That, my aspiring plug-in friends (2010), is a Hell of a lot of Priora. Nikkei English News [via Bloomberg] reports that Toyota's ramping (amping?) up Prius production at its two Japanese factories to increase overall output by a full 60 percent. ToMoCo's aiming to shift 450k gas – electric hybrids worldwide in '09. No word if and when (not to mention why) Toyota will expand the Prius into its own sub-brand, as rumored on the internets. And the U.S. market for Priora has suddenly gone soft. Although Toyota's sold 181,221 Priora in '07, and the model's up 8.5 percent year-to-date, February sales declined by 10.9 percent. Could we about to see another price cut to move the metal? It sure worked last time.

We don't usually crib from The Car Connection (TCC), thanks to an ancient feud involving TTAC's call for automotive websites to publicly declare their junketeering and press fleetage in their posts (a call that Edmunds kinda sorta answered). But credit where credit's due: the guys have stumbled upon a true jewel of a YouTube clip. This ad is more than just "I can't turn away from the weight challenged guy" fascinating. It represents a tacit admission from a car dealer that la règle du jeu have changed. Of course, we don't know if the Clay family dealerships put their fine words into practice, but they are the right words. And the ad doesn't scream or try to sell on price. We applaud Clay for their, uh, courage and [once again] ask TCC to tell their readers when they're sucking on the manufacturers' tit– although this is probably not the best time to use that metaphor.

Math is not my forte, in the sense that I grew up thinking times tables supported New York newspapers. But there are many of you who know your way around a calculator. For your number crunching pleasure, I submit this article from Seeking Alpha, a stock tip site. The unnamed author crunches the numbers: the total amount of potential ethanol production vs. total U.S. gas consumption. The conclusion: "Corn ethanol will never replace any meaningful quantities of gasoline nor diesel." More specifically, "ethanol (spark ignition) will not substitute for diesel (compression ignition) anyway without substantial vehicle and fuel changes. Ethanol will not easily substitute for heating oil nor jet fuel neither. And if you add in ALL the energy-related inputs, some have said we may be able to replace, at best, 3-4% of U.S. gasoline using all U.S. corn." And so ethanol supporters will move on to cellulosic sources or trash or lithium ion crystals, with your tax money. 

Although this story about the fracture of the Antarctic's Wilkins ice shelf isn't strictly car-related, TTAC's Best and Brightest are well aware that global warming is the intellectual justification for draconian CO2 tailpipe regulations. As far as The New York Times is concerned, the "broken ice" is proof positive that humans are warming the planet. Needless to say, something must be done (but not about the fracture, silly reader)! "Nothing dramatizes the urgency of global warming quite like a fracture of this scale. There is nothing to be done about a collapsing polar ice sheet except to witness it. It may be too late to stop the warming decay at the boundaries of Antarctic ice, yet there is everything to be done. Humans can radically change the way they live and do business, knowing that it is the one chance to find a possible limit to radical change in the natural world around us."  Make no mistake dear Pistonheads, your non-hybrid anything is directly in The Old Gray Lady's– and like-minded regulators– crosshairs. 

Those of you familiar with our coverage of Tesla Motors' struggle to produce a lithium-ion powered sports car know that we believe that they believe every word they're saying, regardless of which side of their mouth their words emanate. But you've got to wonder when the erstwhile automaker's VP of Vehicle Integration [via Just-auto, sub] answers the straightforward question "So when does series production start then?" with the above. (And there I was thinking production meant building cars for customers.) And what about this quote? "There is a danger when you ramp that you keep an eye on the big balls," Malcom Powell proclaims. "But it needs all the balls to build the car; it's no good having just 99% of the parts because you can't build it. So we will control our ramp rate carefully. We will start producing the cars this quarter and we will monitor and ramp as quickly as we can, but under control." So, uh, how many cars, then? "It will be some hundreds of cars this calendar year – we should be running at around 600 for the Model Year." You heard it here, folks: Tesla is [not] fully committed to producing 600 '08 Roadsters– whatever that means.  

As you know, TTAC has a simple posting policy: no flaming the website, it's authors or fellow commentators. As some commentators have [rightly] pointed out, the policy contains a glaring inconsistency: we allow flaming of third parties. GM Car Czar Bob Lutz, Toyota, The New York Times, President Bush, etc. have all been flame-broiled on this site. [NB: if Bob Lutz or George Bush posted on TTAC, they'd have anti-flame protection.] My only defense for this obvious double standard: it works. I'm not going to make that case by pointing to any of the incisive remarks penned by our Best and Brightest. Instead, I'd like to draw your attention to the comments (and picture of a douche) underneath a Jalopnik link to my last GM Death Watch. If you share some of these sentiments about TTAC, I invite you to voice them right here, right now. All I ask is that you do so in a civilized manner. Because that's who we are, and that's what you do. Meanwhile, Justin and I discuss the day's news.

