Hyundai just started production at its new $790m plant outside Beijing, as it ramps up its bid to become China's largest car manufacturer. Forbes MarketScan reports that initial production at the new plant will be 200k Elantras, ramping up to 300k by 2010. This would give Hyundai's Chinese operations an annual production capacity of 600k, putting it at the top of the Chinese biz in terms of volume. But Hyundai has to match increased capacity with improved sales numbers. The Korean firm's sales were down 20 percent last year, and Chairman Chung Mong-koo has set the ambitious goal of increasing sales in the Middle Kingdom by 64 percent this year and by 100 percent by 2010. The new plant should help meet this goal, says Chung, as its economies of scale should help lower costs and increased capacity means more vehicles can be tailored to the Chinese market. With Chinese sales booming, the opportunity exists for Hyundai to score big sales. With commodity prices rising however, it remains to be seen whether the extra investment actually translates into improved profitability.

I'm sure many TTAC readers will recall the great Audi 5000 "unintended acceleration" legal turmoil of the mid-80's. The legal/media feeding frenzy set Audi sales back by a decade, despite the fact that every case of "unintended acceleration" was found to be caused by human, not mechanical error. Well, those bastions of quality journalism, the Detroit Free Press and Motor Trend blog, are trying to resuscitate the media frenzy, only this time Toyota's to blame for people mistaking the accelerator for their brake pedal. Apparently the NHTSA has received 33 complaints that Toyota Tacomas are driving themselves off the roads, and has launched an investigation into the 2006-2007 model years. "Toyota has said to us they've found nothing wrong with the truck and it's our fault," says one "victim." "They're basically calling us all stupid." Of course, after a crash nobody wants to take responsibility for the fact that they may have hit the gas instead of the brakes, but what is motivating this investigation has nothing to do with the facts of the individual cases. No, the investigation is being spurred by the fact that only four "unintended acceleration" complaints have been logged against non-Tacoma pickups in the period that 33 were logged against the 'yota. "If there were truly human error, there would be a proportional distribution across models," says Clarence Ditlow, head of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. "It's very difficult to explain how some makes and models have higher numbers of complaints than others absent some flaw in the vehicle." Yes, but it's very easy to prove that your brakes are more powerful than your engine. In fact, if a TTAC reader out there has a Tacoma, perhaps they would do us the honor of standing on the brakes while mashing the accelerator for a few seconds. This should prove fairly simply that "unintended acceleration" is possible only when you are not actually on the brakes.

Sometimes I go overboard making fun of people who drive cars that I don't like. But not this time. Toyota's "Look at us – we're on the Internet" blog has a post about a guy who claims to have converted his Prius to look like a shuttle from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Whereas before he had a car that should have gotten all the chicks, he probably now has to scrape them off the hood of the car. Willie Yee – a psychiatrist! – has painted his Prius (Sharpie?), put on new space-age wheels, and a has a CD with sound effects from Star Trek that makes the sound system display look vaguely Enterprise-ish. Sounds like he really went overboard with the conversion process, which seems about as intense as a four-year-old pimping out his tricycle. So if you see Yee on the road, you don't have to think "A Prius driver… maybe he's a nerd." You'll know he's a nerd. And not a very good one; the blue uniform from Next Generation seasons 4-7 that he wears is for science officers. He wouldn't be allowed to drive. Now who's the king nerd?

Say what you want about Chrysler's new marketing slogan, at least their name isn't Build Your Dreams. Automotive News (sub) reports that the Chinese manufacturer showed their potentially game-changing plug-in, parallel/serial "dual-mode" drivetrain at Geneva, where the reaction was so strong that several European distributors are now negotiating for rights to the brand. Besides operating in parallel and serial hybrid modes as the circumstances require, the drivetrain's recorded 110km range on a plug-in charge is nearly five times the rumored range of the yet-to-be-released Prius plug-in. Plus, BYD has a 248-mile range, all-electric version of its F6DM sedan currently plying the streets of Beijing in taxi form. Of course, as with the development of any new, high-tech drivetrain, the cost is excessive– try a nearly $8k premium over sticker price. BYD says that European distribution depends on finding creative ways to cut costs, and since parent BYD Group has battery manufacturing plants in Romania and Hungary, Euro-market BYDs could be made somewhere in Eastern Europe. European distribution is targeted for 2010, unless of course it is all just a dream.

