Free Republic

The Solyndra-fication of the Department of Energy loan-guaranteed Fisker Automotive, whose many merits as a hybrid sports car maker were once hailed throughout the land, is almost complete. The supposedly green-tech company announced that they intend to lay off nearly all of their regular employees on Friday, and that they will maintain about 53 senior managers and executives — mostly to pursue buyers for the company’s assets. The WSJ reports: Struggling electric-car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. is dismissing 150 of its remaining 200-employee staff on Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter. …The company has been looking for...

O'Brien Mitsubishi, based in Normal, IL, is offering something way outside the norm: an absurdly low lease price – the cheapest we've ever seen – for on an electric vehicle. AutoblogGreen reader Josh K. could hardly believe what he saw when driving by a rotating banner advertising the a Mitsubishi i-MiEV recently: $69 a month for 24 months. That compares with the official Mitsubishi lease program from last fall, which was $249 a month for three years. Yes, it sounds too good to be true. So we called the dealership and had the lease offering confirmed. Salesman Scott Lovett explained...

If you have ever grimaced at your petrol bill and dreamed of a car that runs on fresh air, your prayers are about to be answered. French car giant PSA Peugeot Citroen believes it can put an air-powered vehicle on the road by 2016. Its scientists say it will knock 45 per cent off fuel bills for an average motorist. And when driving in towns and cities costs could be slashed by as much as 80 per cent because the car will be running on air for four-fifths of the time. The system works by using a normal internal combustion...

We think it is fair to say that today, most people take video recording technology for granted. After all, most smartphones come equipped with video recorders that produce better-quality movies than those huge home video camcorders from just 20 years ago. Sixty years ago, filmmaking was still astonishingly primitive, and few car companies bothered to record, nevermind release, the hundreds of thousands of hours of engineering footage they took from back then. CorvetteBlogger has come across some footage that is remarkably relevant to right now. The video above is a little more than two-minutes of 1953 Corvette engineering test footage,...

Fiat has been talking about Alfa Romeo’s return to the U.S. for more a decade—check out the timeline—but CEO Sergio Marchionne has finally made the decision: After nearly 20 years away, the brand will start selling cars here again in 2014. (We’ll believe it when we see it, but let’s play along for now.) The return to the States is part of a large revamp of the brand that will see a number of new models introduced in the U.S., Europe, and around the world, and this Alfa renaissance will lean heavily on alliances with Fiat, Chrysler, and Mazda. Read...

FREEPORT, Ill.—Titan International Inc. has laid off about 60 workers at its plant in Freeport because of slumping demand for construction tires. The cuts are the last in a series of layoffs that began shortly before the November election at the company's three U.S. tire plants, according to Titan CEO Maurice Taylor Jr. All the cutbacks are part of the firm's construction tire segment. Quincy, Ill.-headquartered Titan's tire factories in Bryan, Ohio, and Des Moines, Iowa, also experienced layoffs during the past two months, about 90 between the two facilities, Taylor said...

Bypassing Congress, the Obama administration has issued a proposed administrative rule, which if adopted, would mandate the installation of "black boxes" in all automobiles and light trucks beginning in 2014. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed the regulation on Dec. 7, which it said “would capture valuable safety-related data in the seconds before and during a motor vehicle crash.” The proposed standard would require automakers to install event data recorders (EDRs) – so-called “black box devices” -- to collect specific safety related data in all light passenger vehicles beginning Sept. 1, 2014. Transportation Secretary...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls plans to close a central Kentucky plastics manufacturing plant early next year, potentially putting nearly 400 employees out of work. The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/U3qICs) reports that a mass layoff notice filed with the Kentucky Office of Employment & Training on Friday says up to 392 workers could be cut in February when the facility in Louisville closes. The plant produces injection-molded interior components for vehicles...

The Ram 1500 has been named 2013 Truck of the Year by Motor Trend magazine. The magazine's editors were impressed by the truck's fuel economy and posh interior. "The 2013 Ram 1500 SLT is essentially like driving a Chrysler 300 with a bed," says the story that appears in the magazine's February issue. The Ram is made by Chrysler Group, which also makes the 300, a car known for its relatively upscale interior. Chrysler recently split off the Ram truck division from Dodge, so the trucks no longer carry the Dodge name. To be eligible for the Truck of the...

Changes are still afoot in the American automotive world. Once standing proudly as the only single American manufacturer run museum, the Walter P. Chrysler Museum is closing its doors. Opened in 1999, the museum was dedicated to showcasing the full gamut of Chrysler heritage—from flagship models to defunct brands pulled into the Chrysler fold. Over 55,000 square feet, the history of company unfolded through 4 floors packed to the gills with beautiful cars. The museum became a separate company in 2007 with bankruptcy looming. Financial stability has never found the institution...

