Taking a page from Detroit’s auto plant parking lots, BMW has been putting notices on employee vehicles built by competing firms, reports Bloomberg. “What’s wrong here? You like working with us. You appreciate your job and income. But you drive a vehicle from a competitor,” read the notices signed by Ian Robertson, the company’s sales chief; Harald Krueger, BMW’s head of personnel, and Manfred Schoch, its top union representative. Some 7,000 German employees of BMW received the friendly reminders. “We wanted to raise awareness that our employees are part of the product and could actually drive BMW,” said Bilgeri. “It’s a totally normal marketing program.” Except that this is the first time BMW has ever targeted employee owners of competing brands in twenty years of marketing to its employees. BMW employees need not worry that their choice of cars will leave them out of a job, clarifies Hans Haumer, head of BMW’s Munich worker’s council. This is more of a guilt trip.

Source document available here.

This is a fun one. The UAW has made no-strike guarantees to Chrysler and GM as part of their restructuring deals. This makes a certain amount of sense, considering that the UAW’s VEBA trust holds significant portions of GM and Chrysler’s new equity. After all, it’s hard to both represent labor and look after your equity position at the same time. Ford, however, has not been generous enough to let the UAW have a chunk of its stock, and yet it feels as though it might be fair if the UAW were to make similar no-strike guarantees.

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GM’s dealer cull is taking flak from its flanks, as Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has launched a lawsuit to stay the bankrupt automaker’s quivering, zombie hand [download press release here]. In his letter to other state AGs asking for their support, Bruning is not happy with GM’s request that its dealers waive their rights under state law. Specifically, the bit that says “No law of any state or other jurisdiction [go Puerto Rico!], including any bulk sales law or similar law, shall apply in any way to the transactions contemplated by the 363 Transaction, the MPA, the Motion, or this Order.”

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Let us drive then, you and I, while the morning is spread out against the sky like a crash victim autopsied upon a table. Let us drive, up winding rain-slicked streets, the chattering traction control and sideways exits in too-narrow lanes . . . All apologies to T.S. Eliot, but what you are about to read can only be characterized as The Love Song of A Supercharged Viper. I was a fan of the 500-horsepower new-generation SRT-10 when it arrived in 2003, fell in love with the variable-cam 600-horsepower variant in 2008, and was utterly smitten by the final Viper ACR when I drove it at Chrysler’s proving grounds last year. With this 750-horsepower, ACR-inspired droptop, however, PRI has created the fastest rental car available in the United States, and that means it is interesting.

Imagine: You head down to your friendly AutoZone or Pep Boys. While you shop for the latest “guaranteed 10 horses more” K&N filter, and the Manager’s Special floormats all the way from Ningbo, China, your incredulous eyes stare at a sign: “New cars at shocker prices! More than 30 brands! Up to 35 percent off!”

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“We need to be able to make decisions faster.” Thus spake GM CEO Fritz Henderson to Automotive News [sub] at the National Business Summit yesterday. In what can only be termed a blinding flash of the almost obvious, he continued, “As part of the General Motors moving forward, you don’t normally think of us as speedy or fast, and that’s what we should be. But when you’re fast you do make mistakes. My view is if you’re slow, you make more mistakes. You just don’t notice it.” Huh? Anyway, what about organizational changes? What’s he waiting for?

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TTAC reader and marketing consultant John Charles of Stockholm, Sweden, was gracious enough to send us some more info on investor Mark Bishop, the man who would be king of Saab.

Hi, I read your very interesting piece on Mark Bishop and SAAB. However you (unintentionally, I imagine) missed out a few details. I have found out that Bishop was involved as President of the rather shady Quick Loan Funding. It is understandable that Bishop chooses not to mention his time at QLF in his CV.

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German PR people are my friends. This from abt:

A modern SUV must cut a good figure everywhere—and according to this motto, ABT Sportsline has successfully tuned the Audi models Q7 and Q5 as well as the VW Tiguan and Touareg. A particularly stylish element has now been added to the expressive, powerfully-dominant bodywork kits, which have been developed for the diverse quartet: the stainless steel ABT side step set. This silver design piece gives vehicles even more robust flair, without losing the overall elegant-sporty look. The integrated side steps are not just cool, and do not only perfectly fit the strong character of the Q7, Tiguan, Touareg and Q5, but they also offer maximum side protection against, for example, scratches. In addition the ABT side steps also increase the comfort when getting into the car, which makes sense for these comparatively high vehicles. On top of this the thorough cleaning of the windscreen is also made easier. And thanks to the anti-slip coating, secure footing is guaranteed.

Hmmm. One wonders about the veracity of LaNeve’s excuse for allowing “nearly” 60 dealers to avoid termination. Who created the “incorrect or inaccurately reported dealership financial data” upon which their second lease on life was—allegedly—based? Given that dealers fighting for their survival wouldn’t under-report their financial data, common sense suggestd GM’s auditors are responsible for the, dare I say it, mistake. So, how did GM screw it up for “nearly” 60 dealers? And surely that boner throws doubt on the rest of the dealer appraisals (view criteria here). Fuel for the fire for H.R. 2743. In short, GM is still run by the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. Make the jump for official dealer com from Dr. Death. [Thanks to you-know-who-you-are for the email.]

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The so-called “Cash for Clunkers” legislation demonstrates everything that’s wrong with a political process playing in the market arena. It’s legislation that will do little to improve car sales. But it will drive traffic to dealers – mostly credit bandits scurrying around trying to buy new cars they can’t really afford.

TTAC commentator Windswords writes:

Sajeev, My oldest son has been bitten by automotive wanderlust. He is about to go off to college this fall and has decided that his grandfathers’ hand-me-down 4 cylinder 2000 Accord with only 30,000-ish miles is just not cool enough. Also, it needs new tires and a battery.

So he has cast his wondering eyes on a 5-speed 2000 VW Golf GLS 2.0L hatch listed in AutoTrader. It looks like a nice enough car but then I start thinking about VW’s reputation for reliability vs Honda, not to mention the size of the potential repair bills and I start to do what any normal parent would do—worry. Should I be worried? If the B&B here can’t convince him to stay with Honda is there anything I should have him be on the look out for trouble-wise on the Golf?

Per AutoTrader Ad, here are some noteworthy facts on the Golf:

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