OK, that’s a bit of a surprise. Who would have guessed that Lutz’s two first post-unretirement announcements would have heralded a Chevy rebadge and the cancelation of a higher-performance Camaro? Is the age of Maximum over after all? “Any fears that the days of high-performance General Motors cars may be numbered or totally over can be allayed,” Lutz tells Automobile. “There is no pressure at all to get off the high-performance thing.” But clearly there is. According to Automobile’s write-up, the Z28 “was apparently put on hold due to both cost constraints and concerns about the blatant political incorrectness of building a gas-guzzling, super pony car.” So which is it? Bob?

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Before the worldwide auto industry meltdown, most analysts reckoned carmakers had burdened themselves with 40 percent production over-capacity. After the new car market shrunk by 40 percent, well, you do the math. Only there’s an anomaly: inventory levels. While we’ve got a pretty good idea of how many day’s supply of vehicles are lingering in dealer lots, what about all those ’08s and ’09s stored on vast parking lots, ships, airfields, etc.? [NB: above pic is from Mother Russia] The story got lots of play at the beginning of the cartaclysm, but slipped off the radar since then. Are we to believe that the lots were slowly emptied, as manufacturers shut down their plants? Or are there still hundreds of thousands of cars out there . . . somewhere? If so, we’re still in a price-inflated market, as those cars have to be sold sometime to someone. Anyone have any anecdotal or objective evidence one way or the other?

I’ve taken a lot of heat in these parts for predicting that Ford’s bankruptcy bound. Having watched GM and Chrysler’s long march to Chapter 11, the signs seem pretty obvious to me: lousy branding, excess nameplates, non-competitive models, a pegged BS meter and a proven inability to take in more money than they spend. Yes, there are differences; his name is Alan Mulally. But, as The Detroit Free Press finally reports, The Blue Oval Boyz are burning down the house. Or, to put it more politely, “Even if Ford Motor Co. reaches all of its targets by 2011, the Dearborn automaker’s growing debt load could end up weighing the company down.” As far as euphemisms go, that one just went.

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That’s right, the CEO in charge of Government Motors. (Ok, don’t really ask me why I think I’m qualified; let’s just suspend belief for a few minutes shall we?) So what would I do? First, I’d insist on a new wardrobe for every person at every level. Gone are all the suits for the white-collar workers. Factory workers can’t wear jeans and t-shirts or whatever. Nope, everyone in the company now wears the GM uniform, kind of like the military. The new GM garb consists of coveralls in blue and white with a GM logo on the back, and each worker gets a name tag to pin on the front. Ranks are determined by stripes, bars, and stars, just like the Army. As CEO, I get four stars on the shoulder epaulets. And of course, there’d be a “dress uniform” for outside events.

Well-heeled Mercedes Gullwing carnoscenti eagerly await the Mercedes AMG SLS, the 571 HP 6.3-liter-V8 powered, 315 km/h fast reminder that there was a 300SL in the rip-roaring 50s. But what about saving the planet? Not to worry!

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Life inside Chrysler Financial hasn’t been a bowl of cherries ever since Cerberus coveted the auto lender’s carnacopia of profits. And then the auto bubble burst, but good. Cerberus sidled sideways, sidestepping the pile of excrement that their investment in “new” Chrysler had become—but hanging onto its raison d’etre: the financial side of the biz. Our inside sources report there’s a certain . . . Captain Queegness to the company these days. Or is that Don Corleone? No matter how you look at CEO Tom Gilman, the industry vet is taking no prisoners. We’ve been reporting for some time that GM has been using GMAC to force dealers out of biz, though usurious rates and excess hoop-jumping. No surprise, then, that Chrysler Financial is hoeing (ho’ ing?) the same road. Automotive News [sub] reports that “Chrysler Financial is asking many of [dealers] to pay large sums to handle possible loan losses. The money — ranging typically from $75,000 to $250,000, dealers say — is designed to cover such risks as early loans payoffs and defaults of consumer loans.” Too right too! Early loan payoffs are . . . un-American! Loan defaults, however, are the new zero percent financing.

