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December 3, 2008
This Just In: New on the Net
By John Coyle
Editor
So, everybody knows that Coca-Cola was originally spiked with Bolivian marching powder—but 7-Up also had a secret ingredient! As it turns out, the company’s "Never had it, never will" slogan doesn’t apply to lithium. Today, lithium is used to treat bi-polar disorder, but back in the roaring ’20s, it was just a hangover cure. Damn, I knew I was born too late. Anyway, here’s the news:
- Honda has released images of the new Insight, and it looks very similar to the Prius, which means it’s hideous. So what’s the deal? Must hybrid cars be visually repellent to function? Is this why Tesla can’t seem to get its act together? Autoblog
- Yesterday, a Reno woman got wasted and hopped behind the wheel. Then she filled her tank and drove away with the pump’s nozzle dangling. The kicker? She mistook an ambulance for a police cruiser and pulled over. At least nobody got hurt. The Weekly Vice via Jalopnik
- With the Big Three begging for government loans and auto sales in the toilet, it’s easy to see Hummer as doomed. But while its fate seems certain, there’s a chance the Ruskies might save the beefy brand. Seriously, ever seen a Russian "road?" New York Times
- If somebody stole my moped—not that I’d ever own one—I guess I’d be pretty stoked if the thief tried to make right. Of course, I might be a little pissed if it took him 25 years. Reuters
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uʍop ǝpısdn sı ¡sǝu
Dec 5, 2008 at 3:23 am
“I’d rather have a tomatoes than the Toyota” hahahahahaha that was great. I’d rather have the tomatoes too.
John Coyle
Dec 4, 2008 at 5:46 am
artie99,
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There were a lot of times when I thought nobody was reading. Thanks
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I think people are pumped about hybrids being ugly for the same reason folks pay too much for heirloom tomatoes. They’re super-ugly, but they’re “better.”
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That said, I’d rather have the tomatoes than the Toyota.
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Cheers!
Stewart
Dec 4, 2008 at 1:09 am
Lithium…
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Great song too!
nes!
Dec 3, 2008 at 11:05 pm
To begin with the Insight never looked good, and on top of that you add a Prius look and you get a horrible lookig car!
artie99
Dec 3, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Hey John, glad to see you keep plugging away. I honestly read all of the New on the Net posts semi-religiously. It would be a shame to see them go.
On point though, as for the Honda Insight and Prius ugliness I have a theory. It is somewhat outdated now with the shift of using the buzzword/fad “Green” being all the rage. But I believe there is a market that will buy a hybrid, any hybrid, just because it’s “Green.” Automakers don’t want people buying hybrids because their profit margins on them are so thin (since the real markups are at the dealership level) – they want us to buy cheap-to-build, cars that use the same basic technology that has been used for 110 years. So they design hybrids so basically just that market will buy them and the companies still look like heroes for putting them on the street.
I never bothered to find out why the hybrid Accord (which looked exactly like a regular Accord) got pulled, was it because it didn’t look like a Prius? Did Toyota get it exactly right by making the Prius ugly so people desperate to tell everyone who sees them they are “Green – and Damn serious about it” would only buy an easy to spot hybrid?
Call it, “The Prius Effect.”