CarShark

In fact, they just brought out a new Land Cruiser and Lexus LX570 for 2008. The Land Cruiser Prado is the Lexus GX470 in America, but that was introduced in 2002 and who knows what the future is for it? I can't believe Toyota dropped the Land Cruiser nameplate in Europe. It's legendary the whole world over. It's almost as dumb as making the new Corolla the Auris. Looking at the whole article, however, really makes me worry about the future of cars, not only in Europe but America. It looks like the EU's "voluntary until we make it law" CO2 cap of 140g/km killed the LC, and is giving the RAV4 a decent flesh wound. I'm sure Toyota loves having to throttle back the compact CUVs sales to get the fleet average down. So much for the free market. I wouldn't say sales are holding up well at all. Not at 23.1% or 41,412 fewer sales year over year. The important issue for Ford is where those sales are going. If they're buying Escapes and Edges, that doesn't hurt so bad. I think the majority of SUV buyers don't do much of either, so that's no problem for anyone except the marketing department, who can still say that the Land Cruiser is a well-respected name in off-road circles. Plus, they're both Toyotas, and that's enough for some people.

Nope. Nor was this one. Just like the man in the article said, the Prius isn't the niche bauble for environmentalists anymore, just as the Explorer isn't the widespread success. Almost like a "Where are they now?" segment.

I know others aren't too enamored with it, but I think it's a neat little gimmick. I wonder how much of the structural integrity is kept by using the glass instead of the metal?

Yes, but why be objective when you can be generalize a group you don't like?

I'd take the Cadillac, because many reviews of the M5 have said that it's short on torque, especially low down, so you really have to thrash it to get anything out of it.

Ford's really sticking their cars into more and more media outlets. I've always wondered whether it paid dividends or not.

What a spread between Honda and Acura! Honda second and Acura at the very bottom. Audi is also way down there, which surprises me.

I have to agree with suv_guy. I don't like the center stack design or the four-prong steering wheel and the metallic trim looks suspect.

InformationWeek InformationWeek

I guess the thought that keeps floating in my head whenever we talk about Ford's compact CUVs is "Why isn't the Edge the replacement for the Escape?" Why not just put a 4-cylinder engine in a less-featured Edge and have that be the more affordable model suv_guy talks about? All of its rivals start over $20K, so it isn't going to seem overpriced. Just make the current model the well-equipped SE.

I think that's a bit harsh on the average consumer. I know that there's a good percentage of "import only" or "domestic only", but within that, I think there's actual competition between brands, rather than just bandwagon jumping. P.S. 473,000 Camrys in one year. Amazing. Especially in this up and down year. They have no chance of doing it again next year, but still...

I meant in at least one month of 2007 there has been an instance. October sales: Holden: 11415 Ford: 8206 Toyota: 20212 I'm still reading the rest. EDIT-FCIA just put out the full year sales. Toyota outsold Holden and Ford in December. Top Australian Brands December 2007 & Total For 2007 1. Toyota Dec: 20,613 2007: 236,647 2. Holden Dec.: 10,464 2007: 146,680 3. Ford Dec.: 8,977 2007: 108,071 4. Mazda Dec.: 6,442 2007: 77,734 5. Mitsubishi Dec.: 5,326 2007: 65,397

By contrast, Toyota really is going great guns in Australia. In at least one month, they outsold Ford an GM's Holden combined. Top Australian Brands November 2007 www.fcai.com.au Toyota Nov. Sales: 20,956 (up 3.5%) YTD Sales: 216,034 (10.1%) Holden Nov Sales: 12,498 (-2.9%) YTD Sales: 136,216 (0.9%) Ford Nov. Sales: 9,219 (0.2%) YTD Sales 99,094 (-7.5%)

This is the part I'm wondering about, too. We have a five-seater crossover in the Edge. We have a doomed six-or-seven-seater crossover in the Taurus X. We're getting a seven-seater crossover in the Flex. Where is the Explorer supposed to fit in this logjam? That's why I thought it would remain body-on-frame and RWD/AWD as a lower volume serious off-roader, like SUVs used to be.

