The New York Times reports that a casualty of lower oil and gas prices: interest in funding renewable energy projects. Among the Times’ laundry list of programs hurting for money: Tesla (duh), corn ethanol (hooray), other biofuels, and wind and solar power. The financial troubles are the consequence of a pretty simple financial concept – that there’s only so much money to go around. And we hear there’s a credit crunch in progress. So with gas and oil coming down in price, renewable energy isn’t where opportunistic investors want to be risking their somewhat-limited resources. The depressing part of the story is this all-too-obvious observation from Times writer Clifford Kraus:

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Toyota’s announced that Canadians will no longer have to spend $30k to import a grey market Scion xB from The Land of the Free. Soon they can overpay for a Scion at their very own local Toyota dealer. Maybe. In 2010, Toyota will open Scion sub-stores at Toyota dealers in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Unfortunately, Toyota seems to be sticking with the “urban youth music snowboarder DJ myspace iPod tuner culture” marketing image, rather than the “people that don’t have a ton of money but want a practical, reliable, relatively fuel efficient Toyota.” The Scion that does do well with the youngins: the aging tC – which hopefully will be replaced by the time Scion launches in the Dominion. Overall, Scion should have good prospects for our neighbors to the north, where “hatchback” and “downmarket econbox” aren’t synonymous. While Toyota of Canada has nothing to say about whether Canada will get the forcoming iQ – heading to the stateside as a Scion – will come to Canada, you can bet your zimmer frame on it.

The big story in the media, and of course with TTAC at present is the GM-Chrysler merger. Or whatever you want to call it, as the transaction’s characteristics are reported differently with every day. We’re covering that, in all its ridiculous glory (or glorious ridiculousness) with the same “nothing but the truth – and the occasional pun” attitude you’ve come to expect from TTAC. But there’s another, albeit interlinked, story here: the utter failure of the media to report on GM-Chrysler with any meaningful scrutiny or candor. Whether it is the hypocrisy of the reporters or the lack of thoughtful commentary, this casts a shadow on the value of the information and opinions we read and hear, from the Detroit News to CNBC to CNN Money. So while our mantra is focus, focus, focus (with no hat tip to Ford), we’re focusing on the news at present: not just the message, but the messenger.

There are some cars that just haven’t been properly replaced. It might be because of safety and emissions laws; in other cases its because the manufacturer changed their focus (or went out of business). Me though, I would buy a brand new Mercedes W123 if they still made ’em. I just love the bulletproof build and the dictatorial image. What car would you get, price not being an object, right now if you could get your hands on a new one? (And no, picking random exotic cars from the past so that you can resell them at auction is not part of the game).

Click through for my favorite Nigerian scam. (Read More…)

It’s Friday and it’s the end of the week. And like any other week, we couldn’t have made it without you. While we don’t always have time (and occasionally forget) to put a note in the posts themselves, we do appreciate your tips, your links, and your story ideas. TTAC doesn’t work without people telling us what they want to read or think would make for a great article. Or just letting us know about some breaking news. I don’t have a list of folks to rattle off, but if you’ve sent something in, hear our thanks. Even if they don’t always make it to articles, we appreciate it.

Although the U.S. pickup truck market is suddenly a lot smaller, it’s not small. And while Ford is scrambling to make something, anything profitable in the car segment, the F-150 is still a large part of the reason why the company remains out of bankruptcy court. In fact, the Ford F-150 outsells all Ford cars combined. That’s a lot of pressure for a truck to carry on its frame, even with over 3000 lbs of payload capacity. And so, the 2009 F-150 is here, hoping to prove the value of the old British adage, if you’re in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging. Or at least shore-up the floor so you don’t sink into an abyss. Does the new F-150 have what it takes to at least keep Ford in the game?

This is about as scientific as the fifteenth-century Vatican, but I think 3.7 liter engines are cursed. Six vehicles come to mind, featuring five engines. Click through to see the gallery and my descriptions.

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Some two weeks ago I opined that Tesla, Carbon Motors, Fisker, and other startups might show the future of the auto industry. Small firms, smaller volume, lots of venture capital funding, and the sort of flexibility you’d assume to be inherent in a small operation. Now that I see Tesla’s current predicament, it makes me think that perhaps that flexibility will be utterly crucial to surviving more than one product cycle. Tesla is cutting back on employees (and shifting to their fourth executive in 12 months), presumably for financial reasons. In other words, they need more money, and at $100,000 a pop, sales of fifteen Tesla roadsters isn’t going to cover all the bills. While Tesla intended for the Roadster to be a break-even project, I can’t help but think that the media and consumer public’s ADD is going to hurt them. Since gas came down, somewhat, in price, I haven’t been seeing the panicked news stories about the man that rides a stray Lion to get to work everyday, braving the carnivor hunter’s back to save on fuel costs. Nor have I seen anything about how the Tesla is the future of the car. Whether Tesla’s fifteen minutes of fame has passed is a separate question: the more important one is whether having only fifteen minutes of fame means these small firms are going to sink afterwards.

