A marketing guru once told me that many companies sell themselves based on their weakest attributes. By playing up what the market perceives as their limitations, the company seeks to reverse “misconceptions” which prevent greater popularity. The strategy is what Hitler called “The Big Lie:” a falsehood of such size and splendor that no one can believe that someone had “the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” This explains why Ford Canada used the slogan “Quality is Job 1” while building the Tempo and Escort. It also illuminates automakers’ greenwashing.

My wife's South African. She knows a thing or two about bigotry. I'm not speaking about her up-close-and-personal experiences under The Republic's heinous system of apartheid. I'm talking about Sam's post-immigration experiences. As a white South African, she knows what it's like to have someone judge you before you open your mouth. For years, strangers would confront her about the evils of apartheid, as if Sam had a direct hand in its implementation. This, even though she left South Africa before she reached voting age. And, more to the point, the fact that Sam was born into a culture she did not create. Anyway, when we moved to America, Sam worried about how our friends and neighbors would treat her. She remembered America's economic sanctions against her country, and heard the harsh and unified rhetoric aimed at the ruling regime. And yet… there's never been a problem. Not one. She's been treated with nothing but kindness. Now you could say Sam's welcome is the result of a combination of political ADD and ignorance. Or you could say it's because Americans are, by and large, a tolerant and open-minded people. So when I hear that Detroit's woes are due to "import bigotry," I just have to laugh. When Japanese cars were still considered crap, Lexus was given a chance to prove itself. Why wouldn't Detroit be afforded the same opportunity? All they have to do is… build cars people want and sell them honestly. As Sam says, you gotta walk the talk before you can expect anyone to listen. 

Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, Cadillac, Lincoln. Any automaker with dreams of glory in the upscale midsize sports sedan market has tried to beat the BMW 3-Series– and lost. Too big, too small, too crude, too expensive, too front-wheel drive, too ugly, no stick. Of all the contenders, only Infiniti has mounted a credible challenge. Some say the last G35 [more or less] usurped the 3-Series’ throne. And then BMW dropped the turbo bomb: the sublime 330-horse 335i. Infiniti has countered, sending us the normally aspirated, equally-horsed G37 coupe. Does the new car hit the G-spot?

Hot on the heels of Steven Lang's editorial explaining the financial pitfalls of car depreciation, moments away from Justin Berkowitz review of the Infiniti G37, we're delighted to present CNNMoney's "Top 10 Best Resale Value Cars." The automotive analysts looked at Kelly Blue Book's guesses estimates of what different models might will be worth in five years. They then rated the cars based on their relative retained value. Not surprisingly, the list is import intensive. Surprisingly, three of the winners are Volkswagens. Here's the complete list in alphabetical order, with each model's predicted five-year retained value:

Chevy Corvette – 50 percent
Honda Civic Sedan – 52 percent
Infiniti G37 – 52 percent
MINI Cooper – 52 percent
Scion tC – 52 percent
Scion xB – 52 percent
Toyota Corolla – 52 percent
Volkswagen Eos – 52 percent
Volkswagen Jetta – 51 percent
Volkswagen Rabbit – 51 percent

So here we are, living large in the fourth financial quarter. Those of you keeping track of the thrice-revised date for the first delivery of an all-electric Tesla Roadster to a paying customer will note that the Silicon Valley start-up has 45 days to meet their last promise. To review: “While we expect to produce a limited number of production cars in the fourth quarter," Michael E. Marks wrote in a customer email back in September. "I have set a production goal of shipping fifty cars in the first quarter of 2008, with an additional 600 cars in the 2008 model year." Just today, we received our "requested update from Tesla Motors." This latest communication put the "miss" in "missive," making no mention of '07 customer deliveries. But hey, "nearly 90" (89? 85?) customers have logged some seat time in the prototype, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Michael "Flea" Balzary. And more great news! Despite having taken 600 orders from customers without delivering a single car, closing-out the order book for '08 model year Roadsters (last time we heard they were talking about producing one car per week), Tesla's now taking deposits for '09! While your money only puts you on the Wait List, where else can well-heeled eco-warriors buy a dream– and little else– for five grand?

