A certain website that concerns itself with facts about automobiles, had opined more than a month ago: “Once matters move to Brussels, they come to a crawl. Whoever wins the German elections has all the time they want to dispose of Opel. If it goes kaput, they can blame the Americans and Brussels.”
The Opel matter finally moved to Brussels. EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said, she could set aside her considerable qualms about the GM-Opel-Magna-Sperbank deal, if only all parties involved would send her a simple letter that certifies that the deal had not been reached under political pressure. All parties involved, meaning GM, the Opel Trust that officially owns Opel, and the German government. Scout’s honor. Cross your heart, and swear to … exactly. Read More >
Volkswagen and Porsche are about to make it official, as Volkswagen has now bought nearly 49.9 percent of Porsche. And though we’ve had plenty of time to get used to the idea, there are some troubling indications for the future of the Porsche brand in particular. As usual, the worries begin with an executive (in this case, VW/Porsche’s Michael Macht) explaining exactly how the company will be able to have its cake and eat it too.
Porsche needs to become a strong pillar of VW, as well as having its own production and research and development capabilities. It is important to use synergies as well as having independence… Any new model would have to be exclusive, sporting and make a good business case. In any segment Porsche has to be the most exclusive, as well as being the best quality and capable of delivering the best driving experience
Unsurprisingly though, these fine sentiments are mere prelude to the nasty reality.
Another day, another Opel that is still not sold yet. As reported before, EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes made good on her previous threats (which were ignored in wholesale fashion) and said that the €4.5b ($6.72b) in – mostly German – state aid for Opel may be against EU rules. So what now? One option seems to take Opel into insolvency. But there’s another way to fix it: GM needs to certify that the Opel/Magna/Sperbank deal came together “without political pressure.” So says the German car dealer’s favorite read, Das Autohaus. If Brussels gets such a letter, then the qualms they have about possible anti-competitive behavior will just go away. It’s that easy? Read More >
The Wall Street Journal reports that GM is developing a plan B, should the European Union decide that the German government subsidies upon which the Opel deal depends are a violation of some rule or another. “[EU competition commissioner Neelie] Kroes pointed to ‘significant indications’ that Germany had made €4.5 billion ($6.72 billion) in state aid for Opel contingent on Magna winning the bid, therefore violating EU state aid and market rules.” GM now has a window of opportunity to reconsider the whole schmeer—as does the German government, Magna and their Russian sponsors. GM’s backup plan? Keep control of Opel and implement “deeper restructuring actions than Magna is planning . . . GM would fund the restructuring, which includes far more drastic headcount reductions, by soliciting government support or putting Opel into insolvency.” Which should be popular with about-to-strike Opel workers. Oh, and which government was that? Our government? No, of course not. Still, he/she who owns the gold . . .
In our Regal-welcoming thread, Martin Schwoerer noted that the Insignia is smaller inside than the Cruze. And guess what? He’s right (trust but verify). The German-market Cruze has 963 mm (37.9 inches) of rear kopffreiheit, while Insignia comes in at 910 cm (35.8 inches) according (PDF) to the guys at motor-talk.de (who cite sources ). These same resourceful forum denizens also dug up the range of distances between the rear and front seats on the Insignia and some competitors and by comparison, Insignia rear seating isn’t sitting pretty.
Today’s the day GM, Magna, Sperbank, the Unions, the Opel Trust, and a whole host of others are supposed to finally, at long last, definitely sign the contracts that seal Opel’s new fate and future under the Magna/Sperbank regime. At the time of this typing, it looks like the signatures will remain blank. Who’s holding up the flow of ink? Read More >
Until recently, popular wisdom had it that Germans would rather not eat than give up their cars. According to lore, Germans even eschew back seat loving – because it might spoil the immaculate interior. Horrors of horrors: The Teutonic automotive love affair may be losing its lust. Nearly one third of Germans contemplate getting rid of at least one of their cars in the next six to twelve months. This according to a study commissioned by Europcar, a large European car rental company that has a vested interest in these developments. The shocking study has been published in Das Autohaus.
Last year, only 17 percent of the Germans had announced they would dump their cars and switch to public transportation, car sharing, rental cars, or mopeds. Never mind that they didn’t follow through. According to the ever so efficient Kraftfahrtbundesamt, Germans bought 26.1 percent more cars in the first nine months of 2009 than in 2008. Sales of used cars dropped by only 1.6 percent. Europcar hopes that a new trend is their friend: All indications say the German Abwrackprämien-powered sales orgy is about to experience a sudden interuptus in October after the financial lube has dried up. But a third of German cars being retired and not replaced next year? A rental car company’s wet dream.
