Ferraristi of the subcontinent rejoice! Come 2010, Indians won't have to go to Singapore to put a prancing horse in their garage, says The Economic Times, as the Scuderia should be in-country by then. Earlier reports had Ferrari pegged to enter the market this year, but there's still work to do. So says Gabriele Lalli, head of Magic India Discover, Ferrari SpA, a curiously-named publicity tour of the subcontinent, which is currently showcasing Ferrari's exquisite 612 Scaglietti Grand Touring model. "(Ferrari) needs to set up a sales and marketing network in India," says Lalli. "For us, customer satisfaction is of prime importance. Hence, we will also have to take care of these aspects before we enter India." Currently only 36 'rrari's. all of which have been specially imported. regularly prowl India's roads.  Fiat, who owns the legendary brand, already has a presence in India, building the Fiat Palio in a joint venture with Tata Motors. Incidentally, India's purchasing-power-adjusted per-capita income of about $4,500/year means the average Indian will only have to save for about 45 years to afford a new "entry-level" Ferarri 430. Sounds worth it to us

Auto Motor Und Sport reports that Toyota boss Katsuaki Watanabe has told German TV that his company will decide by the end of the year whether or not to introduce an entry-level model for the developing world. Watanabe revealed that Toyota has been working for two years now on development of the entry-level model, but that more work has yet to take place. "Success in developing markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China are the keys to growth for the entire industry," says Watanabe-san. He sees developing markets as an issue of decisive importance to the industry on par with the environment, energy and safety. The "interplay of cost and quality" is the major unresolved issue in the proposed entry-level car, meaning we don't yet know if ToMoCo has the Tata Nano in its sights, or if it is aiming higher to protect the brand's reputation for quality. We'll be watching.

Legendary automotive atelier Bertone has fallen on hard times, having filed for for bankruptcy protection back in November. Now Automotive News [sub] tells us the gentlemen callers from the world over are lining up, hoping to buy the Bertone name, assets and cachet. Automotive News (sub) says that automakers FAW from China, and Mahindra from India, as well as Italian suppliers DR Motor, and German engineering firm PCL Group join former Bertone rival Italdesign in the bidding war. Bertone was responsible for some of the most influential designs in automotive history, having penned Lambo's Miura, Espada, Countach and Diablo,  the Ferrari 250 Lusso, the Lancia Stratos and many others. Just how much wedge (sorry) it will take to buy up the design firm remains to be seen. We will go out on a limb and say that of all the competing firms, FAW probably needs a little Bertone styling magic the most. Lets just hope ol' Giovanni Bertone's grave has been properly spin-proofed.

While Japanese automakers try desperately to get more consumers into cars, other businesses are teaming up with police to lure senior citizens out of their vehicles. Reuters (via Yahoo News) reports that businesses are offering everything from higher interest rates at banks to free deliveries and meal discounts to seniors who voluntarily renounce their driving privileges. The effort comes as Japanese police try to curb the 100k accidents caused last year alone by Japan's massive over-65 population. "Have the courage to give up your licence," the police say on their website. "If you have lost confidence in your driving … if your family says they are worried about you driving … please think about handing in your license." I wonder if it would work here. Anything to get another stuck-at-40mph LeBaron off the road, eh?

As spring blossoms in beautiful Detroit, Volt Reality Syndrome is starting to kick in with a vengeance. The latest victim is UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, who tells Reuters "When GM brings out that electric car, they're going to be taking a huge loss on that for a number of years." Of course reality is kind of Gettelfinger's thing. "Everybody is racing to get there, but there are some tough issues and cost is definitely going to be an issue for the consumer," says Ron, of the brave new hybrid/alt energy future. "It's pretty clear to me that, if it's not technically feasible and economically feasible, then you're not going to get there from here." Bold words from a bold man, but where's the proverbial beef? Whither the future, Mr. Gettelfinger?  "There's nothing like the internal combustion engine," says Ron. "We've got 100 years with that baby." Although Gettelfinger comes across like your great-uncle who's convinced that they never should have done away with lead paint or child labor, he actually has a decent point. Most cars on the market could be made significantly cleaner and more efficient without resorting to complex hybrid drivetrains.

A recent survey of U.S. auto industry executives by law firm Dykema Gossett and reported in the Detroit News shows that the corporate office boys prefer John McCain for president. Seventy percent of the 46 executives polled chose McCain, although no candidate was seen as "pro-automotive." "Respondents do not broadly point to McCain as having a solid pro-automotive record," says the report. "Instead they tend to emphasize the anti-automotive and anti-business messages they associate with Clinton and Obama." The "most important issues" list is topped by energy policy, followed by tax increases and the green movement. Curiously, only 11 percent of respondents said state-by-state attempts to exceed federal automotive regulations were their top concern, although for many that may have fallen under the nebulous "green movement" issue. The most telling stat of all? Not a single respondent was optimistic about prospects for the industry, with a whopping 87 percent expressing a negative outlook. At least you can't call them completely oblivious.

