VW is planning to replace the Passat and Jetta with cheaper sedans "targeted at U.S. customers." At the Geneva Auto Show, VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn said VeeDub's also contemplating small cars and perhaps a body-on-frame pickup for the American market. Automotive News [sub] reports the German automaker's pushing ahead with plans to build a factory in the States and have narrowed the site selection to North Carolina, South Carolina or Georgia. The plant will build a Passat replacement designed specifically for the U.S., with a new name and price around $20K. Winkerkorn also discussed other possibilities for the U.S. market: a small car based on the Polo, a family of small vehicles based on the up! concepts and a VW-built minivan to replace the Chrysler Town & Country clone Routan. Oh, and he wants to bring us a next-generation Phaeton, explaining "the Volkswagen brand needs a car like the Phaeton." What is it they say about those who don't learn from history?

According to The Detroit News, the bankruptcy judge controlling Delphi's fate has OK'ed GM's $2.83b loan to its former GM parts division and current bankrupt. Delphi's other investors (save one) had protested the loan, saying the plan was "a brazen attempt to ignore a portion of the contract" and gave GM too much control of its former subsidiary. The judge overruled the protest. He green-lighted the Delphi cash conflagration– as long as The General laundered the cash made the payments through "a fully-owned subsidiary" (providing GM has any left). This stricture would meet the letter of the existing contract by keeping GM's name off the loan paperwork. GM said the ruling was "encouraging," but it's still "studying it." Delphi said the ruling will allow them to emerge from bankruptcy by April fifth, as they had originally planned. Although the ruling will ensure GM's largest parts provider keeps providing parts, GM's liquidity is looking increasing threatened.

CNN Money [via Yahoo! Finance] lists Consumer Reports' (CR) 11 worst vehicles. Not surprisingly, the list is SUV-intensive. In a move bound to anger snow belters, mud pluggers and boat luggers, CR rated all SUVs "as most people would drive them in the SUV category." In other words, without taking their off-road abilities into consideration. Chrysler can't be too happy; they manufacture four of the 11 losers (one Dodge and three Jeeps but no Sebring). GM has three cars on the list, Toyota has two, and Suzuki and Ford each have one. Four of TTAC's Ten Worst Automobiles appear on CR's list. Here are their 11 worst, with scores out of a possible 100. Those with the double ignominy of being on both Consumer Reports' and TTAC's lists are marked with an asterisk (*).

Jeep Wrangler – 17
Hummer H3 (5 cyl) – 27*
Jeep Liberty Sport – 27
Chevy Aveo5 – 32*
Dodge Nitro SLT – 33*
Toyota FJ Cruiser – 36
Toyota Yaris – 36
Suzuki Forenza – 36
Jeep Patriot Limited – 42
Chevy Trailblazer – 43*
Mercury Grand Marquis – 43

The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike has already has idled six GM assembly plants. A seventh factory ceases work today: the Wentzville, Missouri plant where The General builds full-sized vans. The Detroit Free Press reports that the UAW will soon stop production at the Janesville, Wisconsin plant, halting production of Tahoes and Yukons. Barring resolution of the union's industrial action by Monday, GM will shut down the Romulus (MI) Engine, Saganaw (MI) Metal Casting, Moraine (OH) engine plant and its Toledo (OH) Transmission plant. Again, even if the UAW settles at American Axle, the downtime will cost GM tens of millions of dollars, and threatens to drive secondary suppliers to the wall. Meanwhile, GM CEO Rick Wagoner received a 33 percent raise to $2.2m p.a.

In spite of the fact that BMW's eliminating jobs around the world, the German automaker is expanding their Spartanburg, South Carolina plant. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports the transplant aims to churn-out 240k vehicles per year by 2012. That's well up from the approximate 160k Bimmer's NA plant currently produces. At the moment, Bimmer builds the Z4 roadster and X5 sports utility activity vehicle in the Palmetto State. Later this year, they'll add the X6 sports whatever-it-is. In 2009, Spartenburg will produce a diesel version of the X5 and a hybrid version X6 for the U.S. market. The following year, BMW plans to emigrate Z4 production to Germany and immigrate the next-gen X3 from Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. What if the weak dollar strengthens? As they say in S.C., dum spiro spero.

