TTAC is an industry watchdog. We balance the cheerleading and spinmongery performed by the majority of the automotive media. As publisher, I don't feel an obligation to temper "bad" news with "good." That said, since we began this cybernetic journey, readers have upbraided us for failing to run the occasional positive story (as in any). While I don't consider fulfilling this request part of our core remit, a particularly testy email from Ford flackmeister Alan Hall got me thinking. Perhaps it is time to feature the odd ray of sunshine– other than positive car reviews (which come when they come). So when I received a press release about, of all things, Ford seats, I decided to dig a little deeper. Sure enough, FoMoCo has ditched the complexity chronicled by Bob Elton in Ford Death Watch 23, moving from 28 seat assemblies to two, from "here ya go" subcontracting to a partnership. So I called Jerry Brown, Ford's Chief Engineer for Seats and Restraints, to explore the possibility of a sea change behind the scenes. Better seats and reduced engineering complexity won't save Ford, but let's call it Reasons to Be Cheerful Part 1. 

Calling the future is a tough one. Forty years ago, the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey predicted that we would be making regularly scheduled Pan-Am flights to giant space stations and moon bases by now. Of course, in our brave future world of 2008, not only is Pan-Am dead and buried, but the only thing currently flying to the moon is a Chinese mapping probe. When deciding what car you will be driving in 15 years, there are numerous pitfalls to consider. Will you and I be able to afford gas in fifteen years? Will there be anything resembling an American auto manufacturing business? Will the Volt still be another year from production? Will the planet be ruled by damn dirty apes? For every possible future, there's a different car to drive. Take us there, oh Best and Brightest… 

From TTAC reader Thomas: I'm looking to buy a new car this summer but I'm stumped on which car I want. I need a car that not only has good gas mileage but has a great looks. I'm looking to spend $24k to $28k. Possibly splurge to $32k. Hopefully not. I'm 21 and this will be my first new vehicle so I need it to be hot. Ha. I love the new Malibu. First off, it's a Chevy which I love and the aggressive new look is amazing. But there's no manual and how does the four-cylinder automatic accelerate? The second car under consideration is the Audi A4. I love the car, the class, but the price is killing. I do prefer the look of the Malibu over the A4. Well, give me some ideas please. Thank you very much.

With the notable exception of Dan Neil's work at the LA Times, the vast majority of newspaper car reviews are written to fill the spaces between automotive advertisements while sucking-up to the dealers and manufacturers who provide the ad revenue. When I caught sight of Tom Keane's take on the new Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid in the San Francisco Chronicle, I decided to see if the paper that fired TTAC's founder for his infamous Subaru Tribeca B9 "flying vagina" review had any teeth left in its automotive editorial coverage. In a word, no.

A strike deadline passed today for GM's Warren transmission plant, with negotiators agreeing to work into the weekend to reach an agreement. This glimmer of hope comes as GM endures strikes at suppliers American Axle and Alliance Interiors as well as its Lansing Delta Township factory. Detroit News reports that the Warren negotiators are deadlocked over implementation of the new two-tier wage structure, a nationally negotiated deal which has run caused numerous issues (including the Delta Township strike) as individual plants struggle to determine which jobs are "core" to vehicle production and which aren't. The American Axle strike has stopped or slowed production at some two dozen GM plants, leaving GM's entire supply chain at risk as negotiators slowly fumble towards an agreement. If negotiations at the Warren plant break down over the weekend, the 1k workers there could join the thousands of striking UAW workers, leaving GM without production of four and six-speed transmissions.

The second generation A3 has recently received a facelift that is supposed to keep the clientèle interest alive until the next model arrives. But, car cosmetic surgery can't be very subtle, and everyone can tell that the face of the 2008 A3 was artificially rejuvenated. The fancy over-LEDeed lights look somehow out of place on the still elegant (but now old) body of the Audi hatch. That got me into considering the third generation A3 that will get all the new Audi-design-goodies at once. I'm talking about the slightly curved side line, the new side skirt emboss (see A5 and new A4), or the mirrors à la TT. I'd also like to see some different front lights on the A3. The ones used on the larger models are too similar in my opinion. I didn't break the connection with the past; I went for an evolution of the traditional A3 lights with a little more anger and only a touch of high-tech (I think too many LEDs in there get the things confusing). A glass roof and frameless doors should help differentiate even more the Audi from the rest of the VAG Golf/Rabbit based hatches.

