Toyota’s recall of 2m vehicles in Europe isn’t doing much to clarify the chaos surrounding the unintended acceleration panic that is enveloping the company. Eight models are being removed from Europe’s roads, including Auris, Avensis, Aygo, Corolla, iQ, RAV4, Verso and Yaris. The fact that two of these models (iQ and RAV4) are built exclusively in Japan (European Corollas are built in Japan and South Africa), seems to suggest that the problem is not limited to gas pedal assemblies supplied by CTS, which has been blamed for the US recall. The other models are built in France (Yaris), Turkey (Auris, Verso), the Czech Republic (Aygo) and the UK (Avensis, Auris). According to Automotive News [sub], the recall affects these models built between Feb. 2005 and this month, even though

Toyota lengthened the arm of the friction lever and changed its materials on all vehicles produced in Europe using the subject accelerator pedals starting in mid-August 2009

Curiouser and curiouser…

About half of all dealers culled in the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies have filed for congressionally-mandated arbitration, reports Automotive News [sub]. 409 of the 789 culled Chrysler dealers and over 1,000 of the 2,000 culled GM dealers have paid the $1,625 to file for arbitration, and will move into the next phase of the process: agreeing on an arbitrator. Having threatened to sabotage the process with a lawsuit on constitutional grounds, it’s a bit of a surprise to see Chrysler suddenly validating the arbitration process,but that’s what appears to be taking place. Chrysler tells AN [sub]:

The company looks forward to the expeditious completion of the process. A robust dealer network is a critical component of the group’s strategy of rebuilding a strong and resilient American automaker

Representatives of the culled dealers are optimistic that many could be reinstated when arbitration wraps up in June, but only if Chrysler continues to approach the arbitration process with an open mind. Whether that happens or not will be clear as the process goes on.

Today’s tester is a Red Alfa Romeo. So I really shouldn’t be telling you how its name is derived from the cities of Milano and Torino. I shouldn’t be revealing that it’s based on the Fiat Punto and I really needn’t elaborate about its underhood gadgetry, because in days of yore, “Red” was all you […]

According to Dow Jones Newswire, Honda “announced a voluntary worldwide recall of 646,000 compact cars so that it can examine window switches that can overheat if exposed to liquid.”

From the official statement: (Read More…)

Europe has largely shifted towards a CO2-based vehicle taxation regimen. Next in line to tax what comes out of your car may be, wonders of wonders, China.

“Drivers in China may be taxed on the level of emissions produced from their vehicles in the future,” writes China Daily, citing the comments of an official of the Beijing Development and Reform Commission (BDRC). (Read More…)

Chinese automakers may not get government approval to expand their capacities, unless they first agree to take over another Chinese carmaker, says the Shanghai Securities News via Reuters.

China may have the largest auto market in the world, with 13.6m units sold in 2009, but China also has a big problem: Way too many automakers. There are more than 100 automakers in China. The exact number is unknown. China’s top 10 automakers accounted  for 87 percent of total sales, or 11.9m in 2009. The more than 100 small guys built some 1.7m units – together. That’s 17000 units each. (Read More…)

Toyota knows how to fix the sticking gas pedals, says today’s Nikkei [sub]. Nobody will go publicly on record, and nothing will be announced before the NHTSA has approved the fix. (Read More…)

The ongoing kerfluffle over Toyota’s recall of over 2m vehicles for a gas pedal defect which (allegedly) caused unintended acceleration has caught much of the automotive media flat-footed. How could it be, many have wondered, that the automaker most associated in the US market with the concept of quality has slipped so badly? As TTAC’s Steve Lang recently discussed, Toyota has been on a decontenting binge since the mid-to-late-1990s, putting profit above the quality obsession that had defined its operations up to that point. As a result, the current generation of decontented Toyotas and accompanying quality issues and recalls can be seen as the culmination of a long-term trend. But why did that transition take place? Though it’s easy to blame greed and mismanagement for the decline in Toyota’s quality, the decline in standards was actually a natural progression of Toyota’s constantly-evolving, efficiency-obsessed production system.