Because health care VEBAs normally contains less than $1b in assets, they're usually nothing more than a sideline for sleepy old pension fund managers. But, as Bloomberg reports, a VEBA the size of the one The Big 2.8 have agreed to bestow upon the United Auto Workers (UAW) is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. At $54.4b, it's plenty big enough to catch the [cold, dead] eye of the big boys like JP Morgan Chase & Co., State Street and Merrill Lynch. According to trade publication Pensions and Investments, this health care fund is the same size as the University of California's pension fund endowment– which is the nation's 25th largest. UAW president, Ron Gettlefinger says his organization has been "inundated" with offers from Wall Street to manage the trust. And why not? Independent investment consultant Geoff Brobroff estimates the fees for managing the VEBA could total $285 million (not including kickbacks). Nice work if you can get it.

Speaking to The Detroit News (DTN) at the LA Auto Show, Jim Farley criticized his new employer's history of pouring money into vehicle launches and then leaving the new models to languish in the market without… advertising support. You thought I was going to say "mechanical updates" didn't you? No such luck. While Ford's Toyota-poached multi-million dollar marketing maven (exact salary undisclosed) places a high value on hype advertising, he's doubly sure that "This is a time for us to be really realistic." In the spirit of this new realism, Farley said he wants to ignore/trample upon Ford's Volvo strategy and take Lincoln upmarket, "re-engage" Ford dealers (as opposed to long overdue euthanasia), meddle with product development ("That's where I can help Derrick and his team") and generally scare the **** out of Ford veterans ("What if we paid people if something went wrong with their car? It's an idea"). The DTN ends their "welcome to the club" feature by describing an encounter between Farley and an ex-Ford marketeer. "'There was no process. It was just chaos,' the former member of The Blue Oval Boyz told Farley. 'Now, I wish I'd stayed.'" Be careful what you wish for.

As IT Wire reports, the European Federation for Transport and Environment (EFTE) is kicking ass and naming names. Well, naming names. The environmental pressure group– claiming to represent 49 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in 21 countries– compiled a list ranking auto manufacturers by tailpipe cleanliness, based on 2006 date. And who's the fairest of them all? The EFTE gives the green gong to PSA Peugeot Citroën SA. On average, the French manufacturer's cars emit 229 grams of CO2 per mile. Fiat SpA was next with 232 g/mile. The worst? BMW with 297 g/mile and Daimler AG at 303 g/mile. Here's how EFTE's ratings shake down:

1. PSA – 229 grams CO2/mile
2. FIat – 232
3. Renault – 237
4. Toyota – 246
5. Honda – 248
6. GM – 253
7. Ford – 261
8. VW & Suzuki (tie) – 268
10. Hyundai – 269
11. Nissan – 271
12. Mazda – 279
13. BMW – 297
14. Daimler AG – 303

The car that's got American propellerheads in a spin just got a bit more desirable. BMW's announced that the 230-horse 128i will start at a modest $29,375. The 300-horse money-shot 135i will begin at $35,675. For reference, the base price of a 328i sedan is $32,400 and the 335i sedan starts at $38,900. Most of BMW's base prices are deceiving since you have to pay extra just to look at them for leather seats, metallic paint and automatic transmissions. Interweb rumors say the 135i may come with lots of standard sports kit (suspension, brakes, etc), so the baby Bimmer could turn out to be a better value than it seems. Still, comparing the 1 to the 3, who's gonna complain about saving $3000? Rich sorority girls and penny-counting petrolheads will be able to get their hands on their own 1-Series in the spring.

