The UK Sustainable Development Commission yesterday released a report recommending the use of average speed cameras for round-the-clock tracking of motorist journeys nationwide. The government advisory body said that widespread deployment of average speed cameras was required to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by automobiles, a factor that some believe is linked to global changes in temperature. The report made a number of recommendations affecting the driving public.

“The business models associated with private motoring are not aligned with sustainability,” the report explained.

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Honda’s half-hearted approach to hybrids is about to be shaken up, possibly leading to the development of a hybrid system that goes beyond Honda’s traditional integrated motor assist (IMA) system. Automotive News [sub] reports that Honda CEO, Takanobu Ito has told his Research and Development staff to develop a hybrid which beats the Toyota Prius in fuel economy. Or else. This development probably has something to do the failure of the Honda Insight (Prius sales in 2009 were 139,682. Insight sales for the same period: 20,572); as Honda Executive VP, John Mendel said “Are we happy with how sales are going? No, we’re not happy.” Mr Ito made it clear that Honda’s hybrid line up is a top priority. “We want to develop and expand our hybrids,” said Ito. “We made some major sacrifices to shift people and resources to do that.”

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Opel finally has a restructuring plan. Opel CEO Nick Reilly announced the good news this morning, says Automobilwoche [sub]. “All we need to do is to come to a final agreement with the unions and the works council. I hope, this will happen within the next two or three weeks,” said Reilly. I there a doctor in the house? We have a serious case of relentless optimism. (Read More…)

Here is an interesting facet of the “the Chinese car market is bigger than the American car market” meme:

In 2009, Japanese automakers have, for the first time, built more cars in China than in the U.S. reports the Nikkei [sub]. Says the paper: “Of the eight Japanese passenger carmakers, six manufacture vehicles in China. Their aggregate Chinese output came to roughly 2.25 million units in 2009, exceeding the 2.1 million produced in the U.S.”

Which pours cold water on the often voiced theories that people base their car choices on ethnic prejudice. Japanese people are not necessarily hugely popular in China. Japanese cars are. (Read More…)

The Datsun 240 was as a true revolutionary, smashing the long-stagnant sports car market of the sixties into smithereens. It was long overdue too; folks were getting cranky for the messiah: a truly modern sporty two seater with four-wheel independent suspension, a zippy OHC six engine, dazzling styling, all served up at a reasonable price; say $3500 (about $20k adjusted). The hole in the market for such a car was begging to be filled. And Datsun stepped up and delivered, with a grand-slam home run. But like most revolutionaries, the Z was anything but truly original. But then neither was Che nor Lenin; they studied Marx. And Datsun? They took their studies seriously too.

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A suit filed yesterday by Elliott Associates LP, Glenhill Capital LP, Glenview Capital Partners LP and other financial firms who were NSFWd by Porsche‘s attempted takeover of VW, alleges Porsche “manipulated the price of VW stock as it secretly accumulated control over almost all of VW’s freely traded shares” [suit available for online viewing here]. Porsche has been under investigation in Germany for stock manipulation since October of 2008, and the legal wardrums have been sounding ever since. The plaintiffs are seeking over a billion dollars in damages… and yes, Bertel, one of the plaintiff hedge funds (Glenview Capital) is owned by Goldman Sachs. What is it that they say about payback again?

Former Tesla PR man Daryl Siry’s Wired.com Autopia columns are always good for some interesting insights on the EV world… as long as you take them with the grain of salt that Siry’s status as “advisor” to EV startup Coda Automotive demands. This week Siry has it in for the mass-market EV frontrunner, the Nissan Leaf, accusing its makers of “cutting corners” and “overpromising” range specs. According to Siry:

First, Nissan overpromised on the realistic range by consistently quoting a number tied to the most optimistic benchmark, the LA4 cycle. Drivers who stick to stop and go traffic on city streets in temperate climates may indeed consistently see 100 miles of range, but most drivers will see significantly less in a mix of city and highway driving. Driving in California, the country’s top market for electric vehicles, involves a lot of time on highways where the 65 mph speed limit is rarely observed. The LA4 cycle Nissan quotes mostly stay below 30 mph with one two-minute “sprint” at 55 mph every 22 minute cycle.