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Stopping in at Wal Mart always raises the possibilities of some interesting people and car watching. There’s a web site dedicated to the remarkable sights of the peopleofwalmart.com. Prepare yourself! And buried in that treasure chest are some wild cars too. I’m sorry to say my brief venture into Wally Mart this morning doesn’t measure up to the best of theirs, but it’s worth sometimes to just stop for a second and smell the…old cars in the parking lot. Gallery follows: (Read More…)

craigotron writes:

Sajeev and Steve, I love the idea of your new column. Love it. I made an appearance in Piston Slap with my flash welded PCV valve on my Lexus but actually have been playing with the idea of buying a car for almost a year. I’m a serial test driver (I’ve been on 20+) and have found myself in this scenario which might be a good one for your new feature.

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German Mercedes tuner Carlsson has announced a 25-unit, limited-edition C25 coupe based on the Mercedes CL and the ancient nightmares of dread Cthulu. Sure, it has a 735 hp turbocharged V12, but that isn’t why people will buy it. The real ownership pitch: Carlsson will only sell one per country, thereby “guaranteeing exclusivity” for its buyers. Which begs the question: would Carlsson have sold that many C25s on their own merits? We think not.

Supplier CTS, who produced the gas pedals now under recall from Toyota, tells Automotive News [sub] that it “built parts to the automaker’s specifications and says it has no knowledge that its parts were responsible for any accidents or injuries.” Sources at CTS tell AN that although they are working on a fix with Toyota and that new pedals have been tested and are shipping to Toyota plants, “this is their recall.” That would seem to contradict the facts of the case, as Denso, Toyota’s gas pedal supplier for Japanese-built models, has not been involved in the recall. According to Inside Line, the issue with pedal return damping that has plagued CTS-supplied, US-built Toyotas has not turned up in Denso-produced gas pedals.
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It’s obvious that Suzuki isn’t surviving the global downturn on US sales. Stateside, the Japanese automaker’s sales fell over 50 percent last year, with only 38,695 vehicles sold. Globally, Suzuki sold 908,302 units, meaning fewer than one out of 20 Suzukis sold worldwide were in the US market. That’s no big surprise as Suzuki has long focused on developing markets for growth. What is surprising is that Suzuki’s Indian joint venture Maruti actually outproduced its parent company, racking up 966,399, of which about 130k were exported. Wilder still, Maruti sold 967,581 units last year, more than it could produce and more than Suzuki produced worldwide. Suzuki owns 54 percent of Maruti, the best-selling brand in the Indian market by a healthy margin. The Indian market grew by 19 percent last year, while the Japanese market fell by ten percent.

Volkswagen’s recent go-fast specials like the Golf R32 and New Beetle Rsi have typically been developed by a little-known branch of the automaker known as Volkswagen Individual. But performance isn’t necessarily VW Individual’s main focus, as the sub-firm also builds to-order customization of VW products, from police specials to to custom-built stretched Phaetons, and helps VW R&D on new products. In order to focus its efforts, VW is spinning the “R”-vehicle development program into its own unit: R GmbH. “BMW has its M, Mercedes has AMG, and our sibling Audi has Quattro. This new R division will be our Quattro,” an unnamed VW exec tells Inside Line. You know, because Audi and its Quattro performance division isn’t owned by Volkswagen or anything.

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Though Toyota is getting the brunt of the attention for what are apparently faulty gas pedals, the fact that the problem has been traced to supplier CTS means that Toyota isn’t the only OEM that’s shutting down production until a fix for the pedals is found. Bloomberg reports that Ford’s JV with Jiangling Motors in Nanchang, China has halted production of the Ford Transit commercial van, after switching over to CTS-supplied pedals in December. “We think it’s pretty isolated, but we are aggressively running it to ground,” Ford’s Alan Mulally told analysts in today’s financial results conference call. No other Transits are said to be affected, and Jiangling says that they have not received any reports of unintended acceleration for its Transits.