Words are cheap. Detroit bailouts are expensive; the feds have spent more than $100 billion on the Motown meltdown. But don’t worry. Be happy. According to Reuters, “President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that General Motors and Chrysler Group were companies worth saving, but he expects both to repay their government loans.” But? The Prez made his prediction to celebrate the latest stats from the car buyers’ bailout (a.k.a. Cash-for-Clunkers or C.A.R.S. program). Even Reuters isn’t buying that one—much. Apparently, it’s all about the mix. “The impact on GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor was not immediately clear with passenger car sales outpacing those of pickups and sport utilities.” Translation: the Big Three need pickup and SUV sales to survive. Fair dinkum, albeit on a very, very small scale in this case. It gets better/worse . . .

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A 1994 Impreza for $25? Bought one back in 2003 with an auto tranny and all the paint stripped off. It needed a new battery and . . . that was it. I sold it on eBay for $1576 to a fellow who flew in from California and drove it all the way back to IOU-land. He was a rally coordinator for Subaru and although the car was going to be modified, it ended up slogging through So Cal traffic instead for another 50,000 miles. I’ve always wondered whether it would have been more profitable to keep it? Perhaps.

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The US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri last week threw out a challenge to a red light camera program based on federal anti-racketeering statutes. The city of Arnold was first in the state to set up automated ticketing machines in 2005, a move that the attorney general at the time suggested was illegal. A group of motorists filed suit against the city and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the private company responsible for issuing the $94.50 tickets. The ticket recipients charged that the way ATS and Arnold colluded to extract cash from vehicle owners was similar to an organized criminal enterprise. This is a violation that would, they argued, fall under the RICO Act which was codified in 1970 as a tool to fight the mafia.

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TTAC commentator deanst writes:

I have a question about the windshield wipers on a 2002 Chevy Venture minivan. The wipers function as expected, except that when they are turned off, they park in an upright position – not horizontally at the bottom of the windshield. This first occurred two winters ago, and they miraculously fixed themselves when summer came. This winter they again started parking in an upright position, and continue to do so. My mechanic thought a new wiper motor should fix the problem, at a cost of three or four hundred dollars. A quick search on the internet suggest that there is some reset procedure which might cure the problem. What is the best course of action?

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Geely has been given the red stamp of approval to go forth and buy Ford’s Volvo, Gasgoo reports. The permit was issued by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which has to approve foreign acquisitions exceeding $100 million. Gasgoo says that Geely is “the only Chinese automaker that has won official confirmation on such deals.” A thinly veiled hint that the Hummer deal is still up in the air. Changan, Ford’s joint venture partner for Volvo in China, said it would not run for Volvo “because of unspecified conditions,” Gasgoo says. How much money will change hands?

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Last June, China’s overall vehicle sales had soared 36.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.14m units. The “passenger vehicle” segment rose 48.4 percent in June from a year earlier to a record 872,900 units. In July, these numbers will most likely be surpassed. While the rest of the world is in tears, China is on a tear. The indicator: GM.

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You may recall that GM’s Marketing Maven spent forty-minutes or so “crapping” on GM’s current ads before jetting off to Montserrat. After sipping a Piña Colada and walking in the rain, Lutz returned to assure GM’s nervous ad agencies that the status remains quo. (Quel surprise!) Automotive News [sub] reports that the former Car Czar “has no immediate plans to review or fire the automaker’s advertising agencies even though he publicly criticized a recent Buick ad campaign.” Apparently, Maximum Bob declined to specify a deadline for the mad men to get their shit together. But he “acknowledged GM needs to move fast — within the next three to six months — to improve the public’s perception after it spent 39 days in federal bankruptcy protection.” Now why they’d have to go and mention that? Jeez. Anyway, three to six months is a pretty big window from which Leo Burnett and friends will not get defenestrated. And boy, do we have some primo Lutzisms after the jump.

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[Hat Tip: Jalopnik]

Our good friends at The Department of Transportation report the latest C.A.R.S. (Cars Allowance Rebate System) or Cash-for-Clunkers clunker stats as of right . . . now.

Total Vehicles Sold: 16,351
Funded to Date: $68,923,000
Passenger Cars Due for Euthanization: 10,114
Trucks Headed for the Crusher: 6237

Meanwhile, we intercepted this communication from a dealer: “I wish you would let us opt out of the cash for clunkers deal. Three dealers on the conference call stated that they were not fucking with this bullshit. You wouldn’t believe the bullshit involved in this. I don’t see this costing us any significant sales. We will waste more time fucking with this than it will ever be worth. The rebates are in place to subsidize the deal. Collecting our money will be a full time job.”

Reader chris (who apparently missed Farago’s declaration of the end of wagons in today’s podcast) writes:

Hi, I’m looking to purchase a used wagon for under $25K. It should have good reliability/quality, be full size, meaning good back seat room. I don’t like SUVs for their poor handling ang gas consumption. I’ve looked at volvo V70 (back seat too tight), Saab 9-5 (reliability is questionable on pre 2006 models, the later models are a bit more money). I’ve looked at the VW Passat, couldn’t stand the around town throttle control/drive-ability. The 2005 or so MBs E320 have issues with relieability and goofy electronic brakes that are defect prone after a few years. The Suburu Outback is too small in the rear seat, (and gutless). The Audi A6, is too exensive and reliablity is again questionable prior to 2006 models. VW Jetta, too small. What else is there??

As General Motors prepares to ignore its own history, it also appears that the company is set on repeating it. Two decades ago, the star-crossed Fiero finally found redemption in the form of the 1988 GT V6, only to be canceled immediately after that revised car received positive reviews from consumers and the press. Yesterday, a halt was called to production of the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky, just as the introduction of the GXP Coupe offered a glimmer of the decent sports car the Skystice could eventually have become. Like the man said, it’s deja vu all over again.

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Did we say the Opel sale is getting messier and messier? GM seems to be in urgent need to attend remedial reading class.

There is the German government making noises that if GM doesn’t say “Ja” to Magna, the government can’t guarantee that another suitor gets loan guarantees. Which in German means, they won’t. GM can’t read the writing on the wall.

Unlike the Subaru Outback, which doesn’t do anything for Legacy wagon fans, today’s TTAC podcast really does have something for everyone. And coincidentally, the ability to be all things to all people also happens to be the major challenge for mass market brands. Which is why Messrs. Farago and Niedermeyer agree that Ford should embrace its “built Ford tough” tagline, and use it to build the Ford brand across every segment. The line is well-established, it is associated with one of Ford’s most successful products, and, most importantly, it conveys a powerful but versatile brand image. In the past, we’ve wondered aloud about what exactly a Ford is supposed to be. Built Ford Tough could apply to a cheap Fiesta as much as it could to an upmarket Taurus. It’s an all-encompassing value that anyone, if not everyone, can relate to.