Top Cars We Should Scrap

(NEWSER) - The Cash for Clunkers program should never have left the lot, Michelle Singletary writes in the Washington Post. The premise is fine: Give people a financial incentive to trade in old gas guzzlers for new gas sippers. It's the details that smell like a lemon. "The law does not apply to the purchase of used cars, encourages people to take on more debt, and doesn't require the new cars to get substantially better gas mileage." More»

(NEWSER) - Recession be damned, desire for the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro far outstrips supply—and some dealers are even charging a premium for the sporty new ride, USA Today reports. “Our current production schedule can’t meet the demand,” a General Motors spokesman said. But “that supply-demand tension is good. We don’t want to over-produce, nor do we want people waiting an unreasonable amount of time.” More»

(NEWSER) - Plenty of economists are trying to define what killed Detroit, but they’re looking in all the wrong places. “Fire the MBAs and hire a poet,” writes PJ O’Rourke in the Wall Street Journal. This isn’t a story of unions or financial crisis. “It’s a tragic romance—unleashed passions, lost love and wild horses.” Cars were once an American passion, replacing horses as an ennobling, empowering status symbol. Then, we moved to the suburbs. More»

Ford, Chrysler vehicles face off against three foreign competitors

(NEWSER) - Three Detroit-made vehicles are among six finalists for the 2009 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, the Detroit News reports. The Ford Flex will compete with the Hyundai Genesis and the Volkswagen Jetta TDI for the year's best car, while the redesigned Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram pickups are up against the Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC SUV for best truck. The competitors were picked by a panel of US and Canadian automotive journalists. More»

Rocker makes the case for drivers going big and going green

(NEWSER) - Motorists considering electric cars can hang on to their Cadillac dreams as well, writes Neil Young at the Huffington Post. Barack Obama's plan to get a million electric vehicles on American roads within a decade is possible—and the cars don't need to be tiny or even have new designs, writes the rock legend, pointing to his own converted 1959 Lincoln Continental as proof. More»