Hey! What happened to TTAC’s invitation to the GM “Night on Bear Mountain” mass test drive? If it’s good enough for Autoblog and Jalopnik, it’s good enough for us. Of course, TTAC’s not in the tank for GM. We might do something impolite, like point out that the Saturn Vue 2 Mode Hybrid is an excellent example of everything that’s wrong with GM. (And that’s without driving it.) For one thing, product overlap. WITHIN SATURN. The Vue 2 [a kill] is the second hybrid system for the SUV, which will now sell alongside (in theory) the existing Saturn “light hybrid,” which was initially introduced as the Vue Green Line. It’s a model/technological distinction that will be completely lost on anyone even remotely resembling a potential customer. So, blissfully married and entirely hetrosexual Alex Nunez, who’s this thing for, then?
Posts By: Robert Farago
Ford truck marketing manager Doug Scott had a little chin wag with Automotive News [sub]. No surprise there, given that the Blue Oval Boyz have just unveiled the new F-150 (recently reviewed on TTAC by our own JB). Nor are Scott’s opening comments about Ford’s full-size pickup startling in any way, shape or manner. Improved access to the bedside (via steps), rear-hinged doors gone because nobody gave a flip about the old version’s flip-out doors, yada yada yada. And then Dougie launches a salvo at The General’s plans to introduce a gas – electric full-size pickup, after the dismal failure of its hybrid full-size SUVs. “It is a publicity stunt,” Doug says, firing the first barrel. “It is no different than what you are seeing with their large SUVs,” he clarifies, loosing the second chamber. Reload. “They are not selling any Tahoe and Yukon hybrids.” Bang. “It’s about something to advertise.” Bang. And now, the knife… “In our case, we chose to have a democratization of technology like EcoBoost. Get more fuel efficiencies out there in mass and volume to as many people as you can, rather than focus all this energy on a very limited application that isn’t going to be really appealing to many people.” So much for that, then.
Interesting strategy: tell Michigan voters you support the bailout (small “b”) but not THE BAILOUT (big ass “B”). Well, not yet. The position is a nuanced modification of Senator McCain’s previous flip-flop. Regular readers will recall that the presidential candidate was against any bailout to American automakers– before he decided to sacrifice his principles (whatever love is) to appeal to voters inside Motown’s battleground state. The AP [via The Detroit News] reports on Senator McCain’s Detroit dirty dancing on Meet The Press. “Republican presidential nominee John McCain declined Sunday to support an additional $15 billion in funding to help U.S. automakers weather a difficult economic climate but did not rule it out… ‘Let’s get the first $25 billion to them first,’ said McCain, adding that the government could ‘see how that works before we say we’re going to give you some more.'” Right. $25b in no to low-interest loans for “retooling” will save Ford, GM and Chrysler’s bacon. Yes Chrysler. Remember Chrysler? Anway, a refresher: “Obama has also said the loan program should to be doubled to provide $50 billion.” And get this: “The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research has estimated that General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC may need a $15 billion bailout to survive the nation’s financial crisis, which has led to sluggish sales and limited the availability of credit for auto loans.” I am astounded that the AP AND The Detroit News would let such an absurd statement go unchallenged. As they BOTH well know, GM is burning through $1b per month. Shame on them.
Forget End of Days. I reckon this is The Beginning of Speculation. The Sunday Times [UK] is pulling rank on the ranks of the autoblogosphere’s recent anonymous attribution afffliction, quoting “senior car-industry sources” for their “story” that FoMoCo is busy selling Volvo to BMW. “Sources close to Ford and BMW said yesterday that there had been preliminary talks between the two automotive giants, although that was denied by the companies. ‘No talks have taken place,’ said a BMW spokesman.” As the non-news spread through the Sunday internet, Ford felt obliged to quash the rumors. Speaking to the Associated Press, Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt said the American automaker wasn’t commenting on speculation about Volvo’s future. Later in the day, he commented, issuing a denial that the Ford was selling their cash-sucking Swedish unit. “To my knowledge, we are not in negotiations with anyone about the future of Volvo,” Hoyt almost clarified.
