Ford’s press release lays down markers for its electric powered vehicle offerings. First up, an all electric version of the Transit Connect small commercial vehicle for 2010. But wait, the Electric Transit Connect is actually the work of Smith Electric Vehicles, a UK based company which has been re-powering conventional commercial vehicles for years. No surprise then that Ford’s Electric Transit Connect looks and specs out just like Smith’s “Ampere” (pdf). This makes Ford’s PR spin a bit hard to swallow when they say: “The initiative leverages the “One Ford” global strategy, delivering pure battery electric power for commercial applications on a global platform.” Slapping your name on someone else’s work must be the newest definition of “One Ford.” Further on, Ford is promising a full electric small car for 2011 and its Volt-zapping plug-in hybrid fin 2012. One can only hope the promised “full electric small car” doesn’t have the name Zap hidden under it somewhere.

Kicking Tires has apparently been curious about yet another potential pitfall of the Volt’s Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) design: gasoline aging. If gas sits in the Volt’s fuel system for an extended period while its owner stays within the EV range, will it degrade over time and harm the gas engine performance? That’s what KT asked GM alt-energy poobah Britta Gross, and guess what? Her answer wasn’t wildly convincing! Writes KT’s Kelsey Mays “It’s certainly a concern, Gross said, but it shouldn’t be a problem: The Volt’s system stirs fuel in the tank about once a month to fight fuel-system buildup. At most, ‘it’s a minor impact on performance and emissions,’ she said.” Unconvinced, May took the query to Volt spokesman Dave Darovitz. “I wish I could talk about it,” he said, “but we will have solutions in place to address the aging-gasoline situation. It’s a great problem to have . . . [and] the engineers are addressing that situation.” Darovitz says the issue came up in product planning, and that GM wasn’t disclosing its workaround for “competitive reasons.” Not that consumers need convincing, or anything.

The developed nations of the world have all seen local car demand drop by about a third in recent months and are scrambling to save the home teams. For example, France’s Sarkozy, despite his supposed “center-right” political leanings, is but one of many national politicians speaking in protectionist terms: “We want to stop factories from relocating abroad, and if possible bring them back home.” Despite grumblings and mumblings from the WTO, EU and other multi-national pseudo-governments, little can be done to stop the instinct amongst the nations to take care of their own first. Hence, a rolling thunder of loans, grants, clunker scraping bills and so on; all designed to keep as many people on the home team going to work as possible. Be prepared, this storm is only just getting going. Here’s your latest Bailout Scorecard (PDF).

The General Motors spin-off of Delphi which never really was, isn’t. Today’s Wall Street Journal [sub] has another “people involved in the negotiations”-sourced story claiming that these latest moves are all “part of a strategy to qualify for additional government loans”. Delphi has never really been an independent company from the start. The obvious reason of course is that GM provides the vast majority of Delphi’s business. But more than that, GM is on the hook for Delphi’s pension costs, has paid the price for voluntary separations at Delphi and has repeatedly been the source of bailout bucks for Delphi. Considering that “since 2005, GM has poured in $11.7 billion to help sustain the company,” they might as well just call it the Delphi Division. But how do federal bailout dollars get wrapped up in this mess?

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The Freep reports that GM will not be offering the customary buyout offers to its white-collar employees as it seeks to cut its salaried ranks by double digit percentages. Huh? The General’s offering its UAW workers $20k and a $25k car voucher to bugger off. Turns out GM’s bailout agreement with the government prohibits the ailing automaker from using GM’s pension fund to pay for those kiss-off packages– as it has done in the past. Specifically, the loan states that “the prohibitions on benefit increases under this covenant include… a prohibition on the creation or… payment of any obligations associated with any plant shutdowns, permanent layoffs, attrition programs or other workforce-reduction programs after the effective date.” And guess what? With the pension fund piggy bank cut off, there’s nowhere else to get the money!

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I got to spend some face time with Kia’s Soul at the Portland Auto Show this weekend, and the more I see of it, the more I think it will be a solid hit. A slightly Americanized version of the Mk 1 Scion xB, the Soul seems to hit a small car sweet spot. It’s more spacious and flexible than an xD or Fit, without sacrificing style or efficiency (à la the current xB). And the quality will make you forget every bad Rio experience you’ve had. The only weak points to be found from a clamber around the stationary Soul are poor rear-quarter visibility (an epidemic problem among stylish small cars) and tiny, hard-to-read guages up front. Otherwise, it’s looking like small-car nirvana with houndstooth upholstery. Still, I’m not sure it means Kia should be seriously considering a production pickup version based on the Soulster Concept. And yet, according to Automotive News [sub], they are.

GM’s “different kind of car company” is furiously trying to forge a future amid plummeting sales and little outside interest in buying the brand.  Saturn’s Franchise Operations Team has been meeting with GM executives in hopes of creating some kind of strategy for the brand’s dealer network. According to Automotive News [sub] the options were narrowed down at a meeting last week, and after further refinement they should be presented to Saturn dealers later this week. When asked if this spelled the end for the Saturn name, Franchise Operations Team member Todd Ingersoll told AN “everything is fluid. You can’t commit to any option.” But he also indicates that “you don’t need four options to kill a brand.” So what’s really going on?

