Special interest groups continue to battle a pair of anti-photo enforcement ballot initiatives in Ohio and one in Arizona. In Ohio, officials are so desperate to prevent the public from deciding whether or not to keep the cameras that the city’s legal department moved to block a citizen-led ballot petition before the Ross County Board of Elections. Last week, the board rejected the city’s demand outright. Representatives from Citizens Against Photo Enforcement (CAPE), which collected the signatures, were thrilled at the outcome. Voters will now decide for themselves whether or not to kick out Redflex Traffic Systems, the Australian company that runs the cameras. “We believe that this protest was a Redflex move,” Rebekah Valentich told TheNewspaper. “The assistant law director did not even know how many cameras we had . . . Just the comments he used during his back-to- the-people speech seemed very rehearsed and reeked of Redflex.”
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel herself has confirmed that GM is ready to sell Opel to Magna. The offer comes with yet to be disclosed conditions. However, according to news-adhoc, Frau Merkel “doesn’t have the impression that behind the announcement of Opel is a hidden agenda that sets the threshold so high that in the end there won’t be a sale.” This is politico-speak for: “Do we smell a rat here?” Das Handelsblatt has more details.
The increasingly active GM BOD (Chairman Edward Whitacre Jr. is even to star in a TV commercial, usually not the job of a Chairman) convened, canned the CFO Ray Young and did the unthinkable: They came to a conclusion about (their version of) the fate of Opel. Nothing is clear at the moment, but indications are it may be Magna after all.
Automotive News reports, “General Motors Co. will launch a broad post-bankruptcy advertising campaign next week with an introductory TV spot featuring new Chairman Ed Whitacre . . . The idea is to showcase GM’s best products, with Whitacre urging consumers to take a look at what the automaker has to offer.” THIS is what Old GM Car Czar/New GM Ad Czar Bob Lutz thinks will turn around the nationalized automaker’s sinking fortunes? More pan-brand feel good advertising? Or is it worse than that; some kind of sick, twisted Motown plot to get Eddy boy to become a GM insider? I mean, guys, this is the former AT&T exec who celebrated winning his seat at the GM BOD table by publicly pronouncing, “I don’t know anything about cars.” The guy who said he’d only need to jet into Detroit for a day or so. PER MONTH.
Well, not yet anyway. But you do have to become a “fan” before you’re even allowed to see the official ZDX page. Does this mean crossover weirdness is acceptable from a luxury brand? Or is there something we’re missing that makes the ZDX appealing but the Accord Crosstour a sin against nature?
A little elevator music and voiceover by a heavily sedated airport announcer tell you everything you need to know about Toyota’s bid to bring excitement to its staid brand. Er, as long as you don’t fall asleep first.
Under certain of these scenarios, GM will be able to return a high percentage of the total funds advanced by the taxpayers, and Chrysler will return the money invested as part of the restructuring. Other scenarios, which in Treasury’s view are more likely, show much lower recoveries for the initial loans made to GM and Chrysler.
—Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on the future of the bailout. The search for a one-handed economist continues . . . .
Jay Leno’s Top Gear-aping “Green Car Challenge” will pit guests on the new Jay Leno Show against each other in battery-powered Ford Focus EVs, according to The Ford Story. Not that Ford has a 2,305,476 MPG-rated battery-electric car ready for production or anything. The Focus EV “especially made for the show, foreshadows elements of the electric Focus that Ford will begin selling in North America in 2011.” But does putting whiny celebrities in a whining EV add up to great television? Too bad Tesla couldn’t come up with the product-placement cash.
Holy frijoles! I can say that, right? Frijoles aren’t a religion, are they? I mean, they could be; isn’t there a religion based on a talking salamander? Anyway, I guess that expression could be construed as racist, in a Frito Bandito kinda way. Whatever happened to the cartoon character who inspired Gerald Rivers’ trademark ‘stache? Political correctness, I suppose. Or it could be that Fritos suck. After being outgassed by a banana in my lunch bag, the corn snack tasted like the inside of a garbage can lid, only crunchy. So, where was I? Oh yes, trying to think of a clever way to segue from racist blasphemy to the fact that McLaren may think that less is more when it comes to supercars—or did with the F1—but they clearly believe that more is more when it comes to press releases. Hang on; mission accomplished. Well, minus the “clever” part. Make the jump for 10k+ words on the McLaren MP4-12C (a.k.a. 12C).
Officials in charge of red light camera and speed camera programs claim it is “rare” for erroneous tickets to be issued because a human police officer diligently verifies each and every citation for accuracy before it is issued. If confronted with clear evidence that their cameras have made a mistake, the camera companies insist that it’s an “isolated incident.” Here are seven of the more ridiculous “isolated incidents” from across the country:
7) It’s Never Too Late to Attempt a NASCAR Career
In 2008, a Montgomery County, Maryland, speed camera accused an elderly man of racing through a busy neighborhood at 100 MPH — during rush hour. The automated ticketing machine snapped two photos of a Toyota Echo economy car belonging to Silver Spring residents Terence Brennan, 68, and Helga Brennan, 76. Only after the local media got involved did Montgomery County admit that the camera, which had all the usual certifications of accuracy, was flat out wrong when it came to measuring speeds.
Oh, that is it. This sight meets with full force. Sparkling like a ruby the red SLS is located in the soft sunlight. Which for a sports car! Which for a Mercedes! Its form is sin, without each exaggeration: It makes speechless. Thus only times completely deeply get air and…
Autobild, via the miracle of Babelfish translation. This helps explain why we don’t typically think of German as an especially lyrical language . . . But, hey, at least someone’s excited about the SLS.
I like Jay Leno. Who doesn’t like Jay Leno? Everyone likes Jay Leno. But Jay Leno is not an automotive journalist. He’s a comedian who makes so much money he could buy the entire first year’s production run of the McLaren MP4-12C and still have enough cash to maintain the 4,356 other rare and important (and just plain dumb) vehicles stacked in his airplane hangars like relics in King Tut’s tomb. Yes, yes, he drives them all. He’s a humble, knowledgeable and passionate collector—who’s as far from acerbic on the subject of cars as you can get without working for Motor Trend. Like I said, everyone loves Jay. But the enthusiast is sucking all the oxygen out of the car review business, getting access to shit I can’t even dream about test driving, never mind owning. In other words, PR flack James Nichols, we’ll run this item. But you had better come across with that interview with Leno stat or I’m going to go all Marvin the Martian on him. And you don’t want that.
What a funny coincidence. On the very same day that a government oversight panel rips GM a new one for disappearing billions of taxpayer bucks, the Detroit News brings word that GM’s CFO, Ray Young, will be leaving the company. Young’s departure comes as GM is shaking up its finance department, the division which gave the company such fine leaders as Rick Wagoner and Fritz Henderson. The DetN identifies Young’s announcement that GM would not disclose all of its financial information as a publicly-funded private company as a major cause for his ouster. And if the DetN‘s reporting is to be believed, Young isn’t the only GM exec who should be worried.
Recent Comments