In February, we told you Chrysler was outsourcing some of its IT to Tata Consultantcy Services (yep, relation!). At that time, Chrysler Chief Information Officer Jan Bertsch promised to "keep [the employees] apprised of the outcomes of our efforts." Well, now the Detroit Free Press tells the rest of us what some of those "outcomes" are: people got fired. Everyone knew it was the plan, but now it's happened.  Chrysler is outsourcing 200 of its full-time employees, some 20 percent of its IT workforce. Ms Bertsch explains: "we thought a year ago that rather than try to cost-cut continually over time, we wanted to step back and look at our business and say, 'Where do we really need to move to service our customers better?'" Without over-analyzing that little insight into the Chrysler management paradigm, this means that recently-signed contracts with Tata and Computer Sciences Corp will eliminate the need for in-house mainframe and computer technology service. No word on how much Chrysler is saving, but Ms Bertsch assures us that "We would have never embarked on this scale of a project had the savings not been substantial." Not to worry though. "Some people will stay, some people will leave and some people will be interviewing with the new provider and perhaps be offered a position with them," purrs the "Chief (Orwellian) Information Officer." Aw.

In an almost touching display of "follow me over this cliff" pathos, GM is urging industries and governments to sink money into the hydrogen infrastructure. Speaking at the National Hydrogen Association's annual conference in Sacramento, CA, GM R&D VP Larry Burns told the Truth As He Sees It ™ to what is probably the only crowd in the country that wouldn't laugh him off the stage. "It's no longer a question of 'can it be done?' or 'should it be done?'" said Burns. "We not only should do it. We must do it. It's now a question of collective will. Do we have the collective resolve to work together to solve the challenges we face rather than handing them off to future generations?" What does this "collective resolve" trope really mean? Cash money dollars yo, and lots of it. "We have reached a stage where we cannot continue to make significant progress on our own," opines Burns. "Our customers must have safe and convenient access to affordable hydrogen. This means the energy industry and governments must join the auto industry in our journey to produce and sell fuel cell-electric vehicles in volume numbers." Added Burns, "We have not discovered anything yet to suggest mass volume cannot ultimately be attained." Oh. Dear. God.

The International Herald Tribune quotes unnamed sources who are "not authorized to comment publicly on the matter" as saying that ToMoCo may double its stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, makers of Subaru vehicles. Toyota currently owns 8.7 percent of Fuji, and would be looking to spend some $295m to raise its stake to 17 percent. "Toyota wants to mitigate the risk of building new plants by utilizing Fuji Heavy's facilities both in Japan and the United States," says Seiji Sugiura, an analyst at HSBC Securities. "Other automakers would also want to reduce risks for each other by boosting ties, even if that wouldn't amount to mergers and acquisitions." According to reports from the Nikkei business daily, Toyota may be looking to subcontract its subcompacts (say that ten times fast) to a Japanese Fuji plant, and jointly develop a sports car and environmentally-friendly technologies. Toyota has said it will not increase its stake in Fuji beyond 20 percent, keeping the relationship with Fuji as a partner rather than a subsidiary.

Wards reports that the EPA has announced it will delay drawing up regulations for vehicular greenhouse gas emissions for nearly a year while it seeks public comment. With states like California threatening to create a state-by-state patchwork of emissions standards which would wreak havoc on the auto industry, you'd think the EPA would want to develop a national standard for emissions sooner rather than later. Indeed, the EPA is fighting California's efforts in court, arguing that it alone has the right to regulate emissions. So why doesn't  it just regulate already? Democrats claim that it is delaying any regulation until after George W Bush leaves office. Isn't the point of being a lame duck President that you can push through the tough decisions without fear of political backlash? In this case, the big "L" word (legacy) is still very much up in the air, and emission regulations aren't standard fare for a Republican president's victory laps. Meanwhile, the environmentally oversensitive wonder: if we delay regulation by a year, will it already be too late for the planet?

