Gasline News Tracker service announced

A news service on all aspects of high gas prices launched today. Pump-less-gas.com, the blog devoted to news, information, resources, and money saving tips now provides a news service called News Tracker. Editor Frank Girard explained “what we are doing is providing constantly updated, highly focused news on all aspects of high gas prices. Currently our coverage includes the topic of “high gas prices” and “fuel efficient cars” with other topics being added every week. The service provides a list of headlines and related story summaries from more than 4500 media outlets from all over the United States on these two topics with more planned,” Girard explained. “To read the headlines stories/news summaries listed, one simply clicks on the headlines/summaries to instantly get the whole story. Now instead of having to search for news on highly focused topics related to all aspects of high gas prices, this information is constantly updated and instantly available from our blog Pump-less-gas.com/wordpress,”Girard continued.

The News Tracker service described can be found at this address: http://pump-less-gas.com/wordpress/news-tracker/

Car shoppers profit from auto crash

BAuto sales are way, way down. Here’s the facts:

• Through the first six months of 2008, sales were down 10.1% compared with last year. T


• Total vehicle sales nationwide in 2007 were 16.1 million. At the current rate of sales, 2008 totals could be well below 15 million.


• June GM sales declined 18% decline


• June Ford Motor sales were down 28%


• Chrysler was the worst off with sales down 36% for June

But auto dealer woes means great buys from consumers ready to buy a new car. Here are four critical tips for getting the best car deal:

1. Take advantage of huge rebates and incentives available now. Check FightingChance.com and Edmunds.com for the latest incentives to use in your negotiations.


2. Learn what auto dealers are paying for the model you want to buy. Knowing this gives you a negotiating edge. Check this site to get this information- FightingChance New Car Buying Info Package where visitors can  complete their $avOmeter Database


3. Consider taking over an existing short term lease. You can find these leases at Swapalease.com and LeaseTrader.com


4. Instead of trading in your old car, sell it yourself to get more money for it. There are many sites available to help you do this.

Here’s related stories about the auto sales slump.

must-see resources before buying a new car
- Confessions of a Car Salesman is an undercover look at the car buying process from the perspective of a salesman. Edmunds, a car-buying resource, sent one of their writers undercover to get a better understanding of how                                  10 common car-buying mistakes
- You can find more in-depth information and advice on each of the following subjects in Consumer Reports’ new 384-page Smart Buyer’s Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car, available in bookstores. It provides a five-step plan that guides you …cars are sold. …

Detroit working on fuler efficient cars

clipped from www.freep.com Detroit 3 race to build fun, fuel-frugal cars Aim is to develop vehicles more efficient than those of ’70s and ’80s In secure conference rooms, engineering centers and design studios across metro Detroit, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors are working to create a new generation of fuel-efficient vehicles without repeating the mistakes that crippled them when oil prices and emissions regulations shook their world in the 1970s and ’80s. They are honing new technologies, refining designs and scouring the Earth for fun, fuel-efficient cars they can build or sell in North America. From Chevrolet Corvettes and Ford F-150s to small cars engineered in Europe and Asia, every vehicle is being rethought as fuel prices skyrocket and new fuel-economy rules loom. Haunting their efforts is the ghost of failures past. Detroit’s automakers reduced emissions and fuel consumption in the ’70s and ’80s, but at the cost of style, performance, quality and reliability — the things that make a car desirable.

Related Stories

The electric car - the last sign of hope for troubled US car makers? - Instead, GM will reassign a large number of engineers to its new product line of electric vehicles and small fuel-efficient cars. The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid will go on sale in 2010. The Chevy Volt is an electric vehicle with …

My ZAP - fuzzy crystal ball as to the future of cars and alternate fuels. They have dealt with crowded cities and high fuel costs for many years. What do they do? Mass transit, smaller cars, and more efficient cars. I think that we need a new …

Chevy Jolt: How Should Detroit Tackle the Gas Challenge? - He suggests Detroit’s fortunes—and America’s car-loving society—would be better served by developing just three new cars: a miserly minivan, a fuel-efficient pick-up and a stingy sedan. While not as revolutionary as electrics or plug-in …

GM may bring minicar to US - GM already was reviewing its lineup and seeking ways to produce more fuel-efficient cars “because of legislation with a 35-mile-per-gallon requirement,” Allen said. “That’s certainly something that impacts our portfolio planning.” …

FAQ Honda’s FCX Clarity

Here are frequently asked questions about Honda’s new FCX Clarity car, an emission free car just now being offered this summer:

This information came from Honda’s Clarity FCX web site. Pump-less.gac.com in no way guarantees the accuracy and completeness of information provided by the manufacturer. Consumers should use the same due diligence they would use in making any automobile purchase in considering the Honda Clarity FCX.

For more information about the Honda FCX, go to this related link.

GM turnaround with more fuel efficient cars

According to Barron’s Magazine today, General Motors’ turnaround could accelerate in coming years, driving handsome gains for bold stockholders. General Motors, will hit the century mark in September. Last week, it announced that it’s downsizing its labor force by 19,000 workers. Its shares, once a classic orphan-and-widow haven, have become favorites of short sellers aiming to profit as each spasm of bad economic news — rising oil prices, higher unemployment, credit downgrades, depressed housing prices — piles more downward pressure on the stock.

And GM, which this year almost certainly will lose its mantle as the globe’s No. 1 car maker to its Japanese arch rival Toyota (TM), continues to see its U.S. market share erode. BUT THE THICK GLOOM obscures improvements already evident and the prospect that GM’s turnaround will accelerate over the next two to three years, even if the U.S. cyclical downturn dims the outlook for the next 12 months.

GM is shifting its production mix toward smaller, more fuel-efficient cars while globalizing its stable of “platforms” — the basic structures on which vehicles are built — to increase its flexibility and react more quickly to changing consumer preferences.

To read the whole story in Barrons, click here.

Ford predicts permanent shift to smaller cars

Americans are switching to buying smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles- a permanent trend, not a temporary shunning of big SUVs while they wait for record fuel prices to drop, Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally says. Mulally says the stampede is a “structural change” and if, as Ford (F) predicts, fuel prices stay up, “That shift to small and medium-size cars and utilities is going to be permanent.”

Read the whole story at USA Today. Click here.

More related stories below:

• There’s No Ford In The Future For American Labor
- Ford is planning to build a new small car, the Fiesta in Mexico in order to cut American labor costs. The car is already being produced by Ford in China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Venezuela in order to cut labor costs. …
• Ford Flex rolls off the line
- Even so, the Flex is still a lot thirstier than the small cars and hybrids that have become the darlings of cost-conscious consumers. But Ford says there are plenty of customers who need the space offered by the Flex, …
• Ford To Release Small Car, Fiesta, In 2010
- Small cars are increasingly important in a world where an efficient use of space and fuel is ever more important. This certainly applies to vehicles, and Ford is taking note by introducing some exciting new cars on the global market. …
• Small Ford cars to replace large trucks
- “Ford is absolutely committed to leveraging our global assets to accelerate the shift to more fuel-efficient small cars and powertrain technologies that people really want and value,” said Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally. …
• Cutting Off the Guzzlers
- But, after years of resisting compacts and other small cars, complaining they were too low to the ground, perhaps less safe, and lacking the heft to tote what might need toting, many vehicle buyers have surrendered, giving up the keys …