“The New Trabi will be a stylish car with a history. It will be electrically powered because that is the trend.”
Herpa Miniaturmodelle spokesman Daniel Stiegler on his firm’s plan to jump into the car game with an EV Neo-Trabant. Stiegler went on to say that the Trab-E “will not be a retro car.” Whatever you say. Just watch out for the charging cable issues that plagued an actual car company’s “stylish EV with history.” Oh, and make it better than this.
At the risk of some unseemly self-congratulation, this is why you didn’t catch the hot Cayman Shooting Brake rumor here at TTAC: it’s a fake. The New York Times reveals that the hoax was perpetrated by a Top Gear USA summer intern using 3-D graphics software and a lot of spare time. And the job was well enough done to make a number of well-known car blogs look a bit foolish. Enthusiasts are such suckers!
Let’s not kid ourselves, the cash is the important part. And though the CARS legislation requires the DOT to refund dealers for their clunker deals within ten days, Automotive News [sub] reports that it just ain’t happening. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week that the bugs had been worked out of the CARS computer system, and the National Auto Dealers Association concurred. “There are kinks still left in the system, but they, too, are being worked out,” NADA spokesfolk said at the time. Turns out they spoke too soon.
Hyundai has announced that its Equus luxury flagship is headed stateside in “late 2010.” The New York Times seems to believe that the Equus “is not likely to be called the Equus,” when it arrives. Google the name without “Hyundai” to find out why. So does the rush to market mean Hyundai has abandoned plans for a Genesis-based brand spin-off adventure? Let’s hope so. This is no stretched Azera (it’s a stretched Genesis), but it’s said to be priced starting “under $60K.” Which means Cadillac’s 2012 XTS “flagship” won’t even be a “Hyundai fighter.” How the world changes.
General Motors has always been long on talk about the future. The company that invented concept cars and pioneered planned obsolescence has always kept consumers focused on the next big thing(s), and that tradition is ever more important now that GM is a publicly-owned entity. Future products are the justification for current investments and subsidies, and GM knows it. Though details are sparse and largely sifted out of the murk of PR leaks, teases and hearsay, a picture of post-IPO GM’s 2012 lineup is beginning to form. The success of these vehicles depends on a number of difficult-to-predict factors, but assuming fairly conservative projections (steady increases in US economic growth, auto sales and gas prices), it’s not too hard to tease out a few early conclusions on GM’s strategy. So let’s hop in the time machine and set the dial for the Fall of 2011.
When you hear Cash for Clunkers praised as “the most efficient stimulus for the auto industry,” you kind of have to wonder. Why did we spend the other hundred billion bucks?
“Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required. Oh yeah, and it’ll be affordable too!”
NissanEV shoots back at the latest Volt hype on Twitter, using the same DOE estimate as GM. That hit from the PR crackpipe sure didn’t last long.
The Detroit News reveals that GM has stopped paying dues to the End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corp., an industry group dedicated to the safe disposal of mercury switches in scrapped vehicles (some of the dangers of mercury pollution and toxicity here). GM had paid the group $700,000 to $1,000,000 annually to prevent mercury pollution from its switches, “a substantial portion of the program’s funding,” according to the DetN. But since declaring bankruptcy, the New GM seems to think that the approximately 18 million mercury switches in its pre-2000 vehicles are no longer its problem. New GM “has never produced vehicles with mercury switches and has no mercury switch responsibility under the terms of the bankruptcy court order,” say spokesfolks. And though technically the New GM is a not the same company that built cars with mercury switches, GM’s green image-building is radically at odds with this decision. With cash-for-clunkers keeping crushing yards humming, this is going to be one of the busiest years on record for the ELVSC. In short, the perfect time to lose a major funding source. You stay classy, GM!
GM’s orgy of PR hype rolls relentlessly on with this video about America’s own volkswagen, the Bare Necessities Concept. After all, nationalized firms have to at least pretend to take on challenges other than getting folks into $40k EREVs and competing with BMW’s 3-Series . . . like competing with the Tata Nano. And for once the YouTube commentators get it right. “I already own this,” writes jeffseelig. “It’s called a 1978 Honda Accord.”
