If I tell you that China will hit 20 million cars this year, you probably think I was drinking. I will tell you no such thing. But what if the chief of GM China says it? As a matter of fact, he just did. (Read More…)

In 2010, plans of a (by Porsche standards) low-priced cheap Porsche, a mid-engined, entry-level roadster based on the underpinnings of the Volkswagen BlueSport Concept were floated. The car was called a “modern-day 356 Speedster” by some.

On these pages, it was promptly called “a modern-day version of another Porsche Deadly Sin, the 914.”

Porsche decided to sin no more and ditched the roofless cheapo. (Read More…)

Do you live in or near a Cuban community? Drive a Mercedes? Noooooo! Leave it in the garage. Put a tarp over it.

The Cuban community hates Mercedes and Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche, despite his Cuban-sized mustache. Casus belli: At a presentation at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Zetsche praised the virtues of car sharing. Car sharing?

Zetsche said: (Read More…)

Honda’s plant in Thailand had been submerged for months. Now that the flood waters have finally retreated, Honda assesses the damage. The plant is a near write-off.

“The restoration work will almost be equal to making a plant from scratch,” a Honda executive told The Nikkei [sub]. Honda decided to completely rebuild the plant located in the Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya Province, central Thailand, at a cost of around $650 million. (Read More…)

This is CVN-76, a.k.a. the Ronald Reagan. It is a true multi-role ship. Today, it hauls cars, to keep them off I-5. (Read More…)

While America slept, the TTAC server, without consulting with the supreme powers of TTAC, said: “What the heck, it’s Sunday. Time for a nap.”

And it went to sleep as well. (Read More…)

Chrysler is dropping half a billion dollars into an expansion of one of its North American plants, Automotive News [sub] reports. This is where Chrysler will produce (to what degree remains open) its Fiat Ducato van, which will be sold as a Chrysler Ram Van.

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler, told reporters in Detroit that this plant will be “the center for production of light-commercial vehicles in North America for us.” Red-white-and-blue blooded flag-wavers may object to the location of the plant.  It is about 180 miles southwest of Laredo, Texas. In Saltillo, Mexico. (Read More…)

Are you the King of Spain, the Sultan of Brunai, Jay-Z, or the Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich? Check your mailbox. Volkswagen’s Bentley has sent you mail. Bentley wants to grieve with you over the passing of your beloved Maybach brand, and then, in a tasteful way, hopes will be expressed that your next car will be a Bentley.

In November, Daimler announced that it will bury Maybach (for an eulogy fittingly written by Jack Baruth, click here). This allegedly caused tears amongst the über-rich. (Read More…)

German tuner Ruf is coming to China. He did what everybody should do who is setting up shop in another land: Do thorough market research. When he asked what Chinese like, the answer was: “Long!” With that in mind, Ruf made what the Chinese market (possibly) wants: A stretched Porsche Panamera. (Read More…)

GM is casting nervous glances at its perennial antagonist in China, Volkswagen. For both, China is a strategic high ground.

• GM sells more than a quarter of its global production in China. GM sold a record 2,547,171 units in China in 2011, which is more than the 2,503,797 units sold in the U.S.  last year.
• Volkswagen also sells more than a quarter of its global production in China. Volkswagen sold a record 2.26 million units in China in 2011, which is twice the numbers of cars the Volkswagen Group sold back home in Germany.

“So?” I hear you say. “Both are doing great. What’s to worry?” Where shall I begin? (Read More…)

Bucolic Spartanburg, SC, will get a new boost when BMW drops $900 million on the plant to expand its capacity to 350,000 units per year. Spartanburg will become one of the world’s largest BMW plants. The BMW Group already invested USD 750 million in the expansion of the plant for production of the new BMW X3 between 2008 and 2010. Now, the plant is being expanded again to make room for the X4. (Read More…)

After rocketing up by 32 percent in the year before, the Chinese car market took a break last year. China’s automobile sales eked out a small gain of  2.45 percent to 18.50 million units last year. As the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a press conference this afternoon, this was the slowest growth in 13 years.

(Read More…)

When we heard from Reuters about GM’s possible plan to shift production from its South Korean former Daewoo plants to Europe, we didn’t think that would be highly appreciated in South Korea.  After duly reporting that there could be a deal afoot to mollify the German and European steelworkers union with jobs taken away from South Korea, we opined: Let’s see what the militant South Korean unions have to say about that.”

We did not have to wait long. The unions in South Korea already threaten war, and when they say war, they mean war. (Read More…)

When thinking about creating cost efficiencies, moving jobs to Asia usually comes to mind. GM has a different plan to bring profitability back to its hemorrhaging Opel unit. GM is considering bringing Chevrolet production from its Korean plants to Europe. In exchange for delivering jobs, GM expects concessions from the unions that would clear the way for a major cost-cutting operation necessary to stop the bleeding and to save the German patient from otherwise certain death. This is at the heart of a detailed report just filed by Reuters correspondents Christiaan Hetzner in Frankfurt and Ben Klayman in Detroit. (Read More…)

We used to have a column named Ur-Turn where we did published reader views “as a showcase for the diverse perspectives of TTAC’s readers.” Here is a truly diverse one, and the return of Ur-Turn. It comes from our reader Chris DeMorro. As Jack Baruth so eloquently had put I,. “General Motors and Ford both spent obscene amounts of money to fly social media influencers to Detroit from all over the world.” Chris is one of them. Chris was at a couple of these events before, and as an experienced influencer, he is well qualified to write about them.

Full Disclosure: I am one of the 146 “social influencers” flown out by Ford to NAIAS the past few days. It was my third such event in a year, having been flown out to last year’s NAIAS show, and the “Forward with Ford” technology conference last summer. I have also been a Ford fan my whole life.

So I’m off to a great, totally un-biased start. (Read More…)