I caught a Google news alert this AM leading to the Detroit Free Press. The headline took me by surprise: “Toyota Sales in the Toilet.” That’s pretty strong language for the MSM. Was this the same paper that headlined GM’s -32.1 percent post-bailout December sales debacle with “An Improvement over November“? Did the Freep’s trash talking header indicate a new, darker chapter in the annals of Detroit cheerleading? I clicked over to a Freep page with a clear not-to-say-ginomrous anti-Toyota, pro-union slant. It’s a blog by editorial cartoonist Mike Thompson. “Japan does have its own version of the United Auto Workers, the Confederation of Japanese Automobile Workers’ Unions, so why aren’t these same columnists and bloggers blaming the Japanese auto union for Toyota’s woes? With a membership of 741,000 workers, it eclipses the 513,000 membership claimed by its American counterpart, the UAW.” It’s a good point, if entirely beside the point. But it’s easy enough to see that Motown’s hometown heroes are happy to put the hate on Toyota– the same hate for which they condemn critics outside Fortress Detroit.
Category: Media
In a sure sign that the party’s over, the Detroit Show’s best free party isn’t even happening this year. In past years, Chrysler has treated journalists to all they cared to each and drink each night at the Firehouse restaurant and bar across the street from Cobo hall. With senior execs tending bar, no less. And to remind the press corps of the OEM’s largesse, their press-only blog was call “the Firehouse.” Still is, in fact. Except now the blog’s name (and the frequent emails announcing each post) will remind journalists of the party that isn’t happening. Will harsher reviews result? Not here at TTAC– can’t get any harsher when the subject is a Chrysler (aside from some love for the Challenger). I for one am not looking forward to heading home early after the show. Enjoyed the food, the beer, and meeting up with other journalists. No more, unless one of the upstart Chinese cares to step in and fill the gap. Bummer.
Peter Delorenzo has spent the last year or so castigating anyone within earshot for their failure to support, coddle, subsidize and appreciate his beloved American automakers. Given his website’s increasingly strident tone, that description excludes no one. This week, the self-styled Autoextremist gives a shout-out to President-elect Obama– while ratcheting-up the rhetoric for the usual antagonists. “Yes, President-elect Obama will bring a different perspective to Washington – and the challenges facing the auto industry – but that alone won’t save Detroit. Not when there are southern senators and members of Congress who are hell-bent on destroying the Detroit Three in their quest to ultimately replace the nation’s homegrown auto industry with a loose network of imported auto manufacturing facilities based in the Southern Corridor. Not when there are members of the new establishment in Washington who are rabidly pushing for a huge green directional shift for industry and manufacturing in this country, with little concern about what the realities or the ramifications of that kind of massive shift on America’s manufacturing base or immediate economic future. Not when our leaders in Washington continue to give a free ride to countries and manufacturers who want to do business here, at the expense of our own industries and manufacturing base. And especially not when the nation’s consumers are locked in this painful reduced-credit or no-credit holding cell that has paralyzed commerce across the country.” So, Pete, what will save your hometown heroes?
Wow, Manny. You need to get with the program bro’. Dissing hybrids is not gonna make you any friends. Not in DC. And not with your hometown homies, who know that global warming is a crock of “I can’t believe it’s not Toyota” with which to butter their bailout bread. What are they gonna say when they read this? “They cost more than most people can — or will — pay; they provide fuel efficiency benefits only for specific and limited driving conditions; and the technology isn’t going to solve America’s oil issues. Sure, they’re still somewhat trendy, and select members of Congress as well as Hollywood hypocrites regularly remind people that they drive the so-called green machines. Good for them and for the few others in America who are all hopped up on hybrids, but they are the few and the proud. And the declining.” Yeah, we know that Manny. But what if gas prices go back up? You know; if there’s a sudden disruption of oil supplies due to tensions in the Middle East or another speculative bubble? It could happen. Not in Manny’s world. And the News’ Auto Editor wants to point out– again– that consumers are friggin’ hypocrites…
There’s an eerie thread of optimism weaving through a number of post-bailout, post-December bloodbath stories lately. Sure, hope dies last and all that, but as Studs Terkel put it, “hope has never trickled down, it has always sprung up.” And most of this fresh-faced optimism seems to have trickled down directly from GM PR. Take the headline “‘Happy Days’ Return For Domestic Car Dealers” over at Dealersedge.com, for example. If the use of scare quotes in the headline isn’t enough to set your PR-friendly hackery alarm ringing, well, that’s why we’re here. The entire piece is based on quotes from employees and owners of three dealerships, two in New Hampshire, one in Michigan. These ecstatic, old-timey song-referencing folks spout anecdotal evidence of a new influx of floor traffic, offering no dissent from the opinion that “happy days” are indeed here again. And why wouldn’t they say that zero percent terms on Trailblazers and Saabs have Americans flooding the showrooms?