Yeesh. The Nation? You might as well have raised the red flag replete with hammer and sickle. EDIT-After actually reading it, I've discovered that I'm agreeing with a good chunk of it down below. I'm going to start calling everyone "comrade". EDIT 2-After actually reading the entire article, I've finally found the heavy-handed buttinski government aspect I know and despise greatly. All the red flags, sirens, klaxons and other warning systems went berzerk at the last few paragraphs. Complete lunacy. Notwithstanding the oxymoronic label "US multinational" *sigh* That said, I must admit that I have seen evidence of the near-deification of free trade. On some conservative-hosted shows. On some pro-business websites. Pretty much anything connected with CNBC's Larry Kudlow. It's like they don't recognize that there is a dark side to "free trade" that involves actual human beings. Ugh. I hate contradicting myself. The thing is...to me, at least, is "free trade" is a sham. Or at least a misnomer. It's really more of an economic theory than a reality. Truthfully, it's not so much about American goods ending up everywhere and everyone else's goods ending up here so much as breaking into a new market and gaining access to more cheap labor and consumers. If it was about free trade, we wouldn't let other countries have barriers or other fees on our products, and we wouldn't have any ourselves. We allow it because it's more convenient than not getting more buyers or labor, or pissing off a powerful lobby. There are enough success stories (McDonald's, Microsoft) that people don't realize that not everything is as rosy as it seems. China is taking the brunt of the anti-import sentiment this year, because of the recalls, but more things are getting made in Malaysia and South Africa and Mexico and other countries. Just as under regulated, just as many human rights violations, but nowhere near the heat of a national spotlight. Even though the system is broken, I still like free market, free trade capitalism more than any other system. I think it truly rewards effort and courage and innovation and everything that America is supposed to be about. The government keeping its hands off of business matters is a good thing to me. It's just too bad that other bad people can mess around with it. Back to cars: Once again, I have never let trade policy dictate my purchases, and I doubt I ever will. "Buy American" is not the American way to me. I agree with Ralph and others in saying that the domestics draping themselves in the U.S. flag is a ludicrous strategy when you are a global company. A Korean-made Aveo. A Mexican-made Fusion. A Canadian-made Charger. All with who knows how many foreign transmissions and suspensions and other parts. It's just disingenuous selective memory at work for the people who follow it, the same as "free trade" followers. Amazing how things connect when you think about it. (and actually read everything!!!)

...to lose weight. Winding Road

I think a (slightly) better comparison than the G6 would be the Chrysler Sebring Convertible, because you can compare the soft top version to the retractable hard top, like the Miata. The big limitation is that Chrysler only offers the hard top on the top of the range Limited Sebring. According to Chrysler.com: Convertible Base: $26,890 Limited Base: $32,730 Hardtop Base: $34,725 Difference to Base: $7835 Difference to Limited: $1995 It's only a $2000 option, but like with hybrids and navigation you have to pay almost six grand just for the choice. It just depends on the manufacturer. I still can't believe you can get a hardtop Miata for $25K. So, if the new Focus SE comes in at $17K nicely equipped, I could see it being just under $20K (like, $19,995) for a hardtop vert if they make one.

Wow. I should have seen that coming. Yet I clicked anyways. *sigh* I fell for the "Focus refresh called Escort" thread, too.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a textbook case of Attack the Scribe Syndrome. Note the use of the straw man argument. Useful to open an imaginary door through which one can cast stones. Accuracy or reading comprehension makes no difference when you can put a target on someone's back, folks. Next, the subject puts words in the victim's mouth. Why try to have an intelligent conversation with someone else when you can have an unintelligent one with yourself? Saves time so you can continue NOT controlling the rest of the board properly. And finally, the pièce de résistance, criticizing a "pathetic attempt at humor" by MAKING a pathetic attempt at humor. Hypocrisy, stubbornness and a chip on your shoulder the size of West Virginia: a combination that creates a beast no normal man could comprehend...the MODERATOR. Folks, I caution you. DO NOT LOOK THE MODERATOR STRAIGHT IN THE EYE! We continue the freak show tour...