This week, I went to Detroit on an all-expenses-paid junket extravaganza, where I drove the snot out of the new Ford F-150. What I took away from the experience, in addition to the F-150 (full review tomorrow) is twofold. First, Ford may have seriously lucked out on the 2009 F-150, because rather than focusing on peak horsepower, or acceleration, or size of wheels, or bling, or whatever else, it’s as though they’ve designed the truck pretty much directly for commercial users and heavy haulers. The people that actually need pickup trucks. Also known as “the only people that are going to continue buying pickup trucks in the forseeable future.” The F-150 performed extremely well in the proving grounds testing (Why wouldn’t it? Though I really liked the Chevy Silverado as well). Secondly, I’m not a fan of the Toyota Tundra. I drove it back to back with the Chevy Silverado, F-150, and Dodge Ram. The Tundra performed embarrassingly: TTAC has put in a call to Toyota to see if they want some kind of rebuttal.

The best part of my job: getting to drive, think, talk, and write about cars all the time. The worst: when someone asks me what my favorite car is. The answer is “all of them.” At this point, the person thinks I’m being a jerk, which I am, but doesn’t understand that car lunatics have a different favorite car every day. And often many favorite cars. Right now, I’m really liking the Jaguar XJ8, particularly because used ones are so reasonably priced. And I also am loving listening to Ferrari after Ferrari on YouTube. Is it a problem? Yes. Is it interfering with my work? Well, yes and no, for obvious reasons. Last week, I was really excited about the new Ford Fiesta, which with any luck I’ll be driving and reviewing later this month. Tomorrow it’ll be something else that I’m really interested in. It’s not my fault. It’s just that I love cars, even when I hate them (see: Lamborghini. see also: Toyota Camry).

Between last month’s Paris reveal of the SEAT Exeo, a lightly rebadged B7 Audi A4, and our recent review of the Volkswagen Routan, I began to ponder some of the worst, most nonsense rebadges in recent automotive history. Some were legally or contractually required, others were clearly the work of absynthe-fueled mercury-poisoned madmen. In the gallery below, see pictures and comments of my top nine.

You might need to seriously ask yourself whether you’re willing to buy a car from a dying GM. The Camaro pricing is that good. The LS model with a 300 horsepower V6 with a six speed manual transmission starts at $22,995. A six speed automatic is also available. The SS model with a 422 horsepower LS3 V8 and six speed manual transmission starts at $30,995. A six speed automatic is also available, with what GM calls the L99 engine, and 400 horsepower. Too bad GM didn’t have this car, oh, fifteen years ago when people would have bought it. Press release from GM follows after the jump…

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Last night, the New York Times “broke” the story that General Motors and Chrysler/Cerberus were discussing a merger. The report lacked only one crucial component: facts. As RF reported in his initial blog on the subject, the story unravels by paragraph two. We learn that the entire story is based on “two people close to the process.” While anonymous attribution is common new industry practice, a story without independent corroboration is a nothing more than rumor— especially when it defies common sense. General Motors’ assertion that they routinely talk to other manufacturers about collaborative efforts doesn’t count. But it does reveal the truth of the matter. [Continued]

I dig it. I reckon some folks won’t like the Civic-style dual cowl, but I appreciate the return of driver-oriented dashboards.
Picture is courtesy Speigel.de.

Most Americans don’t know this, but Volkswagen has too many brands. Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bugatti, Bentley, and Lamborghini. Bugatti, Bentley, and Lamborghini are in their own category. In the mainstream though, VW has four brands competing with each other throughout the European markets. They subsist somehow for three reasons. (1) While the bulk of Audi’s sales come from 4-cylinder A3s and A4s, they are a player in the luxury market. (2) Because of regional favoritism (i.e. the Spanish buy Seats because it was once a Spanish company). (3) Pricing and brand stigma. VWs are more expensive, but a respectable car brand. Seats are unusual outside of Spain and Italy, are priced cheaper than VWs, and tend toward weak interiors. Skodas are still the butt of jokes from when the company cranked out stereotypical Eastern European cars. All good? No. The model isn’t working. Spain’s economy, which has been seriously hurting ever since 1588 they went on the Euro, is getting slammed even worse right now. Sales across Europe are down, and Spain is taking it very hard. “I don’t think the Spanish market will recover, given everything that’s happening,” Seat President Erich Schmitt told Spain’s Expansion newspaper. While Automotive News Europe says VW has no plans to close or sell Seat – down 22% this year – that’s what they always say. Until they close or sell it. TTAC won’t be chronicling this story in close detail, but Seat is on European deathwatch.