The mainstream media has finally discovered that America’s Motown-based automakers are in dire straits. (Was it the bailouts?) The Detroit-based automotive media are in full counter-insurgency mode, scouring the autoblogosphere for stories that say “SEE! They’re in trouble, too!” When Toyota recently secured bank financing, cries of “Bailout! Bailout!” echoed throughout the Motor City. And now Automotive News [sub] seizes on the Automotive Lease Guide’s [ALG] revised depreciation stats for proof that GM and ChryCo are not alone. “Toyota’s residuals take a dive” AN’s headline proclaims. “Not only are Toyota Division’s new-vehicle sales plunging, but so are residual values on its used cars and trucks. That is depriving Toyota of one of its best marketing tools: the healthy residuals the brand long has been able to brag about.” Uh-oh. Hang on. Context?

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At least that’s the latest media meme…

Imagine you’re looking for a $41k imported sports sedan. You want something fun to drive. Sayonara Lexus. You were traumatized by an orthodontist. Aloha to Acura’s tin grin TL. You appreciate the difference between having it and flaunting it. Auf wiedersehen BMW and Mercedes. That leaves the Audi A4 3.2 Audi and Infiniti G37 6MT. Oddly enough, I recently sampled those two exact cars. Funny how these things work out.

Blogging Stocks pulls no punches. The site leaves GM with a black eye, calling the company a “portfolio killer.”

This is a ridiculous company with an even more ridiculous management group. General Motors'(NYSE: GM) cars are mediocre, its union contracts are incredibly extravagant in a brutally competitive industry, and management seems to think we are still in the 1950s.

Recently, the company’s auditors raised even more concerns about the automaker’s ability to survive without more loans from the government.

GM’s own forecast assumes survival based on a car market that is larger in 2013 than it was in 2006. Yeah, right.

True shareholder value: zero

Ultra luxury cars are cheap. Not for folks like you and me, obviously, but the Maybach’s target market, for example, consider their wheels one of their lesser expenses. Especially when you compare the cost of a car—any car—to, say, a Gulfstream IV (which is such a guilty pleasure these days). Not to mention (please!) divorce. For players at this level, a Quattroporte is still small beer. Even so, I reckon Joe Walsh nailed it when he sang, “My Maserati does 185; I lost my license, now I don’t drive.” For those wealthy people legally obliged to sit in the back of the bus, or simply prefer to be driven, LCW Automotive presents a little personal Obama-mania. Tacky? Yes. And?

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This time last year, TTAC was paying its writers $25 per blog item and $200 per editorial/review. Compared to “real” websites, it was a pittance. In absolute terms, we were spending some $14k per month feeding the beast. When the ad money started to dry up, I was forced to reduce payments to $5 and $50. Now that money’s too tight to mention, our total editorial budget is zero. Nada. Niente. Aside from and including my work as a salaryman, all the content that you read here is a labor of love. It’s important for you to know because A) Respect to all our contributors, who’ve agreed to carry on because they love writing and believe in this site’s mission and B) Our writers and commentators are, once again, on equal footing. Yes. I realize that you, our Best and Brightest, add value to this site without financial compensation. So I want to formally express my eternal thanks to both writers and commentators for putting food on my table– especially during these dark days for the industry we love. I promise to reinstate our editorial budget as soon as possible. Someday, TTAC will pay top dollar for top talent. Until then, props to all of those who use this website to tell the truth about cars.

We shouldn’t read too much into meetings such as those of the G20. Even G8 confabs usually produce nothing other than nice announcements. Finance ministers of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union met this weekend in Horsham, England.

According to Bloomberg, the meeting produced the not too unexpected pledges of a sustained effort to end the global recession. The U.S. called for more spending. The Europeans called for restraint. The usual solution was a joint decision to monitor further developments closely. But there were undertones that could signal the end of wholesale bailouts.

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I’ve been been having a “difference of opinion” with my step-daughter’s fifth-grade teachers. For some reason, they decided to give Sasha homework deadlines and let her sort out her own schedule. Unfortunately, no one taught her self-directed, off-site time management. Not surprisingly, except for the deadline itself, Sasha’s “planner” was empty. She had no idea how long each assignments would take. She couldn’t prioritize her work, or organize her home life. Mind you, she had goals: finish her homework, get good grades, make it to middle school. But she didn’t have a workable plan. Remind you of anyone?

That’s the annual Peach State tax on cars. So eliminating it’s a good thing, right? As someone who can’t find their way around a calculator, I depend on The Atlanta Journal Constitution to tell me if the proposed elimination of a yearly property tax on autos works is a good thing or a bad thing. Only I’ve read the article and I’m still not sure.

