vLane Blog

Upcoming: #carchat 30; September 30 @ 8PM EST

From Banovsky, Featured Contributor
Posted on September 30, 2009

Filed under General Motors, Saturn, News, Toyota, This week, Discussion, Social Media, carchat, Volvo, Twitter, Original

Well, some big news today to discuss on #carchat! First, Saturn is no more, after Penske couldn't secure a source of vehicles past their contract with GM. Second, the GM and eBay Internet experiment is finished…and it wasn't that positive. Third, Volvo buys ad space to complain about distracted driving! Oh, and Toyota's got a recall they can't sweep under the rug…

If you'd like to participate, check out the #carchat How-To. Anyone can join us at 8 PM EST September 30, but you'll need a Twitter account to ask questions.

However, if you'd like to follow things live, go here at 8 PM EST.

And if you'd like to suggest topics and questions for the discussion, please leave a comment below, tag articles on Delicious.com with "carchat," or email me at michael [at] banovsky.com.

Topics:

• Discussion: Saturn is dead!
• Discussion: GM and eBay…too soon for Internet new car sales?
• Discussion: Distracted driving…should automakers take sides?
• Discussion: Toyota's huge recall…over floor mats!

So click through and read a few links, and see some photos related to the discussion.

Quote of the week:

"What I sort of don't get is, why didn't they just shift into neutral, slam on the emergency lights, pull the parking brake, and coast to a stop?" — Megan McArdle on the fatal crash "caused by" Toyota floor mat design, from theatlantic.com

(We were wondering the same thing! — Ed.)

Photo(s) of the week:

Discussion: Saturn is dead!

Required reading:

• "Official GM statement" from media.gm.com
• "We're Still in Shock" from sj-r.com
• "So Long, Saturn" from forbes.com

Discussion: GM stops selling cars on eBay

Required reading:

• "GM Ends Car Sales Pilot with eBay" from cnet.com
• "GM Gives Up On eBay" from theatlantic.com
• "GM to Wrap Up its Calif. Sales Experiment on eBay Today" from freep.com

Discussion: Volvo joins crusade against distracted driving

Required reading:

• "Volvo Buys Full-Page Ads Against Distracted Driving" from autoblog.com
• "Deadly Epidemic of Distracted Driving Sweeping US: Official" from afp.com
• "Distracted Driving Summit: What to do About Texting-While-Driving?" from computerworld.com

Discussion: Toyota's huge recall…

Required reading:

• "Gas Pedal, Floor Design Issue in Toyota Recall" from afp.com
• "Drivers Should Consider Floor Mat Safety" from chicagotribune.com
• "Common sense…" from theatlantic.com

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.
• Contribute to the discussion on Tweet Grid, or, 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.