The latest stats from the Department of Transportation reveal that Toyota has replaced General Motors at the top of the cash for clunkers (a.k.a. C.A.R.S.) program. The Detroit News reports that “Toyota has sold 18.9 percent of vehicles purchased through the clunkers program, surpassing GM, which has sold 17.6 percent . . . Detroit’s three automakers sold 42.1 percent of all clunker replacements, which is down from an initial 47 percent of sales — and slightly below the automakers’ 44 percent U.S. market share.” GM responded to the news by saying that while it appreciated the taxpayer’s help in driving demand, it was focusing all its energies on long term, sustainable growth. Just kidding. Spokesman Greg Martin told the DetN that “The sales will be a lot like the weather in Michigan in the springtime: It will change at any given time.” [Note to Greg: check your calendar.] ToMoCo was down with that . . .
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Car magazine reports that Jaguar wants to build an XE take on Porsche in the two-seater roadster market. The company is planning to produce some version of this garish, over-wrought, beltline-up-to-its-nipples, wagon-wheeled, bastard child of a Z-car mated with an Aston. It would slot into the £40K – £50K bracket, between the slow-selling Cayman and the slow-selling iconic 911 range. The rear wheel-drive Jag will/might/should share its aluminium architecture with the XF and XJ models. It’ll be powered by 275bhp V6 or a 350bhp supercharged version of same. The plan: introduce the XE roadster by 2013. If successful, convertible and R versions to follow. If not, not. In theory, the baby cat will be styled more gracefully than Rita Hayworth (ignoring all evidence to the contrary), rival a wood burning stove for reliability and begin life in the UK. OK but—the X-Type was supposed to be a BMW 3-series killer. Something got killed in the process, and it wasn’t German.
USA Today re-joins the cavalcade of media outlets helping GM destroy as much Volt “buzz” as possible via premature recapitulation. Yes, it’s a recycled review of the Volt that fails to address questions surrounding the Hail Mary-shaped plug-in hybrid’s internal combustion engine (ICE). When does it kick in? How does the car behave when it kicks in? What’s the Volt’s operating range? What’s the mpg when the ICE is operative? Of course, you can’t blame USA Today for this sin of omission. GM has point blank refused to let a journalist drive the car in “extended range” mode. But you can blame the media for pretending they’re reviewing a “real” car. Of course, they always mention it at some point in the “review,” but, by then, the un-damage has been done. As for “GM and the government are discussing how to calculate a realistic fuel-economy number,” we all know how that turned out.
Tuning of the gasoline engine. It wasn’t operable in the test cars, so there was no hint of how smooth and quiet it’ll be when it comes on to charge the batteries, if needed.
After a week-long hiatus, the TTAC daily podcast returns to action. We’re still waiting on a shiny new microphone for Mr. Farago to complete our audio makeover, but please let us know if we’re making progress on the audio-level issues that we’ve been hearing about. Meanwhile, enjoy.
Click here for the video—although, thankfully, not the actual euthanasia. [Thanks to The Duke for the link.]
A few weeks ago, I received this from GM Communications: “I’ve noticed some of your comments on our Fastlane blog. We are looking for passionate and influential consumers to participate in an upcoming showcase on August 10, 2010 in Detroit, MI. Would you be interested in a GM-hosted opportunity like this to learn more about our future vehicles and company?” I was more than a little surprised; my FastLane posts are generally uncomplimentary regarding GM’s products and business decisions. “Do they know we own three Toyotas?” my wife asked. “And we gave a fourth to our daughter, who’s happily driving it at 150 thousand miles?” “I think that’s part of it; they want to know what it will take to win me over.” “They could try building cars that are as reliable as Toyotas.” “I’ve suggested that.” “Don’t you dare bring home a GM car,” she warned.
Originally published by Brandt Rosenbusch, Curator to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum and Historical Collection Coordinator for Chrysler Group LLC, at Chrysler’s Corporate blog.
In my role as Archivist for Chrysler Group LLC, I can appreciate in-depth research followed by thoughtful conclusions, even when the opinions differ from my own.