The post-apocalyptic analysis of December’s sales results continues, as pundits and producers attempt to make sense of the crater that’s replaced the U.S. new car market. Obviously, the situation will have the greatest impact on the Chrysler and GM. The domestic automakers have just finished their first suckle on Uncle Sugar’s taxpayer teat, with GM auguring-in for its second go mid-month. And both companies face a congressional grilling when they return for more money in March. So, what to do? What to do? For answers to that question, for the manufacturers’ spin, we turn to their unofficial mouthpiece, The Detroit News. “Auto sales skid: Recovery rests on stimulus” starts with good news! “After barely making it through the worst year for auto sales since 1992, Detroit’s Big Three expect consumer demand to remain very weak in the first half of 2009 but begin to recover in the second half.” I’d like to point out that a general “sales” recovery does not necessarily mean Chrysler or GM’s recovery. But that would kind of ruin the flow, if you know what I mean. To wit…
Automotive News [sub]: “The magazine normally recommends cars in its April issue. But it singled out eight Detroit 3 vehicles early because consumers may be concerned about reliability while General Motors and Chrysler LLC seek federal assistance, said David Champion, the magazine’s chief car tester. ‘We’re only about halfway through our testing, so it’s not a complete list,’ he said. ‘But because of the public interest, we thought it would be useful.”” Huh? Since when is it Consumer Reports’ job to allay consumer fears about the reliability of the products produced by a small group of automakers, especially in response to an industry-wide event? In other words, why the special treatment? Even if it’s all about catering to a public need– remembering that Consumer Reports is a non-profit organization and there is no statistical data to support this position– CR’s special issue increases the psychological polarization between domestic and import-branded vehicles. And that’s not a good thing– for the domestics. If nothing else, the D2.8’s abject inability to identify the difference between quality relative to each other and quality compared to the wider car market has contributed to their failure. Anyway, the “winners” in the gallery below and/or after the jump.
Warren Brown is nothing if not ambitious in his defense of the indefensible (i.e. GM CEO Rick Wagoner). Rather than just raise a[nother] cheer for the man who’s spent the last decade-plus jamming the yoke forward on General Motors’ inexorable descent into bankruptcy, the Washington Post carmudgeon decided to rewrite the entire history of the Japanese “invasion” of the American automotive market. But before he does that, Warren upbraids those who’ve called for Toyota Prez Katsuaki Watanabe to resign, suggesting that Watanabe and Wagoner are birds of a feather, getting flocked together. “GM, as we all know, has lost substantially more than $1.7 billion. In fact, it has lost $72.3 billion since 2004 under Wagoner’s reign. By that measurement, applying Fire the Coach rules, Wagoner is 40 times more deserving of dismissal than Watanabe. But here’s arguing that all of that is sloppy logic and in many ways inherently unfair. Here’s also suggesting that Fire the Coach management will solve nothing — or remedy very little — in an arena where game policy is athwart common sense, as it is and has been in a United States absent effective industrial and energy policies.” Same old you-know-what, different wrapper. Brown is once again, blaming everyone BUT Wagoner for GM’s chronic, shameful self-destruction.
From Auto Letters by Jim Mateja in the Chicago Tribune: Q I purchased a new 2009 Chrysler 300 SRT8 a few weeks ago from dealer stock. The rear license plate was on, but the front wasn’t. The plate bracket was in the trunk, but I was told that nobody was available to install the front plate. I was told not to worry because I wouldn’t get pulled over and it looks better without the plate. If I wanted, I could bring the car back to get the plate installed. When I got home, I looked at the bracket to see whether I could install it and found that Chrysler changed the grille on the 2009 300 SRT8. The directions show the bracket is made to attach to the old grille. The parts department said the bracket is the correct one for my vehicle. I took the car back to dealer, and they agreed it couldn’t be installed, but there was nothing they could do. They said I should display the license plate on my dashboard. How can Chrysler produce a car that doesn’t and can’t conform to the state law, which requires a front plate? A How could a dealer tell you not to worry and that you wouldn’t get stopped for driving without a front plate that’s required by law in Illinois? And how could a dealer tell you to display the plate on your dash when all it takes to attach the bracket is cutting it to fit the mesh grille that replaced the egg-crate grille for 2009? ‘It just takes a little initiative by the dealer,’ Al Wagener, a salesman at Knauz Chrysler in Lake Bluff, told us when we called to ask how Chrysler could have goofed.”