Enthusiasts have been tuning vehicles since the first car coughed into life. Back in the day, performance-minded pistonheads could enhance their car’s fun factor by putting stiffer springs on the distributor advance, or changing the top dead center degrees. In fact, there were hundreds of relatively simple ways a clever wrench could wring more performance out of his [formerly] humble four-wheeled steed. Today’s cars are too heavily computer-dependent for such simple tricks. Enthusiast-oriented entrepreneurs have created a whole new market of electronic modifications to fill in the void.

When Chryslerberus announced their new "lifetime warranty" last July, the fine print revealed that the security blanket only covered the vehicle's original owner. It also stated the hot-to-trot SRT models were exempt. Fair enough; these highly-horsed Hemis are likely experience a bit more than "normal" wear and tear. That said, Chrysler seem to be playing Three Card Monte (Find the Lady for our British audience) with that particular rider. The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 sitting on the company's LA Auto Show display stand proudly proclaims its lifetime warrant-age. If you look closely– just below that sticker– there's a line that's so small it looks like a row of dashes. It states "Not available on SRT…" When confronted about this declarative discrepancy, Mr. Lawence Oswald of Chrysler LLC agreed that we'd identified a mysterious automotive anomaly. "That's a good question." So how about a good answer?

There’s something deliciously ironic about slogging through one of LA’s infamous rush hours to attend a “green” cars award ceremony. The multi-lane Harbor Freeway plays host to a long slow dance of cars and semis, tailpipes steadily churning out brownish plumes into a blue sky. The dominant hue is not green but red: the omnipresent brake lights mocking California’s long-abandoned promises of fast, efficient personal travel. It’s almost enough to persuade a driver to ride the bus. Like me, most just crank on caffeine and escape boredom via the stereo, instead.

I was more than a little hesitant about blogging the LA Auto Show, As someone who abhors officious glad-handing, detests news conference narcolepsy and despairs at anti-ergonomic brochure schlepping, my natural inclination has been to surrender that bit of cybertorial to the heavy hitters. But this year TTAC has a "proper" new blog. And our most excellent contributor Alex Dykes offered his services. So I guess you could say Frank and I just kinda wandered into the gig. Although Autoblog and Jalopnik offered ten times the coverage, I was strangely excited by our minuscule contribution to the genre. I felt like our take was not just different, but worthwhile. It confirmed my growing suspicion that yes, dammit, TTAC has its own unique voice. Sure, our detractors see us as nothing more than childish snipers (now there's an image). But there are plenty of you who "get it," who share our sense of righteous indignation at the unsustainable hyperbole generated at and by auto shows. Even better, I was amazed at the quality of your contributory wit and wisdom. Would you have found your voice elsewhere? Perhaps. But I'm proud that TTAC can provide a safe haven for a literate legion of angry, bemused and insightful intellects whose sardonic attitude in no way impedes their love for all things automotive. Thank you for making it all– all of of it– worthwhile. 

Kia continued their trend of creating uninteresting and nearly identical concept cars at the LA Auto Show today. The lime green RND 4 concept is about as exciting as any of their former attempts and oddly enough looks just about the same as well. The company line is the same as everyone else: its the UAV (urban activity vehicle) for the ever-elusive metrosexual or occasional babe in hard hat and high heels. Kia: wannabe Japanese cars based off of wannabe Japanese concept cars. Maybe someone should have told them this wasn't what they had in mind when they were giving out the Green Car of the Year award.

With Subaru taking the WRX down to Camry-like levels of boring, potential buyers of cheap performance from the Land of the Rising Sun now have reason to rejoice: Mitsubishi released the Lancer Evo X at the LA Auto show today. With 291 hp and a road-warping 300 ft-lbs of torque from its 2.0L four-banger, this baby is set to scoot. Transferring that torque to the pavement is a reworked version of Mitsubishi's fantastic AWD system, now coupled with a VW-style double clutch robotic manual. When asked about performance, Michael Evanoff of Mitsubishi told me "0-60 times are expected to closely follow the Japanese official times of low 5 seconds." If fit and finish in the production models are this good, the plain-Jane WRX STi doesn't stand a chance.