BMW enjoys vast reservoirs of consumer goodwill. How else can you explain the German automaker’s ability to flourish despite recent engineering and design faux pas? General Motors would have been a lot further along in its death spiral if it had introduced indigestible shapes, indelicate Bangle butts, interminable run-hard tires, unfathomable iDrive and the ubearable SMG transmission. And so, the M3. Does the new M3 Coupe restore the roundel’s rep, or does it signal another misguided attempt to perpetuate the ultimate driving “lifestyle?” 

The Associate Press reports [via Yahoo] that UAW leader Gettelfinger was "insulted" to learn that American Axle's plant closure plans include the shut-down of the Cheektowaga, N.Y factory– in addition to the two plants (Detroit and Tonawanda) already sacrificed at the altar of, dare I say it, profit. And get this: King Ron says "he hadn't wanted GM involved." Say what? Big Ron didn't want GM to kick in $200m in extra wages for the guys? "Many of its U.S. competitors won deals from the United Auto Workers to pay newly hired workers about $14 per hour. But American Axle workers say they won't take that big of a pay cut from a company that made $37m last year." So let me get this straight. As long as the company is making any profits the UAW isn't willing to negotiate competitive deals? By my count, American Axle has six US factories (including the three on the chopping block), two in Mexico plus one each in Brazil, China, England, Scotland and Poland. The longer the strike oontinues, the more likely it is that American Axle will ship tooling from its US factories to the others around the world– if it hasn't done so already. Sure there would be disruption, but strikes are plenty disruptive. Seen any Mexican or Chinese auto parts factories go on strike lately?

You'd think The New York Times would love the smart fortwo. It's trendy, chic and politically correct in an entirely metrosexual kinda way. True to form, Eric Taub's review starts with a love-in: "the Smart Fortwo may be the cutest and most unusual-looking production vehicle to arrive in this country since BMW’s front-loading Isetta 300 of the 1950s." Yeah, those wacky old Bimmers! Who needs a life can forget them! And then Taub gets waylaid by the smart's herky-jerky, unacceptably quirky automatic transmission– the only autobox in the world capable of competing with the M5's SMeGma cog swapper for the title "worst gearbox in the history of the world ever." "It may be enough to make you reach for the Dramamine: the engine temporarily slows as the car is about to upshift, jerking the driver forward and then back with each shift. Several times, my wife threatened to walk home. This may bring back fond memories of your first pathetic attempt to drive a manual transmission car. The solution — if you can time it right — is to lift your foot off the accelerator when you think the transmission is about to shift, something I was able to pull off about 50 percent of the time." Throw in mediocre mpg's and even Taub can't resist the conclusion that the smart is stupid. "With its limited carrying capacity, seemingly mediocre fuel economy, erratic handling and fitful acceleration, one question that potential buyers in this part of the world should be asking is, what’s the point?"

All hail Frank Williams. TTAC’s Managing Editor spent the best part of last week speccing-out our new website. Every current and future link, every button, every function, every everything. Frank’s road map contains the kind of “granularity” that code writers adore, that I consider “grit,” whose creation requires true grit. In the course of this odyssey, Frank and I made a lot of strategic decisions. Most were easy (a strong brand makes it so). While I’m completely confident the new TTAC will leapfrog the competition (no Volt comparisons please), there’s an 800-pound feature in the room that we need to discuss: forums.

In 1971, I committed a crime, the repercussions of which still affect me today. I was a bored eighteen year-old whose over-developed automotive memory banks craved stimulus. In those pre-web dark ages, the information gap between monthly car magazines was excruciating. Desperate, I plied the 629.22 rack of the Iowa City Public Library, and found the font of automotive history. I slipped the heavy Rosetta stone under my baggy Army surplus jacket and walked out. I’ve been guiltily absorbing its contents ever since.

