The London Evening Standard reports that GoinGreen, the UK distributor of the G-Wiz battery-powered car, is recalling the machine amid fears that an overheating battery charger can cause the cars to burst into flames. "The recall was undertaken as a precautionary measure following a single incident of failure," Managing director Keith Johnston assured the press. "No one was injured."  The recalled involves 629 vehicles, about two-thirds of those sold to date. GoinGreen will replace the G-Wiz' heat-sensitive cutout switch and fit a new fire retardant cover. The recall re-focuses attention on the Indian-made machine's safety. "Government research found the G-Wiz failed the sort of crash test conventional family cars and 4x4s must pass to be allowed on the road. And in May, the motoring magazine Top Gear produced spectacular photographs of a G-Wiz disintegrating in a standard crash test." In case you're wondering how GoinGreen can sell the G-Wiz in a country where toasters must comply with safety regulations, the electric cars are officially classified as "quadricycles." In other words, they're "unconventional vehicles not intended for mainstream use." While G-Wiz' celebrity clients must be thrilled with that designation, Tesla's Elise-based Roadster and the Chevrolet Volt will presumably aim a bit higher. You know, eventually.  

Sorry about this, but the winners of TTAC's Ten Worst automobiles will now be announced on Monday morning. The reason for the delay is simple: me. As you probably know, this website is, to paraphrase Battlestar Gallactica and Dire Straits, a ragtag fleet of high school English class survivors flying through cyberspace in search of a fabled refuge known as… money for nothing and your chicks for free! And that means a great deal of the work in these parts falls on my shoulders. I'm busier than a… Yada, yada, yada. Anyway, it's also true that our shy, self-effacing PR person said WHAT ARE YOU NUTS? NO ONE SENDS OUT A PRESS RELEASE ON A FRIDAY! So, in the interests of riding this annual no-love fest for all its worth, I had to demure. I appreciate your understanding in this matter, and look forward to the hue and cry on Monday. Hint: they're all domestic. Uh-oh.

The LA Times reports two California cities are following LA's lead: they're no longer impounding the cars of unlicensed drivers. Scofflaws apprehended in Bell Gardens and Huntington Park can now reclaim their cars immediately– instead of waiting a month and paying hundreds of dollars in fines and fees. Huntington Park City Attorney Francisco Leal said the impound law imposes an "unfair hardship" on the state's illegal immigrants: "There is no way these people can afford that." Immigrant rights advocate Cynthia Anderson-Barker filed a lawsuit against the state and several cities challenging the 30-day impounds. She underlined Leal's point. "The hardship on these families is just phenomenal. When the car is gone and the family loses their transportation, it pushes them further into poverty." State Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), sponsor of several failed bills to give California's illegal immigrants the right to apply for a driver's license, called for a statewide moratorium on the impounds. Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), countered that ending impounds would send a clear signal that California welcomes illegal immigrants. Imagine that.

[Interview with FAIR Media Director Ira Mehlman below]

A recently released report from the UK's Ministry of Justice has inspired some organizations to predict the imminent demise of the speed camera. Speaking to The Times, the RAC foundation's executive director claimed a victory for vox populi— even though camera-issued speeding tickets declined by just 40k. "This shows the outcry by millions of drivers has finally paid off and forced councils and police to exercise more discretion," Edmund King pronounced. "There is no doubt that enforcement was getting out of hand, particularly with the use of speed cameras." Yes well, "ring fencing" (letting councils keep the fines to pay for "safety camera" programs) ended the following year. One might also surmise that the 2.1 percent drop can be attributed to motorists losing their license, or learning how to avoid speed cameras, or rising gas prices, or administrative cock-ups, or the margin of error, or something. At least the Times remains skeptical about the fall in the number of drivers disqualified on penalty points (down 2k to 29k). "It is unclear whether this was because drivers slowed down or because they persuaded someone to take the points for them." Oh, and The Newspaper reports that the UK's number one traffic cop, South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, faces a driving ban after a speed camera clocked his Audi A8 doing 90 in a 60mph zone on the A5 at Halton in North Wales.  

