Herr A8 is the last vehicle in the Audi line-up that's still displaying the “old” styling. In a strange way, it doesn’t look that old at all. Although I’m not an Audi fan, I always had respect for their flagship. It is so elegantly simple, with somehow atemporal aesthetics. And that is something that clearly differentiates it from the current competitors (See Bangled 7-Series and Maybacized S-Class). But consumers are slaves to fashion. Sooner or later, even naturally beautiful designs get “seasoned." We can only hope that the evolution of the A8 will be harm-free. In my little prediction of the Herr von Ingolstadt the Third I kept the original proportions (which are just perfect) and carefully applied some year 2010 make-up, trying not to lose the character of the original. I struggled not to make it look like an artificially increased A4. An original touch: lowering the Audi trapeze grille so that the underide will look like part of the spoiler. For the rest of the details, I’ll allow the image to speak for itself.

[For more Avarvarii photochopistry, click here]

German newsweekly Der Spiegel is known for its exemplary investigative journalism, but doesn't have a rep for incisive economic analysis. With this caveat, we find it notable that its English-language online edition says today's sky-high oil prices are not based on "real" factors like supply and demand. Apparently, speculators are behind the recent price spike; the "bubble" will pop just like the "new economy," Internet and housing bubbles. Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co. says oil is presently the victim of "excessive speculation." Trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) would seem to support his contention,. World consumption totals around 86m barrels a day, yet trading volume based on price speculation is 15 times that amount. So when will it end? Gheit doesn't know but he's confident it will. "This is a bubble, and it will burst."

Three GM truck plants will shut down around midnight tonight because of the strike at American Axle. Automotive News [AN; sub] reports about 9,500 workers at the Fort Wayne, Flint and Oshawa plants will be idled, in addition to the 2,500 workers who went home from the Pontiac assembly plant earlier this week. GM wouldn't comment on whether or when the pickup plant in Silao, Mexico would shut down. They project the plant at Arlington, Texas will continue production until mid-March. Arlington builds Suburbans, Tahoes, Yukons and Escalades; the other plants build Silverados and Sierras. With inventories well in excess of a 100-day supply for all these models, GM isn't sweating it. Yet.

I believe that somebody is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for them. If The New York Yankees are willing to pay shortstop Alex Rodriguez $275m for ten year's service, that's what he's worth. You can bet that owner George Steinbrenner stands to make more money than his employee. Well, that's the theory. In practice, sometimes the people signing the checks are so divorced from reality that they happily shell-out tens of millions of dollars to employees without any hope of recompense. Needless to say, I'm referring to the top level execs infesting GM, Ford and Chrysler. Now you could make a case that Ford is the exception– if we're talking about Alan Mulally. I reckon the former Boeing man might someday be worth Ford's $75m – $150m (at a guess) investment. As for Ford's million dollar plus top level suits– who've already proven that they don't know how to run a railroad– I'm not sure. I find Bill Ford's postponed payments even less convincing. The man owns stock. If Ford makes a profit, he will (once again) bank millions. Ford's compensation committee might think that it's worth $25m to $35m per year to get Bill Ford to "represent" the family biz and stay out of Alan Mulally's hair. I think not.

In another of the long, slow trickle of sneak peeks of vehicles set to premiere at the Geneva Auto Show (just hold the damn show already people!), Italian design atelier Zagato has released the first official shots of its Bentley Zagato GTZ. Following the tradition of years of luscious Zagato re-skins of unattainable British whips, the design adds sleeker lines, crisp folds and its trademark double-bubble roof to the already hot Bentley GT Speed. A two-tone paint scheme in British Racing Green, a toned rear-end and Zagato's "Z" emblem on the front quarter round out the subtle, yet wholly distinctive re-skin. Like every other Zagato concept, the GTZ is being called a non-production prototype designed to inspire enough money-no-object offers from the bloated plutocrats of the world to eventually produce a tiny run of GTZs. We'll start looking for the whip on the streets of Monaco once several prominent charities begin to report downturns in donations in the next year or so.

