A blogger recently concluded that The Truth About Cars (TTAC) is the exact opposite of traditional blog. Our posts offer crazed and demented commentary– which our readers counter with careful and well-reasoned analysis. Yes, well, TTAC is certainly home to the most intelligent and engaged readership in the biz. I am constantly astounded by our readers’ wisdom, passion and insight. While TTAC is dwarfed by the mainstream automotive media, this is the place where crucial ideas are stress tested by an informed audience. I can not thank you enough for your contribution to TTAC’s editorial development. Now click on the damn Michelin ad. And listen up: we need your help.

About three years ago, GM CEO Rick Wagoner made a critical decision about his company’s products. Rather than radically revamp The General's full-sized SUV’s or divert serious time, energy and money into small car development, Rabid Rick decreed that GM should rush through a “refresh” of their current Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban and Escalade. At the precise moment that these new[ish] four-speed gas guzzlers arrived, safety, environmental and fuel prices whacked the genre. Strangely, both pundits and PR flacks were nonplussed. These things are good. They’ll sell. How wrong can you be? Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t you hear? The GMT900’s are a flop.

I recently received a review of the Cadillac BLS penned by a South African scribe. While the writer responded to my revisions by retreating to the pub, I couldn’t stop thinking about the obscure object of his ire. The execrable BLS– a Saab 9-3 reskin with neither style nor grace– was born in the middle of GM’s so-called product renaissance. BLS sales projections started at 20k units per year, then fell to 10, then seven. And now I learn that instead of killing this poor-selling, po-faced, brand-defiling half-breed, GM has appointed one Wolfgang Schubert to “save” the BLS.

GM’s investment in The People’s Republic of China presents two main dangers. First, it extends GM’s supply chain over an enormous distance. Second, it enmeshes The General in the economy of a non-democratic country. Frank Williams has already raised the alarm over the possibility of Chinese nationalization. We’ve also highlighted the chances of de facto nationalization; based on western automakers’ [mandatory] partners’ history of stealing Western designs and technology. In all this, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that GM’s money is propping up a communist dictatorship.

A small bump in the road traversed at the slightest discernible angle on dry pavement at 50mph will send the Shelby GT500’s rear end sideways with enough violence to engage the traction control. If you don't care, God bless you. I fully understand and appreciate your perspective: muscle cars are about power, not finesse. Finesse is for people who aren’t willing to risk their childrens' future to experience a few moments of high horsepower hoonery. Fine. But include me out.

Plenty of pundits predict the world's largest automaker will jump down, turnaround, pick a bale of bucks and survive. We can debate this delusional supposition all day. You say new CUV's are a comin'; I say it takes two CUV’s to make the same profit as one old school SUV. You say union givebacks; I say dream on. But let’s face facts: GM is toast. Uber-investor Kirk Kerkorian knows it. GM CEO Rabid Rick Wagoner knows it (along with his in-house bankruptcy expert Jay Alix). The sooner GM throws in the towel the better.

The day my high school classmate flipped the bird at a Lincoln Continental was the day I learned that handling is more important than horsepower. VINNIE (as proclaimed by his vanity plate) decided that my erstwhile friend’s one finger salute justified our immediate extinction. His black Lincoln rammed the back of my Ford Pinto station wagon as I entered the highway on-ramp. Although I later learned that the Pinto tended to explode in such circumstances, even then I knew I had to drive as if my life depended on it. If only because it did.

In Friday’s interview with Automotive News (AN), Rick Wagoner snapped. When confronted with the fact that Toyota is set to overtake GM as the world’s largest automaker, the CEO stopped making sense and started talking to himself. “I can't argue that if you keep drawing the trend lines, your conclusion is correct. Is it inevitable? No. No it's not inevitable. If Toyota passes us, I guess they pass us. Do I like it? No. Am I willing to take us off our plan or to sacrifice our profitability or the implementation of our marketing strategy here? No, I'm not willing to do that. If we're going to stay ahead, we're going to stay ahead doing it the right way and a sustainable way." 

The sex industry has a motto: if you don't get it, it's not for you. Never mind all those activities involving non-reproductive bodily fluids, military fatigues and/or extra-legal restraining orders, I don't get hookers. I'm not saying I don't understand why other people employ prostitutes, and I'm not saying I've never paid for sex (and not in that "one way or another" sense). But if I had done so, I am saying I probably would have found it an incredibly unsatisfying experience. (Can you imagine the tortuous language OJ Simpson must use in his non-confessional confessional?) Same goes for rental cars.

