Posts by Chris Haak
Review: 2012 Volkswagen Passat SEL 2.5
As an automaker, how do you take a good - but slow selling - car and improve its sales by two or threefold? Volkswagen faced this very question during the development of the...
Nissan May Revive Datsun Brand
Word from Japan's Nikkei business daily newspaper is that Nissan is considering a revival of the Datsun name. The report has not been confirmed publicly by Nissan, but the key...
What Happened To The 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Buried in Tulsa? Updated 2/24/2012
Reading a story on Jalopnik this morning about how a 1985 Pontiac Fiero was removed from a Houston reservoir after 22 years underwater caused my mind to wander to the last rusty...
Mazda Needs To Raise Money
At almost the same time news broke that PSA Peugeot Citröen and GM were in alliance talks, Ford's former alliance partner, Mazda is going in the opposite direction. The...
Peugeot and GM Discuss Potential Alliance
According to comments from French labor minister Xavier Bertrand last night, French automaker PSA Peugeot Citröen is in the midst of talks with GM on a far-reaching alliance. ...
Review: 2012 Fiat 500 Sport 5MT
One of the worst-kept secrets in the auto industry is that the Fiat 500 was not going to hit its sales target of 50,000 units for 2011. Instead, Fiat sold just 19,769 cars in...
Review: 2012 GMC Acadia Denali AWD
By Chris Haak Perhaps you've heard the Japanese word kaizen, which means 'improvement.' In the context of the auto industry, has been understood to represent Japanese...
Honda Civic Hybrid Plaintiffs SHOULD Win
By Chris Haak By now you've surely heard the story of Heather Peters, a disappointed Honda Civic Hybrid owner who took Honda to small-claims court in California and won a $9,800...
Chinese Knock Off the Ford F-150
By Chris Haak These may be some of my favorite kinds of stories to write about. My very limited understanding of Chinese culture , gained from talking to a few Chinese friends,...
The Australian Auto Industry is in Jeopardy
When I think of Australian cars, my thoughts immediately go to the likes of the Holden Commodore/Calais/Caprice and Ford Falcon, and all of their related derivatives. Then the...