Automotive News [sub] tells us that GM’s big hope small car, the Cruze, has gone on sale in Korea as the Daewoo Lacetti. The replacement for Top Gear’s one-time “reasonably priced car” comes with a 1.6 liter four-banger, making 116 hp and costing only $7,948 in devalued Won. With production underway in Gunsan, Korea, GM needs only develop US-market trim and begin production of its 1.4 liter turbo-four engine to bring the Cruze stateside. Unfortunately, GM is on a zero-development budget for 2009, meaning production at Lordstown, OH is on hold. We won’t expect any news of US production of the Cruze until the Department of Energy writes up regulation controlling the $25b in retooling loans needed to get Lordstown rolling. Still, it’s nice to know that, unlike certain other GM vehicles in the pipeline (cough, Volt, cough) the Cruze is already on the road, if only in Korean spec. If GM can’t find the money to build and sell a small, already-developed economy car, well, it makes one wonder what they’re doing in business at all.

One of our informants within GM tells us that Renault/Nissan (R/N) has entered the negotiations for Chrysler owner Cerberus’ final dispensation of Chrysler. Apparently, “Nobody wants to swallow Chrysler whole.” Although this one comes at us from deep left field, we have heard rumblings that GM wanted to merge Jeep with HUMMER– which we completely discounted at the time. We’re now told that GM and R/N are casting lots for production capacity. Allegedly, only one brand (as a brand) will survive the evisceration. You guessed it: Jeep. So the split would look like this: Jeep/minivans – GM. Trucks/SUV capacity – R/N. Cars? Neither one wants anything to do with them. The unnamed source close to the story familiar with people close to deal says that’s been the hang-up for Cerberus. Interesing…

A TTAC reader has emailed us a heads-up that the Michigan Economic Development Council (MDEC) has called an emergency meeting to prepare for the fallout from a GM – Chrysler merger. Warren, Michigan mayor James R. Fouts will chair the confab. Although Fouts is the only human on planet earth that’s more dour-looking than Alan Colmes, Hizzoner is apparently no stranger to hyperbole (even when it’s true). “I heard the Warren mayor interviewed on WJR a few minutes ago,” our informant informs. “He said the direct impact to the region is 145,000 jobs if the merger happens.” I guess you could say it’s that many jobs are on (or off) the line, all things considered. Which raises an interesting question: is this merger really going to receive federal backing given that the consolidation will create that kind of neutron-bomb style economic impact? Chances are, yes.

Not our man Warren Brown, obviously; although the Washington Post’s automotive critic (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) recently tore Ford a new you-know-what for replacing the Escape’s rear discs with drums. No, I speak here of Steven Pearlstein, who’s ready to put the meat on the bones of DetN Auto Editor Manny Lopez’ contention that’s there’s a bi-coastal conspiracy of nattering nabobs of negativism ready to let Detroit die (by its own hand, but who’s counting?). “You can just imagine [ED: hear] the pitch from the populists of the Michigan congressional delegation: If the government is willing to invest $250 billion to bail out pinstriped bankers, then the least it could do is throw an extra $10 billion to rescue the domestic auto industry and the millions of workers and retirees who depend on it. There’s only one difference: The government will make money on its bank investment, while the GM-Chrysler deal is a lemon.” Regular TTAC readers will know Pearlstein’s rationale without having to read it. But if Hayden Christensen can make jumping look cool, well, why not?

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To get answers to some of your questions regarding the refreshed Ford Fusion, I got in touch with one of the Ford PR folks, but rather than hide my findings in comments, we’ll post them here.

– The 2.5 liter 4-cylinder model will be available with a manual transmission, contrary to my previous expectations. For the other 98 percent of buyers, it’s a six-speed auto.

– AWD will still be available on the 3.0 and 3.5-liter V6 cars (proving Berkowitz’s guesses wrong again).

– The Fusion’s manumatic will be controlled with a +/- system on the gear lever base, not steering wheel buttons.

– On sale date is the nebulous “First Quarter 2009.” Considering that nobody is going to be buying cars this November, December, January, I don’t think it matters much that the refreshed Fusion isn’t going on sale for a few months.

