In the world of hybrid-drive technology, far-sighted development can pay huge dividends. Just ask Toyota, whose sales of Hybrid Synergy Drive-powered vehicles passed the global million-unit mark last year. While Nissan is licensing Toyota's Synergy Drive for its Altima Hybrid, GM has passed on proven success in its pursuit of two-mode hybrid technology with BMW, Mercedes and Chrysler at their joint Hybrid Development Center in Troy, Michigan. Smooth move or just another example of GM throwing good money after bad? Yup, you guessed it.

Auto Motor und Sport (AMuS) has it from "well informed circles" that GM is working on not one but two more versions of the new Saab 9-1. To get a feel for what GM should produce, AMuS commissioned Mark Stehrenberger. The design savant imagineers the first model as an aggressive two-box vehicle with a narrow greenhouse that looks a lot like MINI Clubman with a Saab grille (although maybe I've just seen too many Saab grilles grafted onto other people's designs). The second sketch shows us a weird little Saturn with Chevy Nomad-style removable roof elements. Word has it that the car could be built on either the Alpha or Kappa rear wheel-drive (RWD) platforms, and sport a Pontiac or Buick (cough crash cart cough) badge. Which means either A: GM is bringing a RWD hot hatch to the American market and badge engineering it to death or B: It isn't.

[View GM 1-Series fighter Pixamo gallery here.] 

After three columns, The Truth About Cars and former Car and Driver columnist Brock Yates have decided to call it a day. I emerge from our agreement with my respect for Mr. Yates' enormous talent, insight, charm and perspicacity intact. Brock's reputation is, was and will be well-deserved. TTAC hopes that he finds a suitable electronic forum for his work soon, so that his many fans can continue to enjoy his wit and wisdom. It's been an honor.

So, you got a speeding ticket. After the police officer leaves, there you are, with an official document in hand. You are unhappy. Your basic fight or flight or freeze response has you in its grip. You feel guilty, angry, shocked, insulted, humiliated, outraged or some combination thereof. Your heart rate is elevated; you’re stressing about money or points or the wife or the boss or just about everything. What happens next is up to you…

Although Canada is the highest-cost location in North America in which to build a car, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union president Buzz Hargrove maintains he'll allow no concessions on salary or benefits in the contract negotiations this year. "We're not going to try to buy jobs by being the cheapest workers in the world," he told CAW workers meeting in Toronto. The Globe and Mail says Harvgrove and his hired economist, Jim Stanford, both deny the concessions given by the UAW last fall are equivalent to a $25/hour labor cost reduction. The fact that the exchange rate has driven Canadian wages and benefits to the equivalent of $80/hour in the U.S. is irrelevant to Stanford. He claims the higher productivity in their plants more than makes up for the cost difference between the average CAW and UAW worker. We'll see how long this posturing lasts once the negotiations start. At that point, it will most likely turn into a bidding war between the CAW and the UAW for the "right" to build new and existing product.

WFAA reports that police in East Dallas are investigating a road rage shooting early Thursday morning. Two vehicles were apparently attempting to turn onto a road at the same time; shots were fired and two men in one of the cars were struck in the leg by bullets. Meanwhile, WFTV reports that two men in Orange County, FL drove through the eastern end of the county with guns blazing. Louis Davis admitted he opened fire as his six and 11-year-old children watched. According to the former corrections officer, the van ahead “was driving too slow” so "I sped up and got in front of him and he rammed my white Honda, rammed right in the back of it." At some point, the two drivers exchanged gunfire. Police say Davis dropped off the kids, found the van, crouched in a yard and popped-off a few more rounds. "I called 911, but if someone's firing at me, by God I'm going to protect myself and my family.” On the other hand… "'You got bullets flying everywhere. This is ridiculous. I think it's a good thing they have both been arrested,' said Deputy Carlos Padilla, Orange County Sheriff's Office."

