O.K., after we recorded this daily podcast, Jonny Lieberman and I figured-out who's who in terms of brand positioning in the U.S. market these days– if only to make Matt Hardigree jealous. (Pay no attention to my branding statement in the actual 'cast.) We reckon… Lexus is the new Mercedes. BMW is the new Audi. Audi is the new BMW. Mazda is the new Honda. Hyundai is the new Ford. VW is the old Hyundai. Kia is the new Mercury. Toyota is the new GM. Chrysler is the new Studebaker. As for the rest, I need one. Feel free to complete the picture, argue the points or just listen to us schmooze.

Ford PR is blooming all over! On the same day that The Detroit News declares that "Ford's recovery gaining traction," page one of The Wall Street Journal claims "Ford Eyes More Cuts As Recovery Advances." Readers of both pieces will find plenty of reasons to be cheerful: cultural change! lower labor cost (eventually)! common components! reduced development time! positive operating cash flow! less brands! more filling! So… who wants to talk about Ford's U.S. market share? Mr. Hoffman? Mr. Spector? Do we have to do EVERYTHING around here? FoMoCo's market share dropped from 15.1 percent at the end of 2006, to 14.2 percent at the end of 2007, to 13 percent this April. Big deal. "I don't care what market-share level you are," Mr. Mulally told the Journal. The goal is to "get back to profitability." Oh, and the New York paper says "According to people close to Mr. Mulally, he is looking at selling Volvo despite Ford's repeated statements that it intends to hang on to the brand. Similarly, he hopes to shutter the ailing Mercury brand." Hopes and dreams. Drive one!

While we await GM's next Next Big Thing, one of The General's generals is touting one of its last next big things: the new Chevrolet Malibu. Speaking to the Detroit Free Press, Chevy Chief Ed Peper revealed that "38% of Malibu buyers are trading in a non-GM vehicle, another key goal, and that the Camry is the car most frequently traded in." So, what time period are we talking about? Since the new 'Bu debuted? Last month? Quarter? Not specified. If Ed's talking about March, 38 percent of 15,082 total sales equals 5731 Camry defectors. During that same month, Toyota sold 40,487 Camrys. Oh, are those stats for ALL Malibu sales– including fleets– or just retail? Not specified. But hey! The International Tribune reports that GM's new six-speed gearbox has finally made it to the four-cylinder Malibu. What's more, it bumps highway mpgs by two, beating Camry and Accord by one (and equaling the Malibu Hybrid's highway rating). Unfortunately, the new 'Bu's new box is restricted (until next year) to the $27,745 LTZ trim level– $7500 more than the four-speed base 'Bu. Or $7975 more than the base, five-speed Camry. We now return you to your regular cheerleading.

Did you know that Martha Stewart has a horse farm in Connecticut? Well, duh. You can't get any WASPier than Martha Stewart, and a wealthy WASP without a Connecticut horse farm is like a Detroit executive without a Gulfstream. To her credit, Suzy Homemaker on Steroids takes that old "I had a farm in the Constitution State" thing to the next level. According to Vanity Fair, the animals inhabiting Stewart's antebellum mansion equivalent are all black. Goats, sheep, dogs, cats, horses– all black, all the time. No really. Get this: because black horses' coats can turn auburn in the summer sun, Princess Tippy Toes II has instructed her horse people (as opposed to horsey people) to keep the equines in their stables until dark. Now that's something with which this OCD automotive website editor can identify. So when I saw Martha Stewart vintage chardonnay at the package store (booze shop to you non-New Englanders), I just had to quaff. It was/is immaculate. And bland. Boring. As featureless as a base Chevrolet Aveo. More specifically (if equally automotively), Martha's tipple reminded me of Toyota, Lexus and Scion. Which got me thinking. If Detroit has anything left to add to America's automotive scene, it's soul. The Chrysler 300C had soul. The Ford GT had soul. Other than that, what? Mustang? Nitro? Malibu? And if American soul isn't a gas-guzzling V8, as it can no longer be, what it it? And while you're contemplating that conundrum, Justin and I discuss the day's car news. 

