L.A. Auto Show for The Big Money

Here's my take on the L.A. Auto Show for Slate's new site The Big Money. The event actually wasn't as depressing as I thought it would be--but it was certainly depressing (although on balance not as bad as the pre-meltdown New York Auto Show back in March). Main story was that Ford, with more money in the bank than GM and Chrysler, and with more Green cars, rolled out a more dramatic presence. Check back later for pictures from the show.

Hufffington Post: Save the SUVs, Then Kill Them

It's hard to say that Detroit betting big--and winning big--on SUVs and trucks for a decade was a bad plan. When gas was cheap, tons of money was raked in by the Big Three. Small cars have always had crummy profit margins, and if you add on the cost of making small cars highly fuel-efficient, you erode profits even further. BUT--the time has come to make a serious change. Unfortunately, Detroit still needs SUV and truck profits to get it there. At least for the short term. Here's my take, from the Huffington Post.

Let Detroit Drop Dead!

Not a good idea, in my view, but one that's being put forward by Cliff Mason in a recent blog post at CNBC. He thinks we could take Detroit's potential bailout money and use it to improve public transportation. On its face, better public transportation sounds great, but we're not in a position to trade better subways and buses for a decimated Detroit. In fact, we need not just to save Detroit but to manage its future growth and development through an industrial policy. So we're not just talking about a public bailout of the Big Three Two, we're talking about a need to continue to provide Detroit with taxpayer support. Concessions, of course, should be exacted.

Can Tata Motors Be the Detroit That Wasn't?

Even though official launch of Tats Motor's $2,500 "People's Car" has been delayed by some local issues with the initial plant site, I'm still fascinated by the car--and also with Tata as a corporation that both represents what Detroit should have become in the 1970s and symbolizes the way forward for genuinely sustainable mobility. Here's my take, from the Huffington Post, where I'm now blogging for their Green site about Sus Mo.