Petra

In other news: The Crossfire is still in production?!

True enough, but what I meant was that oil companies are certainly not going to complain if the price of oil goes up dramatically. I guess if people really wanted the price of oil to go down, we'd have to find way to either make oil futures look very stable (unlikely), or cause demand to fall (also unlikely, but not as unlikely). I, too, am frustrated by events in the world constantly causing the price to increase, even events that are totally unrelated to oil futures. Also, I will look into that History channel program... Thanks for the tip.

Somehow, I doubt it. After all, one of the reasons that gas got so expensive in the wake of Katrina was because a lot of the oil refineries in that area were destroyed. Now, tell me: Why should the oil companies bother to build new refineries, when they can charge $3/gallon because demand is outstripping supply thanks to, tah-da: A lack of refineries! Oil companies, and, for that matter, any sort of energy company, do not want people to change. They want people to keep buying their products. Come to think of it, that is the same reason that GM has declined: They refused to accept changes in the marketplace, giving the customers what GM thought was best rather than what the customers want. Sooner or later, the time will come when oil is not longer a practical source of energy. If the oil companies are wise, they will invest in whatever new source of energy is coming. But I don't expect they will. They're just too haughty and set in their ways.

I think the more appropriate question would be, "What have I done to my Chrysler to deserve what it's done to me!?"

- Haven't seen a single one of the new RL's, except at NAIAS. Then again, I'd be a little frightened if such an expensive car suddenly started appearing in my middle-of-nowhere neighborhood. - I've actually seen quite a few Crossfires, but none lately... After all, this isn't exactly the coupe or convertible season. One I've seen on several occasions was painted a nasty piss yellow colour; it just about killed my enthusiasm for the car. - I've seen a couple of the "new" Rangers. None with the chrome grille, though; all the ones I've seen have had body-colour grilles. - Haven't seen an Insight in a couple years. In fact, I probably have, but I just wouldn't remember it. For such a high-tech car, it is pretty plain looking. - I vividly recall seeing one Axiom in real life... because it took me a while to figure out what it was. I've never seen another before or since, and that was about a year ago. - Never seen an X-Type Wagon, nor any variety of X-Type in quite some time. Again, I'm not sure I'd recognize the car even if I did see it. - Haven't seen a Mazda5 either, except at NAIAS. I climbed into the backseat and marvelled at the lack of any sort of room, except for a lot of empty air right in front of my face. The rear seats (the headrests of which, when lowered, dug into my spine) obviously were not designed with adults in mind. North American adults, anyway. - Except for the Grand Marquis, the Mercury brand is not sold in Canada anymore. So, needless to say, I've seen no Montereys. - Haven't seen a Raider. In my book, that is a good thing... that truck looks like a Transformer waking up after a night of heavy drinking. - The Relay is another one of those cars where I wouldn't even notice if I did see one. I've got this vague half-memory of seeing one before, but I can't be sure that it wasn't an Uplander or a Terazza or a Montana. - Saw a used Volvo S80 once on a dealer's lot, but I haven't seen one since. Again, all Volvos look pretty much the same; you'd have to be a Volvo nut to be able to tell the difference between an S80 and an S60. - Here's the thing about Suzuki: Here in Canada, the Reno, Forenza, Verona, and, of course, the Swift are all sold as Chevrolets (and, in the case of the Swift, as a Pontiac, too). Hence, it's hard to tell the difference between a Suzuki Forenza and a Chevy Optra, and so on. The only Suzuki model that stands out is the Aerio, and I haven't seen one of those for a while. On the subject of the Mitsu Diamante: Are you sure they aren't just old, '04 or '05 models that never sold, and are still sitting unwanted and in brand-new condition on the dealer lots? Mitsubishi never sold the Diamante in Canada (they probably knew the end was near and never bothered), so I can't really comment. I've seen maybe two or three in my lifetime, and that was mostly on trips to Michigan.

Don't laugh. You laughed at Toyota 20 years ago, and look at the success they've had. You laughed at Hyundai 10 years ago... again, they've made huge inroads. History is on Kia's side.

Then why are there so many working in the Executive ranks at GM? Kirkorian may be the only person in the game right now who has the guts to take on GM's biggest problems, from a business standpoint, at least (Lutz is doing quite well with making more desirable cars). Wagoner and the rest of the gang seem to have this attitude that, "Well, if we leave things alone and deliever a lot of long-winded speeches about how GM is back on track, it will get better eventually...". I think that Kirkorian would demand action, which, for better or worse, is a lot more productive than sitting on your multi-million dollar executive *** all day like Wagoner does. So, I say, give him a chance. Heck, if he keeps buying more GM shares, we may not have a choice...

I just like the name. For some reason, "Gurgel" strikes me as a wildly hilarious name for, well... anything!

