The UK Department for Transport (DfT) is preparing to give police the authority to issue instant fines to motorists accused of making simple, careless mistakes while driving. Under the proposal, police would ticket the alleged crime at £60 (US $90), bypassing expensive court hearings for a majority of cases. The new on-the-spot penalty is designed to increase the number of annual convictions to 30,480, resulting in more than £1.8 million in additional revenue (US $2.7 million).

The extra fines are specifically targeted at drivers with a good record who may have been caught making a simple mistake. Under UK law, “careless driving” represents a non-specific, catch-all category of traffic crime as distinct from specific offenses such as driving while talking on a cell phone, neglecting to wear a seatbelt or speeding. The fixed penalty would apply to anyone “driving in a way that falls below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver.” Although this fine could be challenged in court, doing so risks the imposition of court costs of up to £2000 if the magistrate rejects the not guilty defense.

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Over the next three years, the Iowa Department of Economics Renewable Fuel Infrastructure Board (RIFB) will grant gasoline retailers and their pump-oriented pals $13m. The Tall Corn State is allocating taxpayer money to encourage these commercial enterprises to offer E85 to the customers. More specifically, Ethanol Producer Magazine reveals that “the maximum award can’t exceed 50 percent of the total cost of making the [E85 oriented ] improvements, or $50,000, whichever is less. Projects must be completed within eight months of the award date unless an extension is approved.” Seems fair enough, right? Problem: with gas prices hovering at $1.50 a gallon, E85 is a drug on the market. In other words, why convert to corn juice if no one’s buying? Yes, well, never underestimate the power of the boondoggle: “At its quarterly meeting Dec. 16, the Iowa Department of Economics Renewable Fuel Infrastructure Board approved more than $1.52 million in grants for 43 biodiesel and E85 retailers and terminal operators across the state to expand their renewable fuel infrastructure.” Now, shall we talk about the federal program?

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We used to call it 60-80. You could buy a two-year-old used car with 80 percent of it’s life left for 60 percent of the new car price. Then, as Detroit & Co. started to overproduce ad nauseam, the ratio went down to 50/80. Then 40/80. These days you can pretty much buy a decent two-year-old car (think discontinued Ford, Mercury & Buick models) for about 35 percent of it’s new car price without dickering too hard. So, is that the sweet spot in today’s market? Nope. At least not for the non-enthusiast. The biggest bang for your buck lingers a little further down the curve. Specifically the five to six-year-old commuter vehicle with about 75k miles that has become as popular as an old can of buckwheat. Think Ford Taurus, Buick Regal/Century/LeSabre, Mercury Sable and virtually anything with the name Oldsmobile on it. Sure these are the equivalent of leisure suits for the self-effacing car snob. But I’d be damned if they aren’t the best deals for those who, in Rhett Butler-speak, “Frankly, don’t give a damn.”

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A short overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. For the next two weeks, WAS will be filed from Tokyo.

Hyundai up for sale: According to Reuters, the 11 shareholders of Hyundai Corp, “are planning to offer a 50 percent stake plus one share” (i.e. a majority) to an interested buyer, at the paltry price of $127.6m. South Korean banks and a state agency, led by KEB and Woori Bank, own a combined 87.95 percent stake in Hyundai Corp after bailing out the former unit of the Hyundai Group in 2003. According to readily available information, Hyundai Corporation is composed of five divisions: Automobile and Electrical Equipment, Ship and Machinery, Steel, Brand and Commodities, and Natural Resources. However, the Reuters article refers to Hyundai Corp. as a “trading and resources-development company,” or an “energy developer.” Something doesn’t compute quite yet. The story bears monitoring. Nothing yet on the other wires.

Mazda sends U.S. workers home: Mazda plans to place about 400 workers at its joint venture plant in the U.S. on temporary leave starting in the middle of next month as part of ongoing production cuts, the Nikkei reports. In addition, Mazda began scaling back output of the Mazda2 subcompact, known in Japan as the Demio, at its joint venture plant in the Chinese city of Nanjing this month.

