Author: Clark Westfield
Clark Westfield grew up fixing up and driving past-their-prime American cars, including various GM and Mopar V8s. He has ghostwritten auto news for the last few years, lives in Farmingdale, New York, and can be reached at +1.516-531-4021.
01/18/2020
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FCA clarifies Mack Jeeps, still making old stuff
A new FCA press release clarified what Jeeps will be made at the new Mack Avenue (Detroit) factory, as well as their range of old and obsolete engines and transmissions. The Jeep Grand Commander is a Cherokee-based car made in and for China, but may provide some clues as to the styling of the next […]
01/17/2020
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Hyperion Motors to debut at New York Auto Show
In April, the Hyperion Company, an aerospace R&D firm, will officially show off its new division, Hyperion Motors. The company claims its products were developed with NASA; Hyperion’s past work has been on electrolyzers, hydrogen storage, and fuel cell systems. Hydrogen cars were a popular idea when George W. Bush was President, but since then […]
01/16/2020
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GM to make more 5.3 V8s
GM is making two relatively minor investments in the United States, according to today’s releases. First, the Spring Hill plant will get $40 million to push out more 5.3 liter V8s for full size trucks and truck-based SUVs, showing high hopes for both. The engine is used with ten-speed automatic transmissions. Spring Hill makes three […]
01/11/2020
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Hummer is coming back, electrified
Way back when, Renault bought a controlling interest in American Motors (AMC). Since the government did not allow foreign companies to control military contractors, AMC had to spin off its military supply group, which became AM General. The most visible product of AM General was the HMMWV (“Humvee”), which spawned the civilian Hummer. Because it was […]
01/09/2020
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Sedans failed to die in 2019
Sedans were supposed to be a dying breed in American showrooms, but like minivans, they just keep on keeping on. Toyota sold well over 600,000 Camrys and Corollas (combined), GM sold over 140,000 Malibus, and Dodge sold nearly a hundred thousand Chargers—two hundred thousand of their big cars, if you throw in the 300 and Challenger. […]
01/06/2020
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America vs Toyota, 2019
How well did American automakers do against Japan’s best in 2019? First, let’s look at totals. Toyota reported 2,383,348 sales, entirely from two (Toyota and Lexus) brands. The vast majority of sales were from just five cars and trucks: RAV4 (448,071) Camry (336,978) Corolla (304,850) Tacoma (248,801) Highlander (239,438) Toyota did poorly in the one […]
01/04/2020
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What we’re learning from 2019 sales; and how GM, FCA fared against Toyota, Honda
2019 was an interesting year for the auto industry in the United States; for the most part, sales numbers kept pace with 2018, but there were major shifts from cars to crossovers and pickups, and the most successful cars (Camry, Corolla, and Civic) were loaded up with features—given invisible incentives, really. GM came close to […]
12/31/2019
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California moving from car emissions to a bigger problem—big trucks
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), that most demonized of government agencies, has finally realized that it’s done all that it can practically do with regular, civilian-owned cars. Now it’s time for trucks. Cummins has sold over 200 electric trucks (like this one) A full tenth of greenhouse gas emissions in California come from trucks, […]
12/30/2019
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At the dealership, part 2: Meet your service advisors
Customers usually don’t talk to the mechanics (or technicians) who work on their cars; they talk to people dubbed “service advisors,” who seem like managers but are really just interfaces between customers, the techs, and, often, the company that made your car. (Why would they talk to the automaker? Because the service advisor is responsible […]
12/27/2019
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What’s going on at Chrysler?
Updated December 27, 2019 What’s going on at FCA US—or, as many still say, though the company no longer exists, at Chrysler? The late Fiat Chrysler Automobiles chief executive Sergio Marchionne set out a strategy years ago, which set a small number of brands apart as “global”—Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Jeep, and Maserati. Lancia dropped back […]