The UK is about to deny 17-year-old drivers a full driving license until they're 18. Restrictions during the new, probationary period would include motorway (highway) restrictions and a zero blood alcohol level. Research by the Department for Transport claims the changes could save up to 1000 lives each year. The Times says the move would also bring Briton into line with the majority of other European Union member nations. Americans might take a cue from their English cousins. Most U.S. states issue licenses to 16-year olds; South Dakota allows 14-year-olds behind the wheel. American teens currently account for their unfair share of automotive death and destruction. During 2005, drivers aged 20 and below were roughly 250 percent more likely to get in an accident than the national average. Their chance of a fatal wreck was twice the norm. In fact, car accidents are now the leading cause of death for American teens.

TTAC's Deep Throat tells us what common sense has suggested right from the start of Cerberus' involvement in Chrysler: the private equity firm has no intention of hanging onto Chrysler ten minutes longer than it takes to arrange a profitable transfer of ownership. "It’s going to take a mountain of cash to turnaround Chrysler– with no guarantees of success," DT emails. "The last thing Cerberus wants to do is pour money into the car business. Think about all the pieces in the deal… Why is Bernhard gone? Why hire Nardelli, unless Cerberus wants to marshal cash by having a strict numbers guy run the place? And don’t forget that the banks control Chrysler, not Cerberus – they’re holding $10 billion in loans." So? "Cerberus will sell Chrysler to GM in exchange for the rest of GMAC, or they’ll sell it to the Chinese who are much better capitalized than GM and can afford a 50 year view." Remember: you heard it here first.

It may have started with hybrid tax credits and California's hybrid carpool lane stickers, but Ontario is taking the whole governmental green car incentive thing to the next level. The Toronto Star reports that the provincial government has unveiled a plan to issue "green" license plates to drivers of environmentally-friendly cars. Vehicles that qualify for the "eco-plates" will enjoy special perks, which could include free parking and access to commuter lanes. "Now we're saying we're going to also put some more factors on that table to help you make a decision that's good for your family and good for the environment," Environment Minister Laurel Broten told a news conference. Minister Broten will consult with carmakers and environmental groups to decide which vehicles qualify for the new plates. Now that ought to be an interesting meeting.

Now that Subaru has been "liberated" from GM's influence and hooked-up with the new world number one (hint: Moving Forward), the all-Japanese automotive partnership is finalizing plans to co-develop a… wait for it… sports car. Reuters reports the BFFs are shooting for a price under $16,000, an engine smaller than two liters and (possibly) Subaru's all-wheel-drive powertrain. The car is due to hit the tarmac as a 2010 model, sold as a Toyota. The mating of Toyota bland with Subaru quirkiness should produce an interesting automotive offspring, to say the least. No word on whether they'll sell the car in North America; or whether the phrase "sold as a Toyota" includes the new sports car's logical U.S. home: Scion.

Yesterday, we reported on Tesla and Toyota's [potential] troubles with lithium-ion batteries. Little did we know there'd be an explosion (so to speak) of Li-ion news. Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz announced an "expanded" deal with lithium-ion battery maker A123Systems (first in the phone book!). The Watertown, MA company will develop nanophosphate-based Li-Ion battery packs for GM's E-Flex hybrid system. Lutz promised to have the technology sorted by 2010, when GM's E-Flex-equipped Volt is scheduled to appear at a Chevy dealer near you. Meanwhile, AN also reveals that Chrysler will shove some lithium-ion batteries into their Sprinter vans this fall. As for fire and explosions… ""We are approaching safety…with a layered system approach," says Johnson Controls-Saft engineer Mary-Ann Wright. "We will ensure safety performance is achieved at the cell, pack and system level." Sounds like a plan.

Back in the ‘80s, when Volvo was famous for making safe cars, the brand’s vanguard was an ugly, slow, heavy machine called the 240. Admirers affectionately dubbed it “the Brick.” The 240 was indefatigable. When Volvo tried to replace the car with a more “modern” boxy model in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, 240 loyalists– vegan university professors hauling cans of paint and their dog in a 240 wagon on the way to the farmer’s market– revolted. Finally, in 1992, Volvo execs terminated the 240. Some say that Volvo gained style and lost its soul. But hey, brand loyalists always say that kind of thing. Truth to tell, the old Swede’s spirit lives on in the S40. 

According to an article in the International Business Times, it's pedal to the metal for the Chinese auto industry. The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products predicts auto exports will grow by nearly 50 percent in ‘07. So far this year, China has exported 241k vehicles valued at $2.7b. The majority headed to their former fellow communist partners in Russia, followed by Boratville (Kazakhstan) and Iran. What's more (literally), the average price per exported vehicle ascended to $11,200, up 23 percent from '06. Meanwhile, Motor Trend reports that Shanghai longshoremen have unloaded a shipload of 3k Ohio-built Acura TLs, slated for September sale. The U.S. strikes first blood, but don't expect the balance of trade to remain skewed in this direction for long. No sir.

When Daimler gave sold Chrysler to Cerberus, it seemed as if things were looking up for the beleaguered automaker. With a return to American ownership, they no longer had internal factions gunning for each other. Cerberus spoke highly about Chrysler's leadership; they would take a "hands off" approach to running their automotive acquisition. They offered union leaders assurance: we're in it for the long run. No need to worry about "strip and flip." And then Cerberus announced that Robert Nardelli would take over the reins. Ladies and gentlemen, the three-headed dog is finally baring its teeth.