Here being China. We being GM. The speaker being GM CEO Rick Wagoner. And yet… Automotive News reports that The General is deploying Ye Olde "A Car for Every Purse and Purpose" strategy developed by Alfred P. Sloan– and then annihilated by every cash-grabbing, corner-cutting CEO since, sending the former world's largest automaker sliding towards bankruptcy. Never mind; it was implementation that killed the golden goose. "The China market also gives it a rare chance to try to repeat the business past with a happier ending for investors… GM introduced Chevy to China just three years ago after concluding its Buick brand was over-extended by a product line-up that had saddled it with everything from a minivan marketed as a kind of executive taxi to a cheaper hatchback. 'We could see Buick was being stretched,' [GM's head of Asian operations Nick] Reilly said." Uh, hello? Buick still sells the same product line-up in China as before. They've simply added Chevy (i.e. rebadged Daewoos). Oh, and Cadillac's in the People's Republic as well. What are the chances GM will show the same branding discipline in China that they've shown in the U.S.? And if it's good enough for China… 

Our spies tell us that the 911 is finally slated to receive the killer app: a sublime dual-sequential gearbox (DSG) or similar (don't ask). The paddle-shifted Porsche should hit dealer showrooms by the end of the summer. [The delay's due to horsepower and installation issues.] From there, the world's best paddle shifter will trickle down into its rightful place on planet Earth: the Boxster/Cayman. And upwards onto the Cayenne (the mind boggles). And over to the forthcoming Panamera (due in '09 as a '10). And all Audis. Meanwhile, the 911 gets all the e-toys it lacks: Bluetooth, touch screen (death to Chicklet buttons!) and iPod integration. It remains to be seen whether the refreshed 911 will get a displacement bump or find a few more hp through the usual Stuttgartian black magic. And whether the 911's stick-intensive clientele (60% plus) will abandon their purist predilictions for paddles. As anyone who's driven the DSG GTI will tell you, especially a TTAC writer who owns one and lets his designated girlfriend drive it after a couple of few bourbons, there's really only one good reason not to make the switch: most car thieves can't drive stick. 

That's provided Senator Clinton gets elected president. No, no. Just kidding. (I think). According to the Detroit News, "The U.S. Transportation Department today will propose a sweeping increase in fuel economy standards, requiring passenger cars to average 35.7 miles per gallon and light trucks 28.6 mpg by 2015." That's average folks. So for every 14mpg non-hybrid Escalade (should such things exist) that GM sells (should such a thing exist), they'll have to sell a light truck that achieves 42.2mpg. Maybe. But first, the hype. "Transportation Secretary Mary Peters will unveil the proposed regulation at an Earth Day event in McLean, Va., at a Federal Highway Research facility. Peters will make the announcement against a backdrop of vehicles from the large automakers, including Detroit's Big Three. A source who saw her prepared remarks said Peters plans to call the proposal 'ambitious but achievable.'" So, a nice photo op and some props for a lame duck Prez, then. But here's the real deal: "The proposal also reforms the way fuel economy numbers are set for passenger cars. Instead of one overall number, the proposal sets a series of requirements based on the size, or attributes of the car. It's not clear how the attributes will be defined or how the system will differ from a similar reform of light truck fuel rules in 2006." 

"Peak Oil"– the theory that the planet is in imminent danger of running out of oil– is not, as yet, a mainstream media shibboleth. But God knows they're flirting with the idea. After all, it jibes nicely with the dare-I-say-it liberal idea that American is an arrogant gas/oil hog whose energy/foreign policy chickens are coming home to roost. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman provides an excellent analysis of the Peak Oil perspective, outlining the three possibilities: nonsense (it's speculation), maybe (it's the market catching-up with growing worldwide demand) and yes (we're fucked). Krugman's eminently sensible argument takes a swing to the left when he cites billionaire political activist George Soros (of all people) for the speculation theory. From there, it's a short trip to yup, we're screwed, and, by implication, still screwing others. "Rich countries will face steady pressure on their economies from rising resource prices, making it harder to raise their standard of living. And some poor countries will find themselves living dangerously close to the edge — or over it. Don’t look now, but the good times may have just stopped rolling." Damn! That sucks. 

Not that you'd know it from reading Jamie Lareau's lead in Automotive News [sub]: "As General Motors works on its corporate turnaround, a smaller version is under way at its Saturn brand." To use a phrase popular back when Saturn was GM's import fighter (as opposed to its import provider), gag me with a spoon. So how does Lareau justify his faith in Saturn's future? Not very well. "Customers have yet to arrive in a huge numbers. Through March, Saturn's U.S. sales totaled 48,306 units, down 15.3 percent from 2007." Ain't that the truth. Apparently it's not the whole truth; Lareau feels obliged to dredge-up a two-month old quote from GM CEO Rick Wagoner re: Saturn's recovery: 'We knew what we were doing, which is to change the profile of the kinds of products that we sell at Saturn from basically low-priced cars to cars that compete on the basis of being great cars, European influence, et cetera. It's fair to say that's not an easy assignment.'" Et cetera? Anyway, is it also fair to say Saturn's failed, considering the brand's shot its proverbial new product wad and still managed to under-perform a declining U.S. new car market? Of course not. Lareau gives the last word to Saturn's recently-snubbed brand manager Jill Lajdziak. "There's no question we have to continue to build the awareness of our new products. That doesn't happen overnight. You don't just walk into a segment. You have to earn your way into the segment." 

