The House Appropriations Committee has passed a provision in the 2010 financial services spending bill that would require GM and Chrysler to work through state courts—instead of the federal bankruptcy court—to terminate dealerships. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, sponsored the amendment. Ignoring the fact that federal bankruptcy law trumps state bankruptcy law, LaTourette explained, “Car companies have used bankruptcy to run roughshod over state bankruptcy laws.” In reporting this, Automotive News made what has to be the understatement of the month, if not of the year: “GM opposes the House bill.”  Ya think???

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Porsche, up to their eyeballs in €9B debt, resulting from their Davidian grab for giant Volkswagen, scheduled an extraordinary supervisory board meeting for July 23, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. On the agenda: How do we get out of this mess?

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TTAC’s Lutzies are safe. When Bob Lutz announced his retirement from GM at the end of this year, automotive journalists openly wept at the prospect of losing an never-ending supply of quotes and sound bites. But now we can rejoice. He’s back. Automotive News reports that Maximum Bob has decided to “extend his career as vice chairman in charge of all ‘creative elements of products and customer relationships.’” What that means isn’t exactly clear but he’s supposed to work with design chief Ed Welburn “to guide all creative aspects of design.” The chiefs of all of GM’s brands, plus all corporate mouthpieces will report to Lutz, who in turn will report directly to CEO-for-now Fritz Henderson.

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General Motors has left bankruptcy behind. The MSM is greeting GM’s graduation with guarded not to say advertiser-sponsored optimism. Meanwhile, the populist backlash has begun. Yesterday, for the first time, I heard a “civilian” refer to GM as “Government Motors.” And then, another. Even if you discount the protest as right wing rhetoric (I was listening to Fox Talk), it’s clear that General Motors is becoming a lightning rod for anti-government sentiment. With tax hikes looming and the federal deficit ballooning, the public is starting to see the “new” General Motors as a symbol of federal impudence, intransigence and impotence. In fact, GM could be President Obama’s Iraq: the Gordian knot that strangles his political fortunes. To fully understand the futility of this financial folly, consider Cadillac.

Mark writes:

I have a 2003 WRX with 198,000 miles. Only non-standard maintenance repair so far was a new driver side head and valves at 165,000 because a valve was hung and the head was starting to crack. Everything else, including clutch and turbo are original. Unfortunately, now the vehicle is burning 1.5 – 2qt of oil every 1000 miles. There are no leaks. I am tempted to trade it in for the nominal amount (Maybe $1-2k) and take advantage of the current new car incentives. However I hate to buy a new car if I can just feed this paid for WRX oil for another 20-30,000 miles. What do you think. Should I feed the car oil until the engine/turbo explodes or retire it and get another car?

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Evening time. Time for conversations, drinks, jokes and . . . spreadsheets? Apparently so. I’ve caught this nasty computerized bug lately. The symptoms are harder to shake than swine flu and almost as appealing. It’s figuring out my ‘cost to own’ for a variety of cars. The goal: get my cost down to 10 cents a mile. Three hours and too much wine later, I wondered. “Can it really happen in this world of $3 gas?” With purchase price, insurance, gas, opportunity cost, maintenance, repairs, and government fees aplenty, not to mention a junker selling price with inflation to boot, I wasn’t quite sure. In fact my head was spinning. The final answer?

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But if you can’t afford it, would you like to look at some attractive lease offers?

Fresh off a recent discussion at TTAC on the menace of brake dust, the NYT reports that the phenomenon made an impact on the recent JD Power Initia Quality Survey. Apparently consumers are complaining about brake dust in their IQS surveys, and it (among other things) knocked the Jag XF down a spot on the final standings. “A lot of the problems that might seem somewhat trivial from an engineering standpoint -– and brake dust is a good example –- are not necessarily trivial from a consumer’s standpoint,” says Powers’ David Sargent. “The perception is that the brakes are not performing properly, which is false, but in the consumer’s mind it is reality,”he explains. If brake dust isn’t an actual malfunction, why is it included in the IQS survey?

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“I’m sure in the fullness of time we’ll all look back and think of things that might have been done differently, or perhaps should have been done differently.”

Presidential Task Force On The Automobiles Steve Rattner in an Automotive News [sub] piece on potential conflicts of interest created by the auto industry bailout.

The marketing mavens at GM commissioned a Youtube video of two “bumblebee boys” washing a Camaro for Chevrolet’s “Gay Days At The Movies” promotion. The bankrupt automaker pulled the ad after a single day for being “tasteless.” (As the Chinese market ad in the post below proves, using sex to sell fast cars is never OK.) Only yesterday, GM’s Dave Barthmuss told USA Today that the video might surprise some “because you don’t see it in the mainstream.” But the ad would “make sense for this particular audience.” Today, Barthmuss tells USA Today that “the video was not appropriate and not in good taste.” The only problem was that (apparently) nobody at GM had actually seen the video. The spot has been yanked from YouTube; it’s internet MIA. So why spend (taxpayer) money on ads like this if you aren’t even going to use them? And what about the video makes it any more tasteless than, say, a Camaro in Harvest Gold or It’s A Girl Pink?

If you didn’t get the memo, this website gets a lot of grief for its negative outlook on American cars. We cannot change the harsh reality of the situation, but we will lead a (bankrupt) horse to water. And make it take that all important first sip. That’s the plan: TTAC is campaigning for a Real American Car.

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Our pals at Automotive Traveller snapped a few pictures of MINI’s forthcoming Cute Ute in psychedelic camofluage. Under the skin it should be quite similar to BMW’s X1, and it will forgo the Clubman’s barn-doors for a proper rear hatch.

… we get one that’s styled just like the XF. Oh well. Welcome to the 21st Century, XJ!

On October 31 2006, Orange County teen Nikki Catsouras had an argument with her father. When Mr. Catsouras left for work, the his daughter “borrowed” his Porsche 911. Approaching a tollbooth, Catsouras rear-ended a Honda at 70 mph. The California Highway Patrol took photographs of the gruesome results. The photos hit the net and went viral. Catsouras sued the police for invasion of privacy. Lost in the shuffle: why was Miss Catsouras–a young, inexperienced driver— legally entitled to drive the Porsche?

TTAC commentator Derek writes:

My wife and I purchased a low mileage (50k, now at 70k) 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan two years ago when our fourth came along. We understand that the Siennyssey twins boast better build quality, but we didn’t have to finance the Dodge. Plus, we figured that Dodge had been building the Caravan long enough that they had worked out most of the larger Q/A issues. So far that appears to be true. However, there is one issue we’ve witnessed that I don’t understand. Every now and then (once a month or so) all power will momentarily cut off while the engine is running.

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