the company started talking about a five-passenger sedan (which then became a sport sedan), the White Star, with [...]
Small cars must be feeling like the unlikely candidate who just got named Homecoming Queen. And if there’s any small, sporty, sharp little beauty I’m craving, it has to be the Mini. Over the weekend I was poking around on the net and ran across miniology.com. Instant love. For one thing, I’m coming to appreciate [...]
On the surface, the concept of CarType seems a little strange. This is, after all, a site devoted to car-related typography – the fonts, whirls, and logos that instantly bring into mind iconic cars, and the companies that make them.
Look beyond the surface, however, and what you find is a website that not only [...]
Word has it that Hyundai will be bringing a five-door hatchback, the i10, made in Chennai, India, stateside to go head-to-head with the Smart ForTwo and the Honda Fit. Reportedly the i10, onsale since last October in some 70 countries, gets 56 miles to the gallon. Size-wise it falls right in between its two main [...]
I just returned from a week in San Francisco (and let me just say that Mark Twain was right about the summer weather there), where I kept seeing these cute, tiny yellow cars populated by one or two helmeted tourists, and sharing audio GPS with passers by. I was curious, of course, so I [...]