And so the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike at American Axle (AA) now enters its second month, without any imminent prospects of resolution (i.e. a GM payout). As Buffalo's Business First points out, "The upper hand clearly goes to (American Axle management) which has $350 million in cash on the balance sheet, does not need to supply GMT900 pickup truck axles for quite some time and has recently begun producing axles for the GMT900 SUV in its Mexican facility." Even so, the strike has shuttered 28 GM plants, and there's no way AA  could ramp-up to supply all of the truck-making factories from South of the Border. And while GM may be happy to watch its oversupply of SUVs and trucks melt away, there's a limit to how long they can afford the resulting termination of their cash flow. And now it seems that the AA strike is spreading in an entirely unwanted direction: Chevrolet Cobalt production at Lordstown. (Say what you will about the car– and God knows you have– but it's The General's second best selling car at over 200k p.a.) The Tribune Chronicle reports that "United Auto Workers Local 1112 President Jim Graham said the 2,400-worker factory could stop building the Chevrolet Cobalt small cars anytime between Friday and April 4 when it runs out of a [AA-made] part to make brakes that are used by nearby supplier Automodular." There's a 53-day supply of Cobalts on the ground, but no question: that's gonna leave a mark.

We haven't reported on the Plastech bankruptcy for some time. Well, they're still bankrupt. burning their way through a $45.15m line of credit (up $10m since we last checked). And they're still making parts for Chrysler, who is none-too-pleased about their inability to remove the tooling to make the plastic parts for the cars that they can't sell. Of course, you already know the big winner in this fiasco: the lawyers. Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that "The New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on Tuesday, March 25, billed Plastech $1,002,674.50 in legal fees and $54,486.82 in expenses during the supplier's first month of Chapter 11 bankruptcy court proceedings, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit." More specifically, "Skadden Arps billed Plastech for 1,835.05 hours of service at an average rate of $546.40 an hour. The $54,486.82 in expenses covered travel, printing, research and messenger fees, as well as meals for the Skadden Arps legal team." As AN points out, Skadden Arps is drinking small beer. "Supplier Federal-Mogul Corp., which emerged from more than six years of bankruptcy proceedings at the end of 2007, spent about $700 million, or $9.3 million a month, on bankruptcy related [legal] expenses." 

With the deadline for $354m in federal matching funds for New York City congestion charging (CG) looming (April 7), the New York Times ongoing support for the plan is approaching fever pitch. In the ironically titled Op Ed "Moment of Truth on Congestion Pricing," the Old Gray Lady argues that "The only way to ensure the [City's mass transit] system will continue to work is to move forward on congestion pricing." In the lead up to this "do or die" conclusion, the Times' rhetoric [once again] flies in the face of the facts. "What it [the M.T.A.] needs is a reliable source of income. As London and Stockholm have discovered, congestion pricing could provide that— and cleaner air and less gridlock." Anyway, "the M.T.A. has developed detailed plans for that money, including providing express buses to the outer boroughs where resistance is strongest." Nice. And what about poor people who have to drive into the City? "One sensible proposal would allow those drivers to apply for rebates on their applications for the Earned Income Tax Credit." Fortunately for opponents of the NYC CG, the Governor who supported the plan didn't confine his enthusiasm for prostitution to his political career. 

In a move sure to annoy potential GT500KR owners– who were banking on the supply – demand equation to protect their $65k-ish (plus premium) investment– Ford has announced they're gonna build more examples than previously announced. The original plan, from the caption of their PR photo: "Featuring classic Shelby KR design cues and Ford Racing performance upgrades, the GT500KR will be produced in a limited-run of 1000 units arriving spring 2008." Ward's Automotive reports the new plan: an additional 746 GTK500Rs. "Of the additional 746 units, 571 will be allocated to U.S. customers, thus equaling the 1,571-unit production run of the original ‘68 Shelby GT500KR." So that's alright then. “I’m glad we can share it with more Mustang enthusiasts,” 'Ole Shel says in a statement. “This car is really special to me and my bank account demonstrates that when Shelby Automobiles gets together with Ford SVT and Ford Racing, we can deliver a Mustang that will compete with the best in the world.” Roush and Saleen would agree, albeit through gritted teeth.