You know, we're beginning to buy into this idea that the new Chrysler is faster than a speeding bullet– to the back of the head (of course). Five days after the United Auto Workers (UAW) ratified their new contract with the struggling domestic– a contract whose job guarantees were conspicuous by their absence– Chrysler is axing the third shift at its Jeep factory in Toledo. The Toledo Blade reports that the move will take effect in the first quarter of '08, trimming 1,000 salaried workers and 1,100 temporary workers in engineering, finance, procurement and "other areas." Although anyone who's driven the plant's products (Dodge Nitro/JeepCompass) could have seen this coming, the UAW says it was taken completely by surprise. "Local UAW officials said neither they nor local company officials were aware of the planned announcement. UAW Local 12 President Bruce Baumhower said, 'That is news to me.'" The Wall Street Journal says the cuts are actually deeper. Chrysler will also terminate shifts at three Michigan plant: Jefferson North (Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee), Sterling Heights (Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger) and their Mack Avenue engine plant. Chrysler CEO Boot 'em Bob Nardelli was taciturn on the bloodletting business. "Mr. Nardelli said the final decision on the cuts came Tuesday during Chrysler’s first board meeting as a private company. 'Those are within the confines of the board and the board’s decisions,' he said of the layoffs. Here we go…

Normally we don't blog the bloggers, but this gem from The Daily Kos blogging a Fast Company article caught our editorial eye (ouch): "The problem with Detroit isn't the laws of physics, it's the fact that a guy who never even went to high school can do things — with stock parts — that Detroit's auto executives and their armies of engineers claim is impossible." And what awesome feats of mechanical wizardry has Johnathan Goodwin achieved that earned the admiration of The Daily Kos? First up: inserting a diesel engine into a Hummer H2 and running it on grease from a Chinese restaurant. Next, bio-dieseling a '65 Chevy Impala for MTV's "Pimp My Ride," increasing mileage to 25 mpg and bumping-up the shove from 250 horses to an entirely useful 800hp. With the acknowledged help of Kevin Kluemper, the lead calibration engineer for GM's Allison transmission unit. But does that slow down the Kos' anti-Detroit rhetoric? Hell no. "Remember — Detroit tells us it's impossible to increase gas mileage without taking a hit on horsepower. Yet here's Goodwin — with an eight-grade [sic] education — able to design motors that blow the doors off the conventional (and obviously bullshit) wisdom." And then a look at Goodwin's latest project: a bio-diesel hybrid H2 with a jet engine turbine powering super capacitor batteries, with a hydrogen injection system to cut emissions in half. "Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!" So I guess it's official: Detroit is either too stupid, lazy or arrogant to realize your can have your cake down at the CAFE, and eat it too. [NB: I'm being sarcastic.]

My wife and I were talking about Tom Cruise the other day. After discussing the diminutive actor's parenting skills and religious beliefs, we came to the somewhat inevitable conclusion that Hollywood's number one Scientologist is as crazy as a loon. In this, he's not alone. At least not in Hollywood. You don't have to read the celebrity gossip mags or watch their TV equivalents to know that Tinsel Town's "elite" have lost all grip on what we outside of their realm commonly refer to as "reality." It's only common sense. Take a group– any group– of good-looking, highly ambitious, ultra-competitive people, give them each a couple of thousand toadies or so and ten or more million dollars, and watch their neuroses bubble to the surface like magma heading for the top of a pre-eruption Mt. St. Helens. Money on that scale still can't buy you love, but it can buy you drug addiction, divorce and up close and personal access to a panoply of mental illnesses. And if these well-loved and lawyered-up people happen to be actors/actresses, they'll be able to hide their insanity from the outside world. Until they can't. I mention all this because I've been searching for a reason why so many carmakers make such boneheaded branding decisions. And I've decided it's because they're cruising along without a care in the world, burning through other people's money as if it were… other people's money. When one of the heavy hitters goes Chapter 11, the resulting chill may cause a change. Then again, maybe not. And how dull would our world be if we couldn't laugh at the foibles of others?

