A New Site for Car Lovers and Car Likers...

USA Today has opened a new website: http://www.openroad.usatoday.com. It's actually more of a blog than a website, but it's clean, clear and informative. The top article today refers to the possible production of this small and efficient automobile (pictured is the retro Fiat 500) by the prospective Fiat-Chrysler Corporation. Let's hope so.

This site also has a Blogroll which is similar to My Blog list and it includes a link to the very good Jalopnik site.

The only downside is that we won't be reading any more news about our favorite auto executive, Rick Wagoner.

So long little Ricky (Wagoner)!

If the Associated Press is right, we may have the first good news from Detroit in quite a while. According to the AP, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner is steping down immediately "at the request of the White House." Wagoner's leadership has been tone-deaf from both a political and public relations standpoint for months. Back when he flew by corporate jet to testify before Congress, we immediately asked the question: Why didn't he drive? Many others came to ask the same question.

Could it be that Wagoner actually believed that GM was building better cars, and yet simply felt they were not good enough for his butt to sit in?

We also noted, back at the time of the first hearing, that Wagoner read his comments from scripts and, strangely, didn't seem capable of answering questions on his feet - even while sitting.

In a final irony, Wagoner said on December 4, 2008, that he would not leave GM as, "I'm doing what I do because it adds a lot of value to the company." Not anymore, bud. You might think about taking a Chevy Cobalt with you for the drive home.

I wonder if it would have helped...

If instead of using strange names like the Buick Regal or the Ford Taurus or the Dodge Magnum, the domestic auto makers had used names that Americans could more easily relate to. Think about these naming possibilities for cars made in the good old U.S.A.: Atlanta Peach, Philadelphia Freedom, Dodger Blue, Seattle Rain, Yankee Clipper, Golden Gate, Chicago Bear. OK, so some could have sport team tie-ins. In fact, a model might be sold as the Chicago Cub in one area and as the Oakland Athletic in another. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Is it ever likely to happen? Nope, because the Big 3 are still caught up in thinking that we're living in the days when we knew the difference between a Chevy Bel Air and a Biscayne. As the Boss would say, those days are gone, son, and they're not coming back.