There's an awful lot in modern cars that can drive a person meshuge. Although I know active safety systems save lives, air bags give me the creeps. They're essentially loaded guns pointed at your chest and head. It's not quite law yet, but by 2012 traction control will be mandatory. Fine on paper. Saves lives, etc. But the application of these nannies will be far from uniform. The really bad systems (hello, Ford) apply too much brake force while simultaneously cutting the gas. The effect on the driver is discombobulating, to put it goofily. Then you have my personal pet peeve: idiot warnings. Every time it's sunny out I'm reminded that babies and short people should beware the passenger side airbag and sit in back. Jeremy Clarkson pointed out the full extent of this lunacy when he showed the warning sticker comes in a Viper: if you have a navigation system you must agree not to crash the car every time you turn the key. Or– ick– push the button. But the one that kills me, and will always continue to kill me, is the damn beeping when your seatbelt isn't fastened. Despite much evidence to the contrary, the motoring public isn't sub-mental. Anyhow, what's your biggest peeve?

After yesterday's post on Bill Ford's compensation package, I had a little chinwag with FoMoCo PR Supremo Oscar Suris. Suris explained that his boss– the automaker's Executive Chairman and former CEO– has, indeed, "modified" his May 2005 pledge. (Billy swore on a stack of dry cleaning bills that he wouldn't take a plug nickel from his family namesake until the company was profitable for a full financial year.) The new deal is this: from 2008, Ford will "postpone" Billy's annual compensation until Ford is profitable. In other words, if and when Ford gets back in black, cha-CHING! All the money from '08 forward comes due. How much? Suris wouldn't say. "The Committee felt this was a fair and reasonable way for Bill Ford to stay true to his pledge on some level." Yes, well, keep in mind that Ford is no longer making dividend payments; the Ford family's auto-related cash flow has stopped. As to what Bill Ford has done to aid the "company's progress in restructuring its troubled North American operations," he hired Alan Mullaly. What do you want, blood?

On a you-can't-make-this-up page of news briefs from Moscow News Weekly (featuring such hilariously Russian headlines as "Newborn Babies Dumped In Chelyabinsk's Trash" and "Lemur Smugglers Caught In Southwest Russia") comes a little warning to companies looking to cash-in on Russia's booming car market. Thirty-six-year-old Vyaches­lav Shirshov was found stabbed to death in his apartment in the town of Tolyatti. Shirsov was the head of procurement for the enormous AvtoVAZ group, known to the west as the makers of the infamous Lada. The responsibility of choosing raw material suppliers is a risky proposition, at least in Russia, as investigators are pointing to Shirsov's job as the likely cause of his untimely death. The news brief concludes by stating that Tolyatti "has a reputation for turf wars between criminal gangs seeking control over the lucrative auto industry." As GM has been in business in this quaint little burg since 2001 (jointly manufacturing the Chevy Niva with AvtoVAZ), it has no reason to worry about it's recently announced joint venture just up the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod. I'm sure it's figured out whom to bribe by now.

Mercedes has announced another new vehicle for the Geneva auto show. Since they're too cool for the word "concept," it's called the "Vision GLK BLUETEC HYBRID." In caps lock. So remember it. It's a diesel electric hybrid, pairing Benz's well-reviewed 2.2-liter straight four oil burner with an electric motor. The numbers we care about: 224, 400, 40 and 7.3. That's horses, ft.-lbs. of torque, miles per gallon and 0 – 60. All in all, them's some impressive stats– especially when you consider that this is a big, heavy, boxy SUV (it's also noxiously fugly). The powertrain might yield truly earth shattering data in the C-Class sedan, but hey, this hybrid SUV doubles the mileage of the equivalent gas-fed V6, without any impact on performance. Diesel electric is also a nice idea because it minimizes particulate emissions when you start the car and while driving at slow speeds around town. The GLK goes on sale here in 2008. As for the powertrain, Benz specifically mentions that it meets America's "stringent" BIN5 standard. But not, perhaps, our aesthetic sensibilities…

[View the GLK BLUETEC HYBRID Pixamo Gallery here.] 