According to WardsAuto.com, there will be no '09 Ford Crown Victoria. It was bound to happen sooner or later, what with sales of Ford's last full-size rear wheel-drive sedan tanking by 90 percent since 2000. Twisting the knife, Wards says Ford moved just 46,188 Crown Vics year-to-date, down 9.1 percent from last year's totals. So that's it for Ye Olde Crown Vic, at least on the retail side. Ford will continue making a fleet-only Vic at its Ontario plant, alongside the newly relocated, equally doomed Lincoln Town Car. Meanwhile, the Grand Marquis variant will continue not to clog Mercury dealer parking lots for the forseeable future, despite underselling the underselling Crown Vic by about 15 percent. By 2010, when job guarantees to Ford's St. Thomas-based Canadian Auto Workers' union expire, all of Ford's full-sized RWD sedans will be toast. What a waste. 

Can someone please explain this to me? To field a credible small car stateside, GM has decided to import the relatively diminutive Opel Astra from Europe into the U.S. and re-badge it a Saturn. Because of the unfavorable exchange rate between the U.S. and the Eurozone, and the fact that the Astra will be screwed together in a high-cost country (Belgium), GM will make a loss on every Astra sold. So the more Astras they sell, the more money they'll lose. And yet, Just-Auto [sub] reports that GM has decided to increase the number of Astras headed stateside from 30k to 40k per year. Originally, we heard that the Opel Astra was a "placeholder;" if it sold in sufficient quantities, GM would transfer production to the U.S. But building cars in the U.S. isn't any cheaper than assembling them in the land of mayonnaise on your french fries. It can't be a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) pleasing deal, as the imported Astra wouldn't count towards GM's domestic CAFE averages. Is it a union thing? A world car thing? A stupid ass hubris WTF GM thing? 

Now that the European courts have finally struck down the so-called "VW Law" preventing Porsche from taking control of the German automaker, VW's labor union is upping the ante in its battle for power on their future owner's board. As Just-Auto reports [sub], VW's works council is seriously pissed at the idea that Porsche's numerically inferior labor union will get the same representation on the new holding company's BOD as VW's One Man Army. So the VeeDub boys are downing tools; they're striking VW over the issue. For three hours. Only not technically. Technically, the VW works council is holding "information meetings" re: the Porsche takeover amongst its union brothers and sisters. The fact that these gatherings will stop production at all six of VW's German assembly plants is neither here nor there, presumably.  

Well duh. More importantly, why is Michelle Maynard over at The New York Times publicly humiliating Chrysler's CEO for his non-car guyitude? That debate is so last August. OK, so Nardelli made some Home Depot-esque gaffes during his speech to the Magazine Publishers of America conference. Such as “I think a vehicle today has to be your most favorite room under your roof. I really believe that. I mean, it has to bring you gratification, it has to be tranquil. It’s incidental that it gets you from Point A to B, right?” Well no, obviously. But we get the distinct impression that Maynard was, well, picking on Bob. "'An automobile also needs “cup holders — some for water and some for…,' Mr. Nardelli said, but he did not finish that thought." Is the Old Gray Lady (the paper, not Maynard) seriously suggesting that the Chrysler CEO's inability to name any other beverage suitable for a cupholder indicates a lack of pistonhead credentials? The article gives Nardelli's PR handler enough rope to hang himself the last word.  "It’s his own spin on it,” Mr. Aberlich said. “It’s good to have that fresh perspective, and he’s bringing that.” Fair enough?

