Except for one brief, unfortunate interlude, I have covered the automotive beat for the past 16 years, give or take. Like most of my professional jobs, I fell into it in a "cover it, or hit the bricks" fashion: big magazine funded by internet money that burst with the 1999 internet bubble, and I was lucky to stay with the firm. I was told I could cover cars or leave. The problem was that I knew not the first thing about cars or car companies except that I'd owned two Beetles when I was a kid, and had driven out …

Volkswagen isn't "Das Auto" any more. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company, with all of its troubles, and all eyes focused on its U.S. regulatory struggles, has ditched its tag of eight years.

Good times for automobile manufacturers might be a mixed blessing for their dealers. Car companies saw, and are still seeing, blistering sales. But that also means tight supply, and supply is like blood pressure. It's nice if it's a little low, but deadly if it's too low. Industry average is about 62 days. Last fall, some of the hot-selling crossovers were at 24 days and the average for crossovers wasn't too much higher than that.