GM set off something of an insanity bomb a few weeks back by claiming their Volt moonshot would get 230 mpg based on draft EPA testing standards. Nissan countered via Twitter, claiming that its forthcoming Leaf EV would get 367 mpg using the same test, and the age of EV efficiency madness was initiated. Needless to say, neither the Volt nor the Leaf can be directly tested to give an apples-to-apples comparison to internal combustion-powered vehicles, and this opening salvo seemed bent on removing plausibility from the EV efficiency equation. But sanity in EV efficiency has an unlikely new champion in luxo-EREV maker Fisker.
In other words, it ain’t gonna happen. If GM was going to sell Opel to the Canadian-fronted Russian consortium, they would have done it. Remember, the German elections are coming. The sale would have pleased the Russians, Germans and Canadians, but since they aren’t going to do it before September 27, it’s a clear indication that GM’s either going to sell Opel to Belgian-based private equity boys RHJ International or . . . raise some cash, pay off the Germans’ €1.5 billion “bridge loan,” put some more money in the brand’s empty coffers and keep Opel as the US outpost of a nationalized American automaker that provides a host of unloved automobile platforms to moribund GM badge engineers. Automotive News [sub] doesn’t quite make that analysis, but it’s close enough for government work. At least they see the downside . . .
600 to 1500 miles a week. Some of you may consider this travel excessive, or, perhaps, bordering on the psychotic. In the auto remarketing business it’s a way of life. Wholesalers, auctioneers, ringmen, and managers of varying stripes all have to spend their time on the road. Auctions are often separated by several hours and states. Not to mention that the folks in the Great White North often have to travel to different provinces, upwards of 2000 miles a week, to get where they’re going. That’s a lot of time with a seat, a dashboard and a radio. You may think that a Camcord or some type of hyper-efficient vehicle would be the car of choice for so much travel . . . but you would be dead wrong.
The Chinese government has sent back Sichuan Tenzhong’s bid for GM’s Hummer brand, reportedly due to uncertainty regarding whether Hummer’s patents were part of the deal. “I, based on the current situation, understand that it’s not in coordination with our nation’s industrial policy,” Vice Minister for Commerce Chen Jian tells Bloomberg. But, says Chen, it was not the commerce ministry that nixed the deal. A different “relevant department is currently reviewing and has expressed opposition,” Chen said. It seems Chen was probably referring to the National Development and Reform Commission. GM and Tenzhong both claim to still be pursuing the deal. [Hat Tip: ohsnapback]
Your 2050 Brazzaville Micro-i600 solar-electric personal transportation device automatically glides into the Biodynamic Vego-Taco Loco lot and parks itself. On the way inside, you pass the static display of a 2010 Honda Pilot. Your seventeen year-old son stops in his tracks, looks at it with bewilderment, and asks if you really drove around in one these big, ugly, two-ton carbon-spewing behemoths forty years ago. Will you mumble something incoherently about times being very different then and tell him to hurry along, or will you stop, gaze admiringly, and wax eloquently about your distant but ever-so-vibrant Pilot memories?
Rumors involving Chinese automaker SAIC in Saab’s rescue plans have been percolating for some time now. Christian Von Koenigsegg raised the possibility in an Auto Motor and Sport interview [via Saabsunited], saying, “we may look at producing Saabs for China, in China.” Then came word from an anonymous source quoted in Reuters as saying, “SAIC is considering taking a stake in Saab but has not made up its mind or the size of any possible investment.” And yet, mysteriously, it seems that Koenigsegg’s $420M financing shortfall has magically disappeared. SAIC refuses to confirm that it is the anonymous funding source, pleading shyness in the wake of its recent disastrous ownership of Korean automaker Ssangyong.
I own a 2006 Mazda 3, hatch 2.3 liter 5 speed A/T. I bought the car new, I have 45k miles now, car drives very well and I tend to follow maintenance schedule as the book suggest. My concern is that there is no schedule for A/T fluid change, what does it mean? Don’t ever change it, or let the dealer decide for you?
If it’s up to the dealer, I’d spend ridiculous amount of money on stupid things like “the 30k service” that is known to car dealers only, but they never suggest anything like that when drop by every 3 months/3k miles for oil. I live in NYC and that car spend significant time of it’s life on Manhattan streets: I would like to know if anyone knows the answer, I really don’t like to mess with my A/T if I don’t need to.
“Audi of America President asserts that sustainable technologies, not ‘silver bullets,’ will drive automotive progress.” And there you have it: President Johan de Nysschen public clarification re: widely disseminated reports that he called the U.S. taxpayer-supported Hail Mary-shaped plug-in electric/gas hybrid Chevrolet Volt “a car for idiots.” [Press release after the jump.] Clearly, de Nysschen has only slightly modified his central contention; I guess he meant to say the Volt is built by idiots for intelligent people. And then the VW suit picked-up the phone to hash it out with Volt Kool-Aid purveyor Lyle Denis over at gm-volt.com. The Audi Prez tickled his tonsils with his other foot. “’I don’t think the Volt is a car for idiots,’ he said. He claimed the headline was a journalist’s misinterpretation, and that his point was that the Volt was ‘an idiotic business case,’ and not how he would refer to people. ‘We might as well have been taking about the Tesla,’ he said.” Oh, dear.
Ron Bloom is a Harvard MBA grad, investment banker and former advisor to the U.S. Steel Workers. He’s also the head of the Presidential Task Force on Automobiles, now that Steve Rattner is busy defending his investment firm against bribery charges. Over the weekend, the Obama administration has added Manufacturing Czar to Car Czar in Ron Bloom’s portfolio of power. “Bloom is to work with government departments including Commerce, Treasury, Energy and Labor to develop new initiatives affecting the manufacturing sector. The White House said Obama is committed to partnering with the private sector to spur innovation, invest in the skills of American workers, and help manufacturers prosper in global markets by promoting exports.” In other words, after nationalizing GM, Obama’s mob are now looking to screw-up all the other parts of America’s manufacturing base. A quick joke . . .
A photo enforcement company is going all out in an effort to keep College Station, Texas voters from banishing red light cameras when the issue appears on the November 3 ballot. American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the private company in charge of the cameras, is fighting the grassroots referendum effort with paid political advocacy. ATS last week established a group called “Keep College Station Safe Political Action Committee” (PAC). With millions in revenue at stake from the exclusive twenty-year contract with College Station, the Arizona firm turned to Jessica Colon and Emily Reiter, a Weight Watchers employee, to form the core of the public relations effort. The PAC’s first move has been to conduct what is known as a “push poll” of local residents. Members of the myBCS.com community forum described their perspective on the telephone survey.
Last week’s CC Clue was tough. Juniper was close, but Vanilla Dude nailed it. And he asked for more tough ones. All right, then, try this one on for size. But don’t labor too hard on Labor Day.
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