The GM-Chrysler bailout article in today’s New York Times (written by Edmund Andrews and our friend Bill Vlasic) just recaps yesterday’s bailout news. But it raises an interesting point. The argument thus far has been that auto manufacturers (namely Chrysler and GM) would be entitled to the Treasury Department’s bad loan buy ups (TARP) because they have large credit arms. Except for one glitch: General Motors only owns 49% of GMAC (the NY Times article oddly reports the reverse “General Motors … spun off 49 percent of its financing unit, the General Motors Acceptance Corporation.”) As a result, even if GMAC qualifies as a financial institution, General Motors would not. This isn’t the same as Ford, which wholly owns Ford Credit. Fortunately for GM, as Vlasic notes, the government will find a way, one way or the other, to put cash in GM’s coffers. Until GM blows through that, too.

Reuters is reporting that Avis is getting hit by the slowing economy. Perhaps even more than retailers, vacation-related businesses really take a beating when the economy gets rough, and just like hotels are getting slammed, so too are car rental companies. They say that the “workforce reductions” should save $50 million/year. Against a $1 billion loss, that sounds like a worthwhile way to ruin 700 lives. (Avis CEO Ronald Nelson only made $2.15 million last year before taxes). So much for trying harder.

Warning: Video contains profanity

According to Karey Wutkowski at Reuters, the “The Treasury Department is considering aid of at least $5 billion, which could include direct capital injections and government purchases of auto loans.” The usual anonymous source claimed the decision could be made this week. Wutkowski reports that GM and presumably Chrysler have been lobbying the Bush administration for the money, no doubt made easier because Cerberus’s chairman, John Snow, is the former Bush-appointed Secretary of the Treasury. Purchase of bad auto loans is likely to anger many, but the “direct capital injection”– a suitcase full of freshly-minted money– is something else altogether. Will you, the new shareholders get any stock in GM-Chrysler? Of course not. Nor is there likely to be any accountability to the government beyond a nebulous promise by Rick Wagoner that “he’s working hard.” The kicker? The $5b is only the beginning. “People briefed on the merger discussions have previously said GM would need a minimum of $5 billion to start restructuring Chrysler’s operations. The total amount needed could reach $10 billion.”

It was just a month ago that Edmunds was falsely claiming they had the “World’s First Test of the VW Jetta TDI.” Now Edmunds InsideLine is at it again, this time lying about the Nissan 370Z. The article lead, which appears on the InsideLine home page, says “First Photos of the 2010 370Z Convertible.” Except that under the pictures, the caption reads: “This photo illustration offers an early look at the future Nissan 370Z convertible. (Photo illustration by Nick Wilcox).”

The phrases “photo” and “photo illustration” don’t mean the same thing. If they did, the Weekly World News would be unbelievably successful and Sarah Palin really would be holding that baby and gun in her bikini. And by the way, even if “photo” included “photo illustration,” Edmunds wouldn’t be first; Japanese car magazines have been photoshopping the 370Z for several years already.

Despite the five-week holiday Daimler said its German workers will get this winter, the firm is still going ahead with plans to build a €800 million factory in Hungary. The factory is, according to Reuters, meant for “compact cars,” though what they’d be I have no idea. Smart doesn’t need any more capacity (a previous attempt to expand the smart brand was a dismal failure). It’s not as though the expensive A- and B- Class Benzes are flying out of showrooms, either. The original plan: build four compact models at the Hungary plant, including an off-roader, cabrio, coupe, and small van. But that was in June, before everything went to hell. And Mercedes changes its product plans on a weekly basis, anyway. The bigger story is how much the Hungarian government is contributing to the deal, whether in the form of tax credit or just direct subsidies. Hungary’s economy has been in seriously deep trouble in the past six months, with the currency in freefall and interest rates at 11.5 percent in an attempt to help the currency. Just this weekend, the IMF scrambled to bail out the country (this was after the European Central Bank gave Hungary’s central bank an emergency €5 billion line of credit earlier this month). With all this in mind, Hungary’s officials are probably looking to the Mercedes factory as an economic blessing, and Mercedes is likely cautiously optimistic about the low value of Hungary’s currency.

All of them. Including the M3, M5, M6, and Alpina B7. That would be 0.9% financing.

Minimum credit score is tier one (701+). From 24 months to 60 months. The program has been going since October 1, but was not heavily publicized (outside of the Sunday newspaper ads that are usually credibility-free anyway). We’ll be eager to see what the October sales stats look like. I’d imagine someone at BMW HQ will be eager to see them, too.

I’m going to England tonight. Well, I leave tonight and arrive there on Friday. Hooray! A working vacation is still a vacation, right? Sort of, maybe. Meanwhile, I’m going to need wheels for at least a few days that I’m there (don’t fret though, I’m not maniacal enough to drive in London). While I’m working on a press car for myself, the big question is – if I end up renting something, what could it be? What will it be? It is, for me at least, the closest approximation to a kid in a candy store. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten emails from someone called “Reality.” And he tells me a number of alarming things. The first was “Don’t kill yourself, driving on the left and shifting with the wrong hand.” Well I knew that already, but thanks Mr. R. Second, he said “You know, the European Focus is just better than the American Focus. It’s not something amazing. Especially with a tiny engine.” Yes yes, I know that too. But it’ll still be different. But then Reality dropped the bomb “With your luck, Berkowitz, your rental car is going to be something that’s on sale in America.” Heaven forbid. I’ll keep you updated on this tremendously important story.

