As the Motown meltdown rushes towards its not-so-final denouement, a clear meme is emerging: blame the bankers. Last week, Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes suggested that Americans will finger Wall Street suits for Chrysler’s collapse. It was an odd not-to-say-jarring proposition—given that Chrysler’s management has done just about everything it could do destroy the automaker’s rep save impregnating car seats with swine flu. Ditto GM. And there’s a darker side to this idea, which I’ve previously resisted mentioning. I believe this line of thinking raises the specter of ye olde “international Jewish banking conspiracy.” I know, I know. Call me a paranoid fantasist (I’ve been called worse). But try reading this Automotive News “analysis” from an anti-Semite’s perspective: “The debate over the U.S. government’s bid to reshape the American auto industry through bankruptcy comes down to this: the spreadsheets of a handful of former investment bankers pitted against the street sense of thousands of U.S. auto dealers fighting to survive.”
China’s Geely denied “its new top-of-the-line car was a copy of a Rolls-Royce, but the world renowned luxury brand said it was keeping its options open about taking legal action,” reports Gasgoo. At the Shanghai Auto Show, Geely showed their Geely GE—an abomination on wheels that looks like a spitting image of a holdover from the stone age, the Rolls Royce Phantom. The story is the talk of blogoville, so we spare you the gory details. Depending on who does the writing and their proficiency in fractional math, the price of the Phantom-twin is either “one sixth lower than” or “one sixth of” the original. Discount Rollers—most likely a reaction to Farago’s article on class warfare.
While “we-are-reviewing-all-our-options” BMW (owner of Roller) is talking to their lawyers, Geely is talking to the press. But not in a smart way.
Newsflash: the United Kingdom has just raised their top tax rate from 40 to 50 percent. That’s before (after?) the country’s 17.5 percent VAT on virtually everything a resident buys—save petrol, alcohol, cigarettes and other items covered by “sin taxes,” which are WAY higher. And council tax. And the rest. Which includes the tax on new car purchases. For company director types, that little item was calculated at 35 percent for the first £80K. After that, nada. But now, it’s 35 percent on the whole schmeer: the complete purchase price. The Times reports that “The move left some luxury-car makers fuming, in particular Bentley, which is owned by Volkswagen but has its factory in Crewe.”
You may have noticed that TTAC hasn’t joined the MSM’s celebration of Ford’s Q1 financial report. While FoMoCo didn’t lose as much money as analysts predicted—“only” dropping $1.4 billion in Q1—danger lurks around every corner. For one thing, the “it wasn’t as bad as everyone expected” rejoicing represents exactly the same logic GM deployed as it slouched towards Bethlehem. Look how well that turned out. For another, as we also pointed out during GM’s Long March to C11, you can’t cut your way to profits. At some point, Ford’s going to have to build something the North American car market really really wants. The forthcoming Transit van, turbo’ed Taurus, Fusion, etc. ain’t it. Fiesta? I wouldn’t don those sombreros just yet.
The 1992 Volvo 740 had more broken plastic pieces than Joan Rivers (if she hit a brick wall in an Aveo). Grandma had let three generations of family use and abuse it. Bless their hearts. They all made an indelible imprint on it. Split rear seats of leather and cloth. Driver’s side window tucked away in the glovebox. Did I mention the jungle gym activities of the young’uns making the rear seats almost useless? Well Grandma was still awesome with the maintenance. Regular oil changes, a light foot, services in all the right places and, wow . . . original Volvo tape deck. This wagon may have looked like old Eurotrash, but it was still young at heart thanks to Grandma—and the rust-free climate of Atlanta. After the jump, the 2000 Dodge Caravan.
SEATTLE – Lamborghinis may be faster out of the gate, but it appears that Hyundai SUVs may have the edge when it comes to braking, at least in one instance. Motorist Kelly Davis snapped this picture of a traffic accident on Interstate 5 near Seattle Monday morning. The Hyundai Santa Fe hit the brakes in traffic, and the Lamborghini behind it wasn’t able to stop that quickly, sliding under the Hyundai. No one was hurt in the accident.
Yes, well, someone’s pride sure got dinged. [Thanks to Don1967 for the link]
Ah, the suspense of a spaghetti western: Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press and sales chief Steve Landry told U.S. dealers on a conference call to hold their breath until they turn blue because “the automaker expected talks aimed at clinching an alliance with Italy’s Fiat to run all the way to an April 30 government-imposed deadline,” says Reuters.
In the meantime, Fiat’s bid for Opel is running into a phalanx of counter-fire and looks deader by the minute. According to Das Autohaus, the powerful metal workers union is “strictly against” Fiat. Also the Opel dealers are not enthused: “We want a strong partner for Opel, and that’s not Fiat” said Thomas Bieling of the Opel Dealer Council. Opel Supervisory board member Schild has compared Opel and Fiat to “two sick parents” who would not create a viable ensemble.
Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is fed up with the state of Illinois for issuing toll road photo tickets and collection notices to innocent drivers in her state. Swanson yesterday fired off a 75-page complaint to the Illinois Tollway, the Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D). Swanson enumerated the problems Minnesotans described when calling her office for help:
Until a few weeks ago, Porsche’s Wiedeking and his CFO, Holger Härter, were feted as the masters of the universe and Jesus Christ rolled into two. After pulling off the impossible feat of showing more profits than sales twice in a row, the two were said to be able of walking on water while turning it in to wine. Now, they are busy updating their résumés. Or maybe even their last wills.
One of our commentators recently asked why the Lincoln Town Car got so much love. It’s an ancient body-on-frame machine that floats like a hippo and stings like a slug. I’m not sure this video answers that question, but I bet some of our Best and Brightest can.
Corporations that stand to gain millions if the Florida legislature legalizes red light cameras have created a network of victim advocacy groups to promote their cause. Central to this effort is Melissa Wandall, founder of the Stop Red Light Running Coalition of Florida. Wandall became involved in the issue after a tragic red light running accident took the life of her husband Mark in 2003. Wandall now uses her status as a victim to travel the state and to lobby the legislature on behalf of red light cameras. Sympathetic newspapers frequently run her opinion pieces on the eve of important committee votes. Far from being a grassroots effort, however, Wandall’s group is part of a slick marketing campaign funded in large measure by the traffic camera industry.
Once again, we’re looking at a “historic” agreement between Detroit carmakers and their unions that’s not what it appears to be. In other words, window dressing. The Detroit Free Press gives us the skinny on the accord between the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and The Presidential Task Force on Automobiles—sorry, “Chrysler management.” And the bottom line is that the CAW is giving up its usual bupkis in exchange for the usual “get out of blame free” card re: the company’s evolution into extinction. “Among the benefits the CAW is giving up are a semi-private hospital room coverage, a $3,500 vacation buyout, tuition reimbursement and employee discounts to buy Chrysler vehicles. There are no immediate cuts to the union’s base wage or pension benefits. But Lewenza did agree to significant work rule changes, including reducing break times for meals and bathroom trips to 40 minutes per shift. Regarding the health care trust fund, Lewenza said there was much work still to do and he did not say when it would be implemented.”
And now, a word from the “whatever is is” department . . .
Buried in the Detroit Free Press story trumpeting the Canadian Auto Workers’ latest agreement with Chrysler: news that the Presidential Task Force on Automobiles (PTFOA) plans to split the zombie automaker into two.
“We’re living to fight another day,” [CAW Boss Ken] Lewenza said. “But the fear and uncertainty is not over. Not by a long shot.” Specifically, he said representatives of Chrysler and Fiat told him that if Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection next week, the company will be split into “a good company and a bad company. And the bad company would be sold off.”
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