Earth Day 2013

For today's tree-hugging holiday, I've compiled a list of new cars, all of which are supposed to be 2013's Top 10 Best Cars for the Environment.

10. Lincoln MKZ Hybrid

9.   Toyota Avalon Hybrid

8.   Honda Fit EV

7.   VW Jetta Hybrid

6.   Ford C-Max Energi

5.   Toyota Prius Plug-in

4.   Chevy Volt

3.   Ford Focus Electric

2.   Tesla Model S

1.   Nissan Leaf

Now, see how bored you are after glancing through that? That's why I blog about interesting cars and other motoring related topics, not this sort of thing.

Happy Eco-mentalist Day.

Car Brand Slogans: A Review

Below is a listing of some slogans that were recently used by automotive companies, along with a little nugget of truth about each. Being in marketing, I study these kind of things, and I thought it'd be entertaining for you all to have a glimpse into the mind of a genius.

BMW: “BMW. The Ultimate Driving Machine.”
Audi: “Keeping ahead through technology.”
You have to enjoy the fact that your grammar check will grab you for both of these ads and tell you "nein, your sentence is nicht gut." These slogans are about the same: very assertive, very German, not bad, but not very memorable.

Mercedes-Benz: “Unlike any other.”
Mercedes-Benz is deeply involved in so many different things related to automotive manufacturing; one could really say that they are “unlike any other.” This one is alright.

Alfa Romeo: “Alfa Romeo. Beauty is not enough.”
This slogan is good because it is accurate, not ridiculous boasting or just making up nonsense like most slogans. Alfa really does make truly beautiful cars, so this works. I also love Alfa Romeo so I'm totally biased here.

Ford: “Built Ford Tough”
Effective. You have to admit, it works. My only problem with this is that Ford writes its ads as if their target is car-buying Neanderthals.

Dodge: “Dodge. Grab life by the horns.”
Not great. This ad slogan was written exclusively for high school football coaches.

Chevrolet: “Chevy: an American revolution.”
You can’t really point out a problem with this slogan, but then, you couldn’t repeat it to me two minutes from now either, could you?

Volkswagen: “Relieves gas pains.”
This is a great plan from VW’s marketers – have your customers associate your brand with flatulence.

Toyota: “The car in front is a Toyota.”
            “Toyota. Moving forward.”
When you read the old ad campaign, “The car in front is a Toyota”, you just think - if there is a Toyota in front of me, the accelerator is stuck. Then you read the new, slightly better slogan: “Toyota. Moving forward.” – you still think - of course its moving forward, it can’t stop either.

Saturn: “Saturn. Like always. Like never before.”
A part of this slogan is accurate; like always, your Saturn will be absolute rubbish. Like never before… no it will be embarrassing, like it always was.

(I have enlarged their logo image here so that you can marvel at this absolutely wonderful masterpiece artwork that is the Saturn logo.)

If you have a favorite slogan not seen here, or if I have offended your most beloved car maker in some way, post below in the comment box. I might enjoy reading your submissions.

Australia Wins

I have been quite intrigued lately by the new push in NASCAR to return to actual stock car racing. What I mean to say is that the cars that are being used in stock car racing this year are closer to actual production cars used by Chevy, Ford, and Toyota. Personally, I love this. I feel like its a bit of a revival. The rebirth of something that had been killed by the inception of those cookie cutter so called "stock" cars that were all essentially the same but held different badges on the front.

However, I am not going to ramble about on NASCAR racing. What I have been recently excited by with all this is the new Chevy, the Chevrolet SS.

There it is. The right one, of course, is the one I'm mostly talking about here. The fact that it is similar to the racing car is simply a nugget of extra excitement for Chevy fans.

Here's a few other reasons that I can't wait to see more about when this car is released for public sale:

• 6.2L V8
• 6 speed automatic transmission with TAPshift - we'll have to see if that actually works at all.
• Front Brembo brakes
• Sport Suspension - which is probably just a bad thing.

Here's the spec sheet if you're curious yourself.

http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam/Chevrolet/northamerica/usa/nscwebsite/en/Home/Chevy%20Culture/News/PreReaveal%20SS/02-PDF/SS_HeroCard.pdf

Let me tell you something else that is of great concern to me: The new flagship sports sedan for Chevrolet is designed by a group of some Aussie horseback riders.

Yes. Holden, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors has designed the Chevy SS.

Here is the Holden Commodore SS.

I do not feel that I need to argue this point any further. they are identical.

I simply find this to be rather intriguing, since within the next two years, I expect that many middle aged American men will be so excited to talk about their new personal 4-door race car that, to them, should be really be associated with Steve Irwin and Outback Steakhouse.

I am sure that the BBC Top Gear three just love this. The Americans stealing from Australia to have a decent sedan.

I am also fearful. Why you ask? Because, as a traditionalist American, I hate cars that have stupid designations like the LP640, or the MP4-12C. There is a simple reasoning behind this. I feel that cars are not just things. They aren't washing machines or robots. They have personalities. We can connect with them. I have only known one person to be okay with calling his friends C3PO and R2D2, and even then, they weren't his best friends. When it came down to it, Lando and Chewy were more personable.
So, I am okay with calling my car a Commodore, or a Stratos, or even a Fiesta. They are names that add to that character. I fear that Chevy will become like Infiniti or Lexus, who give their cars only these sort of code sequence designations. I don't want Chevy to let go of this character that they have had forever.

That's neither here nor there. 

I am genuinely, very anxiously, and hopefully anticipating the release of the bow-tie SS in the States. I think that it will be a good, solid little replacement for the SS Impala and SS Monte Carlo that Chevy has recently done away with entirely. 

I will be posting more later to confirm my happiness over what is likely going to be the best, somewhat reasonably priced GM car to have been released in the US for several years.

Until then, if you would like to make a commentary in regards to Australia becoming invested in middle-aged Americans, feel free.