Alcoa said Tuesday that it will lay off all 43 employees at its Auburn plant and “curtail” the plant by the end of March 2013. The company told employees about its plan in meetings Monday. “While this was a difficult decision made necessary by market conditions, we wanted to give our employees as much notice as possible. We recognize how deeply this impacts them, and we are working to support them through this transition process,” said Monica Orbe, director of communications for Alcoa Engineered Products and Solutions, based in New York, N.Y. Orbe used the word “curtail” to describe Alcoa’s...

A Japanese high-tech automobile supplier that specializes in seat belts and has another operation in Kernersville is closing its Greensboro office, eliminating 50 jobs effective Jan. 1, according to a WARN Act notice filed Friday with the N.C. Commerce Department. TK Holdings Inc. is a subsidiary of Takata Corp. of Tokyo, Japan. Company officials could not be reached for comment today. It is not known whether the closing affects operations of another Takata division, Highland Industries Inc., which has an airbags and textiles manufacturing plant at 215 Drummond St. in Kernersville. Charles Watson, the manager of the plant, said in...

Brett David has been selling Lamborghinis in Miami since he was 14 years old. But never before has he sold so many super-cars to so many overseas buyers. “I haven’t sold a Lamborghini to somebody who spoke English as their primary language in months and months, ” said David, the CEO of Lamborghini Miami, founded by his father. “It’s been months and months.” The flood of overseas wealth pouring into the United States is remaking many corners of the economy, from the Manhattan condo market to the market for Abstract Expressionist paintings to wine, jewelry and fashion. But nowhere is...

(Reuters) - General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August — but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line. Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts. GM on Monday issued a statement disputing the estimates. Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher.

Diesel engines are a classic example of good news and bad news. The good news is that diesel engines are much more fuel efficient than petrol engines. The bad news is that they belch out some pretty nasty emissions like nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide. The good news is that catalytic converters can scrub those out. The bad news is that last Friday the platinum needed by the converters is selling for US$1,473.10 an ounce. Now the good news is that a team at Nanostellar in Redwood, California, has developed a mineral catalyst that outperforms platinum at a fraction of...

Two purveyors of fake Chevrolet muscle are looking at trials on felony charges after their respective scams fell apart. In Columbus, Nebraska, it was a 1970 Chevelle SS 396 which the seller, Mickey Dush, allegedly bought from a Florida collector-car dealer for $37,500, equipped with a fake build sheet he bought online and a 454 of unknown vintage, and then sold as an LS6 to an Iowa man for $87,000. It wasn’t until after the sale that the buyer’s wife found a VIN decoder and determined the car’s true origins. According to the Columbus Telegram, Dush’s lawyer will claim the...

In a second-season episode of "Portlandia," Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein play a boring Southeast Portland couple who want to spice up their life. A tough guy and a hot dame pull up on a motorcycle, and Fred and Carrie feel pretty un-cool in their presence. So they get the bright idea of acquiring motorcycles of their own. The next scene, Fred coasts up on a three-wheeled monstrosity, and Carrie putters around the street on an odd-looking, one-wheeled, motorized transporter that reminds one of the Segway. Carrie's riding atop the Ryno bike, the second prototype of the fledgling Ryno Motors...

As of early last week, nearly 20,000 people have applied for the 877 new jobs that Montgomery's Hyundai plant created to add a new production shift. And the applications are still coming. "It just continues to grow," said Scott Gordy of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama's human resources department. The deadline to apply is June 2, but Hyundai was so overwhelmed by the initial response that they suspended the application process on May 18 because of the high volume. Last week, HMMA issued a statement saying that it would reopen the application procedure through June 2 but warned that anyone who...

Most of us have had the experience of losing a rental car in a big parking lot. Maybe your cousin Eddie has had the experience of cutting his grass for the first time in five years and finding a car. We’re not talking about those cars. The cars on this list are the holy grails of automotive lore. They’re near-mythical cars that have disappeared, most likely never to be seen again. 1956 Chrysler Norseman: The Norseman was a concept car built by the Italian styling house of Ghia that demonstrated the feasibility of several unique styling features like a near...

Several years ago, there was a large reward posted for evidence that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was not extinct as was previously thought. Strangely, the classic car world has yet to respond in like fashion for evidence that breeding pairs of Plymouth Crickets or Mercury Bobcats are still out there. To qualify for the list a car must have been produced in large numbers (10,000-plus) within the last 40 years with few (if any) roadworthy survivors. Here are some of our favorite threatened, endangered and extinct cars: