The Black Dog of has been growling at my door. I'm not sure if it's the constant site crashes. Or TrueDelta extraction (a misplaced cure). Or the page view counter getting stuck. Or the RSS feeder developing anorexic. Or the enormous discrepancy between where we are and where TTAC could be. Needs to be. OCD is a cruel taskmaster. As is my passionate belief in this website's mission. I know I should just kick back and cash my paycheck and not give a shit. But that's not my nature. I didn't start TTAC to make money. And I'm not going to give up on it for money, either. So I'm fighting for our right to party. All I ask is your patronage and patience. Come Hell or high water, I will not let you– or myself– down. Meanwhile, I want to thank Ford for lifting my spirits. I applaud Ford Motor Credit's decision to give its tornado-ravaged Iowa customers a couple of months grace from their car payments. I could say something cynical about this, but I won't. Sometimes, you've gotta count your blessings and let it be.   

Last February, GM offered buyouts to all 74k of its remaining US hourly workers. We now know Some 19k GM union members are so out of here. J.P. Morgan analyst Himanushu Patel predicts GM won't replace up to 15k of the departing union members, for total annual savings of $2.1 billion. For mortals, $2.1B is big bucks. But for cash-burning GM 'tis nuth'n. For years now, GM has been reporting record-setting cost reductions and record-setting losses. Talk about saving your way to nothing! The boogiemen on Wall Street bid the stock to a 26-year low of $17.38 at yesterday's bell. AP reports via Yahoo! Business that the General is thinking about moving workers off the truck assembly lines and onto building the cars which are actually selling. GM eliminated shifts at two truck plants in Michigan. Laid-off workers could be moved to a car assembly factory in nearby Orion Township, where GM is negotiating with the UAW to add a third shift. Negotiations? "We haven't got anything final," says Mike Dunn, bargaining chairman of UAW Local 5960. "We're always looking to bring work in. We're hoping before the year's out that we can accomplish this goal." Hey, what's the rush?

Everyone's familiar with New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., right? Also known as NUMMI, the plant is a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. Why would the number one and number one two car makers team up? The old answer was that GM wanted to learn about Japanese "lean" manufacturing techniques and Toyota wanted to use the plant as a beachhead to establish North American production. The new answer? We'll leave it to the historians. That said, ToMoCo is thinking about maybe building their hot selling hybrid at NUMMI. Motor Authority is reporting that as American demand for the Prius remains high, the potential move is making a lot of sense to (some) Toyota suits. Like all of their corporate decisions, Toyota will be thinking long on hard on this one. Not mentioned in the article is that due to the weakness of the dollar, American workers can now be paid in chicken feed, or the equivalent there of. Hey, it's not all bad news. Maybe GM can learn a thing or two about what makes a Prius before the 2010 "launch" of the Chevy Volt.

Chrysler is strangely intrigued by those "hybrid" cars you keep hearing about these days. And by cars, we mostly mean trucks and SUVs, as that's all Chrysler will be offering any time soon. Because… well, we're not actually sure why. The Detroit Free Press reports that this summer's launch of the two-mode Hybrid Aspen and Durango SUVs has Chrysler curiously optimistic about its chances in the hybrid game. Up next will be hybrid versions of the Ram, employing the same two-mode hybrid Hemi as the Aspen/Durango. And come to think of it, Chrysler doesn't really have any other hybrid options in its bag of tricks (which is mostly full of unbelievably cheap interior plastics). Although the Aspen/Durango launch has Chrysler saying it is also considering making hybrid versions of the Journey CUV and Avenger sedan, one can't help but wonder what Chrysler would put under the hood of such whips. Is there a mysterious non-V8 hybrid drivetrain hiding somewhere in Auburn Hills? If so, wouldn't we be hearing more about it, given the disappointing sales of two-mode V8's by GM? Or is the truth really that Chrysler overpaid for its hugely expensive two-mode V8, and can't afford to develop a hybrid that might get better than 30mpg? Either way, when your offerings make GM's current lineup of hybrids look fresh and innovative by comparison, you know you're in trouble. 

GM has been trying to realize savings from its two-tier wage agreement with the UAW by offering veteran hourly workers (who are locked in at old wages) cash buyouts to walk from their jobs. Well, the offer has expired and the Detroit News reports that some 19k UAW workers, or nearly a quarter of the General's North American work force, has taken the money and run. Although GM hadn't set a public goal for the buyouts, the 19k number was at the high end of UAW President Ron Gettelfinger's 5k to 20k estimate, and far exceeded Ford and Chrysler's most recent buyout takes. About 4,200 workers took Ford's latest buyout offer, about half of what the blue oval wanted. Chrysler's recently bought out about 7k workers, bringing it to nearly 80 percent of its hourly headcount reduction goal. But GM had to work hard to convince so many of its 46k workers who are eligible for retirement to walk away. The General offered $62,500 to each retirement-eligible worker, who then had the choice of receiving cash upfront or rolling payments into an IRA account, on top of full pension and retirement benefits. And while the carrots for leaving GM were good, the sticks are still looming for those left behind. Ominous reports from Automotive News (sub) tell of GM's "top managers working on additional restructuring measures to deal with a declining U.S. auto market." An anonymous source tells AN that GM plans to cut shifts at truck and SUV plants, cut about 2k salaried jobs through involuntary firings (sound familiar?), and is considering "other actions." Gee, retirement is starting to sound pretty nice, eh?

Even though Ford Motor Credit avoided the mortgage madness haunting GMAC, the credit crisis is taking its toll. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that FMC's delinquencies are up. Upside-down car and truck owners are giving up and giving back. With resale values falling through the floor, the bankers are stuck with monster truck-sized losses on repossessed vehicles. Even clean lease returns are a problem. Contemplating their ailing credit ops and DOA truck market, The Blue Oval Boyz have pushed out it's profitability date from 2009 to… someday. "Ford started the year expecting its credit arm to match the $1.2 billion in pretax profit it earned last year, but now has a much dimmer outlook. In the first quarter, Ford Credit earned just $36 million, $257 million less than in the year-earlier period." Unlike GM's sell-off of GMAC, Ford continues to say it "has reviewed the option of selling the unit many times over the years but has always come to the conclusion that Ford Credit is a strategic asset for the auto maker." Which is lucky; who'd buy it? Never one to miss the obvious, Ford share stalker Kirk Kerkorian's go-to guy Jerome York fingers Ford Credit as "an area of weakness." Ya think?

Like us, Edmunds.com keeps an eye on monthly car sales. And by God they have noticed a trend! Or, a "Seismic Shift," as they demurely put it. Yes folks, its true: Americans are *gasp* buying fewer trucks and SUV's in favor of *gasp* more fuel efficient crossovers and compact cars. But don't ask the year-to-date sales numbers or blame four dollar gas, because Edmunds has analysis. "The (seismic) shift" writes Edmunds scribe Dale Buss "has occurred both in actual transactions and in shopping trends measured on the Edmunds.com site. Until March, this pattern of segment migration had been accelerating markedly but rather gradually. But a 10 percent increase in U.S. gasoline prices in March and April alone, to an average of $3.44 a gallon, appears to have provided the catalyst for a shift that is bigger and faster than any ever tracked by Edmunds.com." Wait, did he just say "shopping trends on the Edmunds.com website"? To be fair, you could learn a thing or two from Edmunds. Take their insistence on categorizing the Honda Accord and Chevy Malibu as "compact" cars. Sure, the EPA calls the Accord a "large car" and the Malibu a "midsize"… but they only base that off of the actual interior volume. Jamming these cars into the "compact" category and then calling it a statistical "seismic shift" is a pretty laughable ploy. Ultimately, the facts of auto sales trends speak pretty well for themselves. And yes, by facts I do mean actual transactions.

American Axle CEO Dick Dauch hung tough against the United Auto Workers (UAW) for 87 days. As the smoke clears, it's clear Dick Dastardly came out on top. The new union contract cuts the company's average hourly labor costs from $73 to about $40. The Detroit News reports that DD also sliced some 2k workers from AA's 3,650-member North American workforce. All in all, the parts maker will realize some $300m in annual savings. To help show these workers the door, AA secured some $215m worth of OPM from GM. That's roughly half the $450 to $500m tab. Meanwhile, AA shed some $370m in lost sales. Put those numbers against each other, and it looks like AA recovers its strike expenses in less than a year (excluding lost sales), and powers on from there. Meanwhile, Automotive News (sub) reports that AA has a $1.4b in backlogged orders to be filled between now and 2013. Mr Dauch celebrated the good news today by promoting his son, David Dauch, to the position of President.

GM's suicidal robot may be joined by his unemployed brothers before long. The automotive sales slump is not only affecting flesh and blood workers, but also those of the cybernetic persuasion. Automotive News [sub] reports that North American orders for production robots dropped 34 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same time last year. While the auto industry normally places about two-thirds of the total orders for industrial robots, sales this year only amount to a little over half. Ake Lindqvist, VP at ABB Robotics takes a "don't worry, be happy" view of the downturn. "We know Chrysler's new management has held back on previous planned investments until they have sorted out internal things, but it will come." He also expects Ford, BMW and Hyundai to make "major robotics investments" toward the end of the year and into next year. The latter two I can see, as they're building new plants or expanding existing ones, but Ford? And Chrysler? Somehow it doesn't seem that companies that are selling off assets, stiffing their suppliers, firing thousands of workers or drastically cutting production will be investing millions in new equipment they may never use.

In the wake of last week's revelation that FoMoCo ain't out of the woods yet, the blue oval is in full-on cost-cutting mode. Detroit News reports that Ford VP Jim Farley has announced a 10-12 percent cut in its U.S. salaried workforce to go into effect by August. Saying that Ford is struggling to cope with "a structural change to our economy," Farley told employees at a company "town hall" meeting that the approximately 2k layoffs would be involuntary firings rather than voluntary buyout offers. But Farley isn't losing sleep over the firings, as he sees Ford's problems as being caused by external economic forces over which he has no control. "I would expect other car companies to make similar announcements," Farley told employees when announcing the cuts. "They have the same issues that we do — even Toyota." Even Toyota, eh? Meanwhile, FoMoCo is also trying to tart up its troubled Volvo division by throwing consultants and suppliers under the bus. Automotive News [sub] reports that Volvo has announced that it will pay consultants and suppliers ten percent less than the current contracted rate for services. Proving that shit always runs downhill to the supplier, Volvo spokesfolks blame weak U.S. sales (which they expected) and weak European sales (which they didn't), saying "We're looking into how we can turn the business around." What, so soon? Look for this to simultaneously increase speculation of a Volvo sale (why not screw the suppliers if you've already written the brand off?) and decrease the likelihood of said sale (same reason).

CNN declares that "compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less– that's 11 billion fewer miles." The Federal Highway Administration called it "the sharpest yearly drop for any month… since 1942" (when they started keeping records). At the same time, public transportation ridership has hit the highest level in 50 years. The AAA pegs average regular gas prices at $3.936/gallon this Memorial Day, compared to $3.23 last year. Now a sixty cent increase over a year really isn't very much in the grand scheme of things, but the magic number of $4 per gallon seems to have hit the nation's collective panic button. One thing doesn't add up. The Energy Information Center says fuel use is down only 0.6 percent for the first three months of the year. The D.O.T. says March miles traveled are down 4.3 percent. Those two numbers don't seem to jibe, but who says government agency numbers ever make sense? Pick whichever numbers you like, the trend is clear: $4+ per gallon gasoline is curtailing the world's most mobile nation's mobility.

Jay Leno, NBC comedian and car fanatic, would like to offer Motown's maven some independent analysis. So he does, via msnbc.com. "The type of vehicles America makes best are, unfortunately, not the type of vehicles that people really want anymore… Where we seem to lose it is in the low-bucks econocar… I believe that, all things being equal, Americans will buy American. It just has to be as good as the competition; it doesn’t have to be better… If you look at the new line of G.M. cars, they are almost as good as what the Europeans are doing… America does technology well, and I think this is how the companies will bring those buyers back. I think cars like the Chevy Volt, which is entirely battery-powered, or hydrogen cars from Chrysler, Ford and G.M. will take off…. One last thing: No matter what happens, do not expect all American cars to go Eurosize. American buttocks are not getting any smaller." So, aside from Jay's belief that close enough for rock and roll is close enough for rock and roll, and setting aside the issue of what constitutes an American car (Aveo? Accord?), and the fact that the Volt is actually a hybrid and a whole bunch of other stuff, the funnyman nails it. What do you reckon: Bob Lutz Award nominee?

The Detroit Free Press reports that a little-known loophole in California's greenhouse gas emissions standards will allow some foreign manufacturers to avoid meeting the tough standards. Under the 2004 rules set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), automakers averaging fewer than 60k annual unit sales in the Golden State would be exempt from the 2016 emissions standards. The Big 2.8 and Toyondissan would have to meet the 35mpg by 2016 standards; Volkswagen, Hyundai and (possibly) BMW would not. The loophole was revealed in discussion of a Senate bill designed to overturn the EPA's decision not to allow California to set its own emissions standards. GM spokesmouth Mark Kammer was unimpressed. "There's a lot of cherry-picking opportunities for a [foreign] manufacturer." The United Auto Workers' Legislative Director Alan Reuther also spoke on behalf of the his members' employers and… the planet. The loophole "undercuts the effort to reduce CO2 emissions and improve fuel economy. And it gives a major competitive advance to newer entrants into the auto market." CARB rules indicate that the exemption sales limit could drop to 4k units per year after 2016, but the proviso is not legally binding. At least not yet. 

Automotive News (sub) has a headline that the industry will likely latch onto as it continues its PR campaign to beg for federal funds to offset coming increases in CAFE requirements. And there's little denying the Global Insight research that says that CAFE compliance will cost American automakers considerably more than their Japanese counterparts. The Detroit three can expect to pay some $30b bringing its fleet up to the 31mpg average mandated by 2015, while Japan's big three will pay only about $14.85b to meet the standards. That's less than GM alone is expected to pay, according to Global Insight. The "fast start" 2015 goal is blamed for much of the expense, as it allows little flexibility for product planning, mandating a short-term 25 percent jump in efficiency, to be followed by a total 40 percent improvement by 2020. But wait, that still doesn't explain why Japan's companies can expect to pay so much less for CAFE compliance than Detroit. Is currency manipulation saving the Nipponese bottom line? Secret manufacturing techniques? Did someone hire Godzilla's lobbying firm? Actually, the reason comes in the form of a single-sentence paragraph. "Japanese automakers won't be hit as hard because their fleets already are more fuel efficient." How is that fair?

Automotive News (sub) reports that Toyota is investing $673m in new Japanese battery facilities, with the goal of building one million batteries per year by 2011. A new nickel-metal hydride plant is planned for northern Japan, and a new lithium-ion plant will be built southwest of Tokyo. They're also adding to an existing metal-hydride facility as Toyota expands operations to meet the million hybrid vehicles per year demand it expects in the next decade. Toyota's batteries are built by Panasonic EV Energy Co, a joint venture between Panasonic and Toyota. Details are not currently available for the two new plants, but once expanded, the existing metal-hydride plant will build 300k batteries per year. Reports indicate that lithium-ion production will not exceed the tens of thousands, indicating that Toyota will continue to rely on its proven metal-hydride technology for most hybrid applications. With Nissan jumping into lithium-ion production, and Honda announcing an increased hybrid lineup, Toyota's investment is a necessary step in building on its enviable lead in hybrid production. With about 430k hybrids sold last year, and sales of the gas-electric whips rising at a steady clip, Toyota should have few problems selling a million hybrids annually within the next five years.