UK policy makers are pulled in two directions. On one hand, they want to provide affordable "working class" housing in a country where development is neither cheap nor easy. On the other hand, they can't be seen to hurt a single leaf on a single tree, or warm the planet by a billionth of a degree (either Fahrenheit or Celsius). The answer: "eco-towns." The government is championing 10 new developments of 5k – 20k homes per town and no, I repeat no, traffic within their center. The speed limits on "key roads" leading into the new towns' [I'm guessing here] pay-and-display car parks (owner garages? fuhgeddaboutit) would be set at 15mph. The Daily Express reports that "driver pressure groups fear the proposals could herald reduced speed limits across the country, branding them 'an excuse to bully motorists.'" The UK's Housing Minister is unapologetic, to say the least. "“These developments will be exemplars for the rest of the world, not just the rest of the country," Caroline Flint asserted. "It’s critical that we get it right and I make no apology for setting the bar as high [or in this case low] as possible.” 

Justin called it. Yesterday, after GM Car Czar Bob Lutz diss-missed diesels, the TTAC scribe suggested that the feds would "intercede" to lower diesel pump prices and promote oil burners. And here we are, with news that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 has blessed the Cook County, (IL) Department of Environmental Control with a $103,297 grant to cut diesel emissions from 30 county vehicles. Yes, that's $3,443.23 of your hard-earned tax money per vehicle to retrofit 26 vehicles with diesel oxidation catalysts and four vehicles with diesel particulate filters. Oblivious to local climatology, Regional Administrator Mary A. Gade is in no doubt that we're all winners with this payout. "Reducing these emissions will help us all breathe cleaner air and live healthier lives." Oh, and in case you thought this is a one-time deal, the grant's part of the Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative which has "invested" $81m in cleaning-up diesel vehicles– so far. (They're practically begging for proposals to shell-out more tax bucks for diesel fans.) So, if that's just the Midwest…

If there's any surprise to be found in The New York Times editorial "Pain at the Pump And Beyond," it's that the Old Gray Lady almost acknowledges the effects of supply and demand on the price of gas. Watch carefully, or you might miss it! "The Bush administration can’t be entirely blamed for the pain at the gas pump. But its shortsighted energy policies — zealously focused on increasing the energy supply, with little attention paid to conservation and greater fuel-efficiency — means the country is far too dependent on oil that is both ruinously expensive and ruinous for the environment. There are several reasons for oil’s dizzying price spiral. Soaring demand in fast-growing developing countries like China and India means there is little oil to spare. The turmoil in financial markets — the White House can take a good chunk of the blame for that — has driven prices even higher, as investors have bought oil and other commodities as stocks and the dollar plunge." There's more Bush bashing (believe it or not), but the ed gets strange when it argues that the U.S. should raise taxes on gas. Huh? Sympathize with consumers for high gas prices, blame Bush and then argue we should be paying MORE at the pump? I guess rhetorical consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. 

"Call it a strike, a shutdown or just flat-ass going broke.” That's how independent trucker/cattle hauler Dan Little describes his intention to pull over on April first. The Quad City Times reports that "what started as a small, online grassroots effort now appears to have the potential for something bigger." Little's website– uscattlehaulers.com— is the locus for the one-day action. He's calling for a suspension of all federal and state fuel taxes, insurance changes and countrywide uniformity in safety regs. Little says he has two thousand truckers pledging their participation. Little does not have the support of either the all-important Teamsters Union (800k+ truckers) or the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (160k+ small trucking companies and drivers). But the Industrial Workers of the World (16k members) told TTAC they're putting the idea to a vote on Wednesday at 6pm. Meanwhile, in an interview [podcast below], Little says Hillary Clinton's office called twice "for background." Developing…

Anyone remember Chevy Chase's immortal line "Francisco Franco is still dead?" I'll wait until the Tata purchase of Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover brands goes through– if it does–  before using Chase's riff. Meanwhile, Tata is launching some kind of weird-ass PR offensive. The Wall Street Journal [sub]  is carrying a press release feature story on Tata's "hands-off" acquisition style. Apparently, the Indian way of such things, in general, is to "Do next to nothing." The evidence for such patent rubbish? Tata didn't throw management overboard when they acquired the U.K.-based Corus Group and Tetley Tea. Oh, and apparently Tata won't be outsourcing. "During a London meeting with Tata Motors executives in November, Mr. Maddison [Unite union rep] recalls, 'We came straight down and said 'We've obviously got fears that you've got a massive component base across Asia. Would it be your intention to source from Asia into the U.K.?'' They hit it straight back and told us 'No way.'" Dude, get it in writing. [thanks to Robert Schwartz for the link]