A TTAC reader writes: “I’d like to suggest a question for the QOTD: ‘What is the most elegant modern car on the market?’ If a person has a lot of money, and could afford any car they’d like, what could they buy that could show intelligence, money, class and taste? What is the modern timeless Talbot Lago? (On the off chance you do use this question, I’d rather not have my name mentioned.) Thanks!”
The LA Times puts a name to Tesla’s previously reported pain: “Tesla Chairman and Chief Executive Elon Musk said Friday that Tesla would cut as many as 87 staff and full-time contract workers, or 24% of the 363-person total. The company also will attempt to raise $25 million, rather than the $100 million it had been seeking.” Displaying the talent for fostering corporate culture for which Musk is becoming famous, Musk said only some of the firings were related to the previously blamed economic downturn/downsizing. “Although some reductions were related to the decision to delay the Model S sedan, Musk said many were based on job performance… ‘There needs to be an excellence throughout the organization,’ said Musk, the co-founder of PayPal Inc., who also heads SpaceX, a rocket company in Hawthorne. ‘Somebody who is a good employee at a typical organization wouldn’t cut it at Tesla.'” That’s crazy talk, as in megalomaniacal meltdown. “Musk added that Tesla would model its hiring process on the stringent approaches used by companies such as Google Inc. and Apple Inc. Musk said he would personally interview all finalists for jobs.” $100 to any of the Best and Brightest who can secure and report on a little job-related face time with the man.
Thoze of you who were wondering why Chevy would build both the Cobalt AND the new Cruze have stopped wondering by now. Last Thursday, Business Week speculated about cash conflagration-caused cuts to GM product development, including the possibile delay of the new new new Malibu and, perhaps, GM’s Next Small Thing, the Chevy Cruze. The typographically-challenged eGMCarTech.com now reports the Cruze delay as a done deal. I mean, a not done deal. “As times get worse, GM is doing all it can from laying off salaried workers, selling brands and closing plants. Latest reports from sources say that the much anticipated 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, which was supposed to be GM’s major opportunity to lure in fuel-efficient conscious customers, will be delayed almost a year. The 2011 Chevrolet Cruze was originally set to arrive in April of 2010 as a replacement to the Cobalt. Sources now say it has been pushed back to 2011.” What about that $500m investment in Lordstown for Cruze engine production? That’s SO two months ago. Hmmm. For a business operating on five-year product cycles, how bad must thingz be for the General to make such a quick– and public– about-face? Very bad indeed.
You see? That’s exactly the kind of trouble you get into when you rely entirely on unnamed sources, as Bloomberg, The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press, The Wall Street journal, The New York Time and Automotive News (to name them all) have for the Chrysler – GM merger story. How can we tell the difference between refutation, reporting and rumor when all we’ve got is smoke and mirrors? Answer: we can’t. “Chrysler LLC owner Cerberus Capital Management LP isn’t seeking to remove General Motors Corp. leaders including Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner in a merger of the automakers, a person familiar with the talks said,” Bloomberg “reports.” Hang on; is this one of the same “people familiar with the matter” quoted by The Wall Street journal who claimed Cerberus wanted to disappear Red Ink Rick? F-bomb knows. Meanwhile, wait! There’s less! “Cerberus also wants a ‘meaningful” stake, not a majority, in a combined company, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. It’s too early to say whether the New York-based buyout firm would have board representation, the person said.” Not to put too fine a point on it, the mainstream coverage of this story is like the Keystone Cops chasing the Three Stooges.
