I reckon it’s a nonsensical question. Again, President Obama’s new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations are nothing more than fantasy pandering. By the time the feds factor in ethanol and (inevitable) electric vehicle credits, calculate the “footprint” requirements (per given vehicle type and size), average those out across a given manufacturer’s fleet, and do the hokey-cokey, the CAFE standards will look like swiss cheese. Just like the current ones. In fact, I think it’s awesome that the MSM got so worked-up—in a gloating sort of way—about EPA CAFE. Holy smokes! The industry doesn’t oppose federally mandated fuel efficiency? Motown’s CEOs were in the Rose Garden for the announcement? Despite this media love fest, USA Today just couldn’t resist ye olde “Safety could suffer if we boost mileage by making cars smaller” shtick. Hey, how ’bout these apples?
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A member of our Best and Brightest spotted this letter to the editor on the American Thinker website. While plenty of industry watchers could have seen ChryCo’s meltdown coming—DID see it coming—it’s still a failure with a human face. And here it is.
My name is George C. Joseph. I am the sole owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu, a family owned and operated business in Melbourne, Florida. My family bought and paid for this automobile franchise 35 years ago in 1974. I am the second generation to manage this business.
We currently employ 50+ people and before the economic slowdown we employed over 70 local people. We are active in the community and the local chamber of commerce. We deal with several dozen local vendors on a day to day basis and many more during a month. All depend on our business for part of their livelihood. We are financially strong with great respect in the market place and community. We have strong local presence and stability.
I work every day the store is open, nine to ten hours a day. I know most of our customers and all our employees. Sunshine Dodge is my life.
Despite early indications that the Obama Administration did not want to follow the toll road policies of the previous administration, the US Department of Transportation is spending millions in federal taxpayer dollars to encourage states to impose tolls on new and existing roads. On Monday, the DOT published formal rules for states interested in applying to receive $1.5 billion in federal tax grants under the new “Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery” program. “TIGER discretionary funding will open up the door to many new innovative and cutting-edge transportation projects,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
Well, not officially. Officially, I’d be extremely surprised if GM doesn’t follow decades of precedent and save its ultimate bad news for either Friday (the 29th of May) or the weekend (a Sunday electronic filing). That said, the practice was designed to give the markets the weekend not to flip out about the latest red ink tsunami, fire sale, asset sale, etc. By now the market couldn’t give a shit, knowing as it does that General Motors stock is about to be completely worthless. Still, a new GM filing with the SEC [full press release after the jump] reveals that The General will report the failure to secure “debt reduction agreements” with the UAW and bondholders on May 27. Once that’s done, well, it’s all over bar the shouting.
I’ve just purchased a Pontiac G8 GT. Sport red metallic with every option. I paid too much (even though it was a below-invoice deal). The car just begged me to buy it. Yep, car guys make the dumbest deals when it comes to their own personal transportation. And I love it. I will drive the wheels off this car, and enjoy every torque-rich moment. But enough about me. Now about Pontiac, and GM. With less than 11 days to go before what was once the largest corporation in the world files for bankruptcy, with the Pontiac brand disappearing (what exactly is a “niche” brand anyways?), the G8 GT is a reminder of what could have and should have been. But is it also an indication of what will be? And is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I realized I was airborne when my steering inputs had no effect on the direction of my Carrera. At the point the ass-engine configured rocketship started its atmospheric re-entry, several things went through my mind. If the rear-end breaks loose, do I keep my foot down? What happens if I lose it? Am I going to crash? When the rear tires made contact with terra-nurburg, and I was able to counter steer in a brilliant fashion (what really happened was Porsche Active Stability Management once again made me a driving god), all thoughts of impaling my Porker into the Armco ceased,. Once again, I was driving the dream and having the time of my life on the most legendary driving circuit in the world, the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Wednesday, May 20th 2009. Final deadline for anybody who’s seriously interested in taking over Opel. Today, concrete and final plans and bids must be presented to GM and the German government in Berlin. Today, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Economy Minister Guttenberg, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück und Minister of Labor Olaf Scholz are meeting in Berlin to decide next steps, Automobilwoche [sub] writes. GM emissaries from Detroit are also standing by in Berlin to check the bids, Handelsblatt learned.