What is known about "high-tensile" steel? I ask because the NCAP results are in for the Mazda2, and it's five stars! The car weighs less than 1000kg (~2200 lbs), because it uses high-tensile steel.

...and cost would go up how much? $25,000 to...$30,000? $35,000? More? Less? I would imagine that the reason we don't have more extensive use of aluminum, carbon fiber, and other composites in cars is because of the cost. Let's think about this. Not counting Ferraris, Lambos, and the like ($100,000), what production cars use aluminum, magnesium, etc. in the chassis, body, frame, unibody? The main structure of the car. Audi TT, A6 and A8 Jaguars What else?

Yes, because it's sooo easy to uproot yourself and move away from all your family and friends. Then again, maybe that's not a problem for you.

...in Michigan, where I live? Yeah, right.

I don't think people think of drill press operators as suckers, but they do realize that that job could be done just as well for half the cost, either in the South or in South Asia, or by a robot from South Australia. Obviously, the immeasurable impact of computers in our culture has made careers involving them more common and desirable, as well. Heck, cars are starting to have more computers than ever replacing mechanical parts. Truthfully, I think that blue-collar jobs have just become something you settle for, rather than strive for. Think about it for a second. Do you think the younger workers that are coming in to the lower-tier $14-$17 an hour jobs (twice the minimum wage, mind you) at the Big Three plants don't have a college education, are getting one, or plan to get one soon? I think they know the score. They HAVE to realize that in 20 years time, they will be pushed out the door just like the older workers were. They can't count on a pension. They can't count on cradle-to-grave health care. They are going to need marketable skills sometime in the future. If you asked a group of them, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to see the words "stepping stone" keep coming up. Manufacturing in the U.S. as a whole seems too volatile to be a career path. That's not disrespect for the job, just a realization of the job's limits. And I think it's unfair to say that only blue-collar work is "honest work". That's a slight to all the IT workers, doctors, and counselors out there that likely work longer hours. Just because they don't end up with something physical at the end doesn't mean that work wasn't done. We're (supposedly) becoming an economy based more on services and ideas, rather than things. Whether that's a good thing or not depends on who you talk to. I can imagine what your thoughts would be. To me, a statement like yours is a symptom of class warfare. People love to pit the "grunts" against the "pencil pushers". Social Responsibility to me means having the needs of the community (immediate or global) or others be a factor in your decision making. I think that it would just about have to be, if for nothing than the HUGE PR disaster looming if you got caught. Wal*Mart is seriously taking it on the chin with this new set of adverts from labor unions. And parents are staying away from Chinese-made toys as if they're radioactive. Well...at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they were. As to why social responsibility isn't always a big factor in companies it's probably because at the end of the day, let's face it, there's a good chance you won't be recognized for it, because no one cares. People only care when you get caught. There's a thread about Ford being a great "corporate citizen". Big fat hairy deal. I've never heard of anyone buying a mid-size car because the company's a "great corporate citizen". Ford's still in debt, still has falling sales, and still has a very iffy future. So, if to survive, they close down a plant or six, and move the work to Red China and leave it in Chinese hands, Wall Street won't mind, the Ford family won't mind, but most importantly, the customers won't even notice. As a kid during the 90s, just about every sitcom or cartoon or otherwise I watched had "A Very Special Episode" where a money-hungry corporation does something horrible, and the entire cast bands together to right the wrong. I can't help but think those shows a bit trite now, because that paints a very unfair picture of corporations as a whole, and makes it seem like making money means you're trampling over someone's happiness. Not every company is Enron waiting to happen, and I don't think every factory in Red China has conditions that would make an Ethiopian child shake their head with disdain. Part of it is just sensationalist journalism. Anything to get a headline.

I knew one of them was the Euro Accord. It's hard to keep track of Acura's models. Or care. All of the Acura cars are somehow connected to an Accord. Why hasn't Acura invested in a rear-drive platform that isn't the NSX's yet?