Low cost cars? Who needs them. BMW’s CFO Friedrich Eichiner thinks that the premium segment is where the growth is. Eichiner projects the global auto market to go basically sideways by growing 4 percent in 2012. He expects the premium segment to grow twice as fast at 8 percent. That according to an interview given to Munich’s Süddeutsche Zeitung today. Of course that growth is not spread evenly around the world. Eichiner predicts that the European car market will remain flat this year. Growth potential is seen in the U.S. and China. (Read More…)

An op-ed piece in  The Washington Post praises the wisdom of Congress that refused to renew the 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit for corn-based ethanol and the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol, thereby exposing alcohol to the rough treatment of the market. Also not extended was the tax credit for installing a charger at home or in a commercial location.

The WaPo thinks killing the $6 billion incentive to turn corn into fuel, and letting EV owners buy their own charger was righteous, but only a half-measure. Congress should have finished the job and should have finished handing out $7,500 tax credits to buyers of EVs. The WaPo thinks it’s a waste, and the technology is going nowhere. (Read More…)

When U.S. new-vehicle sales will be announced tomorrow, there should be gains of around 10 percent compared to December the year before, a panel of 30 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters reckons. The gain will mostly go on account of the fabled pent-up demand, which suddenly is a bad thing. Gains are linked to buyers who delayed purchases do not indicate a strengthening economy, analysts tell Reuters. (Read More…)

First it was Honda that had issues with TrueCar. Now, it is regulators in several states, along with dealer associations that claim that TrueCar’s business model is at odds with “long-standing state laws designed to protect the interests of car dealers and shoppers,” as Automotive News [sub] reports. Says AN:

“Regulators in Colorado, Wisconsin and Virginia have issued bulletins to dealers or sent letters to TrueCar concluding that legal problems exist with TrueCar’s business model of charging dealers for leads that turn into a sale. And dealer associations in three more states — California, Kansas and Ohio — say members who use TrueCar may be violating state law.”

This looks like an opening volley of an all-out war. (Read More…)

Honda had been, on these pages and elsewhere,  accused of perpetrating vehicular boredom. At the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda even admitted its sins: “Frankly speaking we think that in the past few years the cars have been a bit boring,” creative director of Honda’s styling design development division Yoshinori Asahi told the Sidney Morning Herald.

A remorseful Honda president Takanobu Ito now tells The Nikkei [sub] that the criticism was warranted and that things will change. First, however, Ito denies responsibility for the flagrant boredom, using the trite and true “I just followed orders” defense: (Read More…)

This is the time of the year when we lift TTAC’s no flaming policy to chronicle a strange New Year’s custom: The burning of cars.

This year, the flames reached Hollywood. Over the three days before New Year’s Eve, 43 fires were set in Hollywood, most of them to parked cars. (Read More…)

The gang at TTAC wishes you, the Best & Brightest, a wonderful, happy and lucky 2012. May all your wishes come true (go easy on your New Year’s resolutions, this year, you may have to keep them …) May your rods remain unthrown and your payments be painless.

Our New Year’s resolution is to provide you with even better information, reviews and analysis.

I am starting off the well-wishing (unless the Aussies did beat me to it) on a balmy evening, overlooking Hong Kong Harbour.

As a longstanding TTAC tradition, let’s march the celebrations around the globe!

The gang at TTAC will take Sunday off to nurse any party aftereffects, and will be back on Monday.

Happy New Year!

Yesterday, the alleged enthusiast blog did play its usual “if we would tell you, they would shoot us” about a possible suitor from India:

“We are not allowed to reveal the identity of the company yet, but we are allowed to reveal some facts about it. They are of course based in India but acts on a world-wide basis with much more than 100’000 employees worldwide. They are a multi-billion dollar company, that work on multiple fields such as energy, logistics, real estate and of course within the aerospace and automotive industry.” (Read More…)

If you are a car manufacturer, and you haven’t yet lined up your Chinese joint venture, don’t even bother to apply.

This is the message the Chinese government sends to the world in its new Foreign Direct Investment Industry Guidelines, which were released yesterday. These guidelines open more sectors of the Chinese industry to foreign investment, but they effectively close the door to foreigners who want to play in the increasingly overcrowded Chinese car industry.

Automakers have been removed from the list of industries the Chinese government “encourages foreign companies to invest in,” China Daily reports. (Read More…)

A good month after our trek to the South where we checked on the (un-) willingness of transplant workers to join the UAW, the hard-hitting team at the Reuters Detroit bureau did the same.  In a special report, Reuters comes to the same conclusion as we did: It won’t be easy. Bernie Woodall and  Ben Klayman of Reuters did more thorough digging. And they unearthed the secret strategy of the UAW: With the help of the German metalworkers union, they want to talk themselves into Volkswagen and Daimler: (Read More…)

On the second day of Christmas, Toyota officially launched what will be known as the “Aqua” in Japan, or the “Prius C” in the U.S. and elsewhere. It will also be known as “the world’s most fuel efficient hybrid car.” At least that’s what Reuters calls it. (Read More…)

Car companies have deep pockets, therefore, they get sued all the time for the silliest things. A good deal of what you pay for the car goes to paying lawyers. Those of the car company, and especially those who start class action suits. When the suit is won or settled, the lawyers get a fat cut of the award, and the customers get a coupon for a free oil change or other valuable stuff.

A woman from Los Angeles has plaintiff lawyers very worried. (Read More…)

Remember Sakura and Fuji, the two tiny Datsun 210s that went to “The World’s Cruelest Rally” and came home with a trophy? This story has a sequel.

In 1958, two Datsuns, named “Fujii” and “Sakura”  entered  the Mobilgas Trial, 10,000 miles all around Australia. Surprisingly, “Fuji” won its class title. “Sakura” finished fourth.

Half a century later, the cars were found in a warehouse in Japan. (Read More…)

Volkswagen’s 1,154 white-collar workers that have been issued smartphones by the company will get an unexpected (and possibly unwelcome) Christmas present: Silent Night in the in-boxes.

Volkswagen and its works council have agreed that the e-mail function will be deactivated at night, Reuters reports: (Read More…)

Thinking of cashing in on Saab’s misfortunes? Contemplating your own bankruptcy deal, where you can buy a brand new (well, nicely aged on the dealer lot) Saab for pennies on the dollar? Think again. Edmunds.com Senior Consumer Advice Editor Philip Reed says you will be in for a nasty surprise: (Read More…)