Last Updated: January 07. 2010 1:00AM
Business Insider: Now Bono is a car design expert
David Shepardson / The Detroit News
Nearly everyone who drives has an opinion about what automakers should do, right?
This week's advice comes from U2 frontman Bono. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times
Sunday, Bono chided U.S. automakers for not making more family sedans with sex appeal.
"How is it that the country that made us all fall in love with the automobile has failed, with only a few exceptions, to produce a single family sedan with the style and humor and grace of the cars produced in the '40s, '50s and '60s?" Bono wrote. Bono said the U.S. government needs to take action and "put some style fascists into the mix: the genius of Marc Newson ... Steve Jobs and Jonny Ive from Apple ... Frank Gehry, the architect, and Jeff Koons, the artist. Put the great industrial designers in the front seat, right along with sound financial stewardship ... the greener, the cleaner, the meaner on fossil fuels, the sexier for me." Bono praised Tesla and the Fisker Karma car as examples for Detroit.
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The administration has vowed not to get involved in designing cars. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in June that the administration isn't selecting models -- and not "picking out Chevy Malibu's colors for next year."
No mummified K-cars
The Dodge brand is sponsoring the Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato exhibit currently at the Detroit Science Center.
Restraint is called for here. The temptation is huge to speculate on the premature death of the Dodge brand after the Ram portion has been stripped out to become its own brand. Or to join critics on the probability of the carmaker's eventual demise, despite governmentbailouts .
But back to the mummies. They were residents of Guanajuato, Mexico, whose bodies were buried and mysteriously mummified. Anyone who drives a Dodge, Jeep or Chrysler vehicle can get a discount on the exhibit by showing their car keys.
And no, the Science Center won't be including any gauze-wrapped Plymouth K-cars as part of the exhibit. Or minivans, the modern "mummy" mobile.
Snuggle up
Insider is a burn-the-midnight-oil kind of reporter who was ready to agree with Consumer Reports when it slammed 15 late-night TV products, from the ShamWow to the Slap Chop as "not worth buying." That's until we saw the Snuggie at No. 2 on the list.
Insider is a big, big fan of the Snuggie, a blanket with sleeves that keeps us toasty warm in our historic 19th-century working quarters while minimizing our carbon footprint. Consumer Reports complains, "The Snuggie was so far from snug that several staffers had trouble walking." Really, Consumer Reports? As the photo shows, our custom Detroit News Snuggies haven't slowed our crack news-gathering staff one bit -- but maybe that's because we don't try to walk around in BLANKETS! If you need to move about and stay insulated, we hear there's a great invention for that -- it's called a coat. Or wait! There's more! Try the coat's cousin -- the sweater. They're not advertised on late-night cable, but are widely available.
Contributors: David Shepardson, Alisa Priddle and Brian O'Connor.
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