A year ago I put together a chart comparing the first-half performance of America’s “big six” most popular midsized sedans. Then, the graph seemed to show promising growth and a tightening segment. Now we seem to be looking at an up-and-down... 

Cartoon by Pat Bagley at Cagle Cartoons. The United Auto Workers have proven that they’ll come out in support of greenhouse gas regulation when they think it’s in their interests, but what happens now that the union-built green-car future... 

Since I’ve only been wandering about in Denver junkyards for a year, I have no way of telling whether the current glut of junked AMC Eagles I’m encountering (e.g., this ’84, this ’84, and this ’82, plus a few more that I... 

Nissan and Mitsubishi are edging even closer. Now, they inked a production deal where Mitsubishi produces the Navara pickup trucks for Nissan at Mitsubishi’s plant in Thailand. Production will start “in fiscal 2012,” which starts on April 1, 2012.... 

Wards has a fascinating piece on the recent evolution of the A-pillar, starting with the aesthetic novelty of the B5 Passat and ending with the various roof crush and head-impact safety standards that are creating ever-larger and more vision-obstructing... 

Opel is casting a wary eye at parent GM. GM unleashed Chevrolet in Europe. Nobody took it seriously until Chevrolet announced today that the bowtie brand sold 23 percent more Chevys in Opel’s home market Germany than in the first half of 2010. In the... 

As a product of the Golden State, there’s a lot that I appreciate about California: the weather, the immigrant diversity, the entrepreneurial spirit, and the fact that people drive fast just to name a few examples. But, having lived for years among... 

Electric vehicles present all kinds of challenges to the traditional ways of understanding cars. From design to differentiation, from range to refueling, EVs simply act different than the internal combustion-powered cars we’ve been refining for... 

As automakers face slowly diminishing returns in their attempts to make internal combustion engines more efficient (while facing huge challenges in electric, hydrogen and other alt-fuel drivetrains), they are looking ever more closely at alternative... 

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars BRAND ( not the Group) reports global sales  of 2.53 million for the first six months of 2011.- Compared to the same period of 2010, this is an increase of 11.8 percent. The brand also reported an increase for the month... 

Remember the early Nova hatchbacks? They didn’t sell very well, probably because the hatch cost $150 more ($810 in 2011 dollars) than the Nova coupe with a traditional trunk. I can’t remember the last time I saw one, and I wouldn’t have... 

Police are not alone in the ability to secretly use GPS devices to track someone without his knowledge, the New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division ruled Thursday. A three-judge panel made this decision in the context of a privacy invasion... 

Transportation Secretary and Supreme Allied Commander in the War On Distraction Ray LaHood is quite chuffed about initial pilot program results for his latest offensive against in-car cell phone use, and he’s taking to the airwaves to declare victory.... 

I’ve been scanning a lot of my old 35mm negatives and slides for the ongoing 1965 Impala Hell Project series (using a time-slows-to-crawl 1999-vintage SCSI film scanner), and I ran across this series of panoramic black-and-white photos that I shot... 

TTAC Commentator Mazder3 writes: Hey Sajeev, I have an auto parts question that I’ve been meaning to ask for a while but I keep forgetting about it. Back in February, going to my car after doing some shopping, I spotted a cute college woman acting strangely... 

Earlier this year, UAW President Bob King said that if the union didn’t organize foreign auto plants, “I don’t think there’s a long-term future for the UAW, I really don’t.” Now why would he say such silly things if... 

Having taken over sales and distribution of the Smart brand from Penske and canceled a planned Nissan Micra rebadge, Mercedes is trying to inject some life into its flagging city car brand (Sales are down 24% YTD, at 2,556 units) with a new marketing... 

When the White House opened negotiations over the next round of CAFE regulations for 2017-2025, I reckoned the automakers and regulators were “working in nearly unprecedented harmony.” Well, not so much any more. The WSJ [sub] reports that,... 

After a brief commercial, the video above shows you… a brief commercial. TTAC has long held such “pimpatorials” in profound contempt, decrying the blurring of the lines between journalism and advertising that is in full evidence in even... 

Guess who just had a 37 percent increase in sales in the first six months of 2011? No, it was no small Chinese car company with an unpronounceable name. It was Porsche. And guess what is putting Porsche into overdrive? No, not the 911. No, not the Panamera....