Flybrian

You're observing the German version of parking lamps. Under their StVZO, cars are permitted to have driver-activated low-intensity parking lamps on either the left or right side of the car. The purpose is to have some illumination for oncoming vehicles on narrow, unlit Old World streets. This presumes that oncoming vehicles are only using town lights (our parking lamps) for forward illumination, which may or may not provide adequate forward lighting for the driver. Whoever owns the cars you saw clearly hasn't read their Ownerpedia...

GM Wants Cars to Talk – To Each Other Safety rises when cars communicate, GM says Link to Original Article @ TCC | by Richard Yarrow | (2007-07-11) Vehicle-to-vehicle communication - where cars silently talk to each other about traffic conditions further down the road - is on the way. That's the view of bosses at General Motors, who have revealed the latest details of their futuristic V2V system. Here's how it works: if there's a broken down car round a blind bend, your vehicle will know about it before you get there because one coming the other way - having already passed the blockage - will have spread the word. You get a dashboard warning and don't plow into the back of the stationary machine. But it can also warn of a police car responding to an emergency in the vicinity. By displaying where it is in relation to you, it allows you to get out of the way quicker. Another example of V2V is what GM calls Intersection Collision Warning, where a vehicle approaching a blind junction would know if others were converging on the same spot, hopefully preventing an accident. V2V works using sat-nav, a microprocessor and the type of wireless Local Area Network (LAN) technology that's standard in most new home computers. The information is transferred in milliseconds and each car has a communication range of up to 500m. It means even if there was nothing coming the other way, you'd know of the stranded vehicle in plenty of time. As well as improved road safety, reduced journey times - by re-routing you around hold-ups - are the key benefit. The display indicates that there is a vehicle ahead on the road (depicted with the red icon) and has stopped (depicted with the yellow triangle) Most major car makers are working on V2V and to a set of basic parameters and protocols so future cars will all be speaking the same language. But Bruno Praunsmändel, GM Europe's group manager for advanced engineering, admitted V2V will only work efficiently when the vast majority of vehicles have it. "With safety-critical technology like this you need more than 90 percent of vehicles involved to see some impact on the accident statistics," he said. He added that if all carmakers started now it would be 10 years before that occurred, and they're not ready to go just yet. A four-year trial will begin in Germany in the autumn, with all the local manufacturers involved and the support of the Government. It will involve several hundred cars, and will also test how best to deliver the information to the driver.

EU looks into British aid plan for GM's Vauxhall car plant Associated Press | Link to Original Article @ DetNews BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Commission said today it had launched an investigation into $17 million in aid given to General Motors Corp. subsidiary Vauxhall by the British government, which was meant to offer training to workers to keep a GM plant near Liverpool viable. EU officials said they were concerned the aid could violate EU state aid rules, adding they had doubts about its legality because the money used would go to training already being carried out by GM. Neelie Kroes, the EU's competition commissioner said that while the EU supports training to improve work force skills, "we must make sure that the public funds do not just provide windfall profits to companies who would have paid for the training as part of their normal business." The investigation comes after GM said last year it would cut 900 jobs at its Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port near Liverpool. The EU said its inquiry focused on a new 2007-2012 training program planned to improve productivity at the plant. The British government said it would subsidize the training plan to help keep the plant in operation. ---------------------- I find this so-called 'investigation' very humorous in light of the billions and billions of Euros the European Union has given to Airbus in launch aid to help them get their new airframes off the ground...well...at least try to.

2010 Porsche Panamera Latest Look Link to Original Article @ AutoWeek | Published 07/10/07, 3:30 pm et Porsche’s four-door Panamera keeps lapping the Nürburgring, as these photos taken hours ago near the main entrance of the “ring” show. Due for a formal unveiling at the 2009 Geneva motor show, Porsche’s Panamera is expected to be a strong competitor for the Mercedes CLS and the future Aston Martin Rapide, as well as Volkswagen’s coming four-door coupe. Though the Panamera takes design elements from the 911 range, there are obvious significant differences. While the 911 has always kept its rear-mounted boxer engine, the Panamera will have a choice of three front-mounted powerplants, though they’ll be set back toward the center of the car as much as possible and behind the front axle for balance. The entry-level mill will be VW’s 3.6-liter, 300-hp V6, while Porsche’s own drivetrain will be a direct-injection 4.8-liter V8 borrowed from the Cayenne, available in naturally-aspirated guise at 350 hp and with twin-turbos at 560 hp. A range-topping model equipped with the Porsche GT’s 700-hp V10 engine is also a rumored possibility. Panamera is intended to be a true sports car, while at the same time offer a family a car for everyday use with four full seats, easy access to the rear and a good-sized luggage compartment. When it hits the road in ’09, Porsche hopes to sell 20,000 to 30,000 annually, with a third coming to North America. More Spy Shots at... Spy Shots @ Autoblog Spy Shots @ Edmunds

