News Opinion (Page 110)

What does your presidential candidate's personal vehicle tell us about him?

It all started with set-up night and a review by the judges to select the Pirelli Great 8 out of a field of 63 contenders. Now comes the crowds where the public gets the opportunity to view one of the largest indoor hot rod shows in America, but the Ridler Award will have to wait until Sunday night.

This week has been ripe with stories on clean energy’s not so dirty secret, but no one has really defined what do we mean by clean.

Cobo Center in Detroit was a busy hive during Thursday’s setup night with over 60 cars vying for the Ridler Award alone. Not all hot rods and custom cars qualify, though, but one stood out in the basement for its sheer design and extreme customization - the 1928 Packard Speedster owned by Bob Schuman.

One thing many new car owners want to know, especially those who operate on a budget, is how easily the routine maintenance can be done by the do-it-yourself owner. Since the Prius c is aimed at buyers that are likely in this situation, during hands-on with the 2012 Toyota Prius c, we looked closely at this aspect and were impressed.

TorqueNews was invited to go to sunny South Florida and get hands-on with the new Prius c in the beautiful beach resort town of Del Ray Beach. The surprising little car was much more than expected.

A low emission model of the 2012 Chevrolet Volt electric car are on their way to California, where customers will qualify for a $1,500 state rebate and be allowed to drive solo in the state’s carpool lanes.

While auto stock investors often wait for that ideal entry point, their cash can be found sitting in money market funds paying low yields. Alternate strategies all too often dismissed include: buying a closed-end money market fund at the right discount; looking to sell options as an income strategy; or simply buying put options to profit from that market ride down.

The budget proposal from the President includes a provision expanding the plug-in tax credit to several alternative fuel vehicles and raising it from $7,500 to $10,000 at a cost of over $2.6 billion (at current sales rates) annually.

In its first full year as a public company, General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) reported growth in the top and bottom lines, advanced global market share and made strategic investments in brands around the world, but traders know the reaction via the stock’s price dynamics is what counts.

The News Media sensationalism never rests with “articles” claiming electric cars pollute, when in actuality the dirty source of electricity is to blame.

After earnings and forward-looking statements were announced after market close today, Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) stock spent its time in after-hours trading with much volatility. Question is, how will TSLA trade when the next trading bell rings?

Electric vehicles are often compared to personal computers when talking about their costs and the current phase of the EV market. The comparison is not exactly apples to apples.

The transportation bills being considered by the Senate and House are operating in different universes, with the Senate following the usual bi-partisan process to create good transportation policy, and the Republican-dominated House larding their bill with extreme right wing ideology that would doom mass transit systems, gut environmental review processes, and fundamentally change transportation system funding in a bad way.

Plan early to attend Telematics Detroit 2012 scheduled for June 6-7, because it’s the largest and most influential business focused conference for the entire telematics ecosystem, with over 1500 executive attendees and over 100 industry pioneer speakers.

While Bob Lutz writes ranting op-ed pieces at Forbes against so-called, right-wing Volt bashers, the auto industry sits there like a bump on a log, still behind in achieving the weight reductions via aluminum body structures necessary to make both EVs and IC engine cars fully efficient.

There is no denying the electric car, EV is a fundamental paradigm shift in an auto industry based on an unsustainable business model. The trick is to see how carmakers will make the jump successfully.

Mark Hulbert, founder of Hulbert Financial Digest, tracks more than 160 financial newsletters; and one of them involves Argus Research, which shows insiders selling at a ratio not seen since last summer’s sell-off. Should this be a cautionary note for auto sector stocks, too?

The other day we noted that some are comparing sales between the Toyota Prius V vs Chevy Volt, and deciding the Volt is coming up short even though there are a ream of differences between the Prius V and the Volt. The Prius that's most similar to the Volt is the Toyota Prius Plug-in, but that car has yet to go on sale meaning we don't know how it will fare in the public versus the Volt.

We can finally do away with the “range anxiety” non-sense over used by anxious carmakers caught unprepared after the last downturn. Price is what interests electric car buyers, range is secondary.

Defying the global economic recession, the Paris Retromobile and Arizona Auction Week close their doors bringing the first astronomical numbers. We can only imagine how some companies would dream of seeing such numbers in their balance sheets.

The recent announcement of the 2013 Tesla Model X did not shelter Tesla Motors, Inc. (Nasdaq:TSLA) stock from today’s early morning downdraft, but a late morning recovery seems to be in process. Note the long bottoming tail on that latest price bar of the updated daily chart.

The solutions we seek depend on the problem being solved, electric cars seem to largely be meant to solve environmental problems, but there are many other transportation problems to solve.

Four major events are on the social agendas of many Detroiters during winter: The North American International Auto Show, the Super Bowl, the annual SI Swimsuit Issue, and the Detroit Autorama featuring the Ridler Award, which opens Feb. 24th and runs through Sunday, Feb. 26th.

There were many automakers with smart and funny commercials on Super Bowl Sunday. Kia managed to be a cut above the rest with its commercial featuring the Motley Crue, Chuck Liddell, and Adriana Lima.

Fiat had the best Super Bowl commercial this year, compared to what other automaker showcased. The Fiat 500 commercial was smart, funny, sexy, and had perfect timing and length in my opinion.

The Jaguar Concept C-X75 will be a production vehicle and hints at the route Jaguar wants to take.

Revising upward its full-year earnings target, Toyota Motor Corp. (ADR: TM) demonstrated unexpected optimism about the remainder of the fiscal year; and the market’s reaction tends to agree.

If the recent article at Motley Fool is accurate, then look for lithium prices to rise; but you don’t have take their word for it. Simply look at the trend of the exchange traded fund for lithium stocks, which show the train has already left the station.

The third annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit will be held at the Gaylord Convention Center, February 27 - 29, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Included by invitation will be key players in the split-cycle engine technology.