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Champ Cars Open Season in Las Vegas Sunday

With seventeen brand-new Champ Cars set to take the grid on one of six new venues to grace the 2007 schedule, the Champ Car World Series finds itself on the brink of a future that may be even brighter than the glitz and glamour that surrounds the season-opening Vegas Grand Prix on Sunda, according to champcarworldseries.com.

Posted by   at 10:21 AM to Racing | Permalink | Comments 0

High track and temps hurt grip for Malaysian Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen added fuel to Ferrari’s fire today when, despite setting the fourth-fastest time (1m 36.160s) within four-tenths of a second of team mate Felipe Massa (1m 35.780s) in the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, he revealed that he was not happy with his F2007’s performance, according to Formula1.com.“The car feels reasonably okay but I’m not 100 percent happy,” he said. “We learned things but there is still work to do. The car felt different to the way it did here last week, the set-up was not as good as it was. The grip’s slightly different.”
Most felt the same as the high track and ambient temperatures hurt grip significantly.

Posted by   at 10:12 AM to Racing | Permalink | Comments 0

Transportation Dept: Anti-Rollover for U.S. Vehicles

The government says it will require all new passenger vehicles to have anti-rollover technology by the 2012 model year, predicting it could save thousands of lives and dramatically reduce rollover crashes, according to the Associated Press.
The Transportation Department said "electronic stability control" could prevent between 5,300 and 9,600 deaths annually and up to 238,000 injuries a year once it is fully deployed into the nation's fleet, AP says.

Posted by   at 10:00 AM to Transportation | Permalink | Comments 0

GM Still Being Outsold in Nation's Cities

Two years ago, General Motors promised dealers it would do whatever it took to reverse falling sales in the American cities that set the industry's trends, but the slump has only worsened, according to Bloomberg.com
Toyota outsells GM two-to-one in Los Angeles and by a slightly smaller margin in Miami, according to U.S. data compiled by R.L. Polk & Co. In the New York City metropolitan area, where GM had a 4.5 percentage point lead in market share five years ago, Toyota has surged to a four-point advantage.

Posted by   at 9:37 AM to Companies | Permalink | Comments 0

What makes 89-year-old Kerkorian Run?

Bloomberg.com's John Lippert offers an overview of Kirk Kerkorian's $4.5 billion bid for Chrysler. It seems the 89-year-old - yes, that's 89 - billionaire from investing in airlines and casinos, still hasn't given up on his Detroit dreams, Lippert writes. He has sought a major role with a U.S. automaker since 1990.
His offer to buy DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler comes 12 years after his first attempt to buy the company and six months after his failed effort to pressure General Motors into an alliance with Renault and Nissan.

Posted by   at 9:32 AM to People in the News | Permalink | Comments 0

USA Today: Crossovers Star in New York

Check out USA Today's auto writer James Healey's take on the New York International Auto Show which opened yesterday, complete with a photo gallery of some of the stars of the show. I'll be heading down tomorrow for a first-hand look at the nation's biggest show after Detroit and Los Angeles.

Posted by   at 9:19 AM to Shows | Permalink | Comments 0

States offer protection against buying lemons

Don't give up if you buy a lemon - a vehicle that is a complete disaster from start to finish, USA Today reports. There is reason for hope even if your car has persistent problems ranging from safety-related to simply annoying.
Every state has a lemon law protecting and spelling out your rights. Most declare vehicles lemons after up to four unsuccessful repair attempts within about 24,000 miles or 24 months, although the laws vary widely, the paper reports.

Posted by   at 9:13 AM to Consumer rights | Permalink | Comments 0