Sweet! They were intimidated . Hmm...frameless glass obviously, but its not a hardtop. Oh well.

Chrysler. And you don't see a problem with this? Buick will soon stop selling Chevrolet-priced cars and Mercury intends on having nothing smaller than the Milan, leaving the value market to Ford. Twenty years ago, the base 300 would've been called the Plymouth Gran Fury as it should be today. Having cheesy wheel-covered, hood-propped, anemic-engined, refrigerator white 300 bases running around with Dollar tags on them dilute the premium intentions of Chrysler. Or at least I thought that's what Chrysler wants to be. Maybe they don't care. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't at this stage in the game.

Okay. Why is the base 300 so poorly-equipped then for a 'premium' car?

Loaded Park Avenue Ultras stickered for $44,000. Its not unprecendented, but this time, its worth it.

The Aveo/Corvette disparity is completely different. Dodge has a similar situation with this potentially $10k car vs a $100k+ Viper. Lanky9172's totally valid point, however, is that Dodge and Chrysler lack differentiation. Who is the value leader and who is the premium maker? Chrysler sells the PT and sold the Voyager for several years. A base 300 is less-equipped than a base Charger. Styling alone differentiates the Avenger from the Sebring sedan. A problem exists.

Let's refrain from asking me my opinion of auto insurance companies.

Cadillac would sell primarily on design and secondly on affordability. Why spend $80k when you can get a car approaching that level of worth for $60k?

Fixed.

My point was its a more relevant product than the Town Car. If it had a 6-speed, one couldn't complain. If it switches to Zeta, no one would dare complain.

DTS still outpaces the geriatric and funny Town Car.

Nissan recalls 140,582 Altimas because air filter may ignite By Greg Bensinger | Link to Original Article @ The Chicago Tribune | Published July 9, 2007, 12:26 PM CDT Nissan Motor Co. is recalling 140,582 of its 2007 Altima cars, the automaker's best-selling U.S. vehicle, because the air filter can catch fire if a hot object is drawn into it. The recall affects Altima cars with a 2.5-liter, four- cylinder engine, the Tokyo-based automaker told the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nissan told the Washington-based agency it began notifying owners July 3. Four fires were reported in February and March, the company said. The filter will be replaced because it can ignite if something hot such as cigarette ash enters through the vehicle's fresh-air intake valve, Nissan said. An air deflector also will be installed to prevent a buildup of debris at the filter. The Altima accounted for 140,253, or 26 percent, of Nissan's U.S. sales this year through June. The car was ninth in sales among all cars and light trucks in the U.S. during the period. The recall affects Altimas built from Sept. 25 through May 11 at its plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, and those produced from Oct. 30 through May 11 at its Canton, Mississippi, factory, Nissan told the agency. The vehicles are under warranty, the company said. Fred Standish, a spokesman for Nissan's Nashville, Tennessee-based U.S. unit, didn't immediately respond to a message seeking a comment.

Chery Revenger SR-Tee with Hemmy-Super-Power!! Grapple Living by Tusks!

