Thompson Financial News (via) Forbes reports that Ford wants to make a clean break with its Jaguar and Land Rover brands. When Tata Motors takes control of the "crown jewels" in Ford's never-mighty Premier Automotive Group, Alan Mulally's minions don't want to retain a minority stake in either firm. While Autoblog is busy worrying "if Tata has the infrastructure to supply Jag and L.R. with the necessary components, from drivetrains to switch knobs," the real story is that Ford's U.K. trade unions are balking at the prospect. They're [justifiably] afraid that Tata will shutter both brand's UK ops post-purchase, threatening 16,500 union jobs. To soothe the savage beast, Tata is launching a charm offensive; they're flying union reps to India to enjoy high class call girls in luxury hotels (a.k.a. "the VW plan"). Just kidding. "Ford officials and trade union members are expected to visit Tata Motors' plant at Pune in the western Indian state of Maharashtra in a fortnight to gather first hand knowledge of Tata Motors' expertise." Yeah, that ought to calm them down.

So, here's the latest chapter in the "GM wants to consolidate all its brands and build multi-branded mega-stores– oh wait, no we don't" saga. GM CEO Rick Wagoner signaled his faith in the company's tri-branded (down from octo-branded) consolidation effort by blessing the opening of a new Henry Brown Buick-Pontiac-GMC store in Gilbert, Arizona with his presence. According to The Arizona Republic newspaper, Wagoner made no bones about the reason for his visit. "The three brands at Brown's dealership have been 'channeled' together in about 40 dealerships nationwide, Wagoner said, with about 100 more to come. The Gilbert dealership is one of the first to show the new look of the stores." Wagoner didn't do a Mulally– sell a carefully prepared customer a car– but he did praise Brown as "one of the best in the business." "One of the best." Nice. 

This one comes to us as a logical extension of a factual story. The New York Times reports that the F.B.I has launched a criminal investigation into 14 companies in the sub-prime mortgage business. The feds are working with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is conducting "about three dozen civil investigations into how subprime loans were made and packaged, and how securities backed by them were valued." We're talking accounting fraud, insider trading and/or other violations surrounding loans made to borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit. Hey! That sounds like the "anyone with a pulse" zero percent financing deals that kept the moribund metal moving for the last two years or so. Not to mention the bundling of said loans and the automakers' accounting for the true cost of the risk. To wit: New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo is investigating whether Wall Street banks withheld damaging information about the loans they were packaging. Considering the amounts of money involved, if this blows-up for Detroit and other automakers, it will blow-up good. 

When Toyota got slammed by Consumer Reports (and others) for declining product quality– the brand's raison d'etre– ToMoCo CEO Katsuaki Watanabe practically committed seppuku on the spot. Of course, he didn't; Watanabe said his company would do whatever was necessary to ensure that Toyota raised the bar for its product quality worldwide. Despite Toyota's southern plants, the man wasn't just whistling Dixie. Canada's Globe and Mail reports that the automaker has put the brakes on a new assembly plant in Woodstock, Ontario to ensure product quality. “We're very optimistic that we're going to have a good ramp up but I'm going to go slow,” admitted Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota of Canada. “Quality first before anything.” Either the Mail forgot to ask– or Toyota refused to reveal– the precise reason for the holdup. Perhaps, as the Mail hints, it's got more to do with the slowdown in the North American market. Or not. In which case, point taken.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under fire from California. Golden State regulators are trying usurp the federal agency's power to set fleet-wide fuel economy averages by classifying CO2 as a pollutant. Rather than fighting the move– debating the "facts" of global warming in the Supreme Court– the EPA is signaling its desire to weasel cut some kind of compromise. While it's unlikely the EPA will do anything to upset Congress' "35 by 2020" mpg applecart, Wardsauto.com reports that the EPA Air Quality Supremo Margo Oge stepped-up to the microphone at the Automotive News shindig and told automakers that "we must bring about an end to the horsepower arms race among auto makers and replace it with another different kind of a race, a race to produce the most affordable and desirable, low carbon-vehicle each year.” New industrial revolution, must reduce greenhouse gas emissions, college kids are green, yada yada yada, California wins but WE'LL handle it. Meanwhile, someone should tell Oge that the horsepower wars are already done; automakers are competing with each other to green-up and meet the EU and NTSA's new fuel economy regs (e.g. GM's Ultrav8tracide and Voltmania). Still, thanks for the career-boosting rhetorical carrot. 

