As recently as a few months ago, GMAC was the largest auto lender in the United States. Automotive leases constituted over ten percent of their business. One credit crunch later, the Cerberus-owned financing company has almost completely stopped writing car leases, which now account for only two percent of GM’s new car sales. And though such depreciation machines as Chrysler have stopped leasing altogether, leases still make up some 12 percent of the American new car market. Automotive News [sub] reports that GM Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve wants GMAC to loosen up its leasing policy– a move the GMAC boys view as about as desireable as Thunderbird wine. Until bailout bucks stabilize credit markets, bundled auto lease paper will continue to be ignored by investors. And that means GM is at the mercy of its once-captive finance company. Moreover, thanks to GMAC’s private ownership, there’s no telling what the status of its lease and loan holdings are currently, particularly for its ResCap mortgage arm. With GM insisting that GMAC get back its leasing religion, the two firms seem locked in a death-embrace. GM needs leases to move product, and doesn’t mind offloading the risk on its former subsidiary. Until GMAC goes down of course. In that scenario, GM will have far more to worry about that leasing volume.

Hear that sound? It’s the fat lady singing a dirge for $7.5b of taxpayer money ($25b at risk in total). It’s now as good as spent on a few undeserving automakers. Industry executives and union bosses alike are celebrating their lobbying victory, ignoring their still-dire position for the glorious moment. Congress may have made with the cash in short order, but they aren’t rid of the freeloaders just yet. In fact, no sooner had the ink dried on President Bush’s signature on HR2638 than industry backers were telling the media what TTAC has surmised all along: $25b is only the first step. In its first story on the new law, the Detroit News reports that “Michigan lawmakers plan to return next year to seek another $25 billion in loans for 2009 and 2010, and more flexibility in how the funds can be used.” And why wouldn’t they?

Ferrari Prez Luca De Montezomolo stood up to sportscar peer pressure at the Paris Auto Show, promising never to foist a four-door on the faithful Ferraristi. Automobile reports that when asked about the Rapide/Panamera/Estoque four-door coupe fad tearing through the premium sportscar segment, the Scuderia boss simply wished his competitors “good luck.” Of course if you want a Ferrari engine and achingly good looks, you can always cop a Maserati Quattroporte and laugh as you watch your billionaire buddies try squeeze their kids into the back of their Estamerapide. Anyway, De Montezomolo also told reporters that though Ferrari customers don’t care about fuel efficiency, the firm would draw upon its Formula 1 experience and try to integrate fuel saving innovations. Though the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) might make the leap from F1 to the street, Ferrari will not build a roadgoing version of its V10 racing engine. Ever. After all, someone has to maintain some standards in this age of four-door coupes, Porsche SUVs and V10 Lambos.

Though we can’t do anything now to prevent the passage of the $25b industry loan package, there’s still plenty of scope for measuring results and demanding accountability. After all, as Danny Howes of the Detroit News puts it “Implicit in the federal loan package, it seems to me, is a message from Congress and their constituents: Get it right this time because there may not be a next time.” In his latest editorial, Howes qualifies his earlier bailout support with a call on the Detroit to get back to the business of being in business. Recent hybrid and electric hype coming out of Detroit “has the eerie feeling of a cranky heart patient running on a treadmill because he has to, not because he wants to,” reckons Howes. And when there’s a shortage of heart attack medication, such calls to action should be even more closely heeded. An S&P press release published in Automotive News (sub) claims that receiving $25b in low-interest loans has done nothing to boost the credit ratings of Detroit automakers. A full FAQ is published at S&P’s subscriber-only ratingsdirect.com website, but the argument’s broad strokes are that nobody knows how or when Detroit will actually get the federal loans. Until such time as the loans are approved and the checks clear, S&P sees no reason to elevate the credit ratings of domestic automakers, currently standing at (B-/Negative/–) for GM, (B-/Negative/–) for Ford Motor Co., and (CCC+/Negative/–) for Chrysler LLC.