Chrysler VP (and 37-year Toyota veteran) Jim Press ruffled some feathers at old mother Toyota yesterday when he claimed that the Japanese government had footed "100 percent of the bill" for the development of the Prius powertrain. ToMoCo didn't waste a second refuting the allegation of its former head of North American operations. "I can say 100 percent that Toyota received absolutely no support – no money, no grants – from the Japanese government for the development of the Prius," Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco tells the AP. The story also notes that while the Japanese government often assists private development projects, particularly for clean energy projects, the collaboration is not typically hidden from sight. That Press' allegation is the first whisper of any public-private cooperation in the development of the Prius could be an indication that he might not be working with all the facts. The irony of all this is that if our own government's massive public-private green car initiative of the nineties, the Project for a New Generation of Vehicles, had produced the Prius, every politician in America would be falling all over themselves trying to claim credit.

David Kiley of Business Week (via MSNBC) dives into the CAFE issue, and in the process rounded up a wild-and-woolly collection of quotables from some of the biz' top bosses. The biggest news comes from Chrysler's Jim Press, who claims that that when he was at Toyota "the Japanese government paid for 100% of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius." Although the revelation reeks of Japan Inc. business/government collusion, let's remember that our own government funneled over a billion to U.S. automakers at around the same time through the Partnership For A New Generation of Vehicles. The fact that the American people got little more than three concept cars is hardly the fault of the Japanese government or Toyota. Still, Press' revelation does shed some light on Toyota's current dominance of the hybrid market. Meanwhile, Bob Lutz continues to symbolize America's inability to meet the new demand for efficiency. In the same piece, Lutz unveiled the next generation of "Maximum Sticker Shock" for the forthcoming Chevy Volt: a cool $48k. Get some perspective on that number here.

Today's proof that the ethanol revolution is being kept alive by the GM kool-aid sippers comes from Texas, where the first dealership-owned E85 station just opened. Installed at a cost of a mere half a million dollars, the Classic Clean Fuels (not spelled with the always-klassy "K"?) nine-pump station serves up E10, E85 and biodiesel in suburban Dallas, right next door to the HUMMER dealership that owns it. "We'll offer a biofuel powertrain in every model we build by the end of 2010," HUMMER General Manager Martin Walsh said. "A Hummer's off-road capability and care for the environment are in no way mutually exclusive. This is simply one more step in our effort to promote responsible adventure." A two-hour 85-cents-per-gallon sale on E85 and a free tank of corn juice with the purchase of any new HUMMER are only the beginning of the marketing possibilities, as GM Media Online strains to use one dealership's actions as a measure of the success of the company. "This signals that GM and our dealers are trying hard to give our customers choices," says GM VP for R&D Larry Burns. "Down the road, we may even want to consider hydrogen dispensers at dealerships." Because building fuel-efficient vehicles is just too obvious.

Ford confirmed yesterday that $16.5m in bribes public money from the province of Ontario was a crucial factor in its decision to reopen the Essex Engine plant in Windsor, Ontario. The Toronto Star reports that Ford says it will expand the Windsor reopening to include a further 300 jobs, but only if the Canadian federal government makes with more pork. "We are not able or willing to move forward with the second phase of the project until we can find resolution to all the issues we have outstanding with the governments," said FoMoCo group VP Joe Hinrichs. Translation: we won't add more output without more federal assistance input. For perspective, some 900 jobs were lost when the factory was shuttered by Ford in November, 2007. Naturally, CAW President Buzz Hargrove is lending his considerable extortion negotiating experience to the project, arguing that the 300 additional jobs would surely be worth a few mil in taxpayer lucre. The sad part? With Canada's manufacturing sector in the statistical scrap heap, Ottawa just might go for it.

It's one of those stories that makes you remember it's April Fools Day. The Free Press is reporting that Chrysler has cut life insurance to 14,000 white-collar retirees, offering a one-time pension increase in return. Chrysler will pay out $1k-4k to its non-union retirees, depending on time of service and length of time since retirement. Chrysler VP for Compensation, Benefits and Corporate Services (oxymoron, anyone?) Thomas Hadrych explains that Chrysler looked at the practices of other Forbes 1,000 companies and found that only 60 percent offered retiree life insurance. "This is in part a reaction to kind of our own internal situation, but it's also a reaction to what the competitive landscape across the full spectrum of companies in America offers," says Hadrych. As if this weren't a compelling enough reason to pull the rug out from under retirees, Hadrych also has an upcoming UAW payout to blame. Hell, he even made a call to MetLife on behalf of the recently-cut-off. "The company has made arrangements with MetLife to provide current retirees with a one-time opportunity to purchase life insurance at special group rates through the MetLife Voluntary Retiree Life Insurance Plan," says Hadrych, suggesting retirees use their one-time payout to buy insurance there. As cold-blooded as this all sounds, it's obvious that Chrysler has to cut somewhere. The fact that retirees don't build cars might be a sign that Chrysler actually does care more about cars than PR.