When a typical "car guy" pictures an electric car, he thinks of GM's EV1. Odd, impractical, expensive and just plain not right. How do I know this? Cause I'm talking about me. Tesla is (in a sense) working to change all this with their hot, Elise-based Roadster. Still, the Tesla achieves its (claimed) 0-60 time of 4 seconds flat through lightness. And as we all know, nothing is more un-American than lightness. Meet the Tjaarda EVX Mustang and its companion the HST Shelby Cobra EVX, both from HST International. Now, these are electric cars for car guys. While the Tesla roadster provides 211 lb-ft of torque at 0 rpm, these HST International mills provide 1,000 lb-ft of twist at 0 rpm. Can I get a hell yeah? All that stump-humping power makes the Mustang scoot to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. The Cobra? 3.2 seconds. Which is damn fast. Downsides Well, each car takes 8 hours to charge. The Mustang will sticker for $80 and the Shelby will cost you a cool $125,000. Still, can you name another car that can hit 60 mph in 3.2 seconds for so a small (ha) price? Didn't think so. Both cars will be on display this Passover weekend, at the Toyota GP in Long Beach.

Last month we told about Ricardo's 2-Stroke/4-Stroke breakthrough, a very promising technology for sure, but one that is still just a series of gleams in a bunch of engineers' eyes. Much closer to prime time is the Scuderi Group's Split-Cycle engine. How close? Motor Authority is citing Automotive News who's claiming Scuderi's tech will be for sale within 12 months. This is big news, as the Split-Cycle internal combustion engine will be 40% efficient, compared to regular 4-cycle mills which are only 33% efficient. Scuderi is also promising lower emissions of NOx. So, how's it work? Just like it sounds, actually. The four-strokes of the Otto-cycle are split across two cylinders. One cylinder is used to compress the fuel and then "gas passages" move the compressed mixture into the detonation or power cylinder. The fun comes when you start playing with the bore and stroke of the various cylinders. For instance, you can make the power stroke longer than the compression stroke to take advantage of the Miller Effect (less energy is used by the compression cycle than the power cycle). Or you can increase the size of the compression piston to in effect supercharge the fuel mixture. We say not a moment too soon, as clean alternatives continue to (not) sputter along.

When I lived in the UK, any and all deliveries of big ticket items were [not] made in "six to eight weeks." In the carmaker spin game, almost everything that isn't happening now is due in 2010. Until, of course, 2010. When it'll be 2011 or 2012. Anyway, according to Chrysler's executive vice president of North American sales, the automaker will unveil its first standalone service center on that fabled date. Lest the company reveal any pertinent info or commit to a particular plan, Steven Landry followed his boss' lead in revealing what the Brits call sweet FA. "Chrysler is in discussion with 'under 10' retailers about the strategy, he says. Landry would not detail which markets or dealerships are involved in the talks… 'In some cases where one dealer is buying another one in a situation where there are not enough service stalls the buying dealership will be able to use the other dealership service stalls as a stand-alone service center,' Landry says. 'You need to have the right number of stalls.' Props to Autoblog's Michael Harley for using this quote to finish with the appropriate bathroom humor. "Funny, any woman at a professional sporting event could have told you that." Ba-doom-boom. 