We just got the fairly obvious news that the Pontiac G8 will die on the vine. Fast forward thirty years. Pontiac cars will only be a historical name, like Lagonda, or Pierce-Arrow. Imagine though, the bitchin’ 1980s-2000s collection that a retro minded old codger could have in his garage:

1. G8 GT
2. GTO (2006)
3. Solstice GXP
4. Trans AM WS6 (2002, with 325 hp LS1 V8)
5. Aztek (for historical purposes, of course).
6. Fiero V6

It could be like all the other cars (like the G5) just never happened. As if.

Matthew McConaughey should make you feel badly about yourself. He’s a nice guy, albeit an idiot, with no actual acting “talent” to speak of. So he takes his millions of dollars and lives on the beach in Malibu in a custom Airstream trailer and does frat guy beach things all day – BBQ, goes running with his shirt off for the paparazzi, plays frisbee with his dog, and then goes inside to his brutally hot girlfriend, Camila Alves. Am I jealous? Of course. My life is pretty much identical, but my house hasn’t been featured in Architectural Digest ever since Mr. Levitt built it. And McConaughey’s Airstream trailer is in AD’s November issue. The article is mostly fluff, but focuses on how McConaughey enjoys cruising around the country in his Ford King Ranch with the Airstream in tow (F-150? F-250? AD doesn’t say). One of the article captions really sums up how much sense it all makes: “The thing about small spaces is that they’re relaxing,” says McConaughey. “You’re limited in your options.” He is now customizing two more Airstreams.”

Ouch. Normally we shoot to put up our podcasts midday, but wouldn’t you know it, I accidentally stepped on my official TTAC podcasting headset. Between that, and the fact that the car industry is in meltdown mode, we weren’t able to get to a podcast until 6PM. And then I got wrapped up trying to get an idea of the approximate number of Americans and Canadians that will be out of jobs if/when the Chrysler-GM merger actually happens. Since that’s like trying to count the number of lights while driving through the Lincoln Tunnel, I had to give up. And here we are. Have a good night, folks!

I’ll bet most folks are happy about their $2.99 gas. They might even like it enough that they forget that back in 2000 it was only $1.00 a gallon. Despite my continuing belief that the price of a gallon of regular in the U.S. is going to shake out between $5 and $10 in the next five years, the world of analysts and short-term economists seem to be of the mindset that lower fuel prices are at least semi-permanent. And that makes OPEC very nervous. Lower demand makes lower prices, that makes lower profits, and the result of that is fewer shiny exotic cars. The New York Times reports today that OPEC is working on strategies to put their monopolistic cartel to work for the good of the world their profits. While they would like to cut production levels, the problem (and this is always the problem with cartels) is the risk of cheating. If everyone else cuts production and prices go up, an individual member has an incentive to produce and sell more. Considering that many of the OPEC member states (and oil producing non-member states like Russia) depend on oil to balance their budgets, it’s hammer time for oil countries. Or, as the terrorist nation Iran’s oil minister said, “The era of cheap oil is finished.”

Yes, I know “Saved by Zero” is a song by The Fixx. I respect New Wave. But I don’t like how it tastes when Toyota crams it down my throat for my own good.

We’re actually planning a few meetups in 2009 for TTAC readers and writers, many of them right here in North America. But with Captain Mike’s upcoming work-related assignment to Germany – a mere one hour from the Nurburgring – we’re going to have a European adventure as well. I’m beginning the search for sponsors (who? uh…). In any case, it should make for a downright thrilling trip, including more than a few frightening rides in the ‘Ring taxi. Separate from driving, I envision copious beer drinking and regional sausages. We’ll be sure to give you plenty of warning ahead of time, should you be planning any business trips to Europe, or be sitting on a pile of frequewnt flyer miles, or actually be an EU resident yourself. I’ll bring the Porsche 911 Turbo, you bring the Nissan GT-R.

The mainstream media suffers from “opinion inertia.’ Once the press corps adopts a certain angle on a story, its superglue city, facts be damned. To wit: TTAC’s been slamming Chrysler for horrendous product quality, bizarre model choices, asinine marketing and a bloated, piss-poor dealer network since… ever. Meanwhile, our colleagues have been playing the underdog American automaker meme. Post Cerberus purchase, they’ve been ignoring Chrysler’s failed products and telltale gaffes, such as CEO Bob Nardelli’s infamous “operationally bankrupt” admission. But now that rumors of a GM – Chrysler merger have surfaced, the media’s woken up. And the fangs are out.

The Financial Times (FT) reports that car manufacturers’ finance arms are eligible for huge French and German bank loans approved in the past two weeks. While this isn’t a bailout per se, it does give the manufacturers’ credit operations access to some €40b worth of cash to make loans to shoppers. The FT claims that as much as 15 percent of European car manufacturer profits come from the financing divisions. Car sales in the UK and Spain are taking an old world battering, and while the loans are unlikely to affect lending in the U.S. (i.e. Mercedes will not be using the money to make loans to American buyers); this will be a major component affecting European sales and manufacturer profitability. The most frustrating part? You just know they’re going to make the money available overnight, while we’re still sitting and waiting to see what, if anything, companies like GMAC can actually get from the $700B bailout passed weeks ago. Question: is that a good thing or a bad thing?