Preview of the Chevy Volt from the Huffington Post

It was the opportunity to drive yet another futuristic car, Chevrolet's Volt, this effort by General Motors a magnificent piece of work, especially its gas/electric powertrain.
Smooth as silk, so quiet Rolls-Royce has competition for their Ghost models, Volt could be a remarkable car which captures the attention of the American public; but getting people into Chevrolet showrooms is the real trick, isn't it? If they don't visit the dealer, they can't buy the car.
Volt won't go on-sale until November, 2010, but Sunday morning I drove the pre-production version of the car and spent well over an hour with Volt's Chief Engineer, Andrew Farah. Farah's been with the Volt almost since its inception.

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Fast Facts for Thanksgiving

250 million
The preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2009. That’s down 8 percent from the number raised during 2008. The turkeys produced in 2008 together weighed 7.9 billion pounds and were valued at $4.5 billion.

45.5 million
The preliminary estimate of turkeys Minnesota expected to raise in 2009. The Gopher State was tops in turkey production, followed by North Carolina (37.5 million), Arkansas (28 million), Missouri (21 million), Virginia (16.4 million) and California (15 million). These six states together would probably account for about two-thirds of U.S. turkeys produced in 2009.

709 million pounds
The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2009. Wisconsin is expected to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 400 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (190 million). New Jersey, Oregon and Washington are also expected to have substantial production, ranging from 16 million to 54 million pounds.

1.8 billion pounds
The total weight of sweet potatoes — another popular Thanksgiving side dish — produced by major sweet potato producing states in 2008. North Carolina (874 million pounds) produced more sweet potatoes than any other state. It was followed by California (437 million pounds) and Mississippi (335 million pounds).

1.1 billion pounds
Total production of pumpkins produced in the major pumpkin-producing states in 2008. Illinois led the country by producing 496 million pounds of the vined orange gourd. Pumpkin patches in California, Pennsylvania and New York also provided lots of pumpkins: Each state produced at least 100 million pounds. The value of all pumpkins produced by major pumpkin-producing states was $141 million.

Great Article about the 2010 Equinox from AOL Autos

Oh, man. There aren't cars like this quite often. These are the sorts of things that you remember for a long, long time. We're not talking life-changing, but this is definitely in the category of significantly memorable. Sitting in that row at the ballgame where they hand the free hot dogs out. Hauling in the biggest fish on the boat. Winning the 50/50 raffle at the basketball game.

We've just returned from a week with the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and we're happy to go on record as putting it up there with all that good stuff. You might think we're crazy, but it's not difficult for us to get excited about a vehicle like a crossover (that strange union of an SUV and a car). Since nearly every manufacturer makes one these days, they tend to get a lot of attention. But the reality is that most haven't been that inspiring. In fact, GM has been in the crossover game for years, too, but nothing they produced ever came this close.

For all the quantum leaps that GM claimed over the last ten or so years, most of it was simply hot air: products that were incremental improvements relative to the rest of the industry (even if, internally, they were massive improvements over GM's previous model). All of these, save the Corvette and its various performance-enhanced versions, could be described as adequate but never exceptional.

It sounds obvious, but: one secret to building great products is actually, first, knowing what great means. After years of GM's insistence that, say, the Pontiac G6 was a great product, a lot of people stopped believing them. Even if they had the tools, could they actually create a product that was, in all honesty, "great?" Many had their doubts.
The answer is, in fact: Yes They Can.

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Mahindra is coming...

Have you heard about Mahindra? These clean diesel trucks and SUVs will soon be joining the Safeway family. You can learn more by going to Safeway Mahindra's website.