The Financial Times reports that Toyota’s suffered its first quarterly sales decline “since the months after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, underscoring that even Japan’s biggest carmaker will not escape the worldwide motor industry slump.” Uh, shouldn’t that be the world’s largest automaker? Anyway, ToMoCo global sales were yanked downwards by America’s carmageddon, falling by 4.3 per cent to 2.236m vehicles. As you might expect, the aforementioned worldwide collapse has hit Toyota’s share price hard. The AP reports that Japanese stockholders holding shares in export-heavy domestics are running for the exits, propelled by a soaring yen. “The U.S. dollar… plunged below 93 yen, a 13-year low, as traders reacted to dismal U.S. jobs data that spurred speculation the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates. The combination of the two — the yen’s surge and Sony’s revision — unnerved investors in Tokyo, who dumped shares of exporters like Toyota, Sony and Panasonic.” On the positive side, Toyota’s U.S. Prius production is sending jobs stateside. The Clarion Ledger reports that Mississippi is getting ready to welcome its sixth Prius-related supplier. “Toyota Tsusho America will open a joint venture steel processing facility on the Toyota site.”
We don’t print blog entries from anonymous sources. Unless we do. I received this email this AM and thought it was worth sharing with the group. I’ve contacted the author for his Christian (Muslim, whatever) name. It looks like we may have another TTAC blogger in the pipeline. Which is a lot less painful than it sounds. At least for me… “Alright, so I’m a dinosaur that reads print media…I find it’s easier to wipe Toaster Strudel grease off on a paper than my keyboard. Anyway, this morning I happened upon a local-yocal feel good story about a Spokane, WA company building electric cars. Now, as you will see, the cars look like the result of a Club Car & Yugo late-night hook-up. However, I was struck by two very odd things: First, the Tango is apparently very popular w/Ebay schmucks, Microsofties & even George Clooney (he’s so freakin’ dreamy) and second, it sells for the same price as a Tesla (well, if Tesla sold sold cars). Could it be that a Spokane car company is a trend setter?
We’ve identified NYT (and former Detroit News) scribe Bill Vlasic as a Motown cheerleader ever since ever. Bill’s not happy with that assessment. Can’t see it. Which is kind of strange. I mean, read this piece in The Times chronicling GM’s slide into bankruptcy and try and find one– one– instance where Vlasic takes CEO Rick Wagoner and Co. to task for running what was once the world’s largest automaker into the ground. It’s full of the usual weasel words and waffle. To wit: the headline. “Driven to the brink.” Not driving over the brink. Driven to the brink (by external events, of course). Vlasic and his partner lead their “story” with the termination of GM’s CXX SUV program (you hurt your what?). “‘It would have been very difficult in today’s environment to spend a couple of billion dollars to do a replacement [for the GMT900 SUVs],’ said Robert A. Lutz, G.M.’s vice chairman and head of product development. ‘Reality had set in.'” And when did Maximum Bob get this wake-up call? May. Of this year. There’s more, but those of you who easily offended by GM’s mismanagement and media stooges should avoid the jump.
With U.S. new car sales set to fall below the most pessimistic of pre-metldown prognostications (ours at 12m p.a.), is it any wonder that Fiat has decided not to brings Alfa Romeo brand stateside? Our resident historians will be glad to recount the absolute ass-kicking Alfa endured in The Land of the Free, but again, this is the worst of all possible times to try and get something started in the American market. Strike that. Just BEFORE the collapse would have been the worst time. This is an excellent time to NOT import mass market Italian cars stateside. And so they aren’t. “Alfa’s U.S. return was originally planned by {Fiat Group and Fiat Group Automobiles CEO Sergio] Marchionne for the final quarter of 2009, then later delayed to the 2010,” Automotive News [sub] reports “In pushing that back another year, Marchionne told analysts, because ‘it would be simply crazy investing for returning Alfa in such a depressed U.S. market.'” And so… “Alfa’s return to the United States will be delayed by a year to 2011.” [TTAC tip: don’t hold you breath.] China after the jump.