The Wall Street Journal [WSJ] reveals the not-so-surprising fact that U.S. car buyers are trading down to smaller vehicles in the name of fuel economy– but they still want iPoditude, hands-free schmoozing and thermal butt management. Small car market share is climbing, from about 14 percent (2004) to over 19 percent (year to date). At the same time, the average small car price is heading upwards by some $2k – $3k. Ford Marketing Maven Jim Farley says around 30 percent of Foci are now top spec. Hang on. Does this mean that there's, you know, money in small cars? Yes! So "auto makers accustomed to building eight-cylinder cars loaded with options while sparsely equipping four-cylinder vehicles [not naming any names yet] have to adjust their production. GM President Fritz Henderson [there you go] said Wednesday that the company is trying to find more plant capacity to build more cars." Too bad GM can't convert all those truck factories to small car production. Who saw that one coming? To illustrate the premium compact trend, the WSJ brings us the ethnically-correct case study of Hugo Chau. Mr. Chau traded his 2005 Mercedes for a Sync-ed-up Ford Focus and said: "I really wanted a car that has the features and is nice to drive… The Mercedes was more like a toy, and this is something I can drive every day." What Merc was that, then? An SLR?  

Justin's got a job. A real job. Of course, TTAC's Managing Editor and myself excepted, everyone who writes for this website's got a real job. But props to Justin for landing a government gig. The position will pay-off his student loans, put a roof over his head, keep him off the streets and give him an opportunity to be glad-handed by President Bush. Although I fully expect this work to lead to a world-class whistle-blower moment (and, thus, a six-figure movie deal), I'm glad my tax dollars will soon be supporting Justin in the lifestyle to which his girlfriend is accustomed. Justin's a tireless worker with a sardonic sense of humor (regular listeners and readers will know that already). He'll be relocating to LA, and continuing to contribute news, reviews and blog items to this website on a need-to-know basis. Of course, the podcasting will have to cease (which is ironic, considering his Question of the Day). I'll be auditioning contributors for a suitable replacement. But Justin will be missed.

We've all heard the stats. Flying is safer than driving. Bicycling is safer than driving. Swimming with sharks with lasers on their heads is safer than driving. And despite Volvo's claims of an ultrasafe, fatality-free car in the next ten years, cars are destined to remain killers. You can't argue with physics. And there's always the human element: we're fallible. Not to conclude that cars will kill us all, but the risk is out there. Real hardcore motorcycle riders say to "ride the bike you want to die on." Which brings us to the question of the day: if you could know it was going to be your last drive, what would it be in? My choice is a classic 12 cylinder Ferrari, like the 275 GTB. The magnificent sound of the engine is what I'd want to hear if I was on my way out. As the Simpsons' Sideshow Bob once averred, "I shall send you to heaven before I send you to Hell."

Autocar reports that British speed merchants McLaren are set to ulneash another of their own-branded supercars. The P11 ('cause an actual name would be way too mnemonic), the new whip is set to debut in 2010. Autocar is quick to point out that the P11 isn't designed to eclipse the previous gold standard (literally) in supercars: the BMW-powered, three-seat-abreast F1. The P11 will offer "just" 550 horsepower from its Mahle-sourced V8. To emphasize the P11's status as a driver's car– as opposed to whatever you'd call the Mercedes McLaren SLR AMG– the company will hang fire on the drop-top Spider version. (Explain?) A subsequent P12 should up the ante with a lighter chassis and a 600hp V10, which may or may not sound like a bag of bolts in a cement mixer at idle. Anyway, it looks like Macky's back in town. 

Automotive News [sub] reports that Hyundai/Kia have scrapped plans to build a mid-sized unibody pickup truck at their new plant in West Point, GA. Sources from Hyundai (PR department?) say the truck (thought to be inspired by Honda's not successful but we build it on the same production line as the Odyssey and Pilot so who really cares Ridgeline) would have been built on the updated 2010 Kia Sorento chassis, which is set to switch to unibody design. Instead, the Georgia plant will build a Kia small car, likely the Optima. Executives say a Hyundai-branded car may be built there as well, "if the platform is compatible." As consumers turn away from large body-on-frame trucks, you might have expected a yen for lighter, unibody trucks (just as VW's Rabbit-based pickup sold well during the 1970's fuel crisis). And you might be right. But Hyundai/Kia's not about to make that gamble. Not with so much riding on the (larger and heavier than typical for Hyundai) Genesis RWD vehicles. 