So, just tell us what those targets are Big Bob and we'll cut you some slack. After all, like you said, times is tough. Over a plate of chilled shrimp [uninformed speculation], Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli told Automotive News [AN] that "U.S. light vehicle sales in 2008 are running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 15.5 million to 15.6 million, which was in line with the company's expectations." Uh, OK, yes, declining market. Got it. So… what about Chrysler sales, as in actual vs. planned? Crickets chirping. While Chrysler's private equity owner Cerberus doesn't have to tell no one nothing, we'd like to point out that ChryCo's sales are down 15.5 percent year-to-date. I wonder if that was part of Nardelli's plan, why AN didn't press the point and what the automaker's minions project for the rest of the year. You know; other than C11. Oh, Nardelli also said that whole Alfa – Chrysler hook-up thing is a crock of shit [paraphrasing Bob Lutz]. 

Engadget reports on a new oh-so-clever Scion ad campaign featuring an interactive storefront window. Just in case passers-by might be a little self-conscious about gesticulating wildly in the middle of the pavement for no apparent reason, the window taunts pistonheads with the prospect of "releasing"– and thus winning– a tC Release Series 4.0 vehicle. (I make that two better than web 2.0.) While the geek factor is high, and I'm sure the ad agency used loads of bizzare buzzwords to justify the campaign, I'm not quite sure if violently dismissing bubbles filled with tCs sends the right subconscious message. No worries; the end of the video offers two testimonials from Ye Olde Men on the Street, explaining why this is one kick-ass marketing idea. Call me a skeptic, but what's the bet the unidentified enthusiastic interviewees are paid shills for Scion? 

I flew into Los Angeles with aspirations of driving something powerful; I had visions of some mighty motor displacing six liters or more. Anything with the letters AMG on the back would have suited me just fine. Instead I was staring at a gigantic Mercedes GL 320 CDI. That's CDI as in "diesel." I reckoned it was going to be a long drive to San Diego. I reckoned wrong.

GM Canada is going on the offensive re: its contract negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union this September. They've released a "background paper" claiming the total cost (wages, pensions, benefits, etc.) for one hour's work in Canada runs the automaker $77.75. Instead of comparing those wages to other industries in Canada or "core" U.S. GM workers' ($70/hour), the paper uses the U.S. transplants for comparison ($47.50/hour). Report on Business quotes GM Canada spokesman Stew Low: "The status quo just won't do." CAW president Buzz Hargrove responded with righteous indignation. "I've told Rick Wagoner, I've told the head people at Ford and Chrysler – all of them – that there's absolutely no way in hell [we'll agree to reductions in wages, health care benefits or pensions]." The CAW says it's willing to "look at" the amount of paid time off they get. GM claims CAW employees get 155 more hours per year off and 16 minutes break time a day than… the transplants. Fair enough?

An internet website called Autoblog is reporting (through the hilarious power of Google translate) that Chinese battery firm BYD will unveil a plug-in EV minivan next week. The e6 strikes the Autoblog crew as reminiscent of a J-Market Honda Odyssey. On the whole, you have to admit the comparison reflects pretty well on a company that was building cell phone batteries not so long ago. But enough of my gushing, on to the stats: 186 mile range on full charge (220V), 0-62 in 10 seconds, and a top speed of 99 mph. Details on the recharging process are "dodgy," as Autoblog calls the translated hilarity. "The battery slowly filling civilian 220 V power supply; fast charge for the three C rechargeable battery, about 15 minutes can be a battery 80%," is the official word. But don't worry, the safety is fine. "The car carrying iron batteries at high temperatures, high pressure, impact tests testing, safety performance is very good, will not be explosions." Autoblog gives BYD the benefit of the considerable doubt, by assuming these "iron batteries" which "will not be explosions" are, in fact, lithium ion batteries. Why don't we all just wait until it gets an official launch in Beijing next week? After all, "e6 will be one or two years before the formal launch…" 

GM is re-organizing its corporate structure. It’s putting its eight brands into four divisions under four car czarettes, in a three-three-one-one configuration. For those of you who can’t guess which GM brand will go with which (as there’s no neat, logical way to make these groupings), it’s Cadillac, Hummer and Saab; Buick, Pontiac and GMC; and Saturn and Chevy on their lonesome. “We are further streamlining the organization,” GM’s President of North America announced. “To reduce complexity, align resources to improve the consumer experience and improve bottom line business results." It’s a deeply misguided maneuver.