The line of succession at Ford Motor Company doesn't have a Ford in it (surprise!). In an interview with Automotive News [sub] last week, Ford personnel chief Joe Laymon laid out the short list for the next CEO. Of course, the board of directors has the right to consider other than his these six candidates, but the self-proclaimed "owner of Ford's succession-planning process" said CEO Alan Mulally asked him to identify those worthy of ascension to the throne. Not surprisingly, "Mullet" Mark Fields is on the list; when asked to comment on his chances of making it to the top, he stated "I am not going to go there…I am not focused at all on things like the succession race. We [note the change to the "royal we"] are focusing on doing our jobs." And of course, Big Al's favorite Toyota ex-pat Jim Farley made it. Assuming the proper "aw shucks" attitude, he humbly commented "You earn those opportunities. Right now, I haven't done anything." [At least he admits it; honest has to count for something.] The other four in the running are Lewis Booth (VP for Ford of Europe and what's left of the PAG), Joe Hinrichs (VP of global manufacturing), Don Leclair (CFO), and Stephen Odell (COO, Ford of Europe). So who will it be when Mulally's five-year contract runs out in 2011? Just as with GM, watch to see who they move into the corporate COO position next.

Neurologist-turned-electric-car-expert Lyle Dennis had a private audience with Jon Lauckner, Bob Lutz' lackey "first deputy." Dr. Dennis inquired about the "expected timing, location, and cadence of ramp-up for initial Chevy Volt production." The good doctor wondered if GM is going to roll out the production Volt with "with a small fleet … or… release it like you did the new non-hybrid Malibu?" Lauckner replied that GM's going to introduce the electric – gas hybrid gradually. "Selected people" [read: GM employees] will drive pre-production versions before GM gradually brings the Volt to a Chevy showroom near… someone. Lauckner didn't mention the effect of this plan on the Volt's production date. And his comment represents an about face from previous statements about the Volt's debut: "It makes no sense if you're ramping up production to have people frustrated because the car is in theory able to be sold in every area but they cant get their hands on one because the amount of volume is relatively small." Such as… the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Enclave launches? [thanks to KixStart for the link]

The Washington Post reports Chrysler is adding in-car internet access to their hot selling– I mean vehicles. Web access will arrive via cell phone towers; users will need a wireless phone carrier to ensure continuous service. Chrysler is touting themselves as the first car company to provide in-car internetage, conveniently overlooking "ConnectedDrive." BMW's system offered Google access last year; it's expanding to unrestricted www access this year. (Chrysler will be the first to offer internet access in the U.S.) Regardless where it's offered or who offers it, the idea of some n00b playing Halo 3 while blasting down the interstate at 75mph is really scary. Yes, I know there'll be built-in safeguards, but it won't take the MMORPG crowd very long to figure out how to override them. In fact, the hack should be on the internet before Chrysler buyers can access the internet via their car to get it.

As talks between American Axle and the UAW continue, AA has moved some of the production for GM's large SUV axles to Mexico. They've also moved axle production for Chrysler's pickups and SUVs South of the Border, allowing Chrysler to continue turning out Dakotas and Durangos nobody wants without interruption. The Detroit Free Press cites industry experts who predict that by the end of the month, the auto industry will have lost over 100k units in productivity which they'll never recover due to soft SUV and pickup sales. Whether the Mexican move is permanent or just a warning shot across the UAW's bow remains to be seen. But the AA workers who are now living on $200/week strike pay better hope the union bends a little, and soon. Otherwise they could be on the unemployment line instead of the picket line.

Ford wants its workers to connect with their future. And now GM is encouraging their employees to "build your future and live your dream." According to The Detroit News, specialists will show up at GM's factories across the nation to hold "opportunity expos" to beg show workers "the ways in which they can benefit" by giving up their well-paying jobs with great benefits for a few thousand dollars and the opportunity to take their chances on the job market. To try to entice people to show up, they're also entering anyone who comes to the seminar into a drawing for a $15k voucher towards a new GM vehicle. Meanwhile, Chrysler is reopening their buyout programs and offering employees who've already said "no" the chance to say "HELL NO." Some employees are confused as to why they're doing it. Comments posted on the Detroit Free Press' site show that not everyone who put in for Chrysler's buyout is given the buyout. One commenter stated "…there were just under 300 people at the Belvidere Assembly Plant who put in for the buy-out. Only approximately 200 of us were given the buy-out." Another commenter asks when they'd see a corresponding reduction in management, adding "most of the work done by management was once done by UNION clerical personel, and for a damned sight less money." It looks like The Big 2.8 still have a lot of work to do if they're counting on dumping old employees and hiring cheaper replacements to balance the books.

