The New York state legislature has shot down NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed $8 congestion charge on vehicles entering Manhattan. Wired News reports that the proposal which was to be a career-capper for Bloomberg was doomed by heavy-handed tactics by the Mayor's office. En route to telling state legislators that "You're either for this historic change in New York or you're against it," Bloomberg's transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan was pulled over by state police for speeding and improperly using her lights and sirens. This obviously affected how representatives received the proposal. "When [she] was coming up here telling me I can't drive," said Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, "she was busy being driven in a city-owned car by a chauffeur, speeding, getting a ticket with her lights and sirens on." Bloomberg called the rejection "a special kind of cowardice," which, in an ironic twist, is almost exactly what opponents called the revenue-building measure when justified by global carbon emission levels.

Hyundai just started production at its new $790m plant outside Beijing, as it ramps up its bid to become China's largest car manufacturer. Forbes MarketScan reports that initial production at the new plant will be 200k Elantras, ramping up to 300k by 2010. This would give Hyundai's Chinese operations an annual production capacity of 600k, putting it at the top of the Chinese biz in terms of volume. But Hyundai has to match increased capacity with improved sales numbers. The Korean firm's sales were down 20 percent last year, and Chairman Chung Mong-koo has set the ambitious goal of increasing sales in the Middle Kingdom by 64 percent this year and by 100 percent by 2010. The new plant should help meet this goal, says Chung, as its economies of scale should help lower costs and increased capacity means more vehicles can be tailored to the Chinese market. With Chinese sales booming, the opportunity exists for Hyundai to score big sales. With commodity prices rising however, it remains to be seen whether the extra investment actually translates into improved profitability.

I'm sure many TTAC readers will recall the great Audi 5000 "unintended acceleration" legal turmoil of the mid-80's. The legal/media feeding frenzy set Audi sales back by a decade, despite the fact that every case of "unintended acceleration" was found to be caused by human, not mechanical error. Well, those bastions of quality journalism, the Detroit Free Press and Motor Trend blog, are trying to resuscitate the media frenzy, only this time Toyota's to blame for people mistaking the accelerator for their brake pedal. Apparently the NHTSA has received 33 complaints that Toyota Tacomas are driving themselves off the roads, and has launched an investigation into the 2006-2007 model years. "Toyota has said to us they've found nothing wrong with the truck and it's our fault," says one "victim." "They're basically calling us all stupid." Of course, after a crash nobody wants to take responsibility for the fact that they may have hit the gas instead of the brakes, but what is motivating this investigation has nothing to do with the facts of the individual cases. No, the investigation is being spurred by the fact that only four "unintended acceleration" complaints have been logged against non-Tacoma pickups in the period that 33 were logged against the 'yota. "If there were truly human error, there would be a proportional distribution across models," says Clarence Ditlow, head of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. "It's very difficult to explain how some makes and models have higher numbers of complaints than others absent some flaw in the vehicle." Yes, but it's very easy to prove that your brakes are more powerful than your engine. In fact, if a TTAC reader out there has a Tacoma, perhaps they would do us the honor of standing on the brakes while mashing the accelerator for a few seconds. This should prove fairly simply that "unintended acceleration" is possible only when you are not actually on the brakes.

Say what you want about Chrysler's new marketing slogan, at least their name isn't Build Your Dreams. Automotive News (sub) reports that the Chinese manufacturer showed their potentially game-changing plug-in, parallel/serial "dual-mode" drivetrain at Geneva, where the reaction was so strong that several European distributors are now negotiating for rights to the brand. Besides operating in parallel and serial hybrid modes as the circumstances require, the drivetrain's recorded 110km range on a plug-in charge is nearly five times the rumored range of the yet-to-be-released Prius plug-in. Plus, BYD has a 248-mile range, all-electric version of its F6DM sedan currently plying the streets of Beijing in taxi form. Of course, as with the development of any new, high-tech drivetrain, the cost is excessive– try a nearly $8k premium over sticker price. BYD says that European distribution depends on finding creative ways to cut costs, and since parent BYD Group has battery manufacturing plants in Romania and Hungary, Euro-market BYDs could be made somewhere in Eastern Europe. European distribution is targeted for 2010, unless of course it is all just a dream.