But I was struck by the untruths and general carelessness in the editorial titled “Chrysler Destroys Its Historical Archives; GM to Follow?” by Bob Elton, published on The Truth About Cars blog last month.
Read GM’s new organizational structure announcement in PDF format here.
The Freep reports that Chrysler bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez has given creditors permission to sue Daimler for diverting $9 billion from the automaker two years ago. Gonzalez only put one restriction on the suit: creditors may not use government funds for the effort. According to the Freep report, the suit is being brought by “AutoNation Inc., the nation’s largest auto retailer; DARCARS Imports Inc., a Maryland-based dealer group, the UAW and two people with personal injury cases pending against Chrysler.” What we still don’t understand is exactly which “important assets” Daimler allegedly stripped, and how they were worth $9 billion. The allegations have apparently been redacted to the point that they are not identifiable, and Daimler asserts the claims are “without merit.” Since Daimler is already out over $37 billion on its Chrysler misadventure, it could be hard to prove that Daimler benefited from any aspect of the transaction.
The price of any exclusive story is a straight face. Having scored some seat-time (and flack-time) with GM’s Corvette Stingray Concept, Jalopnik was obliged to report the experience sans critical filter. Which means we learn that the Stingray “represents a merger of GM design and technology from the past, present and future,” as well as “the merger of high technology with high design in the powertrain, exterior and interior.” Of course, in order to keep that all-important straight face, nearly everything about the concept has to be described using either the term “represents” or “theoretical.”
The numbers for the Chevrolet plug-in hybrid electric Volt—running costs vs. the competition and the manufacturer’s margin—don’t add up. Never did. Right from its inception, GM was demurring on the timeline for the theoretical vehicle’s theoretical profitability. Early adopters, economy of scale, yada yada yada. Even after GM’s prearranged a $7500 tax credit with Uncle Sugar—an outrageous tilting of the playing field in the former bankrupt’s favor—the Volt remains a guaranteed, sure-fire money loser. Even if the price of gas soars, the Volt will not be an economic proposition. These facts have been largely lost on the mainstream media (MSM), whose myopia for all things green and beautiful has blinded them to the equations that will seal its fate. And even when they do crunch the numbers, they refuse to see the light. To wit CNNMoney. Make the jump to do the math. Otherwise, GM’s headlong rush down the obfuscation highway has a new champion: “So it’s not impossible that the Volt could become a sales success, even if the strict dollar analysis does not work out for it.”
In an interview to Just Auto [sub], Swedish Industry Dept.’s state secretary Jöran Hägglund declared that Volvo will have new owners by the beginning of that most magical of years, 2010. “Ford has a lower pace than GM-Saab, but we believe a deal should be closed come this year’s ending.” says Hägglund. Last week ago, Swedish newspaper Industry Daily reported that Volvo will be parted-out to Chinese automaker Geely, Ford (maintaining a minority stake to protect access to safety technology and prevent China syndrome) and a mystery Swedish investor. Quoting “inside sources,” Auto Motor & Sport identifies Volvo AB as the Swedish part of the proposal. Volvo AB is the divested truck/buses etc. division of “old Volvo;” they’re supposedly buying a piece of ye olde mothership to control the carmaker’s Swedish genes. Profits? Jovisst. Industry Daily’s source says Ford will put the devil in the details by the end of August. According to AM&S’s information, this is a done deal.
Special interest groups devoted to undermining the rights of motorists have received millions in grants from the UK government. These organizations promote raising taxes on drivers, increasing the number of speed cameras and boosting subsidies for inefficient modes of transportation. A report issued earlier this month by The Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) used freedom of information requests and government reports to calculate the amount of public money that lobbying groups receive.
Rishi writes:
I am a long, long time lurker but not a poster on TTAC (yet). I have a question regarding a 2004 Honda Accord EX four-cylinder. When I am driving, the headlights flash at different intensities depending on what gear it is in (its an automatic). When I accelerate, and it drops some gears, the headlights flash a bit brighter, but then become dimmer as the car settles into fourth. Could this be a sign of water damage or a major electrical issue? Thanks so much for your time.
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