Filed under: Etc. , Government/Legal 2010 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery Ever wonder what actually goes into determining the rated fuel economy of a new car or truck? Anyone with a vehicle that’s failed to live up to its EPA estimated figures would surely fit into that camp - especially if the car or truck were purchased in large part to its high mileage rating - and you can add our names to that list as well. As …

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Autoblog

Topics: driver, fuel mileage test, epafueleconomy

If there’s any lesson from the downfall of Detroit’s carmakers over the past several years, it’s that it’s that the smart money can’t find an easy solution to Motown’s woes. When private equity giant Cerberus Capital Management said it would buy Chrysler and its lending arm, Chrysler Financial Services, from former parent Daimler AG of Germany in May 2007, the idea was that the financier could bring better management and turn it around. With better cash flow management and the cut-cutting …

David Welch

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Auto Beat - BusinessWeek

Topics: smart, management, financier

Filed under: Car Buying , Government/Legal If you’re a car dealer, chances are that you’re not visiting Autoblog this morning to see what’s going on. No, your head and the head of every single one of your employees is buried in a keyboard right now, frantically refreshing the government’s website that handles Cash for Clunkers submissions. The website has been down since yesterday morning, and the Transportation Department has officially extended the deadline for dealers …

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Autoblog

Topics: photo, cashforclunkers

Filed under: Government/Legal , Chrysler When Chrysler sought bankruptcy protection on April 30, the Obama administration insisted that one of the conditions of its Chapter 11 filing were that all product lawsuits against the Pentastar were the responsibility of “Old Carco LLC.” In other words, anyone in litigation with Chrysler as a result of injuries that may have been caused as a result of faulty product would never be paid. The move…

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Autoblog

Topics: product suits, productsuits, productlawsuits

Filed under: Sedan , Government/Legal , Ford , Specialty Quick quiz: What vehicle transported Paris Hilton to prison? If you answered Ford’s Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, you took the easy route and you were correct. The older than thou Crown Vic accounts for about 85% of the 75,000 police vehicles sold each year - a market where styling, amenities and new safety features have little to do with the vehicle’s success. The CV’s body-on-frame construction helps the ubiquitous cop cruiser stand up to…

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Autoblog

Topics: paris, crownvictoria, policeinterceptor

Toyota Motor Corp. said that it will shutter its New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, Calif, in 2010. The move came almost two months after General Motors decided to pull out of the 25-year-old joint venture. It should come as no surprise. NUMMI already had everything going against it when GM decided to kill Pontiac and pull out of the venture in July. Its United Auto Workers contract guarantees workers $28 an hour compared with $24 an hour in other Toyota…

David Welch

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Auto Beat - BusinessWeek

Topics: cambridge, california, japanese, pontiac, corolla

Filed under: Government/Legal , UK England is a very strange place. Not only do they like having a royal family, but they talk like this: “Oi. Buncha southy Londoners are suddenly stroppy over the constable’s wonky plan to nick exposed swag from their unlocked cars. Kind of a bollocks plan, innit?” Naturally the coppers are chuffed about the whole thing, claiming they’re just teaching gadges that couldn’t be arsed to lock their cars a lesson. In other words, in an…

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Autoblog

Topics: words, police

Helped by Cash for Clunkers, which ended Monday, the annualized selling rate for the auto industry in August is expected to be about 15.5 million, according to Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs. That would be a 16% improvement year over year, and nearly a 40% increase from July. Goldman fully expects a “pay back effect” in September following the program. The firm also expects the monthly selling rate to remain above 10 million for the rest of the year, with a final sales tally of…

David Kiley

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Auto Beat - BusinessWeek

Topics: sales, housing, cars and economics

Filed under: Car Buying , Government/Legal Toyota Corolla most bought, Ford Explorer 4WD most traded After one month, an extra $2 billion in funding and an absolute mess of paperwork, Cash for Clunkers has finally petered out. The final numbers are in and the program resulted in 700,000 sales totaling $2.877 billion in $3,500 and $4,500 vouchers handed out at dealerships across the nation. An additional $100 million was set aside for administration costs…

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Autoblog

Topics: explorer, transportationdepartment, clunkers, government

Filed under: Government/Legal , Russia Kamaz Dakar rally team in Moscow’s Red Square While competition between local automakers may have worked in individual markets in the past, that same fragmentation is one of the chief elements hampering the global competitiveness of carmakers hailing from emerging markets. China’s automakers have been learning that lesson for some time now, and Russia could be next if national conglomerate Russian Technologies has anything to say about it. The industrial giant holds major interest in…

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Topics: rosavto, image, avtovaz