– Ford is hoping/anticipating/guessing that the hybrid version will deliver best in class fuel economy. For reference, the Camry Hybrid is rated at 33/34.

– The Fusion Hybrid version will have slick/gimmicky SmartGauge system– two LCD screens surrounding the analog speedo gauge– to show instant fuel economy, etc. It’s good marketing to make hybrid drivers feel like they have a special car (i.e. the Prius’ space cadet interior).

– The Fusion’s cabin will be improved. I’ve tossed in one of KGP/Jalopnik’s spy photos of the Fusion’s refreshed interior into the gallery. SYNC will be available with or without the nav system.

When I heard Sean Hannity blather on about “the death of journalism” re: the mainstream media’s coverage of the current presidential election, I paid the conservative talkmeister scant attention. Even if the press is in the tank for Obama, it’s not like the situation is analogous to living in Mother Russia during Pravda’s Stalinist heyday, when the KGB had about as much tolerance for dissent as Saddam Hussein’s thugs. Check it: Hannity’s got his airwaves. The “liberal press” have theirs. And everybody and their mother has the internet. But now that I’ve been following the GM – Chrysler merger story, I beginning to wonder if Mr. U.R. A Great American may have a point. I, for one, am not fooled for an instant by the automotive press’ unrelenting reliance on “unnamed sources” for their reporting on the creation of American Leyland. GM PR is spoon-feeding the press, no one’s admitting it and that’s that. But Jesus, did Reuters stop to think for ONE SECOND that GM might NOT have contacted Toyota for help? If we can see that a source isn’t reputable from friggin’ Rhode Island, WTH is wrong with Reuters’ Asian reporters? And what kind of bullshit is it when a supposedly reputable news agency retracts its story by repeating it? Media pros bemoan the ethics and standards of internet-based “citizen journalists.” Puh-lease.

Ford tells us that J.D. Power tells them that “30 percent of new vehicle shoppers who walk away from a dealership do so because the dealer did not have the exact vehicle with the colors and options they wanted.” Yeah, right. That what they say… Never mind. As suspicious as this factoid may be, Ford has decided it should use one of them there computer-type things to “determine the vehicle configurations customers in different regions of the country most want.” And once they do that, why not “significantly reduce the number of orderable combinations across its vehicle lineup”? You know; like, I’m thinking… Honda! “For example, the new 2010 Ford Fusion will be available in 104 popular orderable combinations, compared with 2,602 configurations for the 2008 model year. For the entire Ford brand, the company has reduced orderable configurations by 90 percent from the 2008 model year.” No seriously. This makes sense. It’s a good sign the lights are [still] on in Dearborn. Long overdue.

You gotta sit up and take notice when a new technology claims a 40 to 50 percent increase in fuel economy. Either that or hide your checkbook. Personally, professionally, I’ve never heard of a hydraulic hybrid vehicle (HHV), never mind a diesel hydraulic hybrid vehicle (DHHV?). But IndustryWeek has, as well as the United Parcel Service, which plans to deploy a fleet of two (count ’em two) HHVs in Minneapolis early next year. The only explanation for the taxpayer-funded technology involved is, to say the least, literally, marginal. “The technology, originally developed in a federal laboratory of the Environmental Protection Agency, stores energy by compressing hydraulic fluid under pressure in a large chamber.” Does one of our Best and Brightest care to elaborate? Meanwhile, it’s kinda weird to hear our government officials talk about the hybrid premium: “The EPA estimates that when manufactured in high volume, the added costs of the hybrid components can be recouped in less than three years through lower fuel and brake maintenance costs.” [thanks to nutbags for the link]

When I set out on a comparison test like this, I have one main question in mind: if I were in the market to buy a new car for my family, which one of the cars tested would I buy? I love supple leather seats, premium sound systems, grippy wide tires and an engine with the torque of a diesel freight train. But the reality at this time is that my employer, one of the world’s largest financial institutions, has lost billions of dollars in recent quarters. Its epic balance sheet can now be described as fragile. As a financial controller, I see first-hand how budgets are being drawn in asphyxiatingly tight. I know that I’m not alone in feeling nervous about my future in this economy. So which of these family sedans would I buy? The Mazda Mazda6 i Sport.

