TTAC has previously reported deep concerns about the GT-R’s ‘Ring recond. Australian Herald Sun automotive journalist Paul Gover reports that Porsche was sehr unglücklich with Nissan’s claims that its GT-R is faster around The Green Hell than Stuttgart’s mean machines. To test its suspicions, Porsche bought a GT-R in the U.S., flew it to the ‘Ring and ran its own back-to-back tests with the Japanese supercar. Porsche’s expert ‘Ring runner couldn’t get within 25 seconds of Nissan’s claimed record. Porsche also “discovered” that its 911 Turbo and GT2 were both faster around the legendary German circuit than the bonkers Nissan. “This [GT-R] wonder car with 7:29 could not have been a regular series production car,” proclaims August Achleitner, the 911 product chief for Porsche. “For us, it’s not clear how this time is possible. What we can imagine with this Nissan is they used other tyres.” Achleitner’s mob clocked the GT-R at 7 minutes 54 seconds; the 911 Turbo managed 7:38 and the GT2 lapped the track in 7:34. “The Nissan is a good car. I don’t want to make anything bad with my words,” he says. “It’s a very consistent car. But this car is about 20 kilos heavier than the Turbo… This technical puzzle now fits together.  With the other numbers we had problems to understand it.”

“The film ‘Flash of Genius’ chronicles the life story of Bob Kearns, who asserted that he invented the intermittent windshield wiper and sued Ford, Chrysler and other automakers for patent infringement. While films like ‘Flash of Genius’ are made for entertainment purposes, the facts are often less dramatic.

Bob Kearns as well as hundreds of engineers from many companies, including Ford, helped develop the intermittent wiper as part of an evolution of existing automotive and electronic components.

While there are inaccuracies in the film, Ford sees no value in re-hashing the history of a legal case that was resolved in court almost 20 years ago, when a jury ruled that Ford did not willfully violate Mr. Kearns’ patent.

Today, Ford continues to make engineering and design breakthroughs in areas such as fuel efficiency, safety and smart technology, and is proud of its 100-year legacy of innovation in automotive technology.”

Before Congress rejected the $700b Wall Street bailout bill, TTAC warned that its failure would send a spear through the heart of the domestic car industry. Unless Uncle Sam made good on The Big 2.8’s blizzard of bad paperand re-started the car loan snow machine, car buyers would crawl off into a deep, dark and cave and enter a period of extended hibernation (or something like that). And lo, it has come not to pass. The symbolic snow machine has become a plain old fan, with excrement heading towards it. “Absent intervention from Congress, the ability of manufacturers to finance motor vehicle sales may come to a halt,” affirms Chris Stinebert, president and CEO of the American Financial Services Association. (That’s the cash-dispensing machine trade group representing Detroit’s Big Three automakers’ finance arms, as well as major foreign auto finance companies.) The Democrat for Dearborn, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee John Dingell, also knows the score (F-R-E-E, that spells free): “If access to credit continues to dry up, the automobile financing companies will be unable to keep vehicles on dealership lots and help customers obtain financing.” And then what? TTAC’s Ken Elias has his take on the prospects, and the Street has theirs. After the bailout bill vote, GM’s stock price plummeted 12.8 percent to $8.50, its lowest closing price since June 1954. Ford stock fell 13.3 percent to $4.17, its lowest level since February 1986. Chrysler is privately held. For now.

When a company doesn’t have enough money to pay creditors what they’re owed, it’s considered insolvent. By this definition, GM is insolvent. The American automaker’s working capital stands at negative $20b. Cash outflow for the half year through June 30 remains negative, at over seven billion dollars. And it’s getting worse, as cash calls arrive on a regular– and irregular– basis. There’s no more credit to tap, and GM has few assets of meaningful value left to sell. Oh yeah, GM’s gonna file for bankruptcy. Then what?

