cars

SUV owners prefer McCain, while hybrid drivers are rooting for Obama, research finds

The kind of car you drive is related to your preference for presidential candidate, according to new research from Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research.   McCain leads among owners of full-size trucks and SUVs, luxury cars, and luxury SUVs. Obama leads among those who drive imports, station wagons, hatchbacks, and hybrids. “McCain’s appeal among owners […]

Small change

“It’s not insignificant, but it’s the cost of a paint shop in an auto factory.” — David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Michigan, on John McCain’s $300 million prize for a new electric car battery

Global recession? Must be time for the media’s alternative-energy backlash

My father used to say of his profession that newspaper editors are the people who come down from the mountaintop at the end of the battle and shoot the wounded. A massive credit crunch and a drop in the price of fossil fuels can mean only one thing to the editors of the traditional media […]

Hybrid production costs may drop two-thirds within 10 years

Bloomberg reports: Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and other carmakers may cut production costs for hybrid systems by 67 percent over the next decade as shipments rise and companies gain experience, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Gasoline-electric systems on average will cost $1,919 each in 2018, compared with an estimated $5,869 this year […]

Tesla ousts second CEO in two years and plans to cut staff

CNET reported on Wed. that Tesla chairman Elon Musk bumped CEO Ze’ev Drori from the top slot and will take over his position while continuing to focus on product development. Drori didn’t last long in the limelight, as he came to the company in late 2007 after Musk ousted the other former CEO and Tesla […]

Budget-saving tips awfully similar to planet-preserving prescriptions

Who are you to deny me my two-car garage filled with junk, an elegant dining room I’ll never use, and massive heating/cooling bills? That’s the basic response from critics when greens question McMansions in particular and our consumer culture in general. I mean, isn’t newer, bigger, better the American way? Didn’t President Bush urge us […]

As GM goes …

GM stock is down 30 percent today — the lowest GM stock price since 1950. Ford dropped by almost a quarter before a slight uptick — lowest since 1983. S&P may downgrade their credit rating (again). Witness: Stocks, which had opened higher, dived into the close, with the S&P 500 index ending down 7.6 per […]

July sees another sharp drop in U.S. driving

July saw another sharp drop in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) according to the Federal Highway Administration’s monthly report on “Traffic Volume Trends.” Lost in all the news about the financial meltdown and the election is the report that Americans drove 3.6 percent less, or 9.6 billion miles fewer, in July 2008 than July 2007. Okay, […]

Oh noes, driving down!

As of July, U.S. driving declined for nine months straight. Average gas prices have dropped almost 50 cents since then — I’ll be very curious to see the figures for Aug. and Sep. This seems like a good time to revisit the fact that our transportation infrastructure is funded by gas taxes and thus is […]