Free Republic

The National Center for Public Policy Research is claiming a scalp today after Ford Motor Co. formally withdrew from the liberal U.S. Climate Action Partnership. The conservative non-profit announces today that Ford has withdrawn from the organization, which uses corporate support form management to work against shareholders' interests by promoting a cap-and-trade framework for carbon emissions.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, my Sweden and America has traded cars. Let's hope this trend continues. The yearly festival hosted by the city of Västerås honors this tradition. See clip below.

Link only - GM Breaks 9 Million Taking Global Sales Crown From Toyota: Cars

Americans are holding onto cars and trucks longer, pushing the average age of a vehicle to a record 10.8 years. The Polk research firm said Tuesday that the average age of a car last July was 11.1 years, while the truck average was 10.4. Unemployment and the sour economy have caused people to put off buying cars and trucks. Polk says the average vehicle age has been rising since 2008. But the firm says a sales rebound last year is likely to slow the aging rate. Car companies sold 12.8 million vehicles in the U.S. last year, up from 11.6...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The average vehicle on America's roads is almost 11 years old, according to the auto market analysts at Polk. The 10.8-year average is the highest figure recorded since Polk began tracking vehicle age in 1995. Back then, the average was just 8.4 years. Vehicle age has increased rapidly over the last five years as new vehicle sales have slowed. Polk's analysis is based on vehicle registration data. Older cars represent an opportunity for some businesses. "Dealer service departments and independent repair facilities, as well as aftermarket parts suppliers, will see increased business opportunity with customers in...

we are getting closer to the jetsons!!

A Top Gear special in India was "offensive" and full of "toilet humour", the High Commission of India (HCI) in London has complained. The 28 December special featured jokes about food and trains and a Jaguar car fitted with a toilet seat on its boot. The HCI has written to the BBC after it was contacted by "too many people" who were "very upset" by the programme. The BBC, which received 188 complaints about the show, said it would respond directly to the HCI in due course. In the letter, published in the Daily Telegraph, the HCI criticised a lack...

Updated at 7:31 p.m. ET: Ernesto Suarez, who organized the online petition calling for Mercedes Benz to withdraw the altered image of Che Guevara, says he welcomes the apology from Daimler AG, Mercedes' parent company. "I'm very satisfied with the reaction from Mercedes Benz," Suarez, a Cuban-American who lives in Kansas City, Mo., told msnbc.com Thursday evening. "I believe that they have done the right thing. "The victory, if there is one, is not mine, but belongs to the descendants of (Guevara's) victims (and) the survivors, to common sense and to civility," he said. Updated at 6:15 p.m. ET: In...

In one word; marketing skills. No one actually needs French perfumes. Fancy a rum and cola? - Why bother about coke? This Christmas, I and my brother, a programmer (silly job, good pay), discussed the issue of how to define a 'smart phone'. I'm a simple cook, but my Sony Ericsson Vivaz can do everything his iPhone could do, however, at the end of the row, we both agreed Apple and their products are among the best marketed brands on Earth. IKEA is another example of companies that are more than companies. Everyone has experienced sad misfortunes with IKEA furniture....

California to Ban Police From Towing Cars of Unlicensed Drivers December 25, 2011 | ESCONDIDO, Calif. – Delfino Aldama was fixing a customer's brakes this month when his smartphone chimed with a text message that tipped him to a police checkpoint more than an hour before officers began stopping motorists. The self-employed auto mechanic frantically called friends with the location and drove an alternate route home. The Mexico native had reason to be alarmed: He does not have a driver's license because he is in the United States illegally, and it would cost about $1,400 to get his Nissan Frontier...

Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided an Oklahoma car dealership that the government suspects may be one of about 30 such businesses in the U.S. involved in funding the terrorist group Hezbollah. DEA agents say the car lot of Ace Auto Leasing in Tulsa is part of a huge network that is selling cars and drugs -- and then using the money to support terrorism against the U.S., myfoxphoenix.com reports. During Friday's raid, agents could be seen carryout out filing cabinets and other items. They also questioned employees and took inventory. "They're making big time money and it's going right...

Car maker Saab ran out of time Monday when its Dutch owner filed for bankruptcy, calling time on a nine-month battle to rescue the struggling Swedish marque.....

Charging stations not getting much use NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Charging stations in Tennessee outnumber electric cars and many aren't used for hours or even days at a time, according to a newspaper investigation. State data analyzed by The Tennessean show that about 270 all-electric cars were registered in Tennessee in 2011 while there are about 500 charging stations set up in public areas to serve them (http://tnne.ws/s2Mldg). The Tennessean said it visited more than 12 charging units over a 2-day period this month and found multiple cars refueling at only one site - Nissan's automobile plant in Smyrna. Nissan...

The Rolls-Royce has always had a history of elegance and class - until now. That prestigious reputation has been smashed by the world's most vulgar makeover of the company's iconic Ghost model. An Italian fashion design house has created a gold-covered monstrosity costing more than £1 million The Fenice Milano 'Diva' has been spray painted in 24-carat gold and the company is so proud of it they have described the model as a 'true.masterpiece.' It is fitted with the same 6-litre twin-turbocharged engine of the Ghost, giving the saloon more than 560bhp and a top speed of 155mph. Fenice Milano...

New York - Three Lebanese financial institutions linked to Hezbollah laundered over $240 million through the United States used car market, federal prosecutors accused on Thursday. The civil forfeiture claim by US prosecutors in New York accused the Lebanese Canadian Bank and two money exchange companies of buying and shipping used cars from the United States to West Africa. There, the cars were sold and the cash smuggled into Lebanon by people acting as money couriers, often working for Hezbollah, court documents said.

An outing of luxury sportscar enthusiasts in Japan ended in an expensive freeway pileup -- smashing a stunning eight Ferraris, a Lamborghini and two Mercedes likely worth more than $1 million together.

1 dead, 16 injured in Tennessee crashes involving 176 carsFrom Dave Alsup, CNN updated 4:52 PM EST, Thu December 1, 2011 (CNN) -- One person was killed and 16 others injured Thursday in three separate chain-reaction crashes involving 176 cars north of Nashville, authorities said. Heavy fog and black ice were thought to have contributed to the crashes on State Highway 386 in Sumner County, said county emergency medical services Capt. Vincent Riley. The incidents began just before 8 a.m. ET, when a car ran off the highway and caused a chain reaction accident in "heavy, heavy fog," he said....

I noticed this ad list night on a show I didn't DVR and decided to do some research on where the fine people of Normal, IL will get the power to charge the electric cars. According to DOE Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy website, IL gets 48% of it's power from Coal, 49& from Nuclear and three percent for Natural Gas. So much for saving the polar bears.

The recession and high gas prices have been major deciding factors in car purchases in the past several years. This can be seen on the list of the ten cars and light trucks models with the greatest unit sales growth in the last five years, as per data from Edmunds. Interestingly enough, the list does not have a single major Japanese car company model on it. Instead, it is dominated by cars from U.S. companies, second tier Japanese manufacturer Subaru, and upstarts from South Korea, all of which grew sales by at least 60 percent. Decades ago, Honda, Toyota, and...

President Raul Castro has agreed to allow people to buy and sell cars in Cuba, ending a ban on Cubans selling cars bought after the 1959 revolution that ushered in communism. However, the changes could spell the beginning of the end for many of the island's classic American cars, which are a key feature of Cuban roads.