You read it right. Bloomberg reports Scion's brand manager, Jack Hollis, revealed in an interview yesterday that they're looking at expanding their lineup of rebadged Toyotas trendy economy cars. Showing Toyota is beginning to read from the GM brand management manual, he asked, "Should it be a youth truck, a youth SUV, an environmental car, a smaller car? We're studying right now to see which would be the greatest priority." He explained their rationale: "There are more leading-edge people we can attract that may not be attracted yet to these first three products." In spite of Scion's dropping sales (down 25 percent last year, 6.7 percent last month), he also said they would keep targeting "trend-setting" customers instead of just going for higher sales volume.  

The IAM has backed down, at least for now. Reuters reports that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers withdrew its bid to organize Toyota's Cambridge, Ontario plant after they found out they didn't have enough signatures to force a vote. When the IAM filed for the vote, they said they had "well over" the threshold of 40 percent of the total work force required by Canadian law to hold a vote. But then Toyota filed a modified list of employees showing they have 4,025 workers instead of the 3,100 the union claimed they had. Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman warned "it would not be in Toyota's interests for the plant to unionize" because it could affect future Canadian investments by Toyota and the other Asian automakers. Regardless, the IAM said they'd continue their efforts to unionize the plant.

"We are undoing the mess we had in the 1980s when every brand had everything, they all looked the same and they were all priced the same." So says GM's Product Jeffe Bob Lutz, quoted in The Wall Street Journal. The winner of TTAC's first annual Bob Lutz award went on to say their brands are emerging with their own identity, with "Buick standing for American luxury, Cadillac for total luxury and Pontiac getting back to its quality built roots." So let's run down the GM lineup and see where they stand: Pontiac is selling Cobalts and Holdens. Saturn is selling Opels. Saab is selling TrailBlazers (with the ignition key between the seats). Buick, Saturn, GMC and Chevrolet are all selling the same CUV with overlapping prices. Saturn, Chevy and Pontiac are all selling the same mid-sized car at about the same price. Cadillac is selling squared-off Corvettes and blinged-out Avalanches and Tahoes. Everything GMC sells is duplicated in the Chevy lineup. They're talking about introducing a Chevy-priced "entry level" Cadillac. Yep. Looks to me like GM has a firm grip on their brand identities. Too bad they don't have a firm grip on reality.

The Detroit Free Press reports that Alvaro de Molina has been named to replace Eric Feldstein as CEO of GMAC "because of rising mortgage defaults and slowing auto sales." The Cerberus-owned finance company lost $2.3b last year and things don't look so hot this year, either. So where is Feldstein going? As seems to be the trend nowadays with execs who lose billions, he's being bumped up the corporate ladder where he will "will advise Cerberus on investments in financial services companies" according to a GMAC statement. Yep… sounds like just the guy I'd trust for advice on financial services.

© 2008 by ttac.com 

GM won't make the Easter deadline to have a Volt test mule on the streets. Nor will they make the April deadline Car Czar Bob Lutz revised it to. CNNMoney reports he's now saying they're looking at two competing battery developers and they want to "run the two in parallel a while longer" How much longer? Lutz didn't say, but he still insists they'll launch the Volt in "late 2010." The two companies, Compact Power and Continental Automotive Systems, are in what Maximum Bob termed a "horse race" to see which they'll go with. He also insists "the battery technology is working great" and the development problems "aren't fundamental electrochemical problems [but] simple engineering problems." He estimates by 2015 between a quarter and a third of GM's production will be hybrid-electric or alternative-drive vehicles to meet the new CAFE standards. Keep in mind, though, that this comes from a grown man who still believes in the Easter Bunny .