Big trucks have meant big profits for Detroit. Thanks to cheap oil, personal paranoia, a desire for an outdoor life that only the drudgery of daily commuting  could provide, the fairer sex' natural desire to see ten miles ahead at all times and a federal fuel economy regulation loophole big enough to drive an Expedition through, The Big 2.8 managed to convince Americans that body-on-frame vehicles were just dandy for personal transportation. With gas price increases showing no signs of slowing, one of Detroit's biggest truck chassis addicts is looking at kicking the habit. Bloomberg reports that GM, yes GM, is developing a lighter replacement for its biggest SUVs (Yukotahburbelade) that won't tow jack shit rely on a heavier pickup-truck frame. This, according to "people familiar with the effort." (Familiarity breeds PR.) It should be said (and soon will be) that GM has been relying on the same basic Silverado full-size truck platform its "light trucks" since 1965. Even if truck-framed transportation isn't about to disapper overnight, at least GM has taken the first steps to beating its addiction to "easy" profits. It has admitted it has a problem. 

The Wall Street Journal [sub] reports that Cooper Tires is (once again) in big trouble. Sales are down, costs are up, and the recalls just keep on coming. There's no way Cooper can continue as an independent tire company. The market is saturated with well-funded, technology-rich competitors with big brand names and major automaker OEM contracts. Cooper is a throwback from the golden era of US tire makers as the budget-priced, small-dealer-supported alternative to major brands. Other than Goodyear, all the rest of the US tire companies went bust and/or sold out to the Japanese and Europeans. Most tires today are sold in big chain stores, be they Wal-Mart or America's Tire… and Cooper isn't there. Kumho and Hankook of Korea have swooped in to take the bargain tire business while the likes of Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Pirelli, Dunlop (Sumitomo), Yokohama and Continental fight it out for market and mind share. Look for Cooper's joint ventures in China to turn around and swallow the company and the Cooper name to become another old American brand slapped on a Chinese product, like a Westinghouse toaster.

Compared to GM going double down on Michigan real estate, this one seems like business as usual. The Wall Street Journal [sub] reports that while Iraq is a contentious focus of US Presidential politics, the Germans are stepping-in to figure out how to sell more trucks thereabout. Hopefully, they will also figure out how to get someone other that the US taxpayers to buy them. Also of note: "the Kuwaiti government is Daimler's biggest shareholder." Now I understand the gas guzzling Mercedes Benz V-12s. Ya gotta keep the big shareholder happy.

If GM keeps all its brands and most of its vehicles, there is no road map to longer term success. In the end, there just isn't enough money or market share to justify or support The General's North American operations as they exist today– even in their downsized, strike-afflicted form. At some point, preferably ten years ago, GM needs wholesale consolidation to focus on three brands: Chevy, Caddy, and Saturn. Everything else is superfluous. The problem at the RenCen: they can't figure out how to shed brands/products. Alan Mulally has shown the way Fordward, but he's dismembering recently purchased assets. GM's decades old "damaged" brands can't be sold individually, and can't be terminated. Short of C11, GM's going to have to bite the bullet and tell its BPG (Buick, Pontiac, GMC) AND Saab and Hummer dealers that the corporate mothership will honor existing franchise agreements  until they expire, but they will not be renewed. Sure, it'll be the letter that'll launch a thousand lawsuits. But there's no other way for GM to survive in NA. None. 

Mazda's got the zoom-zoom thing wired lately. Their recent models– the second wave of 6s and 2s– are looking gooood. Both of these cars seem very mature yet fresh. Although they're all Mazdas in every way, the smaller one appears cute and playful, while the 6 is serious and elegant. The second generation  3/Axela/Mazdaspeed3, due out later this year, is looking to hit the middle ground. And what do you get if you mix playfulness and energy with good looks? A sexy show-off. That's what the new 3 will be about: an evolution of the concept, but more daring and sleek. Another winner.

[For more Avarvarii photochopistry, click here]