Latest Articles by joeratzkin

2007 NAIAS Ready For The Crowds

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Starting the 13th of January this coming year, one of the automotive industry’s most awaited grand events would be opening its doors to the public. This event is the 2007 North American International Auto Show, which is much more known as the NAIAS. The show would be open to the public starting the 13th of January, as mentioned, and would be open up until the 21st.

Many car aficionados, followers, and plain auto lovers would be rushing to the mentioned event to take part of the sights and feel the thrill of being part of the 2007 NAIAS. After all, this is not your usual auto dealer where you get to see only a couple of the latest GM performance parts. The 2007 NAIAS would be an avenue for all manufacturers to show off the vehicles of the past, of the present, and even of the future.

The organizers of the 2007 NAIAS has already come up with a plan to coordinate with another group – the Click and Park. Together, they would be solving the problem of parking during the mentioned event. As per a press release given out, NAIAS and Click and Park would be giving the public an easy and efficient parking system. Plus, there would also be some new shuttle services as part of the event and the shuttle services would be roaming to and from the Detroit Zoo to the Greenfield Village. As per the Click and Park system, there is an online parking system and some spaces are already reserved and some are for sale. That way, when you do go to the event, all you need to do so find your space and you are all set. There is no need for you to go round and round for that elusive parking space.

Robert Thibodeau is the senior co-chairperson for the 2007 NAIAS and he states, “Our goal is to make transportation for attendees to Cobo as fast and efficienet as possible. Click and Park is an excellent system that has been used at college bowl games, NASCAR race events and Super Bowls. We are happy to partner with this organization for the second year in a row and hope that it will make traveling to the NAIAS more convenient for our attendees.”

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Joe Ratzkin is an avid fan of anything automotive. This 34-year old bachelor wanted to be a mechanic when he was a kid but changed his mind and became a freelance writer and researcher instead. He is currently based in Chicago, Illinois.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com

When Stars And Cars Shine

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Do you love cars? Do you love stars? Then perhaps the upcoming 2007 North American International Auto Show which will be held in Detroit would be the best time to rub elbows with the popular and very much known celebrities of the entire world.

There are people who go to the NAIAS to check out the newest Jeep vehicles clad in all its feisty Jeep auto parts glory. There are some who go to look for the freshest ideas on what vehicles would be best to purchase for themselves. But only a few do know that the NAIAS is also a chance to meet and greet the stars. This can happen during the auto show’s black-tie Charity Preview.

The NAIAS Charity Preview is not just about socializing and showing off just what you got and who goes with whom. The mentioned event is also a way for the auto show to earn cash which they would be donating to the Southeast Michigan children’s charities. In fact, the auto show is hoping to raise over $6 million to do that. This activity is done annually as part of the NAIAS and the show has been able to help out many children’s charities in the area.

Robert Thibodeau is the senior co-chairperson for the whole NAIAS event this 2007 and he does say, “Charity Preview is the highlight of the NAIAS each year and definitely an event you don’t want to miss. Last year, there were many delightful surprises including a performance by R & B singer Ashanti, but nothing beats the smiles that come from the children who will be helped by the funds raised. Get your tickets fast – you don’t want to miss this magical evening.”

Carl Galeana is another co-chair of the NAIAS and he shares, “This year is especially exciting because we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the DADA. We’ve had 900 new ticket sales to the Charity Preview this year, which shows us that despite the economic climate people are still excited and anxious to see all that the NAIAS has to offer and to support hundreds of children across metro Detroit.”

Holiday Safety Driving Tips

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

One of the most critical seasons with regards driving is winter. This is because during winter, unpredictable weather conditions, slippery roads and increased precipitation occur. Moreover, drivers are expected to be more alert and cautious. They are also expected to holiday safe driving.

According to cause-oriented group, at this time of the year, people in general, should think about dangerous driving situations especially those connected with the winter weather. Studies conducted found out that 94 percent of fatal crashes and over $170 billion losses that happen in the United States annually are caused by driver errors. This information suggests that thousands of road fatalities and injuries can be avoided if American motorists are practicing safe driving.

As the busy holiday streets moves into high gear, it is high time for drivers to be reminded of safe driving practice. Here are some of the safety driving tips:

1. Maintain your vehicle. If you are Chevy enthusiasts, then check those old car parts, Chevy. Check on the tire tread, battery, antifreeze, windows, brakes and the like.

