With the US presidential caucus and primary scheduled to begin within a month, pistonheads may be wondering what the contenders have to say on the subject of cars. To gain some insight into their positions on issues automotive, I visited the candidate’s websites to see what, if anything, they have to offer those of us who love cars. Of course, the candidates public posturing should be taken with a large dose of skepticism; getting nominated and elected is most certainly Job One. In addition, future Congresses (and highly-paid lobbyists) will continue to hold sway over US policy. Still, to quote Thomas Jefferson: "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government…” 

Automakers are adding more and better safety features into new cars, right across their model lines. Needless to say, the insurance industry is down with that. According to MSNBC, the number of cars considered “safest” by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has grown by nearly 300 percent. Last year, 13 vehicles made the list. This year, 34 new models can tout an IIHS “top safety pick” award. Ford joined Honda on the virtual podium to claim the largest number of vehicles garnering the gong. According to the report, Toyota could have had 10 additional vehicles on the list (and Volkswagen four) if they offered better seat- and head restraint designs. Sidestepping the criticism, Toyota spokesperson Bill Kwong diverts your attention points out that their ‘08 vehicles have active headrests, which provide a “great level of safety for the customer in the real world.” 

Toyota’s operating profits this year will exceed the entire market value of GM. This insight arrives via Ian Rowley in his Eye on Asia blog for Business Week. According to Rowley, with GM reporting a $39b loss and Toyota earning $11.2b, GM’s market capitalization (market cap) is now smaller than Toyota’s single-year profits. (To determine the market cap of a company, multiply its share price by the total number of outstanding shares and you get the financial size of the corporation.) Toyota is projected to have operating profits of $20.2b this financial year. At the end of the trading day yesterday, GM’s market cap was $19.21b. Rowley says yesterday’s announcement by GM makes the “huge earnings gulf” between the two companies obvious. While GM sells more cars annually in the US than Toyota does [for now], their “fortunes” are reversed when it comes to finances. The race for the title of world's largest automaker remains up for grabs, but any victory by GM at this point would have to be seen as Phyrric. 

Reuters reports that U.S. gas prices have returned to summertime price levels, north of $3 a gallon. With the cost of crude oil jumping 17 percent to more than $96 per barrel, the AAA figures three buck a gallon gas was overdue. "We are surprised we didn't hit $3 sooner,” admits spokesman Geoff Sundstrom. “Prices could go higher now that we are moving into the higher-demand season that coincides with Thanksgiving and the year-end holidays." The US government says gasoline prices rose to $3.01 per gallon this week; diesel fuel is at a record high of $3.30 a gallon. “If we stay at $95 to $100 per barrel crude,” Sundstrom said. “It wouldn't be out of the question to see $4 in some places.” Additional insight arrives via the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its Short-Term Energy Outlook the EIA predicts “crude oil prices are expected to remain high and volatile.” Ya think?

MSNBC reports there are “at least 16 green car dealerships in 10 states” where customers can cross-shop alt-fuel personal transport. The Green Car Company of Kirkland, Washington stocks PC-mobiles ranging from scooters to hybrids to biodiesel-powered trucks. Over at the Union of Concerned Scientists, senior analyst Jim Kliesch reckons green dealerships are the next big thing. For every car shopper that finds a vehicle at a green dealership “there are a hundred customers that settle at the regular dealerships, despite the fact that they want cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.” Down at the Green Car Congress, Mike Millikin (and his bio-powered steam shovel) says mainstream car dealers won’t put their arms up and surrender. “As the mature automobile companies produce more hybrids, diesels and electric cars, these new vehicles will appear in the traditional dealerships and lure consumers back.” I’m sorry; who said they were missing? 

Reuters reports that Mazda is betting on the so-called hydrogen economy: "We have to prepare for sustainable zoom-zoom." After issuing the PC catch phrase of the day, Mazda's head of R&D Quality and Powertrain Development admitted there are "technical challenges." But Nobuhiro Hayama is stoked; he figures rotary engines (remember them?) can run on hydrogen. In fact, Hayama says no changes are required in either manufacturing techniques or materials. You want dual fuel? A dual tank hydrogen rotary engine could use both hydrogen AND gasoline. Meanwhile, Bloomburg.com says the catalyst used in hydrogen fuel cells could be an issue. The news service quotes Derek Engelbrecht, an executive at Impala Platinum Holdings, who reckons "global platinum supplies will probably fall short of demand by 205k ounces this year." Those planning to pay for Mazda's hydrogen Wankel needn't worry: Amex' platinum card members won't be affected. 

The European Union (EU) wants to see 10 percent of Eurozone transportation powered by bio-fuels by 2020. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has come out in opposition, claiming biofuels’ ability to tackle global warming is strictly limited. Cooperate and develop this: the organization concludes that biofuels are only economically viable with large state subsidies (surprise!). What’s more, they reckon the mandated European bio-fuel surge could lead to “rising food prices and damage to forests and wildlife.” The OECD wants the EU to rescind its biofuels targets. Their alternative? Legislate energy-saving and more efficient vehicles. “You cannot feed people and soak up carbon and protect biodiversity and fuel cars,” says Brice Lalonde, the former French environment minister who chairs the OECD’s round table on sustainable development. C’est la verite.

