Time has published a list of The 50 Worst Cars of All Time. While their rundown contains some deserving nominees– the 1956 Renault Dauphine, 1975 Trabant and 1982 Cadillac Cimmaron– it's poisoned by political correctness. The eds condemn the 1909 Model T because it "conferred to Americans the notion of automobility as something akin to natural law, a right endowed by our Creator [and] a century later, the consequences of putting every living soul on gas-powered wheels are piling up, from the air over our cities to the sand under our soldiers' boots." The '95 Ford Explorer is guilty of "setting this country on the spiral of vehicular obesity that we are still contending with today." The Hummer H2 was a "spiteful reactionary riposte to notions that, you know, maybe we all shouldn't be driving tanks that get 10 miles per gallon." And then are boneheaded choices, like the Chevrolet Corvair (same old Ralph Nader pap) and the Chevette (despite the author's statement "if there is a Chevette fan club, let it begin with me."). If Time wanted to show some real stones they'd run a list of the Ten Worst Automobiles Today. Oh wait; that's our job. Look for it next month. 

Autoblog has blogged the blogger that blogwatches the blogosphere for other bloggers blogging about Toyota. Actually, Autoblog blogged the Brandweek article about the blogger that blogwatches the blogos… oh, never mind. The point is that Toyota actually has a "corporate manager of consumer-generated media" named Bruce Ertmann, whose job is to read and report on what's being said about Toyota's products on a variety of enthusiast and product-oriented blogs. Amazingly, the list of the blogs he monitors on a regular basis doesn't include TTAC. If you want to offer any suggestions for (ahem!) a blog he may want to monitor because it tells the truth about cars, you can email Toyota's corporate communications office at toyota_corp_comm@toyota.com. So now I've blogged Autoblog blogging the blogger that blogwatches the blogosphere for other bloggers blogging about Toyota. Somebody stop me!

First the New Beetle. Then the new MINI. Now the new Trabant. Yep, you read that right. Reuters reports that the plastic-bodied, smoke-spewing, two-stroke, two-cylinder rolling testimonial to everything that was wrong with communist East Germany is ready to stage a comeback. Or at least, that's what Herpa, a Bavarian company that manufactures miniature vehicles, is hoping. The company bought the rights to the name with visions of building an updated version of the car with a modern powertrain– possibly even a version with a BMW engine(!). They're planning an initial run of 5k Trabis, once they find someone to build them. The only question we have is… why? Perhaps one of our German readers can enlighten us.

Chryslerberus is just full of surprises. First they unexpectedly demoted replaced Tom LaSorda with Robert Nardelli as CEO. Now Bloomberg reports that Jim Press, former President of Toyota Motors in North America is joining the dark side the Cerberus team as Chrysler's Vice Chairman and President. Press, the first non-Japanese to head TMNA, will "be responsible for North American Sales, International Sales, Global Marketing, Product Strategy, and Service and Parts for Chrysler LLC." Tom LaSorda, who is also Vice Chairman and President, will be responsible for "Manufacturing, Procurement and Supply, Employee Relations and Global Business Development and Alliances." It looks like they may have about one President too many. We hope LaSorda has his golden parachute strapped on nice and tight. 

American greenies don't hold a monopoly on Hummer hatred. China Car Times reports a Mazda6 club outing encountered a Hummer H2. In a move that would make Greenpeace proud, the school of 20 Mazdas surrounded the H2 and forced the driver to slow to 30kph (about 18mph). They were so proud of their actions they videotaped the entire incident and put it on the internet. Hummer-positive internet viewers tracked down the license plate numbers on the Mazdas and posted the drivers' names, home addresses and telephone numbers along with negative comments. The Mazda drivers should just be thankful the H2 driver didn't put it in 4wd low and pretend he was a tank driver in Tiananmen Square.

Just as humans get recalled by their Maker, so do hearses. Consumeraffairs.com reports that Cadillac is recalling 1049 hearses built in 2006 and 2007 because of a "potential fire hazard." It seems some of the hearses have faulty fuel neck assemblies that could leak while refueling or while the vehicle is moving, resulting in a "potential fire."  (Is that more serious than a real fire?) Since the fuel tank is under the… uh… cargo area, there's a chance the vehicle could become a rolling crematorium. Dealers will replace the fuel tanks in the vehicles being recalled. Humans who have been recalled are on their own when it comes to dealing with "potential fire."

Want a "full day of upper class experience onboard a Maybach 62S with a designated chauffeur" at your beck and call? Just be one of the first 62 walk-in customers at the new Mercedes dealership at the Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Oh wait, you're too late. AME Info reports a local franchisee has opened a 25,295 sq. ft. dealership at the mall on Sunday. It features everything that Mercedes makes, including the full, AMG, Maybach and McLaren lineup. The mall also includes displays of Mercedes models in a "circle of elite boutiques" and "showcased around the main entrance and coffee shop area." Placing the dealership at "the busiest mall in Abu Dhabi" brings "Mercedes-Benz into the heart of retail in Abu Dhabi." Geez… and we get all excited when a new Starbucks opens at the mall!

Last season, Dodge ran tongue-in-cheek ads where they "secretly replaced" someone's Odyssey or Sienna with a Dodge van. Now The New York Times tells us Ford's doing it for real with full knowledge of the owner. Ford's new "Swap My Ride" marketing campaign asks new car buyers to drive a Ford for a week instead whatever they just bought– without telling them it's for a commercial. Then, in the guise of "market research," they ask for "raw, unbiased opinions" to "get real objectivity and honest responses." It seems to be working. An alert Murano buyer observed the Edge "has two sunroofs." Will the the marketing mavens be Ford tough enough to make a bold move and air negative comments from consumers who've driven a Ford lately? Yeah right.

