“We have a model that is buy, fix and hold,” Timothy Price, managing director of Cerberus, told the Financial Times last Thursday. “It is not a problem for us to have a 10-year holding period.” Riiiiiight. The FT reckons "Chrysler was forecast to lose $1.6bn last year following a $1.4bn loss in 2006." This year's sales are a 9mm slug to Chrysler's chest. With no immediate or even medium-term prospect of undigging that hole, and ChryCo banking a $2b loan, TTAC sources have reiterated their belief that the company-wide summer vacation signals the end. The Canadian Press reports that Chrysler "told workers in a memo on Wednesday that the Toledo North Assembly Plant, which makes the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro midsize SUVs, will be shut down for seven weeks from July 7 through the week of Aug. 18 due to sagging sales. The Newark, Del., Assembly Plant, which makes the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs, was shut down starting Monday for five weeks, with workers scheduled to return Aug. 4, and the Warren truck plant, which makes the Dodge Ram pickup, will close for five weeks in late June and July." Normally, these are one to two week breaks. This time, the rumor mill insists, they will be permanent. [NB: the August third "hard stop" represents the last day Cerberus can sue Daimler for false conveyance.]

Automotive News [AN] reports that the Wall Street Journal has got a hold of a J.D. Power report on June's sales stats. As you can see above, it ain't pretty. In fact, it's ugly as Hell. If J.D.'s mob are even remotely accurate, the U.S. market is undergoing a contraction violent enough to make a mother of five think twice. "J.D. Power and Associates is predicting the June seasonally adjusted annual sales rate will plunge to 12.5 million vehicles, down from 16.3 million last June. That is far below what other analysts have projected for the month's sales." Especially GM, which predicted (at last count) 14m new vehicle sales for the year. J.D. Power expects Toyota's sales to tank by 6.6 percent. "That would give it a market share of 18.7 percent, near GM's predicted 19.2 percent share." Yes, well, there is no way GM can sustain itself at a 19.2 percent market share of 12.5m vehicles. Chrysler? Again, I reckon their company-wide summer break will be terminal. Meanwhile, the real numbers will be released on Tuesday, and TTAC will be there. 

To bring you up-to-speed (so to speak) on Norway's homegrown EV maker: "In 1999, Think [was] bought by the Yankee giant Ford Motor Co.," LA Times writer Dan Neil relates. "which was scrambling at the time to comply with California's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, essentially requiring automakers to build fleets of electric vehicles. Ford renamed the company Think Nordic and began a complete redesign of the car. When, in 2003, the American automakers succeeded in modifying California's mandate, Detroit's flirtation with electronic vehicles ended. General Motors Corp. famously killed the EV1 program, and Ford sold Think to a Swiss electronics firm." So Dan flew over to Aurskog to have think about the recently resurrected Think (and avoid using the word "think" until the summation). Once again, range. "Now, after several course corrections that added perhaps 20Still the Think City — a 2,449-pound runabout with plastic body panels and an official range of 112 miles on full charge — hums along." AND [allegedly] meets federal crash and safety standards, thanks to FoMoCo development. While Think has yet to think-up a suitable anything plan for the U.S. market, Dan thinks Think proves that EVs are viable. I think. "Is a safe, practical electric car possible? The answer seems to be yes." 

Presuming, of course, you're reading this in North America, rather than, say, New Zealand. NZ's Otago Daily Times claims to be surprised (surprised I tell you) by the new Euro-Accord station wagon. "Its arrival comes as part of this month's rollout of an all-new Accord Euro, and completes a freshening of the Accord range that started when a new iteration of the larger, softer V6 was introduced earlier in the year." Not only was scribe David Thompson caught unawares by the Accord wagon, but his efforts to put the wagon through its paces were thwarted. "My plan to preview the new Accord Euro with an extended drive in the upper South Island was thwarted when fog disrupted early flights out of Dunedin at the start of last week. By way of partial compensation, I managed a short drive around Dunedin in one of the first new Accord Euro sedans to arrive here." And Davey was… unsurprised! "Not surprisingly, the car I sampled still felt a little tight mechanically." What exactly does that mean? Your imagination will have to fill in the blanks. Meanwhile, should Honda build an Accord wagon stateside?