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What if they held a North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in the middle of Detroit in the middle of the winter and the Japanese manufacturers’ CEOs didn’t go? We’re going to find out what that means this year, as The Detroit News reports. “Toyota Motor Corp. confirmed earlier this week that CEO Katsuaki Watanabe had canceled plans to travel to Detroit… Previously Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. said their chief executives would not attend. The companies did not give reasons, but officials say they expect the crush of reporters covering the Detroit show will focus almost exclusively on the industry downturn and the U.S. automakers’ difficulties.” So they’re running scared? Uh, I think that’s what you call “projection.” Another explanation comes from Joseph Serra, senior co-chairman of the NAIAS and president of Grand Blanc-based Serra Automotive Inc: “What’s possibly happening now is that, out of respect for the Big Three, they don’t want to upstage anything right now.” So they’re running scared? You know, from anti-transplant blowback. That sounds more likely, especially given the transplant’s low profile and quietly supportive demeanor during GM and Chrysler’s very public, shameful jostling at the billion dollar bailout buffet. Another another explanation: all those NAIAS unveils cost big bucks and sap a lot of time from execs’ scheds. Occam’s razor that.

Welcome! I don’t know how you managed to separate yourself from the merry makers in your midst, but we aim to provide you with a little late December diversion. Today’s car-related entertainment comes to you via Google Earth and a TTAC commentator, who suggested we have a gander at the abandoned airfield at Downsview Park, Ontario. Sure enough, there’s a line of new but definitely uinsold cars parked in rows on the runway, ready for… winter. We’ve been saying for some time that new cars are stacking-up like cordwood. So, where’s Waldo? Please add new manufacturer car lot locations below.

Osamu Suzuki has seen it all. The 78 year old patriarch was 15 when WW II ended. He has seen and successfully overcome the oil shocks of the 1970s and a number of other major business hardships during his career. Suzuki is not ready to retire. Actually, he took on another job: Two weeks ago, Suzuki’s President and Chief Operating Officer Hiroshi Tsuda asked to step down “for health reasons.”  Suzuki, Chairman of Suzuki Motor Corp., decided not to replace Tsuda and took his job. Today, the Nikkei (sub) had a little chat with Osamu Suzuki. What they heard wasn’t pretty:

“We have not hit bottom yet,” says Suzuki.  “There is a time lag between what is happening with the Big Three U.S. carmakers and the impact that will have in Japan. It is as if tsunami waves are rolling toward Japanese shores. I believe a real wave will hit us around July or August next year, with car sales hitting rock bottom.” Asked, what management should do when it finds itself in a crisis, Suzuki has a simple answer:

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The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is – and soon was – an Anglo-German sports car jointly developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive. The standard version of the little critter would set you back just half a mil. If you want one, then better hurry: Production of the SLR will cease in June 2009.

Or, if you want an extra special SLR, and have a little more discretionary cash sitting around, wait until June 2009, because the SLR will go out with a bang. According to the London Telegraph, Mercedes and McLaren will celebrate the death of a legend with “an exclusive SLR inspired by British motor racing legend, Stirling Moss. Only 75 will be made, each costing €750,000 .” At today’s rate, that’s just a little bit over $1m.  So for only twice the price you will get … not even a front window.

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China is sick and tired of the bad crash test rap their cars receive abroad. Many of them, a few years ago, were really bad. To remedy this, China established their own Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) in Tianjin, which smashes new cars for a living. The standard they use is the Chinese New Car Assessment Program, or C-NCAP. According to China Daily, C-NCAP “is similar to Euro-NCAP.”

Gasgoo reports now that “China’s domestically made cars are making progress in terms of safety.” Homegrown Chery A3 (shown in the video) and SAIC’s sortof homegrown Roewe 550 received five stars at CATARC. Six stars would be best, and so far, only one, the Hongqi, received top honors earlier this year.

Amongst the joint ventures, the China-made Mercedes-Benz C200, and FAW-VW’s New Bora also received five stars.

The Chinese are quick studies: In the two years the center has been in operations, the proportion of five-star cars rose from a horrendously low 8.3 percent in 2006 to 36 percent in 2007 and to 46 percent in 2008. Still, in 2008, more than 30 percent of all tested models limped out of the testing lab with only two or three-stars.

Now, “similar to Euro-NCAP” isn’t “same as.” The devil is in the details, especially in crash testing. We’ll see how they fare with a Euro-NCAP, which will be much tougher in 2009.

A short overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. For the next two weeks, WAS will be filed from Tokyo.

Japan’s auto production in the dumps: Production of cars, trucks and buses in Japan fell 20.4 percent on year in November, marking the second straight month of falls, the Nikkei (sub) writes, Vehicle output declined to 854,171 vehicles in the month from 1,072,519 vehicles a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said. Japanese domestic vehicle demand in November totaled 368,884 units, down 18.2 percent from a year earlier. Japanese exports of passenger cars contracted by 19.5 percent.