Looking at those pictures again, its more than slightly. The 'before' Challengers have an odd boatlike taper to to front and rear fascias that leaves both too much ground clearance and makes the body look like its riding atop the wheels. The new Challenger sincerely looks awful from the side shot. Both front and rear are way too blunt and flat, giving it a squished appearance. I have to reiterate again that I'm not all too taken with what Dodge placed its tissue paper over to come up with this new Challenger, hence my ambivalence towards it. But, that mehness is only further fueled by looking at the Ford and Chevy. Someone, both the Mustang and Camaro manage to remix those classic styling cues in something more modern, more contemporary, and something that will (or in Mustang cases, does) place well on the streets today. In contrast, the Challenger is a charactiture of itself, not that much more attractive than these fiberglass bodyshells placed over Mustang or Camaro chassis that attempt to replicate cars of the past. Somewhere in this thread, someone remarked that the Challenger looks like it would if Dodge never discontinued it. Disagree. The Challenger looks exactly like it would if you applied modern engineering constraints and design conventions to proposals for the old Challenger and that, my friends, is a styling exercise, not an original product. Look at the Prowler or Phaeton concept for something far, far more appropriate - melding historical cues and advanced design into an attractive and original creation. The Prowler, for instance, did not emulate a specific custom hot rod, but used the styling traits hot rods shared in general. And speaking of the Prowler, the Challenger doesn't really matter anyway because Dodge still can't retail a car if their life depended on it - and it does.

Eat that, Airbus, you pathetic shell of airframe manufacturers who used to know how to build aircraft. Once again, Boeing manages to make a shrewd and prescient decision to market an airliner that will actually fill a need rather than trying to force the marketplace (and airlines, and airports, and the air traffic control system) to adapt to their arrogant, obese monstrosity.

Actually, that is just about the only thing Saturn has advertised about the AURA. Aside from the early 'That's a Saturn?' campaign - which ran before the award was given - and the current 'Rethink:' ads, every single Saturn commercial that mentioned the AURA mentioned the NACOTY award. Every AURA-specific ad (including the current side-by-side-by-side spots) state that its NACOTY; remember that the first big AURA-only push was the travelling award. Radio ads also mention the award and its touted on Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Coast to Coast over the airwaves. So yeah...

GM Sales in Europe Grow on Korean-built Chevrolet Success Link to Original Article @ The Auto Channel FRANKFURT July 9, 2007; Reuters reported that General Motors sales outgrew the broader European car market in the first half as a surge in demand for its Korean-built Chevrolet brand cars offset a hefty decline in Saab sales, the automaker said on Monday. GM Europe increased vehicle sales by 5.3 percent to a record 1,127,871 units, the European division of the U.S. carmaking group said in a statement, adding that market share rose by three-tenths of a percentage point to 9.6 percent as the total comparable market grew by only 2.1 percent. "Our different strategies for Western and Eastern Europe are allowing us to maintain sales growth while also continuing to improve our revenue performance and the overall quality of our sales," said Jonathan Browning, GM Europe's vice president for sales and marketing. Last month, it boosted unit sales by 10.3 percent to 214,918 vehicles as car buyers in central and eastern Europe flocked to the low-price Chevy brand. According to GM Europe, June marked the 50th consecutive record month for Chevrolet, with its range of affordable cars like the Nubira, Matiz and Kalos previously sold under GM's Korean Daewoo brand. Chevy sales jumped 34 percent in the first half to 215,315 units, easily outweighing a 10.7 percent drop in sales for its struggling Swedish brand Saab to just 45,275 cars. The larger mid-market Opel/Vauxhall brands grew sales by a marginal 0.8 percent to 863,303 vehicles helped by a 50 percent rise in sales of its revamped Corsa subcompact, which accounts for over a quarter of sales for the two sister nameplates. GM Europe also distributes Cadillacs, Hummers and Corvettes to customers but their combined first-half sales constituted just a fraction of a percent for the division.

GM may eat hybrid cost Goal is to make technology affordable for consumers Jamie LaReau - Link to Original Article @ Automotive News - July 9, 2007 - 12:01 am DETROIT - General Motors might absorb some costs of a Two Mode hybrid transmission in its full-sized trucks to make the technology affordable to consumers, product chief Bob Lutz says. The automaker plans to have at least three hybrid transmissions and offer as many as a dozen hybrid models in the next few years. The Two Mode system, which has two electric motors that assist the engine, would be the premium system, Lutz said. The cost of that system is more than $10,000, sources close to the program say. Nearly every Cadillac product could feature a hybrid variant as early as the next two years, Lutz, GM's vice chairman of global product development, said in an interview with Automotive News. The program has not been approved. But, Lutz said, it's "very logical to assume" that a hybrid drivetrain would fit in nearly all Cadillac vehicles, starting with the Escalade SUV next year. GM's hybrid plans do not include the Chevrolet Volt concept car, which the automaker classifies as an electric car with a range assist. The Volt would run on electric power, with a gasoline, diesel or fuel cell engine recharging batteries.

