Speaking of Paris Hilton, Chicago is cracking down on the 25k drivers motoring around the windy city on a revoked or suspended license. The Chicago Sun Times reports that the police will now impound the miscreants’ cars. While the Times points out that Chicago probably doesn’t have the storage capacity for the expected influx, we’re more interested in the fact that “Vehicle impoundment has become the city's catch-all penalty for 13 offenses ranging from drunken driving, fly-dumping and prostitution to loud radio playing, drag racing, and drug and curfew violations.” Not to mention the new $1000 “administrative fee” needed to reclaim an impounded automobile. Hey, I thought judges set criminal penalties… 

Under the “Real ID Act,” the federal government will no longer recognize a state’s driving license unless the state procures certain types of personal information, including proof of U.S. citizenship. The bill was watered down– states can ignore the restriction as long as they print a disclaimer on their license— and its enforcement postponed until 2010. Meanwhile, WCSH reports that “fixers” are busing illegal immigrants into Maine to secure a driving license. The DMV’s hands are tied, due to an executive order banning all state employees from asking anyone about their immigration status. As the report points out, once an illegal immigrant has a Maine driving license, they are free to purchase a gun within the state. 

For some time, commentators on this site have bemoaned the lackluster lineup of small pickups on offer stateside. Many suggested that India's Mahindara & Mahindra should enter the U.S. market with a simple, small, economical and tough-as-nails pickup. Well, how about the Mazda BT-50? The Full Throttle section of the iAfrica website signals the arrival of the latest version of the flatbed formerly known as the Drifter. The BT-50 looks like just the ticket for frugal pickup drivers, what with a 3.0-litre common-rail direct-injection turbo diesel engine good for 115kW at 3200rpm and 380Nm of torque at 1800rpm. (Do the math; it's good.) We reckon if it weren't for that damn 25 percent "chicken tax" on imported pickups, the states would be awash with these next gen small pickups, saving gas and kicking ass.

Readers may recall that my previous review of the Subaru Tribeca described the SUV’s front end as a flying vagina. Shortly after this aesthetic assessment hit the web, the San Francisco Chronicle canceled my regular reviews. Both Subaru and BMW banned The Truth About Cars from their press cars. While the column is history and the ban remains, Subaru got the message. The new Tribeca’s front end looks nothing like airborne pudenda, and everything like a Chrysler Pacifica. 

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, and one of Pakistan's most important military locations. (Quetta means fort in Pushto). It's also a German driver's worst nightmare: roads stuffed to the gills with over-loaded smokey wrecks, shopkeepers setting-up stalls on parking spots, traffic lights that don't work (which everyone ignores anyway) and pettifogging wardens who are easily (if not enthusiastically) bought off, who've still managed to write 38,910 tickets so far this year. OK, you say, that describes most of the "developing world." But have you ever wondered if there's a bureaucracy behind the madness trying to bring order to chaos? This story in the Daily Times sheds some representational light on Quetta's microscopic blue line. 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Chrysler has paid an undisclosed amount of money to the Escobar family of Cobb County, Georgia. On June 6, 2006, Gabriel Escobar crushed his brother to death when he shifted the family's 1997 Plymouth Voyager out of park. Although the story claims the death could have prevented by a $9 brake shift interlock– which Chrysler didn't fit to its vehicles until 2001– it's also true that the minivan wouldn't have moved if the Escobar's babysitter hadn't let young Ian "escape" from the house and Mrs. Escobar hadn't left four-year-old Gabriel Escobar unsupervised in the minivan– with the keys in the ignition. Escobar's lawyer claims there have been 23 similar deaths nationwide, including a recent tragedy in Connecticut. In that accident, a toddler knocked a 1999 Grand Voyager out of park, sending it into a lake, drowning four.  

If you had trouble figuring out GM's special offers, rebates, financing deals and incentives in the last post, fear not. It gets worse. Here's an email from a GM dealer. He calls the process "Figure It Out Before It's Over. "Fine print: good only in north central region, except Michigan, unless you live in the following counties… Loyalty programs available, but must have direct mail piece. So you ask the client if he's got one. If yes, where is it? If no, customer is pissed. Extra discount on interest rate for customer if dealer floorplans with GMAC. Extra rebate if old invoiced unit. Different amount depending on date of invoice. Tiered dealer cash by level of achievement toward objective. Different residuals if reg cab, ex cab, 2wd, 4wd, leather, cloth, 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, manual vs. auto, V6 vs. V8. Riddle me this Batman: What incentive do you get on a GM car? Answer: it really doesn't matter because when you finally figure it out, it's changed anyway." 

