CNN reports that the U.S. said goodbye to 1.2m jobs in 2008. One of them was mine. Last week, TTAC’s corporate mothership took a hard look at the books and concluded that the Managing Editor position is not part of TTAC’s best financial interest. This isn’t specific to The Truth About Cars. Advertising-driven websites follow a very young business model; when sites like Facebook and MySpace are having a hard time drawing in advertisers, you know it’s tough for everybody else. The Truth About Cars, as always, will keep going and be strong. While it doesn’t benefit me personally, this is the kind of decision we always criticize car manufacturers for not making: the right one. We all love The Truth About Cars, or at least many of us do, and for it to stay around, it has to be fiscally responsible. As a result, they’ve given me a jump start in looking for the next step in my career. Which is okay. Meanwhile, I’ll still be doing blog posts, reviews and the occasional editorial for TTAC. In all honesty, I can’t help but tell the truth.

This week is SEMA week, and I’m not there. Which is just fine with me. (In case you’re lucky and don’t know what SEMA is, it’s the tuner car show. Click over to Jalopnik to see how silly it all is). Why don’t I care about SEMA? Because I’m not interested in new 42 inch rims that cost as much as Nicaragua. I also don’t care about new bodykits for Ferraris, just because someone with plastic molds decided that they know better than Pininfarina. And I’m really, seriously not interested in washed up rappers’ pimped out family station wagons. I just find the whole event mind-numbingly boring. I’d rather chew cardboard. This isn’t to say I think car mods are all unworthy. If you run your car on veggie oil, like Chuck Goolsbee and other TTAC commenters, that’s a fantastic mod. Or the guys that converted a BMW 750i to a manual transmission: very cool. And nothing wrong with a Porsche 914 with a WRX engine (Porsche purists dissent, but it’s a worthy debate). So mods are good. But as far as I’m concerned, SEMA is just a snore.

Featured listing on Hemmings. European version (no side lights, no pop up headlights), and only about 31,000 miles. And of course, a 352 horsepower V12 and 5-speed stick. Yours for a paltry $359,000.

In a few years, we might not have much of a domestic car industry anymore. And I’ll be grumpy, because despite all the stupid General Motors made out over the years, from crappy products (Equinox) to crappily built products (everything from 1972 to 2002), they really had some cars that were fascinating to car lovers. And that’s part of why they’re going out of business: they made interesting cars with mediocrity. They should have stuck to Toyota’s business plan and made extremely boring cars very well. In Europe, though, that’s what GM did. I’ve just driven the Vauxhall Zafira, and I can tell you that if GM had it in America they’d be trillionaires. Because it’s the most boring car I’ve ever driven.

In just a week’s time, we will be celebrating the election of President-Elect Obama McCain Palin Charles Barkley. Barkley, a retired NBA star who recently announced that he’s running for to be governor of Alabama in 2014. Anyway, back to President Charles Barkley: the thing is, Charles Barkley is really angry at the mismanagement of the Big 3 (I made that up). So he wants to ride around in a presidential limo that’s not from one of them. What should President Charles Barkley’s limo be? You can assume he stands at a more average height than his real-life 6’4″, and any car currently in production in the world is fair game. My choice, by the way, would be either a Toyota Sequoia or a Hyundai Genesis.

To get answers to some of your questions regarding the refreshed Ford Fusion, I got in touch with one of the Ford PR folks, but rather than hide my findings in comments, we’ll post them here.

– The 2.5 liter 4-cylinder model will be available with a manual transmission, contrary to my previous expectations. For the other 98 percent of buyers, it’s a six-speed auto.

– AWD will still be available on the 3.0 and 3.5-liter V6 cars (proving Berkowitz’s guesses wrong again).

– The Fusion’s manumatic will be controlled with a +/- system on the gear lever base, not steering wheel buttons.

– On sale date is the nebulous “First Quarter 2009.” Considering that nobody is going to be buying cars this November, December, January, I don’t think it matters much that the refreshed Fusion isn’t going on sale for a few months.

– Ford is hoping/anticipating/guessing that the hybrid version will deliver best in class fuel economy. For reference, the Camry Hybrid is rated at 33/34.

– The Fusion Hybrid version will have slick/gimmicky SmartGauge system– two LCD screens surrounding the analog speedo gauge– to show instant fuel economy, etc. It’s good marketing to make hybrid drivers feel like they have a special car (i.e. the Prius’ space cadet interior).

– The Fusion’s cabin will be improved. I’ve tossed in one of KGP/Jalopnik’s spy photos of the Fusion’s refreshed interior into the gallery. SYNC will be available with or without the nav system.

Or not actually leaked. But since these are crappy photos of a brochure, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was an actual mistake, rather than covert PR work. Nevertheless, thanks to our friend Mr. Neff at Autoblog, we can see ’em. And on the basis of the blurry photos of photos, I think the next generation RX looks merely ok on the outside, and just awful on the inside. The pursuit of spaceship interiors continues, which will make Barrett-Jackon’s 2050 joint auction of the 2010 Lexus RX450h alongside a 1961 Impala SS.