GM's check engine light is flashing once again June's slumping sales echo former board member's warning that automaker isn't in clear Daniel Howes | Link to Original Article @ The Detroit News Nine months ago Jerry York, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's flamethrower-in-chief, quit General Motors Corp.'s board and expressed "grave reservations" about the staying power of its North American turnaround. After the crappy June GM delivered -- sales plunged 21.3 percent for a year-to-date market share of 23 percent and an all-time low of 22.3 percent in June -- could ol' Jerry have been more on target than the General's management cares to admit, thanks to fewer incentives, $3-a-gallon gas and its impact on the sales of trucks and SUVs? "I have grave reservations concerning the ability of the company's current business model to successfully compete in the marketplace with those of the Asian producers," York wrote in his resignation letter last October to George Fisher, GM's top outside director. Officially, GM scoffed at York's "reservations." But since then, fuel prices have stayed stubbornly high. Democrats, now in control of Congress, are pressing hard to ratchet federal fuel economy rules sharply higher. A three-way deal between GM, the United Auto Workers and bankrupt Delphi Corp. has been ratified, raising hopes of a breakthrough UAW contract in September. Yeah, but. Talk of yet another stalled GM turnaround (how many, I've lost count) is percolating because market share keeps sliding, cash continues to be burned and anyway you cut it, too few Americans are willing to buy the General's improved metal without being paid an incentive to do it. Midway through the year, sales of GMC are up 4.9 percent and Saturn is up 21.4 percent compared with last year, according to Autodata Corp. But sales of Buick are down 27.9 percent, Cadillac is down 11.7. Chevrolet is down 7.2. Hummer is down 17.3. Pontiac is down 14. Saab is down 3.9. That's hardly a rousing endorsement of GM's North American turnaround or its product offensive, however real it may be to critics or patrons of the new "Transformers" movie. We've seen this real-life movie in Detroit before, and it always ends badly -- more cost-cutting, more plant actions, more tortured explanations. A favorite: The myriad reasons GM is taking hits on its high-margin pickups and SUVs even as the same forces seem to almost always steer clear of foreign rivals like Toyota. Drive revenue -- or die Tacticians looking to this summer's national contract talks might spy opportunity in these speed bumps, another chance to plead poverty with union negotiators. They may see a chance to create a fund to off-load GM's retiree health-care obligations and put them under union control. Perhaps, but the gnawing reality of GM's predicament is that cutting costs, closing plants, killing jobs and extracting union concessions may help improve the business model, but they are no guarantee of success in the market. Even fielding better products isn't enough to keep GM's "check engine" light off -- the most worrisome sign of all.