March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. As far as auto sales were concerned, the month came in like a dead fish and left like… a pile of dead fish. While the raw sales numbers rose from February's levels, total sales were down by 12 percent compared to March of last year. Year to date (YTD), total sales were off by eight percent. Reflecting higher gas prices, light truck sales dropped by 17.8 percent; car sales "only" sank 5.9 percent. Here's how our individual bellwether models fared…

Earlier I pointed out that Jack Baruth's GT-R prognosticating isn't exactly up to Nostradamian standards, at least as far as Britain goes. But then I remembered that I agree with Jack about most things (he still might be right about Skylines in the USA), so I thought I'd check and see what he and the boys at Speed:Sport:Life are up to. Turns out, they just bought a Porsche Cayenne with a six-speed manual. As Jack explains, "Normally, when a magazine talks about a 'long-term test,' they mean they've finagled a free press car from a manufacturer for somewhat longer than the normal one-week period, but this time we mean long-term. As in, we've managed to drop almost ninety-four 'stacks,' which is to say, $93,800, on a 2008 GTS of our very own." Our kinda dudes. But why on earth would they spend so much on a 4,900 pound, 4-seat SUV with 21" rims? To haul their Dodge Neon ACR race car, of course! True, for that much scratch they could've got the Turbo Porker, but as Mr. Baruth points out, "But which would you rather have: a bare-bones Turbo with cheap wheels and plastic grab handles, or a fully loaded GTS complete with wacky biplane rear spoiler and an Alcantara roof?" Seems obvious to us. Also, their Cayenne has bright red gauges. You just gotta have those. Put it this way, if the BMW X6 came with a row-your-own box, I'd force Farago to buy my LeMons team one. Ooh, wait a second — Jack's on my LeMon's team. Life just got much more interesting. And covered in Alcantara.

Those of you in Chicago, Dallas, or Boston who are anxiously awaiting your Chevy Volt can just keep waiting. In an email to the Detroit Free Press yesterday, the Volt's pater familias Bob Lutz revealed that if when it (finally) goes on sale, it'll be distributed first in California, then in Washington D.C., Florida, New York and "elsewhere on the East Coast." Apparantly the rest of the country gets whatever's left over. However, he warned "that's only current thinking, and the plans could change." Given the rate at which they've changed their minds on everything about the Volt from the styling to the release date, you can count on the final distribution plan looking nothing like he described.

Last month I posted that noted hoon, auto journo and buddy of mine Jack Baruth predicted that the GT-R would be a non-starter. Guess who was wrong, at least in Old Blighty? Right, not you. Motor Authority is authoritatively reporting that UK dealers placed orders for 700 GT-Rs in a 48-hour period once Nissan gave them the OK to do so. And they need more. Since Godzilla's seemingly nuclear-powered mill is hand-assembled, the factory boys in Japan can only build so many– just 1,000 examples per month as it turns out. That's 1,000 engines per month for the entire world. Meaning that Tokyo drifters, Google janitors, extended Emirates families and sicko European Anime fetishists all get their Skylines from that same factory. And how can we forget teenage Russian billionaires? Exactly, we can't. As UK drivers seem to get bent over and reamed routinely these days, the worst part is that even with the massive pre-order, British Gran Turismo 5 Prologue fanatics won't be getting their 480 hp (at least) monsters until March of 2009. And by March we mean May. And if Red Ken has his way, London-based potential GT-R owners will be charged £25 an hour for daydreaming about their future rides. In semi-related news, a little birdie informed me that Universal Nissan — our nation's largest Nissan dealer across the street from Universal Studios — will be charging "only" $40K on top of MSRP. Maybe there's hope for Jack?

GM isn't the only automaker suffering from corporate ADD; Chrysler's marketing department seems similarly afflicted. Yesterday, they announced yet another marketing schtick. Hot on the heels of "New Day," the Consumer Advisory Board and "Chrysler Listens" comes "If you can dream it, we can build it." That seems like a pretty bold promise coming from a company that can't even get a subcompact car to market. Anyway, the press release quotes Spinmaster Supreme Deborah Meyer: "Chrysler is moving on all fronts to engage our customers and harness their insights, inspirations and dreams as we move quickly to develop and refine new technologies and products." That's great! I'll take a hybrid passenger car with room for five that gets 45mpg in the city, goes 0-60 in under seven seconds and handles like an M3. There… I've dreamed it. When can you build it?

