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What’s the Big Deal? The State of the Rebate in the Summer of ’07

The auto industry’s rebate frenzy is over, but there are still some alluring cash-back offers for buyers who can bring themselves to take advantage of automakers in distress, which is just about all of them, according to the New York Times.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 4:30 PM to Sales | Permalink | Comments 0

The Virtues of Avoiding Interstates

Many connoisseurs of the highway are championing the use of slow roads — back roads with scenery and history — instead of faceless Interstates, according to the New York Times. The idea emphasizes savoring local detail and culture.

“Taking the slow road is the best way to taste and feel the country, to use all your senses,” said Michael Wallis, author of “The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate,” with photographs by Michael S. Williamson. (W. W. Norton, 2007) .

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 4:08 PM to On the road | Permalink | Comments 0

Back to the Future in a 98-Year-Old Electric Car

In an era in which gasoline-powered automobiles were noisy, smelly, greasy and problematic to start, electric cars, like Jay Leno’s restored 1909 Baker Electric Coupe, represented a form of women’s liberation, according to the New York Times. (Includes a charming photo of Leno sitting in the car.)

“These were women’s shopping cars,” said Mr. Leno, who is a serious hands-on collector of autos and motorcycles dating from the 1800s to the present. “There was no gas or oil, no fire, no explosions — you just sort of got in and you went.

There were thousands of these in New York, from about 1905 to 1915. There were charging stations all over town, so ladies could recharge their cars while they were in the stores.”

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 3:58 PM to Collecting | Permalink | Comments 0

Switch still bedevils Ford; 3.6M more vehicles recalled

Ford will recall 3.6 million passenger cars, pickups, sport-utility vehicles and vans to address concerns about a cruise control switch that has led to previous recalls based on reports of fires, according to USA Today.

Ford said the recall covered more than a dozen vehicle models built from 1992-2007. The company said it was responding to concerns from owners about the safety of their cars and questions about the speed control deactivation switch in the vehicles that is powered at all times.

The automaker previously had recalled nearly 6 million vehicles beginning in January 2005 because of engine fires linked to the cruise control systems in pickups, SUVs and vans.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 3:54 PM to Ford | Permalink | Comments 0

Backstreet Driver: Does Nardelli provide boost of confidence to Chrysler?

Newly private Chrysler LLC workers and investors must be excited.

The company has named Bob Nardelli as its chairman and CEO, replacing Tom LaSorda.

Nardillo is perhaps best remembered as the former CEO of Home Depot who received a severance package valued at $210 million, including a $20 million cash payment, when he left Home Depot in January.

The move comes just days after private equity firm Cerberus took over the automaker. Cerberus Chairman John Snow had said last month that LaSorda would remain CEO of the ailing automaker.

Nardelli said in a news release late Sunday that he was "very excited to be part of a team focused on re-establishing Chrysler as a standalone industry leader, with a renewed focus on meeting the needs of customers."

See separate USA Today story.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:28 AM to Chrysler | Permalink | Comments 0

Oil Prices Fall on Speculative Selling

Oil prices fell Monday, extending a decline prompted at the close of last week by news of a cooling U.S. job market, according to the Associated Press.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $1.17 to $74.31 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, afternoon in Europe.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:23 AM to Oil | Permalink | Comments 0