Terry's one of the good guys: a plain-speaking auto reviewer/ranter for the Dallas Morning News [full version via The Washington Post] who never loses sight of the common man. Well, at least not until he's behind the wheel of a death car muscle car. And then he's gone baby gone! Despite the fact that the V8-lovin' Lone Star scribe's feeling the heat over global warming, it's one of those cold, dead hands deals. "I know that my days as an unrepentant gearhead may be numbered. Sky-high gas prices, global warming, urban sprawl, maybe even the "oil war" in Iraq, are all being piled on cars. Yet despite the growing drumbeat against them, the allegations that they're melting glaciers and maiming thousands, the claim that we're choking on them, the fear that they're our worst national addiction, I love them dearly." What follows is a poetic paean to profligate petrol consumption. Box ultimately argues against those who argue against gas-guzzling-for-fun thus: I'm a climate killer, you're a hypocrite; I'll stop when you stop. As if.
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Wow! More egalitarian than the Marquette County Fair baking competition? More democratic than the contest to name the Pontiac G8 ST? I guess we've got to forgive Detroit Free Press cheerleader Mark Phelan for doing what he does best (as far as we know). And I suppose writing negatively about "the Cruise" (how str8 is that?) would be the very definition of "churlish." But forgive me for saying that Woodward's panoply of pistonheads isn't exactly my cup of leaded gasoline. It's just too painful to see so much rolling proof that a once-proud American industry has joined Fonzie in the Shark-Jumping Hall of Fame. The fact that Paul Eisenstein (my good pal from The Car Connection) has glommed-on to the event with an alt power parade does nothing to convince me that Detroit's glory days lie ahead. "'If it's loud and fast, it's good,' said 19-year-old Alex Bui of White Lake Township. He planned to cruise in his tuned 2006 Honda Civic." And there you have it.
If we (and I'm using that in The New York Times Op Ed "Royal We" sense of the word) had any doubts that The Big Apple is the locus of America's anti-car jihad, scribe Hope Cohen is determined to remove them. In the provocatively titled "No Parking, Ever," Cohen argues that Hizzoner has the "four wheels bad" religion, but lacks sufficient zeal. "Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg… the department has been encouraging alternative transportation by reassigning street space long reserved for cars and trucks to bikes, buses and pedestrians. To accommodate all this movement, the city can no longer be as accommodating as it has been toward stationary vehicles. Before traffic reaches a standstill, as it threatens to do, the city should start phasing out curbside parking." Deftly played, Hope. As is this little carrot. "It is vital that vehicles move smoothly and quickly through New York City’s streets, delivering people and goods to their destinations. Making room for vehicles that are not moving should be a far lower priority." I can understand why they don't, but it really grinds my gears (Jonny) that anti-car advocates don't just come out and call for a passenger car ban. 'Cause you know that's what they really, really want.
The "run on the bank" supplier scenario we predicted for Chrysler is coming to pass. We've already reported that Chrysler's been playing silly buggers with their payment (stretching terms to keep the cash flowing flowing). And now ChryCo is beginning to face the predicted backlash. At the Traverse City management ho' down, Chrysler's executive vice president for procurement did his best Joe Pesci imitation for insolent suppliers, The Detroit Free Press and TTAC's Best and Brightest. "If a supplier wants to push us because of their fear [that we're going bankrupt], then they're violating the contract that's in place and I will take the necessary actions," John Campi intoned. "I have had suppliers come to me with a gun to my head and I say, 'I am not going to let you shut down production, but if you are serious then you have to live with the legal consequences.' And the legal consequences are not the end of it because if somebody does that, I can tell you they will not be walking around very long a supplier of choice."
Infiniti has tried to play Terminix to BMW's Bavarian Cockroach 3-Series. For the most part, the Japanese automaker's done a fine job. To keep up with the Bimmer's new turbocharged engine (that makes some unknown amount of horsepower over 300), Infiniti is kicking-up the power and displacement of their VQ V6. The G sedan now gets the same 3.7-liter V6 as the coupe, pounding out some 330 horsepower. The optional automatic (don't fret – 3rd pedal is standard) now jumps to seven forward gears. And an all wheel-drive version will also be available. In 
other Infiniti news, there's an official photo of the upcoming G37 convertible as well. It seems that they were peeved at how nasty most of the amateur photochops looked, so they put out a picture of the real deal. Just on the basis of the one picture, I think it looks fine, if a little too Solara convertible. The G unit's got the classic four-seat convertible big caboose, and the rear deck isn't as flat as the convertible 3-Series. The folding hardtop G37 will be revealed at the LA Auto Show in September.
GM's next Next Big Thing (a.k.a. Chevrolet's plug-in electric – gas hybrid Volt) just got a whole lot bigger. Conceptually. The Detroit Free Press reports that GM execs are trumpeting their [Wall Street-friendly] plan to Volt-ize everything that isn't nailed down, including SUVs. Eventually. "The executives would not say how many vehicles they expect to run with the E-flex system, but Andrew Farah, the Volt's chief engineer, said the system is most likely to first be used on GM's global compact and midsize car architectures. The electric propulsion system would need to be greatly altered to work with larger vehicle architectures, such as those for SUVs or pickups, he said." You got that right. Meanwhile, Volt Supremo Frank Weber "expects major improvements to the Volt… to occur on a yearly basis early on. That is different from most vehicle lines, which typically offer major updates every three to five years." Good news? Uh, well… "Weber said the automaker has already identified nine areas on the Volt where it expects to make major improvements or greatly reduce costs in the second year of production. It can't make those improvements in the first year, or it would delay the quick timeline the automaker is on for the launch of the car."