As you’ve no doubt read, your duly elected representatives have rejected the proposed $700b Wall Street bailout plan. What happens next is anyone’s guess. Congress will undoubtably go back to the drawing board and try again. The stock market will either recover, tank some more or stay the same. The U.S. economy will either recess, depress or re-decompress. However this plays out, one thing is for sure: the days of “Zero Percent Financing for Anyone With a Pulse” are done. Dead. Finished. Over and out. Credit’s tighter than a superglued lug nut. At the same time, the market’s awash with used vehicles that no one wants. Millions of “average” people are backwards on their car loans– and scared. Even if residuals rebounded and zero percent abounded, the manufacturers can’t lure them into more debt. So they will do the right (only?) thing:nothing. They will simply pay down their existing car loans and run what they got. Meanwhile, the domestic automakers will deflate, dehydrate and die. The U.S. car market will eventually recover, but it won’t look anything like it does today. And TTAC will be there to chart the changes.

Information Week reports that GM will be relaunching GMNext as a PR brainwashing social networking site. Apparently, they think it will make a difference. “It’s hard to put a specific dollar value on this but it’s something we have to do,” GM social media manager Natalie Johnson declared, before refusing to reveal how much GM is spending on the re-hype. Johnson cited CEO Rick Wagoner’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” video as an example of how the internet allows executives to “answer some tough questions in a very candid and frank way.” Uh, hang on; the Wagoner clip was on GM’s FastLane blog, not the [existing] GMNext website. Anyway, here’s the CEO’s one and only reply to 73 comments…

To everyone who’s commented,

Thanks for your terrific feedback. We appreciate your passion, ideas and support. This gives us a good idea of what’s on your mind. Unfortunately, I’m unable to respond to all of your comments individually right now, but I have read them. Over the next few weeks other GM leaders will offer their perspective about different areas of the company, and you’ll continue to see GM team members respond to many of your specific questions. That said, I would like to thank Ben for his CTS-V purchase; and please tell your girlfriend that I hope she enjoys her new Sky.

It was great to see many of the comments about the Chevy Volt. Since the beginning, we’ve been open in discussing the Volt’s development, progress, and challenges. Perhaps it makes the Volt’s production date seem a long way off, but at the same time, hopefully it’s interesting to be able to look through the same microscope we are. I agree with those who say Volt isn’t the only solution — it’s clearly not, which is why we offer many hybrids today, have 18 2009 vehicles that achieve 30 mpg or higher highway fuel economy, and are doing extensive work in biofuels, including cellulosic.

I assure you that the GM team is working hard to reinvent the automobile and our company . . . and we’re doing it in the midst of a very challenging environment, but we know we can win.

Thanks again for your interest and comments, and please keep them coming.

Rick

The NY Times had a Digg-topping hit over the weekend, exposing the unwashed masses to the cosmic truth that LeMons racing is incredibly awesome. Regular readers of TTAC and other fine car blogs have adored the $500 car nut race series for some time now, but it’s good to see LeMons get the mainstream attention it so richly deserves. Besides, making an entertaining feature out of LeMons is a little like voting for Obama: if you can’t swing it, you probably shouldn’t be working at the New York Times. Wheelspin scribe Eddie Alterman hooked up with a Fiero-fielding team for LeMons South, and the event’s insane rules rich pagentry and certifiable nutcases colorful personalities shine through in his piece. LeMons is too crazy not to appreciate a tribute to the vibrancy of the American spirit, and it’s new-found popularity comes as no surprise. Just don’t go changing on us, guys.

I don’t have anything else to say. Lieberman thinks the Hyundai Sonata (decent car, really) handles better than the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S. I think Lieberman has been hitting the wine early in anticipation of the Jewish holidays. There are, however, some cars with great enthusiast reputations that some of us are just not on board with. Lieberman doesn’t like the MINI. I don’t get the fuss over the 1-Series, Nissan 350Z, or even the Nissan GT-R. P.J. McCombs just doesn’t love the Lexus IS-F. Jay Shoemaker doesn’t dig the Maserati GT. And so on. It just goes to show, there’s nothing truly objective about cars. Even the truth. Especially the truth.

