If you recall, Hyundai presented the production version of the rear wheel-drive Genesis Coupe at the New York Auto Show last week. We can now bring you some specs. The base engine is a turbocharged and intercooled 2.0-liter four-cylinder mill, cranking-out. 212hp at 6500 rpm, and 217 ft.-lbs. of twist at 2500 rpm. The optional 3.8-liter V6 is good for 306 horsepower at 6000 rpm, with 263 ft.-lbs. of torque at 4700 rpm. Both cars feature a six-speed manual as standard (which means most American buyers will be paying more for a slushbox). The turbo four gets an optional five-speed auto while the V6 gets an outstanding optional ZF six-speed auto. Now for the bad news. The V6 weigh-in at 3549 lbs and the four-banger ain't no featherweight neither (3439 lbs.). That puts the Genesis Coupes almost exactly on par with FoMoCo's V6 and V8 Mustangs. Hyundai's only performance estimate: the V6 will make it to 60mph in "under 6 seconds." So why not fir the Genesis with a 250-horse version of the blown four that Kia showcased in their Koup concept? Why not indeed.

Click here for a Pixamo gallery of the Genesis Coupe 

For the second time in a week (clock analogy again), Bob Lutz made an accurate prediction. GM's Car Czar told journalists he'd like to put a 200 horse turbocharged four in a big car, tuned for torque and fuel economy. Sounds like a good idea. So good, Audi's doing it… The current Audi A4 has a great engine– the 2.0T–  that's most useful with either a manual transmission or DSG. But since some 80 percent or more of the A4 2.0T sold in America have a slushbox (six-speed or CVT), acceleration is less than idea (i.e. slow). So Audi's boffins bumped-up the horsepower (from 200 to 211) and added scads 'o torque (from 207 lb ft now to 258 ft.-lbs.). That's more torque than Audi's 3.2-liter V6 provides. If Audi really wanted to test the turbocharged waters for Maximum Bob's dream (nightmare?) of big ass cars with 200 horses, Ingolstadt should offer Yanks the revised 2.0T in the A6. You can just hear the bankers whining. "I'm not spending 55 grand on a car with four cylinder engine!"

In a desperate effort to sharpen the dulling edges of Scions "edgy, youth-oriented brand," Toyota is offering fans a website (scionspeak.com) where they can channel their youthful enthusiasm towards designing individual logos for their sweet rides. The New York Times reports that Scion owners can build a logo from hundreds of symbols designed by a professional graffiti artist, download them and have them made into window decals or airbrush templates. Whether the middle-aged-and-up folks who occupy most of the Scions I see on the street even know that there is such thing as a "professional graffiti artist" or will use this website remains very much to be seen. The real point of this exercise is to keep the myth of Scion-as-youth-brand alive… among those who already own one. The campaign is not aimed at actually reversing Scion's sagging sales, but "reducing Scion's investment on conquering new customers and increasing the passion for the brand among its core fan base," according to the company running the campaign. We bet they'd do better by offering a special ramp so your youthful Rascal Mobility Scooter can drive out of the back of your xB.

We could also ask, "Can you ever go home again?" Lots and lots of retrofitted metal is coming our way. Dodge is rolling out the fatty Challenger, Chevrolet is (maybe one day) offering up the Camaro and it looks like Pontiac is (gulp) actually bringing back the El Camino, although who knows what they're actually calling it (Pontiac Davey G8 if they're being honest). Don't get me wrong, truck-cars have always been cool, but this one? I was stuck at a red light over the weekend, staring at a Honda Element and I realized it, in fact, has suicide doors. Back in the day, suicide doors were the very definition of cool. I mean, a big old Lincoln Continental? Fuhgedaboutit. But an Element? I'll forget all about it, but for very different reasons. When I was in high school El Caminos and muscle cars were cool because you just knew the driver had an STD. A cool one. But this new Pontiac? What sorta disease you going to get from that? Gingivitis? So is there anything positive to say about all the retro shit they're giving us now?

Saturn is planning on launching a new web-based purchasing scheme which will place even more of the buying process online. The plan is aimed at moving functions like checking dealer inventories, applying for credit and scheduling a test drive to a unified Saturn online platform. Down the road, the website could also be used to handle the evaluation of customers' trade-in vehicles and to negotiate price using online chat and e-mail. Although this last goal is particularly strange given Saturn's "No Haggle" pricing. Of course, this program is not being pitched as "the end of the Saturn dealership," although Edmunds AutoObserver notes that it came out of efforts aimed at "developing the Internet as a tool that might someday enable them to eliminate the middleman entirely." Since these efforts were thwarted by legal concerns, Saturn will just be centralizing a few online capabilities which most dealers already offer. At enormous expense.

