Rides How To Fix The American Auto Industry

Last night, the American auto industry was dealt its most serious blow in decades when Congress failed to come together and agree on a $14 Million rescue package for General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. While some feel Congress should just suck it up and hand out the dough, others feel that Washington should let them go bankrupt and start from scratch. After all, while they’ve finally started to turn their companies around and produce cars that can compete with overseas competition, it’s a case of “too little, way too fucking late.”

Years of wack cars and inflated CEO salaries has finally come to a head. But that’s not to say we want to see the Detroit Three disappear. Nah, we need all of ‘em. Even Chrysler. But there is room for improvement. If the Bush administration does dip into Wall St’s $700 Billion dollar rescue fund for Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, here are a few things we think should be put into writing before their check gets cut. Wamp, wamp, what it do? Read on to find out..

Rides Ford Lights Up Dashboards With The SmartGauge

We gotta admit, we like Ford’s future plans. As they continue to make their lineup more environmentally friendly with better hybrid options and America-friendly small cars, it looks like there might be a light at the end of the pitch black tunnel they seem to be deadlocked in. Another indicator that they’re down for more interesting things is their upcoming SmartGauge LCD gauge cluster.

Scheduled to arrive in 2010 in the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid models, SmartGauge enhances your everyday gauge cluster with two hi-res LCD monitors placed to the right and left of the analog speedometer that are able to display all your basic car information like fuel economy, trip distance (odometer), engine coolant temp and what gear the car is in. In addition to that, it also lets the driver know how “green” efficient they’re driving by showing a cluster of vines that grow or shrink. Pretty dope. Check out a video of SmartGauge in action below…

Rides Test Drive: 2009 Ford Flex

As the masses turned away from SUVs faster than Patriot fans have abandoned their squad , Ford went back to the drawing board to create a crossover that would appeal to those who need the space of an Expedition but whose wallets are more befitting of a Focus. What came out was the Flex. We took Ford’s new crossover around for a weekend to see if it’s as good as the blue oval hopes it is. Check out our breakdown of the truck below…

Rides India Colonizes England’s Luxury Cars

After England came in without asking and ran their country for 100 years, its nice to see Indians taking back some power through the business world. Today it was announced that Tata Motors, the biggest car manufacturer in India, has finalized its purchase of not one but two high-end British luxury car brands: Jaguar and Land Rover.

This is the second international coup for Tata, who already bought South Korea’s Daewoo truck division in 2004. But Tata is probably most famous for recently creating the Nano, which claims to be the least expensive car in the world at only $2,500. If only we could get a fresh Land Rover for that much, our fleet would be stocked. Watch the unveiling of the Nano after the jump…