just-auto bloggers
Dave Leggett
European capacity questions will get louder
6 February 2012 14:32
With the European car market facing a decline in 2012, the focus is set to swing to that hoary old chestnut, excess production capacity.
Graeme Roberts
How car show launches usedtabe...
6 February 2012 16:12
Superb archive photo, apparently from the 1951 Chicago motor show, of the public launch of the Kaiser Silver Dragon.
Simon Warburton
Marchionne generates huge scrum
12 January 2012 15:45
I finally met James Cain from GM's financial news section yesterday in the RenCen - once I'd finished the obligatory several circuits of the place getting lost.
Glenn Brooks
GMC has a (pricier) future
24 January 2012 12:04
It's looking increasingly like GM is going to reinvent GMC division as an upscale truck brand.
Chris Wright
Detroit with a difference
11 January 2012 17:57
It was Detroit with a difference this year. Different largely because of the weather.
Matthew Beecham
Spare tyres becoming optional extras
1 February 2012 16:37
Next time you get a flat tyre, you may be surprised to find an aerosol can in place of the spare tyre.
Latest just-auto blogs
How car show launches usedtabe...
By: Graeme Roberts - 6 Feb 2012 16:12
Superb archive photo, apparently from the 1951 Chicago motor show, of the public launch of the Kaiser Silver Dragon.
European capacity questions will get louder
By: Dave Leggett - 6 Feb 2012 14:32
With the European car market facing a decline in 2012, the focus is set to swing to that hoary old chestnut, excess production capacity.
Spare tyres becoming optional extras
By: Matthew Beecham - 1 Feb 2012 16:37
Next time you get a flat tyre, you may be surprised to find an aerosol can in place of the spare tyre.
When is a target not a target?
By: Dave Leggett - 27 Jan 2012 11:33
Just how do the average CO2 rules and targets in the EU apply to car manufacturers?
Solar windows 1, Prius mirrors 0
By: Graeme Roberts - 26 Jan 2012 10:09
Just when you think you've heard it all, comes this from California.
Trip to the cinema, courtesy of General Motors
By: Dave Leggett - 25 Jan 2012 10:01
I caught the Steven Spielberg directed epic 'War Horse' last night at the flicks.
Dodge Dart Mark One
By: Graeme Roberts - 24 Jan 2012 14:03
There's been a lot of mention of the new Dodge Dart on j-a recently following the new car's debut - replacing the Caliber hatchback but a true successor to the Neon sedan - at Detroit earlier this month.
Replace the blue form with the red form NOW! DVLA
By: Graeme Roberts - 24 Jan 2012 13:01
The DVLA - UK equivalent of the US DMV - has just mailed me, and presumably every other (30m?) vehicle owner in the UK, a new 'red' V5C form, aka logbook, a record of the legal registered 'keeper' as we are referred to over here. I must, a leaflet enclosed in the envelope says, "immediately" destroy my old 'blue' V5C.
GMC has a (pricier) future
By: Glenn Brooks - 24 Jan 2012 12:04
It's looking increasingly like GM is going to reinvent GMC division as an upscale truck brand.
Chery crows about sales record
By: Glenn Brooks - 23 Jan 2012 11:47
One of my factors for how seriously I take a company is its media-facing website. So it's worth noting that Chery Auto has suddenly lifted its game, as well as its sales.
Natural gas prices plunge: which car brands could benefit?
By: Glenn Brooks - 19 Jan 2012 12:24
The UK's Financial Times reports the Nymex February gas contract falling to US$2.402 per million British thermal units earlier on Thursday. That's got me thinking about CNG-fuelled cars.
Curious Citroen cinemagraphs
By: Dave Leggett - 19 Jan 2012 10:33
There is something oddly fascinating about Citroen's 'cinemagraphs', still images but with one moving element inside them.
Hyundai crowbarred off its perch. By Kia.
By: Glenn Brooks - 18 Jan 2012 12:08
Last week Dave and self were manning a very busy news desk whilst Graeme and Simon were over in Detroit. Which is my excuse for having taken a week longer than I normally do to glance at the major markets' monthly registrations numbers. So it is that I am only just noticing something big having happened in Korea.