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In Eugene, you learn to expect the unexpected; anywhere, any time. Like this bicycle-RV, for instance: no biggie. We have lots of pedal-powered delivery bikes and trikes in town, including rural organic farmers who pedal their produce into town regularly on trikes like this. And they’re even made here in a small factory in Eugene, so that they can be delivered by pedal-power to their pedaling buyers. OK; this RV is different, and it really is kind of big for a bike; 800 lbs, to be precise. And it’s grown over time; I saw it a year or so ago, before it sprouted the rear upper-level addition. And the owner actually takes this on the road, having recently made the trip back from an extended visit to Portland (110 miles away). I tried to get more information from him about details, and the solar-assisted electric motor, but I forgot one important thing: (Read More…)

David Smith, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover has left the company for reasons that JLR and parent firm Tata refuse to elaborate upon beyond telling the Beeb that Smith’s departure is “not linked to the recent breakdown of talks with unions over pay and pensions.” Since the sale to Tata, Jaguar has been negotiating a two-tier wage system and pension reform with workers at its four British plants, but talks stumbled to a halt just days ago. So, that’s definitely not why Smith left suddenly.

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The rubber always hits the road sooner or later… [Americanthinker.com via Instapundit]

You try finding an intact gen1 Eclipse; it took me months. And forget about it being a Turbo; they’ve all been riced, diced, sliced and mashed into oblivion. Was there ever more of a young guy car than this?  I’ll go out on a limb and say that the turbo AWD version of this and its Plymouth Laser and Eagle Talon DSM clones were the closest thing there was to a four-wheeler crotch rocket in their day. It may be a bit on the young side for Curbside Classics, but I figured I’d better grab this Eclipse now, because it may well be the last in town, and its driver is a young guy. High testosterone levels lead to drives of several types, but not generally the one that pertains to preservation. The Eclipse is the victim of its intended demographic. (Read More…)

Russian President Vladimir Putin first showed off his badass camo Lada Niva early last year, in an attempt to boost the fortunes of the floundering state-supported Russian automaker AvtoVAZ. What Putin didn’t reveal until just now is that his Niva isn’t exactly stock.”I won’t hide it [anymore?] , the car I bought has an Opel engine,” he tells the WaPo. “It turns out that it’s more powerful.” Now wonder Russian parliamentarians are starting to advocate dumping AvtoVAZ on Renault, which in turn is drawing a familiar homerism from local pols in Russia’s Detroit, Tolyatti. In other car-salesman-in-chief developments today, Barack Obama revealed that he believes GM is a world-class automaker because his Cadillac is so badass.

The Japanese press is making a big to-do out of the combined 2009 sales of Volkswagen and Suzuki. Or rather out of the fact that the two together sold more than Toyota. „Suzuki-VW Beats Toyota In Global Sales In ’09” headlines The Nikkei, as if the two would be one company.

That the two of them could easily crush Toyota is no news to TTAC readers. When we announced the VW-Suzuki nuptials on Dec 9, 2009, we said: “Suzuki has an output of 2.36 million units a year; added to VW’s sales, Toyota would be toast.”

The Nikkei did the adding, and writes:  (Read More…)

GM’s newly-permanent Chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre balked visibly when asked following his self-coronation if the dealer cull arbitration process would hurt GM’s chances of success this year. “I’m not sure it will weaken us,” was his half-hearted response. Whitacre’s hesitation was a bit of a surprise, considering that GM is taking a far more tolerant attitude to the arbitration process than Chrysler. But, as Automotive News [sub] reveals, GM’s downsizing was highly focused on its Cadillac brand, and if arbitration results in widespread reinstatement, Cadillac could find itself stuck with a number of small-town dealers it doesn’t want.

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