Auto Industry reports that Volkswagen is set to roll out a new line of small cars, codenamed “New Small Family" (NSF). VW expects sales of the first gen NSF to top 4.16 million units during its nine-year lifecycle. Last week, the Rheinische Post reported that VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn told delegates at a International Iron & Steel Institute conference that VeeDub was developing a version of the 2005 prototype ‘1-litre’ VW two-seater car for 2010. Winterkorn confessed that the car “would not be a world-beater in sales terms, but would set new technical standards for light weight and offering low CO2 emissions.” While VW abandoned its plans for a “super economy” car back in 2005, rising oil prices have inspired them to reconsider. Oil topped $86 per barrel yesterday; economist Jeff Rubin predicts $100 per barrel oil could “become normal” as early as 2008, with rising gas prices to match. If so, any automaker without a line of seriously efficient automobiles will be in serious trouble. 

The European Union (EU) wants to cut the number of pedestrian fatalities caused by cars in half by 2010; Auto Industry reports some 8k Eurozone pedestrians and cyclists are killed by vehicles each year. The EU is proposing that all new cars be equipped with Brake Assist Systems (BAS). (Brake Assist systems monitor how fast the brake pedal is being depressed and when panic stops are detected; the system automatically applies maximum boost.) The EU figures “if the complete European car fleet is fitted with BAS, as many as 1,100 pedestrian lives may be saved every year.” According to EU Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, the new regulation would replace 27 national laws and two EU directives. It’s all spelled out (in language only a bureaucrat could love) in an EU white paper poetically entitled Directive 2003/102/EC.

ReportonBusiness.com reports that Canada’s automakers are united against a new trade agreement with South Korean– unless the Asian country removes its “non tariff” barriers to Canadian auto exports. The news comes ahead of Canadian free-trade officials’ eleventh meeting with their South Korean counterparts. It also arrives against a backdrop of a radical shift in Canada’s balance of payments. According to a Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) paper on the subject, our neighbors to the North are now importing more cars than they’re exporting. CAW economist Jim Stanford sounds the alarm: “What was once a unique success story regarding Canada's high-value participation in world markets has turned remarkably quickly into an industrial nightmare.” While the CAW report also claims The Big 2.8’s restructuring efforts have “wiped out thousands of jobs,” (hey why not mention it?), the main focus is on getting tough with Korea: “This is the wrong time for our own government to expose this still-crucial export industry to even more damage from low-cost, one-sided imports.” So when would be a good time?

KVOA TV reports that police in Oro Valley, Arizona have joined the legions of law enforcement agencies using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems. Oro’s taken delivery of LPR Systems’ Mobile Plate Hunter 900 . When the Plate Hunter was rolled out in Utica, NY in August, the ACLU claimed the system violated “every motorist’s civil right to avoid police surveillance unless a law has been violated.” The ACLU’s executive director of the Central New York Chapter says the police need a new business model: “Police really should be in the business of investigating crimes, not tracking law-abiding citizens,” Barrie Gewanter pronounced. “When we are driving and we are always having our licenses plates examined, then everybody on the road is being treated as a suspect.”

Connecticut, New York and New Jersey all prohibit drivers from yakking on a cell without a hands-free device. A new study of 902 tri-state drivers commissioned by Parrot, a Texas-based manufacturer of said technology, reveals that 72 percent of these mobile mobile users now own a hands-free device. Now the bad news: only 14 percent of them use the equipment religiously (regardless of denomination). Jersey drivers are the worst offenders; 43 percent of their in-car calls are held via the handset. "The challenge of hands-free compliance is not only perception but also reality,” says the irony-loving Ed Valdez, president and COO of Parrot. “The reality is that the majority of tri-state drivers are still using their hand-held cell phones because they don't perceive that the law applies to them.” Reflecting the “it’s the other guy who’s driving sucks” gestalt, the debate over the statistical danger of cell phone distracted drivers (as opposed to tiredness, children, food, etc.) continues. Meanwhile, anecdotal evidence of cell-related tragedies– such as this morning’s report in the Houston Chronicle— sustains the momentum for outright bans against drivers using hand-held cells.

CARkeys reports that French automaker Citroen has taken the wraps off a “carbon drawing down” cash-back offer. Under the terms of “GO LO CO2,” UK motorists who purchase a new Citroen with a lower CO2 emissions rating than their current ride receive £500 discounts on Citroen’s C-series of mini cars and the Berlingo Multispace MPV, or £1000 cash back Xsara Picasso compact MPV. You might consider this a cynical ploy capitalizing on political correctness to move moribund metal, but we couldn’t possibly comment. Meanwhile, despite having the lowest CO2 average of any European automaker, The Wall Street Journal reports that PSA Peugeot-Citroëns registrations in France were virtually flat in September, up just .4% over the first nine months of the year.   

Although General Motors isn't saying how many subscribers they have, their OnStar system is currently logging some 1k car crashes a month. The system provides monitors with the vehicle’s exact post-accident location. It also logs the number of impacts, whether or not the vehicle rolled over, and which airbags (if any) deployed. Forbes reports that GM has teamed-up with the University of Michigan to see if OnStar can provide first responders with accident data that will improve their effectiveness. "When you show up at the scene, every minute counts,” Dr. Stuart Wang asserts. “If you can equip the responders, fire and EMS rescue folks with an idea of what to expect at the scene, you will help them.” The study will correlate some 200 crashes with medical records, with an eye towards creating a database of injuries common to a given type of accident.

The Hartford Courant reports that the United Auto Workers (UAW) has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union vote at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. The petition is part of a plan to organize the casino’s 3000 dealers– a goal that has eluded the UAW for the last 15 years. "We have waited for this day for a long time," says pro-union poker dealer Steve Peloso. According to the Courant, a starting dealer pulls down about $4.50 per hour, plus mucho tips. (Last year Foxwoods banked an estimated $400m in profits.) The Casino drive is part of the UAW’s ongoing and far-reaching effort (freelance writers need apply) to broaden their base in the face of declining membership in the automotive industry.