I'm sure plenty of auto bloggers and erstwhile reporters will hail GM's decision to form a new engineering group to "focus on hybrid vehicles, extended-range electric vehicles and battery technology." It's easy enough to see the development (reported by CNNMoney) as proof that GM has, finally, put its chips on the alternative propulsion (alt prop) table. But I'd like to raise the red flag here. GM already has a 500-member team working on the electric – gas hybrid Chevrolet Volt. GM already has another team working on the plug-in Saturn Vue. GM already has vehicle development teams for all its eight U.S. brands, spanning some 49 models. GM already has boffins in Germany working on their products. GM already has a hybrid development team in China. In theory, consolidating all these efforts under one Alt Prop Czar–  Robert Kruse, executive director of vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries– makes sense. But the fact that GM says it will be "based" in North America, Europe and Asia tells me that this new GM fiefdom will struggle within The General's Byzantine bureaucracy and competition fiefdoms, floundering within a culture known for product paralysis and financial profligacy. Just sayin'…

Late last year, The New York Times hired long-time Detroit News cheerleader Bill Vlasic. Fans of the man will be glad to learn that the auto scribe has stayed true to his roots. Writing for The Old Gray lady, Vlasic pens a paean to Ford CEO Alan Mulally's global integration plans; an essay that finds the silver lining in Ford's arterial spray of red ink. "Much of his focus since joining Ford 16 months ago has been on cutting costs and jobs. And more buyouts were announced on Thursday, when the company reported that it had narrowed its overall losses in 2007 to $2.7 billion, a major improvement after its wrenching $12.6 billion loss in 2006. But with the shrinking of Ford’s core United States business nearly done, Mr. Mulally is eager to get its global operations hitting on all cylinders." Sounds great! So, tell us about Big Al's Boeing-like plan to consolidate Ford's platforms. How many do they have, how many do they want, and how are they going to build compelling local products on a world platform? "Mr. Mulally declined to specify how many platforms Ford had now or discuss its goal for consolidation. But he gushed at the savings the company could realize by spreading its costs over more international models. 'Seventy percent of our total volume will be on eight platforms by 2012,' he said. 'You can only imagine what a tremendous improvement that will be.'" Looks like Mulally found the right guy for that job.

On one hand, Polk Automotive's 2007 Loyalty Awards are "based on actual consumer transactions, with over 6 million household records per year being analyzed to determine the winners." On the other hand, I never trust a list of award winners that doesn't provide the full results, including the losers. So, GM wins the manufacturer loyalty category, with a staggering 62.89 percent customer retention rate. Take THAT Toyota! Uh, hang-on. ToMoCo wins the "make" loyalty category, with 56.69 percent customer retention. What's the diff? (We'll phone Polk later.) GM scoops six segment titles: Small Car (Saturn Ion, 23.5 percent), Large Car (Chevrolet Impala, 33.89 percent), Sports Car (Pontiac Solstice, 19.08 percent), Full-Size Pickup Truck (Chevrolet Silverado, 36.64 percent), Full-Size SUV (Chevrolet Suburban, 23.21 percent), and Prestige SUV (Cadillac Escalade, 33.61 percent). Toyota takes five segment titles: Mid-size Car (Toyota Prius, 33.34 percent), Luxury Car (Lexus ES, 32.8 percent), Prestige Luxury Car (Lexus LS, 44.41 percent), Compact Pickup Truck (Toyota Tacoma, 17.73 percent), and Midsize SUV (Lexus RX, 29.04 percent). There's something strange about all this. Did I mention that we're phoning Polk? 

The new retro-styled Fiat 500 economy car is a major score for the storied Italian automaker, whose turnaround was funded by GM CEO Rick Wagoner's not-so-finest hour (a $2b+ payment to not buy the carmaker). Auto Express reports that Fiat will extend and defend the 500's position as the cutest of city cars when it unveils a drop-top version at the Geneva Auto Show. "The newcomer will use a full-length fabric roof that slides back to store on top of the parcel shelf. It will retain a glass rear window, plus full-frame doors and the hatch’s roofline." Fiat will also unleash the 500 Abarth SS hot hatch motorvated by a 1.4-litre turbo four good for 155bhp. That's got to piss-off Brazilian Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa, who just took delivery of a "special" turbo 500– with only 120-horses. Well, at least until he gets the new new car.  