In an email to 67K employees, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) encouraged employees to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. Although the email mentions several American products– Ford Ranger, Dodge Caravan and Ford Escape Hybrid– the email recommends twelve fuel-sippers: the Honda Fit, Civic, Civic GX and Civic Hybrid; Toyota Prius, Corolla and Camry Hybrid; Nissan Altima Hybrid, Kia Rio/Rio 5, Hyundai Accent and Elantra. Speaking to The Detroit News, Chrysler's Jason Vines asked "Can you imagine the Japanese government sending out an e-mail encouraging employees to buy American cars?" Without addressing the political hot potato, HHS spokesman Bill Hall dismissed the controversy as a simple misunderstanding. "People are reading more into this than is here. If people are taking this as an endorsement of vehicles, that's unfortunate." Let's see… employees of a federal agency get an email from HQ with a list of twelve specific cars prefaced with "when stopping for a vehicle consider these models." If that's not an endorsement, this is not a blog post.

CNN Money reports that Saturn's pulled the plug on its "Side-by-Side-by-Side Test Drive." During the promotion, Saturn dealers provided customers with [base model four-cylinder] Accords and Camrys to compare against [well equipped V6] Auras. Saturn marketing manager Matt Armstrong declared the two-month campaign a success, claiming Aura sales increased 24 percent (against a 14 percent drop in midsize cars' sales). In fact, Saturn sold 4,694 Auras in June and 5,827 in July. That's a 19 percent increase. Camry on the other hand, dropped from 46,630 sales in June to 41,514 in July, a 12% decrease. So was Aura responsible for the dent in Camry sales? Uh…. no. Accord sales rose from 28,915 to 37,142 during the same time; a 22 percent increase. In raw numbers, Aura's sales went up 1,133 in July, Camry's decreased 5,116, and Accord's increased by 8,227. No matter how Saturn spins it, the Accord was the big winner during the GM brand's "Side-by-Side-by-Side Test Drive" promotion.

As the UAW contract negotiations heat up, so does the rhetoric. The Detroit News quotes UAW vice-president Cal Rapson on retiree health care costs: "I can tell you one thing, we are determined not to put any more costs on retirees for their health care." The comment, made during a speech at the opening of a labor exhibit at the Sloan Museum, was just what the retirees in attendance wanted to hear. If the automakers are successful in negotiating a UAW-run VEBA superfund for retiree health care, Mr. Rapson may find out it's not that easy administering anyone's health care benefits, let alone those with the demographics of retired autoworkers. It'll be interesting to see how long the UAW keeps promising no out-of-pocket increases when they're the ones responsible for paying the bills.

Even though GM Daewoo Auto & Technology (GMDAT) builds a variety of cars to sell around the world under a number of nameplates, they only sell four models on the home market. Rivals Hyundai and Kia offer five times that many models, including luxury cars. Fearing a further drop in overseas sales, the union wants GMDAT to broaden their line to boost domestic sales. Yahoo! Singapore says the union has a solution: revamp the design of "discontinued Cadillac models" and sell them in South Korea to produce "explosive sales." The union bosses didn't suggest what models they want to drive build there. But just think– this could mean the rebirth of the Cimarron or the Catera. OK, they're talking about the DTS and STS, but I mean, c'mon, really.

Mitsubishi, once the poster child for how to kill an auto company, is on the rebound. Bloomberg reports that Mitsu posted a 14 percent gain in global sales during the last financial quarter. That's higher then even Toyota, who only posted a 3.4 percent gain. Proving there's life after [Chrysler's] bad management and marketing decisions, covering up quality issues and offering lackluster products, the company showed their first profit in three years for the 12 months ending March 31. Mitsu credits "re-establishing public trust and boosting quality" for the recovery. While sales are climbing on the world scene, it's a different matter on the home front. Sales in Japan are down 16 percent, reflecting an aging population and shrinking market. Come to think of it, this all sounds like a couple of American manufacturers whose overseas sales are keeping the home-market operation afloat.. Huh.

The Detroit Free Press (and just about every other media outlet on planet Earth) reports that U.S. presidential hopeful John Edwards wants you to surrender your SUV. Speaking at a forum sponsored by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Mr. Edwards said if he was emperor president he would order ask Americans to turn in give up their gas-guzzling SUVs and "drive more fuel-efficient vehicles." Of course, the millionaire friend of the working class didn't address the exodus' impact on the United Auto Workers, or how he might dispose of all these abandoned vehicles. On a related topic, Edwards defended his $6m energy-sucking 28,000-square-foot mansion by saying he's worked hard all his life and has always supported workers– especially those who built, clean and maintain his energy-sucking 28,000-square-foot mansion. (OK, I added that last part.) And all those people who worked hard to buy a gas-sucking SUV? Apparently, that's different.

C/net News editor Michael Kanellos tackles that most filmic of questions: who killed the electric car? His answer: no one. Well, not intentionally. Kenellos reject the idea that there was a carmaker-led conspiracy to kneecap battery-powered transportation.  "The most innovative things they've come up with in three decades are the cupholder and the Lee Iacocca goggle glasses. These people are going to engineer a global conspiracy that eludes regulators around the world, financiers and competitors?" Kanellos says electric car technology simply couldn't meet the demands of the average consumer. Or, as he puts it, "consumers are cheap and don't want to be inconvenienced by a car that will die on the freeway before they get to Ikea's produce and burger stand when they're driving from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe." 'Nuff said?