The Associated Press reports [via Yahoo!] that GM has just spent $626m of its dwindling cash pile to purchase its Renaissance Center office building, and another $200m cash to buy office buildings in nearby Pontiac, Michigan. Incroyable! Just yesterday, we learned that Fitch Ratings estimates GM will burn through $8b in cash in '08. THEN we heard that the American automaker has set aside $200m to pay off the striking workers at American Axle. Delphi's not a done deal. AND one wonders if GM's going to fork out $600m to GMAC to keep the mortgage lender afloat. The Volt development program (and the rest) are sucking up the capex bucks. In short, is this really the best time to be shelling-out millions to reduce the rent? We're thinking… no. 

Remember back in 2004, Ford unveiled its new Focus and announced "The Year of The Car?" FoMoCo's cash cow was (and still is) a pickup truck. Clock FoMoCo's passenger car offerings four years later, and you'd be forgiven for thinking the auto show hyperbole was just that. But now it's here for real: the year of the car. In April, passenger cars outsold trucks in the U.S. new vehicle market for the first time in two decades. This is a truly amazing moment in U.S. automotive history, representing the roll-back of the SUV boom. With federal fuel economy regulations in the offing, it's unlikely that even a huge drop in gas prices can reverse the tide. Let's take a closer look at this watershed month. 

Well friends, tomorrow is the big race (my birthday as it turns out). Yesterday, Speed:Sport:Life's own Jack Baruth and I assisted our lead mechanic Dave (aka Hellhammer) put the final touches on the V8olvo. And I'm proud to report, she's beautiful. So beautiful in fact that we simply had to take it down to an every-other-Thursday type car show to let the vintage domestic aficionados know what some seriously grim and frostbitten Gothenburg steel looks like. Surprisingly, they loved it. Actually, it's not so surprising. I mean, what's not to love about a 1984 Volvo 244 stuffed with a Ford 302 and a five-speed? Plus a radiator from a 560SEL. Springs and sway bar from Thunderbird. Oh, and fans. Lots and lots of fans. We figured we might as well show our LeMons racer off to the public before it gets t-boned by a Corrado and appears less, um, shapely. Sigh. Wish us luck, we're going to need it. Or not (evil laughter goes here). Check back here Saturday and Sunday for updates on the LeMony action!

Who do you think is doing the greatest damage to the US dollar? The Chinese? The European Union? OPEC? Brace yourself – it's you, every time you press the gas pedal on your gas-guzzler. With today's oil prices, US oil imports represent $1.5b per day leaving the country — make that $548bn per year. "This represents the single largest contribution to America's balance-of-payments deficit, and is a leading cause for the dollar's ongoing drop in value," writes Michael T Klare, author of "Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet," over at Tomdispatch.com. Hindsight is 20/20, but things would have been a lot different if the automakers had realized where things were headed, when things were headed that way. Meanwhile, motorists unlucky enough to be stuck with land barges are seeing second-hand values take a torpedo in the bow. Yes – gripe, gripe, gripe. But this is serious. If T. Boone Pickens is right, the price of oil is going Polar North, which means the dollar is headed for the antipodes. Klare thinks the yearly US tab for gas could easily reach three quarters of a trillion dollars soon. Do the patriotic thing. Go easy on the pedal, will you?

Unless you're the fastidious type, you might want to avoid driving in Melissa. WFAA reports that police in the Texas town pulled over one Mark Robinson for failure to use his turn signal. The police officer then hauled the 24-year-old to jail where "he was booked, strip searched, and sat for 3 hours." Robinson found himself sitting next to Bubba other dangerous criminals. "They asked me what I was in there for and I said a turn signal violation." Robinson had a clean (to that point) rap sheet and claimed he'd never been jailed before (yeah? what about that faulty taillight thing?). However, Robison does admit that he "challenged" the officer's questions when he was stopped. Still, Melissa's police chief was aghast. "In the 6 years I've been the police chief, this is the first time," says Chief Duane Smith. But he stands behind his officer. "I'm not going to let some little out-of-town asshole punk kid mouth off to my officer. He's lucky I didn't beat the shit out of him." No, I'm kidding. I just made that up. As far as I know.

