In a few years, by 2016 to be exact, P.J. O’Rourke’s “ass-engined Nazi slot car” may be history in the U.S.A. Gone. By that time, Porsche needs to have a Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 41.4 mpg – if President Obama gets his wish. Mission impossible, says Porsche. Jack Baruth, stock up. Porsches will be extinct. Read More >

You don’t want to be traveling in or to Europe these days. In Germany, Lufthansa’s pilots went on strike this morning, grounding 3200 planes. “The largest strike in the history of German aviation” (Die Welt) paralyzed German air traffic, and caused jams on the ground as travelers switched from planes to trains and automobiles.

Meanwhile next door in France, a nation is running out of gas. Workers at the six refineries owned by the country’s biggest oil group, Total, have been striking for more than a month. The work stoppage threatens to spread “to the two French oil refineries owned by US group Exxon Mobil, where strikes are planned for Tuesday,” reports the BBC. Read More >

After decades of “up-positioning” and premium-branding, the sudden success of cheapskate models such as the Dacia Logan has not gone unnoticed at Europe’s largest automaker Volkswagen. Czech media is abuzz with reports of a new entry model, blatantly codenamed “A Entry,” which may be part of the Skoda line-up.

Reuters cites Czech media reports that the new model could be priced around $13,650, putting it somewhere between Skoda’s smaller (Polo-based) Fabia and the larger Octavia, which sits on a PQ35 (think Golf, Jetta) platform. Priced and positioned like that, it won’t be a Logan-killer. The Dacia goes for under $10,000 MSRP.

In the meantime, rumors that VW aims a lot lower won’t die in Wolfsburg. Read More >

Before you choose, remember, this Polo GTI won’t be coming to the United States when the nameplate arrives sometime next year. In fact, no three-door hatch is planned for America at all, since VW has decided to go the Echo route and only sell sedan-bodied Polos stateside. Well, with one exception…

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Yesterday, we wrote about how Dieter Zetsche needs to start earning his retirement. He took the suggestion to heart. Automobilemag.com has it that the long rumoured liaison between Daimler and Renault will finally bear fruits. Daimler and Renault will have baby twins! Read More >

This is a short story of how we sometimes arrive at the truth. Letting go of deep-seated childhood emotional responses is hard. Growing up in the fifties in Austria, Mercedes was my true God. My father had a friend with a 300 SL Gullwing, and I spent hours walking around it, absorbing each detail. There was an old Tatra streamliner in the neighborhood. Aerodynamics, efficiency, and speed are my triggers. In 1985, I bought one of the first W124 300E sedans in LA, in part because its Cd. of .28 was the best in the world then, as well as its 140 mph top speed.  Just yesterday, in Part 3 of the History of Automotive Aerodynamics, I concluded the survey of current production car aerodynamics record-holders with the 2010 Mercedes E-Class coupe, honoring its widely disseminated Cd of .24, lower than even the 2010 Prius. Looking at the picture of that E Class coupe this morning triggered a totally unexpected upsurge of that old lust, something that I thought was long extinguished, and I actually went to the Mercedes web site for strictly personal reasons. I expected that Mercedes would be trumpeting the coupe’s .24 Cd proudly. Not so, and for a good reason. Read More >

For the first time in recorded history, Germany has more than 50m motor vehicles (all kinds) on its roads, Autobahns, and “Staus” (traffic jams.)  This according to a report released by the German Kraftfahrtbundesamt, the friendly folks who keep helpful statistics of everything car-related in Germany, in addition to the brownie-points you rack up when driving above the allegedly non-existent speed limit, and gosh, maybe with your “Handy” by your ear.

With a population of 82m, this brings the motor vehicle density in Deutschland to more than 600 per thousand pop. A respectable number, but still a far cry from the more than 800 per thousand in the U.S.A.  The report reveals more useful (or not) numbers: Read More >

This one’s a bit of a golden oldie, but in light of the recent round of promotions at the Haus of Daimler (not to mention this video’s unintentionally prophetic tagline), it’s worth mentioning. Charges in the 6 year old SEC-DOJ investigations of what was then DaimlerChrysler may be settled by Daimler for “about $200 million” according to anonymous Bloomberg [via BusinessWeek] sources. The probe had looked into allegations that the German firm regularly bribed government officials in a number of jurisdictions (including Sadaam Hussein, in the Oil For Food scandal), the broad strokes of which the firm essentially admitted in 2005. Though Daimler announced that it would cooperate with investigators and that “several” employees were fired, details were never released. At least one whistleblower has alleged that knowledge of slush funds and bribery were known at the highest ranks in Daimler, and the ever-helpful NY Times notes that

As recently as 1997, the German government counted the bribes paid to foreigners by German companies as tax- deductible.

