HUMMER fans have a new champion in Illinois Senator Roland Burris, who has agreed to investigate GM’s shutdown of the SUV brand according to Hummerguy.net. Attempts to keep the HUMMER brand alive are being fielded by Capital & Labor International Coalition, a recently-founded fund management firm created by Thane Ritchie, founder of Ritchie Capital Management, as well as failed HUMMER bidder Raser Technologies and The Electric Motor Corporation. According to Hummerguy,

CLIC is hoping for an “acquisition by coalition,” which would involve cooperation with private capital and U.A.W. resources. Union representatives from both HUMMER production facilities were on hand to hear the plan and are running the idea up the chain of command to the International U.A.W..

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Don’t ask Chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre. His only comments so far on GM’s Q1 2010 performance comes from a memo leaked to Reuters, in which he says:

In January, I said we could earn a profit in 2010, if everything falls into place. Our first quarter financial results will show us an important milestone, and I’m pleased to say that I anticipate solid operating results when we report our first quarter financials in May

Thanks to its rev-happy rotary engine’s inability to pass the Euro-5 emissions standard, the Mazda RX-8 will be pulled from the European market, reports Auto Motor & Sport Sweden [via Google Translate]. A rotary-engined replacement will not arrive before the year 2013, as development of the unique engine is both costly and time-consuming. Like any good car with an environmental problem, the RX-8 is receiving a few tentative test upgrades. An E85 version is being raced at the Targa Tasmania, but likely won’t ever be available for sale. Meanwhile, Mazda’s RX-8 rehabilitation efforts likely come down to making a long-rumored hydrogen rotary engine version production-ready. And with nothing planned before 2013, it’s looking like Europe will have to do without the uniquely rev-happy, hard-handling, performance bargain that is the RX-8 for some time.

Long time readers of this series know I’m a big fan of modifications to achieve a vehicle’s maximum potential. And there’s no better example than a switch to GM’s now legendary LSX small block V8.  To prove the point, I saw an LS6 powered, 1980s vintage, Porsche 911 partnered with a LS1 powered 914 at the 2005 Houston Autorama.  Lo and behold, that 911-LS6 arrived at a recent Sunday morning cruise-in. So I got to touch it.  And then it started up for me. It was Epic.

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Remember the Geely GE, the poster child for Chinese auto styling theft? It’s been updated for the upcoming Beijing Auto Show, and trust us, it doesn’t look like a Rolls-Royce copy anymore…

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GM’s newest board member, UCLA Psychology faculty member Cynthia Telles, and her husband, former California Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, addressing the 2000 Democratic convention. Telles has served on the boards of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (where she served with GM Chairman/CEO Ed Whitacre), as well as several banks. She has no Auto Industry experience, but at least she knows Ed Whitacre and has strong ties to the Democratic party. Or, as Ed Whitacre puts it in GM’s official release:

The addition of Dr. Telles to GM’s board of directors ensures that the company will continue to benefit from a diversity of perspectives and experience in our mission to provide consumers with the world’s best vehicles

I’m going down to Memphis Where they really playin’ the blues I’m going down on Beale Street And have a good time like I choose “Thank you for coming to Budget. I have you booked for a Kia Optima.” “The hell you do.” “That is a full-size car as you requested.” “Well, in that case, […]

Western auto makers in distress are in the cross-hairs of Chinese auto makers that are riding one of the largest car booms in history. When Geely closed its deal with Ford over Volvo, we wrote: “Government owned companies like FAW, SAIC, Dongfeng, or BAIC will watch closely how privately owned Geely will digest the Volvo purchase. If successful, western car companies will be on their shopping list again.” They already are. (Read More…)

Citizen activists are looking to ban red light cameras and speed cameras in Maryland, Ohio and Texas. Petition drives are under way in six cities with the goal of offering local residents the opportunity to vote in the next election on whether automated ticketing should continue or not. Already, one of these efforts has succeeded.

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Toyota’s Lexus GX 460 has been taken behind the woodshed by consumer reports. The SUV re-emerged with two black eyes. CR issued a “Don’t Buy” rating and declared the GX 460 a “safety risk.” Said TTAC’s Edward Niedermeyer: “Expect GX460 sales to fall off a cliff until the model is fitted with an electronic straitjacket.” Fall off a cliff? Sales are zero as of this morning. (Read More…)

TTAC readers must be a truly un-American bunch. Americans love a deal, or so the saying goes. TTAC readers hate deals, or so it seems. TTAC readers are up in arms whenever it rains generous discounts to prop up flagging car sales. “The resale value will suffer if they do that!” is the echo from our dear readers. If they would only drive Fords, they would change their minds. (Read More…)

Anonymous sources tell the always on-point pickuptrucks.com that Honda will not be replacing its Ridgeline pickup when its lifecycle ends after the 2011 model year. Honda is refusing comment on the Ridgeline’s future, but did tell AL.com that production will continue through 2011, and that “as of right now, we have no plans to discontinue Ridgeline.” But from a sales perspective, Honda might do well to let the unibody pickup die of natural causes. Though the unconventional Ridgeline came close its initial sales goals of about 50k units per year for the first three years of its life, by 2008 sales had dropped to 33,875. Last year the sales drop snowballed, with a 51 percent volume drop to 16,464 units. So yeah, we’ve been noticing that Honda seems less than completely enthused about its tentative attempt at the truck market. The end could well be near. Hilarious counterpoint to Howie Long’s video (above) available here.

Surely there was another brand that GM recently cut while saying it would support its former customers… was it LaSalle? Geo? Wait, no, it started with a “P”… was it Passport?

Reporters didn’t hold a gun to Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne’s head when they asked him where the next big industry consolidation would occur. He didn’t have to give an answer, and Automotive News [sub] certainly didn’t have to run it as a standalone story. But then, Marchionne’s Fiat is the Don Juan of the global auto industry, having been linked to flirtations with nearly every automaker in the game. If anyone has an idea of the M&A picture in Europe, it’s Sergio. His reply?

The next merger will probably be French. [PSA Peugeot-Citroen] tried with Mitsubishi and they will try with someone else… An alliance involving France and Germany is not that easy, but [the Renault-Daimler-Nissan deal is] a step in the right direction

PSA Peugeot-Citroen and BMW currently develop transverse four cylinder engines together… does Marchionne foresee a deeper relationship?

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Enough of VW hippie buses and the counterculture. What we need is an antidote, the polar opposite of the VW bus: genuine Detroit iron, slathered with some less genuine vinyl applique. A Buick Roadmaster wagon, an All-American icon, will do the job nicely. These aren’t exactly common in Eugene, but one of our more prominent citizens drove one of these before he died; in fact this might be his very car. And who might I be referring to? (Read More…)