All this talk about the Porsche Panamera over the weekend (review to follow, eventually) had me thinking about automotive desirability. I reckon when you get to a certain price point, all rational considerations disappear in a cloud of Franklins. Anyone who buys a car for over $100,000 or so owns at least another two or five or twelve other vehicles. So they’re not bothered about any one car’s resale value or reliability. Vehicle choice is purely a question of taste. The higher up you go in this pistonhead pantheon, the more true this becomes. So, while anyone contemplating this choice of whips could probably buy both, I’m interested to see which way our Best and Brightest falls. If you had to put one of these in your garage, would you opt for the world’s fastest Bug or the gold-plated Big Mac?
Posts By: Robert Farago
In fact, Jean Jennings loves her some, well, anything—as long as the company providing the four-wheeled thing butters her bread either directly or indirectly (via advertising). Way back in March 2008, TTAC took the president and editor-in-chief of Automobile magazine to task for pimping for Jeep. Now, even as Old GM becomes Old GM II (a.k.a. New GM), the bankrupt automaker’s turning to Jean for a spirited defense of their beleaguered plug-in Hail Mary. This, remember, is the car the pre-C11 GM Presidential Task Force on Automobiles dismissed as . . . well, shall we recap? “GM is at least one generation behind Toyota on advanced, “green” powertrain development. In an attempt to leapfrog Toyota, GM has devoted significant resources to the Chevy Volt. While the Volt holds promise, it is currently projected to be much more expensive than its gasoline-fueled peers and will likely need substantial reductions in manufacturing cost in order to become commercially viable.” Anyway, misery loves company. Automobile magazine’s owner, Source Interlink, recently emerged from bankruptcy. Despite the objection of the IRS. See what paying Bill Clinton $15.4 million in do-nothing consulting fees can do for you?
We haven’t said much about the United Auto Workers (UAW) lately. That’s because the union has kept a low profile. And why wouldn’t they? At the expense of nothing very much, their members continue to either draw the same paycheck (on the government’s dime) or cash-out (on the government’s dime). They also get billions in (federal) cash money into their VEBA health care superfund. And stock in both New Chrysler and New GM. Not that they really wanted a stake in their zombie masters, but, hey, it’s better than getting slapped in the face with a wet fish. Still, ’tis the nature of the beast to bitch. On the union’s far left, the The Party for Socialism and Liberation (“a newly formed working class party of leaders and activists from many different struggles, founded to promote the movement for revolutionary change”) has a thing or two to say about the UAW’s New Deal with New Chrysler. Only it doesn’t sound like the stuff of barricade manning.
The Louisiana State Legislature last week sent Governor Bobby Jindal (R) a bill that will stop small towns from padding their budgets by issuing minor speeding tickets on interstate highways. In adopting the measure, state lawmakers put themselves on the record for the first time in clear support of red light cameras and speed cameras. State Representative Hollis Downs (R-Ruston) has spent the past four years negotiating a compromise with local officials and law enforcement agencies to shut down speed traps. The state’s Legislative Auditor found fifteen cities made more than half their budget from speeding tickets (view report). Under the bill introduced by Downs, non-home rule jurisdictions would not be allowed to retain any revenue from speeding tickets issued for violations of between one and ten MPH over the speed limit on an interstate. Instead, the state will pocket the revenue.
Facing mounting political pressure, GM’s new masters have agreed to allow new liability cases against products made by old (pre- and intra-bankruptcy) GM to proceed against New (post-pre-bankruptcy). According to the New York Times, the deal went down in federal bankruptcy court on Friday. “G.M. and the administration’s [hands-off] auto task force have been negotiating with more than a dozen state attorneys general who have objected to the company’s plan to sell its desirable assets to a new, government-financed entity. A hearing to approve the plan is scheduled for Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan.” So, that’s that then. The Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer Victims of GM and Chrysler can relax. Comcast can kick back. Rep. Andre Carson can chill. Or can they?
Check out the site: 2010lacrosse.com. Does Buick know that the song they’re planning to use to launch the new LaCrosse ends:
So now I’m praying for the end of time
To hurry up and arrive
Cause if I gotta spend another minute with you
I don’t think that I can really survive
I’ll never break my promise or forget my vow
But God only knows what I can do right now
I’m praying for the end of time
It’s all that I can do
Praying for the end of time, so I can end my time with you
Revving your engine will soon be a crime punishable by a fine of up to $500 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mayor Martin Chavez (D) proposed adding a blip of the throttle to the city ordinance listing “nuisances” that the city uses as a justification to seize automobiles. The city council is expected to vote on the idea next month. “It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in exhibition driving in the Downtown Quiet Zone by operating a vehicle in a manner that willfully creates excessive engine noise because of revving the engine to magnify the engine noise,” the proposed ordinance states.
