We sounded the alarm on the cost of cleaning-up abandoned automotive manufacturing sites before the bailout began. We sounded the alarm after the feds instructed GM set aside $1.1 billion to clean its 14 closed plants (so far). Although $78,571,428.60 per plant seems more than merely adequate, it may not be so. Reporting on the clean-up of GM’s Mansfield-Ontario Stamping Center, The Mansfield NewsJournal does a little comparative analysis. “At Ohio Brass, which, at 10 acres, was a small fraction of the size of the 270-acre stamping plant, that number [for the cost of the cleanup] was $2 million.” Extrapolating, that would be a $54 million laundry bill. BUT, it’s dwarf apples to “Rainy with a Chance of Meatballs” sized oranges. Many of GM factories stretch back decades, before there was anything remotely resembling environmental awareness or, more to the point, an EPA. Of course, a description of the pollutants at the plant would be very helpful in making a cost assessment. New “transparent” GM says uh-uh.
A month ago, a diagram of the just-announced Nissan Leaf EV appeared on the web. Unlike the Tesla S, the Nissan EV appears to be a fairly conventional front motor/front drive (FF) vehicle, with the battery pack in front of the rear axle. A shovel nose appearance, thanks to the small electric engine, results in a aerodynamically advantageous tiny frontal area. A degree of crush space is maintained for the pedestrian-cum-hood-ornament that will inevitably occur with the Leaf’s quiet powertrain. The distinctive snout, combined with some distinctive curves at the beltline and rear, give the Leaf a, ahem, unique visual identity. If Nissan was trying to create the Prius of EVs, they’ve succeeded. Now, if they had only stamped plant-like veins in the sheet metal . . .
The Wall Street Journalconfirms TTAC’s report that Chrysler killed its “Double Ca$h” for clunkers ad campaign because they ran out of popular, qualifying vehicles. “The marketing change comes as Chrysler is struggling with low inventory of its most popular products because of prolonged factory shut-downs and after the success of the government program further depleted stocks at dealerships.” How’s this for a quote? “Unfortunately the problem that we face with Chrysler is the lack of inventory,” ChryCo dealer Bill Rosado told the WSJ. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, I need more Chrysler inventory. My goodness, I’ve got to rehearse that line a couple times.” This gives credibility to Ken Elias’ contention—as yet unreported by the MSM—that Uncle Sam’s entire Cash for Clunkers (a.k.a. C.A.R.S.) program fell afoul of low inventories, rather than limited funds. In other words, the program did not run out of cash. It ran out of cars. Which makes me wonder . . .
If you include the comments from TTAC’s Best and Brightest (and why wouldn’t you?), this website publishes the same amount of editorial material as a car magazine. Every week. Or less. A lot less. Some of our best stuff goes up on the weekends, when the news flow slows and our commentators are less temporally challenged. I invite those of you who leave us for the weekend to peruse this weekend’s output. Don’t get me wrong: I’ll put TTAC’s Monday through Friday posts up against anything you’ll find surfing the autoblogosphere. I do, in fact. But today, tonight, a special shout-out to our weekend authors and commentariot. Not to coin a phrase, you guys rock. Switching metaphors, I’m honored to provide fresh grist for our B&B’s mill. Which reminds me: there’s some primo Genoa in the ‘fridge with my name on it. Enjoy! (The site, not my . . . you know.)
Despite GM CEO Fritz Henderson’s promise to a Senate committee that the new GM would be transparent to you, the taxpayer, the company’s reinvention website doesn’t provide an embed code for its videos. So if you want to see the worst body language/cognitive dissonance since Richard M. Nixon told the world he wasn’t a crook, you’ll have to click across. If you do, notice that Fritz is getting very comfortable indeed with his job, despite the discomfort of having to pretend to believe that some 138 million taxpaying Americans are the boss of him.
All this talk about cash for clunkers (a.k.a. gas guzzlers) had me thinking: what are the least fuel efficient new cars currently for sale in the US? Over at fueleconomy.gov, the feds name names—only they don’t give us a straight “bottom ten” list. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “worst” ratings list one car for each genre. As it’s Sunday, I’m not going deep data diving. (Feel free.) So here are the most environmentally reprehensible rides, from the least least-efficient to the most least-efficient, by vehicle category:
The bastards! I could deal with destroying the Cherokees, the Lincolns, even a Dynasty with a trombone case red interior. But a brick? These sick twisted bastards are going to take that one holy grail of tightwad functionality and turn it into a steaming pile of drek. Apparently the old Nordic God of automotive longevity is now on Washington’s ‘whacked’ list which means that defensive measures need to be taken. Stat!
AdAge reports that Chrysler is deep-sixing it’s “Double Ca$h” for clunkers ad campaign, some thirty days before the ads were due to expire. “We saw the spike in the interest and decided to change our direction,” a Chrysler spokeswoman told Ad Age. Chrysler is now switching to a “summer clearance” ad campaign. Huh? AdAge doesn’t explore the rationale behind the move, but here’s a couple of theories . . .
“Before you play the video of Glenn Beck’s latest loony-tunes conspiracy theory, keep in mind that it’s totally nuts. Here’s the key information debunking it:
1. If you are a consumer visiting cars.gov (the “cash for clunkers” website) the Federal government cannot take control over your computer, nor will it ask permission to do so.
2. The “Terms of Use” statement to which Beck refers in this clip is not from cars.gov. Rather it is a login page for dealer transactions located at esc.gov.
3. The only people who can get login credentials for the esc.gov site are dealers who have been screened and registered for the “cash for clunkers” program.
4. To summarize: the page in question isn’t on cars.gov and can only be used by dealers who have already registered. Consumers won’t be impacted by any of this.”
TTAC commentator Corky Boyd offers a timely analysis:
“The administration has loaned or agreed to loan a total of $65 billion to GM and Chrysler in exchange for 60 percent ownership of GM and an 8 percent stake in Chrysler.”
If the two produce 3.5 million vehicles for the year (and that’s on the high side), that’s over $17,000 per vehicle of subsidy. And that doesn’t include the $15 billion loan to GM the government forgave in the bankruptcy and the infusion Chrysler will need before the end of the year.
Last year brought the use of a new term in finance, “Cash Burn.” I guess it’s a take off on the aviation term of fuel burn. It’s a very casual term for billions of taxpayer dollars that have to be used to make up the “burn.”
Like tens of millions of American consumers, I shop for my cars online. I do due diligence; working hard to filter-out fraud and minimize the unavoidable unpredictability inherent to such transactions. My methodology is far from perfect—as my recent experience will attest. In fact, my tale of woe provides a real life example of how the biggest online seller—eBay—responds to fraudulent transactions.
Your Shitty Economy (YSE) Car of the Week is the 2007 Mercedes Benz R-Class. Mercedes attempt at a minivan, er crossover thingy has been a huge failure. The ugly, slow selling R-class—a rif on the equally ill-fated Chrysler Pacifica—is as popular as a pet rock at a dog show. Buyers purchasing fifty thousand dollar family haulers are looking for a little more style than this not quite a wagon (which you can buy from Mercedes anyway). But the cliff face depreciating Mercedes R-class does its job as advertised: it provides three rows of luxurious seating, safety amenities, and decent MPG. The R’s configuration sheet reads like a Silverado’s: V6, V8, AWD, diesel, and for those really late to soccer practice, the 500+ horsepower AMG version is an . . . odd choice. This certified 2007 V6 4Matic model is yours for only $22,888. Or choose from 1100+ others on Autotrader.
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