Under certain of these scenarios, GM will be able to return a high percentage of the total funds advanced by the taxpayers, and Chrysler will return the money invested as part of the restructuring. Other scenarios, which in Treasury’s view are more likely, show much lower recoveries for the initial loans made to GM and Chrysler.
—Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on the future of the bailout. The search for a one-handed economist continues . . . .
Jay Leno’s Top Gear-aping “Green Car Challenge” will pit guests on the new Jay Leno Show against each other in battery-powered Ford Focus EVs, according to The Ford Story. Not that Ford has a 2,305,476 MPG-rated battery-electric car ready for production or anything. The Focus EV “especially made for the show, foreshadows elements of the electric Focus that Ford will begin selling in North America in 2011.” But does putting whiny celebrities in a whining EV add up to great television? Too bad Tesla couldn’t come up with the product-placement cash.
Oh, that is it. This sight meets with full force. Sparkling like a ruby the red SLS is located in the soft sunlight. Which for a sports car! Which for a Mercedes! Its form is sin, without each exaggeration: It makes speechless. Thus only times completely deeply get air and…
Autobild, via the miracle of Babelfish translation. This helps explain why we don’t typically think of German as an especially lyrical language . . . But, hey, at least someone’s excited about the SLS.
Fritz has been asked, but Fritz has yet to answer. The smart money says LaNeve is next to ride the Ray Young Express right out of the RenCen.
What a funny coincidence. On the very same day that a government oversight panel rips GM a new one for disappearing billions of taxpayer bucks, the Detroit News brings word that GM’s CFO, Ray Young, will be leaving the company. Young’s departure comes as GM is shaking up its finance department, the division which gave the company such fine leaders as Rick Wagoner and Fritz Henderson. The DetN identifies Young’s announcement that GM would not disclose all of its financial information as a publicly-funded private company as a major cause for his ouster. And if the DetN‘s reporting is to be believed, Young isn’t the only GM exec who should be worried.
Hyundai’s ix-Metro concept scuttles out from behind a rock and ends up on Autoexpress.
Now there’s a question… and here’s part one of DocumentaryHD’s video attempt at answering it.
Subaru’s first US-market continuously-variable transmission (CVT) was a major factor in the 2010 Outback’s recent two-star TTAC review. Not in the “one niggling fault” way either. Think more along the lines of the “metaphor for myriad brand betrayals” kind of dislike. Subaru’s vehicles are getting heavier, their interiors are becoming more plasticky-gimmicky and much of the driving fun once available in say, a stock Impreza, has gone the way of quirky styling and rugged functionality. And guess what? Subaru’s mainstream trend-encies look to be here to stay.
“We’re building more than one car; we’re building a brand,”
McLaren boss Ron Dennis, on the announcement of the one car that McLaren is bringing to market in 2011, the MP4-12C. By 2015 McLaren hopes to offer a 911 competitor and a Carrera GT-class super-duper car, bringing total volume to 4,000 units per year, reports the Times. The MP4-12C is named for Dennis’s 1997 Formula One-winning race car, and will be rocking all the mid-engine V8, adaptive suspension, carbon-fiber chassis, gullwing doors and seven-speed accoutrement one expects at a $250k price point. Meanwhile, the designer of McLaren’s first road car is betting on tiny city cars. And it’s tough to tell which of the two is crazier.
GM set off something of an insanity bomb a few weeks back by claiming their Volt moonshot would get 230 mpg based on draft EPA testing standards. Nissan countered via Twitter, claiming that its forthcoming Leaf EV would get 367 mpg using the same test, and the age of EV efficiency madness was initiated. Needless to say, neither the Volt nor the Leaf can be directly tested to give an apples-to-apples comparison to internal combustion-powered vehicles, and this opening salvo seemed bent on removing plausibility from the EV efficiency equation. But sanity in EV efficiency has an unlikely new champion in luxo-EREV maker Fisker.
The Chinese government has sent back Sichuan Tenzhong’s bid for GM’s Hummer brand, reportedly due to uncertainty regarding whether Hummer’s patents were part of the deal. “I, based on the current situation, understand that it’s not in coordination with our nation’s industrial policy,” Vice Minister for Commerce Chen Jian tells Bloomberg. But, says Chen, it was not the commerce ministry that nixed the deal. A different “relevant department is currently reviewing and has expressed opposition,” Chen said. It seems Chen was probably referring to the National Development and Reform Commission. GM and Tenzhong both claim to still be pursuing the deal. [Hat Tip: ohsnapback]
GMI claims The General has yanked Buick Allure badging in favor of the the US-market LaCrosse moniker—after an unknown number of 2010 Allures have been sold. GM is apparently offering to rebadge already-sold Allures as LaCrosses. Why the jerking around? It seems GM is no longer scared of the LaCrosse name in Canada. Why they waited to change their mind until cars were on lots and in driveways is anyone’s guess. Throw another log on the LaCrosse launch bonfire of vanities. [Hat Tip: Richard Chen]
This has nothing to do with Chrysler Group.
Chrysler spokesman Shawn Morgan on Bloomberg‘s revelation that the Department of the Treasury has sent a notice of default to Old CarCo (AKA Bad Chrysler) for $3.34B worth of bailout “loans.” Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
Fritz Henderson got a thumbs-up from the Board of Directors just days ago, but it seems that Chairman Ed Whitacre doesn’t want anyone to get comfortable. The Freep‘s Tom Walsh just posted a column describing GM execs as “rattled” by Whitacre’s recent revelation that at the New GM executives must earn their keep.
On Wednesday, Whitacre told a group of GM salaried staff — in one of several “diagonal slice” meetings, so called because they mix people from all levels — that he expects to see lots of changes in the next 12 weeks. Changes every day.
So, is the party over? Surely GM’s brass knew that there would be some accountability, someday. Right?
Buick dealers are telling us supplies of the ballyhooed mid-launch 2010 LaCrosse have slowed to a trickle. In fact, several dealers report they’re out of stock. Needless to say, waiting on the first hypeworthy Buick in ages isn’t putting them in a good mood. Nor are the problems rumored to be causing the delays; it seems initial reports of electrical problems may be true despite GM’s denial. We are hearing dark mutterings of weird malfunctions. Specifically, opening a door while the hood is popped causes the dashboard to light up like a Christmas tree. You’d think that with “only” four brands, GM could get a potentially brand-rescuing product launch right. Or at the very least get the story straight. We done a ‘ring ’round’ to check on supplies, and we can smell the napalm in the morning on this one . . .
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