Peter Horbury has worked all over the world in different car companies as a famed car designer. He is best known for reviving the Volvo brand. In 2009 Horbury returned to Volvo as Vice President of Design. Horbury is leaving Volvo, and will be Senior Vice President of design at Geely Group. In 2010, Geely [...]
Los Angeles auto show Los Angeles, CA - Southern California is known for its car design and designers. At the 2011 Los Angeles auto show we talked with Chief Creative Officer Shiro Nakamura for Nissan and Infiniti. The interview wasn't about a particular car but about the way Nakamura designs. What part of the car [...]
There's a reason Mazda decided to put their new Skyactiv technology on the new 2012 Mazda Mazda3. The Mazda3 model is Mazda's best-selling vehicle worldwide and accounts for nearly two thirds of all Mazda car sold in the United States. The new number to remember is 12:1. The compression ratio. The 2012 Mazda3 with SKYACTIV [...]
Toyota Prius family At an event near San Francisco, CA Bob Carter Group Vice President and General Manager, Toyota Division, told us, "compared to the average car, Prius has saved an estimated $2.5 billion on fuel in the U.S. since 2000. According to a recent study, if everyone in the U.S. drove a Prius, we [...]
2011 Frankfurt Auto Show (IAA) Frankfurt, Germany - I sat down with Hyoung-Keun (Hank) Lee, Vice Chairman & CEO, Kia Motors Corp. Of the things we talked about one area was how well Kia was doing in Brazil. I had talked to some Brazilians and they had said that both China and Korea were doing [...]
Orlando, FL - Ford Executive Chairman, William "Bill" Clay Ford Jr., was the keynote speaker at the 18th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Ford talked about his vision for the future of transportation, and how intelligent vehicles and innovations such as smart electrification can help solve emerging transportation issues on roads around [...]
Waiting for the New Year I was sitting at dinner the other night with some Honda employees. I mentioned the floods in Thailand and they looked at me and said, "This year can't end soon enough" Their wish for the New Year will be that the old year ends. Toyota sold more cars and trucks [...]
As I write to you this morning I am sitting at the same table that my parents set us each night for dinner. Every four years we packed up our belongings and moved to another base, and this trusty old table went with us, from Air Force base to Air Force base. My Father retired [...]
Detroit, MI - The edict from the top: bring down the breakeven by increasing revenue and cutting cost. General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today announced third quarter net income attributable to common stockholders of $1.7 billion, or $1.03 per fully-diluted share. In the third quarter of 2010, GMs net income attributable to common stockholders was [...]
Frankfurt, Germany - General Motor's Global Chief designer, Ed Welburn, took me on a tour of the Cadillac Ciel concept. About Ciel, from Cadillac: The Ciel “ pronounced “C-L,” the French translation for sky “ is a four-seat convertible that opens a new chapter in Cadillacs design and product ascent, pushing the brands Art & [...]