The strike at Honda’s transmission factory in China that has led to the closure of all Honda sites in China shows no sign of resolution. Actually, there is a new twist: Management is leaning on school interns not to strike, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reports. Why the sudden focus on interns? (Read More…)

Actually, he’s been broke for since last October.

“About four months ago, I ran out of cash,” Musk wrote in a court filing with the Superior Court of Los Angeles on Feb. 23. “I had to obtain emergency loans from personal friends. These loans are the exclusive source of cash I have. If I did not take these loans, I would have no liquid assets left.” Tough when you make only 8 grand a month and have two high maintenance women. (Read More…)

The PT Cruiser lit the world on fire … then it fizzled.  The new Beetle put a bug under many people’s bonnet – now it’s marked for extinction. That doesn’t deter Saab’s new owner Victor Muller of Spyker to think about a re-make of the legendary teardrop-shaped Saab 92 that was in production from 1949 to 1956. (Read More…)

Throughout the bailout bonanza, we were told that the car industry means million of jobs. True enough, before the money was doled out, we learned that auto-related industries employ 3.1 million people around the country. Now, the government is paying big bucks for electric car development.  From Tesla all the way to Nissan, the industry is getting $ 25 billions of DOE loans, conditional  on the development of advanced vehicle technologies. Which usually means electric cars.  What’s wrong with that picture? If successful, it could cost a big chunk of those 3.1 million jobs. (Read More…)

Toyota has released their production numbers for the first four months. So has Volkswagen. GM has not, but that doesn’t change the general picture: Toyota is still in the lead in worldwide production, Volkswagen catches up a bit, but sits solidly in the #3 position for the first four months of the year. (Read More…)

For two weeks in April, a volcano in Iceland not only brought air traffic in Europe to its knees, it also played havoc with the manufacturing of cars. Just in time manufacturing reared its ugly head. Electronic parts that usually get flown in piled up in Korea and China. Something as small as the component that controls the car’s power seats could hold up everything. Unless you know how to improvise … (Read More…)

In Japan, the land of the mythical lifetime employment, peaks and valleys in demand are managed with temporary workers. As long as work is there, they work. If demand dries up: “So sorry, your temporary time is up. Ja ne!” During carmageddon times, most if not all of the temporary workers in Japan had been sent home – often to no home at all. The hiring of temporary workers is a closely watched leading indicator in Japan, signaling an uptake in business. The Nikkei [sub] reports that Toyota companies are hiring contract workers again as production is picking up. (Read More…)

Speaking of car ads, never in my life would I have expected to see the grim reaper in a car ad. Especially not in the death seat. Especially not in a Mercedes ad. The boys from Sindelfingen never were known for their daredevil approach to advertising. Even at Volkswagen, which used to take more risk in their campaigns (<- they said this one wasn’t approved), any ad showing an old man with a scythe would have been immediately – – killed.

“Herr Schmitt! How often do we have to tell you: No negative advertising!!!!” It’s amazing that the Mercedes-Benz Brake Assistant System (BAS) ad [available after the jump] saw the light of day. Personally, I like it. Honestly, I’m envious of an agency that has gotten this ad through countless committees. Coming up with a good ad is easy. The hard part is having it approved. (Read More…)

Jalopnik carries today the revelation that in the Tesla/Toyota agreement, there is no “formal deal with Toyota to build a new electric vehicle yet.” Let’s overlook for a second that the report is nearly verbatim lifted from Venturebeat. If Jalopnik would have read our story about Toyota and Tesla, they could have printed the above a week earlier. (Read More…)

Someone is in a big hurry: In March, Daimler and BYD signed an agreement to develop an all electric vehicle “specific to the requirements of the Chinese market.” Usually, it takes a while until something comes from these announcements, especially in China, where everything needs a lot of big red chops. Much to our surprise, we hear that BYD and Daimler signed the contract today to form a 50:50 joint venture for the aforementioned purpose. (Read More…)

Car & Driver voted Toyota’s FT-86 as one of the 25 cars worth waiting for. It seems like the wait will be a little longer than anticipated. Toyota had shown their sports car concept at many motor shows, from Tokyo to Beijing (but not in New York.) Of course, this was read as an imminent launch of the little brute. 2011 model year, hopefully. Mid 2011, maybe. Wrong. Not even close. (Read More…)

From Reuters to The Nikkei [sub], the world is abuzz with the shocking news that Honda had to shut down assembly lines at all of their four Chinese auto assembly plants after workers at a Honda transmission factory in Foshan in southern China walked off the job. While the job action barely registers in the Chinese press, my phone in Beijing rings off the hook. Common question from abroad: “Are they allowed to do that?” There goes another myth. (Read More…)

Toyota announces a gut-wrenching innovation: Crash test dummies with intestines. I remember the unappetizing times when crash tests were performed with (dead) pigs, or, even more gross, with human corpses (not for public consumption.) The crash test dummy changed all this. No species developed faster than the anthropomorphic test device, a.k.a. the crash test dummy. Now, it made a big leap forward. (Read More…)

The NHTSA went through their database again and found 89 deaths possibly linked to sudden acceleration of Toyotas within the last 10 years.

From 2000 to mid-May, the NHTSA received more than 6,200 complaints about sudden acceleration in Toyota cars. The reports allege 89 deaths and 57 injuries over the same period. Previously, 52 deaths had been suspected of being connected to the problem, says Bloomberg.

With such carnage, one would assume that the NHTSA is beating down the doors of the bereaved to “get into the weeds” of the matter, as Secretary LaHood fancies to say. (Read More…)

Renault has made a big splash with their el-cheapo Dacia in the European market. In the first 4 months of this year, 17 percent of Renault’s sales came from Nicolae Ceausescu’s former auto works in Romania. France’s PSA doesn’t want to take it any longer, and now plans for their own low-cost line. (Read More…)