| Auto Lease Datapoint of the Day Felix Salmon submits: From the WSJ: Last month, Bill Wamsley, a commercial real estate broker in Mill Valley, Calif., hoped to replace his wife’s Lexus sedan with a 2009 Cadillac CTS.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Consumer Reports' Annual Auto Survey Sees Gains for Detroit TheCarConnection.com submits: A couple of weeks ago, Nelson Ireson reported on Consumer Reports' latest Reliability Survey, which put Ford (F) and Lincoln at the head of the reliability pack. Now Consumer Reports has more good news for Big Three automakers thanks to its new Auto Survey, which places several American autos on the magazine's "top satisfaction list". Even better for Detroit fans, the Dodge Challenger has charged to the top of the rankings, earning the survey's highest marks and the honor of being the most satisfying car in America. For several years, the Toyota Prius has taken the top spot on the annual Auto Survey, but this time around, the Prius was edged out by not one, but two American rides: the Challenger motored to the top spot, with 92% of buyers saying they'd definitely buy one again, and the number two spot was taken by the Ford Fusion Hybrid, which earned a 91% score. Prius fans shouldn't fret too much, though: the flagship hybrid still ranked near the head of the class, alongside the AWD Acura TL, the Chevrolet Corvette, and the Porsche 911.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
The Next Chapter in Toyotagate Jesse Felder submits: I recently wrote a piece about how I believe Toyota is killing their brand with the way they handled the recent "unintended acceleration" issues and I have honestly been surprised by the company's defenders.For Toyota (TM) to know about this major issue and, in response, pursue a policy of "denying the problem exists, implying motorist error and simply hoping the issue will go away," is to send a clear message that they couldn't care less about customer safety.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Using Rail Data to Determine U.S. GDP Growth Tom Malthus submits:I often analyze the volume of US train car activity released by the Association of American Railroads, hoping to find some magical predictive power over equities, manufacturing, IP, etc., but what I usually end up with is a mediocre coincident indicator.While in some isolated incidents the index can exert considerable forecasting prowess, volatility and past false positives make interpreting these results extremely difficult. Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings the data have a big advantage in that it is a weekly release, and unlike other indices it cannot be impacted by speculative investors, as it tracks the actual volume of cars on the track.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
JetBlue Airways Corporation Q2 2010 Earnings Call Transcript JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU)Q2 2010 Earnings CallJuly 22, 2010 09:30 am ETComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |