Bidders for Opel need to bump up their commitments to win control of GM’s European arm, Germany’s economic minister tells Automotive News [sub]. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg’s announcement came shortly after meeting with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne in Berlin. Coincidence? Nein. Fiat has been looking at acquiring the Opel operations along the lines of its Chrysler takeover: financed by desperate governments rather than the automaker itself. “There’s no favorite,” says zu Guttenberg. “Everyone knows that improvements are still necessary.” And as incentive, zu Guttenberg is still floating the possibility of an Opel bankruptcy. If bidders don’t “make credible commitments to preserve German jobs and showed a willingness to assume greater risks,” Germany will allow Opel to fail. After all, what government would hand over an automaker being kept alive with tax money to a foreign firm with a public-money dowry on top? Only America, apparently. Still, the threat could be losing its impact as Germany is also anxious to decide on a bid offer this week. In the spirit of compromise, Fiat is now saying it would accept only €6 billion in German government loan guarantees instead of the €7 billion previously requested.

While its Detroit rivals unravel with publicly-funded gusto, Ford continues to enjoy nearly unanimous praise from the media and industry commentators. And why not? Free from the public funding, bankruptcy, dealer slashing and attendant bad publicity plaguing its competitors, Ford is clearly the healthiest of America’s automakers. But it’s impossible to forget that Ford’s buoyancy is but one of the final boons of the pre-collapse credit markets. Mortgaged to the hilt, Ford finds itself facing new CAFE and emissions standards without a certain deep-pocketed uncle standing by to pay its way into the new, green automotive paradigm. As a result, Ford seems to be trading long-term opportunities for short-term survival.

Would you like to supersize your irony with that, sir? Having received one bailout, flunked a stress test, now in line for another $7.5b, GMAC knows the meaning of the word “unfit.” And their recent Insurance National Drivers Test shows that 20 percent of American drivers, some 41m people, are a danger to themselves and the financial system. I mean others. Idaho, Wisconsin, Montana and Kansas top the states in “basic road rules” test results. New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and California’s drivers averaged the worst scores. According to GMAC, 5,000 licensed Americans were asked 20 actual questions taken from state Department of Motor Vehicles exams. Anyone changing their mind about speeding?

Early reports on the new national emissions/CAFE standard seemed to imply that California would be barred from moving the goalposts again on emissions. Not so, it seems. Automotive News [sub] reports that California’s Air Resource Board (CARB) is preparing the next round of emissions standards, and (surprise!) they will become more strict rather than the other way around. Or, as CARB Chair Mary Nichols puts it, 2016 will see the emergence of “a much more stringent standard.”

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Tense, Bob, tense. Repeat after me, “we have failed to survive . . . “

Automotive News [sub] reports that former Borden Chemical Inc and Duracell International Inc Chairman C. Robert Kidder (interactive relationship map available at Muckety.com) will replace Robert Nardelli as Chrysler’s chairman.

A joint EPA-DOT document (PDF) explaining the updated national CAFE/emissions standards reveals a number of the new loopholes that will help automakers slip under the seemingly high standard. To kick things off, the EPA/DOT remind the reader that new standards were assembled using “the art of the possible.” to wit:

“There is a wide range of technologies available for manufacturers to consider in upgrading vehicles to reduce GHG emissions and improve fuel economy.7 These include improvements to the engines such as use of gasoline direct injection and downsized engines that use turbochargers to provide performance similar to that of larger engines, the use of advanced transmissions, increased use of start-stop technology, improvements in tire performance, reductions in vehicle weight, increased use of hybrid and other advanced technologies, and the initial commercialization of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Although many of these technologies are available today, the emissions reductions and fuel economy improvements under consideration for the proposal would be expected to involve more widespread use of these technologies across the fleet.”

Unless they don’t feel like it, of course. Loopholes are just as important as technology.

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Despite Obama’s clear support for ethanol, refineries continue to drop like flies. UPI reports that four Pacific Ethanol Inc subisdiary refineries have filed bankruptcy documents in Delaware. High corn prices and low fuel prices continue to kill the market for ethanol (such as it is); apparently the evil grocery lobby is still hard at work. Ethanol refiners are reporting around 30 cent per-gallon losses. (Interactive map of ethanol pumps found here.)

GM’s secured bondholders may not be getting the Chrysler treatment, but anyone still holding onto GM stock has another thing coming. US News & World Report has compiled a list of the 30 investors who stand to lose the most from the GM bankruptcy. They’re all big, evil banks and investment firms (California’s public retiree system being the big exception), so don’t expect anyone to shed a tear for them. Unless of course one of them happens to manage your retirement. Meanwhile, GM stock is still going up. Huh?

Chalk up another reason why Chrysler should have been allowed to fail. The New York Times reports that if Chrysler’s restructuring is approved it would allow the automaker to evade liability for injury-causing defects on its vehicles. An Automotive News [sub] write-up of Chrysler’s creditors reveals that the Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer-Victims of Chrysler LLC consists of 150 members seeking an estimated $650 million in damages allegedly caused by Chrysler vehicle defects. Under current reorganization plans, those creditors would be left with no recourse after Fiat assumes “good Chrysler’s” assets.

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Toyota’s Prius will extend its domination of the auto design zeitgeist, according to an Automotive News (via Autoweek) interview with Toyota global design chief Wahei Hirai. The third-generation Prius rocks ToMoCo’s latest “free-form geometrics” design language, an “avant-garde, high-tech look that also screams green.” The new Prius has improved its Cd from .26 to .25, with the help of “aero corners” and a reworked grille that shows Toyota’s way forward. “It’s an anti-traditional grille,” says Simon Humphries, general manager for global design. “It’s one step closer to the ultimate goal, which is going grilleless.” The “bolder” presentation of the hood emblem will also find its way onto other Toyotas as well. Which to my way of thinking is no good thing. Where the outgoing Prius was generic looking to the point of becoming iconic, the new model seems almost like a step backwards to the fussy awkwardness of the first-generation Prius. Although much of the visual discord is a matter of proportion, rather than details, news that this new model will influence Toyotas everywhere is reason to give pause. Think about it, man. No one may ever buy a Toyota based on its looks ever again.

Reuters is reporting that GM’s bankruptcy plan is just like Chrysler’s . . . only without the Italian middleman. “A quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government,” is how the Reuters source puts it. “Bad GM” would linger in bankruptcy to help pay off claims. Meanwhile, the $15.4 billion we (the taxpayers) have already given GM will be “forgiven.” Not literally, of course, but GM won’t be paying taxpayers back. A new BOD will be set up with “the tacit approval of the government,” but Fritz Henderson is said to be staying as GM’s CEO. How long does the government plan on owning GM? What’s the endgame? Why are GM secured bondholders being paid off while Chrysler’s were demonized? Details are still emerging, but nothing answers these or a million other questions yet. Stand by.

Two new Nissan GTRs were some of the first sales to be recorded after the UK introduced its clunker-rebate scheme yesterday. “Buyers pounced within five hours of the initiative starting this morning,” reported Autotrader.co.uk. Britain’s scrappage incentive offers about $3K per scrapped ten-years-or-older vehicle, but unlike other EU nations, Britain did not place carbon emission limits on qualifying new cars. Because, as Autotrader points out, proponents of the bill worked with the assumption that rising efficiency averages means all new cars are less polluting than the vehicles they would replace. Nissan’s GTR emits 298g/km of CO2, earning it a spot in Britain’s most-polluting tax band. We can only hope our own eventual scrappage rebate will be vulnerable to similar abuse.