Automotive News [sub] reports that the growing paucity of parts from American Axle has "forced General Motors to eliminate a shift today at its auto assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario. GM also said it slowed production of four-speed transmissions in Ypsilanti Township, Mich." The obvious question: who cares? Aside from no one in the first instance (LaCrosse) and fleet buyers in the second (Impala). OK, that's a bit harsh (Mikey). But the fact that the slowdown/shutdowns caused by the eight-week old United Auto Workers' (UAW) strike at American Axle hasn't got GM execs in a lather is either a condemnation of the affected products' appeal or management acumen, or both. Anyway, for those of you keeping score, the AA strike has now impacted 32 GM factories. And then there's the unresolved UAW strike at Lansing Delta (Enclave, Outlook, Acadia) and the looming strike at Fairfax (Malibu). What was that about bang vs. whimper?

Is Indiana's $20k per station taxpayer E85 conversion payout proving popular with pump jockeys? “The phone has been ringing off the hook," reports Cary Aubrey, program manager for Bioenergy Development at Indiana State Department of Agriculture. Considering that E85 conversion costs ten times that amount, and doesn't exactly do the honey fly thing with consumers, what's with the telephonic deluge? Our friends at Ethanol Producer magazine reveal that the subsidy is going to… government agencies. “It used to be stated that only public fueling sites could take effect of this opportunity,” Aubrey said. “Now it’s been opened also to what we consider local units, which would be towns, cities, counties, or township fleets.”  But wait, that's not all (as if you thought it was)! "Consumers" at these sites receive an 18-cent sales tax deduction on every gallon of E85 sold. As they have done since July 2007. Do these flex-fuelers know the shell game going on? Do they Hell. “I think the soccer moms have figured out ’hey, I’m driving a flex-fuel vehicle,'" Aubrey obfuscates. "'I can go over here and fuel and its 50-60-70 cents cheaper.’” Not to mention E85's decreased mileage. Literally.

As discussed in the last General Motors Death Watch, GM is reorganizing into four divisions: Bugmontiac (Buick, GMC, Pontiac), Summilac (Saab, Hummer, Cadillac), Chevy and Saturn. Automotive News [sub] reports that the internal realignment has begun. Scorecards ready? "The [new] channel heads report to Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing. Meanwhile, GM is eliminating much of GM's central sales organization. When Brent Dewar, North America vice president of field sales, service and parts, moves to become marketing chief of GM Europe, that position won't be filled. Regional sales manager jobs will be eliminated, with regional sales staff reporting to yet-to-be-named sales managers for the channels. Those jobs likely will be in Detroit. That gives added power to channel heads, three of whom also become vice presidents of GM North America: Peper, Docherty and McNabb." Hey! No VP (with jet) for Saturn? "Marketing chief LaNeve says that is because Saturn is a smaller-volume channel than the others." Just what GM needs right now: a bureaucratic power struggle. As TTAC commentator Robert Schwartz said, "Deck chairs. Titanic."

Inside baseball-types will recall that erstwhile automotive magnate Malcolm Bricklin's dreams of importing a Chinese-built Chery car into the American market hit the rocks back in December '05. Into the breach (dear Horatio) rushed Chrysler. Last year, the American and Chinese automakers signed an agreement to produce an economy car for U.S. Dodge dealers and world markets. And now… nada. According to the AP , ChryCo's Chief of Asian Ops admits that a Chinese-made U.S. import is "not ready for the U.S. market." How not ready? "We have no progress to report," Phil Murtaugh told reporters at the Beijing auto show. "But we really are satisfied with those discussions." Discussions that lead nowhere being a good thing? Sure! "I don't think we're too far away," Murtagh assured skeptics concerned with the theoretical car's price, safety, performance, quality, reliability, ability to meet U.S. federal regulations and profitability. "But neither one of us are ready to say 'Let's go' yet..'" 

"We've just got to get behind the doors and get these things resolved, which I'm sure we can do." So what is Rick Wagoner waiting for? God knows. But not Automotive News, which is happy to report (without further questioning) GM's Beancounter-in-Chief's belief that his back room boys can resolve the ongoing strike at American Axle, currently idling some 30 GM manufacturing facliities. And the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike over two-tier wages at GM's Delta Township factory. And, while they're at it, the possibility of a UAW strike at Fairfax, Kansas; the plant that makes the Chevrolet Malibu. And, at the same time, figure-out the mess at bankrupt parts supplier (and former GM division) Delphi. "Wagoner also said the work on Delphi's restructuring since it entered bankruptcy in 2005 provided 'a good base' for a revised exit financing plan. 'I hope it doesn't take an extended period of time,"'he said. 'The fact that they were able to arrange the debt side of the financing would suggest that the restructuring can be done.'" So much for a sense of urgency.