News of Toyota and Subaru's joint $20k-$25k RWD coupe has Nissan scrambling to develop it own pocket rocket. 7tune.com reports that Nissan is testing a compact rear wheel-drive (RWD) coupe based on the new Z-car platform. The spiritual successor to Nissan's JDM Silvia is likely to be motivated by either the 2.0-liter NA engine, or a 1.6-liter or 1.8-liter turbo four (possibly equipped with Variable Compression Ration technology) making between 150 and 225 hp. The coupe should be about the same size as the last (S15) Silvia, offering the Z's wheelbase with shorter overhangs for "enjoyable handling." No word on whether the $23k-ish coupe will be offered stateside, but it will be available in Japan in the latter half of 2010. As far as we're concerned, the more light, zippy RWD coupes the better… no matter where they're sold.

BBC America's version of Top Gear is a mixed blessing. I'm not happy how they edit the episodes– like removing the Cock-O-Meter sequence entirely from the M3, AMG C63, RS4 comparo (if Americans hear the word "cock" we'll drop dead). So I've spent six months of my life watching every single second of Top Gear on YouTube. Only now BBC shows 'em in high def. My point? Last night I watched the episode featuring Jezza making love to the Ascari A10. In case you haven't heard, the manic, shed-built Ascari can hit 60 mph in 2.8 seconds (that's faster than a Veyron), weighs less than 3000 pounds and de-perched the Koeniggsegg CCX from atop of the fastest Top Gear lap time board. And I couldn't have cared less. Am I getting old? Are there just too damn many of them these days? Or is Mike Bumbeck right: supercars are for people who can't drive?

GM dodged the bullet when the American Axle strike threatened to shut down the Malibu plant in Kansas City. (Found some! ) But the automaker's luck just ran out. Automotive News [sub] reports the members of UAW Local 31 walked out at 10 AM this morning after GM failed to come to terms over seniority and job security in their local operating contract. Although there was only a 31-day supply of Malibus in dealers' hands at the end of April, the situation isn't as dire as it would seem. The plant in Orion Township, MI where they also build Malibus (and Pontiac G6's) already has a local contract and will continue production. This is the second GM plant where workers are striking over their local contract; the Delta Township plant where they screw together the Lambda CUVs has been on strike for almost three weeks. Although UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said the union shouldn't expect GM to get involved in settling the American Axle strike, some analysts think that's the reason behind the local strikes against GM. With 61 other plants yet to sign local contracts, things could get a lot dicier for the General before they get better.

One year ago [Chrysler Suicide Watch 12] I opined that Jeep was morphing from the world's most uniquely-American brand into a schizophrenic abyss of muddled models. Of course, this analysis hardly required the keen insights of branding guru Al Reis.  Jeep had just introduced the unconvincing Compass and platform partner Patriot to the market. And they were preparing to launch a re-skinned Jeep Liberty.  The Liberty was the reigning best selling small SUV on the market. So one year later, how has the brand progressed?  As a Jeep owner and acolyte of [what's left of] the brand, I'm sorry to say that Jeep's crisis is far deeper than before.

Chrysler executives are taking on what may well become the world's worst job: a customer satisfaction survey. The Chrysler 300– the number of homoerotic Spartans executives calling one customer per day— will be competing "to see who can generate the most successful sales referrals." ("Hello, I'm Bob Nardelli. Please buy one of our cars so I can win a sales bonus. PLEASE!") The Detroit Free Press say Nardelli's boys want to "bring the company closer to our customers but also to bring our customers closer to the company." Not one to miss a chance to pimp for consulting, Dave Sargent of J.D. Power gushes, "I've never heard of anything on this scale." This is not the first time Chrysler's jeffes have tried to rappel out of the corporate penthouse. Hey, whatever happened to that program where the suits drive used Chryslers? Anyway, at the advertised calling rate, it would take Chrysler's highly-paid "change agents" 707 days to reach the 212k customers hit by the most recent Sebring recall. Who's running the office pool on how long this program lasts? [Welcome to longtime TTAC commentator John Thorner as our latest blogger. We hope to see more of his work soon.]

