July 30, 2008
The U.S. Automakers. If the concept of affordable,
subsidized leasing goes away - and by all indications it's well on its
way to disappearing - then the U.S. automakers are in deep, deep trouble.
American consumers are so conditioned to look at "the deal"
first when it comes to considering American cars - despite the media
accolades given to such cars as the Chevy Malibu, Cadillac CTS, Ford
Flex, etc. - that if the leasing option is taken away cold turkey and
American consumers get a load of what the real money is for some
of these cars, and what old-fashioned loans really cost, then a
large percentage of those sales will flat vanish into thin air, never to
return. Talk about a giant bowl of Not Good.
Honda. More grim news for the auto industry as the dismal
sales numbers coming in for July indicate double-digit declines for most
car companies except for Honda, the right car company, at the
right time, with the right product.
Bicycling. As former 80-mile a week cyclists, we
appreciate what riding a bike can do for your health, frame of mind,
etc., etc. But we can also appreciate that a minority (and we're
stressing minority here) of the bicycling community conduct
themselves on the road with a bad attitude and demonstrate reprehensible
behavior vis-a-vis motorists that causes nothing but problems for the
rest of the cyclists out there. With gas prices forcing people to
consider bicycles as alternative fair-weather transportation in urban
areas, read the latest issue of Newsweek for a story about the
burgeoning mess of bicyclist vs. motorist confrontations as it pertains
to Portland, Oregon. Talk about u-g-l-y.
Ford. In what is surely the first of many direct-to-consumer
branding pushes, Barbasol Shaving Cream has teamed-up with Ford for
something called the Mustang Challenge promotion. The result? Two million
cans of Barbasol Original Shave Cream will be emblazoned with an image of
the Mustang FR500S, the Ford Racing logo and the Mustang Challenge series
logo and schedule. What next? Frosted Mini-Wheats shaped like the
upcoming Ford Fiesta?
(Ford)
Automobile. Check out the "Milestones in Speed" in
the September issue of Automobile magazine, a fine primer on
"Mankind's great quest to move faster, to shorten the time between
distant points, is one of the pillars of progress. It's also a huge
rush." Don't miss it.Autoweek. A belated congratulations to the folks at
Autoweek for their 50th Anniversary and their superb 50th
Anniversary issue, a remarkable and satisfying read. Congratulations to
all.