I talked to Perry Stern of MSN Autos back in July, and we had a chance to catch up a bit yesterday.The main topic was the economy and its impact on the auto industry. It’s pretty ugly out there right now. J. D. Power is predicting than less than 13.6 million autos will be sold in 2008, down from 16.1 million in 2007. And of course the Detroit automakers are in turmoil. Perry thinks that GM is the best positioned in Detroit, in terms of its current model lineup and vision for the future. And Perry believes that Honda is probably the strongest of all the automakers right now, largely because they stuck to their core strengths and avoided the temptation to get into big trucks and SUVs.

I asked Perry what test car had impressed him recently, and he told me that he had loved the Maserati Gran Turismo S. He thought that the gearbox—with shift technology borrowed from the Ferrari 599—was awesome. And he said that the exhaust sounded so good he was driving around looking for tunnels to blast through. Meanwhile, Perry has added a new ride to his personal garage—a 2009 Subaru Impreza for his wife.

On Monday I had a nice chat with Perry Stern, MSN Auto’s Editor. Perry has been there since it started in 1995 (it was called CarPoint back then) and has been running the show since 2002. As Perry says, it was “the first Microsoft product not to come in a box.” Our conversation was supposed to center on fuel efficient vehicles, gas prices, etc., but I figured you guys are sick of hearing about that stuff, and anyway, I was curious about his site. Continue reading…

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