Yes, we all hate the alphanumeric nomenclature, snaking over the auto industry like poison ivy. And with only so many letters and numbers, we always expect some repeats (Lexus LS/Lincoln LS, Chrysler 300C/Mercedes C300, BMW X5/Mazda MX-5). Has Hyundai gone a character too far? The car we North Americans know as the Veracruz is being introduced to Europe as the ix55. Not only is this a bizarre thing to say down at the pub (Oh, I drove my ix55), but it’s awfully close to, well, a lot of other cars. Hyundai’s new scheme for European car names is to begin with the letter “i,” because if it worked for Apple, it’ll work for them. Or Mitsubishi’s “i car.” The X we can assume refers to this vehicle being an AWD crossover, and of course the 55 is because it has a 5.5 liter V8. Erm, no. Instead, it sounds to me like a mish-mash of BMW (xDrive 50) and the 55 immediately conjurs memory of a trillion Mercedes AMG cars with 55 at the end, from C55 to E55 to S55 to CL55 to CLK55 to ML55 to G55). Besides, what was wrong with Veracruz?

So writes former Chrysler outside counsel Steven Roby in a rebuttal Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times today (the original LAT Op-Ed contended that the US government should not bail out American manufacturers). His thesis of “It’s not the Big 3’s fault” is supported with inventive arguments such as “It’s not the Big 3’s fault” and also “It’s not the Big 3’s fault.” More specifically, he writes that GM, Ford, and Chrysler are just ridiculously, unreasonably burderend by high health care costs, that foreign governments directly subsidize manufacturers, and that other countries manipulate currency. We’ve been through this, time and time again. (He also accuses foreign governments of indirectly subsidizing “their” automakers through grants to research universities. Apparently this lawyer has never heard of the Bayh-Dole Act, which allowed for private patents of government funded research at Universities. And I take it he also has never visited Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Michigan State University, and so on.) But the big problem is that Roby’s article never recognizes any Detroit mistakes: that the Big 3 spent years raking in piles of cash because of SUVs, or benefitted from the chicken tax on pickups, or benefitted from the special EPA status of “light trucks,” or that Chrysler already was bailed out in the past 30 years, or that GM, Chrysler, and Ford haven’t built a truly competitive small car. Roby writes that “The Times should not judge GM, Ford and Chrysler unless it can walk in the shoes of the executives and production workers.” The production workers have gotten the shaft, and nobody is blaming them. But I’d love to walk in the shoes of an executive like Rick Wagoner, whose company can lose billions upon billions of dollars and still go home with a $14 million paycheck. No, the global market for cars is not completely fair. Time to stop complaining and deal with it. Still.

Oh my, where to begin. A no doubt well-intentioned David Kiley at Business Week writes in this issue about the new Ford Fiesta in ECOnetic trim. “The 65 mpg Ford the U.S. Can’t Have” is generous enough to accept that the Fiesta ECOnetic would actually get anything close to 65 mpg (we previously questioned the real-world drop for this model from MPG friendly European testing. Our pot shot guess was that it would be more like 44 in real life). Wherever the final number lands, it’s fantastic, though far less impressive for a tiny diesel engined car with low-rolling resistance tires. But attention-grabbing headlines aside, Mr. Kiley goes on to point out that Ford just “can’t afford” to sell this car in the U.S. You see, ” At prevailing exchange rates, the Fiesta ECOnetic would sell for about $25,700 in the U.S.” That’s a rookie error; direct currency conversion should never be used to calculate what one car would cost in another country. If so, a BMW 328i might cost us Yankees $52,000. While the theme is correct: the ECOnetic’s diesel engine, made in the UK, would be too pricey to import, Kiley suggests that Ford just can’t afford the $350 million to build a factory to produce it for North and South America. Perhaps that’s true, though the novelty-sized Capital One card in Mark Fields’ office might contradict it. But more likely, Alan Mullaly isn’t stupid. Americans and even South Americans are not interested in diesel cars. South America pumps millions upon millions of barrels of oil for cheap petrol out of the ground. Brazil runs on ethanol. And the US is the US. Credit where credit’s due. In this case, it’s not Ford’s bank account to blame; it’s their common sense.

I went from New York to Pittsburgh, PA for a wedding last weekend. Rather than ride in my cramped car with two college buddies of much greater stature (and girth), we departed for the Iron City in a 160,000 mile Honda CR-V. I was just shocked at how pleasant it was for a road trip (albeit a very short 6 hour one). The amount of interior space – especially that afforded by the high roof, was fantastic. While the back seat probably wouldn’t have seated 2 all that well, it was fine for two people to stretch out their legs, and the same went for the cavernous front passenger seat. While it was a little short on amenities (no front passenger armrest, for example), it was a comfortable and mostly quiet highway cruiser. With only 44 horsepower underhood, we even managed MPGs into the mid 20s. What’s not to like? It drives like crap. But hey, I was just riding. In related news, Jonny and I discuss Ferraris.