As part of today’s wander through hyperspace, GM attempts to answer a riddle that would have vexed a Theban: “What makes a Chevy a Chevy?” To which the only possible answer is “everything to everyone.” GMC receives the same treatment, in which we learn that the Professional Grade Brand “has a great opportunity to get away from where Chevy is.” (Whatever is is.) But when a Fastlane commenter asked GM Senior Creative Designer Dave Smidebush “why should we order a Terrain over the Equinox?” his answer was an enigma wrapped in a puzzle lost in a Vortec.
Dave Smidebush: Thank you. THey’re [sic] both great vehicles. Buy the one that appeals best to you but I’m a little partial to the Terrain!
If that doesn’t scream “differentiation,” what does?
GM announced today that it expects the Volt to receive the first-ever triple-digit EPA rating (including 230 city MPG). GM’s John Lauckner goes into a little more detail at a Fastlane livechat:
Guest: Can you please explain the 230 mpg rating. I must say I balked at your gamble on EREV instead of full hybrid like toyota, but this validates your gamble.
Jon Lauckner: Yes, having a vehicle that achieves triple digit fuel economy is a game changer. The 230 mpg refers to the city fuel economy, but we also expect to have a triple digit combined fuel economy value. These preliminary numbers are based on Volt development testing with our pre-production vehicles and the draft federal fuel economy methodology developed by EPA for EREV vehicles like the Volt.
But, as usual, everything is not what it seems . . .
Want more proof that Car And Driver Editor-in-Chief Eddie Alterman will believe anything?
Currently floating through the executive offices in Torino is a plan to fit the Dodge [Viper] with a V-10 version of the next-generation corporate V-8. This 90-degree engine would be modular top to bottom as well as by cylinder, with a flat-plane crank for the Ferrari V-8, a conventional cross-plane crank for the Maserati V-8, and pushrod-actuated valves for the balance-shafted Viper V-10.
Select media, Twitterati and fanboys are taking in the very best of GM hype today at a “tweet-but-don’t-photograph” event. But 140-character messages of hope, renewal and awesome are a bit thin to draw real conclusions from. Not that such semantics stop the faithful from trying. Apparently GM has an ATS concept, based on the mythical Alpha RWD platform. Because GM needs a “real” 3 series fighter in addition to an Epsilon II Buick fighter. Speaking of which, the Epsi II-based Riviera Concept is being teased, as is a Malibu refresh. Between the new concepts and Bob Lutz’s admission that GM’s interiors once resembled “solidified lava,” the twits become downright effusive. “I am bathing in future,” tweets one. But it’s the future of car shows, not showrooms (with the exception of some drooling over the Malibu refresh and it’s allegedly touch-friendly interior). And we already knew that GM can make pretty concepts.
Ford made $2.1 billion or whatever last quarter and they’re still wanting more concessions, more concessions.
UAW Local 249 President Jeff Wright to Fox 4 News Kansas City. By “whatever,” he actually meant “a $424 million pre-tax operating loss and $1 billion of cash burn, with $2.3 billion net income thanks only to one-time ‘special items.’” Or whatever. But Bloomberg reports that the UAW has “concession fatigue” and wants Ford to accept less favorable terms than GM and Chrysler. Hey, UAW, remember “bailout fatigue?” Taxpayers were told to shut up and keep the largesse flowing. Try following the example.
Toyota President has renounced his firm’s 2002 goal of attaining 15 percent global market share by around 2010. “Our president doesn’t feel comfortable upholding figures as our vision,” an anonymous Toyota source tells Automotive News [sub]. “It is not the Toyota way to aim for 15 percent or 10 percent.” Which makes sense, considering Toyota is predicting a nearly 13 percent drop in global sales in the fiscal year ending March 31. Indeed, AN’s source blames the market share goal for Toyota’s current overcapacity struggles. Which indicates that the big T may have recognized the role of number-chasing in GM’s demise. If nothing else, its executives certainly understand the importance of emerging markets in driving sales. Perhaps because Volkswagen is creeping up on Toyota’s market share on the back of its Chinese and Brazilian business. You gotta dance when the floor keeps getting hotter.
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