Up to September, Toyota was weathering the new sales storm with relative grace. Sales volume has been dropping, but market share never declined the way it did last month. To stop the bleeding, ToMoCo is announcing a zero-percent interest promotion, hoping to lure in showroom traffic in a tight credit market. Of course luring in traffic and offering truly great deals aren’t one and the same. Toyota’s most popular and fuel-efficient cars are conspicuously absent from the list of qualifying nameplates, which includes Matrix, Corolla, Camry, RAV4, Highlander, FJ Cruiser, 4Runner, Sequoia, Sienna, Tacoma and Tundra. Further limiting the impact of this promotion is the increasing rarity of “well-qualified buyers.” Automotive News (sub) says one reason Toyota is reaching for incentives is the relative success of GM’s “Employee Pricing For All” deal, which is credited with helping the General regain ground against Toyota in September. Ultimately, Toyota may be the only automaker with the financial resources to offer low interest deals on so many vehicles, including the compact Corolla and Matrix. “And at the end of the day,” says Christopher Richter, an auto analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets “I don’t think the costs to Toyota will be that great.” There’s no doubt that showroom traffic should increase, and even if sales don’t pick up dramatically, the offer places a foot on the throats of Toyota’s value-positioned American competitors. Stay tuned for more details when October sales numbers come out.

Flash Of Genius, which opens at theaters today, is such a TTAC movie. It’s a story of automotive invention and one man’s struggles against the corrupt practices of an industry that stole his patented intermittent wiper design. Hell, it’s already got Ford’s PR flacks in a frenzy. Automotive News [sub] is reprinting its take on the eventually happy conclusion of the Bob Kearns story today, in honor of the film’s release. The story, dating from December 16, 1991 (this blogger’s ninth birthday), reports the successful conclusion of Kearns’ patent lawsuit against Chrysler. Having already won a $10.2m settlement against Ford, Kearns was asking for $39m from Chrysler for stealing his invention. After 13 years of litigation and $10m in legal fees, Kearns had finally beat the industry that so viciously screwed him. Check out the movie that retells the story of his invention and legal battles, opening today at theaters near you.

While Chrysler plays hardball with its suppliers, Ford is reforming its supplier relations by sharing technology and standardizing components. Automotive News (sub) reports that Ford will share a variety of its intellectual property with minority-owned suppliers in hopes of developing new products and commercial uses for them. Among the first suppliers to receive assistance in the Joint Technology Framework are Dakkota Integrated Systems, Flex-N-Gate, Gonzalez Production Systems, Grupo Antolin Wayne and Prime Wheel. “We need to support our minority- and women-owned suppliers in moving toward a business model that competes on technology, in addition to cost,” said Tony Brown, Ford VP for global purchasing. The program aims to allow those suppliers “to attract the engineering talent and new sources of capital to migrate these technologies to the next level.” Ford is also attempting to standardize European and American products by sharing as many components across markets as possible. The forthcoming US-market Fiesta will share 78 percent of its parts with its European cousin, while the US Focus will share 90 percent of its parts with the Euro model. Unifying product strategies helps Ford not rely on the approved $25b bailout loans, says Brown. “Our product plans are funded,” Brown tells Automotive News (sub). “None of Ford’s product plans hinge on it.”

The forthcoming version of Nissan’s Z-car only gets 200cc more displacement than the current version, but Nissan is saying that improved performance will put the 370 Z on par with Audi’s TT and Porsche’s Cayman. “When we launched the current Z in 2002, it was a symbol of Nissan’s revival, a kind of brand symbol, plus driving performance,” Nissan’s Japanese marketing director Tatsuo Shimada tells Automotive News (sub). “This time with the 370Z, we are focusing more on the driving performance, as a pure driving sports car.” Besides the bump in displacement and power, the 370 Z will be lighter than the outgoing model. Development testing on the Nurburgring and elsewhere has specifically targeted improved handling in order to take on its European targets. Or, in less PR-friendly terms, the Mazda RX-8 R3. The flip-side of all the “taking on Europe” talk is that the Z should probably end up far more expensive than the current model, likely north of the $35k mark. If it can give the Cayman a run for its money though, that will still be something of a performance bargain. In other words, a true Z car. The 370 Z goes on sale in Japan later this year. A U.S. launch date has not been set.