Reuters reports London mayor Ken Livingstone, currently locked in a battle for re-election, is seeking to further alienate motorists from his campaign by saying that if re-elected he would institute a 20mph speed limit in all residential portions of London. Reuters reports that Livingstone's follow up to a proposed hike in congestion charges is justified as a life-saving measure. "I'll work with all London boroughs to designate all residential streets as 20 mph zones," said Livingstone in a public statement. "Nine out of ten pedestrians will be killed if hit by a car traveling at 40 mph," Livingstone asserts without citing anything in the way of sources, "but only one in forty will die if hit at 20 mph." And we thought the federal double nickel was bad in the 70's and 80's.

The Financial Times reports that the UK is following former colony Australia's lead in ordering a government investigation into its flagging auto manufacturing industry. Minister for Business and Enterprise Affairs Baroness Shriti Vadera has put former Ford man Richard Parry-Jones in charge of the 10-member committee charged with tackling the twin challenges of competition from low-cost manufacturing centers and emerging low-carbon technologies. The committee will make recommendations to the government, which has vowed to use "all levers of government, both regulatory and fiscal" to address Britain's moribund auto industry. Once home of a thriving auto industry, with dozens of brands and world-class products, Britain has seen nearly every one of its domestic brands swallowed up by companies from countries like Germany, the United States, India, China and Indonesia. Although nobody expects Britain's car industry to return to its 1960's zenith, here's hoping the Parry-Jones committee comes up with solutions which are a little more inventive than simply writing checks to Toyota.

In our latest editorial on Australia's tanking car industry, I noted that a government report emphasizes future production of large vehicles with green powertrains. The Australian reports that the Aussie government's half-billion dollar green car manufacturing fund could be used to lure production of the next-generation Toyota Camry hybrid down under. Toyota Australia VP Dave Buttner says ToMoCo had been pushing to build a hybrid car here for five years but "policies conducive to investment" (a.k.a. public money) were vital to the plan. The plan seems to convenient to avoid: Aussie politicians get to check of the box next to "build large, green cars" on their bureaucratic checklists, and Toyota gets enough money to offset Australia's high labor costs and strong currency. Oh, and Toyotas actually sell well in the land of Oz as well, especially the Prius, who's sales rose 63 percent last year. So who loses out in all of this? Just Toyota's competitors and Australia's taxpayers.

It's a testament to the roaring Chinese economy that A-listed automakers in the Middle Kingdom increased output and sales by about 22 percent but still didn't meet analysts expectations (damn those demanding analysts!). But Manufacturing Business Technology reports that profits didn't rise in concert with sales and production. This sets up the industry for a tough time as commodity prices are expected to rise substantially over the next several years. Runaway steel prices will cost Chinese firms an extra $1.5b this year, and low profit rates mean these costs will likely be handed down to consumers. Against a backdrop of rising inflation for everything from food to fuel, this development will probably hurt sales in China's value-oriented market. All this bad news likely spells industry reshuffling in the offing, as low utilization of production capacity in the automotive sector should fuel a flurry of mergers and acquisitions to allow companies to stay competitive during the projected two-to-three year lull.

The European Union's goal of reducing C02 emissions to 120g/km is not attainable by the 2012 target date, says Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche. Speaking to Wirtschaftswoche, and reported by Auto Motor und Sport , Dr Z says "sixty percent of the vehicles which we will sell in 2012 are already in the factories and are going to customers on the market." With C02 averages currently at 170g/km, Zetsche says it will take another seven years to prepare a new generation of vehicles, leaving EU goals out of reach within the current timeframe. Zetsche also reveals that Daimler will be sticking to its guns on alternative energy development, vowing to push for greater acceptance of hydrogen fuel cells where the automaker has sunk considerable R&D efforts. Zetsche acknowledges that "The last open question is: will there be a universally available hydrogen infrastructure, where will the hydrogen come from, and what will be the energy savings?" Big questions indeed for a company facing tough carbon goals in a short timeframe.

Since Bob Lutz revealed the Volt concept that made the rounds at the auto shows is more aerodynamically efficient going backwards than forwards, we've known there was much work to be done in the wind tunnel (and no, we don't mean the marketing depatment). CBS auto beat reporter Jeff Gilbert got a look inside the Volt development center, and brings us some of the first images of a camouflaged one-third scale model of what just might be the production Volt. Gilbert doesn't think the model is "all that exciting," saying it looks like little more than a Pontiac G6 or (inexplicably) a Chevy Camaro. But lack of enthusiasm for the mock-up doesn't mean Gilbert won't regurgitate GM's lies marketing playbook verbatim, incredulously spouting such obvious untruths as the long-abandoned $30k pricetag. In fact the "GM wants to sell 100k Volts at $30k by 2010" pablum comes immediately after GM's chief engineer for hybrid electric vehicle programs refuses to say that things look good for the 2010 goal. "Well, it's very clear what our target is, and leadership has asked us 'what do you need to make it happen?' and we have not been turned down once," says the sultan of sliderules. Gosh, that sounds like the development process of every $30k car, doesn't it?

