James Gribbon captures the stars of Lime Rock’s Vintage Festival, including a 1939 Mercedes Grand Prix Car on track for the first time since the 1930s.

So, Roger Penske is going to buy Saturn from GM. “Is going to” being the operative words. With the US automotive market sinking to record lows, musical chairing towards a long-overdue “contraction,” one wonder if Mr. Penske is playing the “waiting is winning” game. The New York Times article on  Penske’s Saturn plans doesn’t pierce the veil surrounding the devilish details. But we re-learn the fact that Saturn is working towards that glorious day when it no longer sells badge-engineered Opels. “’We’re going to have GM to start with in this business, and then we’re going to move on to another manufacturer in the future,’ he said in his call with analysts.” Which raises the obvious question: whom? “Speculation in the industry has centered on the French carmaker Renault, which has ties to both Nissan in Japan and Samsung in South Korea, and several Chinese auto companies as possible partners for Mr. Penske in the venture. But would Saturn loyalists consider a Chinese-made car a Saturn?” Renault, no. But it’s still an excellent question. The answering of which depends upon The Big One: what IS a Saturn?

(Read More…)

Silicon Valley believes itself different from Detroit. From anywhere, really, In fact, they’re masters of the friggin’ universe! Detroit? Detroit’s automakers must die! Will die! Are dying. Die Detroit, die! Long live . . . Tesla?

“I do not believe that the U.S. auto business can be competitive,” said Ray Lane, a managing partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, told Automotive News [sub] “I don’t see any of these new car companies based in Detroit.”

Re-write press releases much? More than you might think.

A River Runs Through: Imagine an SUV that is able to blaze from zero to sixty in 5.9 seconds, then jump off the highway into the valley and across the river, and be back on the street in time for dinner. Give it a clean wash and the aforementioned story would have seemed like a small white lie. This is what a supercharged V8 is able to accomplish in the Range Rover Sport, a sophisticated 4×4 that runs like a sports car. Available with both new engines, I fancy the S/C model by far.

The US Senate on Thursday voted to renew a prohibition on the tolling of existing freeways in the state of Texas. The measure was adopted as part of a larger $123 billion transportation appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010, which passed the House in July. “None of the funds made available… by this act shall be used to approve or otherwise authorize the imposition of any toll on any segment of highway located on the federal-aid system in the state of Texas,” HR 3288 states. The ban is not complete. It includes exceptions for new construction, continued tolling on existing toll roads as well as the conversion of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes into High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. Under congressional rules, funding prohibitions placed on appropriations bills must be renewed every two years. The toll road ban was last enacted in 2007.

(Read More…)

Actually, I think this conversion—brought to us by the good people at Ricedexotics.com— took some real balls. The Veylet or Bentron is an automotive middle finger to all those people who view automotive heritage as anything worth noting, protecting or projecting. The question here is . . . who? Nouveau riche, of course. But after that, what? They like the Veyron’s nose but can’t afford the real thing, so figured why not stick it on something “exotic”? And then there’s the question of copyright infringement. VW (Bugatti) and BMW (Bentley) must have scouts roaming the Far East looking for branded knocks offs, so why haven’t they— oh wait. Never mind.

When Fritz Henderson rosily predicted that GM’s IPO would help pay off taxpayer loans “faster than people think,” our primary diagnosis was delusion. And how could you blame us? GM’s challenged relationship with reality is long and well-documented. Plus, GM executives are currently the only sources of optimism about their IPO. But perhaps there’s something other than PR prerogative underlying GM’s “little engine that could” affirmations. If something does lie beneath, it could be that GM’s Chinese partners are standing by to boost the IPO. TradingMarkets reports that sources inside SAIC say the longtime GM partner (and China’s largest domestic) could inject as much as ten billion yuan (slightly less than $150m) into GM’s IPO. That’s much, much less than GM will need to pay back a meaningful portion of its taxpayer debt, but it’s still a glimmer of hope. Sort of. But Chinese firms are not considering buying into GM because they’re so impressed with GM’s sales or market share. Well, not in the US anyway. This is would be a long-term strategic play, and one that could strike at the heart of GM’s alleged “American” identity. But as TTAC pointed out throughout the bailout proceedings, GM has been wagged by its Chinese tail for a while. After all, why else is Buick still around?

The bile triggered by news of my departure (last day November 12) brought back old memories of rancorous accusations of anti-American bias. At the beginning of the GM Death Watch, I had to delete several hundred obscene, hate-filled comments and ban dozens of persistent posters of TTAC Must Die TOO comments. Now, after the fact of Chrysler’s and GM’s bankruptcy, there’s a revisionist theme arising. “Anyone” could have predicted Detroit’s dissolution (many did long before TTAC, of course). And, believe it or not, yeah, well everything’s OK now. New GM is kicking ass. Leaving aside that delusion, I wonder: when was the last moment GM could have turned things around? I reckon it was the day that Bob Lutz and Rick Wagoner decided to spend GM money refreshing their GMT SUVs. IF GM had spent that cash improving their passenger cars AND cutting brands (they could have afforded to do so at the time) AND then got rid of Lutz and Wagoner for an outsider like Mulally, they MAY have dodged the bullet. As I told Stuart Varney, if my grandmother had wheels I’d be a trolley car. Still, what’s your take? When was the last time old GM could have turned it around?

