BACK SEAT DRIVING – Of late the press has had to report the news of more tragic deaths due to young people racing automobiles on city streets. Our dragstrip at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale has been offering a safe alternative to illegal street racing for several years now. Every Thursday night we open our NHRA-sanctioned dragstrip to anyone with an automobile and a valid driver’s license. We’ll even coach newcomers in the nuances of drag racing if asked. The charge is nominal and we’d very much like to invite you…

BACK SEAT DRIVING – Following the bouncing ball of automotive marketing always has been a fascinating element of this business. In an industry that sells products locked into a pattern of four or more years of very expensive design and engineering lead-times, plus at least five or more years in showrooms to recoup the massive capital outlay, the impact of marketing sometimes is seen as negligible. After all, if the product is not right the moment it hits the public’s radar, there is very little marketing can do to fully salvage the decade worth of investment…

BACK SEAT DRIVING – That is, WHERE’S THE F? If the F is good enough for Gordon Ramsay, why not the F for ultra gas guzzlers? That’s the question we ask in response to the U.S. government’s new idea to include a grade from A to D for the fuel economy and emissions on the window label of a car…

LA CAR REPORT – If you’re a Chrysler dealer, do you want to sell Fiats? For 400 Chrysler dealers, the answer was a resounding ‘yes’ today. And why not? It’s not like Chrysler is introducing an over-abundance of new products these days. With Fiat in the fold, there’s a real opportunity to sell some sorely needed new products in the one segment that Chrysler is lacking in—i.e., small cars. So for 400 Chrysler Group dealers, Chrysler hosted a get together in Auburn Hills, Michigan, to outline the requirements to become a Fiat dealer in the United States.

BACK SEAT DRIVING – China has not historically been at the forefront of the green movement. However, a major new effort to put more than a million hybrid and electric vehicles on the roads is part of a real sea change for the country. As part of the China’s plan to become a world leader in green technology, 16 big state-owned companies have agreed to form an alliance to do research and development and create standards for electric and hybrid vehicles.