You don’t have to be a poli sci major to figure-out that the German government wants the Obama administration to strong-arm GM into sell its ailing Opel division to a consortium of Canadians and Russians (Magna, Sberbank and GAZ). The fact that the Germans are talking to the Americans about the deal is proof enough that high-level pressure is the order of the day. In other words, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck doth protest too little. “Speaking at a press conference following the meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads from the Group of 20 largest economies, [Steinbrueck] said his impression is that the U.S. government will leave the decision about Opel with the General Motor’s board of directors,” CNNMoney reports. “And won’t exercise ‘massive influence.'” Just enough influence, then?
Yup, Honda’s a glutton for Facebook punishment. After pulling the previous page to remove literally hundreds of disses against HoMoCo’s new Crosstour, the brand’s webmasters have gone for the red, red whine. The new images on the new page show the red Crosstour featured on the company’s official website. Which seems to have changed precisely nothing about autoblogosphere’s opinion of the CUV’s ugly ass—I mean, “controversial” styling. “New pictures prove to be more horrible than the first,” Facebooker Lewis Desoto opines, re-opening the decidedly one-sided “debate” dogging the, uh, you know. Punctuation-challenged Terrence Lee says, “the new pictures just shows how uglier this car can get !” Ditto Honda’s ongoing PR debacle.
I’m not so sure if I’d add this humongous Anglo-German two-door to my fantasy garage. It’s just not . . . something enough. And a little too . . . you know. More to the point, a nice 1935 Auburn Boattail Special can be had for roughly the same money. I know, I know: at that level it’s not either or. Still, I’d rather go motoring in something with more pizazz or, alternatively, less likely to attract the wrong kind of attention (e.g., Mercedes CL65 AMG). You?
GM is taking decisive action to rectify safety issues stemming from the sale of roughly 200,000 Chevrolet Malibus, Cobalts and Impalas without “standard” side airbags. The cars in questions were sold to fleet buyers with the bags deleted, saving purchasers $145 per vehicle. They then found their way into the resale market, including GM-certified franchises, where they’ve been sold as side airbag-equipped. No more, from one end of the food chain to the other. “Brian Latouf, director of GM’s Global Structure & Safety Integration Center, said the company wouldn’t allow the airbags to be deleted from the list of features available when they are bought by fleet buyers,” reports Detroit News. “He also said that vehicles without side airbags are clearly marked in the owner’s manual.” As for the cars already out there, somewhere, GM is making moves to address labeling issues for used car buyers. . .
We haven’t been posting on all the twist and turns of this story and certainly not with the flair and insight of former TTACer and current Autoblogger Jonny Lieberman (nor his Knight Riding cohort Mr. Nunez). But the gist is simple enough: 1. Honda designs an ugly CUV. 2. Honda releases images of ugly CUV. 3. The internet explodes with surfers crying “Whoa, Dude! That CUV is UGLY!” 4. Honda’s Facebook page is inundated with posters informing the company of this opinion 5. Honda blames its own photographs, claiming the ugly CUV looks better in the flesh 6. Honda tries again, with photos of a red-colored example of their ugly CUV. 7. No one is convinced. The internet sniggers at Honda’s Old School PR efforts. 8. Honda removes the pictures from Facebook, clears off their entire wall and prevents new posts. 9. Honda leaves the “new” images on their main website under “future cars.” Talk about managing expectations. Or not.
AZ Central reports that the usual logic—the worse the economy the higher the crime rate—doesn’t apply to this current, uh, economic downturn. Especially when it comes to grand theft auto. “Automotive theft stands out as having decreased most sharply,” the e-paper reports. “Thefts are fallen by about a fifth. So far this year, 243 autos have been stolen in Peoria, down from 305 in the first half of 2008.” Obviously, there are LOTS of variables in this sort of thing: population trends, policing, etc. But at least one insurance biz guy reckons car thieves are losing the battle between genetics and anti-theft technology.
Frank Scafidi, a spokesman for the National Crime Insurance Bureau, said the decrease in auto thefts is consistent with national trends and signifies that the market for stolen cars is changing.
As newer cars become harder to steal, “fewer garden-variety knuckleheads” are going to be able to take them, Scafidi said.
