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Byline: John D. Stoll Tracy Teague says it all started off as an 'innocent collaboration.'' The Nike Inc. footwear designer should know. He was in the room full of key [...]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL By the time Mark Reuss reached the age of 36, people were criticizing his work with gusto. Why not? He, a GM vehicle line executive, was […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Running a Saturn Ion around one of the world's most-storied race paths may seem incongruous. Our spy shooter thought so when he caught the then-unidentified General […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL When it comes to driver's ed., teenagers are learning to pass a test, but not really learning how to pass on the highway. So says Jeff […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL According to the latest report from J.D. Power and Associates, buyers rank sizzling sellers Mini and Hummer among the worst-quality vehicles. How so, you ask? As […]

Byline: John d. Stoll Anticipate. That's the lesson you'll cart away from the Steamboat Springs, Colorado-based Bridgestone Winter Driving School, which offers a two-day performance program and half- or one-day […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL If Honda predicting it will sell 3000 fewer Acura MDX luxo-sport/utilities than the 53,000 units sold here last year has you scratching cranium, rub no longer. […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Geneva Salon demonstrates definite performance bias It's been awhile since Geneva looked so good. Take last year. We walked away from the annual Swiss auto shindig […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL 'The BMW M3 is about as good as it gets.' So read our conclusion in January after whirling an M3 around a California track and rummaging […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Need a 6x6 heavy-duty truck? Could be time to hit the auction. The U.S. government funnels surplus goods-warehouses full of everything from treadmills to used drill […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Here's another engine problem: Media reports and online complaints at www.v8sho.com document more than 200 cases of camshaft failures in Ford Taurus SHO 3.4-liter V8 engines, […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Chevy's stage for the 2003 North American International Auto Show will feature three midsize vehicles the division says are 'aimed straight at the heart of the […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Mitsubishi is bullish on, well, Mitsubishi. The Japanese automaker isn't alone, mind you; we've heard nearly every automaker in recent months state faith in itself, claiming […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL We still remember the almost flabbergasted look on Chrysler design chief Trevor Creed's face 14 months ago in Frankfurt when he first saw the Audi Avantissimo […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Imagine: Today's technology and performance equipment sandwiched between '67 mystique and 1970s movie lore. And here's a shocker-not designed under, affiliated with or approved by Ford […]

Byline: John D. Stoll One quarter along we're still mulling: 'What makes our long-term X-Type a Jag?' The jury is out-but we know what an X-Type is. Along with elegant, […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL The General's econo-box hopes never ran so high as in 1990. The new Saturn would 'give the American import buyer confidence in American products again,' per […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL If you've been reading these pages for even a month, you know that design students who engage in industry-sponsored projects carry a lot of weight in […]

Byline: John D. Stoll 'Go. Do.' That was DaimlerChrysler's first crack at a new advertising tag line for Dodge last year. It didn't, er, go. Or do. 'Go. Do,' might […]

Byline: John D. Stoll It was pure tantalization, and indulgence seemed appropriate. We sat in it, listened to it, inspected it from its grille-mounted crest to its cloistered quad-tailpipe configuration, […]

Byline: JOHN D. STOLL Mining for auto design ideas is a lot like trolling for fish. The key: Go where the fish are. Automakers know this and consequently shell out […]

While we're waiting on Subaru to bring an STi version of its WRX to the United States next year, let's throw a twin-turbo Legacy on our wish list for the […]

By 1919 Ford Motor Co. had sold nearly 3.5 million Model Ts. That year one of the Model T's chief architects, C. Harold Wills, walked away from Ford with $1.5 […]

Although the auto show circuit doesn't start buzzing until next month in Paris, General Motors is getting an early start. The General recently revealed a stack of sketches detailing much […]

There are few questions concerning Land Rover's direction that the new Range Rover isn't meant to answer. The latest Range Rover is longer, wider, taller and heavier than its predecessor. […]

We've been talking about it for eight months (AW, Dec. 10, 2001), but now BMW chairman Helmut Panke-on the occasion of his first tour of the States since taking the […]

Subaru doesn't 'do' demographics... that's straight from the com- pany's mouthpiece. That being the case, it was hard for us to pin down just where Subaru is aiming the latest […]

Typical focus group: airtight room, white walls, moderators, No. 2 pencils, ambiguous questionnaires, a coffee break, lunch if you're lucky. Result: Pontiac Aztek, et al. 'What focus groups say they […]

SLP Engineering's fling with General Motors F-body cars is ending, but that doesn't mean the niche maker is folding up shop. SLP has been producing the 345-hp Firebird-based Firehawk since […]

We want to like our long-term TrailBlazer. We do. Six months and nearly 20K on its odometer and still it's as cushy and cruise-worthy as day one. A tad floaty […]

Volkswagen's seven-passenger Microbus goes on sale in 2005 with its sights set on a creating a new segment-something between a minivan and a limousine. Segment-busting aside, VW is revisiting past […]

Our long-term C320 celebrated three months with us by traveling to Talladega to see Dale Jr. win. Our companion should consider the 'Bama expedition reward for a job well done. […]

Writer, Ford engineer and GM engineer stare at each other in disbelief. Thirty seconds of road-less, walking-speed-paced winter driving and the mighty Gelaendewagen was staying put in little more than […]

A majority of Tier 1 suppliers plan to trim the number of lower-tier suppliers they do business with by 21 percent within the next year, says a study by the [...]

High gasoline prices are boosting sales this year of the two gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in the United States, the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor [...]

What is customer relationship management, anyway? Data management? Increasing the profit potential of each customer? Customer retention? Conquest? Well-intended hype? Take your pick. The key is to know consumers and [...]

Thinkdetroit.org is doing its best to keep its Web site simple. The site lacks the myriad banner ads and corporate jargon that clutter many of its counterparts. Yet it's informative [...]

Toyota Motor Corp. said last week it will start selling cars and trucks in Mexico in 2004. Toyota said it was establishing Toyota Motor Sales de Mexico as a subsidiary [...]

The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles wants to continue long-range research on high-mileage technologies, though the Bush administration wants results now. The administration said last week it is [...]