With a $1 billion federal "Cash for Clunkers" program that pays consumers $3,500 or $4,500 in credit to swap aging gas-guzzlers for new, more fuel efficient models, he made the plunge. "It ended up being right place, right time for me," said Metzler, 42, who traded his eight-y …

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excerpt: "" Schultz held no punches back when he went after Hugh Hewitt's idiotic call for a national boycott of all GM and Chrysler cars because he calls them "socialist companies."

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So, why should the federal government care who it is that sells us our cars? There are two rationales offered. First, to preserve an "American" auto industry. Second, to preserve "American" jobs. The proposed Chrysler restructuring gives the lie to both rationales.

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As the global automotive industry faces stark declines across all vehicle classes, futurist designers are demonstrating what can be done with flying cars.

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being Obama

Well, I found another article of mine that had been removed. There is little reason or understanding how this happens. Over the course of my hundreds of articles on Newsvine, about four have been removed by someone, only to be reinstated later after I challenged the removal.

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During the debate over the 2007 energy bill, one of the Bush administration's chief demands – besides opposing strong renewable energy goals – was raising fuel efficiency standards to 31.8 miles per gallon by 2015 and 35 mpg by 2020.

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"To improve the overall future prospects for the domestic motor vehicle manufacturers, a quality and price competitive motor vehicle must be produced," the report warns. "If this is not accomplished, the long term outlook for the industry is bleak."

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HONG KONG — Honda announced on Friday that it would withdraw from Formula One, a startling pullout that has its origins in the dismal state of the auto industry and which could have serious repercussions on the high-profile racing circuit.

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Congress should ask for more. There are solid grounds to mistrust Detroit's Bit Three. As the price of gasoline drifts back below $2 a gallon, they face a powerful incentive to slip on the drive for better mileage and new fuels and to fall back on the gas-guzzlers they know.

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Toyota did not say how many vehicles' worth of production would be lost as a result of the two-day stoppage on December 22 and 23, on top of a scheduled break for Christmas and New Year.

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If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won't go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

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Unconvincingly, McElroy is in favor of an automaker bailout, likening it to the Chrysler deal back in 1979, after which its "stock shot from $3 a share to over $30, a 1,000% return in just a few years time." He figures if the taxpayers back GM, Ford, and Chrysler this time around …

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Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama said the government needs to provide help to U.S. automakers on condition that management, labor and lenders come up with a plan to make the industry ``sustainable.''

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This is what I think whenever I see someone plodding along the freeway or struggling through the city streets in some older and terminally bland or even brand new and yet still terminally bland Malibu or Cobalt or Taurus, Sebring or Nitro or Mustang or Corvette or Neon or hell, a …

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The author, Paul Ingrassia, describes how the recent financial crisis may have brought the automotive industry to its knees, but notes the trouble began decades ago.

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Authors Bill Vlasic and Nick Bunkley review how G.M. and subsequently the U.S. automotive industry as a whole are near the brink of collapse.

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Where we seem to lose it is in the low-bucks econocar. I used to be able to identify any American car from 25 yards. Now they all have this jellybean look.

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In conjunction with the announcement of an $8.7 billion loss for the second quarter, Ford confirmed what had been suspected for some time with a major shift in production capacity from trucks to cars.

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The proverbial "perfect storm" appears to be upon the US auto industry with the continued rise in fuel prices and what may be a significant downturn in the US economy.

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We all know that gasoline is at $4 a gallon and oil is at $135 a barrel. But if you think that's the end of the story, don't talk to economist Jeffrey Rubin of CIBC World Markets.

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After incidents with ultra-quiet hybrid vehicles being undetectable by the visually-impaired pedestrians around them, auto-makers are exploring options to make environmentally-friendly vehicles a bit more audible.

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Famed design house Pininfarina has signed on with a private French firm to build a four-seat electric car that will be marketed under the Pininfarina brand name.

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Ignore the science? Check.Ignore the law? Check.Seems the EPA is learning from the White House.The head of the U.S.

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As Europe's car manufacturing has shifted from west to east in the past decade, Slovakia has earned a reputation as a Detroit in the heart of Europe.

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Gas-guzzling sports cars, 4x4s and people carriers could be priced off the road within five years after a crackdown on carbon emissions to be announced by the European Commission this month.

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