We Americans like to think that much of our industrial and economic success is a result of a free market and private ownership. Russia's experience with unbridled capitalism has engendered more mixed feelings, and with them a Kremlin-centric approach to economic development. The Wall Street Journal documents the decline of Russian automaker AvtoVAZ into corruption, kleptomania and crime under free-market conditions in the 1990's, and the government intervention which attracted Renault's recent purchase of 25 percent of the company. These government takeovers not only tend to make Russian companies more efficient and less crime-ridden (although this assertion may be suspect), they also serve the political ends of eliminating wealthy oligarchs who could pose a challenge to President Putin's growing authoritarianism. With "plans to float stakes in a raft of companies it has taken over," the Kremlin may just be headed toward yet another radical economic experiment for the country that has witnessed more than its fair share of experimental economics. But will western companies and authoritarian state-run companies mesh over the long-term?

Like Coke, the basic recipe for the Ford Mustang's success has remained relatively unchanged since its introduction: a low sticker price, some pretty sheet metal, a V8 (halo-ing for a V6), a live rear axle and an intangible sense of Americana. That hasn't stopped Ford from experimenting with "New Coke" every now and then– you'll recall the Mustang II and the SVO. Well, get ready for more: Motor Trend reports that Ford's suits are considering losing the V8 entirely and inserting the upcoming 3.5-liter V6-TT EcoBoost engine in the 2010 Mustang. The move is no doubt inspired by the same federal regs which have forced GM to consider slotting a turbo-four into the Camaro (and cancelling its DOHC V8 program). On the plus side, the V6-TT engine is slated to make 340hp and a very muscular 340 ft.lbs of torque. These figures easily blow the current V6 used in the Mustang out of the water. In fact, the TT's a match for the 4.6L-liter V8 currently inhabiting the 'Stang GT's engine bay. But can you have a "real" Mustang without offering a V8? And if the new six this becomes the Mustang's top-line engine, could an EcoBoost turbo-four in the base Mustang be far behind? BTW: all those Coke variants didn't up their total market share. 

In a desperate effort to sharpen the dulling edges of Scions "edgy, youth-oriented brand" ToMoCo is offering a website (scionspeak.com) where fans can channel their youthful enthusiasm towards designing individual logos for their sweet rides. The New York Times reports that Scion owners can build a logo from hundreds of symbols designed by a professional graffiti artist, download them and have them made into window decals or airbrush templates. Whether the middle-aged and up folks who occupy most of the Scions I see on the street even know that there is such thing as a "professional graffiti artist" or will use this website remains very much to be seen. The real point of this exercise is to keep the myth of Scion-as-youth-brand alive… among those who already own one. The campaign is not aimed at actually reversing Scion's sagging sales, but "reducing Scion's investment on conquering new customers and increasing the passion for the brand among its core fan base," according to the company running the campaign. We bet they'd do better by offering a special ramp so your youthful Rascal Mobility Scooter can drive out of the back of your xB.

"Call it a strike, a shutdown or just flat-ass going broke.” That's how independent trucker/cattle hauler Dan Little describes his intention to pull over on April first. The Quad City Times reports that "what started as a small, online grassroots effort now appears to have the potential for something bigger." Little's website– uscattlehaulers.com— is the locus for the one-day action. He's calling for a suspension of all federal and state fuel taxes, insurance changes and countrywide uniformity in safety regs. Little says he has two thousand truckers pledging their participation. Little does not have the support of either the all-important Teamsters Union (800k+ truckers) or the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (160k+ small trucking companies and drivers). But the Industrial Workers of the World (16k members) told TTAC they're putting the idea to a vote on Wednesday at 6pm. Meanwhile, in an interview [podcast below], Little says Hillary Clinton's office called twice "for background." Developing…

In The Wall Street Journal [sub], Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche and GM Car Czar Bob Lutz discuss their respective companies' approach to environmentally-friendly vehicles. Dr Z wants to sell more diesels. (And there you have it.) Maximum Bob eschews oil burners to hang his proverbial hat on E85. Of course, Lutz' preference for corn juice will cost consumers plenty through government spending on ethanol infrastructure and corn price supports. But the winner of TTAC's first annual Bob Lutz Award reckons developments in corn breeding will blunt E85's inflationary impact on food prices. "So I think that people who say, well, the ethanol industry is taking food from the mouths of babies and it's driving tortilla prices up– I think these are highly suspect conclusions." Meanwhile, both executives say Daimler's success selling the smart in the U.S. heralds the end of the efficiency vs safety debate. "There are no statistics that would support [the idea] that you are less safe in the smart than you are in any kind of vehicle," says Dr Z. Lutz appears equally oblivious the laws of physics, stating "If a vehicle is registered for sale in any developed market of the world, it is going to be an extremely safe vehicle."