A bridge loan, estimated at €2 billion, has already been arranged. Condition: There needs to be a viable partner, and GM needs to agree to the German trustee model, which hasn’t been met with a lot of applause in Detroit. But they are running out of time and money at RenCen. When GM goes bankrupt by the end of the month, and no Opel deal is closed, all bets are off. Only two bidders seem to stand a chance in Berlin:
While sales of hybrids and plugins languish in the US, and are, for all intents and purposes, non-existent in Europe, in Japan, “the popularity of Honda Motor Co.’s Insight hybrid and the even greater popularity of Toyota Motor Corp.’s new Prius highlights that eco-friendly models are one of the few bright spots for automakers,” the Nikkei [sub] reports.
According to the Nikkei, “Honda’s Insight hybrid, released in February, became the best-selling model among all passenger cars, excluding minivehicles, in April.” Sales will heat up further after Toyota unveiled their third-generation Prius on Monday.
(Read More…)
One hundred billion dollars. Small change? Not even for Bill Gates. For $100 billion you could give 400,000 students an Ivy League education. If we’re talking about a quality state education, we’re looking at closer to two million graduates. That’s absolutely massive. Amazing . . . and think of our long-term GDP growth? Now consider our current spending on Detroit Inc.
Reuters is reporting that GM’s bankruptcy plan is just like Chrysler’s . . . only without the Italian middleman. “A quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government,” is how the Reuters source puts it. “Bad GM” would linger in bankruptcy to help pay off claims. Meanwhile, the $15.4 billion we (the taxpayers) have already given GM will be “forgiven.” Not literally, of course, but GM won’t be paying taxpayers back. A new BOD will be set up with “the tacit approval of the government,” but Fritz Henderson is said to be staying as GM’s CEO. How long does the government plan on owning GM? What’s the endgame? Why are GM secured bondholders being paid off while Chrysler’s were demonized? Details are still emerging, but nothing answers these or a million other questions yet. Stand by.
Two new Nissan GTRs were some of the first sales to be recorded after the UK introduced its clunker-rebate scheme yesterday. “Buyers pounced within five hours of the initiative starting this morning,” reported Autotrader.co.uk. Britain’s scrappage incentive offers about $3K per scrapped ten-years-or-older vehicle, but unlike other EU nations, Britain did not place carbon emission limits on qualifying new cars. Because, as Autotrader points out, proponents of the bill worked with the assumption that rising efficiency averages means all new cars are less polluting than the vehicles they would replace. Nissan’s GTR emits 298g/km of CO2, earning it a spot in Britain’s most-polluting tax band. We can only hope our own eventual scrappage rebate will be vulnerable to similar abuse.
Here’s a genuine milestone car. This Mercedes W108 began the lineage of modern S Series cars, which took its maker to the pinnacle of the global luxury sedan market. In the US, it single handedly broke the backs of Cadillac and Lincoln. A youthful ride in one left me permanently altered. And it all started with this somewhat modest but exquisite 250S. A couple of more milestones: this is the first Curbside Classic car owned by a TTAC reader, and it marks my two-hundredth car deemed interesting enough to photograph. Oh, and this is CC number thirteen. Many milestones indeed.
After all the interest in identifying the old Mazda junkyard pickup last week, we’re going to start a regular contest, called Curbside Classic Preview Contest. You’ll get a snippet of the upcoming CC feature. No prizes yet, but we’re working on that. On your mark . . .
Bloomberg is all over Bill Reinert’s presentation to a National Academy of Sciences panel today in Washington. And why not? Toyota’s US national manager for advanced technology says plug-in hybrid vehicles are a non-starter. “Toyota estimates sales of hybrids that can be recharged at household outlets may be 50,000 units a year at most and could be as few as 3,500.” Not expressed: those kind of numbers wouldn’t even pay the HVAC bill for the building where Chevy engineers are busy trying to cobble together the new plug-in electric/gas hybrid Volt. Reinert’s not dancing on the Volt’s grave, but that’s only because it’s not dead. Yet. But the signs—admittedly as provided by the vehicle’s competitors—are not good.
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