Backers of a state House plan to ax the annual birthday tax on cars are confident most Georgians support what they’re doing.

But the bill they passed Thursday, which replaces the current taxes on cars with a big one-time title fee, is getting mixed reviews. Gov. Sonny Perdue, who would have to sign any birthday tax legislation lawmakers approve, said Friday that parts of the plan appeared “convoluted.”

“I’m still trying to digest the purposes of that, of how it all would work,” the governor said.

Not to coin a phrase, no shit.

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As you’d probably guess (if it was in the least bit important), I’ve set up a a fair few email alerts to keep my finger on the pulse of the autoblogosphere. “Nissan” usually renders unto me four or five stories on some electric vehicle they’ll never make and a review or two of a Z car. This is the first time I’ve seen a link called “more news from your region.” While Levittown isn’t exactly my region (off by 252 miles), I was happy to see that no item is too small for Google’s news spiders. And that, for once during these dark days for the auto biz, I linked to a story with a happy ending. Of course, one wonders who in their right mind would bother reporting that they were almost the victim of a crime. And whether or not the police asked the citizen involved whether or not they take Ambien CR.

Attempted theft from vehicle

500 block Old Street Rd., Trevose, 10:30 p.m. Mon-9 a.m. Tue, entered unlocked Nissan Altima in driveway, items thrown on floor, nothing of value removed.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

The Right Honorary Lord Mandelson, her Majesty’s Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, is preparing to give £2K (€2160) to UK citizens who scrap their old car and buy a new one, London’s Times reports.

“Under the proposed stimulus package, drivers would be able to turn in their car, which must be at least nine years old, and get a £2,000 discount on the purchase of any new or one-year-old car bought at a dealership in Britain. The motorists would have to deliver their old vehicles to one of a number of car recycling plants and receive a confirmation certificate. They would present this to a car dealer and get the government-funded £2,000 discount. Motorists would be able to purchase any brand of car.”

The British “scrappage scheme” sounds very much like the German Abwrackprämie, except that it pays a few hundred Euro less, and also has a little less red tape attached to it. The two could be twins . . .

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Ford Motor Co.’s compensation committee has granted CEO Alan Mulally the option to buy five million shares. Of Ford. “It’s part of our long-term incentive plan to tie compensation to the performance of the company and the performance of the shares for investors,” Ford spokesman Mark Truby told Reuters. Or wrote in a press release. Or something. Big Al’s “strike price”: $1.96. The Blue Oval’s current share price at close of play Friday (as seen on TTAC stock tracker): $2.19. “Mulally may exercise one-third of the options a year from now, two-thirds after two years and all of them by March 2012. The options expire in March 2019.” And become worthless the moment Ford files for bankruptcy. So don’t expect Alan to see C11 as a viable option—even if GM and Chrysler go through that door first. Meanwhile, Big Al scored 136,005 shares of restricted stock and took a 30 percent haircut for 2008 and 2009. Reuters forgot to mention the bottom line on that: $1.4M p.a.. But don’t worry. In ’07, Mulally’s total take home—and we’re just talking about salary for one year—was a cool $21,670,674.

Friday the 13^th was a bad day for GM Europe, and by extension Opel, Vauxhall, and Saab. Ministers of eleven European countries where GM has a presence met in Brussels to decide what to do about the ailing American automaker’s foreign empire. First, they listened to reports by Frederick “Fritz” Henderson, COO of GM, and Carl-Peter Forster, CEO of GM Europe. Then, they decided to do nothing. Even more disconcerting for GM, the ministers decided that no country should do anything to bailout GM unilaterally. “There will be no rescue measures on a national level without prior European coordination,” reports Automobilwoche [sub]. And as if this wasn’t bad enough . . .
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Robert, I am a musician living in New York City since 1997. I have owned a car here since day one, and need one to move my drums around. Since I was a boy I’ve been pretty well obsessed with all kinds of cars, starting with my older brother’s ’68 Mustang, and it seems to just be getting worse with time. Of course I visit TTAC every day, as well as other blogs and forums, and have stacks of car magazines and books at home. My private shame is that the car I own is the beige ’99 Camry LE I bought from, ahem, my mom six years ago. In fact every car I have owned in NYC the last twelve years has been some kind of boring, base model 4-door sedan that blends into the NYC scenery like a dirty paper coffee cup on the sidewalk. With the exception of a too-short ownership of a ’71 Dodge Dart a couple years ago, my own Truth About Cars has been about as fun as getting a parking ticket. At this point, time is passing too quickly and I need to get a car to drive that doesn’t feel like putting on a wet pair of socks every day. I am asking for some advice for what you think (and maybe your colleagues) I should look for that would meet the following criteria:

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