An homage to M-Series' beginnings

The BMW M1 sports car was originally built simply as a design study, and grew to become an influential model in the sports car world.

Thirty years later, BMW is paying homage to that model with aptly-named M1 Homage concept.

According to BMW, the M1 Homage continues the automaker's pattern of building vehicles that both harken back to past models, while still reinventing themselves for the future.

Any BMW fan of years past will notice the dual BMW emblems each situated on the right and left edge above the tail lights, signalling a mid-engine BMW car. This styling element was approved even before the first design sketches were complete.

Other styling elements taken from the original M1 are the air vents in the bonnet and the louvers on the rear windscreen, as well as the black cut line dividing the roofline from the rear section of the body.


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Gas prices cited as sale of small cars surges

Small cars were the big winners in April, as high gas prices accelerated U.S. consumers' rush away from trucks and sport utility vehicles, and as makers of fuel-efficient models scored gains despite the weak economy.

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all saw double-digit U.S. sales declines compared with last April. But Nissan's sales were up 7 percent on the strength of its car sales, while Toyota's sales edged up 3 percent. Honda's sales figures were delayed because of a technical problem, but the automaker said April sales were likely to be up at least 6 percent.

Pickup sales have been falling for months because of the slowdown in housing construction, and the trend away from SUVs began several years ago as Baby Boomers aged and roomy but more fuel-efficient crossover vehicles gave consumers more choice.


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Games Without Frontiers: 'Grand Theft Auto IV' Delivers Deft Satire of Street Life

I'll just get this up front: I enormously enjoyed Grand Theft Auto IV.

But here's the thing: It's kind of hard to explain why.

There's no single thing to point to -- no must-see scene, no gotta-do moment of gameplay, no deliriously fun weapon. No, the game's pleasures come in weird, subtle, unexpected moments.

Let me give you an example. At one point, I was having a typically thuggish day: I'd killed a few drug dealers with a semiautomatic, and while trying to flee, whoops -- I accidentally rear-ended a cop car. Then it was a car chase, all wailing sirens and shrieking pedestrians diving out of the way, before totaling my SUV in a brutal collision and escaping on foot. A total Hillary Clinton nightmare, in other words.

I finally escaped by ducking into a subway station, and while catching my breath, I decided to explore a bit.


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Car-parts makers defy estimates

Lear Corp. and ArvinMeritor Inc., Metro Detroit auto-parts makers that have worked to cut labor costs and increase sales abroad, reported earnings Tuesday that beat analyst estimates, boosting company shares.

Southfield-based Lear, which makes automotive seats, said first-quarter net income rose 57 percent to $78.2 million, pushing up the stock by the most since it started trading in 1994. Sales fell 12 percent to $3.86 billion.

ArvinMeritor, a maker of brakes and shock absorbers based in Troy, had its first profit in five quarters.

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New Book Shows Car Dealers How to Rev Up Profits and Customer Satisfaction

28/04/2008 18:54:00 Business Wire Car manufacturing has been transformed by lean production over the last 20 years yet car dealerships have remained virtually untouched by lean principles.
Now that s changing.
Dealerships experimenting with lean principles have experienced a doubling of throughput, increases in productivity of 50% or more, and returns on sales several times the industry norm.
These are not "freak" results.
They occur every time lean principles are applied in a disciplined way -- as has already been done in service sectors such as healthcare.
Creating Lean Dealers, a step-by-step workbook for improving dealer operations, shows managers how to remove the many barriers to smooth the flow of work, starting in service and repair.
"Because lean thinking does not naturally fit the mind-set of dealers, the place to start is with service and repair," said Dan Jones, founder and chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy (LEA) in the UK, the book s publisher.


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Fraud case against car dealer dismissed

Lancaster County District Judge Paul Merritt Jr. has dismissed a titling fraud charge against a local automobile dealer.Merritt dismissed the charge against Chad Gutschow, 34, of Suzuki Autoplex last week in response to a motion by Gutschow’s attorney. The dismissal apparently does not preclude prosecutors from filing new charges, but the Lancaster County Attorney’s office said Tuesday it had not decided how to proceed in the case. The Nebraska State Patrol cited Gutschow in August on suspicion of felony title fraud. His attorney said at the time that the dispute arose from a "misunderstanding between Mr. Gutschow and a third-party business."

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On YOUR Dime: Congressmen Lease Luxury Cars

You may not realize it, but members of the House of Representatives can lease a car and have it paid for by you -- the taxpayer. And it's not just the car, but gas, registration, insurance the works. And as CBS 2 HD found out, there's no limit on how much they can spend. Congressman Charles Rangel was recently seen getting out of his Cadillac DeVille, which he leases for $774 per month. Then there was Congressman Jose Serrano, getting out of his Buick LaCrosse, which he leases for $317 per month. And how about this one: Congressman Gregory Meeks was recently seen waiting for Congressman John Conyers to step out of Meeks' Lexus LS460, which Meeks leases for $998 per month. All those leases are picked up by taxpayers through a little-known program available only to members of the House of Representatives.



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