I should have given the back office boys a week's notice that I was posting Mr. Yates’ work on TTAC. But I am acutely aware of this medium's forté: immediacy. The idea of holding onto a blog post, car review or editorial for longer than 24 hours runs counter to the nature of the beast. In fact, minutes after I have a piece locked and loaded, my trigger finger gets itchy. After getting the copy on Sunday, I decided to soft launch Brock's piece on Monday, and then announce it to the world (via a press release) on Tuesday. Monday went fine. At about 2:30pm today, the pistonhead population woke-up to Brock's return. The resulting traffic over-whelmed our servers. Reto and the Boffins rushed to their e-first aid kit and found some band-aids. We're now back up, ready to rock and roll. As for Brock's next piece, we discussed a column on Carlos Ghosn's prediction that one of The Big 2.8 is about to go bust. Obviously, I agree with the Brazilian. Mr. Yates thinks Carlos is "a clown." If that's where Brock wants to go, that's fine with me. There is no party line here at TTAC. Not for Brock Yates or any of TTAC's current or future writers or commentators, who built the foundation for the Yatesian meltdown. And for that, to all of you, thanks. 

“It can be an expensive process to install the pumps and get the infrastructure ready to sell E85, so we’re offering as much assistance as we can to those retailers that have elected to sell E85.” So sayeth Mark Walters, Biofuels Director for the Indiana Corn Marketing Council. Apparently the "as much as we can bit" amounts to $5k per eligible gas station. Big whoop. Shell Oil– which doesn't pay for any of its franchisees to sell E85– pegs the cost of a corn juice compatible storage tank at $240k. And that doesn't include the time and hassle of local planning permission, or the disruption of construction to normal trade. According to the Brownfield Network (AG News for America), "Walters says that if the state grant is increased to $20,000 as proposed, the two combined should be very attractive to retailers." But not customers. At the moment, Indiana only has 100 E85 retailers, and you can bet that's not because consumers are clamoring for the stuff. [check out the podcast with Mr. Walters at the bottom of BN's post]

TTAC's flagged this issue before: as The Big 2.8 shutter factories, they're on the hook for cleaning-up decades of extremely toxic pollution. In fact, the costs of said clean-up could well run into the billions. StarTribune.com reports that the controversy surrounding the pollution left behind in Ford's soon-to-be-defunct factory in the Highland Park part of St. Paul, Minnesota continues. At a neighborhood meeting, Ford told approximately 50 local residents that the extent of the problem requires more testing and analysis. Ford plans to close the 138-acre truck assembly site in 2009, a year later than originally planned. Even so, "City planner Merritt Clapp-Smith said that the 2009 closure has pushed back everything [in terms of local redevelopment] and that the city won't be comfortable recommending a redevelopment option until after testing has been done, which could be in 2010." 

You might think that one's a no-brainer, what with 13 motorists killed by the Interstate 35W bridge collapse over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, and the attendant media furore. But infrastructure improvements are about as politically sexy as woolen tights on a sumo wrestler. Actually, a minefield is a more apt analogy, as the hugely expensive improvements to bridges, roads, levees, school buildings and the like threaten the budgets of a federal government stretched thin by existing pork barrel projects. But it's a nettle that must be grasped. Unfortunately, New York Times Op Ed columnist Bob Herbert does so so gingerly he renders his rant meaningless. In other words, money is never mentioned. But jobs sure are. "Senator Dodd told me: 'At a time when we’re worried about rising unemployment rates and declining confidence in this country, infrastructure projects have the dual effect of putting people to work — and usually at pretty good salaries and wages — while also creating a sense of optimism, of investing in the future… In terms of stimulating the economy, there is nothing better than a job.”" And in terms of sucking money from the taxpayer? Look for this one to lie low until after the election– unless another tragedy occurs. 

OK, I get why Ford wants to build a more off-road capable version of the new F150 than the already capable FX4. Because they can. Although it's a waste of Ford's time and money (halo truck my ass), and the wisdom of equipping a consumer product with an extra long-travel suspension is highly suspect (red Rover, red Rover, my F150's rolled over), I grok the positive shock such a vehicle will give die-hard (one hopes) mud-pluggers. The modded machine's "Boss" V8, wider wheel arches and cosmetic bits ought to give them a major truckgasm. But Raptor? The name flies in the face of the F-22 Raptor's rep (so to speak) and steps on the marketing heels of the Cagiva Xtra Raptor motorcycle (and God knows what else). Luckily, Pickuptruck.com's Technical Editor says the name won't survive into production. Any better suggestions? You know, other than concentrating Ford's resources on a better small car. 