A lot of readers have asked for the inside dope on legendary columnist Brock "fuck the double-nickel" Yates' disappearance from TTAC. And I'm not going to tell you. But I gotta say I was really looking forward to posting Peter DeLorenzo's weekly rants on this website. But when I gave TTAC's Best and Brightest (B&B) the heads up, the self-styled Autoextremist took umbrage at my characterization of our, uh, arrangement as an, um, "arrangement." He was especially not happy with my suggestion that he could or would respond to the B&B's comments to his work. So I modified the post to reflect Peter's understanding of our, uh, thingie. Once again, Sweet Pete was sweet. And then, despite his contention that he didn't have time to read comments, he read the comments. Once again, Peter felt TTAC was usurping his brand. He directed me to itaintgonnahappen.com and asked me to tell you that "Autoextremist.com is an independent entity and it will remain that way as long as we're doing it, so I am officially withdrawing permission for you to run my 'Rants' column or any other Autoextremist content on TTAC." And so I have. Shame.

The S2000 will soon get a ten-candle cake, an excellent innings for any model. Unfortunately for fans of Honda's VTEC pocket rocket, continuously decreasing sales could make this anniversary its last. There have been numerous rumors about the successor of the S2000; the new one could be bigger, a four-seater and/or a coupe. Shots of a Honda test mule using an S2000 elongated platform fueled these murmurings. Others believe that a mext-gen Honda roadster could move downscale to compete with the Mazda MX-5/Miata. Personally, I'm going with plan B. I can see a future Honda S roadster with engines ranging from a cheap 1.6-liter to the high-rev 2.0-liter owners (although not our RF) enjoy so much on the current S2000. The photochop crystal ball provides an evolution of the S2000 design with the aggressiveness enhanced by the big air intakes and the high-tech optic units. Next year, Honda will celebrate their 60th anniversary. I bet the new S2000 (launched when they celebrated half a century) will be jumping out of the cake.

My plan: drive the metallic blue BMW 128i Convertible down to San Diego. I could've clichéd down the coast, stopping off in Yorba Linda to do donuts in the parking lot of the Nixon Library. That's what a sensible person would do. But the true masochist always chooses the route less traveled. So, straight from the heart of Hollywood, I loaded up the Bimmer's minuscule trunk, saddled my semi-potent Deutsche-steed and set off through the seriously Lynchian Inland Empire. Unseasonably hot, 97-degree late-April weather be damned.

As we reported last week, this is not a good time to be making pickups. At all. As we predicted ever since the new Toyota Tundra got into the game, the incentives wars on pickup trucks are getting bloody. Automotive News [sub] brings us the tale of a Folsom Lake Dodge store selling a Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab SLT 4×2 for $19,995. That's $12,800 off the $32,795 sticker price. At Swift Dodge, also in Sacramento, desperate dealers are offering $13k discounts on the same model. And still the trucks sit. Or, more precisely, pile-up. Dodge has a 109-day average supply of Rams. (The word on the street is that Chrysler has more Rams to ship and no one willing to take them.) Could it get any worse? You betcha. The pickup market cratered by 21 percent in April; well below the -16.6 percent year-to-date total. And now, the new Ram is set to appear, with the new Ford F-150 hot on its tailgate. To clear the deck, Chrysler will have to reach even deeper into its threadbare pockets for even greater discounts on the old trucks. Will they even sell then? One things for sure: there's precious little milk left in the Dodge Boys' cash cow. Without a plan B in the wings, Chrysler is headed straight for plan C11.

File this under "News That Effects Me Personally." As in, "Those city hall pricks are taking tacos out of my mouth." Where I live in North Eastern LA, there are– or rather were— six taco trucks with a one mile stretch along the same road. As The New York Time rightly reports, each one offers uniquely delicious fare. Except for that one up on 51st — their tacos suck. But the other five, man… So here's the dirt straight from the hungry horse's mouth. Restaurants are complaining (and have been complaining) that the "roach coaches" are stealing customers because their food is so cheap. My new mortal enemy, county supervisor Gloria Molina, is pushing through the ordinance that will require taco trucks to move every hour. Effectively putting them out of business. Why? Henchman Gerry Hertzberg claims the trucks represent a "big quality of life issue." Whatever that means. Taco truck owner Jose Naranjo puts it best, "We are poor people feeding other poor people." Yeah, and me! The ordinance goes into effect today. This is a total tragedy as one truck in particular serves-up the best carne asada tacos in all of Los Angeles. And trust me, I've looked. Anyhow, I wrote Molina a letter and signed the save our taco trucks petition. Though I fear you can't fight city hall. Tasteless jerks. 

My biggest kvetch about the BMW 1-Series: price. When you compare the 1-Series to the more practical 3-Series, the cheaper 1 might as well have a bone through its nose and wear a Fine Young Cannibals T-shirt. Still, no one ever lost any money selling BMWs to well-heeled consumers whose desire for status trumps… everything. Given that the majority of the brand’s fan base are insensitive to matters of relative worth– other than new hotness– the drop-top 128i has less of a hill to climb than the rest of the “I’m-not-a-3-Series, not yet an icon” 1ers. So, does it?

