Yesterday, we speculated whether or not Chrysler would hang fire on trimming union jobs dud models until after the United Auto Workers (UAW) convinced Ford members work without job guarantees. Turns out Chrysler didn't even wait for the ink to dry on its union agreement before axing its first three losers. The Detroit News quotes "people close to Chrysler" and "people familiar with the situation" (that could be you!) saying that the PT Cruiser, Dodge Magnum and Chrysler Pacifica will get the chop. Oh, and maybe the Jeep Commander. And possibly the Dodge Dakota pickup. And the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger. Meanwhile, Chrysler hired former GE exec L. John Cataldo to assume a newly created position: vice president of business development and mergers and acquisitions. Cataldo is in charge of hooking-up with other automakers and selling the family silver. Speaking at the Magazine Publishers of America annual conference in Boca Raton, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli reiterated Chrysler's 'focus on cash.' The company is moving to sell off $1b in "unneeded real estate and facilities." Not to go all TV Land on you, but I'm hearing "They call him stripper, flipper; faster than lightning."

Branding guru Al Reis has soothed this publisher's fevered e-brow on more than one occasion. "Chill out," Big Al recently advised. "The strongest brands start small and grow slowly." If that's the criteria for brand strength, TTAC is the Kleenex of automotive blogs. Thankfully, we are growing. As expected, the Ten Worst awards (results on Wednesday) are pulling in the punters. Also unsurprisingly, a percentage of these newbies have decided to check up on us on a regular basis. Not to steal the UAW's obfuscatory techniques, the last couple of weeks have seen about a 10 – 15 percent bump in daily uniques (that's you and your best buds). To capitalize on our momentum, I've managed to raise addition funding for the site's editorial budget. To reward our faithful scribes, I'm doubling the editorial and review writers' fees, from nothing much to well something's better than nothing. I'm also tripling the bloggers' pay, from you must be joking to are you kidding? I've hired a product guru, to provide at least two 800-word product reviews per week. And, most important of all, I'm looking for a Review Coordinator. I'm looking for someone to keep track of our reviews, schedule new ones with our stable of car hacks (and write some SVP), talk to manufacturers about getting press cars, secure test vehicles from another (still undisclosed) supplier and generally get us closer to aheadofthecurvosity. The pay is eh, but it IS a paid (freelance) position. If you're interested, please send a cv and a plea to frank.williams@thetruthaboutcars.com with the words "Review Guru" in the subject bar. Meanwhile, if you could email Wednesday's Ten Worst award post to all your pistonhead pals, I'd be MOST appreciative. 

The tide may be turning against bio-fuels– at least amongst the chattering classes. The semi-prestigious Smithsonian magazine has just published a piece by Richard Conniff that rips the bio-fuels industry to bits, piece by bloody piece. After laying out the case for growing go-juice– renewabilty, carbon neutrality, recycling waste– Conniff takes bio-fuels to task for all the right reasons. We're talking food price inflation ("Cargill's chief predicted that reallocation of farmland due to biofuel incentives could combine with bad weather to cause food shortages around the world"); CO2 pollution ("when ethanol refineries burn coal to provide heat for fermentation, emissions are up to 20 percent worse for the environment than gasoline"); supply unreliability ("Switching to corn ethanol also risks making us dependent on a crop that's vulnerable to drought and disease"); soil erosion ("…growing corn requires large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides and fuel. It contributes to massive soil erosion, and it is the main source, via runoff in the Mississippi River, of a vast "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico"); and wildlife destruction ("The United Nations recently predicted that 98 percent of Indonesia's forests will be destroyed within the next 15 years, partly to grow palm oil"). Other than that, he loves it! The article concludes with the usual conservation mantra and a plug for solar energy (so to speak). But I gotta tip my hat to Conniff for this gem: "…the switch to corn ethanol sound[s] about as smart as switching from heroin to crystal meth." 

