After a lot of arm twisting, and several deadlines set by the US court and the German government, the Opel deal finally is entering the final round—for now. After a suitor has been found, a French woman may spoil the whole wedding.
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From the High Plains Journal:
Nationally, gas prices have risen nearly every day for the past 42 days. Some analysts expect that a return to $100 oil–and $4 gas–isn’t far behind. But Nebraska drivers are already saving money by filling up with E10.
“Nebraska drivers have already saved over $4.5 million in 2009 by buying E10,” said Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board. “If all the fuel sold in Nebraska in the past five years was E85, Nebraskans would have saved $2.6 billion.”
Or not.
Commentator dinu01 sent us some Canadian sales data (data day at TTAC) courtesy TheStar.com. “Booming Hyundai Auto Canada, which bucked the market trend this year, broke into the top five for the first time in June as sales surged 25.5 per cent to 10,104. Its sales have shot up 21.4 per cent to 52,454 in the first six months despite the industry’s sharp downturn.” The Korean automaker’s fortunes have soared even as GM and Chrysler Canadian sales have tanked. Hmmm. I wonder what that’s all about . . .
Forget Kowalski’s white Challenger, forget Steve McQueen’s Porsche 917K, forget Burt Reynolds’ Trans Am. There’s one movie car that really matters to the twentysomething car enthusiast, and I’m driving a nearly perfect example at full boost up a winding road. After less than ten minutes, my passenger is tired of me rapid-firing quotes at her: “I owe you a ten-second car.” “This will dominate all.” “There’s all kinds of family, Brian, and that’s a choice you’re going to have to make.” Each time I floor the accelerator, there’s almost enough time to spit out another one of Dominic Toretto’s outstanding phrases (“I’M IN YOUR FACE!”) before the boost spools. When it does… watch out.
Sean Kane of safetyresearch.net gave us the heads-up on a move to put warning labels on products manufactured by pre-C-11 Chrysler.
WARNING! This vehicle was produced prior to the date when the Chrysler bankruptcy was approved. If you buy this vehicle and are injured or killed, even if your injuries were caused by the manufacturer, you or your survivors will not be able to recover your losses by taking action against the manufacturer. If your passengers are injured or killed, even if their injuries were caused by the manufacturer, they and their survivors will not be able to recover their losses by taking action against the manufacturer.
Hey. RF here. How’s it going? I’ll tell you how it’s going: it’s going well. Piston Slap has been an entertaining and informative addition to the TTAC cannon [sic]. Sajeev has proven himself a diligent and insightful advisor to the mechanically challenged amongst us. I fully expect The Divine Mr. M to syndicate Piston Slap nationwide, pouring tens of dollars into TTAC’s coffers, wetting our corporate beak. OK, so, now, the guy needs questions. Grist for his mill. Please take five minutes out of your busy day to pepper Mr. Mehta on the mysteries of mechanical malfeasance. Send your queries to mehta@ttac.com. Remember: they don’t have to be real questions. In the spirit of this website’s name, you can ask him something about which you already know the answer—just to show him up in the comments section. Anyway, Sajeev wishes his fellow Americans a happy Fourth of July weekend, and in no way hopes that you’ll have car trouble requiring his sage advice.
TTAC’s B&B are a tough crowd. After we published that Germany, for the second month in a row, saw a sales increase of 40 percent over the same period in the prior year, a month-by-month accounting, complete with graphs was demanded. That request was fulfilled. Then, more demands.
Although there’s nothing routine about him, John Wolfe is a stand up guy. A regular here at TTAC. A shining example of our Best and Brightest. While I’m trying to keep the word “fire” as far away from this sentence as possible, I think we can all admit that even the most insightful commentator hereabouts occasionally draws a blank. So it’s no surprise that this appeal to his fellow carmudgeons across the e-transom, of which I share with you.
My radio show is fixing to morph into a three-hour Saturday morning program on CBS radio in Dallas. We’re still keeping the small town affiliate network, but big D is the obvious focal point considering the entire listenership population of my current 6 affiliates totals 10% of the population of the new affiliate. I have the concept down pat in my mind, but I need a name. Something punchy, cocky, demands attention. Currently there are two Saturday morning talkers in the DFW market “Wheels with Ed Wallace” and “The Car Guy” (Jerry Reynolds auto advise show). [Being a modest, low-key kinda guy] I really like the name “King of Cars.” However, that idea came from a popular show on A&E TV [about a scumbag four-square wielding Chrysler dealer]. Any ideas?
Hyundai has been a big winner in the European cash-for-clunker sweepstakes, and they’re preparing their US dealers for another boom. Bloomberg reports that Hyundai is advancing cash to dealers to “cover new-vehicle credits for consumers until the federal government completes rules for the program later this month and begins paying dealers.” And despite NHTSA warnings that “If a dealer chooses to structure a transaction before the final rule is issued, they will bear the risks associated with later demonstrating that the transaction meets all of the specifications of the final rule,” deals are already being done. A Virginia dealership has already sold the first vehicle under Hyundai’s offer, replacing a 1995 Ford Explorer with an Elantra Touring. With a $15,000 fine threatened for deals that don’t comply with the program’s final rules, this is being done without the approval of the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Consumers have a hard enough time keeping all the brands and nameplates in the US market straight; trying to keep track of the myriad suppliers that make up the bulk of the industry is nearly impossible. Even here on TTAC, our well-informed commentariat often throws up its hands at the first sign of supplier coverage. But the fortunes of suppliers to US auto firms have been fading for years now, as Detroit’s misery slides downhill through the various tiers of suppliers. And despite repeated calls for a supplier bailout (and their use as OEM bailout bait), aid has been either misappropriated or rejected. And the bankruptcies show no signs of slowing.
There are some seriously mixed messages coming out of the NHTSA today, which perfectly illustrate what I like to call the tyranny of safety. On the one hand, the NHTSA announced today that overall traffic fatalities dropped by nearly ten percent in 2008, hitting the lowest levels per vehicle mile traveled since 1961. Estimates for the first quarter of 2009 show the high-single digit downward trend continuing into this year. In 2008, the NHTSA logged 1.27 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. Which, based on the number of cars and the shoddy quality of driving one encounters in this country (sorry, it’s true), is a remarkable statistic. But, for safety nuts like SecTrans Ray LaHood, it’s not enough. “While the number of highway deaths in America has decreased, we still have a long way to go,” he tells his press release. And how are we going to go about protecting Americans from the lowest fatality rates since JFK was elected and the Beatles were still playing the Cavern? Gizmos, baby, gizmos.
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