Troubled Chrysler supplier Plastech's bankruptcy proceedings just got a little more complicated. Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI)– which accounts for over half of Plastech's $1.4b annual business– filed a motion yesterday to force the plastics manufacturer to either accept or reject their sourcing agreement. In the motion, JCI claims that Plastech is incapable of producing the 6000-odd parts it buys from Johnson at the agreed price; an issue which has forced JCI to "bail-out" Plastech several times in recent years. Although firms in bankruptcy usually take several months to arrange a reorganization plan before accepting or declining contracts, JCI argues that it can't afford to wait. "If the debtor cannot assume the (agreement) and perform according to its terms, the debtor cannot reorganize." The key issue appears to be Plastech's ability to secure capital coming out of bankruptcy. JCI, Chrysler and other Plastech customers have made it clear that they will no longer pay out lump sums above the negotiated cost of sourced parts. Meanwhile, Plastech's $31m line of credit is nearly gone. The firm has 15 days to respond to JCI's motion. This is getting really ugly really fast.

Everyone knows that when you travel to say, China, and someone offers you an amazing deal on a Swiss watch, you might not be getting the genuine article. Buy a discount Ferrari in Italy though, and you can safely assume you are getting the real deal, right? Wrong. The International Herald Tribune reports that Italy's financial police (?) have broken a ring of Ferrari counterfeiters who had built 14 fake 360 Modenas using, get this, "mostly Pontiacs as their base, but also Mercedes and Toyota." While visions of the notorious "Fiero-rrari" body kits are probably racing through your head, these fakes actually were fairly well done (if equally targeted at the chest-rug sporting crowd). Authorities say that seven of the faux-rraris were sold to people who knew the cars were fake, and simply wanted to impress the neighbors. Said neighbors were sadly unavailable for comment as to the full glory of a late-model Ferrari with the exhaust note of 20-year old Pontiac V6.

All things must come to an end. The United States Air Force (Frank's former and my current employer) is replacing the Nissan Urvans servicemen and women use for fun in the sand passenger transport. Apparently, not enough of today's troops know how to drive a manual; stick ignorant airmen were tearing-up the Urvan's transmissions. There were also reports that those who could handle the third pedal found them a bit too much fun and were engaging in unauthorized (is there any other kind?) hooliganism (not that I would have any first-hand experience in such activities), leading to a few, uh, "mishaps." The Hyundai Trajet has been deemed a cheaper, safer bet, as their V6 motors, front wheel-drive and automatic transmissions are more in-tune with "American tastes." Above all, it's a bit of a disappointment.

Back in the day, Toyota used local businessmen to find dealers and deal with local politics. ToMoCo eventually bought its distributors, save Southeast Toyota in Florida and Gulf States Toyota in Houstonm (who still control prices, model mix and availability in 10 states). In the '90s, Southeast shelled-out more than $100m to dealers who claimed the distributor was forcing them out of business. CNNMoney reports that Gulf States is now under the gun for "improperly encouraging" executives from a large dealer group to leave their company and buy a lucrative dealership in Dallas. Toyota continues to defend its distributors, claiming they "bring a culture of innovation, responsiveness and agility." What's more, consumer prices "are the same" or "even more competitive" than prices in regions where there are no distributors. If there's anyone who can give your perspective on dealing with a Toyota distributor, please contact us.

Do you know how many Matrices Toyota sold in the United States last year? That's not a rhetorical question; I have no idea. Toyota rolls the number into Corolla sales. No surprise there. The Matrix shares its underpinnings with the Corolla– and the Pontiac Vibe (same car, different wrapper). Even if the Matrix accounts for a fraction of Corolla sales, a fraction of a lot is a lot. And so, just as Toyota is bringing out the new Corolla, they’re unleashing the sequel to the Matrix. Let’s call it The Matrix: Rebloated.

Much to the sorrow of Jeremy Clarkson, the English automobile manufacturing industry is limited to small firms producing limited volume, home grown sports cars. Firms like Caterham, Noble, Morgan (wood you in a car?), Ariel and [the Emperor's new] Bristol. Caterham continues to make the 40-year-old 7 roadster– a great summer Sunday car (for the South of France). And Ariel Atom roadster is a kick in the proverbial pants. Which just became a big ass boot. Both Caterham and Atom are now offering their maniacal machines with a eight cylinder engine: a 2.4-liter V8, supercharging its way to a staggering 500 horsepower, breaching the mythical 1000 bhp/ton ratio. (Caterham plans to offer a naturally-aspirated 380 horsepower model, and it's a safe bet Ariel would do the same if you asked nicely and paid them generously.) Caterham's claims the front-engined RS V8 will teleport customers to sixty in under three seconds. That'll do pig, that'll do.