Speaking to Automotive News [sub], GM CEO Rick Wagoner promised his employer will plow the money saved by its new contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) into "green products."  Specifically, in the next four to ten years, GM will build  more [some?] low-emitting diesels, hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles running on lithium ion batteries. "If we have a significantly profitable and cash-generating enterprise, that really opens up the opportunity to be more aggressive and take more risks." Never one to miss an opportunity not to ask GM's jeffe the hard questions surrounding the details of a major announcement, Automotive News doesn't reveal GM's strategy in the event that GM isn't "significantly profitable" and the company's cash conflagration continues. (By GM's own admission, they won't realize any major savings from the new contract for another four years.) Right. That's it. I'm going to the Detroit Auto Show to find this guy. Who's with me? 

After failing to ascend to the top slot at software maker SAP, forty-year-old Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi has decided to populate the world with electric car recharging stations. The International Herald Tribune reports Agassi's newly-founded "Project Better Place's" plans to "extend the existing electric-power grids with a wide network of intelligent recharging stations in urban areas." Sticking to the cellular phone biz model, Agassi wants to sell motorists juice on a subscription basis, and lease and/or finance the vehicles to end users (that's motorists to you and me). And here's the big difference between your silly ideas and his: the software maven has raised $200m to fund his ambitions. Investors include Israel Corp. (a transportation and technology holding company), Vantage Point Venture Partners (Tesla's backers) and private investors such as booze billionaire Edgar Bronfman Sr. and former World Bank head James Wolfensohn (uh-oh). As for the problem of waiting for a recharge, Agassi envisions a smaller number of "car wash style" automated battery-swapping stations. Meanwhile, it's worth noting that Tesla has yet to deliver a single electric roadster to a customer after multiple production delays, while iPhone has delivered over 1.4m units since its scheduled launch. 

Struth! It's a pretty bizarre state of affairs for automakers down under. Despite Toyota's status as Australia's largest vehicle importer (138,640 vehicles year-to-date), the automaker's calling for the Australian government NOT to lower import tariffs below 10 percent. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald at the Tokyo motor show, Toyota's executive vice-president of global product planning warned that lowering the Ozzie tariff risked crushing the country's exports. Here's the deal. Toyota builds Camrys in Melbourne. If it can't sell enough Camrys locally, then it makes it harder to justify keeping the plant open to export the vehicle to countries in the region. Tokuichi Uranishi reminded the Herald that Melbourne competes for biz with the six other Camry factories worldwide. And a strong Australian dollar isn't helping matters– at all. But the country's Automotive Competitiveness and Investment Scheme (ACIS) is; the feds have pledged import tariff rebates on cars and components worth AUS $7b between 2000 and 2015. So where does all this leave Ford, Holden and Mitsubishi's home-grown products? Splitting less than 20 percent of Oz' domestic market, down from 50 percent ten years ago. 

Detroit News columnist John McCormic joins the chorus of Detroit cheerleaders who echo GM Car Czar Bob Lutz' infamous rallying cry against the transplants' hugely popular products: "soulless appliances!" McCormick's rant was inspired by a Sin City tete-a-tete with ex-Toyota appliance maker and current Chrysler co-Veep Jim Press. After telegraphing the new Chrysler's new party line– damn! we're fast!– the auto scribe portrays Press as an exec on the horns of a dilemma. "Some customers really love the passion and emotion of cars," Press told Big Mac. "When you drive the Viper or the new Challenger, the hair on the back of your neck stands up." And then, a confession. "There are many customers who want to drive appliances and we've got to get better at giving them appliances." The answer? Give 'em both! And there you have it: a "new paradigm" for a resurgent Motown. "Press is not alone in recognizing this viewpoint. General Motors has been laboring hard over the last few years to create a new overall formula for dependable and engaging vehicles and the results are showing in the U.S. market. So too has Ford, although with more success on the dependable side of the equation than the appealing element." Hey, who can argue with that?

OK, here's the rule for car buyers looking to claim a federal tax credit for their hybrid: "Original owners may claim the full amount of the allowable credit up to the end of the first calendar quarter after the quarter in which the manufacturer records its sale of the 60,000th vehicle. For the second and third calendar quarters after the quarter in which the 60,000th vehicle is sold, taxpayers may claim 50 percent of the credit. For the fourth and fifth calendar quarters, taxpayers may claim 25 percent of the credit. No credit is allowed after the fifth quarter." So the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had a butcher's (look) at GM and Ford hybrid sales for the quarter ending Sept. 30 and decided neither automaker's sold enough gas – electric vehicles to start the winding down process. Ford's getting there; The Blue Oval Boyz sold 38,743 hybrids last quarter. GM's not even close, at 9,577 hybrids. For a full list of the qualifying vehicles and the tax credits for each, click HERE. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Toyota blew by the 60k hybrid tax barrier on June 30, 2006. In the second quarter of '07 alone, Toyota sold sold 79,723 hybrids (54,821 Prii). 