Recent shit-talking about all-electric range by GM’s Bob Lutz highlights a crucial benefit of the Volt’s Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV- nee “serial hybrid”) concept. Though an EREV may be less cost-effective than a plug-in parallel hybrid over the long haul (or not), its initial EV-only range is better. Which means EREV marketers can claim “zero fuel use” for many standard commutes. Autocar reports that Mazda has fallen under the EREV spell, and is hard at work on its own system using a rotary engine as a battery generator. According to “senior sources,” testing is “sufficiently advanced that Mazda has a working prototype in a Mazda 5 MPV bodyshell.” Unlike GM though, Mazda isn’t relying on its EREV to fly it to the moon by late 2010. Start-stop is the first step on Mazda’s voyage of eco-discovery, set to deploy in Japan next year and around the world thereafter. There are currently no plans to bring an EREV to market. Still, using a small rotary engine as an electricity generator has lots of potential upside. It eliminates the engine’s thirstiness by running constantly at lower rpms, and could actually be more efficient at battery-charging than a standard ICE. Hopefully the system won’t be entirely dependent on rotary engines though, as Mazda’s sister company Ford will doubtless be interested in appropriating the technology.

Or the concept version of it, at least. Honda says what you see here (and what they will show at the Paris auto show) is 90% of what we can expect when they roll out the production version – on sale in the US next spring. While Honda has said it will be the best priced car in the segment (what segment? It’s the Prius and nothing else), many have estimated its price will be below $20,000. Unlike the first generation Insight, which was a 2-seat bicycle, this new one very much follows the Prius layout: 5 passenger, 5 door (that means hatchback), and lots of high-tech gadgets. Making those gadgets optional should help to add high-profit margin items to the sales sheet, as well. While we have no information on engine or mileage, I’d be willing to bet that the all important MPGs will be very impressive. Honda is hoping to sell 100,000 of these in the US per year, and another 100,000 per year worldwide. Something tells me that won’t be a problem at all.

Many years ago, while riding a water taxi in Venice, I asked the pilot if he ever went onto the Terraferma (mainland) – and if so, if he needed a car. His answer? Yes and no. In the canal parts of Venice, you don’t (and can’t) have a car, but in his case, driving was purely for passion and fun. On Sundays, my friend would travel to the mainland and pull his Ford Focus ST 170 out of a garage. And then he’d drive the hell out of it. “Why not a diesel?” I asked daftly. “Because I’m driving for fun! Not best l/km!” Yes, our nation depends on them to get from A to B, especially when the bus-train-bicycle doesn’t do it for some reason. But for me, driving is about fun first and foremost. That’s why I put up with unreliable new cars (my GTI) and unreliable old cars (just wait a few weeks till I announce the new member of my car family). That’s why Liebermen ended today’s podcast by saying he was going to go out and enjoy the Pontiac G8 GT he’s got this week. And now it’s my turn.

Volkswagen released its August sales numbers today, and somehow they are miraculously not down. They’re up 2.9%, which in this automotive market is like finding a trillion dollar bill in your pocket. What accounts for the growth? The Jetta and the introduction of the Tiguan. For the past 15 years, this has been Volkswagen’s single most important product (perhaps when the New Beetle debuted, it stole the limelight for a year or so), and the Jetta accounts for roughly 50% of Volkswagen’s US sales. So with an increase of 1600 Jetta sedans versus August of 2007 and some 867 Jetta wagons sold (not available last year), VW has been able to offset falling numbers for pretty much everything else. The biggest news is the Rabbit, which is down 35.9%, as well as the Passat sedan, down 35.5% The introduction of the Tiguan also helped – maybe. While VW was able to move 1031 examples of the Golf-based cute ute, it’s troubling in two ways. First, that’s almost exactly the number of sales the Rabbit is down compared to last August, making this writer think cannibalism might be at work. Secondly, selling 1000 Tiguans a month puts it deep into niche territory; compare it to the Saturn Vue, selling 8000 units per month. Still, Volkswagen seems to be able to keep themselves consistent, even if their sales are a fraction of a big player’s … and their US/Canadian product lineup is like Europe’s dumber, less attractive brother.

Today I got this month’s issue of Octane in the mail. What a delight. While the American car magazine landscape is severely lacking in depth, compelling articles, witty writing, and pornographic photography (save 0-60), the Brits are not. I subscribe to Octane and CAR because I’m still excited to see them waiting for me in the mailbox. In many ways, internet just kills print media: in the speed with which it can bring you information, the opportunities for writers to be candid (the result of lower overheard – and lower salaries), and the sheer volume of information and pictures we can include without too much added cost. But there’s still something very special about holding great photography in your hand, from a glossy sheet of paper that’s not out of your printer. Octane is, on the most basic level, just car porn. In addition to the stunning full spreads, they write about cars that aren’t made anymore, dream cars, and talk about the “pre-war” era as though it was the 1980s. Aston Martin mentioned they might revive the Lagonda name today. Months ago, Octane recommended buying a Lagonda if you felt pre-war Bentleys were all too common. Which is, of course, what has always held me back from buying one.

