Auto Transportation

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Automotive magazines are just as popular as sports magazines and home improvement magazines. Why? Automotive magazines are so popular because they showcase classic cars, new cars, model cars, how to build cars from scratch and much more. The automotive industry is a popular one in the United States today and people love their cars and they want to know as much about their car as possible after they are done reading the car’s manual.

Automotive magazines are sold everywhere today and are collector’s items just like sports magazines become when they have historic covers on certain issues. Automotive magazines are sold at convenience stores, department stores, book stores, on their individual websites and on search engines by people looking to make a buck here or there because they have more than one copy of the magazine. Automotive magazines not only offer tips on how to take care of a car, how to build a car, how to remodel a car, but also how to repair a car yourself.

Collecting classic cars has become a popular hobby over the years and some of the most famous people in the world are car buffs. One of them for example is late night host Jay Leno. Leno owns over 100 classic vehicles that date back to the early 1900s. His collection also includes modern vehicles and motorcycles. His collection of cars has been featured on his show, “The Tonight Show,” in books, movies, other television shows, and in automotive magazines quite often.

There are all types of automotive magazines out there. There are print magazines and online magazines available for people to subscribe to. They can be delivered by the mail, through email, or can be purchased in stores or at newsstands when they are published. There are hundreds of automotive magazines offered for subscription and purchase around the world today and the number continues to grow with the continued popularity of the automotive industry.

There are automotive magazines for almost every major manufacturer, for individual makes and models, for model cars, for the avid and beginner collector, for the seller, for the buyer, for the builder, for the repair man, for the traveler and much more. One of the most popular automotive publications to hit the newsstands every year is the Kelly Blue Book. The Kelly Blue Book releases the values of every car in production today and every car that has been produced in the past. The Kelly Blue Book is used by buyers and sellers alike to figure out what price they should purchase a car at or at what price they should put a car up for sale.

The automotive magazine industry is a lucrative one that thrives off of people’s different hobbies with their cars or for their sheer love of their own car. Automotive magazines make a great gift for the car lover in the family as well a fun read for anyone with just the tiny bit of interest in the automotive industry. They can be informative, helpful, fun to read and a great collector’s item all in one.

With the big three already deep in the doo doo, is the Chevy Volt the answer to General Motors problems or will it prove to be the final nail in the manufacturers coffin.

Much has been made of the Chevy Volt, a plug-in electric hybrid. GM sees this idea as the saviour of its company. The only problem may be that the technology is already out of date by the time it is launched. Battery power may indeed prove to be a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine in the short term, but with limited mileage on a full charge and hours needed to recharge, the hydrogen fuel cell looks, on the face of it, a much better long term solution.

Enter the Honda FCX Clarity. Powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, the Clarity has been hailed as the most important car launched this century. Creating electricity by combining hydrogen that is stored in a fuel tank on board the vehicle, with oxygen from the air, the only bi products produced are heat and water. Giving us the first truly eco friendly car, that is, if you ignore how the hydrogen is produced (currently from electricity generated from fossil fuels).

With a top speed of one hundred miles per hour and a claimed range of 280 miles, the Honda Clarity does not need to be recharged and does not need a conventionalinternal combustion engine to top up its charge, it is simply filled with gaseous hydrogen at suitable filling stations. These stations may be limited at the moment, but as demand grows for these vehicles more stations will no doubt follow.

Currently available on a six hundred dollar a month three year lease, the Clarity will no doubt already have a host of celebrities lining up to confirm their green credentials and as it is only available in southern California (probably the most environmentally aware location in the States) the allocation has already been filled. This area has been chosen for the trials purely and simply because it has at least got a few of the hydrogen filling stations needed to refill the Clarity.

So, with General Motors announcing that it will delay the completion of the factory that will produce the engines for the Volt, even though it has been held up as the symbol of their future. It is looking more and more as if the hydrogen car may overtake the electric / hybrid plug in before it even makes it into the showrooms. GM hope to launch the Volt in 2010, but Honda will have no doubt ironed out any glitches with the Clarity by then, giving them a clear advantage over others, just as Toyota did with the Prius.

With technology moving towards cars that produce zero emissions General Motors may be pinning their hopes on a car that has a very limited shelf life. Historically, it has been very late in realising that its customers needs have changed. In its haste to catch up, has it once again misjudged the direction in which the market is moving? If it has, then theChevy Volt could very well prove to be the final nail in the coffin for General Motors.