Archives

No Goodwill for Hummers


Posted Friday, November 6, 2009 - 7:52pm

Over at the New York Times Magazine, “Consumed” columnist Rob Walker has seen a Hummer— the large and often derided, military-derived General Motors SUV that will soon be sold as a brand to the Chinese—in the parking lot of a Goodwill and “smirked.” The implication is that the Hummer owner painted himself (and it’s probably a him) into a financial corner through his purchase of a pricey, gas-

  • Matthew DeBord has written about the auto industry for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Huffington Post. Follow him on Twitter.

Toyota Weeps


Posted Friday, November 6, 2009 - 1:48pm

A number of commentators have wondered why Tadashi Yamashina, who runs the Formula One racing effort for Toyota, became so emotional a few days ago when he announced that Toyota would be pulling out of the world’s premier racing organization. Obviously, this was a blow to Toyota’s high-performance pretenses, coming awkwardly on the heels of its debut of a $400,000 Lexus supercar at the Tokyo Motor Show.

  • Matthew DeBord has written about the auto industry for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Huffington Post. Follow him on Twitter.