Soon after the GM – Chrysler mashup was first mooted, TTAC’s resident photochopper Andrei Avarvarii created some Frankensteinian vehicular combinations worthy of the merger. And where TTAC leads, others follow. Car and Driver attempted the self-same thing. And though pop-pom wielding Detroit News scribe Scott Burgess doesn’t have access to a chopmeister, he’s got a keyboard– and he’s not afraid to use it. The resulting Germanification suggestions for GM – Chrysler monikers and products has none of the panache of Frank Williams’ groundbreaking Yukatahoeburbelade (and others). Still, it’s one thing to say a fellow journalist lacks wit. It’s another to prove it (other than simply pointing at the rival’s work and snickering). And with your help, that’s just what we’ll do. C’mon B&B, show the DetN how it’s done. Here’s where SB’s set the bar…
“Chrysler Astrapen: Fuel economy of an Astra, space of an Aspen.
Chevy Maliburing: Redesign magic of the Malibu but at the cost of the Sebring.
Dodge SilveRamdo: Coil springs for all four wheels.
Jeep Wrangler: No sense in mucking this vehicle up.
Cadillac CTS: Or this one.
Chevy Corvettenger: Buzz of the Challenger, performance of the Corvette.
Saturn Tracadia: Does GMChrysler really need a Chevy, Saturn and GMC large crossover?
Journey DTS: A five passenger crossover that takes you to the airport.
Jeep Commandblazer: Build one and then stop.
Chrysler Volt and Country: An electric minivan would make these transportation boxes trendy again.”
Dear Colleagues,
Yesterday, Consumer Reports announced results from its 2008 Annual Auto Reliability Survey. Subscribers to Consumer Reports are surveyed each year about the vehicles in their households. Predicted reliability for new models is based on the previous three model years for the same model.
This year Chrysler LLC vehicles trailed the industry average and dropped in ranking when compared with last year’s study. The decline in our ratings is based on the results for 2008 model year vehicles that were built about one year ago.
Based on our aggressive focus on warranty claim rate reduction, we know that the cars we are building today have a much higher standard of overall quality. Having said that, due to the three-year window, Consumer Reports ratings are slow to change.
The results tell us a few important things about our approach to quality over the last few years:
* Our overall reliability is below industry average.
* We do have some vehicles that scored above average for reliability.
* We have a corporate-wide commitment to quality that is well on its way and essential to get Chrysler back on the path to sustainability and profitability.
Summary of Results
Predicted reliability is Consumer Reports’ forecast of how well models currently on sale are likely to perform. The Chrysler brand is ranked 32 out of 34 brands and dropped 13 positions compared with the 2007 rankings. Dodge ranked 30 out of 34 and dropped five positions. Jeep ranked 28 out of 34, which is the same as last year.
There were a couple of highlights in the Chrysler results. The Dodge Caliber and Jeep Patriot were ranked above industry average and were considered the best models of the company’s brands.
Clearly, we are not satisfied with our overall results and continue to work aggressively in new ways to improve every aspect of customer satisfaction as we are committed to deliver products that meet consumers’ needs. Since the vehicles in this survey were built, a tremendous amount has been accomplished. We have formed 18 new, cross-functional teams to correct quality problems by vehicle system. Our Customer Satisfaction Teams (CST) are comprised of more than 250 people who have helped reduce quality issues since January. We are continuously measuring our progress and improving the way we work to accelerate our improvement.
In addition to the CSTs, the development processes and testing procedures put into place nearly five years ago have helped with the high-quality launch of the 2009 Dodge Ram. For example, before the 2009 Dodge Ram went on sale, nearly 6.5 million customer-equivalent miles were logged by Dodge truck engineers. The 2009 Ram went through more than 200 hours of wind noise and aerodynamic evaluations, and engineers conducted approximately 40,000 hours of full-scale vehicle and system testing for durability and reliability of the vehicle.
While we expect our company-wide quality initiatives to be successful, we will continue our focus on the needs of our current customers and the priorities of those consumers who are considering future vehicle purchases. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to quality improvement. With all of us having the same focus of “Customer First” and “Quality … Period,” we will continue to accelerate our commitment to quality and strive to meet the needs of our customers.
Sincerely,
Doug Betts
Vice President and Chief Customer Officer
[thanks to you know who you are]
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