New cars

Should Detroit get out of the car business?

February 8, 2018 Bill Cawthon 0

For more than 100 years, Detroit, Michigan has been synonymous with the automobile. While it certainly wasn’t the only place car companies called home, it was the main attraction with Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. For the majority of those years, the pride of place went to passenger cars, like […]

rocker switches

Here’s a switch: replacing buttons

February 6, 2018 David Zatz 0

For decades, automakers have searched for ways to cut every possible penny from their costs, without making it obvious to prospective buyers. They experimented with putting the gauge cluster into the middle of the car, with moving physical controls into touch-screens, and with converting every possible knob into buttons. The […]

BMW X7

Is this the production BMW X7?

January 21, 2018 David Zatz 0

BMW has released some photos of the X7 iPerformance Concept, but not the production car itself. Today, those photos have surfaced from a location near BMW’s facility. The biggest vehicle ever made by BMW, the X7 is a full-size SUV, chasing sales where they seem strongest; it will have three […]

gac- Trumpchi gs7

Coming to America: this Chinese SUV

January 18, 2018 David Zatz 0

GAC — Guangzhou Automobile Group — has been making cars with Fiat Chrysler for some time. Now, they want to make cars just for you, with the GS7 SUV appearing on American shores in 2019. Chinese companies have been selling directly in Europe for some time, with limited success. There […]

Ford shows new Mustang Bullitt, Ranger

January 14, 2018 Chris Van Der Doelen 0

The Ford Motor Company rolled out a new version of the famous Mustang Bullitt today in Detroit for the 50th anniversary of the car made famous by the movie of the same name. After brief appearances by Executive Chairman Bill Ford and other company luminaries, the suits got out of […]

Turn signals — amber or red? Yes, it matters

January 4, 2018 Daniel Stern 23

What color should rear turn signals be? In North America they’re usually red, and can also be amber. Almost everywhere else in the world, they have to be amber. Traffic moves and changes quickly. Fractions of a second make the difference between a crash and a miss. That means that […]

How hybrid-electric cars and trucks work

February 9, 2014 David Zatz 0

For many years, it seemed that the internal combustion engine was superior. No serious contender had won out, with electric and steam fading early in the automobile’s history, and Chrysler’s “burn anything” turbine efforts finally ended by the Federal government (despite promising results). Slowly, though, the technology for merging electric […]