Ford was late breaking into China's red-hot car market, and it's paying the price. Detroit News reports that Ford's share of the of the Chinese pie grew from two percent to 2.1 percent last year– falling well short of FoMoCo's internal 2.4 percent target. This in a year where car sales spiked 20 percent. Ford was late developing manufacturing infrastructure in China; it opened its first factory some 18 years after longtime China sales leader VW, five years after GM. Ford's only top-ten hit in The People's Republic: the Focus. Due to the large number of Focus parts sourced from outside China, the model still generates less profit than its competitors. Perhaps more worrisome for Fords long-term efforts: its inability to put together an attractive, coherent brand for the Chinese market. Ford's Asia/Pacific division chief John Parker blames Ford's "big car" image. Meanwhile, Mazda is taking up the slack. Of Ford's $244m pre-tax profit in the Asia/Pacific region, Mazda accounts for $204m. Ouch.

The last thing GM needs right now is a $2.25b bill to go splat on the mat. But if rumors are accurate, The General will spend yet more money on its bankrupt former parts maker Delphi. While examining various scenarios for Delphi to come-up up with the $4.5b in needs to exit Chapter 11, the Financial Times hypothesizes "the exit funding would consist of a USD 2.275bn first lien loan, while GM would assume a USD 2.25bn junior facility." GM would have to pay their chunk to take the remaining debt down to a size that current debt holders JPMorgan and Citibank could sell. They'll have to move fast, though. The current funding agreements will all be history by the end of April, and Delphi will be back to square one. Unless…  nah… GM wouldn't be stupid enough to try to pay all the debt, would they?Could they?

Until GM’s stylish EV-1 came along, electric vehicles (EVs) looked like they were made in shop class. Back then, very few people actually thought about owning an EV. Though many electric dreams have been literally crushed, green-thinking and/or peak oil-aware drivers now look to EVs as the natural successor to traditional fossil-fuel sucking and CO2 spewing motorcars. But are they worthy?

You guys out-smarted me yesterday. (Not that I should be surprised, as TTAC is known far and wide for its brainy readers.) Still, you approached the American Time Capsule QOTD fom an angle I hadn't even considered. I was wondering which car would be worth the most filthy lucre in 2058. My answer? A Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR. (If a 1969 Mustang is fetching seven figures today, you can't even imagine what a sub-10 mpg V10 monster will be worth when gasoline is illegal.) But then y'all flipped the scrip and pondered what car best encapsulates (so to speak) our current automotive times. I've long held the opinion that future generations will look back at our 5,500+ lbs SUVs and think, "What in the fuck?" And pulling the Cadillac Escalade EXT (that's the pickup version) out of the ground will forever settle the argument that we share a common ancestor with chimps. But those are American cars. Today, we talk Japanese. Me? I'd bury a Toyota Century. But that's because you know ToMoCo will still be building the damn JDM-only things in 50 years when internal combustion engines are seen as worse than shooting-up babies with dope– big V12 and all. Hey, those upper crusty salarymen have needs, no? Plus, they're beautiful. You?

TTAC is proud to bring you another "What the Hell Were They Thinking?™" moment. First, the facts. To launch MINI's new Clubman (an ugly ass vehicle boasting the world's smallest suicide doors), California-based advertising agency Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners have unleashed "ZIG. ZAG. ZUG." As you no doubt already guessed, the slogan is part of a host of so clever they require an entire explanatory paragraph to describe them print and "guerrilla" marketing campaigns (e.g. teaser billboards and "The Book of ZUG"). Now, the kvetch. Why would MINI want to riff on the Cadillac Catera– an "entry level" rebadged version of the Opel Omega MV6 that almost single-handedly destroyed the Cadillac brand? Students of automotive history will recall that the abomination was advertised as "The Cadillac that Zigs." That's like selling a new soup based on a brand known for botulism. Also, ZUG? Zug is a town in Switzerland. And while I'm sure the comedy website zug.com will appreciate the business, why would such an internet-friendly car brand miss that opportunity? If you need an alternative place to file this story, how about "Too clever for their own good." 