Toyota is delaying introducing lithium-ion battery-powered hybrids because of safety concerns. Forbes reports that the Japanese automaker is hanging fire (so to speak) due to worries that the cells might overheat or explode. Toyota doesn't expect to have hybrids with Li-Ion batteries until 2011. They've also delayed plans for Tundra and Sequoia hybrids. Whether or not this will affect GM's hopes of lithium-ion powered Volt is yet to be seen. Meanwhile, commenting on an earlier TTAC post, Tesla spinmeister Darryl Siry claims their Roadster's Li-ion battery pack passed UN and DOT protocols for safety "when shipping" which which "can actually be harsher than safety when in a car."

Those zany marketing guys! Apparently euphemisms like "gently used" and "pre-loved" aren't enough to make us want to rush out and buy a used car. WebProNews brings us Chrysler's marketing mavens' latest attempt to obfuscate: "brand spankin' used." You can expect to see that phrase plastered all over used vehicle web sites like Cars.com and AutoTrader.com soon. Chrysler plans to list every certified pre-owned vehicle in every U.S. Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep dealer's inventory. That equates to over 20K vehicles listed each day. Why so many? Because Chrysler has a glut of used cars to unload since they dumped transferred all of their unsold 2006 models into their used car inventory in June. Banning over 600 dealers from Chrysler's used car auctions probably didn't help move the metal either.

The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) says they've added four more co-sponsors to the Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act of 2007 (H.R. 2694). The four Dems (Howard Berman of CA, Alcee Hastings of FL, Donald Payne of NJ and Albert Russell Wynn of MD) bring the total number of lawmakers lining-up behind the legislation to 24. The Act would require all automakers operating in these United States to provide "full access to all tools and service information needed to repair motor vehicles to independent repair shops." In other words, automakers couldn't use proprietary software to lock out independent mechanics, ratchet up repair rates and endear themselves to franchised dealers for all time. In case you thought this was strictly a Davis vs. Goliath kinda deal, the bill serves-up a carrot with that stick. Car companies get "strong protections for their trade secrets unless that information is provided to the franchised new car dealers." 

CNN Money reports that Ford, GM and Toyota have all downgraded their forecasts for '07 U.S. automotive sales. Ford estimates total sales at 16.1m, GM pegs the number at 16.5m and Toyota reckons it's 16.3. In any case, the stats compare with last year's 17.1m sales. The downturn puts GM between a rock and a hard place; the company's inventories are high and they're set to crank out more vehicles in this year's third quarter than they did in '06. As reported here, GM faces a stark choice: up incentives (killing margins), cut production or… both. While GM's spinmeister Paul Ballew danced around the looming nightmare, Ford's $25m man made no bones about the need for realism. "The most important thing is to get to the real demand. We don't want to drive demand with big incentives. All you are doing is pulling it ahead, so we need to get to the real fundamental demand, and have the vehicles priced for the demand." Meanwhile, Toyota's sitting pretty. Declining market be damned; they reckon they'll increase '07 U.S. sales by five to six percent.

After clocking Ford's expanded recall for faulty cruise control systems (that could lead to vehicle fires), Florida's St. Petersburg Times asked local firefighters if they'd seen any evidence of Ford F-150s going up in smoke. Indeed they have. Pasco County fire investigator Don Campbell says he started noticing the problem about two years ago. "It's a staggering number now," Campbell said. "It probably averages about one a week in Pasco County." Hillsborough County fire investigator Dave Tucker also said he'd seem a rising number of incidents in recent months: "This has been a long-standing problem." Tucker described fires that burned a hole through the F-150's hood "the size of a basketball." While not exactly a scientific survey, if this pattern is repeated nationwide and receives more of the same sort of local coverage, Ford is facing another Explorer rollover-style PR debacle. Meanwhile, if you could call you local fire department and ask about their experience with F-150 fires and report back below, TTAC would be much obliged.

Auto Express reports that our doubts about the integrity of two-way electronic automotive communications are fully justified. The mag has uncovered a £700 device that emits a radio wave that blocks the signal emanating from global positioning satellites. As a result, the car's on-board "black box" can’t record movement data. The jammer also blocks mobile phone signals to stop the black box from sending information back to its base. Bottom line: a  jammer-equipped car would be invisible to a GPS-based road charging system. (Not to mention the possibility of jamming someone else's car.) And that means that the UK's movement towards Big Brother policing "pay as you go" road pricing could be stymied by industrious hackers. Of course, Europe has already outlawed passive radar detectors and (I swear) deploys radar detector detectors. The cat-and-mouse e-games could just be beginning.  

CickZ is reporting that eyeball experts Nielsen Entertainment have declared in-game ads effective brand builders. The audience measurement mavens performed a double-blind study on 600 gamers, setting them loose on one of two versions of Electronic Arts' "Need for Speed Carbon." One version was ad-less; the other included billboards hawking automobiles, consumer packaged goods, quick service restaurants and technology tools (presumably not the people conducting the experiment). Nielsen claims the automotive ads generated a 69 percent increase in purchase consideration among likely car buyers. Translation? Unknown. But according to Alison Lange Engel, marketing director for the Massive in-game ad agency, "There is a halo effect [no pun intended] that being in the game makes them [the brands] cool." Well she would say that, wouldn't she? In fact, so would Electronic Arts, which would like nothing better than to become the in-game advertisers medium of choice. And Nielsen, who undoubtedly aspires to become the measurement king of the new ad genre, which Parks Associates estimates will reach $2b by 2012. Who are also in the video ad game.