Tag Archives: industry

editorial: Honda, Toyota & the US market.

How Honda and Toyota took over the U.S. market.

In the past fifty years, the US auto market has declined tremendously.  With the recent bankruptcy and unsteady industry forecasts, Americans feel uneasy giving their hard earned money to a faltering establishment.  As a result, foreign auto makers like Honda and Toyota are capitalizing on the prospect, raking in all of the U.S. auto business.  In addition, Honda and Toyota continue to break the barrier of new technologies which astound the industry time and time again.

Honda has enjoyed much success in the U.S. auto markets.  With the introduction of the Civic in 1975, Honda’s popularity rose with each passing year.  The new, lighter Honda Civic rivaled its U.S. competition with its low weight and small exterior.  Furthermore, the EPA, in order to reduce emissions, required the addition of expensive catalytic converters in all cars manufactured for the United States auto industry.  As a result, sticker prices rose while consumer demand plummeted.

As American auto makers rebuilt their exhaust systems, Honda busied themselves with the creation of the new CVCC stratified charge engine.   Cars built with these new engines passed the required emissions tests without the need for expensive catalytic converters.  This charge engine technology burst onto the scene with the 1975 Honda Civic, a car met with extreme consumer demand.  With the rising costs of gas and auto insurance, Americans turned their focus to the Japanese auto maker to save money.

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iedei: the 14th fastest growing blog on WordPress!

file under: EDITORIAL

14th fastest growing blog on WordPress! hurrah! IEDEI was started on a warm, August weekend, with the purpose of covering the petrolhead culture and soul—in addition to some auto news with focus on its relation to car culture, history, and legend.

There are plenty of car blogs out there, the majority of which attempt to cover ‘news’ as it happens.  What i’ve found is that many of these blogs (i.e. Autoblog) appear to simply run on sensationalism, gossip, weak rumours, scouring other blogs for info, treading through other auto websites for scoops, etc.  Autoblog for example, writes a piece of juicy gossip on a monday, retracts it on a tuesday, and then re-confirms it on a wednesday—–ONLY to retract it fully a week later! For all we know, they’re making this stuff up after getting bored…who knows!?   I think it all gets a bit tiring.  I remember having bookmarked several automotive blogs several months ago, and on a particular day I clicked all of them, to find the same tired ‘breaking news’ story about the new Hyundai Coupe.  It’s fine to read it on ONE blog, but I really don’t feel like occupying my time clicking bookmarks only to find the same photo(s) and similar writing explaining and re-explaining what soon becomes old news.

steve-mcqueen-and-his-1963-ferrari-250-gt

While i do think those car blogs are entertaining sometimes, and are now considered to be cornerstones of obtaining daily information—I feel what’s missing in many of them is passion.  There is hope, however! A few months ago, I came across a modern news-filled blog that DOESN’T sacrifice passion for the sake of quantity.  Autofiends is a fantastic blog based out of California that does attempt to address the culture of cars, rather than just the bland news stories.  It has a grip on the past, with links to the future—and liasons the in-between.  Well done!

Recently, I discovered a great website out of the UK named Drivers Republic, started by Chris Harris (ex-Car Magazine) and some of his mates/colleagues.  Great video reviews, daily scoops and news, and a growing community-type atmosphere.  What they’ve done is create an e-magazine, the sort of thing which signals the end of those nasty auto magazines such as Car & Driver, Motor Trend, Road & Track, Automobile, etc….the likes of which we are exposed to in the United States.  The UK magazines have always been better, and Drivers Republic has created an innovative, interesting website that’s regularly updated and is ready to evolve into more.  Good job, sirs.

So where does IEDEI fit in to the automotive news world?  This is a blog that attempts to correlate the past into the present.  The production car industry, the racing world, the lifestyle, the accessories, lost archives of automotive legend, new frontiers of the industry, places to go, things to buy, interesting links—this blog is attempting find the SOUL of what we petrolheads spend so much time and energy thinking about and being interested in.   The history of cars changes in relevance every time a new technology or innovation is introduced.  Racing from the past, present, and future are undeniably tied at the hip by a culture—a strong culture of progress, imagination, and most of all fascination.

Grow on! thanks for reading!  WordPress.com has thousands and thousands of blogs, and knowing that people are reading, and that there are people out there into the same things I am, is a GREAT feeling!

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