AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Meet the New Autoweek - Same as the Old Autoweek


If you've seen this weeks's issue of Autoweek magazine on the newsstand, you might think it looks a lot like last week's issue, the one with the Euro-chic picture of Henrik Fisker on the cover. There's a good explanation: despite it's name, Autoweek is now a bi-weekly publication. With crash of the auto industry combined with the growth of web journalism, traditional print publications have had a hard time getting advertising dollars. Detroit doesn't have a major daily newspaper anymore, at least not in a print version. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit Daily News have shifted to a four-day-per-week publishing schedule. Now they effectively publish around their advertising supplements.

I've subscribed to Autoweek since the early 90's. For auto enthusiasts, is and has been a cheap drug to fuel our addiction. "52 issues for $10.00, where do I sign?" But now, with issues coming out only half as often, for 26 weeks per year, a lot of car buffs won't know what to do when they go to the bathroom.

Truth be told, the current issue of Autoweek survives the biweekly format well, and contains enough content to fill up two weeks' worth of "pitstops". The featured article is an in-depth look at Henrik Fisker and his company Fiskar Automotive. Fiskar Automotive showed off the (near) production version of its first complete car, the Karma hybrid sedan, at Detroit Auto Show this week.

The Karma is interesting because it combines a lithium ion electric drivetrain with General Motors 2.0, 260 horsepower, turbocharged, direct-injected gasoline engine. The car is long but low-slung. At 196 inches it is about as long as a Toyota Highlander, and at $4650 lbs., it's heavier. With its powerful, combined gas-electric powertrain, the Karma can go 0-60 MPH in 5.8 seconds, can hit 148 mph in a brief spurt, yet the company claims that, in pure electric mode, the car will average the equivalent to 100 miles per gallon. The cost: $87,000. That's steep, but there are quite a few less interesting cars that cost more.

Embedded below is a Autoweek's summary of the Detroit Show.