Why do buff books and big sites feel compelled to be a cheering section for the home team? When these guys catch a glimpse of a Detroit concept car they like, the gloves they took off for their reviews of home-grown product are put under lock and key. And out comes the brass section. Paul Eisenstein over at The Car Connection has tested not one but three FoMoCo ain'tgonnahappenmobiles. Obviously, there's not much there there– other than Ford designer Peter Horbury calling the Toyota Prius the Toyota Pious, albeit "impishly." (I guess he missed the memo on Ford's plug-in hybrid dreams.) So, has Ford green-lighted the Mustang-based Interceptor? "In the future, we have to go in a different direction," cautioned Horbury, adding that "especially with tight budgets," Ford can no longer afford many of these wild and wacky concepts. "We're not going to waste time and money showing something that has no chance of being put into production." Don't you just hate it when they play coy like that? 

A recent email from the increasing inconsolable Buickman (a.k.a. Jim Dollinger) had me shaking my head in disbelief. Buickman listed all the discounts available at your local GM store: AARP, GM Discount, Recent College Grad, Active Military, Olds Owner, Father who was a UAW Retiree, Owned Import Took Overnight Test Drive, Incremental Allowance, Bonus Cash and Matching Down payment. Our own Frank Williams says The General's also offering up to three percent against vehicle purchase on GM's Flexible Earnings credit card, special financing offers ranging from 0% to 4.9% and up to $5000 cash back (depending on the model and trim level). Oh, and don't forget regional deals. NOW how much would you pay for that Chevy Silverado? Hell if I know.

Back in the day, a discerning motorist rocking-up in a Mercedes Benz 300 SEL 6.3 was in no danger of encountering an equally-horsed "baby Benz." These days, the power-crazed pistonhead can purchase a 6.3-liter engine in any one of seven Mercedes body types. And while I'm sure an S-Class sedan has some fancy gizmos you can't buy in a C-Class, I'm not sure they're worth mentioning. But Mercedes' and its luxury competitors' slink downmarket IS worth examination. Are volume sales a form of luxury brand suicide? 

For over two years, we’ve been telling Detroit to wake-up and smell the homily: everything either grows or dies. We’ve admonished them to adapt and evolve. This they haven’t done. The Truth About Cars (TTAC) will continue to chronicle this slow motion train wreck until the last car derails, and beyond. Meanwhile, we’d be hypocritical if we didn’t follow our own advice. The truth is: we’re not growing. So we’re about to shake things up. Again.

In June ’05, GM CEO Rick Wagoner unveiled his turnaround plan for the beleaguered automaker: accelerate new products, eliminate discounts, renegotiate union contracts, import parts from China and downsize to match diminished demand. The last of these five points captured the critics’ imagination. “You can’t cut your way to profits,” they warned. Wagoner reacted with characteristic bravado: “We aren't going out of business in the next six months.” One wonders how those words would sound today, two days after the world learned that GM’s June sales slid 21.3 percent.

In the Dirty Harry movie Sudden Impact, Jennifer Spencer (Sandra Locke) confronts one of the gang members who raped her sister and left her for dead. Even though the cornered perp is looking at the business end of a gun held by a woman who has already killed every other conspirator (shooting them once in the genitals, once in the heart), the gang leader taunts her executioner. "So how's your slut sister?"

Let’s keep things in perspective. Delphi has been in bankruptcy since October 8, 2005. As in "we need protection from our creditors and a new way to do business or we’ll have to throw all our workers onto the streets." Since the former GM subsidiary filed for Chapter 11, the company has lost billions of dollars. To view Delphi’s deal with the UAW as a demonstration of the union’s ability to “accept reality” is like suggesting that a doctor looking at a patient with multiple bullet wounds should be praised for thinking a bit of surgery might be in order.

As a “victim” of the UK’s anti-speeding jihad, I’ve been watching their “safety camera” campaign with morbid fascination. Here you have a reasonably democratic government unleashing a mega-tsunami of electronic surveillance to curb a behavior practiced by the vast majority of its populace. The results have been staggering: millions of licenses imperiled or revoked, tens of millions in pounds in fines collected, no appreciable diminution of violations and no increase in road safety. And yet, the jihadists remain determined to carry on. So when speed camera opponents launched a “scrapcam” petition, I expected a groundswell of support. Silly me.