2. Keep a safety kit at hand. The kit should contain flashlight, jumper cables, flares, and other warning devices. For an extensive trip don't forget to bring in food, water, blanket, batteries, medication, and mobile phone.

3. Drive in accordance with the dictates of common sense.

4. Listen while driving. Snow can soften the sound of an approaching train. Lower the volume of your radio and heater, and crack the window in order to listen intently.

5. Avoid drowsy driving. Get a good sleep before driving. Avoid alcohol. To be more secure, drive with a companion.

6. If your car gets stuck on a railway, move away immediately. You can also call 911 for aid. Try to mention significant landmarks to make it easy for the agency to locate you.

7. If stalled or stopped, stay with your car however; you have to put conspicuous markers your on windows or antenna and shine dome light. If you insist to run your car, be sure to clear its exhaust pipe to keep its warmth.

8. Be sure that you are using a vehicle that ensures safety of the occupants. New models of cars are now equipped with safety devices like air bags, seats, and belts. For instance, car parts Saturn are now upgraded to boost safety and convenience.

The Challenge Of Revised Euro 5, 6 Emission Standards

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

The world is changing and so as to be able to keep up with these changes, officials who do have a say on particular matters are making sure that they would be doing everything they can. One of the things that we are experiencing in our world is the high amount of pollution that seems to be unstoppable. However, pollution and smoke may not be entirely eliminated, but people in the automotive world are making sure that they would be able to at least lessen the amount of emissions that automobiles create.

Along this line, the European Parliament also wants to do its share on keeping the environment as clean as possible. Of course, there are certain things that such a form of government could do. Like perhaps ask the manufacturers of Ford auto parts or maybe even Saturn performance parts to actually minimize emissions and lessen the amount of waste that the factories or facilities are sending out to the environment. And on one point, the Parliament now has decided to change and revise their emission standards. Right now, they have already sent out information on the new Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission standards.

According though to motorists and also to car manufacturers, the newest set of emission standards have actually become quite challenging. You see, the European Parliament has already set that the new standards would be having rules on the limit values for elements like nitrogen oxide as well as on particulate matter. These can be found on both the proposals for Euro 5 and Euro 6. The new emission standards have already been affirmed by the government a couple of days earlier.

Ivan Hodac explains, “The European car industry will do its utmost to meet the extremely ambitious targets within the set time frame. What concerns us, is that the proposed limit values will not only be extremely difficult to meet, but will have a significant counter-productive effect on reducing CO2 emissions from passenger cars. They also pose a serious risk for the market of small diesel cars.” Hodac is the secretary-general for the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or the ACEA.

Ford Escape For 2008

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

A couple of weeks before the Los Angeles Auto Show, some car fanatics have been able to spot the newly revamped Ford Escape which was made ready for the 2008 model year. Although they were able to see some changes to this popular sport utility vehicle, those witnesses were able to say that the Ford Escape really did not go through a major and complete redesign. But they were able to distinguish that the vehicle did receive some changes for its front end.

Some of the biggest changes that were noted were the headlights that looked larger plus a grille that now held three bars. For other changes, the witnesses did mention that the lower end also got some slight changes as well as the arches of the front wheels. As per most of the vehicle’s Ford auto parts, it looks like it was left untouched.

Now at the LA Auto Show, show goers were able to witness the complete changes done to the Ford Escape. Being the best selling compact sport utility vehicle not only in the Ford range but in the whole of the auto market, people were able to enjoy the changes done to the vehicle. Sure enough, Ford made sure that the vehicle would be able to closely contend with other competition like strong vehicles like the Toyota RAV4 as well as the Honda CR-V.

Both the exterior and the exterior of the 2008 Ford Escape got some changes. In fact, the electric power steering that the vehicle now holds is actually new. However, if you are thinking that the power of the vehicle also did get some additional bonuses, you would be disappointed to know that the underpinnings of the vehicle like the engine and suspension systems were not touched by the changes. This vehicle still comes with two engine choices – the four cylinder engine with 153 horsepower and the 3.0 liter V6 engine for 200 horsepower.

To those who are looking for changes to the 2008 Ford Escape hybrid version, then despair not. The new hybrid also did get some refreshing changes and was also sent out at the mentioned auto show the same time as the new version of the normal unit.

Auto & Technology Exhibition Coming Next Spring

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Opening this April 22nd up until the 28th next year, 2007, an exhibition of automobile and manufacturing technology would be held. This is according to an announcement given out by the Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. The grand event is the 12th International Automobile and Manufacturing Technology Exhibition and is better known as the Auto Shanghai 2007.