When Aston-Martin CEO Dr Ulrich Bez announced that his firm would be reviving the Lagonda name, there was some understandable confusion. Traditionally, the Lagonda name is reserved for four-door Astons. Yet the forthcoming Rapide four-door coupe has only been called an Aston and carries Aston’s distinctive styling cues. Speaking at the Paris Auto Show, Bez confirmed that the Rapide would only be offered as an Aston-Martin, but that the Lagonda name had been exhumed to allow the company to build… get this… an SUV. “The Rapide will only be an Aston Martin,” Bez tells Autocar, “It will be a sports car and not a limo. A Lagonda will be different. There won’t ever be an Aston SUV but it fits Lagonda.” Though it’s heartening to learn that Bez wouldn’t consider sullying the Aston brand with an SUV, you’d think that logic would keep him from reviving another storied name simply to compete in a death-spiraling segment. If you want a swank British SUV you buy a Landie, right? And if you buy a four-door Aston, it’s going to be an Aston Rapide. So why the necromancy?

Rest easy America, your government has appropriated $700b of your malaise-busting tax dollars to fix the economy… and fatten up a few pet projects. As Farago reports, auto loans were bundled into the “distressed assets” category, but that’s not the only handout the industry received just days after the passage of its own special bailout. The Detroit News reports that hidden away in the 451 pages of the “Extreme Bailout: Wall Street Edition” is nearly a billion dollars worth of consumer credits to buyers of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). We’ve always preferred consumer-end stimulus to the production subsidies awarded last week, but apparently Detroit gets to have its pork and eat it too. And like the retooling loans, the tax credit seems tailor-made for Detroit. Under new rules, any PHEV with at least 4kw battery capacity would qualify for $4,168 credit, but (thanks to its serial-hybrid setup) the Volt’s high-capacity battery would make it qualify for the top passenger vehicle tax break of $7,500. Larger credits exist for vehicles over 10k pounds, but all credits expire after 250k qualifying units are built. With $7,500 off the top, state and federal production subsidies, and more hype than a David Blaine special, the Volt had better amount to something… other than a boondoggle.

Speaking to reporters at the Paris Auto Show, VW CEO Martin Winterkorn revealed that his company would seek a portion of the $25b in bailout loans recently passed into law. Automotive News (sub) reports that Winterkorn hopes his firms new Tennessee plant would qualify for loans. “We will raise our hand when the time comes,” said Winterkorn. But has Piech’s hatchet man had time to read the fine print between rounds of anti-Porsche pugilism? A quick look at Section 136 (g) of the Energy Independence Act of 2007 reveals that “The Secretary shall, in making awards or loans to those manufacturers that have existing facilities, give priority to those facilities that are oldest or have been in existence for at least 20 years.” It’s great that Mr Winterkorn would like his brand new plant to qualify for the loans, but he fails to understand that their rules have been written to exclude nearly everyone other than the Detroit 2.3. And with the regulatory rules still to be written (with help from Detroit lobbyists), the likelihood of VW getting a penny in government loans is only going to shrink.

Just-auto.com reports that Saab is considering developing an all-new platform for its planned 9-1 premium compact. Initial planning indicated that the 9-1 would be built on GM’s global Gamma II or Delta II platform. But for some reason, Saab thinks another lightly-badged global platform is not what the brand läkare ordered. According to Saab GM Jan-Ake Jonsson, the Gamma II would not easily provide the AWD option that Saab needs to compete with other premium brands. Speaking of which, the 9-1 is aiming directly between the MINI and BMW’s 1-series, and between Audi’s A3 and forthcoming A1, attempting to offer a third way between segments offered by its closest competitors. Saab will also be downsizing its 9-3, basing it on the Delta II (Astra) platform, since the planned Epsilon-based model was too similar to the 9-5. Switching to the Delta also helps keep workers at Saabs Trolhatten plant busy, as it will become a global sourcing point for Delta-bodied cars. Still, the decision whether to base the 9-1 on the Gamma platform or to build an all new architecture gets to the heart of Saab’s brand malaise. Either the 9-1 will be a cheap-to-produce, brand-eroding global car, or GM will drop a huge amount on a new platform with very few other applications. Rock. Hard place. Split the difference.