No wonder these guys promote from inside.

Reuters reports that Daimler are so smitten with  Dieter Zetsche, they’ve extended his contract until 2013. By then, Zetsche will be 60 years old, and will have worked for Daimler for 37 years. “Promote the insiders” was the cry in Daimler’s headquarters, as Thomas Weber, a board member responsible for group research, also received a contract extension to 2013. In the excitement, Wolfgang Bernhard was elected to a newly-created seat on Daimler’s board of directors as well. But these votes of confidence shouldn’t be taken for granted. Daimler have some big challenges in front of them, chief of which is a lack of scale and cost competitiveness in the compact segment. Herr Zetsche did start talks with Renault, but nothing has come to fruition yet. Another big problem, particularly in the ego division, is that Daimler are falling behind BMW (and, gasp, even Audi) globally and in emerging markets like China and India. It seems that if Dieter Zetsche wants to retire at 60, he’s going to have to earn it.

Europe, and especially Germany, reports declining diesel dependency. From a nearly 50 percent share a few years ago, the share of diesel driven cars in Germany dropped to 31 percent in 2009.  Two reasons: The favorable taxation of the oil had been scrapped. And speaking of scrapped, the “Abwrackprämie, or cash for clunkers, had favored a trend towards low displacement gasoline burners. (In January, the diesel share climbed back to 40 percent in Deutschland.) Badly mauled were the manufacturers of bio (a.k.a. “veggie”) diesel. Read More >

The German magazine Der Spiegel got its hands on an internal document. In the paper, the German economy ministry gives an awful assessment of the business plan that Nick Reilly had circulated amongst interested parties. Interested parties being the countries where Opel has plants and where GM wants to collect €2.7b in government aid. The Spiegel’s article will appear in the printed issue on Monday. But there are some damning pre-releases.

Minister Rainer Brüderle has serious doubts about Opel’s restructuring plan. “The viability is questionable,” the internal memo says. The planned job cuts are “hard to understand.”

And once more, Germany’s all-time phobia when it comes to Opel aid emerges: Read More >

The euro-trance exhaust note is what tipped us off. The GT3 R Hybrid is not planned for production, but will serve as a “racing laboratory” in the 24 Hours on the Nordschleife of Nürburgring, reports Green Car Congress. Williams Hybrid Power is reportedly exploring road-car applications of its Formula 1 KERS-derived “fly-brid” system. Technical details after the jump.
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Like it or not, extending the concept of luxury into ever smaller classes of cars is the next big challenge for high-end auto brands. According to the latest print edition of Auto Motor und Sport, BMW is already working on their own subcompact FWD three-cylinder hatchback based on the next-generation MINI platform. Though none of these new micro-luxe vehicles are aimed at, let alone approved for the US market, it seems that a strict traditionalist perspective on luxury brand purity is going to be a lot more difficult to maintain as emissions standards continue to rise.

Here are the first reactions to Nick Reilly’s turn-around and begging plan for Opel. In one word: “Booooh!”

Roland Koch, Premier of Hesse, where Opel has its headquarters, where most of Opel’s jobs and countless suppliers are, should be most interested in the survival. What was his reaction? “According to our first assessment, it will be necessary that GM as the owner will increase its contribution considerably,” he said to Das Autohaus. Translation: “Put money on the table. Then we talk.”

Little know factoid: In 2008, Opel was the 7^th largest employer in Hesse, followed by Volkswagen, only 2,800  jobs behind Opel, most in a parts factory and distribution center in structurally weak Kassel.  When Opel has finished its reduction in force plan, VW will provide more jobs to the state than Opel. Koch knows which side his bread is buttered.

The unions, which should be most interested in preserving jobs, immediately shot down the plan. Read More >

Opel’s Nick Reilly today revealed details of Opel’s long-awaited business plan. Here are the highlights (and low points) as reported by Automobilwoche [sub]. Read More >