Where will this be held? If you are interested, you can rush to the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center at the mentioned dates. For this year, the whole event revolves around the theme “Technology and Nature in Harmony” which can be quite in the trend. The announcement also did say that for the 2007 Auto Shanghai, the event would be focusing also on the leading automobile companies in the world although it has not been mentioned if people would be able to purchase auto products like Dodge auto parts, Ford car parts, and the like here.

For this year, the Auto Shanghai 2007 would be using the venue’s nine indoor exhibition halls. Seven of those would be for the auto crafters while the remaining two halls would be for auto components. Aside from those indoor halls, there would also be two temporary outdoor halls to be used plus the exterior part of the venue. The announcement from Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. also did mention that the total area where the exhibition would be taking place would cover more than 140,000 square meters.

Media people can visit the 12th International Automobile and Manufacturing Technology Exhibition on the 20th and the 21st. However, those days given to the media would only be available for domestic and overseas media people. The organizers did mention that such would be so as to better facilitate any reports and questions coming from the journalists. The media people could also ask better and even more comprehensive questions.

On the other hand, for trades people, the days 22nd and 23rd would be kept especially for them while the remaining ones would be for the public.

The Auto Shanghai started out back in the year 1985 and has since evolved into an international auto show.

Ford Edge's Delivery, Derailed

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Ford Motor Co. will delay the scheduled delivery of the new Edge. According to Ford officials, it intends to iron out manufacturing problem in its Oakville plant, where said model together with the Lincoln MKX crossover is assembled.

It can be recollected that Ford announced the delivery of Edge to dealerships this month. Since the derailment occurred, it is now expected to be delivered in the month of December this year. "Several thousand of the vehicles have been built and all meet Ford's quality standards, but Ford wants to make sure all of its manufacturing processes are working correctly before delivering the vehicles," said Joseph R. Hinrichs, vice president of North American manufacturing.

Hinrichs added, "The product's ready. We want to make sure that our process is equally ready to deliver, on a consistent basis, the quality and the timeliness of the deliveries that our dealers and our customers expect."

According to Hinrichs, Ford has to do some critical check points on the assembly line work stations to ensure the quality of Ford car parts used in Edge. "We're not yet to the level where the consistency is where we want it to be to launch the vehicles," he added.

It was also divulged that the automaker experienced inventory shortages from auto parts supplying companies. Ford's decision in delaying delivery was supported by auto analysts. "The delay is the correct decision for Ford because quality is so important in today's competitive auto market," said Kevin Reale, research director for Boston-based AMR Research.

"For them to be able to detect this is good. If there's quality issues associated with either their current assembly process or parts, it's better for them to have the detection in the manufacturing process than have the detection occur out in the field," Reale further noted.

Catherine Madden, auto industry analyst at the consulting company Global Insight Inc. said, "Ford clearly has a quality problem at the plant; fixing it has to be balanced against getting the product to dealers when every sales day counts. I think it is prudent to meet those quality standards. Ford is under such a microscope now."

10 Worst Autos Of The Year

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Earlier, The Truth About Cars (TTAC) conducted a survey having its faithful and candid readers as respondents. The survey is all about tracking the Ten Worst Automobile Today (TWAT) from all the vehicles available in the United States within this year. The polls and tallying are closed. Further, the winners are yet to be unraveled. The winners of the 2006 TTAC Ten Worst Automobile Today awards are the following:

On the tenth place is Chevrolet Aveo. The automaker claims that said car is the lowest [new] car in America however; the contents of the vehicle may vary. In the United States and Canada, Aveo is available in both 5-door and 4-door models. Chevrolet Aveo sedan debuted in January this year at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. Lincoln Mark LT landed on the ninth place. According to TTAC's voters, the car is an unholy degradation of the world-famous Lincoln Mark nomenclature. In addition, it is said that the Mark LT is a rolling testament to Dearborn's short-term, suicidal reliance on bean-counted engineering.

Saab 9-7x entered in the eighth place of the TWAT. Voters say that the car is nothing more than a Chevy Trailblazer with the ignition key between the seats. Subaru B9 Tribeca, a crossover SUV, settled on the seventh place. Some enthusiasts are saying Subaru should not have bothered building an SUV.