“This weekend we’ll be choosing which Chrysler [factory] we’ll be using to produce the Fiat 500 aimed at the US market” said the CEO of Fiat Group, Sergio Marchionne. “We shall probably produce the full Alfa Romeo range. The reason why we’ve slowed on the brand’s development was to follow the US situation. Now that we’ve clarified the Chrysler dossier, we know what to do in order to link up to their distribution network and we can actually offer the full range of products. The new 147 will be coming out next year and will go into production in Cassino this year, so we’ll be seeing it at the Geneva Show in 2010. A whole series of vehicle developments will follow on from this. We shall probably also be making the so-called crossover, the new 69, when the Alfa flagship comes out, but on a platform shared with Chrysler. The whole range will be re-designed.”
We were given the heads-up on the cashforclunkersheadquarters.com website by the Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT was not well pleased with the site’s assumption of governmental authority re: Uncle Sam’s Cash for Clunkers or CARS program (as we reported). This email arrived just arrived from Mrs. Name Redacted, reprinted here without editing. I’ve emailed Mrs. NR to request the suggested interview.
Political interference in New GM? As Mass. Rep. Barney Frank’s Norton constituents will tell you, it’s not who you know—no, wait, it is. The Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer Victims of GM and Chrysler—the consortium of lawyers trying to make New GM liable for Old GM’s vehicles—must not know any pols senior enough to bend GM to their will. Oh wait! They do! Indiana Representative Andre Carson, who’s just introduced an as-yet-unnumbered bill to do what GM’s suits and a federal bankruptcy judge won’t. It’s not unnamed though: “The Jeremy Warriner Consumer Protection Act of 2009.” Warriner is an Indiana resident who lost both legs in an accident in his Jeep; his product liability lawsuit fell afoul of Chrysler’s “transformation” in bankruptcy. The odds of the bill’s passage may not be high, but its existence proves that the fate of Government Motors lies in the hands of elected officials, rather than the US consumer. As if you didn’t know.
I don’t mind tripping the light fantastic with PR people. No journalist should expect to get the straight dope or the inside line from a person paid to protect his employer from the slightest ding to their rep. It’s the dark side. Deal. And here’s the deal with this story, wherein an ad hoc committee of lawyers created an ad taking New Chrysler and Old Soon-to-be-New GM to task for trying to walk away from post-C11 product liability.
Do we really want to have this debate again? You know, the one where Detroit’s defenders claim that federal “loans” are loans not bailout bucks? I guess so. After all, the MSM has been all about Ford being the only domestic not to receive a federal bailout. And now we hear that The Blue Oval Boys have landed a $5.9 billion dollar retooling loan from the Department of Energy. As expected. “Our business plan assumed about the amount we got,” FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally told Reuters. “It’s very consistent with our plan.” Automotive News [sub] reports that Ford. Wants. More.
[mail to:catherine.m.karol@gm.com]
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 7:04 PM
To: Koles, Kathryn
Subject:
Kathryn –
I got your voicemail indicating that you had finished your reviewed of the issue ad that we discussed briefly earlier today. As I mentioned earlier, the ad has already run at least one time on MSBC on Friday, June 19 at 11:49am EDT.
GM’s concern with ad that can be found at www.protestgm-chrysler.com is that it inaccurately suggests that GM and Chrysler have taken identical positions with regard to product defect and porduct liability issues. Of greatest concern to us is the insinuation that “defects would no longer be reported let alone fixed” by GM. This is certainly not the case for GM, as is noted elsewhere in several other places on the website. A letter from theSenate Commerce Committee to Fritz Henderson that is described on the website can be viewed in the link below — it acknowledges that GM has already agreed to assume those responsibilities in the new company.
We may have further issues to discuss regarding this ad. but I thought it might be useful to get that one if frontof your prior to our further conversation. Thanks again for the opportunity to weigh in.
Regards-
Kate
313.667.6186 (o)
313.378.6535 (c)
__________________
Here’s a link to the letter to from the Senate Commerce Committee.
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/FINALLettertoHendersonandGM.pdf
One wonders how many entries the Renewable Fuels Association received for their “online ethanol contest” designed to “get a new generation of Americans, mainly college students, engaged in the promotion and support of ethanol.” Domesticfuel.com claims that this video was chosen by “thousands of people across the country.” Oh, wait! “From there, a panel of judges selected the final winner, based on creativity, quality and relevance. McAfee won a Macbook Air computer for his winning entry.” Anyway, it looks like we’re a bit late to this “story.” Never mind. “The Fuel-Flex Challenge was sponsored by the Kansas Corn Commission, the Kentucky Corn Growers Association, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program and the Renewable Fuels Association. The fun will continue this summer with the launch of a new photo contest. Stay tuned for more details.” We will!
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