Thanks to the gents behind the excellent CarDesignNews, who already brought you one of the best videos to emerge from the Geneva Auto Show, we present what the kids would call some “real talk” from the bête noir of the car design world, Chris Bangle. Bangle breaks down the problem of modern supercars (where’s the narrative?) and explains how supercar branding is reflected in sexual relationships. Good stuff all round.

The Lexus SC430 is not a car that leaps to the minds of automotive enthusiasts as being particularly significant, but it seems it has one last claim to fame. The NYT reports that with the passing of the last model-year for the SC, the 2010, tape decks are no longer available on any US-market car. What, you didn’t realize that any new cars still had tape decks? Remember, the SC first came out in 2001, so it’s been around quite a while. Also, Sony only just stopped making the cassette Walkman last year. So, if you can’t bear to part with your tape collection, you have to buy used. And now, rather than just being an overfed boulevardier that outstayed its welcome, the Lexus SC430 is now a historical bookend to the era of magnetic tape in cars. Time to convert your Milli Vanilli to MP3…

When Americans travel abroad, they might catch the odd glimpse of a Ford Mustang. If they’re especially lucky, they might even find a classic in Paris. But if there’s a car left on the market that exemplifies the values that once defined American cars, it’s the Mustang. After all, the Mustang was not only born in the US, it became more than a car because of the way it tapped so deftly into the American psyche. Developed for American tastes, the Mustang has done best when it clings to the simplicity of the formula that made it an icon. Which is why it’s a bit puzzling to hear Ford telling Automotive News [sub] that the next Mustang will be designed based on styling themes from Ford’s global design studios, rather than the US-based team that has always taken the lead on Mustang design.

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I don’t think the industry learned a lot of lessons from 2008—they will this time around

…said GM CEO Dan Akerson at the Geneva Auto Show [via the WSJ]. But which “lesson of 2008” is Mr Akerson referring to? Overproduction? Incentive and fleet sale dependency? There were so many lessons to be learned in 2008… right Dan?

It would not be a good thing to see $5-a-gallon gas right now.

Oh, he’s talking about getting caught flat-footed by gas price spikes. Fine, let’s ignore the other “lessons of 2008” and hash out the truth behind Akerson’s comment: is the industry ready for $5 gas? Remember, consumer choice tends to exaggerate changes in the price of oil. Or, is it possible that some OEMs are “too ready” for high gas prices? After all, if automakers overcorrect for high gas prices, profits will suffer when the spike subsides. Or is, as BNET’s Matt Debord suggests, Akerson just trying to get the market to price risk into GM’s stock value?

The Freep notes that

Sales of the “Imported from Detroit” Chrysler 200 were a modest 2,319 in February. But during the same month a year ago, Chrysler sold 3,160 of the 200’s much-maligned predecessor, the Sebring.

And though the 200 has been in production since December, Chrysler spokesman Ralph Kisiel insists

It’s still in ramp-up mode, and we’ll continue to build volumes over this month and the next several months

But with the updated Avenger selling 3,477 units in the same month (without the benefit of an endlessly drooled-over Super Bowl ad), surely something is afoot here. To the numbers!

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GM’s upper management is shaking again, as the Detroit Free Press reports that Jamie Hresko, The General’s global powertrain boss, has left the building. And unlike the last round of management shuffling, this move doesn’t seem to have been planned. The Freep reports:

Hresko’s departure comes about a month after CEO Dan Akerson took the product-development organization from powertrain engineer Tom Stephens and put most of it under Mary Barra, a manufacturing engineer. Stephens, a GM vice chairman, became chief technology officer and retained responsibilities for research and development. But Hresko’s resignation was his decision and not part of a management shakeup, a person familiar with the situation said.

As a 28-year veteran of GM who previously held top positions in US and Global quality departments, Hresko’s resignation is not inconsequential. Especially given his lack of post-GM plans. GM’s auto industry experience-free CEO Dan Akerson now has one less experienced advisor to rely on… or is that one less recalcitrant insider to fight?

Remember the phrase “jobless recovery”? Well, the auto industry is having something of a “price dropping recovery.” The headline for February auto sales may have been “the buyers are back,” but beneath the big volume boosts there’s trouble a-brewing. According to TrueCar’s transaction price forecast (above), Hyundai CEO John Krafcik was right to warn of an industry price war, as the industry has lost .3% of its average transaction price during the last year of recovery. Over the last year, Honda, Kia, Toyota and GM have all seen declines in average transaction prices, led by GM’s staggering two percent drop. And falling transaction prices are just the beginning: as we explore after the jump, incentives are also remaining high, and yet another volume-boosting technique is enjoying a boom as the industry once again starts to redline its sales.