On the sixth place is Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which is said to be a wrong wheel-drive engineering joke from the late '80's. Next on the line is the Hummer H2. The latter, according to some, is so heavy that IRS will give the purchaser a tax break because you just bought a piece of commercial farm equipment. They further added that it looks like a school bus from behind and a morbidly obese Cherokee from every other angle.

The fourth placer is Chrysler Aspen. Simon and Garfunkel said, "Every way you look at this you lose." Some of the comments to this car are: It's ugly. It's thirsty. It's slow. It's badly built. It's cramped. It's expensive. Landing on the third place is Buick Rendezvous, which is based on a 1997 minivan.

Jeep Compass landed on the second place. Jeep auto parts that include round headlights and a 7-slot grill made Compass repulsive to TTAC enthusiasts.

Finally, the worst among the worst belong to General Motors. GM Minivans Talk emerged as the TTAC's accolade as the worst vehicles currently for sale in America. Chevrolet Uplander, Pontiac SV6, Buick Terraza, and Relay that boasts its Saturn auto body parts fall short of pleasing aficionados.

Who Owns Best Of What’s New Award?

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Wild guess. Who (or what) is the recipient of the Best of What’s New award for Popular Science Magazine’s automotive category?

Are you thinking Ford? Are you thinking Jaguar? Are you thinking General Motors? Or how about the automatic dimming rearview mirror created by Gentex? How about those Chevy parts that look as if they were made from the future?

If you guessed these, then you are totally wrong.

You see, the recipient of the Best of What’s New award for Popular Science Magazine’s automotive category is the 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo. This award is actually part of this year’s 19th Annual Best of What’s New awards by the mentioned magazine.

If you are interested in knowing more about this vehicle and how come it was the one chosen by Popular Science Magazine, then you may want to catch the December issue of the magazine which would soon be hitting newsstands (and perhaps even your favorite bookstore) come the 14th of this month.

According to the editors of Popular Science Magazine, the 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo was chosen because it used the Porsche variable turbine geometry (or the VTG) setup. Such was first developed and used in the mentioned vehicle. And this was also created with the assistance and cooperation of yet another company – the Borg Warner Turbo Systems.

Many are not yet quite familiar with this vehicle, after all, it has only been on sale just this summer. However, this award just goes to see that even the newest could also be the best.

As per the VTG setup, the technology was actually based on the type of technology that has been used in previous years by diesel engines that were used in early 1990s units. The technology has been quite successful for such vehicles and Porsche did believe that it could also work well for the 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo.

Experts in the industry do say that such a concept is quite alike to other manufacturers of turbo who make use of variable nozzle or geometry compressors. These other manufacturers also do make use of a system that was for a short time used on some series of gasoline production engines.

Gas Price Decline Rebounds in Truck Sales

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

October is a hot and profitable month for truck manufacturers, thanks to the decline in gas prices.

The figures of last month's sales are easy to compare with that of last year for same period. In the light-truck category which includes SUVs, pickups, and vans; sales figure soared by 14.8 percent last month compared to the sales performance for October last year. The gains in the truck segment exceeded the 2.9% falloff in car sales. Moreover, the automotive industry increased its sales by 6.1 percent over October 2005. Nonetheless, last month was the second worst month in terms of this year's volume.

Last month, customers from the business and government sector purchased a total of 1.2 million cars and trucks. 56.9 percent of said figure came from local automakers. That makes sales rise by 55.4 percent from the previous year.

Toyota and other foreign automakers reported a double-digit profit in their truck segment. On one hand, GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG reported an increase by approximately 67 percent all through the month.

In the local automotive arena, decline in gas prices seem to benefit GM most. The automaker's truck sales surged by 32.9 percent. DaimlerChrysler truck sales were up by 11.1 percent. Jeep and Dodge received most of the gains. Jeep auto parts are proving what they are worth in Liberty and Commando. Consequently, Dodge truck parts are still preferred by many truck enthusiasts.

However, the rise of truck sales was offset by the decline by 26.4 percent in car sales. Moreover, the automaker's overall October sales decline amounted to 1.6 percent.

Ford truck sales were up by only 0.7 percent. However, its car sales surged by 22 percent. The car sales were attributed to Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ. The automaker reported an increase of 8 percent for October this year.

"Trucks bounced back during the month," says Paul Ballew, executive director of market and industry analysis at GM. Chrysler, conversely, boasts its truck sales, "The retail side of our business has really shown a lot of strength for us in October, especially with key products such as Jeep Commander, Dodge Ram pickup ... Jeep Liberty," says Steven Landry, Chrysler Group vice president of sales and field operations.