During our recent audience with GM Car Czar Bob Lutz, Maximum Bob proclaimed "diesels are not the answer." While cynics might say that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, props to Bob for doing the math. Reuters reports the average price for a gallon of diesel has hit $4.06. It's as high as $4.60/gallon in places. As MB pointed out, "asking people to pay a 20 percent premium for a diesel engine and a 20 percent premium at the pump makes no sense at all." True dat. Without huge gains in fuel economy over regular gasoline counterparts, manufacturers are going to have a hard time getting people to switch to diesel-powered propulsion. The next step: the feds intercede to drive down the cost of diesel and diesel cars, as they are doing with ethanol and E85-compatible vehicles. And then high mileage U.S. oil burners will fly off the showroom floor. [Note to Bob: will GM be ready?] Lest we forget, $4.00/gallon diesel has a huge impact on our truck-based shipping infrastructure. And that could be a BIG problem… News of an April first trucker's strike to follow. 

A few years back it was safety. Before that it was reliability. At some distant point in the past it was (maybe) performance. These days, the ever-fickle and typically totally misinformed car buying public is obsessed with mpg– at least according to AAA. And why not? Gas is flirting with $4 a gallon. Milk, egg, your gas bill, beer, Viagra– everything is up, up, up! The MotorAuthority reports that consumers are fighting back by purchasing more fuel-efficient cars. In other words, they're being rational rather than emotional. But how do you define rational? This past weekend a friend asked my girlfriend what the latter thought of her 2001 Ford Focus, a vehicle held together by duct tape and bumper stickers. The friend asking had a 2000 Ford Escort which fell apart in less than 100k miles. She currently owns a 1998 Ford Explorer. She's thinking about getting a new Focus. She's from Michigan, so she can only buy Fords. Or a Prius. Go figure.

Here's a story with a number of improbabilities: Ford developing anything new, Ford putting money in rear wheel-drive (RWD) and any manufacturer developing a new car right here in the U.S. But with a weak dollar compared to other sites of engineering and manufacture– Europe or Australia– American R&D and production makes sense. As for the other parts of this story from the Detroit News, it's anybody's guess. Does Ford need a new RWD platform? They are, in fact, bound to make the Mustang for the rest of time, and it has to be RWD. To that end, FoMoCo might as well maximize economies of scale and use the 'Stang platform to underpin some other cars. And we don't know how "new" this new platform will be. It could be a yet-again-revised version of the Mustang's current platform, or it could be a version of Australia's Ford Falcon platform– no spring chicken itself. Using the Australian platform straight-up is out of the question; it's RHD only. As an enthusiast, an announcement like this is exciting. As a bean counter, it's dumber than a box of hair. Ford should put this money into their bread and butter cars, like the next generation Ford Taurus. 

Scientist/environmentalist Amory Lovins believes that America can solve oil dependency with efficiency. In the early '90s, Lovins conceptualized the Hypercar: an ultra-light, aerodynamic hybrid vehicle with three-to-five-times better mpg than your average bear, with comparable performance, safety, usefulness and affordability. According to US News and World Report, Lovins recently told a National Academy of Sciences energy summit that building cars with advanced lightweight materials like carbon fiber (instead of steel) would boost automotive efficiency to 85 mpg for midsize cars, 66 mpg for midsize SUVs. Lovins claims that "lightweighting" would also improve vehicle safety since the advanced materials can absorb "up to 12 times as much crash energy per pound as steel." Automakers aren't buying it. Literally. "Lightweight materials are horrendously expensive," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told Automotive News [sub]. "People keep forgetting the cost equation." D'oh! Anyway, Lovins and Lutz must live in parallel worlds. "I'd say lightweighting is the hottest strategic trend in the industry right now," Lovins counters. Ah, "strategic." Meanwhile, Lovins' FiberForge seeks to capitalize on his faith in adding lightness. 

"Leading with innovation" (based on a Time Magazine article it read sometime in 2004), Chrysler is following GM in offering a new online "community" at Chryslerlistens.com. "Through our online Customer Advisory Board, we have a new platform to engage our customers in two-way dialogue," Chrysler VP and Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Myers explains. "So we can harness their insights and vehicle dreams as we move quickly to develop and refine technologies and products." Yes, this means you can cash in your buzzword bingo cards at Chryslerlistens.com. But there's more: Social Networking! Community Building! Collaboration Technologies! In short, the perfect opportunity to turn over your information to Chrysler direct-marketing and work your little Cerberus-loving tail off doing focus-group work for which people were once paid. Of course, Chrysler doesn't want to listen-dot-com to just anyone. The site is a "closed community." If you stick out the "three- to four-week period when Chrysler will introduce members to the process and the company," then you can have your "insights harnessed" (kinky!) and help Chrysler innovate and bloviate. Let usknow how you get on (literally).