Back when we learned that Ford might be selling its share of Mazda, we didn’t mention that Mazda was scrapping plans to build a second factory in the US. Good thing too. Automotive News [sub] cites a Nikkei report which claims Mazda had considered using a shut-down Ford plant or building a new one with Ford, aiming to produce fuel-efficient mid-size cars and other models from the first half of 2010. The report blames the deepening downturn in the world’s largest vehicle market for Mazda’s decision to scrap the project. No doubt hoping to keep the appearance of an even keel, Mazda reps now tell Business Week that they never had plans to build another U.S. factory. “As outlined in our midterm Mazda Advancement Plan, announced in March 2007, Mazda has no plans to establish a new vehicle production facility in North America,” the company says. Mazda did not, however, get the story straightened-out until after their stock dropped nine points after the Nikkei report. Then again, by the standard of the last few weeks, single-digit drops ain’t half bad.

Remember how much people (OK industry wonks) sneered at the Honda Pilot and Ridgeline for being unibody designs descended from a minivan, which in turn was based on the Accord sedan? Well, Honda made some money on their trucks while the making was good. And now, along with everybody else, not. But while GM’s busy closing factories, Honda’s reaping the rewards of its investment in flexible manufacturing. They’re scaling down production of slow-selling Pilots and Odysseys, making room for more Accords. And they don’t need the United Auto Workers permission to do it. [The Wall Street Journal chronicles the swap.] The main U.S. Accord plant in Ohio will build more of the suddenly hot four-cylinder version. Honda also plans to cut back on Accord imports from Japan. One might think all this would be a plus for America’s balance of trade, but maybe not… Back in the day. the transplants used the U.S. to crank-out the new hotness, while letting Asia carry-on with the old. The new Honda Insight/Prius-fighter will be built in Japan.

Financial advisers seem to agree that a panic-fueled stock market decline has opened a number of opportunities to snag solid investments on the cheap. Stock in solid, well-proven companies is being sold at huge discounts as panic grips the market. So why in the name of price-earnings ratios is the Detroit News shilling Ford and GM stock? Well, to be fair, the newspaper itself isn’t hyping stocks, because “Biz Insider can’t officially offer investment guidance into purchases of General Motors Corp. or Ford Motor Co. stock.” And why would they, when they have professional misleaders for that job? Former Chrysler spokesman and now Compuware Corp. veep Jason Vines “shared his own thoughts on the stock at the annual Automotive Hall of Fame dinner, telling the crowd of auto aficionados to buy, buy, buy Ford and GM paper.” No, seriously. And guess what else Vines would suggest you buy?

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Between last month’s Paris reveal of the SEAT Exeo, a lightly rebadged B7 Audi A4, and our recent review of the Volkswagen Routan, I began to ponder some of the worst, most nonsense rebadges in recent automotive history. Some were legally or contractually required, others were clearly the work of absynthe-fueled mercury-poisoned madmen. In the gallery below, see pictures and comments of my top nine.

Production began today at Honda’s Greensburg, Indiana plant, which will build 200k Civics when at full capacity. “With continued high demand for the Honda Civic, we are honored and excited to help meet the needs of our customers in North America,” Yuzo Uenohara, says president of Honda Manufacturing of Indiana (HMIN) in a press release at hondanews.com. “Our new Indiana associates are dedicated to building the very best Honda products, with customer satisfaction as our top goal.” Trial production has been going on for several months already, and the first shift which begins work today will be joined by a second shift in 2009, employing a total of 2k workers at full capacity. All Civics built at Greensburg will rock Honda’s 1.8 liter, 140 hp VTEC four-banger, built nearby in Anna, Ohio. So fear not, automotive doomsayers. America is gaining new automotive jobs, just not from Ford, GM or Chrysler.

Mitsubishi’s Normal, Il factory is the nation’s most under-utilized auto plant. Facing declining American sales, its operators have cut costs to survive. But unlike other transplants, Mitsubishi employs UAW workers, so it can’t just kill its workforce and feed them to Japanese-made robots, right? Well, Mitsubishi has actually surpassed the realm of mere xenophobic science fiction and has managed to wrangle concessions from the United Auto Workers. Bloomberg reports that 1,260 members of UAW Local 2488 approved pay cuts of nearly five dollars per hour and higher benefit costs in a new four-year contract with Mitsubishi. So much for the long-running Detroit narrative of the UAW being blind to the struggles of automakers and squeezing the life from domestic manufacturing. Sales and production have been cut in half at Mitsubishi’s American operations since 2002, and apparently the union get it. It’s not exactly a happy story for anyone, but the bottom line is that jobs are being kept in this country. Incidentally, this story explains with the utmost clarity why Detroit and the UAW joined forces to make a run on the federal piggybank. Otherwise they would have had to face the music and make an unpleasant but ultimately sustainable compromise like this one.

