Americans are patriotic, and they are more apt to want to buy American than they have been in the past. I actually heard this from two places today. First from a new study by Cars.com about which cars are really, really American, and then from a top marketer at a network.

The Chrysler name means improbable, impossible, and sometimes outrageous. The fact that the FCA U.S.A. unit is still alive after all these years is itself remarkable, given its revolving-door experience with the intensive care unit. From K Cars, to the merger of equals; from "other people's money" firm Cerberus buying and flipping it, to Fiat SpA merging with it to bring it back to life. All improbable.

A few years back, when a consumer brand marketer received orders to create an awareness feast, they would go to the supermarket with $170 million, buy $168.5 million worth of hamburger, and some buns and charcoal briquettes. And one bottle of lighter fluid. And pray it would catch fire.

Honda is firing on all pistons this summer. New campaigns, new experiential programs, and chapter two and 15, respectively, of Honda Stage and the Honda Civic Tour, two music platforms the company is using to talk about its smaller vehicles to younger people.

The new Chevrolet Impala is great, I'll say that first off. I drove it around with car experts who loved the new design, the space, performance and all the good stuff. Don't underestimate the virtues of a great design. But. There's the navigation. There's nothing wrong with the navigation, per se. Sure, it's very well done. The problem is that turn-by-turn doesn't work for psychotics and people with trust issues.