Joe Isuzu gets a haircut: Isuzu announced temporary pay cuts for all 8,000 domestic full-time employees in response to a steep decline in auto and truck sales, The Nikkei (sub) writes. Executives will get 30 percent less starting in January. Manager-level employees will see 10 percent less from spring. For rank-and-file workers, Isuzu will propose to its labor union as early as the beginning of next year a several-percent reduction in base wages that could begin as early as April. The Nikkei: “While the pay cuts would be temporary, they could last a year or longer.”

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I know the following letter, first published in the Park Rapids [Minnesota] Enterprise, contains some highly contentious attacks on The Big 2.8 and slurs upon the United Auto Workers. It’s also a bit lacking in the factuality department. But I’m republishing it because I believe the miffed missive mailer represents more than one consumer’s antipathy towards the domestic automakers. If the broad strokes painted here are in any way reflective of a segment of the car-buying public, if that sentiment swells as longtime D2.8 critics become more vocal and visible, well, it’s an abandoned airfield full of not good. And if GM, Chrysler and then Ford belly-up to the bailout buffet for yet more billions, they could well be evoking the law of diminishing returns. (Or endless socialism.) After all, at some point, they have to sell cars to someone.

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* Automobile Magazine – All Star Award
* Texas Auto Writers – Overall CUV of the Year
* Texas Auto Writers – Full Size CUV of the Year
* Canadian Auto Writers – CUV of the Year
* Society of Plastic Engineers – Team of the Year
* Popular Mechanics – Automotive Excellence Awards
* Autobytel – Best Family Car
* Autotropolis – 2009 Truck of the Year
* Autobytel – Utility Vehicle of the Year
* GQ Magazine – Best Stuff of the Year Awards
* SEMA Design Award from the Auto Writers – Most Accessory Friendly SUV
* Maxim Magazine – Hottest Cars of the Summer
* Kelley Blue Book – 10 Best Road Trip vehicle
* Maxim Magazine – Favorite new Color – Cinnamon
* Car and Driver – SEMA Show Surprisingly Good Canvas Award
* Maxim Magazine – Ultimate Road Trip Car
* Active Network – Active Lifestyle Vehicle of the Year
* Gay Men Magazine – Top Retro Flagship

There’s a reason why the Pulitzer Prize committee gave Dan Neil kudos, and it ain’t ’cause his hair stylist saw Eraserhead a few times too many. The LA Times carmudgeon’s eco-friendly posture can be a bit of a bore. And there are times when Neil geeks out but good. But there are columns where Neil drops it like he’s hot. His commentary on the symbolism of the 1972 Gran Turino in the movie Gran Torino is a prose poem that will, Samuel Johnson-like, stand the test of time (unlike the POS upon which the column and movie are based). “1972 was in many ways an inflection point for the U.S. automakers, the year that Detroit’s mighty cylinders began to seize. The Big Three would never again be as comfortable, and arrogant, and solipsistic, as they were then. The following year’s OPEC oil embargo sent them reeling. It was this generation of cars, which almost seemed to radiate contempt for their buyers, that drove Americans into the embrace of Japanese automakers when they came. It was this generation of carmakers, and indeed the one that came after, that failed to answer the challenges of an increasingly competitive global market. That failure took Detroit — a once-beautiful city of broad avenues and majestic public spaces — straight to hell.” Make the jump for Neil’s Talking Heads-style conclusion.

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Cerberus is the highly secretive private equity company that owns Chrysler, the ailing American automaker that just scored $4b from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Cerberus also owns 51 percent of lender GMAC (soon to be less) and all of Chrysler Financial Services. And a lot of Burger Kings. Anyway, The New York Daily News reports today that “Cerberus says it will invest the first $2 billion of Chrysler Financial profits back into the financing arm’s parent automaker.” WHAT PROFITS? This horseshit comes hard on the heels of Cerberus pledge not to take any profit on Uncle Sam’s forthcoming $4b “investment” in Chrysler. WHAT PROFIT? CEO “Boot ’em Bob” Bob Nardelli and his golden parachuted pals want us to believe that Chrysler is determined to become a profitable automaker. Is there anyone who actually believes that? FYI, make the jump for Cerberus’ reason why Uncle Sam must boldy go where the equity firm fears to tread.

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