These numbers may not mean much to you, but for auto transport companies, especially those with a huge fleet of trucks, this means a lot. See, in the auto transport industry, summer months are always the busiest – more people are moving, more people are getting new jobs, more people are just…active, I guess you could say. In the winter months, the auto transport industry is much slower, because people don’t want to do much. It’s cold, it’s wet, many times there’s snow in certain parts of the country – people just don’t want anything to do with it.

So for diesel prices to be so high in the summer months – and they’re climbing in 2010 again, it looks like – the auto transport industry is definitely put in a bind. Instead of being able to lower prices in the summer (as was usually the case), they now have to keep them steady or even raise prices for consumers, which is bad for business because if the cost is too much, people will just drive their cars as opposed to shipping them.

So let’s hope that diesel prices stay relatively low – at least, don’t go up much more. Because last year was bad, 2008 was worse, and 2010 could be just as bad.

The idea is interesting and the actual execution was near flawless, but what is this going to mean for the future of the brands? The union of Chrysler and Lancia could mean an all-new entity with nigh limitless possibilities, but that could be a bit of a stretch if things don’t go as planned. The cool thing is that both companies are now committed to excellence and could very well be a great new start to a great new future – if they do what they say they’re going to do, that is.

But Shell isn’t the only one looking at mixing it up at the fleet level – they’re only the most public one. British Petroleum (BP) is spending a ton on new technologies and is also looking at updating their fleet, but Shell is investing a whopping 25% of its research and development budget in renewable energy sources, including wind power and biofuel. Shell also has a huge deal going with Brazil’s Cosan to create 4,500 filling stations across the US – ethanol and biofuel refueling stations, I should say. This would allow Shell to compete with two of the largest biofuel companies in the world while bringing new energy sources to the US. Can’t say it’s a bad deal.

But only time will tell. Fiat, without Chrysler, is still would about $8 billion, and if Chrysler can get off the ground that number is going to skyrocket. The CEO of Fiat is planning on detailing how Chrysler will improve Fiat’s profitability through shared sales efforts and new technological advances, but Chrysler’s market share is still lagging behind its 2010 target. So only time will tell, as is always the case in up-and-coming news.

Japanese automakers have long ranked higher than their American counterparts, but this year American vehicles stood above the pack. The study confirmed that Detroit has indeed learned from its mistakes of the past however long it was before the bankruptcies, but even with these amazing scores American buyers still don’t trust Detroit names. This perception gap marks the huge difference between perceived quality and real quality, with the perceived quality of Detroit vehicles a lot lower than it actually is (the real quality). Since 2007 GM has been paying 45% less in warranty costs than in previous years, which means that their vehicles are actually good vehicles! I guess we just need to spread the word to buy American, because that’s where it’s at right now.