Five mistakes Washington and Detroit are making which could kill any help or support for our American car companies:

Mistake #1: Consumers and the environment are no longer considered in Washington's loans to the Detroit Three.

In Sen. Harry Reid's new bill to allow direct and swift loans to the...

The "saving" of the American auto industry has become a comedy of errors, a circus with seemingly no good end in sight.

Feeling somewhat helpless about it all, I decided, in that great American business tradition, to send a memo!

Memo - To Rick Wagoner (GM), Alan Mulally (Ford)...

We now have 150 digital images from the 2008 SEMA Show in Las Vegas available for your viewing. Just click anywhere on this line and the Photo Album will open in another window. As you may already know, the SEMA Show is sort of the "un-green" auto show...

Okay America! Breathe out! It's over. No more Palin, Plumber or McCain.

Back to business:

With a state-wide victory for President-elect Barack Obama (I like typing that) a foregone conclusion here in California, it was, as it's been so many times in the past, the California ballot's propositions which garnered...

October's new car and truck sales numbers are in, and they're worse than anyone expected -- at least publicly.

Sales at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler plunged in October, their weakest performance in a quarter century.

GM plummeted 45.1% from a year earlier. Ford sold 132,248 cars and trucks,...

In a motor racing season with a unique similarity to the US Presidential contest and which might bode well for Barack Obama's chances, Lewis Hamilton, 23 and the first Black driver in the history of Grand Prix racing, won the World Driving Championship on Sunday, the most coveted title in...

This Monday, the new car and truck sales reports for the month of October will be announced, and are expected to be the worst in 25-or-more years.

Those numbers should be used to bring more voters to the polls the next day, solid members of the Democratic Party and...

Yesterday we posted our analysis of the much-hyped GM/Chrysler merger, quoting sources which said as many as 70,000 Americans would be thrown out of work if the merger goes through.

Today we have more - and worse - news from industry journal Automotive News.

"A merger between General Motors and...

Chrysler kills Hemi hybrids; High-mileage Chevy Cruze on-sale in Korea; Ford's new hybrids; GMAC wants bail-out.

Chrysler has ended production of its first two gas/electric hybrids, only about two months after they started arriving in dealerships.

Production of the Chrysler Aspen/Dodge Durango Hemi hybrid SUVs began this August. But...

It appears that for at least another week or so, there will be no major decisions regarding: A) the $25 billion bailout for the Detroit Three (but we now know Sen. McCain wants it doled-out slowly and in increments; Sen. Obama is still in favor of the original request for...

The Detroit News reports that Cerberus Capital Management has been mum about its talks with General Motors and Renault-Nissan about a possible merger scenario with Chrysler. But no one needs to fear what might happen between one or two or even all of the Detroit Three, and perhaps some of...

The government has posted on the Web a database that allows consumers to look up the number of alleged deaths, injuries and cases of property damage involving passenger vehicles.

Consumer groups have sought the information, which was part of legislation passed by Congress following the massive recall of Firestone tires...

There's good news, bad news and - finally - some smart, encouraging news by and for American drivers.

First off, we're planning our road trips to the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas (starts on election day, so we're voting this week) and then the Los Angeles Auto Show's media...

How serious are the problems facing the Detroit Three?

This serious: General Motors' Chevrolet Division has put the next-generation Corvette, the C7, on indefinite hold.

GM Inside News reports, "Well-placed sources have confirmed GM has put the next-generation C7 Corvette program on hold, pending a review of the impact of...

Two more pieces of bad news today facing carmakers, dealers and us ... car-buyers and owners: Repossessions are set to break records, while industry analyst J.D. Power and Associates says the country is headed towards losing as much as 25% in total car and trucks sales for this year, from...

During the debate this evening, it's been pointed out, correctly, that John McCain mocked Barack Obama when Obama spoke about his concern for the "life of the mother" when it comes to abortion laws.

But he made another gaffe (not as bad as when he called Obama "Senator Government"), one...

It was just this past May that Ford sold their prestigious Jaguar and Land Rover divisions to Indian carmaker Tata for USD$2.3 billion. And now, the boss of Jaguar Land Rover has called for more action from the UK government to boost car sales by restoring consumer confidence.

Jaguar...

Chrysler's CEO, Robert Nardelli, who has been running the company for just 14 months, fears the collapse of an "extremely fragile" auto industry amid the credit crisis and Wall Street meltdown. Nardelli said federal officials, preoccupied with trying to unfreeze credit, don't appreciate the importance of the auto industry.

Nardelli...

Over a week ago, we posted on this blog about the possibility of two, or even all three of the Detroit Three, GM, Ford and Chrysler, merging in some fashion.

Now our prediction is coming to life, a prediction based on our analysis of the realities of the world's economy...

Hey, guys and gals!

Pack extra suds into that cooler and a heavy load of chew when y'all head down to Lowes Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina for a Republican National Committee kick-off to Saturday night's NASCAR Bank of America 500: None other than Cindy McCain will attend...