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Remember the “worst case sales scenario” in GM’s viability plan? It predicted 11.5m annual sales in the US. Unless a turnaround arrives sometime this year, there’s no chance that sales will hit that number. According to Automotive News [sub], annual sales expectations for 2009 have dropped to 9.8m units. But there’s still a surprising amount of unfounded optimism among Detroit’s spinners and marketing mavens. Specifically, Ford’s execs say that retail sales have “stabilized” over the past four months. Too bad, then, that they’ve stabilized at an abysmal rate of 8.5m units per year. “We’re heartened to see it stabilize — although stabilizing at an awful level,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. sales and marketing. Heartened? Seriously? But enough of the maudlin posturing. There are scapegoats to blame!

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Bloomberg reports that the rumors circulating around the autobologosphere are true: Uncle Sam “forgot” to put itself ahead of other creditors before writing $17.4b worth of “bridge loans” to Chrysler and GM. Of course, doing so would have rewritten bankruptcy law and pretty much turned the feds into something roughly akin to Chile in the copper-bottomed days of 1972. But, hey, the buffet must go on! “U.S. taxpayers currently take a backseat to prior creditors, including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to loan agreements posted on the U.S. Treasury’s Web site.” Doh! And so the government hired the flying Cadwaladers to correct that little problem, who’ve let it be known throughout the land that “If federal officials fail to get a consensual agreement to change their position regarding repayment, they have the option to force the companies into bankruptcy as a condition of more bailout aid.” Well, they had that option all along. Anyway, what are the chances that the people holding the paper at Chrysler and GM won’t let Uncle Sam go to the head of the [they hope] theoretical queue? Actually, a lot higher than you might think . . .

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GM Car Czar Bob Lutz is calling it quits at the end of the year. Or, as they like to say in the “here’s your golden parachute; see you in Aruba” RenCen echelons, Maximum Bob “will transition to a new role effective April 1, 2009, as Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor.” In other words, we still have MB to kick around until the end of the year or the end of GM, whichever comes first. GM CEO Rick Wagoner was effusive about Lutz’ contribution to the total destruction of GM’s brands—in his own entirely reserved way. “Bob Lutz was already a legendary automotive product guy when he rejoined GM in 2001,” Wagoner’s statement says. “He’s added to that by leading the creation of a string of award-winning vehicles for GM during his time here. His 46 years of experience in the global automotive business have been invaluable to us.” Love that “car guy” stuff. Now, for some more accountant-friendly info . . .

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Living in Breckenridge, Colorado, you need some sort of All-Wheel Drive setup. Snow remains the small town’s primary reason to exist. This explains the multitudes of Subarus, Audis, Volvos, and SUVs all equipped with four wheel motivation. Most drive away blissfully unaware of how recent this feature came to market (as little as 27 years ago). In 1980, Audi introduced the first permanently engaged all-wheel drive system in the Audi Quattro. Prior to this, all vehicles had a part-time system where only two wheels were driven most of the time, requiring driver intervention should the going get slippery. Audi changed all this by putting one driveshaft inside the other, saving space and weight and making it possible for a complex, permanently engaged system to function on a small car. Vorsprung durch Technik, baby!

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A US Department of Transportation study released last month shows that thousands of Americans (documented or otherwise) are injured or killed each year in vehicle-related accidents unrelated to driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) “Not in Traffic Surveillance – 2007 Highlights” study reveals that a total of of 1747 fatalities and 841k injuries were attributed to non-traffic crashes and non-crash incidents. The agency compiled the annual estimates to provide the first-ever look at the magnitude of accidents that cannot be resolved with a new law enforced with traffic citations. Among the findings: 168 individuals are killed each year by falling vehicles. Another 88 peg it by falling out of a car. Electric windows reduce the gene pool by five unlucky souls, and three die while locked in the trunk. About 22 percent of injuries are caused while entering or exiting a vehicle. Twenty percent of injuries are caused by car doors. Some 10k end up in ER after getting jiggy with jacks or hoists. The NHTSA compiled the information from a number of sources including police reports, hospital records and an injury database maintained by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In January, China’s auto sales for the first time in history exceeded America’s, making China the world’s largest auto market for the month. As we said, sooner than later, China is bound to outclass the US of A solidly. Xu Changming, director of China’s economic consultative center under the State Information Center, thinks that it is quite possible that China will overtake the United States as the World No.1 car market for all of 2009: “Chinese auto sales are expected to grow 4 percent to 5 percent from 9.38 million units sold last year, more than the estimated 9 million unit sales in the U.S. this year.”

“But this figure is not something we should feel proud of since the U.S. was just plunged into an economic recession,” Xu warns according to Gasgoo. “Once the recession ends, America can retake the sales crown by selling 16 million–17 million vehicles annually.” So even if China takes the crown this year, they might lose it, and then “China still needs at least four to five years to eventually catch up with the U.S. in the auto sales total,” said Xu. And he has reason for caution . . .
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“In the true spirit of the Ferrari racing team, the Acer Ferrari 1200 notebook combines powerful performance and extreme portability with the excellence of design. From the choice of materials to the smallest detail, the Ferrari 1200 conveys the look and feel of a F1 racecar. The carbon-fibre cover, a material actually used in racecars, is lighter yet stronger than magnesium alloy, making the Ferrari 1200 the perfect travel companion. Unique ventilation design echoes the exhaust pipes of F1 cars and the anodized-metal touchpad resembles the brake and acceleration pedals of a Ferrari car. A tasteful wave pattern embellishes the cover, while the soft-touch coating and the velvety texture of the interior ensure ergonomic comfort.” See? Now that’s funny. [thanks to Autoblog, without whom we’d know nothing of bodacious auto-brandation]