Reuters reports that a Rand Corporation research study concludes that younger drivers are more likely to cause accidents than older drivers. While older drivers make up 15 percent of American drivers, they cause seven percent of accidents. Younguns make up 13 percent of U.S. drivers and cause 43 percent of accidents. The study does not appear to differentiate between the severity of accidents (fatalities, property damage, etc) and fails to list accident causation– data critical for any determination of the relative safety of each driving population. Unfortunately for those long in the tooth, the study says that the elderly are seven time more likely to die in an accident than the whipper snappers, largely due to senior citizens' frail nature and often poor health. 

We've said it before: The Big 2.8 are on such shaky ground that it wouldn't take much to tip one or more into bankruptcy. While it's easy to focus on the big issues– UAW contracts, new products plans, foreign entanglements, etc.– a coupe de grace could come from any quarter. Automotive News [sub]  reports that The International Union of Electronics Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) have notified Delphi that they plan to terminate their contract with the bankrupt parts maker– a first step toward a possible October strike. It has also withdrawn permission given to Delphi to use temporary workers. It's hard to believe that the future of the entire American automotive industry could rest with 2000 employees (and one union boss), but not impossible. If Delphi goes dark in October, bad things will happen.

Proctor & Gamble are keepin' it real by extending their Mr. Clean brand of car wash products into an actual car wash. The Enquirer reports that the Cincinnati-based conglomerate has opened the first of two Mr. Clean Performance Car Washes within miles of its corporate HQ. Mr. Clean (not an actual person) offers services ranging from a $9 stay-in-the-car express wash up to a $69 full-service interior and exterior clean. While the cynical amongst you might conclude that the move reflects P&G execs' desire for super-clean company whips, the $3.3m facility is [also] an attempt to capitalize on the car wash industry's growth. Industry boosters claim automated car washes are a $35b industry in the U.S., growing at about 10 percent a year. Yes, but– P&G's move into bricks and mortar represents a major change of focus– and risk– for a company known for its ultra-conservative brand management. 

"There's a plug mounted in the bumper. When I'm on the road and I take the car to a hotel, I drive around the parking lot looking for a Coke machine. When I find one, I park close to it, so I can plug in. Then it takes six to eight hours to charge." Ladies and gentlemen, the plug-in hybrid has arrived (along with warm sodas and pissed-off Coca Cola reps). The San Francisco Chronicle reports that wealthy Prius owners are paying a Bay Area company called Hybrids Plus to convert their gas – nickel hydride-powered sedan into a lithium-ion battery-powered plug-in. The cost, including the car and an optional range extension pack: $60k. Despite concerns about fire safety, the conversion process appears to be legal. California Air Resources Board spokeswoman Karen Caesar: "We are not encouraging people to disassemble their Prii to turn them into plug-ins."

Australia is home to four major automobile manufacturers whose combined domestic sales total just under 1m cars per year. As this Herald Sun article points out, Ford of Australia faces a stark choice: export or die. At the moment, the automaker is heading in the wrong direction. With a lineup bereft of fuel sippers (sound familiar?), the automaker's Australian sales fell 9.9 percent in the first six months of '06, even as the country's total vehicle sales rose 8.5 percent. Ford is now closing its Geelong plant, ceasing production of its locally built in-line six, switching to a US-sourced V6 engine after 2010. On the positive side, by holstering the U.S. compliant powerplant, Ford of Australia's all-new, rear wheel-drive Falcon (due in 2012) could become a "global car." The article posits that this model could replace the doomed Crown Vic. But will it? Will an unfavorable exchange rate scupper any such plans? Will the Ford corporate mothership even be around to make it so? 

"We anticipate [that the U.S.] will still be the most profitable market in the decade ahead. It's really key not to be excessively dependent on the U.S., but you still need to be successful in the U.S." It’s no surprise that GM Chief Sales Analyst Paul Ballew sent mixed messages to the financial community when revealing GM’s Q2 sales results. Not to put too fine a point on it, the automaker’s U.S. market share continues to evaporate while its overseas operations continue to expand. The General’s growing foreign sales aren’t enough to compensate for the company’s North American sinkhole, but it gave GM’s spinmeister something to spin. Such is the way of things at GM these days.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Sergio Giron is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, a member of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang (a.k.a. MS-13) and a convicted felon. Having served a 346-day sentence for assault with a deadly weapon after shooting a gang defector (charges since dropped), Giron awaits deportation hearings. To pay for an immigration lawyer, Giron’s fellow gang members began stealing cars and chopping them for parts. The admission illustrates the direct link between car theft and organized crime and, as this report from The Boston Globe points out, international terrorism. It's high time the states stepped-up their cooperation with federal authorities in this area.

As one of our regular commentators recently pointed out, Lexus owes much of its success to their dealer experience. The recently opened Newport Lexus in Newport Beach, California raised the luxury automaker's retail game to the next level. Designed and built by by Sauers Construction Inc., the $73m pleasure dome offers customers a putting green, game room, multiple lounges with giant-screen TVs, restroom stalls with smaller (though plasma TVs), wireless Internet, executive workroom, Wolfgang Puck cafe and Tommy Bahama boutique. Oh, and cars. The only thing Newport doesn't have is an attractive building. In fact, the Seattle Times coverage of the refurbished Lexus of Bellevue dealership confirms the trend: bland, monolithic surfaces adorning large pedestrian shapes. While Lexus' "L-Finesse" design language is moving their cars away from cod-Mercedes shapes, the Japanese automaker's dealership architecture remains heavily influenced by parking garages, government buildings and maximum security prisons.   