Fiat's search for a third partner
By: Dave Leggett - 17 Jan 2012 11:13
It certainly is interesting to hear Sergio Marchionne again speaking about the primacy of industrial scale economies, of big automotive alliances and of his preference for Fiat-Chrysler to add a third partner.
The BMW 335Li does not officially exist
By: Glenn Brooks - 16 Jan 2012 16:26
A long wheelbase version of the new BMW 3 Series is said to be set for a global debut at AutoChina 2012 in April.
'Scandal of upbeat car industry news grows'
By: Glenn Brooks - 12 Jan 2012 22:13
How great has it been to see so many positive news stories emerge from the Detroit motor show? Might there even be something deeper going on?
Marchionne generates huge scrum
By: Simon Warburton - 12 Jan 2012 15:45
I finally met James Cain from GM's financial news section yesterday in the RenCen - once I'd finished the obligatory several circuits of the place getting lost.
Detroit with a difference
By: Chris Wright - 11 Jan 2012 17:57
It was Detroit with a difference this year. Different largely because of the weather.
GMC: you thinking what I'm thinking?
By: Glenn Brooks - 11 Jan 2012 10:43
General Motors has four US market divisions. Three of those had new products at the Detroit show. We heard nothing about GMC. I wonder...
Detroit Day Two - all done
By: Graeme Roberts - 11 Jan 2012 03:06
Press day two of the Detroit motor show seemed almost as crowded as the first with a number of reveals - including Buick's new luxury compact Encore SUV, Toyota's Prius plug-in, Prius C and NS4 plug-in hybrid concept - and there were still TV crews filming at Toyota and other stands late in the afternoon when I finally, shoe leather wearing thin, called it a day.
Navigating the RenCen
By: Simon Warburton - 10 Jan 2012 21:21
Out to Delphi's hugely impressive HQ this morning just down the road from where I'm staying in Troy and a chat with its chief technologist Andrew Brown, whose CV and various committee nominations leaves me wondering how he finds 24h in a day.
The USA's roads in the style of the Tube map
By: Glenn Brooks - 10 Jan 2012 17:32
Ever wondered what a schematic diagram of roads in the mainland USA would look like? Nor me. But someone has and it's rather wonderful to look at.
Detroit Day One - becoming more familiar
By: Graeme Roberts - 10 Jan 2012 13:46
Day One of my first Detroit show was great. The Americans know how to get a product noticed and the music that heralded the Dodge Dart was loud enough to make ears bleed over in Canada. I wasn't in the main audience but, on a far corner of the stand, it still felt like and earthquake.
Bentley bounces back
By: Dave Leggett - 9 Jan 2012 23:21
It has been quite a recovery for Bentley to get back to where it is after the crash to its sales in the recession of 2009.
Chevrolet's Tru 140S concept: it's the future Cruze coupe
By: Glenn Brooks - 9 Jan 2012 20:19
Forget the rear-wheel drive Chevrolet Code 130R, it's the division's other Detroit show concept that strikes me as a car that will be built - engineered as the twin of next year's Opel and Vauxhall Calibra/Manta.
Balmy Detroit show hots up
By: Simon Warburton - 9 Jan 2012 19:52
Compared to last year, the Detroit weather for the 2012 auto show is positively Bahamian, although that didn't stop me havng to scrape the ice off the windscreen this morning.
Detroit Day One
By: Graeme Roberts - 9 Jan 2012 10:58
5.30am local. Memo to self. Do not drink industrial strength American coffee while writing car launch reports just before bed. Memo to Marriott and other fine international hotel chains, any chance of an optional UK-style room tea-making set in lieu of the standard coffee machine?
DETROIT SHOW: The excitement builds
By: Graeme Roberts - 8 Jan 2012 20:51
Deputy editor Graeme Roberts is in Detroit for the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) and just a wee bit enthusiastic about his first trip to Motown. Blogging begins here.
Hyundai outsells Toyota in Europe's biggest market
By: Glenn Brooks - 6 Jan 2012 12:00
In a market up 9% YoY in 2011, sales for Toyota Deutschland rose by only 5%. Hyundai, on the other hand, was up 17%, enough to push it past Toyota for the first time.
Delhi show - the rest of the epic journey
By: Chris Wright - 5 Jan 2012 15:32
Chris Wright has been blogging regularly since landing in India for Delhi Auto Expo 2012. Here's the latest from his smartphone. All times local.