Sadly this is not a story about how Ford has been doing reasonably well and actually wants to buy off debt with some cash it’s socked away. No, if Ford wants to live to fight for another bailout, it has little choice but to use cash to pay off $1.5b in debt that comes due tomorrow. “We expect them to use cash out of hand to pay those down,” said Mark Oline, a credit analyst at Fitch Ratings Co. in Chicago. “In the current environment we simply expect these sorts of debts to be paid off, not refinanced.” Not that paying off debt with more debt isn’t awesome, and Ford does still have access to an $11.5 billion revolving line of credit which it has yet to tap. But like the guy says, “in the current environment” is the operating term here. A billion bucks’ worth of debt that comes due tomorrow is owed by Ford Credit, which has a relatively high degree of flexibility for refinancing. So while Ford Motor has no choice but to cough up $500m in cash, Ford Credit could potentially refinance without reaching for its revolving credit line. Ford is also planning the sale of about $500m in new stock. According to Bloomberg, that money will be used to buy back bonds maturing before Jan. 1, 2012. Given that GM just had to tap into its own $3.4b revolving credit account, Ford’s decision to mortgage itself to the hilt prior to the credit meltdown now seems like an inspired business move.

The Chinese water torture-like drip of Lambo Estoque teaser shots is finally over, thank God. The newest bull from Sant’Agata has been revealed in full ahead of the Paris Auto Show. Color me peu impressionné with Lambos me-too entry into the burgeoning four-door sportscar segment. Sure, entering any new segment can present styling challenges (especially when Aston is prepping a draped-in-sexy competitor). But having inherited a love for the Espada from my father, I simply can not help but be disappointed with Lambo’s new four-door design. Like Porsche’s Panamera, the Estoque eschews the bespoke look, modeling itself after a stretched Gallardo with overly-restrained headlights and an Aston-aping rear quarter and flank strakes. [ED: Not to mention an Enzo-like intake.] At least in preview pictures, it comes across as derivative, bland and wholly lacking the instant impression created by truly special cars. Boasting the all-aluminium frame of the next-gen Audi A8, and the V10 engine from the Gallardo, the Estoque should haul and handle when it hits the streets in, yes, 2010. But will it have the undeniable curb appeal that’s de rigueur for a new Lambo? Not likely.

Let’s face it: there was about as much chance of President Bush vetoing the $25b auto industry bailout package as, well, Bush vetoing anything. The guy has literally set a 200 year record for fewest vetoes. Then again, he may not have even known or cared that $7.5b of the $634b spending bill he signed yesterday was even for auto industry loans. Not to disparage the guy or anything, but blowing over $600b in a single sitting has got to be a little disorienting. Besides, there’s evidence that Bush’s advisers may at least have been split on the auto loans; a written statement released by the White House fails to make any mention of the auto loan provisions. But Bush was essentially signing a bailout of a different kind last night. The government needed the spending bill passed in order to keep the lights on in DC, and industry lobbyists were simply smart enough to get there handout tacked on to that must-pass legislation. It’s called the Potomac Shuffle, and it’s one of the few games Detroit plays with the best. In fact, lobbyists and well-owned representatives are already calling game-on for round two. The Detroit News reports that “Michigan lawmakers plan to return next year to seek another $25 billion in loans for 2009 and 2010, and more flexibility in how the funds can be used.” As we’ve been saying from the get go, once DC invests in Detroit it will have little choice but to continue feeding the yawning black hole that was once our domestic auto industry. In this sad story, the end is only the beginning.