The obvious answer is not. But MAN did the beleaguered American automaker get bent out of shape when analysts did the math on Daimler's financial report and reckoned Chrysler dropped $2.7b in Q4. Chrysler told TTAC (and the world) that they had "positive operational earnings," and confirmed (to us) that they meant honest-to-God profits. As we pointed out, that kinda conflicted with Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli's previous statement. The ChryCo jeffe admitted that Chrysler was "operationally bankrupt" (which also triggered a PR offensive in all senses of the word). And now we read in The Detroit News that Bob Nardelli addressed cash flow in his usual "we're privately held so we can move fast and not have to pander to stockholders with 'the collective attention span of kindergarteners.'" "Yes, We don't have to worry about over-reaction in the market," Nardelli told Daniel Howes. "We are still on track to deliver a positive cash flow. We are not there yet." So what exactly does "positive operational earnings" mean, then? You know, other than something a lot less than the truth. 

The 6.0-liter G8 is a wonderful car. But I was curious about the V6. Supposedly, the smaller engined variant will account for the majority of sales. And RF's been bugging me for a review of the "entry level" G8 ever since the Aussie-built sedan first hit the showroom floor. Getting a G8 V6 via the GM press fleet is as about as realistic as dividing by zero. So I hit up NY-area dealerships. Two weeks, no joy. A regular check of Pontiac.com eventually revealed two G8 V6s at Cunningham Buick Pontiac GMC in Bayside, NY. Upon arrrival, I discovered they had no G8s or any kind, sort or description. "But give us your number, and we'll call you this Friday when we get several more delivered– including a V6." Great. On Saturday morning, a salesperson called. "The V6 G8 is here!" When I got there in the early afternoon… no G8 V6. "Oh, we must have sold it this morning." Yes, in the course of a morning, a G8 V6 was arrived by a truck, found a buyer, got prepped and left. In four hours. All without the salesman's knowledge. The G8, in eight-cylinder form at least, is a kick ass car and a great deal. But with dealerships plying the ole' bait and switch, product excellence doesn't matter. [NB: this is not the first report of this c'mon down oops no V6 we've heard. Has anyone even seen one?]

Back when I started this site, I decided not to register every "The Truth About" url in the urlniverse. Although I am prone to bouts of megalomania (usually restricted to violent videogames), I knew there was no way I could muster enough energy/focus/moola to effectively run an empire of "truth abouts." I also knew that truth-telling is an inherently difficult and risky business that requires complete commitment. So when Ford launched thetruthabouttrucks.com, it was no biggie. As soon as visitors see it's a Ford site, they know exactly how much objective (i.e. truthy) information they'd discovered. When Audi launched "truth in engineering" as their ad strapline, again, it wasn't a problem. About the most controversial thing about Audi's engineering is how to spell Vorschprung Durch Technik. Thetruthabouttoyota.com's kvetching about ToMoCo's greenwashing was/is more like it. But not quite. And so, now, I'm thinking the new UK website thetruthaboutsmart ain't gonna cut it. Yes, it's a cleverly-written, well-produced website that does an excellent job dispelling common misconceptions (not "rumors" Autoblog) about the under-capitalized fortwo. But net savvy folk know the difference between corporate and independent info. There are a few members of the automotive press corps (e.g. Dan Neil), and a few websites (e.g. Motor Authority) whose truth levels I respect. Which simply proves you don't have to say you're going to tell the truth to do it. But it can't hurt, can it?

With the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the internet and nonprofit sector are abuzz about the game's "inappropriate" content. No surprise there; GTA is designed around the commission of felonies. In fact, if there weren't a slew of outraged press releases decrying something about the game being overly-violent, sexist, racist, homophobic, etc., Rockstar Games (owned by the NASDAQ-traded Take-Two Interactive) would have been mightily disappointed. This time 'round, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has inadvertently aided and abetted Rockstar's PR efforts. Not-so-surprisingly, MADD slams GTA IV for the simulated drunk driving portion of the program. Not to take a shot at MADD's important real life message, but this is a little overboard, isn't it? I'm not going to ask the most obvious question– does driving drunk in a videogame encourage impressionable teens to think drink driving is acceptable– because I trust that TTAC's Best and Brightest aren't morons. So here's the more complex question: could GTA IV have been both anarchic and didactic?