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Saab’s PhoeniX concept has two very different purposes: Saab’s Chief Designer Jason Castriota claims the point of the concept was to create buzz and draw attention to the fact that Saab is still around, but it also provides the first look at a new platform that will underpin future iterations of the 9-5, 9-3 and 9-4X. Saab’s Jan-Åke Jonsson tells What Car? that flexibility is key to the new platform, and that “though expensive” it will ultimately save Saab money, saying

We will be able to use the same powertrains in all our vehicles and build them in the same plant (Trollhattan in Sweden), so there are lots of benefits

Which makes you wonder where the money is coming from to develop an all-new, flexible platform. But the PhoeniX Concept also forces you to ask another question: how exactly is this thing a Saab, anyway? At least that’s what former BMW designer Chris Bangle wondered. Hit the jump to see Bangle tussle over the issue with Castriota [courtesy: CarDesignNews], before the Saab designer goes over the Phoenix’s design and place in Saab’s future.

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Wondering why CR picked the cars it did for its recent “Top Picks”? Are you curious where it got reliability data for brand new cars like the new Elantra? Do you wonder how a “classic” like the Avalanche won top pick for trucks? Get the truth from the horses mouth, by checking out CR’s VYou page, where you can submit your burning questions and receive video responses. Accountability, here we come!

When you think of Mitsubishi, what do you think of? Chances are, one of the first things that runs through your mind when Mitsubishi gets a mention, is the turbocharged, AWD, rally-car-for-the-road Lancer Evolution series. For decades now, the Evo has provided Mitsu with some desperately-needed sense of identity, although it never really reflected a brand philosophy the way Subaru’s WRX/STI series did for its AWD lineup. And now, it seems, Mitsubishi is done trying to build a brand on a rally replica. Autocar‘s Matt Prior recently sat down with Motsu’s global product director Gayu Eusegi, and he heard some rather jarring news:

The Lancer Evolution X, Eusegi told me, will be the last Evo. “There is still a demand [for the car],” he said, “but we must stop.” Eyebrow up.

“Our influence now is EV technology,” Eusegi said, adding that the decision was a “policy change”.

It seems Mitsubishi, which is going to introduce eight full electric or hybrid cars by 2015, has decided its image is about lowering CO2, not making lurid replicas of rally cars that don’t go top-level rallying any more.

Eusegi said that customers would find it “easier to understand” what Mitsubishi was about if it was no longer in this motorsport-inspired market.

Eusegi goes on to apparently confirm that the Evo X will be the last of the line, until such time as rally racing goes electric. Which means  that if you’ve always wanted to buy a new Evo, you might want to think about picking one up soon. After all, an EV-heavy strategy may not be the silver bullet for Mitsubishi, but the Lancer Evolution has had its chance at playing halo. Change can be painful, but it is the only constant… and Mitsu has to evolve or die. Even if that means the Evolution dies first.

The Daily Mail reports

Motorway speed limits could rise to 80 mph to shorten journey times and boost the economy under a radical review of road safety, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond signalled today.

He is concerned that anti-car campaigners have for too long used ‘road safety’ as a convenient excuse to both stymie raising speed the limit on motorways from the current 70mph, and to push for more 20mph zones in urban areas – even when they are inappropriate.

Britain has some of the safest roads in Europe, and within that motorways are by far the safest.

In future, Mr Hammond will demand that safety alone cannot be the sole determining factor when changing limits and that a thorough cost-benefit analysis which takes into account the economic impact must also be carried out when deciding such matters.

Now, imagine that lede in the US media. Tough, innit?

OK, so so we weren’t immediately thrilled at the prospect of Alfa coming to the US as the sick man of Europe. But with news that Alfa’s 4C, a Dallara-developed, 1,800 lb mid-engined coupe could become the flagship for the brand’s return to the US, we’re starting to warm up to the Alfisti bandwagon. But, there’s a catch (of course): at the suggested €45k price point and 15k-25k unit production plan, this aluminum-and-carbon vision of Elise-meets-8C loveliness won’t be doing much to solve Alfa’s financial difficulties. Still, that’s the Alfa we want to come to the US: the extravagant, over-the-top, money-losing Alfa, not the cynical Fiat-rebadge Alfa. This 4C is a good start down the financially-draining but emotionally-rewarding road Alfa should never have been forced to abandon.

From the front lines of the safety wars comes Bloomberg‘s report that NHTSA has dropped a proposed rule requiring automatic reverse systems on obstructed windows. Auto safety advocate group Kids and Cars had pushed for the systems to be put on all power windows, at a cost of $6-$8 per window. But Mr Safety himself, Ray LaHood isn’t convinced, telling Senator Jay Rockefeller in a letter

There is considerable uncertainty about benefits estimates, particularly with respect to preventing or mitigating the less serious, mostly minor, injuries involving a power window closing on a person’s finger or hand

Automakers had opposed the rule, which would have covered only “one touch” power windows, on the grounds of costs and “unintended consequences with regard to security.” Kids and Cars cites [PDF] a 2007 NHTSA estimate that 2,000 emergency visits each year are caused by power window injuries. NHTSA said in 2009 that the proposed rule would save two lives and help prevent 850 injuries a year. The safety dilemma marches on…

[Hat Tip: John Horner]

The combined forces of Sire Custom Performance and Autoblog: 1

Irony: 0

It’s not every day that an automotive blogger gets to drive the future of transportation, a radical rethinking of how we interact with our private transport, and yet that’s exactly what I recently did. And no, I’m not talking about the Prius Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV)… that’s just a Prius with some larger batteries and re-worked […]