As the American Axle strike stretches into its fourth week, GM still maintains it's not affecting them. Not that they'll admit, anyway. With truck sales (real trucks, not them sissified half-breed crossover things) down 20 percent last month, they've weathered the storm pretty well with what they had on hand when the strike started. As the strike progresses and the inventory starts getting picked over, they're going to start feeling some pain as buyers look elsewhere for their $50k crew-cab, long-wheelbase, four-wheel-drive, six liter commuter vehicles. Since The General counts a "sale" when they ship a vehicle to a dealer, this quarter's sales will look really bad (but they'll have the strike to blame it on). Once production resumes and they start stuffing the supply channels again, you can bet GM'll be bragging about their best truck sales in years. But now CNNMoney reports Standard & Poors placed GM's ratings (as well as those of American Axle, Lear and Tenneco) on "creditwatch with negative implications" because they "believe the strike has gone on long enough to possibly begin to affect the financial resources of GM and those suppliers most exposed to the automaker." I wonder how Rick Wagoner will spin that one!

Even though they don't have one hybrid or E85-compatible vehicle (or customer) on the showroom floor, Saab wants you to know they're eco-friendly. GM announced today that Saab is launching the "Pure BioPower Eco Clothing Collection." At an "exclusive pre-New York Auto Show party," the erstwhile Swedish brand trotted-out the 9-X Hybrid concept, "designed to reflect the priorities of youthful customers seeking progressive looks, responsible performance and high-tech communications in a fun-to-drive package." Yes, well, how about Saab's new line of "100 percent ecological/organic cotton" clothing? The apparel features buttons made from the Coroso Nut ("its harvest leaves the rain forest untouched"). If that wasn't enough (and for me, it is), Saab also announced they're donating $40k to the Earth Pledge FutureFashion Initiative. This salve the conscience of the sweat-shop fashionistas org "promotes renewable, reusable and organic materials and methods." A noble goal, indeed. If you don't want Saab clothes (to wash in Bio-Power detergent), you can "help the non-profit organization with an exciting program to be announced at a later date." Will it be before May? That's when Saab's "first collection" will be available at saabexpressions.com. The line forms… somewhere else.

According to The Financial Post, The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is accusing Toyota of "unduly influencing employees to vote against a union in a certification vote." In a complaint filed Monday with the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the union says Toyota Canada is distributing anti-union documents to employees and putting "vote no" signs inside the plant where they build the Corolla, Matrix and Lexus RX350. The move is largely seen as saber-rattling ahead of this Thursday's unionization vote. The stakes couldn't be higher. If the IAM gets its foot in the proverbial door, Cambridge will be ToMoCo's first wholly-owned unionized North American plant. Thin end of the wedge? An excuse to slowly shift production out of Canada? Or yet another thwarted attempt to infiltrate the world's largest automaker's NA ops? We should know by week's end. Meanwhile, Automotive News [sub] reports that workers at two Johnson Controls factories (Alabama and Mississippi) rejected the United Auto Workers' [UAW] efforts to unionize the workforce. It's a major defeat for the UAW; Johnson is the fourth largest U.S.-based automotive parts supplier.  

Indian automaker Tata has moved one step closer to purchasing Jaguar and Land Rover. Reuters reports that the Indian automaker has secured a $3b one-year bridge loan from Citigroup and JPMorgan. The usual "sources familiar with the deal" say the loan is to "help finance a potential purchase" of the luxury brands from Ford. The principals declined to comment, but media reports from India say Tata is expected to agree to the purchase at the end of the month. (And Francisco Franco is still dead.) Tata may still balk– especially as Standard & Poors is reviewing Tata for a possible downgrade in the light of the potential increase in the company's debt load. If the sale go through and FoMoCo's cash flow goes critical, Volvo and their 33.9 percent share of Mazda could be next.

"Tesla Starts Full-Scale Production!" "Stop the Presses, The Tesla Factory is Cranking" "Tesla Begins 'Regular' Production of Roadsters" Reading the ever-credulous press, you'd be forgiven for thinking investors who've been waiting two years for their $98k battery-powered Roadster will have one in their garage in the next few weeks. Not so fast (literally). First, we await independent confirmation that Tesla hit the "start" button on the production line. Second, there's many a slip between the cup and the lip. We await the first customer delivery (real customers, not Tesla execs). And third, by its own admission, Tesla will build Roadsters at the rate of "one or two per week." On Tesla's blog, CEO Ze'ev Drori stated his employer would gradually ramp-up production, heading for "over 100 Roadsters per month early next year." Ignoring the existence of the REVA, the ZAP Xebra and several million golf carts, Drori also proudly proclaims "the Tesla Roadster is the only zero emission electric vehicle in production today." At least the Tesla hype factory is [still] in full swing.