The San Jose Mercury news reports that the California legislature has pulled over Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the good intention-paved road to Hell. If that sounds confusing, that's because it is. The headline: Sen. Dean Florez, D-Bakersfield accused the Governator of rigging state contracts to favor GM products. The story behind the story: federal laws forced the state to buy alternative-fuel vehicles; only "flex-fuel" Chevrolet Impalas and Silverado pickups met the contract requirements. (So Kalifornia bought 1,138 of 'em.) The story behind the story that's behind the story: there's no place to fuel these vehicles with E85, save a privately owned station in San Diego (that the state doesn't use). When confronted with the facts, Florez wanted to know why the State didn't apply for a waiver that would have allowed them to buy "real" green machines. The man who OK'ed the contract had a simple reply: "Demand creates supply." Who knew?

"We now know — beyond any doubt — that minority drivers are targeted for humiliating, degrading roadside searches even though there is no evidence that they have broken any laws." That's how Harvey M. Grossman, Legal Director of the Illinois ACLU interprets recent stats prepared by the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety for the Illinois Department of Transportation. According to the report, in 2006, Illinois police officers asked 0.68% of white drivers for consent to search their car during traffic stops, compared to 2.04% of minority drivers. The ACLU wants to redress this balance by eliminating ALL consent searches (i.e. a police request for a search despite a lack of probable cause or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity). "State police forces in California and New Jersey have ended the practice of conducting consent searches," Grossman said. "The Illinois General Assembly should examine this data and move quickly to bar the practice in our state."

The Smart Automotive Group [website "under construction," no relation to the SMART city car] got more than a slap-on-the-wrist for sending out "promotions" on behalf of Georgia car dealers. The Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) whacked owners Michael and Ben Burst $1,660,320 each for violating the Fair Business Practices Act. Specifically, the Louisiana agency arranged ads that claimed ordinary sales were "liquidations" or "Georgia's only reprocessed vehicle event," told consumers they'd won cars they hadn't, misrepresented the monthly payments and the number of cars available for sale and claimed customers were preapproved for loans when they weren't. And this is AFTER they told the OCA they were no longer doing business in the state. Nice how the dealerships can shuffle off the blame to the advertising company, when they approved the ad copy and benefited from its mischaracterization. 

Earlier this year, GM admitted it was getting creamed on the coasts; the General promised to launch major marketing efforts to reclaim major metropolitan areas. Other than Chevy's recent tie-in with Rolling Stone magazine, we've seen little of what could be called bi-coastalistic marketing. Meanwhile, Toyota continues to target their new full-size Tundra pickup at the American heartland. Tomorrow, visitors to Minot's North Dakota State Fairgrounds will get a chance to put the Texas-built pickup through its paces as part of Toyoya's "Tundra, Prove it!" campaign. The high touch experience includes a limited slip diff demo, an "acceleration run" and a "braking zone" test with and without load. GM would be well-advised to watch its back.  

Pistonheads lamenting the rise of the machine will not be heartened to hear there's a new acronym in town: ICAV. "Intersection Crash Avoidance, Violation" systems sound an alarm if a driver is about to run a stop sign, red light or other mission critical intersection warning. According to a pdf downloadable at Accidentreconstruction.com, researchers are set to field test practical ICAV systems. While enthusiasts may regret yet another attempt to "dumb down" safe driving, there's no denying the magnitude of the problem. In 1999, some 261k light vehicle crashes occurred at intersections where a driver was later charged with running a stop sign. That same year, 133k crashes involved traffic signal violations.

Wards has posted the results of The Prospect Satisfaction Index, a survey compiled by Pied Piper Management of Pacific Grove, CA. We have our doubts about the methodology– and not just because of the company's name. According to Wards, Pied Piper's professional pollsters asked an undisclosed number of prospects an unspecified series of “yes” and “no” questions at 1,592 dealerships. We also have our doubts about the results. The study asserts that only five percent of respondents were "oversold." Pushy salesmen? Pied Piper's Pied Piper says it's purely a pernicious perception problem. “The treatment prospects receive on average is very good and professional,” says Fran O’Hagan. So now you know.

Ynet,com reports that 90 percent of vehicles stolen in Israel are taken to the West Bank, where they're dismantled and used as spare parts for garages serving… Israeli clients. To drop the hammer on the chops shops, MK Moshe Kahlon (Likud) is introducing a bill that makes it a crime for Israeli citizens to service their cars across the "Green Line." Why punish Israelis with a three-year jail sentence instead of going after illegal parts trade? We're thinking it's a blend of politics and practicality. MK Kahlon summarized the latter justification most eloquently: "Our goal is not to fight the flies, but to dry out the swamp. Once we reach a stage in which they don't have customers, they won't have to steal cars in order to obtain spare parts."