[BMW "respectfully declined" our request for an interview on this campaign.] 

GM seems to think their first attempt at countering greenwashing accusations was successful. So now they're readying their Web 1.99 GMNext website for round two. Who's up? Well, you may recall that GM stopped selling everything it owns to buy into an ethanol start-up called Coskata. (Car Czar Bob Lutz:  "They put a bunch of bacteria in there that basically just eat and poop, eat and poop.") Tomorrow at 1pm EST, Coskata's CMO will participate in a GM "green chat." Wes Bolsen is expected to discuss Coskata's subservience to partnership with GM and how their ethanol-pooping bacteria will someday, eventually, turn garbage into an endless supply of low-cost, pollution-free fuel. While we expect Bolsen will be a lot more forthcoming than GM's chief of American sales ops, Brent Dewar, what's the bet a GM minder will be breathing down Bolsen's neck? Anyway, the session is open to the public. We expect loitering members of TTAC's Best and Brightest to test the limits of free speech, and report back on our follow-up post.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled against Ford Australia in an asbestos related lawsuit. The Geelong Advertiser reports that FoMoCo was "ordered to pay Perth motor mechanic Antonino Lo Presti $840,000 after contracting asbestosis in 2001 from working with brake pads in the 1970s and '80s. The court heard Mr Lo Presti was working in Ford dealerships without protective equipment, ventilation or warnings, long before asbestos was banned in 2003." The ruling– which determined that Ford knew the risks to mechanics but failed to take action– is sure to open the floodgates for a class action lawsuit. If the thousands of motor mechs who worked on Ford's asbestos brake pads Down Under get a fraction of Lo Presti's payout, this one will heavily damage an already sinking ship. 

GM's humongous hybrid SUV's have garnered a lot of attention and copped a few awards, thanks to what is admittedly a pretty slick drivetrain (and even slicker PR campaign). What GM isn't publicizing is that it isn't "their" drivetrain; it was developed jointly with BMW and DaimlerChrysler. When the divorce became final, Daimler and Chrysler got joint custody, so now four different manufacturers get to share the wealth. The Detroit Free Press has a list of all the models where you can expect to see them use the magic tranny that makes it all work. While improving truck mileage is a good thing, cars are conspicuously absent from this list. So if you don't want to buy a truck but want more than GM's semi-hybrid passenger cars, you'll still have to look towards the Brands of the Rising Sun. It makes one wonder if they're avoiding that market because the system won't work in anything smaller than an SUV, and/or they won't want the inevitable comparison with class-leader Toyota Prius.

Hummer is GM's only coherent brand. They have two models endowed with an instantly recognizable Picasso-friendly (cubist) appearance. Love 'em or hate 'em (and most people are firmly in the latter camp), everyone knows what a Hummer is: an overweight off-roader with a cheap, cramped cabin and/or a pseudo-military middle finger salute to any idea of fuel conservation. For reasons best left to students of the story The Golden Goose, USA Today reports that "General Motors wants people to start thinking about Hummers as big old trucks built to do a job, instead of as gas-guzzling SUVs for the rich." According to J.D. Power, Hummer doesn't deserve that rep. "The name Hummer connotes a much more gas-guzzling vehicle than really is on the road today," Jon Osborn declaims. "Really, it gets about the same or as good gas mileage as several other (SUVs)." Oh, that's alright then. Anyway, the new game plan: sell Hummers as vehicles built to do a job– that just happen to get 14mpg (or less). "Late last year, GM began airing ads that show other 'tools'— firefighters' gear, a flare gun, a climbing rope— and then show a Hummer, which the ad says can scale 60-degree [sic] inclines. In another commercial, newspaper clippings about blizzards and floods dissolve into a Hummer forging through the disasters to help. Both ads end with the tag line: 'Purpose built.'" Hummer owners may be saving the world, but environmentalists aren't buying it (literally). But then, why would they?