Automotive News [sub] brings glad tidings for auto execs drunk on Clunkers: “September’s light-vehicle sales rate will fall to 8.8 million units, consumer auto site Edmunds.com said. That would be the lowest rate in nearly 28 years, tying the worst demand on record.” Well, I did predict an 8m seasonally-adjusted annual sales (SAAR) rate. But did they listen? Noooooo. “They” had to spend $3 billion of taxpayers’ money on a cash infusion that did nothing—zip—to improve the industry’s long term well being. Or even longer. In fact, what’s the bet that the news (which hits for real on October 1) will trigger MORE federal spending on the ailing American automakers? You ain’t seen nothing yet. “Many people regard February as the darkest month of the recession, but even then the SAAR was higher, at 9.1 million units,” Edmunds.com senior statistician Zhenwei Zhou said in a statement. Expect to hear more apocalyptic pronouncements at an MSM outlet near you soon.

I find myself floating above an endless sea of thimbleberry bushes. The berries are all ripe, infinite delectable crimson caps punctuating a sea of green. I can’t see the trail, but somehow distant and hidden legs carry me along and know where to go, while I gorge on the fruit. Now I’m behind the wheel of my car, watching an endless movie loop of a winding serpentine road, with a rushing river to my left and a wall of towering firs on my right. I have no awareness of actually driving; the car knows what to do while I gorge on the scenery. The road through Oregon’s deep woods is utterly deserted. Then an image confronts me, so unexpected, so surreal, that now I know I’m dreaming.

(Read More…)

GM Deathwatches 1-75 (PDF)

Inside GM: Mystery Of Crap Interiors Explained

Subaru Tribeca Review

Embargo This

GM Deathwatch 2: Dan Neil Takes a Bullet

Ruf 3400S Review

GM Deathwatch 60: Bankruptcy Is Good For The Soul

300C Review

Al-Jazeera

Pagani Zonda Review

Got a favorite that we forgot? Post a link to it in the comments.

TTAC’s founder Robert Farago is leaving the website after ten years of astonishing dedication to the pursuit of the truth about cars. Though he will no longer be leading TTAC, he leaves behind a legacy that will guide and inspire those of us who remain. The work of automotive truth-telling will continue under my stewardship, and I am grateful to Robert for giving me the opportunity to take on the challenge of a lifetime. Though no single person will be able to replace his wit, insight and work ethic, TTAC will carry on with the continued support of our contributors, commentators and readers.

Any transition is fraught with challenges, but we are very excited about the coming weeks and months. We will continue to bring the very best news, commentary, analysis and humor to this site, and we know that our Best and Brightest (old and new) will continue to add their voices to the discussion. Your insights and opinions have always been one of TTAC’s greatest strengths, and we appreciate them now more than ever.

Well, that’s it. The end of an era. After founding this website with zero viewers and zero page views, after nurturing it for ten years, my time at TTAC is winding down. Thanks to my wife Sam, who told me to press “send “on a post on pistonheads.com that left more than a few bridges smoldering in my wake. I thank her for understanding the sacrifices needed to do this work. Thanks to TTAC’s Best and Brightest, for making the site possible. Without your insights and appreciation, nothing. Thanks to TTAC’s managing editors—Frank Williams, Justin Berkowitz and Edward Niedermeyer—for understanding and realizing TTAC’s mission. And thanks to TTAC’s writers for their selfless dedication to the site; their passion, wit and wisdom. I shall miss you all.

Climate change protesters bring their best argument to Jeremy Clarkson’s front drive [via the BBC].

I’ve often wondered why Ford hasn’t played-up the fact that it never suckled on Uncle Sam’s teat. Oh wait; what’s this? “Ford gets $5.9 billion loan from Department of Energy“? Well, that doesn’t count, right? It’s not a bailout, right? Anyway, discretion is the better part of valor, they say. The day may come when Ford needs to exercise the line of federal credit they established around the time of Bailout V1. I guess it makes sense to let the media trumpet the “fact” that FoMoCo isn’t a ward of the state and leave it at that. So it was a complete surprise to see Ford slap down GM today, in a Detroit News article about the rush to put cars on lots post-Cash for Clunkers. “We knew that our inventories would be drawn down, so we planned increases. We factored that into our production schedule,” said George Pipas, head of sales analysis at the Dearborn automaker. “GM may have been more conservative. They’re now doing what we did a month ago.” Ouch! Could this be the start of some serious cross-town bitch-slapping? Probably not. Still, we can dream . . .