Volkswagen will soon be re-joining the list of European auto manufacturers manufacturing autos in the U.S. In fact, VW was the very first ferrin' automaker to set-up shop in The Land of the Free way back in 1978, with a Rabbit factory in New Stanton, Pennsylvania. And man, did they screw that one up. The nasty, unreliable crap [barely] constructed in the U.S. plant single-handedly destroyed VW's reputation for "German engineering," strangling sales and forcing the company to close-up shop, tuck its tail between its legs and head south of the border. This time 'round, the Detroit Free Press reports that VeeDub's building their new plant in North Carolina, aiming for a 2010 start-up date. Don't be surprised if the facility facilitates SUVs, like the Tiguan, or the next generation Touareg. Fortunately, there's no risk that VW will pollute a stellar reputation for well-built products, thanks to ongoing quality problems… everywhere. As the owner of a German-built GTI that's provided 18 months of mechanical headaches, here's hoping VW finally sorts it shit out, somewhere, soon.  

Before emailing a rave review of the new Ford Mondeo, I wanted to understand why an automaker with such great products in the Eurozone has such a mediocre reputation. Posing as a potential purchaser, I phoned to make an appointment for a test drive. Employee of Dealership A: "We have one Mondeo you could try out, but we are booked for the next ten days, I think." Sales guy at Dealership B: "Sorry, I just started here six months ago, the guy in charge is on sick leave.” His stand-in? On vacation. “Please call again in a week or so.” See? It’s NOT all about the product. But I digress…

Cleveland.com says Ohio state officials are downsizing their fleet. Of the state’s 350 new cars, some 50 percent will be the “more fuel-efficient— and less stylish” (ouch!) Ford Focus. Some government workers are bitching about the decision, claiming the Focus offers “less headroom and legroom.” Department of Administrative Services (DAS) spokesperson Ron Sylvester told them to go on a diet. "People concerned about getting their girth from a midsize car into a Ford Focus – we may be helping them think about reducing their girth a little bit." The big fish are not affected. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher and Attorney General Marc Dann are all “driven to work” in Suburbans. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner drives a Chrysler 300C. And Auditor Mary Taylor has a 2007 Jeep Cherokee. Ohio taxpayers should be pleased with their State Treasurer. Rich Cordray turned down a state car in favor of his very own beige 2006 Pontiac Montana minivan.

Alan Mulally began last year as a passenger on a nose-diving Ford Motor Company. Clocking the company’s $12.6b fiscal flummox, FoMoCo’s CEO left no punches unpulled. "We fully recognize our business reality,” Big Al pronounced. “And we’re dealing with it.” Twelve months later, Mulally’s machine’s cut a new deal with the United Auto Workers (UAW), scaled back production and launched some new whips. During today’s announcement, Big Al proudly pronounced the new new turnaround a success. “Each of our automotive operations is improving, and we are encouraged by the progress.” That makes one of us.

GM Car Czar Bob Lutz wants you to know what's on his mind. So, at last night's Automotive News congressional confab, Maximum Bob let rip, revealing the concerns triggering the suit's septuagenarian synapses. But, as usual, there are major gaps between Bob's thoughts and actual reality. 

