Posted on 01/22/2014 6:06:20 AM PST by MichCapCon
DETROIT — My muffled chuckle was not appreciated by the 20-something clipboard carrier hovering around EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy here at the auto show.
I tried to restrain myself as McCarthy emerged from a tiny Chevy Spark tucked along a wall at the General Motors display.
"This is my baby," she said turning back to admire the micro car.
I chuckled.
Her statement was as amusing as it was telling. After all, only a bureaucrat could look at a car that almost no one will buy and beam with pride. The only thing less popular than ultra tiny vehicles in America is Congress.
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow wasn't far behind. The Lansing Democrat who famously told The Detroit News editorial board that she could feel global warming when she flies, also kicked the small car’s tires and climbed in to see the fruits of her and her colleagues’ government mandates.
Sanity returned at a Ford Motor Co. press conference nearby. And it came from Ford CEO Alan Mulally, who channeled his inner F.A. Hayek during a question and answer session with reporters and bloggers.
"We’ll always make the cars and trucks that people want," he said. "I think the automobile industry is always going to be driven by economics."
I leaned over to the guy sitting next to me to confirm what I just heard. After all, most of the press conferences and even the question and answer sessions with executives are closely scripted and lack any depth.
He went on: "The most important thing we can do is to continuously improve the internal combustion engine" because it's going to be around "for a long time."
I was stunned. And encouraged.
Despite the best efforts of bureaucrats, the auto market in the United States is largely driven by consumers. That's why the Ford F-150 pickup has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for more than 30 years. The Dearborn automaker sold more than 760,000 last year.
GM sold more than 418,000 Chevrolet Silverado pickups in 2013; Chrysler sold more than 355,000 Ram trucks. Those were the top three vehicles sold last year and accounted for 1.6 million of the 15.6 million vehicles sold in the United States in 2013.
That translates to jobs and money into local economies across this country. None of that happens with the sale of electric vehicles and clown cars, especially when the sale of them depends on tax breaks and incentives..
Someday bureaucrats and politicians might recognize that fact. Until then, we will unfortunately have to listen to them blindly, and foolishly, push bad policies and promote products that most people don’t want.
The 4WD VW Vanagon had “silicone drive”, an admixture which allowed each wheel to drive independently.
I'm keeping it in "stasis" at home. :)
Q: What kind of car do you drive?
A: I don’t have a car.
Suppose her wish is for no one to be able to own a car?
Hmmm. I wonder if the ever generous taxpayers are providing her with a car and chauffeur to drive her around? Heck, even if she uses cabs, the taxpayers are paying for them through her generous expense account.
She apparently isn't married right now, so she isn't using "it's my husband's car" as an excuse. BTW, it seems her last husband was an executive VP of Air Amerika, and also apparently was involved with a prostitution ring. They are now divorced.
When talking about the new crop of mini-cars and other automotive products developed by Congress and its supporting bureaucrats - they make excellent coffins.
Have you seen the safety ratings for those things?
Jump forward 30 years. What happened to the 'classic' car market? It doesn't exist, because there is noone who can find the computer chips that go inside the cars, and they are designed not to run without them. I've actually considered investing in the various chips that go into some of the popular muscle cars today. They'll be worth a fortune 30 years from now.
I’ve long thought that diesel-electric combos make the most sense. (even before all this ‘green’ nonsense) Trouble is, the watermelons don’t like diesel at all, so even though the engines are extraordinarily efficient, we’ll not see them here in significant numbers.
I have a Corvette.
On one of the Corvette Forums I frequent, there was a picture of Slow Joe Biden sitting in the new Corvette Z06 at the Detroit Auto Show.
I made what I thought was a silly off the cuff comment about the picture and half the Board attacked me for being Political, with a whole bunch saying Obama and Biden saved GM and the Corvette in the process.
I mentioned that if Obama and Biden had their way, there would not be a Corvette and everyone would be forced into a Hybrid or an Electric. I mistakenly thought Car Guys would have known that, but there were more than a few that went on about Biden owning a Hot Rod Pontiac, making him a real Car Guy too. They just don’t see it.
If you own a Chevy Spark would it make you a sparkee?.
I keep one of these in the glove box of my pickup truck in case of emergencies.
I believe you are referring to a Haldex clutch ('on-demand') type 4WD system , as opposed to a 'true' 4WD with a Torsen diff. (full-time 4WD). The Haldex clutch only activates and sends drive power to the non-driven wheels when slip is detected at the driven wheels. But this is not independent individual wheel drive.
The Haldex system is used by VW (and its other brands, like Audi) when the Torsen diff cannot be used, i.e. for vehicles with transverse mounted engines.
If you put balloon tires on it, remove the doors and hatch cover - bingo you have a golf cart deluxe.
Subcompact cars fared poorly in new crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an insurance industry group.
It was at a recent auto show that EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy kicked a tire of a Chevy Spark and crowed ""This is my baby".
Reality is that NONE of the dozen minicars in the 2013-2014 crop got the highest rating of "good" from the IIHS as its experts tested each vehicle in the parade of subcompact losers.
Gina's "baby", the Chevrolet Spark, earned the second-highest rating "of "acceptable". The Nissan "Versa" got the lowest rating of "poor".
The Institute's VP stated: "Small, lightweight vehicles have an inherent safety disadvantage."
Cars with "marginal" ratings were the Kia Rio, Mazda2, Toyota Yaris and Ford Fiesta. Cars with "poor" ratings were the Honda Fit, the Fiat 500, the Nissan Versa, the Toyota Prius C, the Mitsubishi Mirage and the Hyundai Accent.
Failures in crash tests included structural collapse.....air bags, seats and other parts getting knocked out of position.....steering columns pushed too far into the vehicle.....ripped-off door hinges.....and, generally, minicars inherently not able to properly manage the energy ensuing from impacts.....and literally falling apart from a hard crash.
(Source, Tampa Bay Times,1/22/14)
So much for the great mini-car-hopes of the leftist enviro-maniacs and, of course, Obama's enviro-whacko administration.
But they'll still promote these little death-traps as the best things since 9-grain bread.
Leni
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/movers_and_losers/
...December’s heavy snowfall did little to blunt the rush of shoppers looking to put the redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Corvette convertible under the Christmas tree and likely in the garage until better weather. The ragtop ‘Vette averaged just four days on dealer lots in December, making it the month’s fastest-selling car.
Used-Car Prices Hit New Low in December
The Land Rover Range Rover and Range Rover Sport followed — more logical choices for winter weather — and mark their fifth consecutive time on our list. The redesigned Toyota Highlander also moved fast, as did the automaker’s Prius Plug-in Hybrid and RAV4 SUV.
The 2014 Corvette coupe averaged just 12 days to sell, so it made last month’s fastest-selling cars, too. But Chevrolet’s redesigned icon played contrary to the wintry norm.
Of December’s 16 fastest-selling cars, a dozen offer four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. That’s more than December 2012, when just 11 of the 18 fastest sellers had four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.
Then again, December 2012 capped a year that broke a 14-year U.S. record for the warmest. In December 2011, by contrast, 15 of the 19 fastest-selling cars offered all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive...
And the moral of the story is don’t crash the damn things! With 500 K on Subaru Justy’s and over that on small pickups all for work drive defensively avoid the accident and live to see another day. If all else fails make sure the crash ia the other guys fault and pray he has decent insurance
Nope. However, there are just the two of us. So, I can fold the back seats down to make more hauling space.
If global cooling gets any worse we can warm the planet with more coal fired plants. Remember as a kid how hot it was when it used to rain coal ash?
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