After Captain Mike today posted that he was having a difficult time merely test driving a Challenger SRT8 before putting down his hard-earned cash to buy one, not everyone was sympathetic. In fact, Jen Dunnaway – the editor of the blog section over at CarDomain.com – thinks we're a bunch of whiners/cry babies.

"Sour grapes of the day: The Truth About Cars has been begging Mopar for a Challenger test car, only to be outraged by the fact that "Chrysler LLC refuses to acknowledge TTAC's existence." Gee, why would a domestic automaker do that? Maybe because all TTAC does is spew hate and vitriol for the Detroit automakers, loudly delight in their every misfortune, and smack their lips in gleeful anticipation of the collapse of our nation's auto industry? Obviously Ma Mopar hasn't heard the one about keeping your enemies closer—and TTAC, after being further thwarted from even taking a regular-joe dealership test drive, decided that the Challenger isn't really that big a deal after all.

[For the purposes of this thread, TTAC's normal restrictions on discussing the site's mission and/or biases are lifted.]

In this edition of "what I learned during Robert's week off", warning and banning commenters. This is neither as much fun as you'd think nor is it something I'm particularly fond of. In the name of keeping it as a clean fight (and clean site), we've got to edit, delete, warn, and sometimes altogether toss people. At times, it's easy to identify what kind of comments have to go. But it's even still not easy to write the person and tell them they're way out of line. Other times, it's not an easy call. What constitutes flaming, especially flaming the site or other commenters broadly? What we try to do is encourage a lively debate and intervene as little as possible. But the shades of gray are always challenging. So we live and learn, and I thank all the B&B for constantly participating in the discussion on posts and for challenging us to make sure our structured free-speech is as robust as possible. Meanwhile, Jonny the Loverman and I talk about high performance cars and also about the Challenger SRT8.

Honda decided to ship the new 2009 Fit to dealer lots a full one month before it was scheduled to do so. Why? Because they are selling them as fast as they can build them – or faster. The diminutive Honda hatchback is sold out through September, and Honda figured they might as well get a move on delivering Fits ASAP. And so begins the process of trying to buy a Fit. Welcome to "No, we're not doing test drives" and "It's a 2 month wait or longer" or the popular "We're going to need a credit card deposit." For people that want their own fun to drive 28/35 mpg car right now, there's already a 2009 Fit on eBay Motors, a Sport model (that's the higher trim level). Starting bid is at MSRP of $17,580, or you can buy it right now for $1000 over MSRP.

Many of us – and you – have posited that much like 1972, the time we're in now is the peak of the neo-muscle car era. Vehicles like the Camaro, Challenger, Charger, and Mustang are the best they've ever been. And yet, it seems like the writing is on the wall that they're going to enjoy short lived success – at best. But what about the luxury muscle cars: the AMG cars, the M cars, the Audi RS series. And now the Cadillac CTS-V has just been tested by Edmunds and yields astonishing performance numbers. Every iteration of these vehicles get more insane. In 1999, the M3 had 240 horsepower. Then 333. Then 414. The CTS-V went from 405 to 556. Are we really going to reach the point of 1000 horsepower family cars?  Yes, there are more rich people than ever, and many of them just don't care about gas being $4, or $6, or even $8 per gallon. At some point, the bubble is going to burst.

Despite the headline claims of, um, some Motor Authoritative sources , Peugeot is not coming to the United States any time soon. And Canada would be a real stretch. The basis for the claim is that Peugeot is looking to expand the number of markets in which it sells cars, and the French company brass said "with the American dollar being weak, sure, it's possible." But that's not enough. This story comes out every few years , and it's no more true this time around. As much as this writer and probably many other European car lovers would be excited at the prospect of another affordable marque in this country, it's not gonna happen any time soon, or any time not as soon. Americans are still politically not so hot on the French, then there are dealer/service/parts infrastructure issues (namely that there isn't much of anything left from 20 years ago), the added cost of engineering for our emissions and crash standards, and the inconvenient reality that most Americans still aren't truly warmed up to small cars. Not to mention, the current Peugeot lineup is seriously strange.

That's right, folks. While Robert is off this week (and by off, we mean inflating his tires and changing his light bulbs from incandescent to fluorescent), the inmates have control of the asylum. And so far, it has been a valuable learning experience for this writer, at least. New skills include: swearing when the site goes down, as it did for at least an hour earlier today, learning to record podcasts on my computer (we're digital, baby), and hawkishly, Farragously monitoring the comments section. It's just a glimpse into how much work the site actually takes to run – and the burden has been mostly shouldered by superstar Frank Williams, filling out his final week with TTAC. Most of all what I realized though is that it's you people, the readers and commenters that really make the site great. Meanwhile, Jonny and I get into some serious car talk.