The Auto Writer

Will Saturn ever get the Opel Meriva? GM isn't telling us, but if they do you'll probably read about it here.

If you’re one to think that the news coming forth from the automotive industry takes a break over the summer months, you’d be sorely mistaken.

Maybe the proliferation of car-related news has something to do with this year being especially challenging for the domestic industry that we’re hearing this news at such a rapid clip. It may also have to do with the shifting around of model year introductions: no longer do automakers roll out all of their newest models during the Fall.  Instead, new vehicle introductions seem to take place year ’round. Also, figure that the internet has made a steady stream of car news possible, even from the remotest markets.

Not Truly Newsworthy

As someone who has media credentials with all major automakers, I don’t mind receiving timely updates from each company. Unfortunately, not everything sent out is truly “newsworthy” with some of that information seeming to be more “filler material” in nature, somewhat of a “hi, we’re still here — please write about us!” type of press release. A case in point was one manufacturer’s recent announcement of a gathering of car fans for a particular event in Europe. That model isn’t even sold stateside, thus I decided there would be little interest in it for my primarily North American readership.

On the other hand, even some of the industry news that may not be particularly earth-shattering has me digging a little bit deeper in search of the story behind the story. Those news releases help power a significant portion of the articles generated for this site, but not every story makes the cut.

Some Stories Don’t Make The Cut

Among the stories which I found to be interesting but “not quite” appealing enough to gain full coverage were:

XFE — These three letters are familiar to anyone who knows the Chevy Cobalt, GM’s high mileage (36 mpg highway) compact car. The XFE represents Xtra Fuel Economy, a term GM has put on its most fuel miserly vehicles. Recently, GM announced that XFE versions of its biggest trucks and SUVs would hit the market for the 2009 model year, but guess what? Fuel economy for the Silverado bumps up only 1 mpg, hardly enough improvement to blow down the dealership doors. GM is probably too invested in this segment to simply pull back, but I would prefer to write about gains made with the Chevy Malibu then with its pickup trucks.

Toyota Highlander — Toyota has been rocked by the shift from large trucks and SUVs to small cars too. And, the automaker is scrambling for ways to keep its workforce busy. One way that they will be doing that is to bring its next generation midsize Toyota Highlander SUV to market six months early which begs the question: how much appeal will this vehicle have? Okay, granted, Toyota does have a hybrid version of the Highlander available which is probably one reason why sales have slipped “only” 8 percent for the year. However, July’s sales were off a whopping 30%, a trend which seems to be industry-wide.

Kia Borrego — I’m trying to be nice to Kia, really I am. Kia’s sister company, Hyundai, has made great strides in all things quality and there is proof that Kia is advancing their products too. However, I don’t see that the brand’s all-new midsize SUV, the Borrego, is the right product for our times given the V8′s 15/22 fuel economy numbers with 2WD and 15/20 with 4WD. The Borrego seats 7 passengers and is priced around $27K, but at the end of the day we still have a Kia which is competing with scores of other people haulers in an overcrowded and shrinking market. Seems like a case of poor timing to me!

PT Cruiser — Ever since the Chrysler PT Cruiser launched in 2000, I thought that the vehicle had much potential for success. At that time its retro design was like nothing else out there and Chrysler made good use of the Neon platform to underpin its little panel truck. The Neon has been gone for several years now with the Dodge Caliber in its place; unfortunately for PT Cruiser fans no new model is on its way as the car will be canceled after the 2009 model year. What this does mean is that you can purchase special edition Cruisers, the Dream Cruisers DCS 5 being the latest version. Gee, you’d think that Chrysler LLC would try to put something together to attract small car buyers to Chrysler showrooms, but with no replacement for the PT Cruiser in sight, that certainly won’t be happening for the coming year.

All The News That Is Printed To Fit

There are a handful of other stories which are borderline at best, topics which are being covered exhaustively elsewhere (2010 Chevrolet Camaro, Tata Nano, et al) or hanging just below the surface (next generation Ford Mustang, for one) which will get exposure at the appropriate time. As far as all of those stories centered on saving gas at the pump, if it is old news, inaccurate, factually dubious, or simply unscientific (water conversion kits), these won’t ever see the light of day.

Then again, I’m always game for something that is weird, wacky, or slightly odd — news that may not make it to the mainstream, but something which could be of entertainment value to you, my dear readers.