Last July, Delphi agreed to pay GM $2.7b when it emerged from bankruptcy to resolve "long-standing issues." In November, GM said it would settle for $750m in cash and $1.2b in stock AND it would loan Delphi $750m towards the $6.1b needed to exit bankruptcy. And now… GM's agreed to loan their former division another $2.8b. The Detroit News says the new agreement still transfers Delphi stock to GM (now worth $200m less). And Delphi's cash payment to GM shrinks to $175m. Yes, well, five of the six non-GM investors bankrolling Delphi say they'll walk, unhappy with GM's part of the deal. The lead investor, Appaloosa Management, claims the loans are "contrary to Delphi's stated goal of reducing its reliance on and exposure to GM and developing relationships with other (automakers)." And here's the kicker: Delphi has asked the bankruptcy court to force Appaloosa and its partners to continue supporting the restructuring plan. (How to win friends…) Meanwhile, Delphi is still wrangling over providing collateral for some $2b in unpaid pension obligations. They've only put up $150m so far; the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has filed $600m in liens against Delphi's foreign assets. Legally, the PBGC could seize Delphi's foreign ops to satisfy those obligations. Practically, all Hell would break loose. 

We've all heard of "downsizing," "rightsizing," "smartsizing" and "managed redundancy." Whatever you call it, someone's losing their job. Ford has come up with another term to add to our lexicon of executive euphemisms: "capacity action." In a press release earlier this week, Ford outlined its plans for "capacity actions for Chicago and Louisville assembly plants and Cleveland engine plants." The Chicago (Taurus, Taurus X and Sable) and Louisville Explorer, Explorer Sport Trac and Mountaineer) assembly plants will operate on one shift beginning this summer. Cleveland Engine Plant #2 will cut to one shift in April. And the re-opening of Cleveland Engine Plant #1 (shut down in May 2007) has been postponed from this spring to the fourth quarter. Joe Hinrichs, group VP for global manufacturing says the "capacity actions are designed to ensure that our manufacturing facilities are operating in the most efficient way." Ford continues to offer 10 different retirement and buyout packages to facilitate these cuts. I mean, "capacity actions."

Yesterday GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced his employer's plans to offer at least 16 hybrid models by 2012. Speaking at the Geneva auto show, Wagoner said The General will introduce one hybrid model every four months until 2012. Automotive News [sub] reports the hybrids will use updated versions of the two hybrid systems GM currently offers: the two-mode hybrid for trucks and SUVs and the hybrid-lite belt-alternator system for passenger cars (no mention of a full hybrid high-mileage passenger car to compete directly with Prius and the other hybrid offerings from across the Pacific). You can bet GM'll game the numbers to achieve their goal, as spokesman Brian Corbett said the 16 hybrids would be launched in North America, Asia and possibly Europe. That means they can drop the drivetrain from the Saturn Vue Greenline into its Theta platform-mates around the world and instantly claim five new hybrids. Not bad for a company whose Vice Chairman of Global Product Development thinks hybrids "make no economic sense." Anyway, when it comes to greenwashing, GM is clearly set on becoming the industry leader.

Tesla's Spitfire Spinmeister wants to set the record straight on all the "myths" surrounding the Tesla Roadster. To that end, Daryl Siry has started a "Mythbusters" section on the company's web site blogs (no word on what Discovery Channel thinks about this). The first myth exposed: the Roadster won't have airbags. The second myth: the Roadster is a converted Elise. Daryl points out that the Roadster shares about seven percent of its parts with the Elise, while Lamborghinis share up to 10 percent with Audi. [NB: Lambo and Audi are all part of the same company, while Lotus and Tesla are separate entities.] The third myth is… wait a minute… there is no third myth. So Siry would "love to hear your thoughts on other myths to address in future installments." How about it, folks? Since we know Daryl reads us, he'll see any Tesla myths you list here. Hell, he might even respond (in his own special way). And just to show how fair-minded we are, we won't mention the myth that TTAC would get a test drive (started by Siry on this very site) or The Mother of All Tesla myths: production will start in summer 2007.