I love investing. Not so much the garbage that comes from Wall Street infomercials or the ‘Get Rich Like My Dad’ crapola. I’m talking the real thing. A group of folks that take their money and smarts, and build something awesome. Computers. Schools. Lights. Movies. Paints and Wastebaskets. We may laugh at the minutiae of it all, but if we take the time to look between the lines of any great product, we can always find the beauty that makes that product worth buying. That’s because in certain businesses, those who are passionate about their work can influence the outcome. In the case of Chrysler and GM we’re the investors. But how can we get out?

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Public pressure has forced Schaumburg, Illinois to drop its controversial red light camera program. Village trustees are expected tomorrow to finalize the cancellation of a contract with Redspeed, the private company which has been responsible for issuing traffic citations for the village since November 2008. On July 1, the village manager had sent a preliminary cancellation notice to the British firm. The move comes as public awareness grows that automated ticketing profit is based almost entirely on citing vehicle owners for the type of hair-splitting technical violations that are not responsible for causing accidents. “Staff recommends that the Public Safety Committee recommend to the Village Board that the contract with Redspeed be terminated,” Police Chief Brian Howerton wrote in a memo last month.

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TTAC Commentator thetopdog writes:

I drive a 2006 Corvette Coupe (45k) with the 6-Speed manual. The past few months I’ve noticed that most of the time I try to make the 1-2 shift at high RPM, I get really terrible grinding coming from the tranny. It only happens at high RPM (5000+) and it doesn’t happen every time, but it happens enough for it to be a concern. If I clutch in, let the revs drop a little, then throw it into 2nd, there’s usually no problem.

I have the CAGS (1-4 skip shift) eliminator installed. I had the dealership replace the clutch packs under warranty. Apparently they screwed up because my entire clutch stopped working, leaving me stranded. After getting it flat-bedded to the dealership, I was told the entire clutch system was contaminated and the seals were destroyed. I’m not entirely sure what they did after, but they fixed it somehow (probably flushed the system and replaced the seals?). I also had a transmission leak (what a quality car, huh?) last fall that was also fixed under (extended) warranty.

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Back in the late ‘90s, Hollywood unleashed a barrage of light-hearted, cookie-cutter teen movies. The gist: quasi-geek exists just outside the fringe of the high school “in crowd.” He’s intrinsically smart, casually cool, but socially a bit awkward. He’s followed by legions of adoring and affable nerds, cast in the shadows of the popular conformists. Inevitably, our geek has his eyes on the prettiest girl in school and a thirst for leaping the social chasm to popularity. Predictably, this is accomplished through a bit of dumb luck, by selling his soul through transformational makeover, and by alienating those who supported him. Allow me to introduce the latest geek-turned-sellout: the 2010 Subaru Outback.

The Arabs, who sit on a pile of oil, must know something we do not. They suddenly show a surprising interest in electric cars. Daimler just sold part of its 10 percent stake in the alleged electric-car manufacturer Tesla to Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments, Bloomberg reports. What’s up with that?

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The situation in the collapsing French parts industry is turning explosive—literally. Workers at bankrupt French car parts maker New Fabris threaten to blow up their factory if they do not receive money from Renault and Peugeot, Reuters reports. The workers are occupying the New Fabris factory at Chatellerault, near Poitiers in central France.

Their ultimatum: Renault and PSA had better pay €30,000 ($41,800) to each of the 336 laid-off workers at the factory, a total of around €10 million. If they pay, they get the remaining stock of parts and the tooling. If not . . .

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It’s bad enough that New GM thinks their shit doesn’t stink [paraphrasing], but now that GM has become New GM, the mainstream media has resumed its cheerleading. The Detroit News‘ month of living realistically has ended. Tom Walsh: “President Barack Obama has every reason to boast and preen about the Detroit auto industry bailout when he comes to town Tuesday.” Talk about premature recapitulation . . .

A brand is a promise to a consumer. When a brand’s products fail to live up to the consumer’s expectations (i.e. the promise in THEIR mind), they are right never to trust it again. Why should a screwed customer give GM another chance? We’re not talking about sewing machines here. An automobile is the average consumer’s second most expensive purchase (after their house). They have every right—indeed an obligation to the people who depend on them—to err on the side of caution. To AVOID risking the money upon which their family relies. I repeat: if they’re satisfied with their current car company, they would do their family a disservice to put their money at risk.

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