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Rambling Road Trip – Grand Junction, CO

By Lloyd Frazier

                                                            

Sometimes business trips by auto can bring pleasant surprises.  It was a challenging tech day for me.  I was called to work onsite on a critical software system for an important client in Grand Junction.  Got done on a late February afternoon.  While heading east on I-70, after a light snow earlier that day, I happened upon some very interesting sunlight conditions being cast upon the snow peaked mountain outcroppings. Continue reading “Rambling Road Trip – Grand Junction, CO”

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2010 Detroit Auto Show Highlights

Ford and GM were looking to build on success this year.  They put their best foot forward with some great product.  Ford won the North American car AND truck of the year award with the Fusion Hybrid and the Transit Connect.  The General is making a quick comeback with the awesome Camaro and its compact hopeful the Cruze.  Chrysler was obviously struggling to show anything new and promising.  A Lancia rebadged as a Chrysler was about the only thing new.  Chrysler may be marketing the Fiat 500 for 2011 which would put them in a good position in the compact segment.

Check out the: Visitor’s Guide to the 2010 Detroit Auto Show

Take a look at the video highlights from Edmunds Inside Line.

Video from Edmunds Inside Line

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2010 North American International Auto Show – Detroit

detroit The North American Auto Show starts this week, January 11th, to the industry and over 5000 giddy automotive journalists hoping for some big surprises. The public show opens the following week.

 

News Feeds:

RSS feed from the NAIAS

Freep.com: Ford’s Fusion Hybrid and Transit Connect win car, truck of the year

The Auto Channel

Car and Driver Blog

Autoline Detroit Live Feed from NAIAS

Online TV Shows by Ustream

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2010 Ford Fusion – Motor Trend Car of the Year

2010_ford_fusion This video is one of the more interesting and in-depth I have seen in quite some while.  This contest consists of criteria that is not platform dependent.  The Motor Trend staff were to judge the vehicles on six key criteria: advancement in design, engineering excellence, performance of intended purpose, efficiency, safety, value.  The testing was done at the Hyundai Kia proving grounds in California City, California.  It is a 4300 acre facility with 10 different road courses for a total of 72 miles.  The commentary on this was very interesting and appeared to be pretty impartial.

Ford is really making strides in engineering and refinement.  Because of the success of the Focus Hybrid, GM will really have to come out strong in 2011 with the Chevy Volt.  They only have one chance to really get things perfect.  Ford has left them with no breathing room to make any mistakes in the presentation of the Volt.  Ford has really hit the pavement running with this refined car.

Kudos to Motor Trend sharing this vid on YouTube.

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Top Ten Best Selling Cars in US for 2009

TopTen Here is an interesting list from BankRate.com.  This is based on units sold, not units manufactured, like so many lists out there.

 

 

Top 10 best-selling cars for 2009 are…drum roll please:

  1. Ford F-Series: 179,632 units
  2. Toyota Camry: 150,242 units
  3. Chevrolet Silverado: 149,949 units
  4. Honda Accord: 131,043 units
  5. Toyota Corolla: 121,643 units
  6. Honda Civic: 118,459 units
  7. Nissan Altima: 96,248 units
  8. Dodge Ram: 94,516 units
  9. Ford Fusion: 85,146 units
  10. Honda CR-V: 78,197 units

What makes this interesting is that Ford is the only US based manufacturer with two in the top ten.  Ford has topped the best selling truck list for 28 years in a row.  That is an amazing accomplishment.  Another interesting factoid is that the Big-Three all have light-duty pickup trucks as their top-sellers.  Let’s face it, Americans love their trucks.  When they buy trucks, it is from the Big-Three because that is what they make the best.  Honda was the winner for having the most vehicles in the list.  It will be interesting to see the list for 2010.  Will Ford ramp up a notch with the release of the new Taurus?  Will GM make a showing in the list with a car?  Will Chrysler even be on the list?  As long as Dodge keeps making trucks, I think so.  Fiat might pull it off with a rebadged model…maybe.  I am surprised that Volkswagen didn’t make a showing in this list.  A final observation from this list is that most all of the vehicles in this list are manufactured in the US.  That should make us all feel a little better about the job situation.  Let us all hope this trend continues for many years in the future.

Lloyd…signing out