GM and Chrysler weren't the only ones singing the blues when February's sales numbers plunked onto the e-mat. Automotive News [sub] reports Ford and Toyota also showed declines in February– although not quite as precipitous as The General and Mopar. Ford's sales fell 6.3 percent compared to last February, while Toyota's (including Scion and Lexus) dropped a jaw-dropping 6.6 percent (when adjusted for the extra selling day this year). Toyota's atypical performance is attributed to poor truck sales. Group vice president of marketing admitted that ToMoCo's full-size truck and SUV sales "could get tougher before it gets better." With a 37 percent decline in the U.S. construction industry, Randy Pflughaupt ain't just whistling Dixie. Honda, Mazda and Nissan, on the other hand, bucked the trend and actually posted gains. Honda was up 4.9 percent, Mazda increased 6.7 percent and Nissan rose 1.2 percent. Hmmm… the two companies with no V8 engines and no full-sized pickups or huge SUVs showed the largest gains. What does that tell you?

In a severely under-capitalized (in the lexicographical sense of the word) press release, GM has announced that it's booted chief financial officer Fritz Henderson upstairs. At today's meeting of the company's board of Bystanders directors, Fritz officially became GM's president and chief operating officer. Even though GM's busy cutting jobs (and how), Fritz' new post is an exercise in executive job creation. Rick Wagoner explained/justified it thus: "There's a lot going on at GM today… It's an opportune time to further bolster our top leadership structure; specifically, it's the right time to reestablish GM's traditional President and Chief Operating Officer position." The President of the board couldn't agree more. "The GM board is excited about the direction that GM is headed," George Fisher opined. "Tremendous progress has been made… these executive appointments will further support our business strategy and the work that needs to be done to achieve our growth, technology leadership and financial objectives." Uh… is it too late to reconsider that Bob Lutz award?

After tugging their earlobe and saying Nano Nano, Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) has announced they'll start taking reservations for a U.S. version of the compressed-air-powered minicar later this year, for delivery in 2010. ZPM claims the car will allow you "to drive pollution-free and free of fuel dependency" and that "the air expelled from the tail pipe is actually cleaner than the air used to fill the tank." That is, as long as you're driving below 35 mph. Above that speed, you're fuel dependent, burning some kind of hydrocarbon to heat air as it enters the engine, delivering the supposed equivalent 106 mpg. The ZPM web site also claims the new car will top-out at 96 mph and offer an 800-mile range on the U.S. version "with supplementary fuel source." When you're not driving, you "recharge" the air tank by plugging into a nearby electrical outlet; obviously the "pollution free" claim ZPM is making doesn't consider the pollution generated from generating the electricity. But just think… an engine running on compressed air could bring a whole new meaning to the term "fart can muffler."

Looks like Honda, Nissan, GM and Ford need to slap their advertising agencies around. It appears some greenies don't know they make hybrids! From Ourgreenbabysteps blog comes this tidbit: "I ran into someone at work today who owns a Honda Civic Hybrid.  I didn’t even realize there was another family hybrid car other than the Toyota Prius." Toyota probably also needs to increase the advertising budget for the hybrid Camry and Highlander, since they seem to be semi-unknown as well. I wonder what will happen when the blogger finds out he/she can even get a humongous SUV or all-American pick-'em-up truck with a hybrid powertrain. I'm thinking spontaneous cranial combustion.

TTAC's first annual Bob Lutz Award is given to the automotive executive who's made the most outrageous, politically incorrect or just plain dumb public pronouncements. When it came to providing us with that special blend of hubris, tunnel vision and cognitive dissonance; nobody does it better than Robert A "Bob" Lutz. And so, Maximum Bob gets the nod. Yes, there were other suits who made Lutz-worthy statements. But Maximum Bob scored extra points for volume and consistency. Hardly a day goes by that MB doesn't utter some bon mots that leave us shaking our heads. We proudly present a representative sample…

Who is the most deserving of the first annual Bob Lutz Award? We're looking for the automotive executive who said the most outrageous, politically incorrect or just plain dumb thing. Since this is the first time for the award, we've allowed nominees from the past; next time we'll limit it to the past calendar year. Click on the link below to cast your vote. The nominees are listed in alphabetical order along with an example of why each was nominated. (Yes, I know I said I'd list all the quotes that got them nominated on the ballot, but when I did one nominee had said so many different things the ballot went off the screen.) Only one vote per customer, please. Voting will close at 6PM EST Sunday, so don't procrastinate.

Voting has closed. The results will be posted today. Thank you for your participation.