Things must be really bad in Deutschland. Before, any German government of any persuasion raised taxes when times were good, and raised them more when times were bad. Debates before important elections usually are about how much taxes should be raised. Imagine McCain saying: “My friends, I will tax you more than that guy.” He’d get the vote in Deutschland. Well, the German government is now worried about auto sales. Scared scheissless is probably the better term. So scared they want to abolish the tax on cars. Totally. Well, at least for a while. And in a discreet green wrapper.  Says so in today’s report by the German magazine Der Spiegel. Berlin’s cabinet left it to their Minister of the Environment, Sigmar Gabriel, to give the car crazy Germans the good news this morning: No tax on environmentally friendly cars for the next two years. Zilch. Nada. Nichts. “Environmentally friendly” is defined as compliance with the Euro 5 and Euro 6 norm. Which, for all intents and purposes, means no tax for all new cars coming to the market.

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While the mainstream media focuses on the effects of Detroit’s downsizing (a.k.a. spectacular tumble into the abyss) on blue collar jobs, let it not be forgotten that tens of thousands of non-union white collar workers are already looking at a bleak Christmas season, with tens of thousands more realizing that this will be their last holiday period in their current employment. To wit: a TTAC reader tells us that GM R*Works is busy escorting workers to the door, after already shrinking from two dozen employees to ten. And no wonder… R*Works is a promotions company with one client: “Our vision: Use the power of promotion to provide General Motors with dynamic, unparalleled marketing initiatives that set the world’s number one automaker apart from its competitors. Secure GM R*Works position as our Client’s most valuable agency partner with ideas that enable GM to maintain its leadership role and grow market share.” Our reader reports that GM’s ’09 promotions budget have been slashed to levels insufficient to stage any major events. “Rumor now is that the entire company goes bye-bye by end of the month (which is not far off, obviously).” [thanks to you-know-who-you-are]

“We do not view the potential for any eventual transaction involving GM and Chrysler even in combination with government support, as a panacea for these companies’ credit concerns,” S&P analyst Robert Schulz said in a statement [via CNNMoney]. That’s a bottomless cup of not good. Hence Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service is keeping The General on credit watch for a possible downgrade, from “You Can’t Touch This” to “Toxic.” And the hits keep happening. “Our most fundamental and serious concerns regarding GM and Chrysler remain unchanged: the pressures on liquidity facing both automakers and their auto financing affiliates as a result of the rapid weakening of global auto markets and credit-market turmoil… Massive changes would be essential for any merger. That raises the possibility of a ‘strategic bankruptcy’ by one or more of the companies to carry out those changes.”

If you didn’t know better, you’d read Huffington Post writer (and HUMMER apologist) Matthew DeBord’s essay on Tesla’s travails as a post mortem. “But even though the downfall of Tesla seems like a disaster for boosters of all-electric vehicles, it should be a welcome development for the green-transportation movement. Tesla symbolized a science-fiction view of our future: it seemed like an instant cure for the problems of oil consumption and greenhouse emissions. In reality, it was a well-marketed distraction from a strategy that would yield more immediate results.” In other words, TTAC called it. But it looks like it’s gonna take a while before Tesla’s unsubstantiated claims for its Roadster/ WhiteElephant will R.I.P. “The big knock on electrics was always that they lacked the range of IC-powered cars. Then Tesla came along and not only unveiled a vehicle that could travel hundreds of miles on a single charge, but that could do 0-60 in four seconds. The gorgeous two-seater design, provided by Lotus and crafted in exotic carbon fiber, also didn’t hurt.” But DeBord has a more frightening message– at least for Tesla.

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No, it’s not welfare. It’s a little bit insurance mixed with an old-fashioned helping hand that ought to be extended with a little discipline to Detroit’s rump. Bailouts, subsidies, tax breaks and other sundry government instruments to influence the economy are recurrent and mainstream in American history. Less here than most countries, but nevertheless persistent. So let’s not pretend the program to assist Detroit, or the banks, or brokerages, etc., are new. We have an economy with gross annual activity valued over $14 trillion dollars. The absolute numbers bandied about today are big; the proportional representation is more modest. $25B, $50B, $75B are barely a bump.