Bloomberg reports a recent survey that shows Ford's initial quality is at the same level as Toyota's and Honda's. The survey, which ranked problems per 1k vehicles in the first three months of ownership, showed Ford's vehicles scored 1,284 against Toyota's and Honda's "statistically equivalent" 1,250. GM and Chrysler didn't do so well, scoring 1,367 and 1,744 respectively. Of course, Ford will crow about their "achievement" in their "Drive One" ads. What they won't tell you, though, is that Alan Mulally signed the figurative check to RDA Group for performing the survey. That's right folks — Ford bought the survey in which they placed so highly. I vented the editorial spleen when they did the same thing last year, so all I'll say this time is that it didn't seem to help their sales then so I hope they get their money's worth this time.

The reaction to my musings on BMW's X6 has been fast and spurious. TTAC readers do not want. Pulling out a random gripe from the comments gives us Pete_S4's take, "I still don't get this vehicle. It's absurdly heavy, very thirsty, and has little space for such a big vehicle. Like many recent German vehicles it's all justified by a pile of electronics. Briefly I can feel the seduction of such vehicles. But it only takes a weekend at the track to remind why we like to turn off all of these electronics." And while he's right, I would argue 99 percent of the time 90 percent of an SUV's utility is totally and utterly wasted. No one tows anything, the third row has a duffel bag on it and they (almost) universally suck eggs to drive. At least the X6 is honest in its dishonesty. Anyhow, gas prices have continued to increase, rising five cents in the last two weeks. So I ask you, are SUVs dead?

Reuters reports London mayor Ken Livingstone, currently locked in a battle for re-election, is seeking to further alienate motorists from his campaign by saying that if re-elected he would institute a 20mph speed limit in all residential portions of London. Reuters reports that Livingstone's follow up to a proposed hike in congestion charges is justified as a life-saving measure. "I'll work with all London boroughs to designate all residential streets as 20 mph zones," said Livingstone in a public statement. "Nine out of ten pedestrians will be killed if hit by a car traveling at 40 mph," Livingstone asserts without citing anything in the way of sources, "but only one in forty will die if hit at 20 mph." And we thought the federal double nickel was bad in the 70's and 80's.

The Financial Times reports that the UK is following former colony Australia's lead in ordering a government investigation into its flagging auto manufacturing industry. Minister for Business and Enterprise Affairs Baroness Shriti Vadera has put former Ford man Richard Parry-Jones in charge of the 10-member committee charged with tackling the twin challenges of competition from low-cost manufacturing centers and emerging low-carbon technologies. The committee will make recommendations to the government, which has vowed to use "all levers of government, both regulatory and fiscal" to address Britain's moribund auto industry. Once home of a thriving auto industry, with dozens of brands and world-class products, Britain has seen nearly every one of its domestic brands swallowed up by companies from countries like Germany, the United States, India, China and Indonesia. Although nobody expects Britain's car industry to return to its 1960's zenith, here's hoping the Parry-Jones committee comes up with solutions which are a little more inventive than simply writing checks to Toyota.

In our latest editorial on Australia's tanking car industry, I noted that a government report emphasizes future production of large vehicles with green powertrains. The Australian reports that the Aussie government's half-billion dollar green car manufacturing fund could be used to lure production of the next-generation Toyota Camry hybrid down under. Toyota Australia VP Dave Buttner says ToMoCo had been pushing to build a hybrid car here for five years but "policies conducive to investment" (a.k.a. public money) were vital to the plan. The plan seems to convenient to avoid: Aussie politicians get to check of the box next to "build large, green cars" on their bureaucratic checklists, and Toyota gets enough money to offset Australia's high labor costs and strong currency. Oh, and Toyotas actually sell well in the land of Oz as well, especially the Prius, who's sales rose 63 percent last year. So who loses out in all of this? Just Toyota's competitors and Australia's taxpayers.

It's a testament to the roaring Chinese economy that A-listed automakers in the Middle Kingdom increased output and sales by about 22 percent but still didn't meet analysts expectations (damn those demanding analysts!). But Manufacturing Business Technology reports that profits didn't rise in concert with sales and production. This sets up the industry for a tough time as commodity prices are expected to rise substantially over the next several years. Runaway steel prices will cost Chinese firms an extra $1.5b this year, and low profit rates mean these costs will likely be handed down to consumers. Against a backdrop of rising inflation for everything from food to fuel, this development will probably hurt sales in China's value-oriented market. All this bad news likely spells industry reshuffling in the offing, as low utilization of production capacity in the automotive sector should fuel a flurry of mergers and acquisitions to allow companies to stay competitive during the projected two-to-three year lull.