vLane Blog

Upcoming: #carchat 9

From Banovsky, Featured Contributor
Posted on May 6, 2009

Filed under Future, News, Feature, Fiat, This week, Chrysler, Discussion, Social Media, carchat, TrueDelta

Tonight, on last week's news of Chrysler's bankruptcy — and reports that FIAT will buy the troubled automaker, we look at the repercussions of such a marriage, including the question "Would you buy a Fiat?" Vehicle quality isn't far beyond that, so we have Michael Karesh from TrueDelta on board, too! Oh, and a Top Gear giveaway! Also, the company in charge of promoting BBC Video's release of Top Gear has provided a Season 10 DVD to give away, so check out the #carchat How-To, or click through for a #carchat widget. Anyone can join us at 8PM EST tonight, on Twitter.

This week:

• Ask the experts: Michael Karesh, owner of TrueDelta
• Discussion: FIAT x Chrysler
• Discussion: Measuring vehicle quality
• Discussion: Will the future of motoring have a soul?
• Giveaway: Top Gear Season 10 DVD.

So click through and read a few links related to tonight's discussion. And please, follow the new moderator, @carchat!

Ask the experts: Michael Karesh

• Full name: Michael Karesh
• Job description: Owner, TrueDelta
• Location: Detroit, MI
• Social media sites you belong to: Linked-in, Facebook, Twitter
• Twitter handle (if applicable): @TrueDelta
• Number of years driving: 25
• Best thing about driving: The joy of a fine chassis on a twisty road.
• Number of years in your current job: March 25th is Local-Motors.com's 1 year anniversary! I've been with this company since the beginning; a whole year.
• Favourite car: Mazda RX-8, for going against the flow
• Item of tech you can't live without: The Internet, apparently.
• Thing you can't live without: Steering feel and a manual transmission.
• Best way to spend a weekend: What's a weekend? Theoretically, on a driving vacation.
• Link(s) we should care about: truedelta.com

Discussion: FIAT x Chrysler

Required reading:

• Chrysler gets OK to sell to FIAT
• "Chrysler is FIAT's next challenge" on LAtimes.com
• FIAT products could be here in 18 months… from Edmunds.com

Discussion: Measuring vehicle quality

Required reading:

• "Chrysler and Fiat: A merger of equally unreliable product?" on Autoblog.com
• "What do you mean by vehicle quality" on Edmunds.com
• Ford catching Toyota, Honda in quality, on blogs.automotive.com

Discussion: Will the future of motoring have a soul?

Required reading:

• The most boring car ever, according to Carlustblog.com
• The "Big Three" and a need for innovation
• More boring cars…

How to follow a discussion on Twitter

Three easy steps:

• Sign up for Twitter
• Load up #carchat in a new tab in your web browser.
• On your Twitter homepage, use the box (and 140 characters) to say something pertinent to the discussion. Reply directly to someone by putting an "@" in front of their Twitter name. Be sure to add "#carchat" to whatever you say during the discussion, so that others following along can read what you've written — or questions you may have asked.

Or, just have this window open and watch this widget…be warned, though, it won't update in realtime.

Banovsky is a featured contributor for vLane.