James Crabtree

James grew up in an Indiana community where the auto industry was at its heart. His first car was an Olds 442, and many of his classmates had their father's hand-me-down muscle cars. Met his wife in college. They have three children. Survived esophageal cancer. Is passionate about enjoying his second chance and his automotive interests further that goal.

North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year revealed. Motor Bella event announced

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News Flash: The North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year were announced this morning. Car: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Utility: 2020 Kia Telluride Truck: 2020 Jeep Gladiator Look at the world we live in, when a Jeep Wrangler variant can sell for more than a base Chevrolet Corvette and both win a Car of the Year award. https://naias.com/ Also announced was the new motoring event called Motor Bella. This event will showcase British and Italian cars. It is billed as a European Supercar street festival. And will take place Friday, June 5 – Monday, June 8. https://naias.com/news/festival-of-italian-and-british-supercars-brings-international-flair-to-2020-naias     …

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Sony shocks with Vision-S Concept Preview.

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Watch out Tesla! Apple beaten to the punch! Sony previews their entry into the future of the automobile. Doing what only a true electronics giant can, Sony touches every aspect of the modern automobile with its legacy of moving electrons to provide customers with style and substance. In the age where many automobile analysts espouse that people don’t want to drive their cars, they want to drive their iPhones, it appears that Sony has embraced that and lined every nook and cranny with portable device feature goodness. DriveMan or “Drive your Walk-Man”, perhaps? Sony Vision-S Official Page Quick Specs (More …

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2020 Hyundai Venue SE – Entry Level Quick-Take

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The 2020 Hyundai Venue is a delightful, affordable, entry-level crossover. This review is for the most basic SE model which is priced $17,250 with basic floor and cargo mats, and wheel locks adding $305, and a $1,095 delivery, for a total of $18,650 before trades, discounts and negotiations. As of this writing, there is a $500 offer; and you might qualify for others. All in for under $20,000 is almost hard to accomplish today, especially in the popular crossover segment. The 2020 Venue drives better than the price would imply. The base transmission is a 6-speed manual, and that is …

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Tracking the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk

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Automotive executives and brand managers are always keenly aware of slicing the product offering in a variety of ways the results of which can not only be confusing but lead to actual sales losses amongst the offerings. One only has to look at the current numerous and future-slightly-LESS-numerous cars from the likes of BMW and Mercedes. Business school might call this classic cannibalization. But this week I experienced a new use of the term, maybe call it predatory cannibalization. Nothing faulty with the positioning of cars by planners at all. No, this new type of cannibalization is surely more along …

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2020 Dodge Charger Hellcat Widebody

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Dodge Charger Product Manager, Ashton Munoz, details the upcoming 2020 Dodge Charger Hellcat Widebody to the media on July 31, 2019: I want to quickly talk about the overall Charger first, before we start getting into the Widebody, we’ve seen some great success with this car in the past few years. The past five years in retail, we’ve sold more chargers than any other standard full size car. In the past seven years, we’ve sold about 80,000 chargers per year. There’s a lot of chargers on the road. There’s a few things that we think that make this car pretty …

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Pure McLaren

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Track experiences for driver betterment In our daily lives, all of us relate to cars in some way. For most, they represent the most basic of needs in today’s busy life. Commuting to work, running errands, as well as journeys with family and friends. They are times overlooked in what we ask them to do for us. For most people, they can only get noticed when they break.  It’s that familiarity, though, that basic understanding of what a car is at its core that enables all of us drivers to build upon and break out of ignoring the common car. …

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BRITAIN’S GREATEST TEST DRIVER, NORMAN DEWIS OBE, PASSES AWAY

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Jaguar Land Rover Newsroom Legendary former Jaguar test driver and works racer, Norman Dewis OBE, has passed away aged 98 Dewis was Britain’s greatest ever test driver, having developed 25 of the most significant Jaguars ever over his 33-year career Jaguar’s most famous models, including the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning D-type as well as the iconic E-type, were honed with Dewis’ expertise Dewis also set a land speed record for Jaguar and competed with a D-type at Le Mans and Goodwood during the 1950s Even at 98, Dewis remained a global ambassador of Jaguar and an asset to the brand …

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Scalpel or Hammer?

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2019 Acura NSX vs 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye If you’re like me, you might be anticipating a major life phase change. And as a car person, likely the next thing on your mind will be how this might positively affect your future stable. My current phase is one of “peak college”, let’s call it. Come autumn, three of my offspring will be chasing higher education. The title of this post does not represent which of my kids are shooting to become a doctor and which are aiming for trade school. But, instead, which car might anyone in anticipating that …

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Resurgence of the American Car

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Manufacturers redouble efforts in face of SUV domination Will 2019 go down as the final hurrah, or when the tide turned for the American Car? A rising tide has lifted most all boats in the SUV/CUV ocean. The manufacturers enjoy the ease with which they can print money, for the most part. Traditional car companies, once dosed with a recipe rich in higher hip points, and one of the multitude of more than two wheel drive systems, see their bottom lines shored up. In the unsure future bets for some form of electrification of drivetrains, the next safest option is …

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chevy colorado zr2 bison

2019 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison AEV 2.8L Diesel – First Drive Review

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Aptly named save for one trait Upon reflection of my encounter with Chevy’s new ZR2 Bison AEV trim package for their mid-sized truck offering, the Colorado, the Bison moniker was appropriate. I found myself with a bit of a shiver on a particularly cold morning, with what felt like freezing fog. For being in the heart of a land that had lived in harmony with the name Chevy decided on for this variant, Bison, I hadn’t heeded the lessons learned from the past centuries of the local peoples. As my breath puffed visibly as I grew closer to this truck, …

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