Pssst. Wanna buy a $25K Honda Civic with a 220-mile driving range and the trunk space of a Miata? Me niether. Since its introduction over a decade ago, the Honda Civic GX has sold between 500 – 1000 per year; production has just been boosted to a mere 1500 p.a. The Civic Hybrid sells more than double that every month. Honda cites parts shortage as a bottleneck, primarily the greenest Civic’s lightweight and costly carbon fiber fuel tank. The Cutting Edge News’ Edwin Black isn’t satisfied with that explanation. In fact, Black claims a conspiracy to suppress production of the GX. Citing the inability of the Spokane, WA school system to secure a fleet of CNG-mobiles, Black chides Honda for milking maximum PR mileage on a car they CLEARLY don’t give a damn about. Even worse (for hardly anyone), the Civic GX is going out of production until June 2009 while production is moving to Honda’s new Indiana plant.  Black contrasts this green conspiracy to GM’s promise to manufacture and sell as many hundreds of thousands of Volts and other electrified vehicles to as many as it can as quickly as it can at the best price that it can.” So why isn’t Black giving GM (and Ford) a hard time for discontinuing their CNG vehicles a few years back?

A fine-handling car carries on a conversation with the tips of your fingers and the seat of your pants, and not just near the limit of adhesion. Whether the engine’s up front, in the middle or out back; whether the powerplant propels the front, rear or both wheels, a true “driver’s car” is a master of communication and balance. While many cars have been successfully marketed based on their “ultimate driving,” very few are capable of delivering such erudition. Many are downright pigs, offering nothing more than understeer followed by more understeer. As Jonny Lieberman’s review indicates, the Mazda RX-8 is not amongst them. It is an under-appreciated gem.

As we reported in our last exciting episode, a big, fat EPA rating on the Volt’s hood is crucial to the project’s success. The LA Times reports that the Volt’s vehicle-line director Tony Posawatz now claims that the EPA has “agreed to a testing method that will produce a rating of at least 100 mpg.” The EPA says it still needs time to determine a fair testing method for plug-in models that burn no gas in their initial EV range. But GM wants it done soon, dammit. Posawatz says The General would share mileage data from the Volt’s onboard computers to verify real-world performance if the EPA would grant the certification now. Posawatz estimates the Volt’s theoretical EPA rating at 120 mpg to 200 mpg, “depending on assumptions about how much gasoline is consumed after the battery loses its charge on the road.” Meanwhile, Don Foley of the Automotive X-Prize would like to remind everyone that “reliance on an mpg standard alone will soon be outdated and will not accurately reflect the need for higher fuel efficiency.” Word. The X-Prize’s mpge (miles per gallon equivalent) is a far better measure of energy use. Hey! Why isn’t GM entering the Volt in the $10m competition? Maybe the EPA mpg standards are easier to game.

I know we’ve already done a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot blog this morning. And last time I looked, TTAC wasn’t Jalopnik. But I reckon this video raises an interesting question for all you fathers with sons out there. Is hooning a permissable male bonding experience? I’ve been blessed with [four] daughters. I’m teaching them to drive on a private road. Have done since they were five. And I’m planning on giving them track time, so they can handle high-speed evasive maneuvers and learn accident avoidance. But if one my daughters ever pulled a stunt like this when I was riding shotgun, there would be MAJOR consequences. I’m not saying they should all drive like driving instructors (when students are on board). Nor could I look them in the eye and say “buy a slow car” (assuming please God they’re using their own money). But I would never, ever accept high-speed driving on a public road (AT NIGHT?) while I was in the car. Veteran readers will know that former Car and Driver editor Stephan Wilkinson proudly relates his daughter’s driving chops on TTAC’s e-pages. So, as Bill O’Reilly asks (even though he’s just setting-up a nominal interviewee for an extended brow-beating), am I wrong?

Some dad's first reactions on M3 Turbo

Chrysler, Ford and GM await the President’s signature on the bill authorizing $25b in low-interest federal loans to retool old factories to produce new fuel misers. And then face an uphill political battle to get the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to loosen its loan requirements and give them the goddam money. Meanwhile, a Toyota press release reveals that the transplant’s just landed a share of $15m in DOE grants to “speed the adoption of energy-saving building and facility technologies” at ToMoCo’s U.S. dealerships. “Being named part of this program is a tribute to those dealers with the vision and commitment to develop environmentally sensitive buildings in conjunction with Toyota’s Image II Eco design program,” said Toyota Prez Jim Lentz. “We will continue to work with dealers and the DOE to develop energy efficient facilities and guidelines that will benefit the entire industry.” Talk about rubbing it in… And what’s the bet Toyota gets the money before 2010? TTAC’s investigating.