Of all Ford's Bold Moves, the fact that the automaker continues to provide Jonny Lieberman with press cars is easily the most impressive. Despite Mr. Neundorf's take-no-prisoners Ford Death Watch, despite Mr. Mehta's ceaseless accusations of core model neglect, despite Mr. Lieberman's withering reviews of Ford products, the automaker seems perfectly willing to afford our West Coast wheelman major seat time in their latest offerings. JL reports that The Blue Oval Boys wanted him to sample his latest loan– a Fusion four-banger mit stick– 'cause it's the sportiest variant of their front wheel-drive mid-size sedan– not because it's the most unloved vehicle in their press fleet. [FYI: Plenty of pro car hacks can't drive a manual transmission.] That's OK with us (the loan part, not the fact that a car journalist can row his own boat). Many of TTAC's most popular reviews center on garden variety machines, rather than mortagage level luxury cars or expensive exotics. We look forward to reading Jonny's take on the "base" model's dynamic capabilities. Even when– I mean "if" Ford goes belly-up, we will remember this mitzvah, knowing that somewhere within that giant organization someone has their priorities straight. When all is said and done, that still counts for something. 

What do China, Thailand, India, Mexico, Eastern Europe and Venezuela have in common? They’re not America. Or, if you prefer, the United Auto Workers don't work there. Which is why General Motors is planning on producing its new Gamma Gamma Hey small car platform in these low-cost labor countries– and exporting the wee beastie to the US and other "developed" nations. In fact, it’s increasingly clear that GM is trying to outsource/globalize/synergize its way out of trouble. It seems to make sense: building standardized products in non-unionized factories will save the carmakers billions. But are they going about it the right way?

Has anyone noticed that Toyota’s new pickup truck production plant is located in the same Texas town as The Alamo? I know: metaphorically speaking, it’s not a perfect fit. The Alamo has come to symbolize the spirit of any small group of believers holding out against overwhelming odds. In that sense, it should be Texas-built domestic pickups facing Mexican-built Toyota Tundras. Only Toyota is the little guy in this battle. Well, sort of. Anyway, no matter how you look at it, this whole pickup truck thing is shaping-up to be a Texas-sized brawl, and anyone who discounts ToMoCo’s chances (so to speak) is making a big mistake. 

Last Friday, JWT invited me to the Big Apple to discuss their Bold Moves internet documentary series. The ad agency wanted to interview “one of Ford’s fiercest critics” about their client’s decision to “pull back the curtain” on their turnaround efforts. Although JWT was only paying my expenses, I was inspired to make the journey by Mark Fields’ parting words in the opening episode: “the American people love the truth.” This is perfectly true and completely beside the point. The question is, does Ford love the truth?

Voting for The Truth About Cars’ Ten Worst Automobiles Today (TWAT) awards has now closed. We will reveal the ten winners/losers next week, once our writers have penned their pithy pillories and our new PR flack has been prepared. Meanwhile, our esteemed (though not necessarily by us) colleagues have begun their annual love-ins. Motor Trend has named the Mercedes GL450 their SUV of the Year– testing the controversial theory that the most expensive vehicle is also the best. Edmunds has unveiled their “most wanted” list, with no fewer than 32 winners (TTAC snipers note: only two domestic gongs). Thankfully, the awards season isn’t all ad-scented fluff. For example, here’s the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) 2005 list of America’s most stolen vehicles:

I suppose it was only a matter of time before some video maven caught site of The Truth About Cars (TTAC) and thought, hmmm, that might make an interesting TV show. Obviously, any program along those lines would A) have about as much chance of landing a major sponsor as a Kansas fisherman pulling a swordfish from the Keith Seblius Resevoir and B) would boldly go where Top Gear has gone before. With pay-per-view channels and YouTube, the first objection is surmountable. The second is more problematic. Top Gear is a well-funded (via the UK's TV tax) program with all the best toys and… Jeremy Clarkson. Yes, even from that tiny, cold island in the North Sea, the semi-journalistic stylings of "Jezza" cast a long shadow over anyone who seeks to tell the truth about cars with rhetorical flourish. I think TTAC TV would have one main advantage over Top Gear: no Jeremy Clarkson. While I admire the man's wit, prose and telegenic charisma, he's a first class bully and a meglomaniac, with bells on. If Lieberman, Johnson, Farago and Spinelli ever get it together video-wise, more than half the fun would come from the "happy talk" interplay between the different personalities. Bottom line: we all respect each other enough to provide the open space for our natural creativity to emerge. That said, this podcast is a celebration of Jonny's virtuosity mit de RS4. Another Clarkson? Please God no.