There's a new boss in Motor City, and it ain't Mr. Cubic Inches. Carmaker doing business stateside are increasingly adopting third (or is it fourth?) generation turbochargers to create smaller, more efficient gasoline engines– and satisfy new, stricter federal fuel economy regs. For example, VW's new TSI mill combines excellent fuel economy with good performance and so-so driveability. The Passat 1.4-liter TSI cranks out 122hp; enough to propel Wolfsburg's warrior from zero to 60mph in 10.4 sec. This while achieving 36 mpg (European model, U.S. gallons, EU testing cycle). Suppliers are scurrying to build blowers. BorgWarner's constructing new turbo-making facilities in Mexico and Thailand; and expanding facilities in Hungary and Poland. Their goal: increase its passenger car turbocharger manufacturing capacity by more than three million units. Rival Continental is set to open a new turbocharger factory in 2011, making 100k spinners a year. Is whistling the new burble?

Sometimes I am astounded by how much content we generate on this site. Astounded in the sense of blurred vision, caffeine jitters and Daaaaaaddddyyyyyyy! Come NOW! Not to mention (although you know I'm about to) an inability to produce coherent thoughts. OK, a more-pronounced-than-usual inability to tap these keys in some kind of entertaining, informative, auto-oriented fashion. In my defense, I write plenty o' blogs, the odd editorial [sic] and edit every single word before it enters our little corner of cyberspace– other than our commentators' efforts. Whose entries I read without exception. Well, I take exception to a few, but you get my drift. Which is what I'm doing now, I suppose. Anyway, yesterday, I ran out of podcast posting time. This week, the news bear has been chasing us (Frank, me and the boys) like we're smothered in honey (as if). Even as I type, Frank's catching-up on the remainder of yesterday's posts– a tactic we normally leave to Autoblog. And I have miles to go before I sleep. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Front line web work is not for wimps. I salute the troops and resume command (in a completely non-arrogant but still alpha dog kind of way). That is all.  

Let’s not dismiss the Pontiac G8 V6 out of hand. Sure, you give up a Smart-and-a-half of ponies with the less powerful powerplant. But 256 horsepower would have seemed like plenty even five years ago. (And the way things are going, it might seem like plenty five years from now.) For enthusiasts who’ve advanced beyond the raw thrill of gut-sucking torque, it’s not the meat, it’s the motion. Yes, Virginia, it’s possible for a car to be fun to drive even if it can’t flatten you against the seatback off the line. Ah, but does this G8 V6 fit this bill?

It should come as a shock to no one that the AP is reporting (via Yahoo! News) that GM has agreed to kick-in up to $200m to end the strike at American Axle. In "a government filing" today, GM said the money would go for bribes payments to make up for wage reductions for the employees, buyouts and early retirement packages. AA spokeswoman Renee Rogers said there's been no agreement between the UAW and AA. But the supplier is "hopeful that GM's financial assistance to help fund the buyouts, retirement incentives and buy downs… will facilitate an expedited resolution to the international UAW strike." In a separate filing, AA said GM's aid depends on how quickly the strike is resolved. Meanwhile, GM indicated they have enough money to "meet its needs," even though the strike has cut its liquidity by $2.1b. They didn't indicate from which bodily orifice they plan to pull the $200m.

Apparently there are those that would disagree with you. The Local (in Sweden) is reporting that Claes Tingvall, a car safety specialist, told the newspaper Expressen that GM used human cadavers in a multi-year research project (imagine the smell) to test the safety of their vehicles, possibly on the Saab side of the house. In the ultimate gesture of brand devotion, all ah… participants… allegedly donated their bodies to the cause (no word on if any of them met an untimely end whilst in a GM vehicle). GM and Saab are refusing to acknowledge any tests using their most loyal customers… er, dead human bodies. I've heard of "Cradle-to-Grave" strategies, but does GM build a car that even a dead person could drive? I think Lexus has one. Anyway, the whole thing sounds fishy. Dead men tell no tales, and while you can dissect and glean facts from trauma, there's a reason why crash test dummies are so expensive. They're specially designed to measure stresses and forces from the inside in a quantifiable way, which is more useful than a "He's dead, Jim," from an autopsy tech. I like cars,but I guess I'd rather donate my body to real science, not to a bunch of yokels in lab coats that are going to strap me into (God forbid) a G5 and run it repeatedly into walls to test the effects of excrement-based interior materials on human flesh. 