Who knew that Jochen Felsenheimer, the Munich-based head of credit strategy at UniCredit SpA, was an AC/DC fan? One things for sure: he's no fan of GM. After Moody's downgraded GM's creditworthiness, Felsenheimer pronounced "Recovery on GM might be significantly below 40 percent.'' Bloomberg provides the quote and explains the math. "Bondholders may lose as much as 73 percent in the event of a default by the world's biggest automaker, based on the price of contracts used to fix a recovery value for the securities. The recovery swap rate on GM dropped to 26.5 percent, from 39.5 percent at the end of June, meaning investors expect to get only 26.5 cents on the dollar in an insolvency, CMA Datavision pricing models show. Investors are pricing in a lower recovery rate than the average of 40 percent in bankruptcies as capital is eroded by $69.8 billion of losses since 2004." In other words, the market's confidence in GM's ability to stave-off C11 is at an all-time low. And headed lower.
Earlier today, GM’s purchasing chief warned his light truck parts suppliers that he’s looking to halve their number. No surprise there. GM’s SUV and pickup truck sales (and margins) have fallen like a stone thrown in a deep, dark well. But here’s the strange thing: Bo Anderson wants credit for his forward thinking. “The effort is proactive," he told the Traverse City management seminar. "To be sure that we get the best suppliers." Bo’s boast is based on GM’s faith that it will persevere through the current unpleasantness because yes, Virginia, you CAN cut your way to prosperity. Only no, Bo, you can’t. But hey, it’s something to do.
I know the fat dude on Family Guy coined the term, and Berkowitz adopted it, but man– did this dude grind my gears yesterday. Many of the freeways in Los Angeles have traffic lights at their entrances. This is a very well thought out system to temporarily delay you from getting stuck in traffic. I mean, 10 seconds at a red light beats sitting in traffic (somehow) right? And many of these very same freeways have carpool entrance lanes. This means that if their are two of you in the car, you can bypass the red light and get stuck in traffic immediately. See, that's progressive. Anyhow, today I'm getting on the 134 in Glendale and even though there isn't any traffic, I have to wait for the light. Clocking my rearview I notice the white white Honda Civic with exactly one passenger in it is going around me on the right in the carpool lane. Solo. As my bile is building — I don't like cheaters — I notice when he passes me his car is slathered with yellow High Occupancy Lane access stickers. It's a fragging hybrid! That's right, if you drive a Prius-like vehicle you can bop along in the carpool lane all by your lonesome while the rest of us sit still. But here's my point — I don't care how good your city mileage is, a hybrid under hard acceleration getting on a freeway is going to make as much pollution as my car. Probably more, as its puny NA engine is going to have to work harder to schlep the extra battery weight. Thanks for always thinking ahead, California! And am I weird for being more upset that a hybrid was essentially able to cheat it's way in front of me legally than if the putz had just broken the law and ran the light? Maybe I am. But I'm calm now. So, you?
As far as we can tell from the carparazzi shots, the production Beat's proportions will be similar to those of the show-car; with two rear doors. In detail, the car will be a lot different. You can tell most of the differences only by looking at the original green concept Beat. The Transformers-like spoiler of the concept is clearly not destined for the production car. The vehicle in the spyshots shows a boring lower grill with horizontal and vertical stripes. I tried to make it cool looking, but that thing would only work for a retro design. The only elements I can identify as being interesting and modern on the camouflaged car are the lights. They seem to follow the dynamic shape seen on the green prototype with a nice mix of optical elements. Whether this will Beat or get beaten is hard to tell; the competition in Europe's micro-car class is really heating-up.
How does a Mustang fare in a harsh, North-eastern winter? More specifically, Canada. I only ask because last year, Montreal, where I live, was covered with over 200 inches of snow. I've already done the rear wheel-drive-in-winter thing in my first car. I was behind the wheel of a Chevette with about four hp and two ft.-lbs of torque (slight exaggeration). In other words, it came standard with engine-limited traction control. A buddy of mine tried to negotiate last winter in his Twin Turbo Supra. Fancy snow tires and 200 lbs. of gravel in the trunk still made it the worst winter car in the universe. He ended up buying a Hyundai Accent to get through the season (ouch). True fact: in my entire life, I think I can count on one hand the amount of winterized Mustangs I've seen, complete with ugly black wheels and skinny winter tires. So, do the other Mustang owners who leave theirs in the garage all winter know something I should know?
There is an argument to be made for car mags and websites accepting long term test vehicles. But I'm not going to make it. If these consumer champions want insight into what it's like to live with a particular car on a day-to-day basis, ask one of the people who bought one. To my mind, long-term test cars are nothing more or less than payola: a manufacturer's unspoken quid pro quo, just for being a friend of ours. There's no question that a week's access to a press car is one of the major perks of working as an automotive journalist– albeit a pleasure more-or-less denied TTAC writers (doesn't go with the territory). But it's high time for Road and Track, Car and Driver, AutoWeek, Edmunds Inside Line and the rest to Just Say No to long term test cars (a.k.a. "our fleet"). Their readers deserve a higher standard of journalism. (BTW: I'd like to see a writer argue with an I.R.S. auditor that driving their family around in a long term test car is not a taxable perk.) As for those who claim our policies are self-serving sour grapes, I assure you that as long as I'm the publisher, TTAC will not be bought by any manufacturer, at any price.
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