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Ebenezer Scrooge would love this! Talk about the spirit of Christmas!
TATA the new owner of Jaguar, Land-Rover and half a dozen other English name badges that Ford threw in for good measure, cannot finance the $3.2 Billion to finalise the deal that saw them end up with these little trinkets. Bet they aren’t looking so shiny now!
Anyway, the banks wont finance them, so what do they do, they basically door knock the Indian population to raise the money! Wow, what a concept! Imagine if GM or Ford came knocking on your door to ask for donations, “Sure, there is a rusty Escort/ Commodore out back!” All you have to do is make sure the door hits them on the ass as they leave!
TATA are asking for donations, although they are calling them “short term deposits” from as little as $ 40.00 which is a hell of a lot of rupees. Multiply $40.00 by the Indian population and that will give them a tidy sum; it still won’t be enough to save them though!
AUTOLOUD is sure if you spent $ 40.00 on GM shares these days it may just buy you a seat on the board!
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General Motors have announced that Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn and possibly Buick all face the firing squad. Any last requests! Doh! If motor company executives had any brains they would not make this kind of stuff public knowledge because the first thing people will do is NOT buy the car in question! That makes them easier to sell for sure!
Anyway, Hummer deserves it, it was only ever a fashion accessory, SAAB is only a re-bodied Opel Vectra and fools no-one into thinking it is still a Swedish oddity, Buick was once on option for Cadillac buyers, now it is not an option for anybody. However, Pontiac and Saturn seem to be the odd men out.
The Saturn division offers a range of European four cylinder Opel products with detail differences, which considering the current position of General Motors is not a bad scheme. How much does a new grille cost to tool up?
Down the road at Pontiac their hero car is none other than our own Holden Commodore with a dodgy nosecone. Sadly the whispers say that there are over 10 months worth of G8’s just sitting around…..waiting to be sold. This is obviously a disaster for Pontiac and although the price of “gas” (around US $ 2.00 per gallon!) has a lot to do with it, I think the biggest problem is the same drama they had with the GTO. It is the old “Not Invented here” syndrome.
“That ain’t no Pontiac!” they say. No it’s a Holden, it’s not perfect but it is still better than the crap Detroit builds! Get over it Billy Bob!
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The Australian website Carsguide and its print media buddies have named the FG Falcon as Car of the year, Autoloud has to ask, why?
Autoloud should tell you that they not only voted for the FG in droves but they named the G6E Turbo as the actual winner. Is it really a new car? after all it is based on the BF which was based on the BA which was based on the AU. This is the top of the range vehicle and it is also the dearest. Considering this is also supposed to be a peoples choice award, I wonder just how many Mums and Dads voted for $55,000 worth of Falcon!
The judging criterium must make for interesting reading (if there is one!) because although they make a passing reference to fuel economy nowhere does it mention resale values. Recent history shows that if Mr and Mrs average Australia buy a G6E for $ 55,000 and drive 40,000kms over the next two years, it might be worth $ 20,000! I said might, good luck! A giant oversight on the judging panels behalf, but then again, they probably dont actually buy them!
Like all new cars, it is easy to get carried away, they all drive well, the manufacturers make sure that the press get the "right" cars to drive around in, that is the ones which have been checked for problems, of course. If the press got off their collective bums and actually talked to Falcon owners (as I have experienced first hand!) they would find a litany of problems. The bonnet release which has been a problem since the XD Falcon, breaks on gentle contact and then costs $300 to repair! The oil cooler which leaks water into the gearbox and eventually kills it, trim pieces that fall off with boring regularity, yep, all these are standard fitment to a Falcon and Territory near you!
Of course, mentioning any of this in the press would be un-Australian, call me cynical but dont Ford spend a fortune on press advertising? I already know the answer to this but who should the press be protecting, the poor old Aussie car buyer or Ford?
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AUTOLOUD has to admit that I grew bored with kicking Top Gear Australia, There was no longer any point to it, besides it is cruel to kick a man when he's down!
I did not watch the last two episodes for two reasons. Firstly, I grew hoarse from yelling abuse at my TV set through the other episodes and secondly food is very hard to scrape out of the speaker grilles! Hopefully SBS will learn from series one, after all there is only so many 4x4 stories in the desert we can handle
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In a twist almost Darwinian in flavour, the motor industry worldwide is about to become the survival of the fittest.
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In an unusual step for AUTOLOUD, No cars will be mentioned in todays blog, however Jeremy Clarkson will! Regardless of what the British tabloid press or the BBC would have you believe this man is NOT public enemy number one
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From todays Believe or not file! A British car sales website is offering what they consider to be, a very generous offer. If you buy one Dodge Avenger, you get another Dodge Avenger absolutely free!
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Gordon Murray has a habit of producing cars that make sense and are built in a similar fashion, forget all the marketing hype, this is a guy who designs cars for the sake of designing cars!
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Maxwell Schmart has now been with AUTOLOUD for a whole month!
There is a problem though, AUTOLOUD never gets to drive him because Mrs Autoloud has claimed him as her own! As you or I would throw a crunchy chip (or french fry!) to a seagull, then she has tossed me her Volvo wagon
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Some time ago AUTOLOUD talked about Bugatti Royales.
We normal folk will never own a real Royale, well, not unless you have the $ 10 million plus needed of course
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Comment by Patrick
on Top Gear, X6 and Autoloud
Auto Loud