If you were 20 when GM equipped the Cadillac Seville with a 105hp 5.7-liter LF9 diesel engine– a powerplant whose feeble power, clattering noise, belching smoke, mechanical unreliability and brand defilement made oil burners about as fashionable as AM stereo– you'd be 43 now. So… I guess there's still a mountain for the marketing men to climb. Kelley Blue Book confirms this suspicion. In a January survey of an unspecified number of in-market car buyers, nearly half said diesels are "dirty and noisy." What's worse, "shoppers increasingly believe that diesel-powered vehicles get poorer fuel mileage than conventional gasoline engines, and fewer consumers are seeing diesels as fuel-efficient." That's right, diesel's appeal is actually declining amongst car buyers. Meanwhile, hybrids are ascendant, with 61 percent of shoppers claiming an interest in buying a car with a gas – electric engine. "When asked about the premium they are willing to pay for a gas/electric hybrid over a traditional gasoline-powered version of the same vehicle, this month shoppers are willing to pay an average premium of $3,135, up from an average premium of $2,645 a month ago in December 2007." Can any automaker break the American diesel curse? If they do, it's going to be a long, tough job. 

"At its core, the film is about a struggle between old and new power. In precisely that fashion, Audi represents the rise of a new force in luxury." God I hate hype. I don't blame Scott Keogh, Audi's chief marketing officer, for trying to build some anticipation for Audi's Godfather-themed Superbowl ad. If their ad– which will only air twice— doesn't cost them the better part of $10m, it won't cost them a pfennig. But c'mon guys. It's a TV ad, not a Francis Ford Coppola meisterwerk or the Declaration of Independence. Try as I might, I can't think how Audi is about to "redefine luxury." I find it hard enough to define luxury, never mind come up with a new concept for the term. As far as I'm concerned, Audi can claim to build luxury cars by dint of the brand's peerless interiors– and that's about it. (I want you should do me a favor. Do not speak here of the brand's reputation for building unreliable automobiles. I don't want its mother to see it that way.) And you know what? It's enough. Really. He who builds the world's best interior wins. Ipso facto. 'Cause other than Quattro, I see little else that elevates the Audi brand above Lexus, Mercedes or BMW. So why not just tell the world you build the world's most comfortable carcoon and call it good? Why not reaffirm your brand values rather than redefine them? The word I'm looking for here is… hubris. Or is it hype? Same thing. 

As part of Chrysler's "all hands off deck" plan to trim production, the domestic automaker is offering ALL United Auto Workers employees at its Metro Detroit plants buyouts and early retirement packages. The goal: to eliminate 8500 to 10k hourly jobs. Although the Detroit News is quick to point out that most UAW members have been with Chrysler longer than a year, the $100k offer is open to any union member who's put in their 365 days. Well, less, counting holidays and possible sick days, etc. Like Ford, Chrysler has expanded its buyout program to just about everyone with a union card, save workers at Chrysler's Newark (Delaware) Assembly plant– and it's only a matter of time before the sayonara swag heads in their direction. Will the last high paid union worker switch off the lights? Of course not.  [thanks to starlightmica for the link]

I think it's kind of sad that car dealers are so scared of the manufactures who supply them vehicles that they can only criticize the automaker on an unattributed basis. In other words, it's too bad they're scared shitless of the suits. But hey, that's the way it is, and I can well believe Ward's Dealer Business couldn't find any VW dealers willing to go on record and say “The names (are) consistently insane. First we get Touareg, which is crazy, and now Routan, which is equally crazy." Scribe Byron Pope says "most dealers contacted by Ward's" (how scientific is that?) are just happy to have new product, while "some" are bewildered by VW's bewildering product names. VW's nameless spokesperson defended the new– well rebadged Chrysler minivan's name. It’s a “white space on our product map, and (it will) bring more people into the showroom. In some ways, the naming is secondary.” Of course, in other ways, it isn't.

OK, this one can cut both ways. If you're a GM jump-down-turnaround-pick-a-bale-of-cotton kinda guy, Cadillac's determination to consult the rest of the world before building their luxury car flagship is a smooth move. You will be glad to hear Automotive News [sub] announce that "In yet another attempt to turn Cadillac into a successful global brand, General Motors this year will take a group of designers to China, Russia and other countries to learn what it might take to get BMW and Mercedes-Benz buyers behind the wheel of a Cadillac." If you're a look-what-they-done-to-my-brand, Ma kinda guy, you're notice the words "In yet another attempt." Even the Generally enthusiastic scribe Rick Kranz has to admit that "trying to sell U.S.-oriented vehicles globally has been a dismal failure for Cadillac." Ah, but if you're a booster, you'll clock the "U.S.-oriented" part of that sentence, and say, "See? Caddy needs a world potentate-friendly luxury car like BMW and Mercedes!" But if you're an adherent to the "GM is the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight" school of thought, you'll remember that the European-spec BLS is a, well, what's beyond dismal in terms of automotive failure? Anyway, the new sedan will replace the ancient STS and DTS by "around 2011 or 2012." If GM's still in biz, we can discuss it then.