This story isn't earth shattering, but I want to see if Autoblog can resist dogging us. Beer, ethanol, politicians, FlexFuel vehicles, har-har. From our perspective, the fact that Coors brewery will supply the Colorado democratic hoe-down's 450 vehicles with ethanol creates cognititive dissonance on a couple of levels. For one thing, the Coors family are (were?) known for being right of Attila the Hun. The company's been accused of being anti-labor, pro-terrorist, racist, anti-gay, anti-women, pro-Nazi sympathizers and anti-environment. Why would the DNC would want to cozy-up with Coors? It puts the party's support for ethanol in peril. Which brings us to point number two: why would the democrats NOT choose an ethanol supplier from the corn belt? You know, corn ethanol instead of wheat, barley and hops ethanol? Not only does beer-based ethanol open them up to all sorts of infantile headlines (AB?), it also misses a key opportunity to pander to Barack's pals in Big Corn. Sure, they'd have to truck it in, which would make the supply hideously carbon positive, but we're the only ones keeping track of that action. Speaking to 9News, Andrew Ballard, the director of transportation for the DNC, has a simple answer to all this. "Hey, I'm always up for free gas, especially with prices being what they are today." 

Whatever else you can say about White House hopeful John McCain– and you're going to say lots– the guy's got a set. Followers of our E85 coverage will recall that McCain was the only candidate to come out against ethanol-related subsidies for corn farmers before the Iowa primary. While in Iowa. Yesterday, the Arizona senator toured Lordstown (home of "high mileage Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 economy cars"), and then came out against a federal 911 for any of Detroit's ailing automakers. Speaking at a town hall meeting, McCain was all about putting government dollars into "research" into alt propulsion (a $300m prize for anyone who can guess how much money he'd send Motown's way). But a bailout? Automotive News [sub] provides the money shot: "A bailout, I don't think works." In fact, The Detroit News quotes McCain's antipathy to bailouts in general. "Frankly I just don't see a scenario where the federal government would come in and bail out any industry in America today." Over to you, Barack.

Credit Justin Berkowitz. On a recent podcast, Justin chastised Ford President Mark Fields for begging for bucks for hybrid batteries. "Stupid schmuck," Justin said [paraphrasing]. "Ford should concentrate on getting small cars like the Focus and the Fiesta to market as soon as possible." And now Bloomberg reports that FoMoCo is committing itself to NOT developing a plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV). Ted Miller, Ford's senior manager of energy storage, said Ford would not take an "overly aggressive approach" [as opposed to a conservatively aggressive approach] to introducing plug-ins. That would be "akin to a Hail Mary." And that's bad. "A Hail Mary means that we're probably going to have to neglect a lot of other things." In other words, Ford can't afford to chase rainbows. Despite the common sense, Bloomie Scribe Greg Bensinger feels compelled to warn his readers that Ford's non-tack might leave the automaker high and dry when GM or Toyota introduce a massively popular PHEV. See? Now that's funny! Meanwhile, Blue Oval Boy Said Deep revealed there'll be a hybrid Mercury Milan and Ford Fusion in Ford showrooms by year's end, for a total of four gas – electric models. A new-ish Mercury! More Jill Wagner ads! Rejoice!

Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan wants the world to know that her employer isn't going to file for bankruptcy. "This rumor is false and without merit whatsoever." Rumor? More like thoughtful  analysis, after ChryCo drew down a $2b line of credit ($1.5b from 20 percent owner Daimler and $500m from 80 percent private equity owners Cerberus). This a couple of weeks before their company-wide "summer vacation." And Fitch Ratings dropped the ailing American automaker to B- with a negative outlook (more bad juju to come). Meanwhile, it was deja vu all over again for former Chrysler rescuer Lee Iaccoca. Lee addressed the troops today, bringing them a message of hope from an earlier, equally fraught time. "Automobiles in America are still a vital business," he said, seated on a stage next to current chairman Bob Nardelli. "We'll live through it. Don't panic. Things are going to be OK." According to The International Herald Tribune , Nardelli gave Iaccoca ironic props. ""Thanks to Lee, we're here today," Nardelli said. As for tomorrow…

Back when we started the TTAC news blog, I posted an item about the Maine DMV issuing drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. The site took a real beating from our proto-Best and Brightest for entering the realm of partisan politics. Frank Williams and I paused, thought about it, and pressed ahead. As long as a post had something to do with cars, we considered it fair game. Still do. And I'm glad we did. In the last week alone, I've read (and enjoyed) dozens of passionate discussions about politics, religion, free speech, foreign policy, economics, energy policy, international trade, sexual morality and much more. ALL of it car-related. All of it respectful. That's no small point. Although I've banned some 300+ commentators from this site and warned hundreds more, I have only deleted two commentaires flambé in the last 14 days. Clearly, we've reached a tipping point. We've succeeded in creating a safe place for vigorous, car-related debate. As this long hot summer continues, as the U.S. car industry undergoes paroxysms of change, I commend our Best and Brightest for keeping it real, keeping it civil and keeping us– all of us– entertained. Thanks.

[As always, please report objectionable comments to robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com.]

