Daily coverage of the world of cars.
Some say sports cars are in serious trouble.
Generally speaking, yes, it could be argued that sports cars have lost popularity in recent years, and some reports say that sales are down.
Sports cars, it is argued, are losing ground because they can’t take the family to Costco, are surrounded by massive SUVs, and have no use in an Uber-dominated world.
But hold on a minute. Before we go writing the obituary for the high-performance sports car, let’s remember a few things.
Earlier this week we saw how owning a new car can cost close to $1,000 per month. That cost is part of the reasoning behind car sharing services such as ZipCar and ReachNow, which offer inexpensive and convenient short-term car rentals.
Car sharing can be a perfect money-saving solution for people in urban areas who don’t need a car every day, but do require occasional personal transportation.
What about the other end of things, though? What about the guy or gal who did purchase that new car and is watching the costs pile up while the bank account slims down?
There’s a new solution for those people, too, but it might be a good idea to resist temptation and avoid it, at least for now.
Volkswagen is bleeding out.
The company once had grand hopes of becoming the largest automaker in the world but now finds itself struggling to dig out of a crippling emissions scandal that will likely cost tens of billions of dollars, not including pending litigation from consumer groups and the United States government.
Volkswagen’s marketing has turned toward promoting its turbo lineup and gas-powered SUVs and crossovers, but sales are in a spiral.
Recovering from this mess will take years, so maybe the time has come for VW to seriously consider abandoning the U.S. market. Here are some reasons why:
Tesla has dominated the news cycle all weekend after Thursday night’s unveiling of the Model 3.
Tesla didn’t give us any specifics about upper trim levels, exact performance, or range numbers, but it did generate enough interest in the roughly $35,000, 200-mile electric car to have accepted well over 250,000 pre-orders.
That’s an impressive number for a car that’s still two years from being released.
Such extraordinary interest is unprecedented in the auto industry and could be indicative of massive change on the horizon. Will it be for the better?
The 2016 New York International Auto Show set attendance records over its first weekend, and organizers expect total attendance to exceed 1,000,000 visitors. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peek during press days One and Two. We’ve already shared video impressions of some of our favorite new vehicles, as well as posts on the amazing array of supercars at the show, the Genesis New York concept, the awesome Bandit Edition 7T7 Trans Am, and the custom-made, Chevy Aveo-based ETV. Here’s one more taste of the show, which ends Sunday at 7pm New York time. We urge you to consider getting there while you can, as the show may be the only chance you’ll ever get to see some of these cars.