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Month: February 2024
Design Notes
Was Richard Teague’s best sporty coupe the 1973-77 AMC Hornet hatchback?
During his tenure as head AMC’s design, Richard Teague had the opportunity to develop quite a few sporty coupes, from the original Marlin to the Spirit hatchback. Out of all those efforts, I would propose […]
Gallery
1974-76 Elite shows how Ford was late to the party with mid-sized personal coupes
The 1974-76 Ford Elite highlights one of the Ford Motor Company’s bigger mistakes of the 1970s. The automaker was too slow in entering the mid-sized personal coupe field. The Elite was a cobbled-together design that […]
Readings
James Ward offers more nuanced take on Packard’s fall than other auto histories
(EXPANDED FROM 12/15/2022) James A. Ward’s Packard book, The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company, is dwarfed by Automobile Quarterly’s epic tome edited by Beverly Rae Kimes (2002) as well as Stuart R. Blond’s […]
Data Dive
Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
(EXPANDED FROM 12/30/2022) A few years ago we had a debate in a comment thread about the importance of scale in the U.S. auto industry (go here). I thought I would add another layer to […]
Current Events
Can Rivian survive long enough to launch a less-expensive SUV?
On March 7 Rivian is expected to unveil a smaller and cheaper sport-utility vehicle called the R2 to compete against the Tesla Model Y. Although such a move could be crucial to boosting the fledgling […]
Media Analysis
Has a subscription to Automotive News become too costly?
When my subscription to Automotive News recently renewed I was surprised to see that the annual price rose to $299 from $169 last year. This is for the digital and print editions; if I had […]
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Fake Design
Was the 1940-41 Lincoln Continental the all-time most influential U.S. halo car?
(EXPANDED FROM 2/14/2023) Since this is Presidents’ Day, let’s take another look at what I have suggested is the most influential halo car of all time built in the United States — the original Lincoln […]
Multimedia
VW Superbowl ad waxes nostalgic for the kind of cars it no longer makes
Volkswagen has received a good response to the ad it ran during the Superbowl last weekend. Titled “An American Love Story,” the 60-second ad and an extended version attempt to cultivate nostalgia for the brand’s […]