In honor of Earth Day, Eric Schulz CFO of AAA Auto Salvage went to Shannon Park Elementary to talk about how the recycling of cars impacts the environment. Mrs. Spring’s class of 2nd graders, including Eric’s son Cameron, were very attentive while showing pictures of the life of a car after it leaves “a family’s garage.” The question of “what happens to cars” was answered as the 2nd grade class saw the process of dismantling reusable parts off of cars to be sold, to the cars being crushed.

The 2nd graders were able to realize things in their environment that are made out of recycled cars from naval aircraft carriers, steel buildings in Minneapolis and St Paul to the brand new track at Rosemount High School. Unfortunately, many kids know how some Mom’s and Dad’s have had trouble finding jobs in the last few years. These measures of recycling enables companies to provide 46,000 jobs and results in 13 million new vehicles! This is all great news, from the people who are in the jobs to those who get to use the new materials from the recycling of cars.

Finally, the 2nd graders were able to understand first hand, one of the ultimate effects of recycling. It was quite amazing to be able to share with these Rosemount students, that recycling just the wheels could provide enough power to run the entire City of Rosemount for 6 years! So let’s REDUCE – REUSE – RECYCLE and give Mrs. Spring’s 2nd grade a big “high five” for learning about what car recycling is all about!

AAA Auto Salvage in Rosemount, Minnesota hosted an Earth Day event for a local Pre-School. There were 35 kids along with several parents and teachers in attendance. The kids got to witness how cars get recycled after they are no longer usable or wanted. “We took the kids through the whole process from the car coming into the facility all the way to the crusher” said Eric Schulz, CFO of AAA Auto Salvage and dad to one of the students. One of the highlights was in the inventory area when they were looking at two doors and knowing which one could be re-used and which one couldn’t. Then Kendall Schulz pointed to a mirror hanging off a door on another car and said “I don’t think that one is good!”

What would a Pre-School field trip be without a snack? AAA had purchased a tire swing at the Upper-Midwest convention the week prior. The AAA employees went to work trying to figure out a way to hang the tire swing in the building somewhere so they could entertain the kids during snack time. Phil Steinle, AAA’s Quality Control person said “We ended up using a rope to tie it to the rafters”. One of the guys from the shop took a ride on it to make sure it would hold before they let any kids ride the swing.

After snack everyone went over to the crusher to see the last step in AAA’s part of the recycling process. “The crusher is always a highlight of any tour we do” says Eric. John Pesch, the loader operator crushed 5 cars in a stack and then placed the stack on the ground so each class could get their picture taken by the crushed cars.

GM has been making a lot a smart moves lately, and this confirmation of the XTS production is definitely beneficial for the company's revival effort. The XTS will eventually replace the aging STS and DTS. Production will start later this year and the first XTS will hit the road next year as 2012 model.

The Cadillac XTS sports a green image by featuring a plug-in hybrid system that mates with a direct-injection 3.6L V6 in its powertrain. Being green probably helped solidifying a business case for the XTS, but the exciting news is the twin turbo V6 in the works. We certainly hope to see one rolls off the production line with a twin turbo V6 under its hood next year because after all, we buy emotionally.

For the first time in quite a while, Japanese automakers dropped out of the top 3 in J. D. Power annual study of vehicle dependability. Porsche took the top honor while Lincoln and Buick cruised in at second and third respectively. Lots of improvements in quality across the board (Porsche jumped 10 spots, and Ford gained 6 spots from last year report). Follow the link for the official press release.

On my drive to Northfield this afternoon, I saw a Prius trying to accelerate to merge onto the highway and I couldn't believe the car's acceleration was intended. Then it reminds me of the "breaking news" last week about a runaway Prius in California. The second I heard of it, I could smell BS (not because of the cattle farms along HW 3).

Jim Sikes, a man who has his name on multiple bankruptcies with the collective debt amounts to over $700,000 (of which Toyota Financials is one of his debtors), was the driver of said runaway Prius. Further background investigation found that Sikes was 5 months behind on his Prius' bill as well as many other interesting bits. The man appeared on media networks claiming he's not planning to sue Toyota, yet has hired a lawyer the moment his name was on the news.