Wheh, that’s a big question… and I was dismayed to see myself giving such a short answer to it in my Newshour appearance. There are a host of reasons for my swift “no” answer to that question… here are a few of them:

1: GM Doesn’t need saving. The Government “saved” GM.

2: The market projections for EVs are all works in progress.

3: GM isn’t actually committed to the electrification of the car. It’s committed to gas engines and transmissions and the idea of “range anxiety”… for its “electric car.”

4: If GM were committed to electrification, and that was a prudent business gamble, it would still be chasing Renault-Nissan just as Honda chased Toyota in the race for hybrid leadership not so many years ago. And like Honda, GM seems less committed (in the literal, mechanical sense) to the electric car than the emerging global leader, Nissan. Yes, the Volt is mechanical marvel, unrivaled in its complexity… but only because it clings to its gas technology. Honda’s hybrid half-step, never introducing an electric drive mode to its “mild” hybrids, seems pragmatic by comparison. Toyota’s sole ownership of the “hybrid halo” is instructive (and worrying for Toyota, considering it’s been taking a GM-esque tack towards EVs lately).

5: Even after GM starts selling tons of electric cars (in a scenario where that is indeed possible), it will be working uphill to re-establish consumer trust (in all its products) that was squandered over decades.

I could go on, but I’d rather hear your answers to the question.

VW’s 1.4 TSI “Twincharger” engine may well have been the most groundbreaking mass-market of the last 20 years, combining a supercharger and turbocharger to create a lag-free, forced-induction driving experience (a feat only Group B racers had previously attempted with any seriousness). Making either 120 HP or 158 HP in a Golf, the 1.4 TSI is rated on the Euro-cycle (non-EPA) at 6 liters per 100 km, or 39 MPG (please note, cross-cycle mileage comparisons are problematic). In the (smaller, lighter) 177 HP Polo GTI, it gets an even better 5.9l/100km. In short, it can be quite powerful, extremely efficient, and more importantly, it offers the flexibility to be tuned for a number of different applications. As a result, it won the International Engine Of The Year Award for 1.0-1.4 liter displacements four times running, and added “Best New Engine” in 2006, as well as “Green Engine Of The Year” and “International Engine Of The Year” in 2009.

And now, according to Autocar, the industry’s tortured tug-of-war between outstanding technical achievements and crushing profit-seeking grind will call the Twincharger its latest victim. The British mag reports

The company’s 1.4-litre engine, which mixes turbocharging and supercharging, is said to be too complex and expensive to produce.

Instead, VW engineers now believe that new turbocharging technology can achieve similar results at a much-reduced cost.

Lord love the car blogs. On the same day TTAC was fooled by a local TV report’s use of a forum photoshop, the rest of the autoblogosphere has gone bananas for an “alleged spec sheet” that is in fact pure speculation on the part of a member of the GM forum cheersandgears.com. Although the “document” in question “surfaced” in a forum poll entitled “2014 Cadillac ATS – Powertrain Predictions” (and was never presented as an official or “leaked” document), the High Gear Media Hive Mind proceeded to write up the “alleged spec sheet” as if they’d just found it in the RenCen’s executive washroom. Though unable to “confirm its authenticity,” the HGM Collective was able to determine that

the new Cadillac ATS-V will feature a 6.2-liter V-8 developing 470 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque. That’s more than the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, the bad boy of the current crop of executive sports sedans.

From there, it was inevitable that the big boys of the car blogging world would jump aboard the bandwagon, albeit with the decency to call the source a “speculative document” or “the rumormill.” Still, this document didn’t “surface”… it was put together by a fan who then asked the members of his forum to vote on whether they “love” or “hate” his speculative lineup. Meanwhile, in the rush to parrot the “news,” some basic considerations have been left out…

(Read More…)

Last year, the ten best-selling sedans in America made up some 40% of all passenger cars sold in 2010. Those models, in order of volume, were:

Rank	Nameplate	Sales
1	Camry	327804
2	Accord	282530
3	Corolla	266882
4	Civic	260218
5	Altima	229263
6	Fusion	219219
7	Malibu	198770
8	Sonata	196623
9	Focus	172421
10	Impala	172078

But volume isn’t everything, is it? Let’s look at how many of those vehicles were bought by fleet buyers rather than “regular” consumers.

(Read More…)

It’s been a short, strange trip for Maybach, as Daimler’s über-luxe branding effort went from toast of the nouveau riche to played-out self-caricature in a few short years. Needless to say, TTAC has been awaiting the long-overdue death of that brand for some time now, only to be stymied by a “final” facelift and a Xenatec-developed Coupe. Now, with Aston Martin reportedly working on the new look of the brand that “nobody at Daimler wants to let die,” Maybach’s masters are finally admitting to the fact that TTAC pointed out back in 2007: The Super S-Class was “born old hat.” Autocar reports:

Originally created to be profitable at 800 cars per year, Maybach has regularly struggled to sell half that annually since the launch of the 57 and 62 in 2002. Insiders now admit the decision to base the Maybach on the platform of a two-generations-old S-class, the W140, was a mistake.

Doing so prevented Mercedes from updating the upmarket limousine’s standard features with new navigation, communication and entertainment systems, as well as new safety features owing to an incompatible electronics platform dating back to 1990.

D’oh! But don’t worry… this won’t happen again. Honest.