After a few months of constant scanning the web for automotive stories, you get a real feel for who covers what, how and when. The Detroit News never fails to identify the stories that count–  but lacks the killer instinct needed to move the game forward. Automotive News is the authority on the hard numbers underpinning the biz, with unparalleled access to the maja playas– but fails to use their knowledge and face time to probe beyond the easy answers to tough questions. The New York Times is excellent at summing-up the issues affecting carland– that hasn't broken a major story in years. In fact, there is no dependable source for hard hitting investigative journalism about one of this country's largest and most important industries. I reckon if that kind of old-fashioned reporting has a logical spiritual home, then it's right here on TTAC. And here's the thing. I've had a word with my paymaster. He might have some funding for a little more editorial help. Now I could use the money to draft in an assistant to remove some of my daily burden. But I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, there's someone out there who has the skills, passion and 'tude to help take TTAC assume its rightful title in the autoblogosphere: muckraker extraordinaire. If there's anyone answering to that description that will work for peanuts, let me know via the contact button. Meanwhile, we'll continue to do the best we can with what we got. And all you guys who previously volunteered to help, hang tight. I'm getting there.

In the face of daily rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel– 13 Kassam rockets and 12 mortar shells were reported fired on Tuesday– the Jewish state has declared the Palestinian-controlled territory an "enemy entity." The decision gives Israel the power to cut off all vital supplies to the region, including electricity and gas. Which they're about to do. Philadelphia's Bulletin quotes a military source who acknowledged the embargo's potential impact on Palestineans' lives and explained the tit-for-tat rationale for constricting fuel supplies. "There's no doubt that a gas shortage will make the Palestinians' lives more difficult. If they don't let us live and move around freely in the Sderot area and its surroundings, they won't move around freely either. Diesel and crude oil will enter the Gaza Strip regularly so as not to affect the ambulances, garbage trucks and fire trucks. As far as we're concerned, there's no problem if the terrorists and local police can't drive around in their private cars. The Palestinian civilians had better realize that Hamas doesn't care about them any more." 

Many of our commentators have pointed-out that automakers hoping to compete against the lean, mean, hybrid-building machine known as Toyota are chasing a moving target. While GM is busy trying to stuff Li-Ion-shaped eggs into a Volt-sized basket, Toyota has just announced they've downsized their nickel metal hydride battery-based gas – electric propulsion system by 50 percent. What's more (or less), they've also reduced their manufacturing cost by 50 percent. Speaking to Reuters at the Tokyo Motor Show, Executive Vice President Kazuo Okamoto (the guy in charge of Toyota's research and development) said the advancement was only to be expected. "When we went from the first-generation Prius to the second-generation, we did the same thing." Okamoto also revealed that ToMoCo's looking to increase the visibility of their Synergy driven vehicles, "perhaps through a unique front grill." As for the diesel-powered alternative to his employer's hybrids, Okamoto admitted that oil burners were more fuel-efficient for long-distance cruising. But he promised that Toyota's future hybrids would meet or beat the challenge. The competition better hope Okamoto's blowing smoke, and act as if he isn't.

Now that Detroit (plus Toyota) has decided that some hike in the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards is better than a BIG hike, Detroit's heavy hitters have hit the nation's capitol seeking support for their position. WSBT reports that Ford Boss Alan Mulally met with [union-supported] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts. Big Al pronounced that Ford is "absolutely committed to providing our customers with vehicles they really want and value. That is why improving the fuel economy of our vehicles and securing energy independence is important and that is why we fully support increases in CAFE." The Associated Press reports that GM CEO Rick Wagoner schmoozed with officials at the White House National Economic Council, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Wagoner poo-poohed CAFE, asserting that the country would be better off developing alternative fuels and advanced batteries for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. “Our only hope is that the policies we pursue in the next 10, 20, 30 years, I hope that we end up with better results.” Meanwhile, some of the proposals “look like a stretch and look tough” and others “don’t look achievable.” Chrysler's Nardelli kept a low profile and ToMoCo was nowhere to be seen. But all three U.S. execs got a tongue lashing at a Democratic party luncheon. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) declared that Motown had resisted past CAFE increases and was now running advertising saying a Senate proposal would “take your pickup truck away.” “I think the issue is over — I think you’ve lost that issue. I think your position is yesterday forever." Maybe, maybe not.

The Chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) doesn't believe "overdealering" should take the rap for Detroit's woes. In an editorial posted on NADA.org and published without comment in Automotive News, Dale Wiley attempts to refute a Detroit Free Press article claiming that a glut of franchisees costs The Big 2.8 some $4b a year. [NB: The article in question has mysteriously disappeared from the newspaper's website.] Rather than address the big picture, Wiley (both by name and by nature) hones-in on the Freep's assertion that the Bigs pick-up the cost of sending vehicles to dealer parking lots. Nit picked and any discussion of actual dealer numbers ignored (GM has some 7100 U.S. dealers while Toyota somehow "makes do" with about 1600), Wiley poses the "real" question. "Will the Detroit 3 will drastically lose market share if they drastically reduce the number of their dealers?" Good question, even if it mistakes cause for effect. Shame the NADA boss doesn't answer it. But we do learn that "research at GM found that a dealership only needs to sell 10 new vehicles a year to pay for the cost of supporting that dealership." Huh? Anyway, here's Wiley's bottom line: "Anti-trust laws impose restrictions on trade associations advocating actions that would reduce competition, so it is inappropriate for NADA to take sides in the debate over dealer numbers." Wink, wink.

There's a lot riding on battery-maker A123's high energy capacitors. Their technology must be improved, tested and perfected for GM's Chevy Volt to make the transition from vaporware to showroom smash. According to Red Herring (how ironic is that?), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and five blue chip companies have placed their chips on the Massachusetts-based high-tech firm: Procter & Gamble (think Duracell), Alliance Capital, Motorola (think cell phones), Qualcomm and General Electric. Not to mention YOU, the American taxpayer. OnPoint, the U.S. Army's investment arm (I'm not making that up) gave A123 a financial boost during its fourth, $40m round of venture capital fund raising. Earlier this week, existing (that's you again) and new investors added another $30m to A123's kitty. And yesterday, GE scored two Department of Energy projects worth $6.8m to "accelerate the development of plug-in hybrids." A123 will perform the research on GE's behalf. Meanwhile, A123 has a drop-deadline of 2010 to get the Volt's batteries ship-shape. If GM loses face on this one, A123 will find it a lot harder to raise funds in the future.  

After I labelled the Volvo P1800 ES a hideous mutation, TTAC commentator beetlebug questioned my aesthetic sensibilities. The usual reply to such cavil: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My fellow pedants will have grasped the facile nature of this aphorism long ago. Hearing is also in the ear of the listener. And? Of course, this oft-repeated gem is nothing more that a rhetorical upraised middle finger to anyone who disagrees with its proponent's idea of beauty. In other words, your opinion of beauty is as subjective as mine. So if I think a Pontiac Aztec is a beautiful vehicle who the Hell do you think you are to tell me it isn't? Nonsense. I once read a study wherein an anarchic academic set out to prove the fallacy of this shibboleth. He schlepped a range of pictures of female beauty all over the world and asked representative of over a hundred different cultures to identify which photographed females were babes, and which ones were dogs. Some eighty percent of ALL respondents identified the same ten percent of subjects as the most comely amongst them. This is not a long-winded and unctuous way of saying I'm right and beetlebug's right. I mean, wrong. OK, it is a bit long-winded, but my main point is this: I'm satisfied with both our readers' initial Ten Worst nominations and the TTAC writers' final twenty. Just as humans have an innate ability to choose which women deserve a little genetic blending, pistonheads are a reliable indicator of automotive excellence or lack thereof. We may not be the ultimate arbiters of which cars suck and which cars soar– the commercial marketplace serves that role– but we are pretty damn good at identifying a pile of steaming crap when we see one. If someone then steps in it, well, disgust is on the foot of the easily offended.