June 7, 2013 I’m in Germany this week. I visited Continental tires in Hannover, Germany. They have created a new, more precise way to measure how well their tires perform in rolling resistance and wet braking. It’s the first in the world and I will be reporting on it shortly. Right now I’m sitting in [...]
Recently we saw Audi take Mercedes-Benz head on with the Vulcan grip commercial which I thought was hysterical. Now Fiat is throwing down the gauntlet in front of MINI in a soon to be released commercial that you get to see here first. MINI started out as a British car company and is produced in [...]
Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com about Hyundai products and the car market. Krafcik happily reports that “this is our best start ever. Some companies are reporting that this is their best start of a year since the great recession, but this is our strongest start E-V-E-R. We’re [...]
Bryan Arnett, Senior Manager, Product Strategy at Mitsubishi Motors North America, talks to www.drivingthenation.com about the 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander. Arnett goes over the all new interior, highlighting the new HD data services and the ergonomic structure of the interior. The 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander has a starting MSRP of $22,995. Mitsubishi says the ES and SE [...]
Tomohiko Ikeda, Executive Vice President, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Chief Director of Subaru Global Marketing and Director in Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd., talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com about the new crosstek hybrid, why they are bringing out a rear-wheel drive and Subaru’s concept car from the 2013 New York [...]
Lou Ann Hammond : Good morning all Are you looking for a new Volvo and are a Costco warehouse member? I’m posting the “rules of engagement” that I got from Costco Auto. Promotional Rules To be eligible to participate in the Volvo Limited-Time Offer, you must be a current Costco member as of March 1, [...]
Dr. Heidelinde Holzer is the head of functional integration of powertrain components for BMW AG. Dr. Holzer talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com, at a media briefing at BMW’s U.S. headquarters in New Jersey on the eve of the 2013 New York auto show. When will we see a 3-cylinder engine in a car [...]
Q. Fixing loud tires Headphones work great. Put on a podcast (hey, do Warren and Lou Ann do a podcast?) and don’t worry about it. A. Lou Ann Hammond : I don’t like the idea of noise cancelling headphones in a car. You need to hear the noise around you in order to know if [...]
BYD is one of Chinas’s largest non-government controlled automakers. Wang Chuanfu is chairman of BYD, a company that is 9.9% owned by a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Wang has seen the price, and his net worth, go up and down as the price of the stock he owns fluctuates. According to Forbes, in [...]
John Batchelor, host of the John Batchelor radio, talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com about Tesla doing well, CODA going bankrupt. Tesla announced offerings of 2,703,027 shares of common stock and $450 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2018 in concurrent underwritten registered public offerings. Musk owns over 26% of Tesla’s [...]
2013 Audi A4
2013 Subaru Outback
2013 Scion xD
2013 Mazda MX-5 roadster
2013 Volkswagen Jetta hybrid