Better Place founder Shai Agassi brags that his firm’s purchase of 100,000 Electric Renault Meganes is the first such mega-buy since the Ford Model T.  Better Place’s cell phone-inspired battery leasing infrastructure hits Israel and Denmark next year, and Agassi insists that “real customers will be driving real cars” by the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show.

We were surprised by how little had been done in the past 24 months. It will be a slow progress in the beginning but we will see significant improvement in 2010…. If the numbers end up being as we see today, there is a good chance we will have to put additional stress on the manufacturing system. But it’s too early to tell.

-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne in Automotive News [sub, available sub free at CNN]. Is Marchionne just blaming the most convenient possible scapegoat, or did he really take Chrysler on a taxpayer-funded platter because he actually thought Cerberus was doing a bang-up job?

The NYT covers some of the advancements in the steel that goes into cars. One surprise? “North America doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone,” when it comes to steel content, according to an analyst who specializes in automotive steel. Apparently the steel industry has been feeling the heat from aluminum, composites and other materials, and they’re fighting back with super-strong high-tech alloys that can still be stamped or molded. Still, the pull between high-quality components and cost-cutting never ends. And as thestreet reports, a looming trade war with China could soon make the steel game even crazier.

We had a brief word with the IIHS’s Russ Raider, who was quite cagey on the origins and condition of the 1959 Bel Air that was destroyed for the Institute’s 50th birthday. What we were able to get out of him was that the ’59 Bel Air was in “good” condition, with only a little engine rust, leaky hood/trunk seals and non-original upholstery in the negative column. We also learned that the car was procured in Indiana, and with this information we went looking for Bel Airs on the internet. And you’ll never guess what we found . . .

(Read More…)

The WSJ reports that EV manufacturer Aptera is asking the government for $75M from its energy-efficient retooling funds. Unfortunately for the makers of the Jetsons-inspired 2e, there’s some debate about whether its three-wheel design makes it a car or a motorcycle. Which means the gravy train could be delayed at the station. The Department of Energy has already rejected Aptera’s request for this reason, but Congress is wading into the issue at the EV maker’s request.

(Read More…)

Ironically, suicide is considered very environmentally friendly.

The good folks at Jaguar have been kind enough pledge an XFR to the TTAC side for the upcoming first annual (?) Robert Lutz Sports Sedan Challenge. In principle. We still don’t know whether Lutz imagines his challenge as a head-to-head race or a hot lap time trial, and these are important factors in planning racing strategy. Not to mention expensive car-lending decisions. Still, if GM actually goes through with this on fair terms, we could have one of the CTS-V’s top competitors for a mount. And if Hyundai brass show up as is being rumored (let alone Sergio Marchionne in a Quattroporte), we could just have one hell of a spectacle on our hands.

Just don’t ask what the newly-released rules will do to the upfront cost of your new car. Though the EPA claims that 35.5 mpg by 2016 is “within reach” of the industry, OEMs will certainly pass some of the $2 billion in costs to meet the standard onto consumers. Let’s also not forget the billions of taxpayer money spent on retooling loans intended as a payoff to the industry for agreeing to the standard, or the EPA’s estimate that new regulations will save consumers $3,000 in fuel cost is over the vehicle’s lifetime. Good thing the new rules will save the environment and improve energy independence. Otherwise we’d have a really hard time being positive about all this.

Too bad Obama already skewered this kind of presidential salesmanship. Hilariously.

Farago clearly enjoyed his time with the old Golf R32, but I’ve always thought there was something not quite right about V6-powered Golfs. Considering VW has approximately 750 vehicles based on the same platform, I figure you save the six-pot for the Audi. Anyway, my pedantic preferences are remarkably in line with, well, rising efficiency standards, so VW’s latest top-end Golf is getting a turbo four just like God intended. And the numbers that VW is claiming for the Golf R are the kind that would make the Almighty nod his head approvingly. All wheel drive, 270 hp, 260 lb·ft between 2,500 and 5,000 rpm, 0-60 in 5.5 seconds (with DSG) and 27 MPG. All wrapped up in an reworked Mk VI Golf body that makes the R32 look like a rice special. The inevitable downside is that VW won’t say whether it’s coming to America.

3,319 lb·ft of torque from four electric motors, and the best 0-60 time Audi came up with for its E-Tron concept was 4.8 seconds? Thanks but, uh, we’re not idiots.

Or is that pointlessly endearing? First off, they’re MINIs with trunks. Figure that out. Our first reaction to news of the Coupe and Roadster was to observe that the only thing the MINI brand needed was cars with a little less room. But, as MINI’s press release points out, the brand-defying decklids do have a point. Specifically, “[giving] the car a notchback look clearly distinguishing the MINI Roadster Concept from the MINI Convertible.” Too bad three-box MINIs aren’t MINIs. They’re RILEY ELFs. Ultimately though, brand confusion shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Not because nobody’s mentioned the Riley Elf in decades, but because the concept has a “buddy radar” display which alerts drivers to the presence of other MINIs. Which was a great way of addressing the second least common complaint among MINI drivers: anonymity.

Getting involved in European companies is likely to bring a complexity of personnel management that will blow their minds.

European auto analyst Graeme Maxton in an Automotive News [sub] report on potential issues with Chinese buyouts of western auto brands. “I’m not sure they can handle a brand like Volvo and turn it around,” adds an anonymous “senior executive working in China with a major U.S. automaker.” To be fair, Maxton concedes that auto-sector mergers are difficult under any circumstances, but that doesn’t stop AN [sub] from trotting out an ominous quote from BAIC chairman Xu Hey, who blames “western discrimination” for China’s trouble wooing established brands.

(Read More…)

Bob Lutz’s latest Fastlane livechat was dominated by discussion of GM’s “May The Best Car Win” campaign. As you might imagine, things got . . . interesting. Right out of the gate, Lutz confirmed that he would be racing Jalopnik’s Wes Siler. He also more or less confirmed TTAC commentators’ suspicions that GM would, well, cheat. “We’ll see if age and treachery beat youth and skill one more time,” Lutz said, echoing sentiments expressed by a famous pop chanteuse of which he is no doubt unaware. You want more?

(Read More…)