TCC
HEADS TO NY AUTO SHOW
The
New York Auto Show is open to the public, and this week at TheCarConnection.com,
our team of reporters will be bringing you all the new production and concept
vehicles the show has to offer. Get the latest on the Ford Five Hundred,
Infiniti G35 Coupe, Chrysler PT Turbo and more in today’s edition of
TCC:
2002 New York Auto
Show
(3/31/2002)
LUTZ:
MONARO WILL BE NEW GTO 2002 Holden Monaro
FORD
FIVE HUNDRED COMING IN ‘04 2004 Ford Five Hundred
GAS
PRICES ON THE RISE
You’re paying 22 percent more for gas than at
the end of last year, Reuters reports — and more increases in gas prices could
be on the way as summer comes. The average price of gas last week hit $1.34 a
gallon for regular unleaded. Prices have run up nearly 23 cents in just the past
month. A reviving economy and the war on terrorism could lift prices higher, but
experts tell the news service they don’t expect to see them rising as high as
the $1.71 a gallon reached last May.
FORD
ENDING FIRESTONE REPLACEMENTS
Sunday will be the last day
to swap Firestone tires for other brands through Ford, the automaker said
Thursday. As part of its sweeping recall of Firestone tires found on some of its
most popular SUVs and trucks, Ford said last October that it would finish its
replacement program on March 31. The $2.1-billion recall brought about the end
of a 100-year relationship between Ford and Firestone, which Ford is said to be
interested in rekindling. A Ford spokesman told Reuters the company replaced
about 10.6 million tires as a result of its action.
FIRESTONE CASE
GOES GLOBAL
Some
121 lawsuits filed by foreign plaintiffs will be heard in the U.S. as a result
of a hearing on Tuesday, Reuters reports. U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans
Barker ruled yesterday that some accidents involving Firestone tires in
Venezuela and Colombia could be brought to the States, which could also affect
lawsuits pending in several states, the news service reports. The tires are
similar to those suspected in 271 deaths and more than 800 injuries in accidents
in the U.S. Earlier this year, Firestone brought to an end the recall of some
6.5 million tires deemed unsafe because of tread separations; Ford Motor
Company, which put the Firestone Wilderness tires in question on hundreds of
thousands of its Explorer sport-utility vehicles, widened the recall and dropped
Firestone as a supplier, ending a 100-year relationship. More tread separations
are pending with plaintiffs from nations as far-flung as Qatar and
Thailand.
Firestone:
Getting the Word Out by
William L. Sharfman, Ph.D (3/25/2002)
CHRYSLER
EXTENDS EXTENDED WARRANTY
Chrysler says the
extended-warranty plan it’s offered along with cheap financing will continue
through May. The company’s seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty is offered on 2001
and 2002 cars and trucks until May 31. In November, Chrysler stopped matching
the zero-percent financing brought on by GM and added the warranty. The
company’s sales are down 10 percent so far this year.
MINI STARRING IN
NEXT
AUSTIN
POWERS
The next place you see a Mini Cooper — what
with orders outstripping supply at 70 dealers nationwide — might be the silver
screen. The Mini will show up, along with Michael Myers, Michael Caine
and awful prosthetic dentistry in the third Austin Powers movie coming
this summer. The Mini, driven by Caine in The Italian Job, will carry
him to further fame behind the line, "it's not size that
matters, baby, but how you use it." Yeah, baby. The movie had been named Austin Power’s Goldmember
until MGM objected to objectifying their Bond franchise. Click over to
http://newline.com/properties/austinpowersingoldmember.html and
get the latest on the Mini (and the name snafu).
2002 Mini Cooper
(3/31/2002)
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