(Read More…)

The case of three Renault executives who are accused of passing off trade secrets to a foreign firm has taken yet another turn for the confusing, as two of the dismissed managers are suing Renault for defamation. Reuters reports that Michel Balthazard, the highest-ranking executive to be accused in the case, has joined colleague Bertrand Rochette in threatening to file a defamation suit against his former employer. Balthazard is also appealing his dismissal to a French labor tribunal, in hopes of being reinstated at the company. Rochette, Balthazard and a third exec, Matthieu Tenenbaum, are accused of passing strategic information to a foreign network in exchange for bribe payments, charges all three executives deny. According to the WSJ, Rochette denies even having a Swiss bank account into which Renault alleges his bribes were deposited. Meanwhile, French finance minister Christine Lagarde tells the NYT that

I really don’t think that the Renault case has a Chinese angle. I have zero indication

But, as has been typical thus far in this strange case, other French officials including the head of Parliament’s economic intelligence working group insist that a Chinese connection is involved. We will continue to keep an eye on this case… but don’t expect much clarity on the details for some time.

When Chrysler let slip at the Detroit Auto Show that it would be offering a hybrid version of its 300 sedan by 2013, we automatically assumed that the Pentastar was going back to its Hemi-based Two-Mode V8 hybrid system, jointly developed by GM, Chrysler, BMW and Mercedes. Not so, it turns out. That billion-dollar drivetrain has been relegated to poor-selling hybrid SUVs, and it’s already being considered a dead-end by at least the German firms who helped develop it. Instead, it seems that Chrysler has gone to the government for a hybrid system, and will adapt a hydraulic hybrid system developed by the EPA.
(Read More…)

TTAC tipster Sydney (of combustionchamber.net) says he saw this bowtie-branded version of what appears to be a Holden Commodore Series II on his “local NBC affiliate,” and snapped this picture. He writes

It has features from the Series II Commodore and though the picture is kind of grainy, I can assure you that it looks complete and not digitally enhanced in any way, including the bulges on the bumper strike face, which don’t appear to have translated that well from the photo I snapped of my TV. Also, the car is clearly Left Hand Drive.

Did he and a local TV station accidentally bust the embargo on this much-hyped “return of the G8”?

UPDATE: No, this is not an official image. The TV station simply ran footage of what we believe to be a forum photoshop. Higher quality image here. Know the source of this photo? Let us know!

Model S Alpha Hits the Road from Tesla Motors on Vimeo.

Elon Musk’s desire to see “every car on the road” driven by electricity is briefly realized in this video of the Tesla Model S “Alpha” prototype testing somewhere in the coastal hills of California. Tesla’s “Alpha” phase of testing began last year, and will be followed by a “Beta” test phase before the Model S goes into production. More videos on the Model S and its technical components can be found at Tesla’s Vimeo page.

Turns out, Twitter is good for something after all.

With the recent arrival of the latest Evo Magazine at “TTAC Towers,” it seems that all hope for productivity today has gone out the window. Evo, the classiest car porn mag in the game (the lady and I enjoy reading it together, honest), has got its high-gloss gloves on both the reborn Lancia Stratos and the new Audi Quattro Concept… as well as the classic models that inspired them. So, while I’m desperately trying to ignore the British buff book’s retro-future write-up, riddle me this: if you could demand a born-again version of any classic car, what would it be and how would you bring it back to life? But before you answer, ponder for a moment these words from the definitive literary work on re-animation:

Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself. In all matters of discovery and invention, even of those that appertain to the imagination, we are continually reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg. Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject, and in the power of moulding and fashioning ideas suggested to it.

I will be appearing on the PBS Newshour’s report from the North American International Auto Show tomorrow evening (check local listings for times). The interview took place late last Monday, after some 11 hours of press conference goodness, so the end results will be a surprise even to me! I do seem to recall questions about the revival of the American auto industry and the Chevy’ Volt’s price-volume dilemma… but we’ll all have to tune in to find out exactly what I said.

AFP [via Google] reports:

Nissan Motor had delivered only 60 units of its Leaf electric vehicle in Japan as of Friday, Kyodo News reported, despite already taking 6,000 orders due by the end of March.

Nissan denied any delay in the delivery of the pre-ordered cars and company spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa told AFP on Tuesday that the automaker was taking a cautious approach to ensure quality control.

“We have to make sure that everything is 100 percent safe and sure,” Yonekawa said. “This is the first time we have mass-produced an electric vehicle so we need to be very careful. We are not delayed or behind schedule.”

Well don’t rush it then… but it’s got to be rough to be one of the 6,000 folks who pre-ordered by the end of last March. Nissan promises these patient souls that production of the initial 6,000 units will be complete by the end of this March.

Once again, the UAW-Transplant battle has produced the most memorable auto-related quote today, as union boss Bob King tells Reuters

If we don’t organize the transnationals, I don’t think there is a long-term future for the UAW

The stakes in the UAW’s crusade were already high, but with this latest gem, King confirms that that it’s all or nothing. Which is an interesting way to frame a campaign that even the objective reporters at Reuters are forced to conclude is something of a fool’s errand. After all, it’s not as if the UAW hasn’t tried to organize transplant factories before, and they have yet to come close to succeeding. But with the rhetoric turned up to “11,” the UAW is on a one-way trip to destiny… and King’s best last-minute pitch to the defiant transplants is

We want to be on the cutting edge of labor relations. That is the opportunity for all these companies.

A tempting idea, to be sure, but now that King has informed the world that the union’s alternative to success is death, the transplants have more incentive than ever to say “thanks, but no thanks.” And it’s already starting. Is this the beginning of the end of the United Auto Workers?