First, this was an easy call. Commodity costs have jumped significantly in the last year, eating into Toyota's– and everyone else's– profits. Second, as the new world leader, ToMoCo is best positioned to pass on those costs. Quoted by Automotive News [sub] CEO Carlos Ghosn admitted as much. "It's very, very difficult to move in a market without somehow the leader of the market (making a) move." Third, you gotta read between the lines here. "Our basic principle is to continue to work on cost reductions within the company first," said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco. "But we won't be able to avoid thinking about price hikes in the future considering a recent jump in raw materials costs." How… inscrutable. As I reported in General Motors Death Watch 182, here's real deal: Toyota wants to see what happens to the other guys– specifically GM– before upping its profits. "We'll make a final decision after evaluating April-June sales and production costs," a "top Toyota official" told The Nikkei business daily. 

Can that be right? The last time we checked it was $16b. If Ford's tearing through $20b though to the end of '09, what do you think GM's conflagration looks like? The $1b per month stat may be an underestimate… Anyway, this terrifying tidbit re: Ford's bank balance was buried at the bottom of a Fortune article [via CNNMoney] by Alex Taylor III. The once and future former Detroit cheerleader's speculating about whether there's a Ford Motor Company in investor Kirk Kerkorian's future– after Captain Kirk and FoMoCo CEO Big Al Mulally's sit down in Sin City. And then Taylor drops the bomb. "On their flight back home, Mulally must have wondered whether he simply dodged the first bullet. Kerkorian never remains on the sidelines after buying in and the only question about his greater involvement in Ford seems to be when he will choose to make his move. He has offered to invest more capital in the automaker, a potentially welcome move, since Ford is expected to burn through nearly $20 billion in cash by the end of 2009. But like any investor, Kerkorian would not be expected to hand over his money without some strings attached." Ya think? On the other hand, maybe Kirk's just waiting for a Chrysler/GM C11 dead cat bounce before cashing-in his chips. 

Earlier today, GM CEO Rick Wagoner told the world that the automaker has “adequate liquidity” until the end of the year. So I guess no one believed him the first time. Ipso facto. Wagoner’s reassurance came on the same day GM’s stock price sank to a forty-year low. The same day Goldman Sachs recommended that investors run for the hills. No surprise, then, that Wagoner felt compelled to go beyond his previous “we’re good” guarantee. "We have a lot of options to fund beyond that," Wagoner soothed. Unless they don’t. In which case, it’s fork sticking time.

TTAC has finally broken through the 600k unique visitors per month barrier again (606,569 as of today). Our page views are also looking healthy: 2,018,749 per month. And visitors are spending an average of 4:58 hereabouts. This is a most gratifying result– especially after the huge dip incurred during our most recent site instability issues (a.k.a. daily crashes). My thanks to the technical team for sorting that shit out, and, of course, to TTAC's ME and writers for slogging away through thick and thin. With a bit of luck and the wind in the right direction, we'll keep building from here. (We might even have a photo gallery before Christmas.) At the moment, we're still ironing-out a few kinks. Your patience is most appreciated. And it may be required again; the prospect of our switch to the new WordPress platform leaves me as nervous as a Gloucester teen during her first pregnancy test. High five! Anyway, we've had a nice, slow, steady growth of new registrations lately. So I want to welcome the newbies to TTAC. You couldn't have come at a better time (said the actress to the Bishop). It's gonna be a wild time in the industry for the forseable future. I'm honored to share it with you. Thanks.

Fresh from their closed door meeting– which included Ford CEO Alan Mulally– presidential hopeful Barack Obama and GM CEO Rick Wagoner took the stage at Carnegie Mellon University to discuss federal handouts. As reported by The Detroit News, Barack set 'em up. "How do we shape our energy future in a way that allows GM to remain competitive, keeps some of the best workers in the world on their jobs [some?] and generates profits for the company and shareholders?" GM's jeffe knocked 'em down. "Wagoner sounded a note of optimism," the DeN notes. "Noting GM's plan to introduce the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt by 2010 and more advanced research on hydrogen fuel-cells. But he said the researchers developing batteries for hybrids and taking hydrogen power from the lab to the highway need federal research money. And he asked for government help to offset the high costs of newer technologies for consumers — aid that traditionally has come in the form of tax credits." "We need to provide some support to make sure these new technologies are affordable to consumers," Wagoner said. Anything else? "Wagoner suggested that the carmakers' 'relatively weak balance sheets' make it difficult for them to make the large capital investments needed to shift production lines to new vehicles." So that "we" is "we the people." As in you. And your tax dollars. To GM. To pay for them to make better cars. In case you hadn't figured that out.