Automotive News

Sayonara SideCar

When people think about ride sourcing they do not think of SideCar. Most people do not even know what it is. Those people would be surprised to know, that the aforementioned company is directly responsible for the rise of ride hailing services. Sadly, innovation does not beget success in this day and age, persistent glorified panhandling with a pitch does. Uber and Lyft are unicorns (the Forbes’ U

Audi e-tron Evolution

Hybrid technology picked up steam (or took charge) in the 70s during the oil crisis. It was not widely implemented, but it was heavily researched. The first major company with a feasible evolved electric hybrid was actually Audi in 1989 with their 100 Avant based Duo, but it was scrapped duo to the excessive weight of the batteries. Then came the Prius. It was the first hybrid that made no major

Local Love Stops Traffic

Houston is one of the largest cities in the United States, and has one of the best highways (and I would argue Infrastructures) in the world. I-10 crossing Beltway 8 is 26 lanes wide. This includes 2 tollway/high occupancy vehicle lanes, 4 regular flow lanes, 3 exiting/merging lanes, and 4 feeder lanes (6 if you include the right turn only lane and the U-turn lane)... on each side. Yet seven days

Audi Charges Ahead

Some may or may not know, Audi had a part in the Volkswagen Diesel scandal of 2015. Their entry level A3 diesel had the four cylinder diesel at the heart of the scandal. However, Ingolstadt based marvel maker is (or should be) more well known for their e-tron series. While I’m sure the e-tron series has been tinkered with for well over a decade now, the first (concept) model was not unveiled

Combating Climate Change With Cars: Moderation

Getting in a car; for a most of the modern world, is a daily endeavor. Many employees must drive many miles for more minutes to get to and from work. Unless those people happen to be firefighters, soldiers, martyrs (deluded or otherwise), poison tasters, Kenny/Mysterion or actual crash test dummies, their commute is the most dangerous part of the day for them. Cars are two ton rolling potential de

FCA’s Marchionne Ends Talk of Merging with GM

This blog has spent a good deal of space reporting on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne (pictured) because he’s arguably the most fascinating executive in the automotive business. In particular, his obsession to merge his FCA with other car companies, specifically General Motors, was his white whale. But unlike Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, Marchionne is giving up his quest just before

Scandal at Volkswagen: Fixing What’s Already Been Broken

As you recover from your tryptophan comas this Thanksgiving, we’re here to deliver a brief update in the Scandal at Volkswagen… On Wednesday, Volkswagen announced how it would fix the diesel-powered vehicles implicated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) as having cheated on emissions tests. VW will install a tubular part known as a flow transfor

Artists Google Doodle on Self-Driving Cars

If you’re like me, one of the first things you look forward to seeing when you log onto your computer is the Google Doodle for that day. Google Doodles are used to commemorate holidays, notable events and famous people—and now, local artists are using them to celebrate their communities as part of Google’s Paint the Town contest for its Self-Driving Car Project. As it is headquartered in Mountain

Volkswagen Snags Self-Driving Vehicles Guru from Apple

Time for a quick recap on everyone’s favorite scandal-scarred automaker… Jungwirth Jumps to VW From a career perspective, going from Apple to Volkswagen these days is a bit like going from Club Med to the Titanic. But that’s what Johann Jungwirth (pictured, right) has elected to do in taking a position with VW in its newly created department devoted to self-driving vehicles. Jungwirth is moving

Perspectives: VW AG Vs BP

Volkswagen Passenger Cars (VW AG) is still reeling from the Public Relations Disaster that was its diesel scandal. Despite, getting an extra 2 Billion from selling its stake in Suzuki, the company posted its first quarterly loss ever (in measured history (they didn’t start quarterly reports until 2001)). The company took out €6.7 billion to fix the 9 million recalled vehicles in Europe and the US.