TTAC commentator Kixstart writes:

Once again, GM has dodged the question on the Volt’s ultimate flat-can fuel economy. From their FastLane Blog, a CoverItLive session with Bob Boniface, I read the following exchange:

[Comment From David]
Hi Bob, Can you give us an approximate number of how many mpg the volt will achieve after the battery runs out?

2:04 Bob Boniface: When battery is depleted you should expect several hundred more miles running on engine generator.

I imagine several people immediately pounded away on their keyboards with “How big is the gas tank?” But that question was never selected and the answer never offered.

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The Wall Street Journal reports that GM will go back to its leasing habit in August, after nearly a year of cold turkey. According to the WSJ‘s anonymous sources, GM “is looking at various models across its four-brand lineup as candidates for leasing. Those include the Cadillac CTS, which competes in a luxury market that is heavily dependent on the availability of lease deals.” CTS sales which had hovered around the 5k units/month level since the last redesign are now fighting to hold on to 3k units/month. And that’s the latest, hottest Caddy out there. GM and GMAC probably see no alternative to burning even more bailout cash trying to move the CTS oversupply. But the source of the burnt cash is the only thing that has changed since they walked away from leasing. The WSJ notes that the “firming up of resale values” is contributing to GM’s decision to go back to leasing. Maybe they can’t smell the desperation. If you want a whiff of why this is a bad idea, check out eBay’s recently completed CTS auctions, where 2006 and 2007 CTS 3.6 models are consistently failing to attract $15K bids.

The higher they fly, the deeper they drown: Last year, Porsche did the impossible and reported a gain on €8.5 billion before taxes on sales of  €7.4 billion. The impossible was performed with derivatives. Now, those derivatives bite Porsche in the you-know-where: The Porsche Holding expects a loss of up to €5 billion before taxes for the 2008/2009 fiscal, which ends on July 31, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. This loss is “due to the planned sale of options on VW stock” (to the Sheik of Qatar). “Other losses are the result of the consolidation” of the Porsche books with Volkswagen. Says Porsche in a statement. Don’t worry, they’ll survive. (Read More…)

Think your clunker gets 18 mpg combined? Plan on cashing in on the CARS clunker rebate program? You might want to double check those EPA numbers over at fueleconomy.gov.  As part of the buildup to the Cash For Clunker program, the EPA undertook “quality assurance and quality control effort regarding fuel economy calculations on more than 30,000 vehicle model types spanning the past 25 years.” But according to CNN Money, this pre-stimulus housecleaning turned up bad data for about 100 vehicles and ended up changing their clunker rebate eligibility. Although “roughly” the same number of cars became newly eligible as became newly ineligible, this news came as a nasty surprise to owners of the 1993 Camry V6 wagon, 1995 Saab 900S, 1988 Toyota 4Runner and the 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis. And since the EPA’s statistical quality control didn’t take place until the official launch of the program, some shoppers had their deals planned out before realizing that their trade-ins were too efficient to qualify. Meanwhile, dealers have their own complaints about the program.

One anonymous dealer writes:

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.

Smart consumers know there are plenty of ways to save money on one’s chosen hobby while preserving enjoyment and/or utility. A Gibson Les Paul Studio is very nearly as good a guitar as a Les Paul Standard, and it costs half as much. The Allen-Edmonds MacNeil uses the same Horween shell cordovan as the Alden Long Wing and can often be had for up to a hundred dollars less. The Omega Speedmaster does everything a Rolex Daytona does except create the false impression that one has won an iconic American race. With that said, here’s eight thousand dollars that you would be a fool to “save”: the price gap between the Dodge Challenger R/T Classic and the Challenger SRT-8.

Heath, Ohio, was so anxious to start collecting on its new speed camera program that it issued $26,500 worth of tickets before the program was officially supposed to begin. The city’s mayor, Richard J. Waugh, issued a statement Monday confirming that refunds would be automatic for each of the 265 vehicle owners mailed a ticket for alleged violations that took place on June 30. Redflex Traffic Systems, the Australian company that actually runs the program, was not supposed to have begun issuing tickets until July 1.

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Frank A. writes:

This is not a question about mechanical malfunctions exactly, but more about the avoidance thereof. I’d like you to give us your advice on engine cleaning. Clearly, it’s not a matter of putting a baggie over the carburetor and sticking a hose in there anymore!

The engine in my ’03 Town Car is looking dingy, but I don’t want to do anything prejudicial to the, I guess, thousand or so computers under there. I’ve noticed that practically all the shops in my area that used to advertise steam cleaning have quit on it, so that makes me think even the pros find this tricky nowadays. What do you think?

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Ford applied for $11 billion dollars from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program (ATVMP). It received $5.9 billion, payable over 25 years. They are applying for another $5.1 billion. The mainstream media meme—that The Blue Oval Boyz are “pure” capitalists untainted by the stink of federal handouts—is bunk. Lest we forget, the DOE loans were the original bailout: a thinly disguised attempt to channel funds to the domestics. The money pays for retooling that the recipients would otherwise have to fund—freeing those funds for other purposes. Keep the lights on kinda stuff. When the “viability” requirement made the DOE loan a moot point for Chrysler and GM, THEN they headed off for “bridge loans.” Which became an investment in shares or, in Chrysler’s case, a partial write-off. Oops! Question: does anyone believe the DOE loans will help ensure that Americans drive more fuel-efficient vehicles? Anyway, Ford is on the take. Period.

This website has stood out front in condemning the pro-corporate cowardice of the paper car mags, and rightly so. But when they show some courage and get it right, they deserve a shout-out. In the proud TTAC tradition of recognizing all viewpoints, I salute Jamie Kitman’s latest column in Automobile. Kitman’s point: the United Auto Workers (UAW) make a handy whipping boy, but contrary to the new conventional wisdom, they are not the Great Satan that sank our auto industry. In fact, the money the UAW made for decades was a good thing. “Courage,” you say? If you’re like many here, that’s not the adjective you’d use . . .

Ford Explorer Sport Trac went into production in 2000 and will be leaving us next year, reports Automotive News [sub]. But what, you might ask, will happen to the “torn between Explorer and Ranger” market segment? Will they have to choose?

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Old GM ran afoul of the requirements for the original bailout ($25 billion worth of Department of Energy retooling loans). Something about a DOE requirement that the recipients be running a viable business. Now that it’s emerged from bankruptcy with taxpayer assistance, “New GM” wants . . . taxpayer assistance. In fact, it doesn’t just want the money. It’s counting on it. According to The Wall Street Journal, GM Treasurer Walter Borst told a congressional oversight panel that securing $10 billion in no-to-low interest, twenty-five year DOE retooling loans was “a component of GM’s shorter-term liquidity assumptions.” C’mon. Really? “He pointed to those funds as one of the sources of liquidity GM is factoring into its plans in order to meet its capital requirements in the future.” Later, Borst decided to added [what he thought was] a suitable qualifier: “We’re not dependent on them.” Join us next time, for other phrases that you might hear from a drug addict.

From WIFR, on the occasion of the reopening of Chrysler’s Belvidere (Illinois) factory. Belvidere is the birthplace of the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Patriot and Jeep Compass—all winners of TTAC’s Ten Worst award.

“The whole economy’s gonna pick up, once everybody’s back to work and starts making money they’ll be spending money and they’re talking about some overtime and stuff like that so they’re talking about good things ahead. So everybody’s optomistic [sic] and looking forward to the future,” says Belvidere Chrysler worker Ray Battistini.