The central question of Nevil Shute's “On The Beach:" how does the human mind react to certain death? The Cliff Notes answer: it can't. As clouds of lethal radiation descend on the novel's protagonists, they cannot help but continue their lives as normal, learning shorthand and planting gardens they will never see bloom. Alas, life imitates art. While the Australian car industry swirls (counter-clockwise) down the toilet of unprofitability, a new report confirms that its government patrons cannot commit to either rehabilitating or killing off the once-proud industry. Their predicament offers a number of valuable lessons about the global car industry.

While "going green" is often little more than PR posturing, fuel-intensive businesses see alternative energy as simply a way to save money. But while electric, hybrid and other efficient drivetrain technologies proliferate in cars, commercial trucks have largely been left out of the green wave. Greentech Media reports that Electrorides, a green truck startup, is hoping to cash in on this absence by offering the first electric commercial-duty truck. The ZeroTruck is based on an Isuzu N-series platform, retrofitted with a UQM Technologies electric motor, offering 100-mile range when unladen. But commercial trucks aren't of much use when empty, and when loaded down the range falls sharply. That's why Electrorides offers a biodiesel engine which converts the vehicle to a parallel hybrid, adding another hundred miles to the truck's range. Like most new green vehicles reported in the media, the ZeroTruck is in beta testing, and is not yet available. Start watching out for the silent colossus this August (literally… this thing will sneak up on you!) .

YouTube has carried some hilarious footage of smart fourtwo crash tests (including hitting a wall at 70mph) for a while now. Well, the NHTSA has finally crashed a few smarts in the name of insurance ratings safety and the verdict is in: the smart is safer than you might think. The diminutive German car gets four stars for driver safety and three stars for the passenger in the frontal crash test. Side impact testing revealed five-star performance, although a door did open during the test, "increasing the likelihood of passenger ejection." Granted, "starflation" has been an issue for the NHTSA, but like an underachieving politician, the smart is simply playing the expectations game. The fact that the tiny ride didn't explode into a million pieces of wound-irritating fiberglass is probably enough to surprise the average American consumer, who likely sees the smart as a small step up from a Segway scooter in terms of safety. Bring on the Hummer side impact test!

Speedtrapped.com and tripleblaze.com (among others) have offered maps of reported speedtrap locations for some time, but it seems the war on speeding tickets has gone mobile. A new "Speed Trap Sharing System," going by the uninspired name of "Trapster," offers live updates of local speed traps (as reported by users) sent to a free smartphone program as well as your Google MyMaps account.  You can report speedtraps anonymously, and receive mobile alerts when you drive near a reported trap, possibly giving you a drop on Johnny Law. The boys in blue don't even mind so much, creator Pete Tenereillo tells AP Wired News, because the mobile service "inevitably encourages drivers to slow down." No word from any actual cops yet. If this is all sounding a bit fawning, keep in mind that the system is still in beta testing. As of this writing, the Trapster front page has a notice reading "A message to our users: Service troubles, our most sincere apologies…" If they can fix the bugs though, and keep it free… this could be pretty cool. (Hat Tip: El Jalop)

GM is stuck in an HR revolving door, as it rehires previously laid-off workers to fill spots vacated by employees who are taking buyout packages. The Free Press reports that the latest switcheroo is taking place at Lansing's Delta Township plant, where workers who lost their jobs when the third shift was axed in January are being called back to work. The shift had been closed due to parts shortages for the Enclave/Acadia/Outlook crossovers, but workers who lost their jobs could be back at the plant by June. The number of rehires depends on the number of current employees who accept buyouts. "It's really hard to say how many that will be," says Doug Rademacher, president of plants UAW Local. "I've got to believe it could be a few hundred." Rehiring laid off workers is the right thing to do morally, but with the division of core/non-core jobs still under negotiation in the new two-tier wage scheme, it remains to be seen how much money all this three-card Monte actually saves GM.