obsession with automotive excellence
Interesting Times
Porsche wants to move further upmarket. The ordinary 911’s prices and used-car market show what that ambition could mean for its traditional buyers.
Read the essay : Porsche Thinks It’s Leaving Money on the Table: True Enthusiasts Priced OutInteresting Times
Ford and GM remained broad automakers. Chrysler survived by changing owners, partners, and finally its place inside a global group. The Big Three name outlived the structure…
Read the essay : It Hasn’t Been the Big Three For DecadesInteresting Times
A familiar silhouette conceals several markets, a few real shortages, and a surprising amount of arithmetic performed against the wrong sticker.
Read the essay : The Price of Knowing Which 911Interesting Times
Electric crossovers can now accelerate like yesterday’s supercars. The harder engineering question begins after 60 mph: braking, damping, heat, steering, tires, and control.
Read the essay : The New Supercar Has Juice Box HoldersAutomotive Excellence / Interesting Times
The manual transmission is disappearing from ordinary cars, but scarcity, margins, and enthusiast demand can preserve it where buyers will pay for mechanical involvement.
Read the essay : Gatekeeping: Profits Will Save the ManualsAutomotive Excellence / Interesting Times
A luxury car becomes absurd when its engineering, theater, or commercial logic travels farther than the benefit it delivers. Some of the best cars ever made score…
Read the essay : The Absurdity IndexInteresting Times
Cars are unusually public possessions. They invite strangers to infer taste, status, identity, and intent from an object that may have been chosen for entirely different reasons.
Read the essay : You Are What You DriveInteresting Times
Luxury pickups combine the sedan’s private comforts with a body that publicly signifies work, capability, and preparedness. That combination changed what expensive American transportation looks like.
Read the essay : The Pickup Killed the Luxury Sedan, Then Wore Its SkinInteresting Times
Physical controls let the hand find, operate, and confirm a function without asking the eyes to leave the road. The best interfaces know which work to remove…
Read the essay : Ode to the ButtonInteresting Times
GM’s move away from phone projection transfers more of the dashboard’s useful life to embedded software, networks, pairing systems, and services that the owner does not control.
Read the essay : GM’s Rebuke of CarPlay Will Not End Well