GM's risky challenge Carmaker bets on showroom face-off with Asian cars Sharon Terlep | Link to Original Article @ The Detroit News ANN ARBOR -- A look of disbelief crossed Karen Smith's face as a Saturn salesman handed her the keys to a shiny new Toyota Camry. "Really, go ahead and drive it," he told Smith, who was car shopping for her teenage son. "Try the Honda, too." Off she drove, rolling out of a Saturn dealer's lot in the hot-selling Toyota, her two sons and their grandmother in the car. For the next 15 minutes, the brood weighed the pros and cons of the Camry and the Saturn Aura, from the handling on a tight corner to the arrangement of the instrument panel. The unlikely exercise is part of a new promotion from General Motors Corp.'s Saturn brand that pits the new Aura four-door against American car buyers' perennial favorites -- the Camry and Honda Accord -- in Saturn showrooms across the nation. Not the type of risky tactic GM would likely have tried even a few years ago. The strategy could backfire if Saturn shoppers drive a Camry and Accord and like it better. But after decades spent defending its dominance in the market, the auto giant is going on the attack against a bigger, healthier competitor -- Toyota Motor Corp. -- and trying to loosen Toyota's and Honda's grip on the sedan market. "We want to make sure people understand we're unbelievably confident in our product," Saturn General Manager Jill Lajdziak said. "You've got to try different ways to cut through the clutter in a very crowded marketplace." The Smiths make a perfect target for Saturn: a family of four living in the trendy Ann Arbor area, and Smith and her husband were once Ford Motor Co. loyalists. A run of malfunction-prone vehicles turned the couple toward the competition. In recent years, they have been happy owners of a Camry and a Honda Pilot SUV. A desire to bolster Detroit's struggling auto industry has them tentatively considering buying American. Their 15-year-old, Kevin, will soon need a car, and they want something safe, practical and appealing. The family also is encouraged by signs that domestic automakers are closing the quality and reliability gaps with foreign companies. "We're ready to try again," Smith said. At first, the family compared the vehicles' exteriors. They all preferred the Aura's sloping front end to the flatter Camry. Inside the Camry, Smith's sons complained they couldn't see the dash-mounted clock from the back seat. Having driven the Aura, they talked about the roominess and overall feel of both vehicles. Kevin Smith, the soon-to-be driver, thought the Camry had "pep" and was impressed by its handling. His grandmother, Beverly Good, was mostly pleased that the Saturn saved them the trouble of visiting a Toyota or Honda store. When the drive was done, the foursome huddled. They mostly agreed on the Aura, though the Camry's cavernous trunk almost won Kevin over, since he needs space to haul hockey equipment to and from camp all summer. A final decision will come later, after Smith's husband gets a chance to weigh in. "It's a good idea," Karen Smith said of the promotion. "If they're really confident in their product, they've got nothing to lose." Strategy similar to Ford's Buoyed by a slew of well-received products, GM desperately wants to convince consumers that it really can compete against foreign nameplates that have cannibalized sales of Detroit's Big Three. For the first time in 76 years, GM lost its claim as the world's largest automaker when Toyota outsold it worldwide in the first quarter. "For years, people bought Japanese cars because they thought it was the smart choice," GM marketing chief Mark LaNeve said in a recent interview. "Our products are every bit as competitive." As part of GM's assault, Saturn dealers nationwide bought or rented a Camry and Accord to have in showrooms for the "Side-by-Side-by-Side" national campaign that runs through July. The automaker may try a similar promotion when the redesigned Malibu hits showrooms this fall. GM's strategy is similar to Ford's, whose recent Fusion Challenge ads pitted the Fusion sedan against the Camry and Accord. Battle to win back buyers Winning back customers is going to be a battle for GM. Among consumers who bought Honda Accords between November and January, only 1 percent had also seriously considered the Aura, according to data from J.D. Power and Associates' 2007 Initial Quality Study, which measures consumer satisfaction in the first 90 days of ownership. Among Camry buyers, none had considered the Aura. Saturn's Lajdziak acknowledges the challenge of getting on some shoppers' lists. Sales of the Aura, which won the North American Car of the Year award at the Detroit auto show in January, totaled 27,200 through June, compared to 212,500 Camrys and 180,000 Accords. Mentioning the Aura along with the Accord and Camry will help consumers familiar with the Japanese models recognize the Aura as a midsize sedan, Lajdziak said. Toyota, which saw sales jump 10 percent in June compared to GM's 21.3 percent drop, is taking the heat in stride. Having its vehicles shown in Saturn showrooms may even help draw customers who wouldn't normally buy an import, spokesman John McCandless said. "We're being targeted as very good, high-quality products," he said. "I'm not so sure that's a bad thing."

I never thought the Challenger looked that good in the first place. Sorry everyone.

Well, I didn't go up in a balloon, but I helped with one. I'm now the Ground Crew Chief for a small hot air ballooning outfit here in the Tampa area. My first day was today and since I'm better than some of the previous crewmen (one had a suspended license for DWI and a cocaine charge, another cursed alot around the passengers) and the current Crew Chief is going away next weekend for a vacation, I'm the main man now - at least for next weekend. I'll be second-in-command under the pilot/owner during unloading and loading and drive the chase Express van during the flight. Its really much simpler than it seems. Three stout men can do all the work with help from the van. Basically, meet in north Tampa at 5:45am, head out with other balloonists to a good launch site at 6:15, alight by 7am, chase the balloon until 8-8:15, repack it all by 9:00, brunch by 9:30, done by 10:00. Anyway, here are some pics from my phone... Our balloon, the one being filled up