To me, that article shows more of a failed promise (or, at the least, one slow in coming) than a waking giant. Consider, for a moment, that this article was written in July of 2001. GM is still pushing the same mantra of improved quality and desirable cars... Yet, what improvements have we really seen? A couple steps up the quality ratings ladders, perhaps, but nothing yet that would totally blow away the competition. Desirable cars? Didn't we have a poll once with regards to how many desirable cars GM builds? The average response basically consisted of the Corvette, the Cadillac lineup, the Solstice, and a few others... still pretty weak, and out of the price range or impractical for most buyers. And, before anybody murders me for all of this, remember: Perception is everything. It's got to make an impact on the average consumer, not the GM fans. The lesson here is: The wheels of GM grind slowly. If things keep going the way they are (provided GM doesn't go bankrupt first), there is hope for the future; I could see GM becoming a truly competitive company again sometime around 2010. But don't expect GM to take the automotive world back overnight. It will be a long, painful process, not a sleeping giant suddenly springing to conciousness.

Not only would I buy a V8-powered car, I currently own a V8-powered car!

Much as the Imperial looked like the poor man's Rolls Royce, the Firepower looks like the poor man's Aston Martin. Not a bad looker at all (like the Imperial), but it looks very derivative. Whatever happened to Chrysler having the most innovative concepts?

It looks pretty much identical to the FTX Concept, except for the back, which looks like an F-150:

Well, I'm sorry if I misunderstood you. My understanding was that you were saying the fact that Japanese culture is different is nothing more than an excuse. I disagree. That is all. Click the following link: http://www.who.int/mental_health/preventio...uiciderates/en/ I'm not too worried about it. I am a regular; I've been here for 4-5 years now.

Oh, call off your dogs, FOG... They're getting lame and tired. Japan is a very different culture than the American or Canadian cultures. It is blatantly obvious to the casual observer, let along the big, bad, boogeyman press. If you don't believe me, follow this link for examples: http://outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html

This doesn't surprise me in the least. Unfortunately, suicide is very common in Japan. Often, they literally work themselves to death.

Picture of me inside the trunk of a Toyota Yaris, @ NAIAS on Sunday: Alright, Ted, it's your turn now!

Did anyone else have the problem with the stupid Ford broad closing all the Edge's doors? I wanted to get a picture of the interior, but she decided to close all the doors just as I was about to take my shot. So, instead I got this one: I've got to admit, the Edge looks better in person than in pictures. It seems a lot bigger and more substantial. The wheels probably helped with this, they were huge! Plus, they picked a good, striking colour for it. On the downside, the interior isn't anything to write home about, and you can tell that it's the same thing as the Mazda CX-7 and Lincoln MX... especially since the CX-7 is only a few feet away, in clear sight. BTW: To add insult to injury, my camera gave up the ghost just after I took the above pic, which pissed me off to no end. I felt a little vindicated, though, when I heard the spokesmodel flub a couple lines. You can tell which ones they pay simply to look pretty, and which actually know something about the cars they're spouting off about.

Testing, testing... In case you're wondering (though you probably aren't), this is the logo of the company that makes the flour we use in the Pizzas at work. Weird, isn't it?

It's on the raised display not too far from the Challenger. I took a picture of it: I think Dodge's plan is to keep cranking out special editions like last years Daytona and this years Super Bee until they're exhausted all the old colours and names from the "good 'ol days". I, for one, am waiting for the "Plum Crazy" edition.

It's Your Chance to Vote On Auto Makers' Concept Cars: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113...E_20070116.html

What time were you there, Ted? That looks like about the same time I was struggling to get a glimpse of the magnificent car. I eventually staked myself out a spot over on the Malibu side, not too far from the big screen. I'd say that was at about 10:30-11:00AM. Here's one of my pictures for reference: I've got about eight more if you'd like to see them, though, in my estimation anyway, Ted's are way better.

This I don't get. I mean, it's not as though GM has a shortage of competitive engines in their parts bin. In fact, GM has just come out with a slew of all-new or much-improved powertrains: The 3.9L. V6, the 2.8L. V6 (turbocharged in SAABs), the 3.6L. Cadillac V6. In V8 territory, there are the new and improved truck engines of various displacements, the improved small block, and the 6.0L. Corvette motor. Furthermore, at least half of these engines (and all of the V6's!) can already be had for a Manual transmission. So, if you ask me, the thought that Chevy doesn't have "every flavour" of powertrain is a complete and total cop-out. I do agree, though, that if you love the Camaro, you need to let GM know @ chevy.com. Sorry C&G, but those are really the only responses they're going to pay attention to.

I wish they would just make up their mind about this program. It's on, then it's cancelled, then it's still on in Australia but not for N.A, then a Camaro concept debuts, and it's on again, but they can't decide what they want to build with it. They need to do for this what they've done for the GMT's: Throw all available resources at it, make them undisputable class leaders, and get them in production ASAP. It's all or nothing, GM.

Okay, it's not as though we really need any more evidence of the Tahoe Hybrid's existance, but I'd like to show that I witnessed it with my own eyes. Here are some pictures I took just yesterday:

That's what I thought, too, the first time I got "404ed." The server is probably just getting more hits than it can handle.