Ford has just released the first picture of the 2010 Fusion, a facelifted version of the current car. While the Fusion we have now is a decent ride, it’s just decent. The refreshed Fusion attempts to rectify the current model’s below-class horsepower, among other improvements:

–The current 2.3 liter 4-cylinder is replaced with a “new” 2.5 liter 4-cylinder with 175 horsepower (the same engine that’s in the Mazda6 4-cylinder), a jump of some 14 ponies. Torque for the 4-cylinder is also up to 172 lb ft now, an increase of 16 lb ft. The 4-cylinder also has variable cam timing, a nice addition.

–The 3.0 liter V6 will stay, but is now up to 240 horsepower from 221 and its 6-speed automatic now has a manumatic shift mode; this should prove helpful in getting around the infuriatingly geared economy-friendly transmissions.

–The range topping “Fusion Sport” will feature Ford’s not-so-awesome 3.5 liter V6 with 263 horsepower.

–All models get 6-speed automatics, an upgrade for the 4-cylinder.

–A hybrid model will come at some point with the newer generation 2.5 liter 4-cylinder unit in the 2009 Escape Hybrid.

–No EPA testing yet but Ford claims 32 mpg highway for the 4-cylinder model.

As for which one I’d buy if I was in the market for a Fusion, unless there are major suspension changes to the 3.5 liter V6 Sport model, I’d rather keep the weight down and take the almost-as-powerful 3.0 liter V6. Then again, what I’d really want is a turbocharged AWD Fusion with 350 horsepower, but considering the market’s current implosion, I doubt Alan Mulally thinks that’s a good way to spend Ford’s money.

Reuters is now reporting that the Chrysler-GM merger (or sale, which is what it should actually be called) is moving forward. Or in their terms, the two have “cleared major deal issues.” The bad news arrives in the second sentence: “Both sides have agreed that GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner would lead the combined automaker.” Other highlights: Reuter’s sources confirm the what many already suspected about this “merger” being more of a swap for GM’s remaining stake in GMAC. As Reuters observes, the biggest issue will be securing financing to make this whole debt-mess work and keep the companies afloat, and that’s where the White House and Congress will come in with their money printing press.

Being a fan of cars, you might find yourself liking cars that other people don’t. In fact, you should in yourself in the minority in some cars, or else you’ve become one of the “Honda or Die” people and in that case you probably also only drink Heineken. So assuming you’re not in that category, you probably have diverse – even somewhat obscure – interests. That means perhaps that you have a perverse appreciation for the Suzuki Verona, because it did have an inline-6 engine. Or Subaru SVX because it looked like a showcar, and had AWD and a flat six. Perhaps you like the Dodge Neon SRT4 because the turbo was just nasty. And since many of these views are so deeply in the minority, many of the cars we like are often flops. The general public just doesn’t like them. And that’s fine, because it means that usually these cars are cheaper to buy used. A lot of the cars on today’s Bob Lutz list fit into the category of great flops: the Merkur XR4ti, the Pontiac GTO, and the Pontiac G8. And while I like those, I have my own favorite car that was a total sales loser: Chevy Corvair. I love the design, the looks, the rear engine, the optional turbo, and the weird bodystyles available (Corvair Van!) and the fact that after they finished development (several years after it was released to the market, of course) it was actually quite good. What’s your favorite flop?

Being Bob Lutz has a fantastic job. He’s rich as sin (thank you, Daimler, for buying Chrysler), and he has Czar in his unofficial title with GM. He can say whatever he feels like, whether it’s about global warming (“a crock of shit,” in his words) or random price projections for meeting the next round of EPA standards. During Maximum Bob’s epic career, he’s “championed” some very interesting though chronically unsuccessful products. Some of these were on sale twenty years ago, others are on sale today. And still others will likely never see the light of day. While so many cars have been touched by Lutz’s magic hands, we present to you his big nine.

Ahead of the LA Auto Show, which is coming up in a few weeks, Nissan has gone ahead and released images of the 370Z. This is phase 3 in a prolonged effort to give the car about a month of buzz before its official reveal (phase 1 was intentional spy shots and video, phase 2 being the Edmunds pretendo-leako). No specs from Nissan yet, though 330 horsepower or north is a good bet.

After the initial media support for a potential GM-Chrysler hookup (e.g. Jalopnik.com’s Ray Wert), the bandwagon began to roll like a snowball down the proverbial mixed metaphor hill, and everybody soured on the deal. We even charted how individual commentators changed their positions and eventually “threw Chrysler to the Wolves.” In Monday’s New York Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin said that GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s continued employment is a “minor miracle.” But the commentatorati are still behind the curve re: the government’s rumored $10b “intervention” in the GM – Chrysler merger. In the main, they have’t even acknowledged that the bailout is happening. That, and the critical fact that it’s structurally designed to fail.

The fine folks at Quinn Automotive in Worcester, Massachusetts (that’s pronounced Woostuh) are offering a nearly new 1986 Renault Alliance Coupe 1.7 for a song – only $2500 (cough, cough, choke). For your money you get the finest in French engineering circa 1986, a 1.7 liter 8-valve engine, 78 raging horsepower routed to the front wheels, and a 3-speed automatic transmission. This particular example has only 39,322 miles on it, and it’ll look great parked next to your Chrysler Cobalt and HumJeep.

Buy It Now for $15,950 on eBay Motors. “Over $60,000 invested” in this four door roadster (doesn’t have a top). “1983 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit Roadster. $10K custom candy metal flake paint with flames and a full white interior with red piping. Just about anything that can be gold plated was.”