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Oil Off More Than $3 on Demand Forecast

NEW YORK -- Oil prices that last week seemed on an inexorable path toward $100 a barrel slid more than $3 to the $91 level Tuesday after the International Energy Agency cut its demand forecasts and said crude supplies are rising, according to the Associated Press.

Prices also fell after diplomats said Iran has handed over blueprints key to its nuclear program, meeting a central United Nations demand and potentially defusing the country's standoff with the West.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 3:49 PM to Crude oil market | Permalink | Comments 0

Magna may go to Russia to assemble Chryslers

Magna International plans to build a $500-million factory in Russia to assemble Chrysler vehicles, a Russian business newspaper reported Monday, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The Russian plant will have the capacity to build 150,000 vehicles per year with the possibility of doubling that amount, Kommersant reported, citing an application filed with the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 1:52 PM to Chrysler | Permalink | Comments 0

Drivers' price at the pump could rise by 20 cents

WASHINGTON — Gasoline prices could rise as much as 20 cents in the next few weeks as the price at the pump catches up with the recent surge in oil costs, the head of the Energy Department's analytical arm said Monday, according to USA Today.

"We haven't seen the full pass-through yet," Energy Information Administration head Guy Caruso said.

Oil prices have risen approximately $20 a barrel in the past two months. Retail gasoline costs have increased about 30 cents a gallon in that time. The agency's models suggest gas prices will likely rise another 20 cents in the next two or three weeks to fully reflect the jump in oil costs, Caruso told reporters.

A few factors are helping to keep gas prices from jumping along with oil. Europe's gasoline inventories are fairly high, providing a cushion to world supplies. And U.S. gasoline demand softens in the fall and winter, helping "mute the price increase," Caruso said.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 11:28 AM to Gas prices | Permalink | Comments 0

America crazy about breadbox on wheels called Smart car

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Linda Moudakas drives a Mercedes-Benz sedan with 140,000 miles on the odometer. For her next car, she's thinking of downsizing. Really downsizing.

She's in line to buy something that looks like a glorified golf cart, a car so short it can be legally parked head first along a curb. No hood. No trunk.

Behold, the Smart car, according to USA Today.

"It's all the talk about the environment and wanting to do something," the Menlo Park, Calif., executive says as she eyes an array of Smart demonstration cars lined up here. To her, buying a Smart car with its 2008 EPA rating of about 40 miles per gallon on the highway amounts to treading lightly on Mother Earth.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 11:21 AM to Mercedes-Benz | Permalink | Comments 1

Bullitt, other sports cars to be introduced at L.A. Auto Show

DEARBORN, Mich. — Forty years after the legendary on-screen car chase, there's a new Mustang Bullitt ripping up the roadway, according to USA Today.

Ford will debut the latest variant of the growling, retro-styled Mustang at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opens to the public Nov. 16 after two days of media previews. The 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt, an update of the iconic 1968 pony car driven by Steve McQueen in the movie Bullitt, goes on sale in January.

Automakers typically promote their greenest vehicles in Los Angeles, but the show has no shortage of horsepower.

In addition to the Bullitt, Chrysler will introduce a street-legal version of its Dodge Viper SRT10 race car, while Hyundai will take aim at the Mustang with the Genesis Coupe, a rear-wheel-drive concept. Lamborghini's Reventon — a $1.4 million super car whose 20 copies already are sold out — also will make its North American debut.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 9:57 AM to Ford , Shows | Permalink | Comments 0