CAR Magazine has been covering the ongoing collaboration negotiations between BMW and Mercedes for some time. As usual, nothing unites like a common enemy, and the longtime rivals have been brought together by the looming leviathan that is the new Porsche-VW alliance. But partnership does not come easily after decades of fierce competition. CAR speculates on the possible causes of ongoing difficulties thusly: “Maybe it’s a mutual case of ‘not invented here’. Maybe it’s what decades of ingrained rivalry does to you. Or a mix of shortsightedness, ignorance and stubborness. Perhaps a combination of the above.” Whatever the cause, BMW and Mercedes have yet to finalize any plans to share M-B’s new M295 all-aluminium V12. Is BMW, like McLaren, suffering from a restrictive Daimler contract with Aston-Martin? We’ll may never know. What is clear is that Mercedes needs a new corporate four-banger for its burgeoning small-car portfolio. The current C-class four is “too big, too heavy and too expensive” say CAR, and a new, shared four-cylinder could be jointly developed for Benz’s A-, B-, C-, E- and GLK-classes, and BMW’s 1-, X1, 3, X3, and MINI models. If no German alliance forms, PSA and Fiat are waiting in the wings, hoping to snag a technical partner for their own next-gen four-bangers. Meanwhile, “other collaboration opportunities between Munich and Stuttgart include more pace-setting hybrid modules, more efficient dual-clutch and automatic transmissions, advanced driver assistance systems and a highly flexible small car concept.” No mention yet of the Sudetenland.

Delphi has been lingering in Chapter 11 for nearly three years now, with little relief appearing on the horizon. Automotive News (sub) reports that the GM spinoff has filed a new reorganization plan, which appears to more realistically reflect its predicament. In the new filing, Delphi’s worth is estimated at $7.2b, down significantly from the $12.8b value the firm was said to carry at the beginning of this year. With its only investor, Appaloosa Capital, having bailed, Delphi needs to raise $3.75b in order to emerge from bankruptcy. But that number doesn’t reflect the fact that the new plan calls for GM to make a $10.6b investment in its parts maker, including taking over $3.4b worth of pension obligations. In other words, GM must sink more money into Delphi than the part supplier is worth or risk a supply shortfall since other firms won’t touch Delphi’s GM contract pricing. And it’s not like GM has tons of cash just sitting in the bank to bailout its spinoff. This is where GM’s cash burn and supplier cost-shuffling come together to put the General between a rock and a hard place. There’s no word on if, when, or how GM is going back its struggling supplier, but a hearing is planned for October 23 and a final ruling should arrive by December 17. GM needs $10.6b by then to prevent its entire business from crumbling. Otherwise, Delphi goes to Chapter 7 while GM begins a bankruptcy court adventure of its own.

A study by Experion Automotive reported in Automotive News (sub) shows that nearly $25b in US auto loans are currently delinquent. In the second quarter of 2008, some 2.48 percent of all auto loans were 30 days past due according to the study, and .75 percent are 60 days past due. Both number are up noticeably compared to last year. All in all, there’s little in the way of encouraging news in the Experion report. Only the percentage of delinquent loans made to those with good credit scores (680+ on the 300-800 scales) is actually down, dipping to 56.5 percent compared to 61.1 percent last year. Well, that explains why auto loans are now considered “distressed assets.”

State Department “undesirable” and reportedly mobbed-up Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has given up his 20 percent share in contract manufacturer and supplier Magna International. Marketwatch reports that Deripaska had bought into Magna in order to reap expertise in developing his own Russian-based automotive empire, but the credit crunch has him backing out. In fact, Deripaska had laid his 20m Class-A Magna shares as collateral for their purchase, and thanks to major retreats in the Russian stock market, Deripaska is simply walking away from his $1.54b investment. Magna stock has dropped 45 percent since Deripaska bought in, further exasperating his position and forcing his Basic Elements holding group to repritoritize. Meanwhile, Magna is happy to have had the opportunity to gain access to Russia’s auto manufacturing market, through the Deripaska-owned GAZ Group. Though Deripaska’s stake in Magna will be sold off by an unnamed creditor, collaboration could continue between the two firms. “We believe that the Russian market still holds significant opportunities for us and intend to continue to pursue joint opportunities with Russian Machines and GAZ, as well as other opportunities to advance our position in Russia,” says Magna co-CEO Siegfried Wolf.

