See all the hot rides from the Motor City show!

I guess it’s not terribly surprising at this point, but… Dunno what to say, really. Read the story at Reuters and then let us know what you think!

According to new General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson, it’s a distinct possibility that the company could leave Detroit as all options to save the massive company are being looked at. It seems that bankruptcy is a guarantee at this point and once this mess hits the courts, look out.

GM leaving Detroit may not be as big a deal as it once would have been as the company has been “leaving” Detroit for over 20 years as it has gradually degraded to the precarious point it sits in now.

Just to prove that this is not a hoax, here’s a link to the story laying it out.

Ford has announced that it will use $550 million to transform its Michigan assembly plant. The plant has been building Expeditions and Navigators but will converted to build the next generation Focus and 2011 Focus battery-electric variant (BEV). Is this a good move or a little too risky? Via Left Lane News.

Funny spin on the famous anti-drug commercial of the 80s. Compare it to the original. Via Detroit News

Last fall, we were all talking about the build (that’s the number of cars that need to be built to satisfy US demand) being 12.1 million for 2009, down from 16 million or so in 2007. Then in December, Ford called 10 million. Last month, the word going around was 8.5 million. A bunch of us were sitting around at work yesterday and crunched some numbers. Based on January and February sales, the 2009 build could be less than 6 million cars. No one, OEM, Tier or otherwise, is going to escape that number without certain damage, if not failure. As cheezy as this sounds, I’m asking you: please, go buy a new car today.

Things have changed in the last forty years… or have they? I pasted more pics after the jump, but you can see the full set over at flickr

Continue reading "1969 Detroit Auto Show" »

My buddy Dale (AKA Peelerboy for his Schwinn obsession) just built a sweet ride page for his beautiful 4 speed 1971 Dodge Challenger. He restored this car back in 1992, but as you can see from this recent photo at  Milan Dragway, it’s no trailer queen! The old Mopar runs the quarter in 12.92 on Polyglas tires! If that’s not cool enough, Dale is living the dream of being a automotive designer in Detroit. Anyway, check out his ride and leave a comment in his guestbook!

Seriously, how do they even compete with this new Caddy?

In case you missed it in my blog about my conversation with J Mays, Ford has definite plans to revamp the Ranger. I confirmed this with another Ford designer at Camilo Pardo’s party. But it doesn’t sound like there are any plans for a new Bronco. I plan to follow this story closely, and am thinking something may be revealed at the Chicago show, so stay tuned. This Ranger Max concept shown at the Thailand International Motor Expo last month is said to hint at the future design.

I’m headed to the airport, so that’s it for me for today. I had an awesome time—Detroit is an amazing town. Kathy and I have a bunch more pics and video that I will sort through and post over the next few days. But for now I’ll leave you with some shots from the Cobo rooftop where we parked every day. Bye Detroit! I’m already looking forward to next year!

Continue reading "Bye Bye Detroit" »

I landed in Detroit ealier this evening and snapped this pic of The GM Collection on the way to the baggage claim. Pretty much the coolest airport souvenir shop ever. Detroit has been getting some snow, some flights have been cancelled and the whole cab scene was a bit of a mess, but after a bit of a wait I managed to grab a cab with Mary Jean Wesche of the Mustang Club of America (she’s here to cover the Shelby GT500 unveil tomorrow at 11 AM) and finally made it out to Kathy’s house in Troy for her party. Got the full tour of Kathy’s house and even got to touch the Alcantara in her Cabrio project car. Matt and Calsie then gave me a lift back to my hotel in their cool little ’82 Rabbit (thanks guys!). I have a few more pics after the jump. NAIAS coverage starts tomorrow morning, so stay tuned…

Continue reading "Hello From Detroit" »

A bunch of you guys got excited about Blake’s new Rampage and I was arguing for the return of an affordable Rampage-like truck when I heard that Pontiac killed the G8 pickup earlier this week. Well, sounds like Dodge is actually considering bringing it back! I’ll be sure to bug the Dodge guys about this at NAIAS, so stay tuned… Detroit News via Jalopnik 

Oh, and Autoblog has pics of the 2006 Rampage concept.

Tomorrow I head out to Detroit to cover the North American International Auto Show. I’ll be there with Mike Devilling and Katherine Helmetag (my first stop is a party at Kathy’s house Saturday night). This will be my first NAIAS and I’m pretty stoked. So what do you guys want to see? Honestly, I haven’t heard of anything terribly new or exciting that will be unveiled there, but I’m still thinking it will be pretty damn interesting. I’ll have plenty of access to Ford, GM and Chrysler folks, so let me know if you have any pressing questions. Otherwise, look for coverage to start as soon as I get wireless access on Sunday.

Just check out the comments over at Chrysler’s blog. I don’t know, doesn’t seem like such a huge deal to me. What do you think?