Auto Motor und Sport's Erlkoenig spies have spotted Porsche's new Roxster baby ute being shaken down in camouflage. The fifth member of the Porsche model line is based on Audi's forthcoming Q5. There had been talk of the Roxster boasting a 400 hp version of the Cayenne V8, but carbon emissions rules have likely put that idea to bed. The same V6 slated for Ingostadt's iteration will likely power Porsche's cute ute (ugh). The styling appears to remain fairly faithful to the Cayenne's forgettable shape. Auto Motor und Sport thinks Porsche has attached bits of Cayenne to the Roxster test mule, but a shorter rear overhang and steep rear c-pillar give the Roxster a much more pert rear quarter than the billious Cayenne. Up front, the headlights appear more Cayman than the Cayenne. Look for the Roxster to debut in 2010 (our favorite year), sometime after the Panamera four-door GT becomes the fourth Porsche model line (counting the Cayman and Boxster as a single line). Clearly, BMW has to worry about X3 sales. But without a V8, will Porsche offer anything (besides a higher price and some brand snobbery) that the Audi doesn't? Let the spin begin!

GM is counting its unhatched Volt chickens while its battery system is still laying an egg by announcing a line of Volt-based Opel EVs which will hit Europe's roads in 2012… provided the Volt is actually ready by 2010. Auto Motor und Sport reports that the Volt's European launch should take place in 2011. The Opel EV will arrive a year later, using the same E-Flex drivetrain.  There will be two Opel models: a compact based on the Flexstream concept (pictured) shown at last year's Frankfurt Auto Show and a considerably larger sedan. Both vehicles will share the Volt's 40-mile EV range, as well as the small range-extending gas motor. Interestingly, GM also showed a Saturn version of the Opel Flexstream in Detroit, raising the possibility of a stateside bow for the badge-engineered Volt. Of course, if the all-important lithium ion battery development runs into problems, GM will be more than happy just to get a Volt out. Meanwhile, this announcement proves just how much is riding on GM's "moon shot." 

Once upon a time, the myth of Icarus personified the warning that pride goeth before a fall (literally). These days, the RMS Titanic’s death by iceberg– on its maiden voyage no less– illustrates the dangers of hubris. That’s because the public considers the concept of an unsinkable ship patently ridiculous. In fact, the Titanic should have been unsinkable (save tsunami, torpedo or ballistic attack). The reasons the ocean liner eventually slipped into the depths have much to tell us about the ship’s corporate equivalent, General Motors.

Fitch Ratings released a report yesterday warning that GM and Ford are facing a severe cash drain in '08. Fitch rated both GM and Ford at "B" levels, a non-investment grade. They blame the usual suspects for the poor outlook: sagging US sales, high fuel costs and rising manufacturing costs– all while Ford and GM seek to restructure. Fitch says the negative outlook on the two companies will persist until either the US economy improves or the firms prove to investors that their cash flow position has improved significantly (Fitch would not comment on a scenario involving Hell freezing over). Of the two, Fitch is more bullish on Ford. "In light of Ford's progress on its restructuring program and its product profile, it may achieve (positive cash flow) before the end of this year." But "liquidity drains at GM this year may result in its rating being downgraded further." Folks, we're talking an $8b '08 cash burn. That is one serious ouchie.

After reading Wilkinson's GT-R review, I sent him an email expressing how much I enjoyed his take on Godzilla. And how I'm humbled by his wordsmithery. More importantly, I agree with his impression of the baddest ever Nissan. Are we driving cars or driving computers? Several of TTAC's Best and Brightest (however) highlight the fact that the ex-Car and Driver editor didn't grow up playing video games. He can't possibly "get" the car. (Which is a polite way of calling him old.) One commenter asked to hear Stephan's 28-year-old daughter's take on the car, assuming her age would make her take more relevant. While I'm older than his daughter, I'm in the demo that came of age with a joystick in hand [Ee: so to speak] First of all, what kind of a car is only enjoyed by a single age range? A bad one. Look– a friend of mine in his late 50s says that selling his '65 GTO was the dumbest thing he's ever done, I get it. I get it, big time. Just like he gets my WRX– although he thinks it looks stupid. But you know something? It does look stupid. It's a station wagon with a spoiler– it's supposed to look stupid. Oh right, the question. Do certain cars only work for certain age groups?