Forbes' columnist Jerry Flint says rising U.S. gas prices are not changing– nor are they about to change– America's car-buying habits. "We can afford it. If we rushed out and sold our big, safe, comfortable cars and trucks, trading them for little minis, we would be driving uncomfortably and less safely. We would lose more money on the trade-ins than we would ever save in lower gasoline bills." Uh, what about sagging pickup trucks sales, or the switch from SUVs to crossovers? Don't the numbers reflect a new mpg-related car-buying paradigm? Flint dismisses the shift as nothing more than a continuation of a pre-existing trend– although the dean of automotive journalists fails to state what triggered these trends in the first place. As always, Flint's take on the hard numbers is let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may PC anti-matter. Until the last 'graph. "But all is not hopeless," Flint opines, suddenly revealing his disapproval for American consumers' recalcitrance re: downsizing their cars, carpooling or hopping onto public transportation. "Auto companies around the world, those in Detroit included, are developing improved engines that will push a car farther on a gallon. They will be here in a few years. And they'll fit under the hood of a roomy, comfortable American car." Well thank God for that!

I have been reading the comments to the post "In Defense of American Automakers" with ever-increasing fascination and mounting excitement. As of this writing, there are 828 comments beneath Mr. Ressler's rant. Yes, there's a great deal of rhetorical repetition. Yes, the same half dozen or so commentators have set up fortifications on either side of the "import bigot" issue–  which neither side shows the slightest willingness to abandon. But despite this intellectual intransigence, I'm getting the feeling that something radical is gradually emerging. I'm not entirely sure how to characterize this development; slapping a label on the interchange would be premature. But I am sure that this is exactly the sort of discussion this website was created to engender. The argument’s longevity and vitality reveals a fundamental truth that I have been championing for the last five years: the American automotive marketplace is, at its core, engaged in a strange new war of ideas. Ideas that involve art, science, politics, culture, psychology, commerce and national security. Prior to now, if debates on these topics occurred, they occurred within industry enclaves. As I've said many times, we're still a long way from the time when the "barbarians" muscle their way inside the gates– where they belong. But reading this post, knowing that it's making the rounds inside the manufacturers' servers, I sense we're closer than we've ever been before. We're being noticed. And we will be heard. 

As Marketwatch rightly points out, all this talk of United Auto Workers' contracts this, plug-in hybrids that, and Chinese expansion the other thing, doesn't have much impact on Detroit's current bottom line. Ahead of this Thursday's reports on October sales, the Dow Jones' diligent reporters have rounded-up the usual suspects. First up, Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Barry. To say Barry isn't bullish on the U.S. car market's immediate prospects would be like saying Eeyore needs Prozac. "With oil prices above $90, choppy stock markets, and renewed economic concerns, the selling environment remains poor for new light vehicle sales." Barry reckons ramped-up incentives on outgoing '07s are all that's propping-up U.S. sales. Once those wear-off… Barry's particularly sanguine about Ford Motor Co.; he's told his clients that The Blue Oval Boyz are heading for a 17 percent hit against their October sales numbers. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache doesn't like what he sees over at Chrysler; weak truck sales are likely to lead another double-digit decline. And Barry's warning that Chrysler's Last Big Thing, its new minivans, "may be off to a slow start."

The European Union (EU) is bound and determined to cut automotive CO2 emissions; Brussels' bureaucrats are looking to lower the required C02 levels from today’s corporate average of 160 g/km to 130 g/km by 2012. Curious about the cost of the new regs on the auto industry and, hence, consumers, Germany's federal environment ministry commissioned the Transport Research Institute to do the math. The Berlin-based boffins reckon EU car manufacturers will have to invest at least €11.7bn a year in new technologies to meet the new obligations. The "per unit" cost to the consumer: €500 to €1,500. But don't get to thinking that the Institute is lobbying against the stricter regs (perish the thought). Auto Industry reports that the report counters carbon positivists by pointing out that the fuel saving from C02-compliant cars should mitigate the extra cost "over the medium term." The Institute also suggests that funds from fines against corporate CO2 scofflaws should go to national carbon mitigation programmes. But that would be wrong! So they recommend that the regulation should be so constructed as to encourage manufacturers to invest in meeting CO2 norms rather than paying fines, just as BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and VW do on this side of the pond.