Articles by Katharine Wroth

Car company makes bikes, lures the kids

So Cadillac introduces a bicycle. Is this good news or bad? On the one hand, you have a major car company endorsing the idea of human-powered transportation. On the other hand, they're doing it to -- you guessed it, brainiac -- sell more Cadillacs. The notion is to use this "unexpected brand contact" to reach younger buyers. Who, having just spent $500-$1900 on a Cadillac bike, will presumably think nothing of dropping another $40,000 on a luxury car.

Disturbing, yes, but mostly it's just weird. Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned Schwinn?

Cars: they’re not just for driving anymore

There's nothing green about the in-car gizmos featured in this MSNBC piece. Unless you consider the underlying message: Americans are never, ever, ever, not ever, going to give up their cars.

Why would you, when espresso and a toilet are within reach? Imagine the possibilities.

Toyota to American public: we make bad cars too!

A wire story just caught my eye. The subject? How Toyota is preparing for the potential backlash caused by its growing popularity in the U.S. (Cue Lee Greenwood here.)

Seems that last month, Toyota's U.S. sales increased 7.8 percent, while GM's fell 5.5 percent and Ford's fell 3. It's just part of the bad Detroit juju of late. But according to this article, Toyota -- maker of some of the most fuel-efficient cars on the planet -- is hastening to remind us that it, too, makes gas guzzlers. And that it, too, could be hurt by tougher fuel economy standards in the U.S.

There are too many amazing angles to poke at here. But what a sad state we're in when the good guys have to pump up their bad reputation.

But hey, it’s better than nothing.

Among the press releases meandering into the Grist inbox this morning was one from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The council's weary flacks put their best spin on today's Senate energy-bill vote with this headline:

"Senate Energy Bill: A Substantial Improvement Relative to the House Bill and to Bills Passed in 2003."

I'm laughing with them, not at them. By all means, let's take what we can get.