In uncharacteristic style for anything French, Renault wants to expand into new territory. Still. They are “itching to get back into the U.S.,” according to a Wall Street Journal report. Despite a 55 percent drop in stock value this year and rumblings about Carlos Ghosn possibly stepping down from his dual-CEO post, someone at Renault thinks it might be a nice idea to return to the U.S. market. And it might be nice for Scarlett Johansson to tell me the next time she’s going to elope with someone better looking, funnier, taller and richer than I am. But as the philosopher Jagger said, you can’t always get what you want (credit to David Shore for that line). Nissan’s already slumping in The Land of the Free. Renault’s current lineup can’t meet U.S. EPA and crash standards which are different (though not necessarily better) than the Euro NCAP variety. Renault’s diesels wouldn’t have a prayer here without expensive testing or licensing the Bluetec system from Mercedes. And there’s the dealer/distribution problem, which can’t be magically solved by a hypothetical perfect Chrysler tie-up. And then there’s the whole “Americans don’t buy French” thing. And it’s all too bad, because I would love a Renault. But with even Renault saying that they would need to develop three new models specifically for the American market, you’ve got to wonder why the hell they’d bother.

Though we can’t do anything now to prevent the passage of the $25b industry loan package, there’s still plenty of scope for measuring results and demanding accountability. After all, as Danny Howes of the Detroit News puts it “Implicit in the federal loan package, it seems to me, is a message from Congress and their constituents: Get it right this time because there may not be a next time.” In his latest editorial, Howes qualifies his earlier bailout support with a call on the Detroit to get back to the business of being in business. Recent hybrid and electric hype coming out of Detroit “has the eerie feeling of a cranky heart patient running on a treadmill because he has to, not because he wants to,” reckons Howes. And when there’s a shortage of heart attack medication, such calls to action should be even more closely heeded. An S&P press release published in Automotive News (sub) claims that receiving $25b in low-interest loans has done nothing to boost the credit ratings of Detroit automakers. A full FAQ is published at S&P’s subscriber-only ratingsdirect.com website, but the argument’s broad strokes are that nobody knows how or when Detroit will actually get the federal loans. Until such time as the loans are approved and the checks clear, S&P sees no reason to elevate the credit ratings of domestic automakers, currently standing at (B-/Negative/–) for GM, (B-/Negative/–) for Ford Motor Co., and (CCC+/Negative/–) for Chrysler LLC.

Oh man, this is getting ugly. After Porsche’s Turbo and GT2 lost their fastest ’round the ‘Ring record to the Nissan GT-R, the German automaker was… skeptical. So they bought a GT-R in the U.S. and ran the Nürburgring to verify their Japanese rival’s claim. And so they didn’t, failing to get within 25 seconds of GT-R’s ‘Ring highly hyped lap time. Porsche attributed the GT-R’s triumph to non-standard tires, which would nullify the Nissan’s “fastest production car” lap record. Cornered at the Paris Auto Show, Nissan’s European spokesman Neil Reeve said “Quite simply we’re not going to get into a war of words with Porsche.” And then did exactly that. “The final word from us is that it was done on absolutely standard tyres which are available to customers in the showroom. They’re not trick tyres – absolutely standard tyres, normal road tyres. The GT-R comes with Bridgestone and Goodyear (Dunlop). One tyre gives slightly better times around the ‘Ring. We did it on Dunlop. They’re available with the car.” When car.com.au‘s Andrew Heasley pushed him for an explanation, well, read between the lines. “We absolutely maintain (that) Tochio Suzuki – the chief test driver on the GT-R program pounded thousands of laps – he got to know every inch of Nurburgring (circuit) and how the car performs on the Nurburgring and hence set that fabulous lap. More than that, I can’t speculate. I can’t explain why they couldn’t match the time.”

The Associated Press report brings us the stunning news that GM’s employees have loaded up their 401K plans with so much company stock that the cupboards ran dry. Back in January, Financial Weekly published one of the many articles about the risk of loading-up on company stock. “After thousands of employees at now-defunct corporations such as Enron and WorldCom saw their retirement savings wiped out early in this decade, things were going to be different.” In case anyone has been under a rock for the past ten years, you don’t want your salary and your pension and your retirement investments all riding on the fortunes of one company. The big reason GM ran through its authorized number of shares for the 401K plan was the price plunge. GM stock is off 75 percent from its recent highs; it now takes four shares to stock to soak-up the cash which previously would have only bought one share. Between now and sometime in November when GM puts through the paperwork to print more shares, employee contributions will go into other investments. How long will it be before GM employees follow their Enron soul-mates into court over bombed-out 401K plans? Actually, it’s already happened. Workforce Management reported the January 18, 2008 settlement of a class action suit brought against GM in 2005 over the plunging value of employee 401K purchases of GM stock. Will they never learn?