Longtime followers of this website know that this is not the first time we've announced that automotive journalist Brock Yates is set to join the TTAC team. Back in the paleolithic era, we cut a deal with the former Car & Driver scribe to pen a weekly column on our readers' behalf. The arrangement went south when we couldn't put enough cash on the proverbial barrel. Now that TTAC is a bigger site– we broke our 500k uniques per month cherry today– I have more confidence that Brock's participation can take us to that place where we can recoup his fee. In other words, we can afford to roll the Yates-shaped dice. Now the last time Brock was TTAC-bound, some of you wondered– OK, sneered at the prospect. There is a school of thought that says Mr. Yates is too Old School for web 2.0land. After speaking with Brock on potential topics for his regular column, I can assure you he's just as full of piss, shit and vinegar as he was back in the day. And he's not a Lutzian recidivist dreaming of big-bore V8s. That said, I have no idea what's going to come from Yates' fevered imagination. I told him TTAC wants 800 words per week on whatever floats his boat. No holds barred. Kick some ass. This he promised to do. Fingers crossed. But at the very least Mr. Yates arrival should help this website's regular writers get some more of the recognition– and readership– they deserve.

Is there anything the average motorist hates more than police radar? While some citizens see radar “guns” and those who wield them as a necessary evil– police surveillance that saves lives– most drivers view the technology as a “sin tax,” an ineffective safety device, a waste of police resources, an invasion of privacy and/or a major violation of the Constitutional prohibition against “indiscriminate search.” While the battle for and against police radar (and now laser) rages on, TTAC has invited me to discuss the technology and your legal rights. We begin with some deep background.

With air quality so toxic that Olympic athletes plan to train outside the city, with its international reputation for peace, love and harmony on show for the entire world, Beijing knows it has to clean up its act. The Beijing News (via the New York Times) reports that city officials want to de-smog the world's most polluted urban atmos by cutting its motorized traffic in half. (That's up from the one-third target that TTAC's Adrian Imonti reported back in August.) To that end, the government is considering implementing the number plate restrictions trialled last summer. The move should take about 1.65m vehicles off Beijing's roads each day during the Games. As you might expect from a military dictatorship, the Powers that Be the People's Republic of China (PRC) are contemplating other, equally draconian corrective meaures. The Old Gray lady reports that the PRC may also shut down factories throughout northern China during the Games. Paycheck? What paycheck? Gone, in the name of Citius, Altius, Fortius.

Proving the old bromide that "many a truth is spoken in jest," Wal-Mart may be fulfilling a prediction made by some of TTAC's erudite readers: selling Chinese cars alongside the toilet plungers and plastic shoes. According to Bloomberg, Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott has revealed that the monolithic megastore chain has been talking with automakers about selling gas-electric hybrids and plug-in EVs at Wal-Mart. Lee decline to specify which carmakers are involved, or where they were located. Scott would only say the potential suppliers were "major" companies. He also unveiled a proposal to provide recharge stations for EVs, generating the juice via wind turbines or solar panels or some other politically correct means. Of course, there are logistical challenges, such as getting planning permission for a windmill at your local Wally World, training part-time minimum-wage stock clerks how to sell cars, and figuring out a way for customers to get their shiny new EV through the self-service checkout lane.

Yesterday, Ford CEO Alan Mulally told the world that he'd downsize the company if needs be. Well, needs be. After revealing that FoMoCo dropped $2.7b in the last financial quarter, the Detroit News reports that the American automaker is offering buyout to ALL of its [remaining] 54k United Auto Workers (UAW) employees. You heard right: Ford is asking every single UAW worker laboring for The Blue Oval Boyz if they'd like to abandon ship. To that end, Ford's sweetened the deal for union members with retirement packages in place. "Workers eligible for retirement will receive a lump-sum payment of $50,000 if they agree to leave the company, plus full retirement benefits. That is $15,000 more than Ford offered to retirement-eligible UAW workers in 2006. Moreover, skilled trades workers, who are among the highest paid, will receive a $70,000 buyout payment, or $35,000 more than the previous offer." Although Henry's Mob doesn't expect everyone to leave, the move paves the way for Ford to hire lower-cost replacements; you know, if they need them. The DetN ends on the usual upbeat note. "'Ford is becoming a smaller company and becoming a lower-cost company at the same time,' said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. 'You can become profitable by becoming small.'" Ah, but will they? Watch this space.