Ford has announced that its 3.7-liter V6 will power the base (in the entry level sense of the word) Mustang for the 2011 model year. The Mustang Source reports that the mill will produce 315HP, which represents a 105 horsepower boost over the current V6-powered Mustang. That’s also 11 horsepower better than the Chevrolet Camaro V6, for those of you who think the term “Pony car wars” doesn’t sound like something you’d see on Cartoon Network. There’ll also be a 400 horsepower “Coyote” 5.0-liter V8 on offer, mated with a six-speed manual transmission, s’il vous plait. As for an EcoBoost (nee Twin Force) option, fuhgeddaboutit. Apparently, a 365HP EcoBoost powerplant wouldn’t leave enough marketing daylight between the base V6 and the Coyote-powered GT. One thing: Coyote, Road Runner, inevitable failure. Anyone else see a marketing problem here? Nope, didn’t think so. Carry on.
It’s been a while since I’ve written a General Motors Zombie Watch. Time keeps on slipping, slipping . . . into the future. Only when you’re dead, there is no future. You’re dead. Oh, I know: New GM’s got new plans for new cars with new advertising that will win new (old?) customers. And the new Board of Directors’ Chairman Ed Whitacre is busy threatening to fire New GM’s old (new?) execs if they don’t get their shit together. But they haven’t, as their farrago of product plans and the botched launch of the new Buick LaCrosse proves. In fact, the current crop of GM suits will be fired. And?
kbb.com presents a top ten automotive list that is to PR what plastic worms are to bass: completely contrived and intermittently irresistible. “Ten Great Cars for 10 Different Jobs” is about vague and non-threatening a compendium as I’ve ever encountered in this genre. And you can’t fault them for adding the word “Different” “Ten Great Cars for the Same Damn Job” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Oh look! There’s a Ford F-150! Quel surprise! Only this is the Raptor version for bounty hunters who don’t find their man inside a bar or roach-infested apartment, and want to tear the miscreant into pieces and eat him, presumably. “The kbb.com list is sure to provide thought-provoking transportation options for those in various lines of work.” Me, I’m only in one line of work: automotive truth telling. Well, that and comedy. And you’re in this with me, you bastards. So make the jump for five more ideas for career-appropriate whips. Correct us if we’re wrong. (As if.) As always, we welcome your suggestions.
I tell my kids, if you’re going to apologize for something, never use the word “if.” I’m sorry if I offended you” is not an apology. Audi of America Prez Johann De Nysschen is not, by nature, a word-mincing machine. Only now he is, ish, via Audi’s Facebook page.
An online report today, subsequently picked up by various other forums, left an unflattering sense of my feelings toward electric vehicles and the people who support their development. Let me clearly state that, in my opinion, electric vehicles will be part of the future transportation of society – but only if we go about it the right way. In fact, Audi is working on electric vehicles. I do not specifically recall using the term “car for idiots” during my informal conversation with the writer. It was certainly not my intention to leave the impression that I’m opposed to electrical vehicles, and if I was unclear on either of those points then I need to eat crow.
The “fun” starts at about 11:00 in, where the former Car and Driver Editor reveals that Ziff-Davis fired him for not apologizing to Blaupunkt for dissing their products. Throwing his trademark deference to the wind, Autoline host John McElroy then asks Davis (11:43) if “they canned your ass too, another time?” Which inspires David E. to continue his tirade, chronicling the birth of Automobile, launching a no-holds-barred attack (14:55) on his “protege” (and former welder) Jean Jennings. Davis paints her as a back-stabbing nutcase, and wishes her well (15:47): “I sometimes dream of a FedEx flight on its way to Memphis flying over Parma where she lives and a grand piano falling out of the airplane and whistling down through the air, this enormous object, and lands on her and makes the damnedest chord anybody has ever heard; this sound of music that has never been heard by the human ear. And the next morning all they can find . . . [are] some shards of wood and a grease spot and no other trace of Mrs. Jennings.” Apparently, Davis’ splenetic venting proves that Autoline is about “getting to the unvarnished truth.” Never seen an unvarnished piano.
Audi has finally put a price to their baby diesel: $29K. And the rest. So how will a thirty-thousand dollar oil-burning compact car fare in the American market? For Johann De Nysschen’s sake, better than the Chevy Volt. Of course, the 230 mpg (snigger) Volt isn’t on sale yet, while the 42 mpg (highway) A3 TDI will soon hit Audi showrooms across the length and breadth of this great, oil-importing nation. Which reminds me—as Audi constantly does—“the EPA calculated that if only one-third of the vehicles on American roads ran on clean diesel, the U.S. would use 1.5 million fewer barrels of oil each day.” So, let’s see . . . Wikipedia says there are 135,399,945 automobiles registered in the US. That means Audi would like to replace roughly 45,133,315 vehicles with clean diesels. With a little help from other automakers, presumably. Right?
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