A major complaint about the current BMW M5 was that it traded its walk-softly-and-carry-a-big-stick cachet for muscle-bound advertisement of its steroidal abilities. The New York Times‘ reportage on the European tradition of badge deletion concludes that Americans simply don’t appreciate a good Q-ship the way they do on the continent. And the thesis is probably correct. When was the last time you saw a BMW that didn’t advertise its cubic centimeter displacement (or something like it) on its rear trunklid? Probably not since the last time you saw an out-of-place “M” or “AMG” badge on an obviously downmarket model. Fine, so the American super-sedan buyer wants some badge for their buck. It’s understandable. All I ask for is the option of making an M5 look indistinguishable from a grandfatherly 528. And BMW’s decision to downsize the M5 from a V10 to a turbocharged V8 makes the next M5 the perfect opportunity to do so. As the muted engine note in this video reveals, if nothing else, the option still exists.
Since VW and Porsche started playing footsie, there have been enough twists and turns to fill TTAC’s pages with nothing but Deutsche drama. First there was Porsche’s audacious bid for Volkswagen’s. Then, there was Volkswagen’s fight back to take over Porsche. Now, the Norwegians are unhappy. Norges Bank Investment Management, the bank which manages the fund invests Norway’s huge oil revenues, fear that the takeover of Porsche by Herr Piech and his band of Merry Volkswageners will, as the NBIM said in a letter to the members of the board of Volkswagen, “leave the impression of being designed to suit the needs of the Porsche controlling families.” Avarice? In the Porsche families? What next?
It’s been a long time since anyone has taken on the many makers of Lotus 7-based sportscars. These kitcar cottage industries have made many updates to their drivetrains over the years, perking up Colin Chapman’s classic design with engines from ranging from Ford Duratecs to Suzuki Hayabusa mills to handbuilt V8s. But these have been incremental changes, keeping the look and underpinnings of the original unchanged. What has yet to be attempted is a fresh-sheet, 21st Century re-imagining of the classic form. Until the krauts behind Roding came along, anyway. Auto Motor und Sport shows off renderings of their all-new lightweight roadster, developed with help from Munich Technical University and set to debut as a production car in 2011. Though it looks 7-like, it’s actually a mid-engine design, which is how we imagine Herr Chapman would create his own all-new 7 (witness the Elise). The engine itself is a 400 hp turbocharged five-pot (of Audi extraction?), which gives the Roding Roadster a power-to-weight ratio of about 6.5 pounds per horsepower, or about the same as an F430. So 2,400 pounds isn’t quite in the same featherweight class as the 7, but the Roding looks like quite the compelling interpretation of a classic roadster.
Porsche’s current Boxster goes bye-bye in 2012, and to keep things moving Zuffenhausen appears to be bringing at least two special editions to market. First up, Auto Motor und Sport‘s Erlkönig spies have caught a Boxster-based Speedster mule testing in Germany. Speedsters are an integral component of Porsche’s rich heritage, first as a 356 variant, and later as limited edition 911s. This latest version should hit the streets in 2010 with a 303 hp version of the 3.4 liter Boxster flat six, a shortened windscreen and other Speedster visual cues (like the weird camouflaged humpback shown here) . But the real news comes from car Magazine, which claims to have caught sight of a Boxster R.
The outsourcing v.v. insourcing debate has been waged for decades in the auto industry. GM just realized there is one. “The balance of power has shifted. The profits are made by the people who have the technological know-how, and that’s the suppliers,” quoth GM Europe VP Carl-Peter Forster last night, while Focus was taking notes.
Forster is expected to take over the CEO job of Opel, owned by the Magna/Sberbank/GM cabal. Is he just pandering to the new guys in charge? Oh no. Just the opposite . . . Read More >
Farago clearly enjoyed his time with the old Golf R32, but I’ve always thought there was something not quite right about V6-powered Golfs. Considering VW has approximately 750 vehicles based on the same platform, I figure you save the six-pot for the Audi. Anyway, my pedantic preferences are remarkably in line with, well, rising efficiency standards, so VW’s latest top-end Golf is getting a turbo four just like God intended. And the numbers that VW is claiming for the Golf R are the kind that would make the Almighty nod his head approvingly. All wheel drive, 270 hp, 260 lb·ft between 2,500 and 5,000 rpm, 0-60 in 5.5 seconds (with DSG) and 27 MPG. All wrapped up in an reworked Mk VI Golf body that makes the R32 look like a rice special. The inevitable downside is that VW won’t say whether it’s coming to America.
Sadly, footage of an SLS mule skittering and gargling around the Nürburgring has been taken down, but back in those early tests the AMG gullwing really did sound like “death on a stick,” as Robert put it. Now, in final production form, the SLS sounds a lot more . . . refined. Which makes sense for a Merc, but part of us still wishes that some of the mule’s TVR-esque hairyness were still evident. A small taste of that early-mule insanity can be found here at about 55 seconds in.
Pundits across the spectrum are still aflutter over the alleged final-honestly-we-mean-it-this-time-it’s-for-real-fer-sure sale of Opel to Magna and their Russian Sberbankers. Along with the geopolitical impact thereof. What they all miss: The deal may not go down. Especially not after GM laid down some outrageous “conditions” for the sale . . .
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