TTAC Used Car specialist Steven Lang swears eBay’s “completed items” section is the most accurate indication of any given vehicle’s “real” market value. I have no reason to doubt him. But trolling the auction site for the quirky whips or celebrity cast-offs– the brother of the drummer of the Cars’ modded Monte Carlo– is a practice I find tedious both in execution and end result. OK, Autoblog has a keen eye and more patience that I can muster. And I’ve promised TTAC’s Best and Brightest a better mix of automobiles and politics. So I put on my websuit and surfed a few of my favorite car porn sites on your behalf. My first NEFOTD is this little beauty. The duPont Registry provides provenance: “This car was judged Best in Show at the 2003 ACD National in 2003, and then went on to win at Pebble Beach in 2004. It was restored by La Vine in Florida at a cost of over several hundered [sic] thousand dollars. The car was far ahead of its time with front wheel drive, pre-selector 4 speed transmission, stunning styling and a supercharged 8 cylinder motor developing 175hp. The car had been stored for many years before being restored to its present condition. Only 688 Supercharged Cords were made in all models at a cost of over $3000.00, a 37 Chev sold for $415.00.” If you want a classic car, you can do no better than to buy someone else’s prize-winning restoration (for pennies on the dollar). Anyway, eat your heart out eBay.
The New York Times entered the irony-free zone this morning, with an op ed entitled “GM’s Secret Success.” WTF? Is one of the Gray Lady’s ambassadors about to call GM’s descent into bankruptcy and subsequent raid on the public purse a “success”? Nah. The author of the forthcoming tome “Why G.M. Matters: Inside the Race to Transform an American Icon” wants you to know that GM CEO Rick Wagoner is a genius interruptus. “In reality, Mr. Wagoner has presided over the most sweeping transformation of G.M. since the 1920s,” William J. Holstein opines. “He has reversed management’s long practice of meekly going along with the demands of the United Auto Workers, notably with a deal to transfer health care costs to a union-controlled trust over the next two years.” Ah, a tour of an alternate reality. Cool. But why stop there? Why indeed.
The Wall Street Journal gets its fair share of flak from TTAC. Now it’s time for a pat on the head. Under a downright TTAC-ish headline (“Treasury to Ford: Drop Dead”,) the WSJ lambasts the Treasury for being a bunch of unappreciative sumsabitches: “When the Bush Treasury decided to bail out Detroit, GM and Chrysler quickly said yes to the taxpayer cash, but Ford Motor Co. said it didn’t need the money and declined. Ford’s reward for this show of self-reliance? Treasury is now helping GM again by giving it a credit pricing advantage against Ford in the marketplace.”
Farago wrote: “If I were the head of Ford or Toyota or Honda’s lending unit, I would be mighty pissed.” The Wall Street Journal agrees. Now that the U.S. Government effectively owns GMAC, it gives them the money to offer zero percent financing – for GM products. Says the WSJ: “The messy little policy issue is that these GM products compete with those sold by Ford, Toyota, Honda and numerous other car makers that won’t benefit from GMAC’s cash infusion. And with the cost of financing often crucial to buyer decisions, the feds have now put the muscle of the state behind one company’s products.”
Yesterday, I called Autoblog (AB) to task for blogging pistonhead paraphernalia without disclosing whether they received swag for their efforts. AB jeffe Damon Lavrinc revealed his team follows AOL’s strict policy: no freebies and return any review items post post. So I removed my post. And now I’ve found Michael Banovsky’s over-punctuated, redundantly-named blog Cars, Culture, and Etc. Banovsky asserts that he’s not on the gravy train, and when he is, he donates the resulting air miles to Doctors Without Borders (perhaps there’s a Barnes and Noble nearby?). Underneath the post, Carkeys.ca’s Kevin “Crash” Corrigan defends pocketing payola. “Whilst I applaud you for donating your air miles to charity, I think that I should say something from the flip side of the coin. Unlike the print guys, us web-based journos are rarely given ‘expensive’ gifts. In nearly 5 years of writing, the most pricey gift that I have received is a toy car. In fact, I’ve been given a few of them (Approx 6-7). Now I collect models cars, as do probably most most of us car guys, so that’s quite nice. On the other hand, does anyone truly believe that any of us could be brought off with a $10-30 model car?? Let’s look at this from another angle…I worked in the building trade for several years, and every year we were given bottles of booze from the suppliers. My father who owned a large company and often received crates of the stuff!”
Print is so dead. How anyone could expect a magazine with a two-month lead time to compete with the internet on the news front? It’s like pitting a semaphore line against G3 cell service. In case they don’t know it, the buff book’s business model is as dead as the carmakers’ they support. And while we await the car mag medium’s reinvention and rebirth (U.S. Evo please), we get to admire their attempts to remain au courant. I mean, poor todd lassa. Not only is the Motor Trend scribe’s name chronically under capitalized, but he also had to decide whether or not Red Ink Rick Wagoner would still be at the helm of GM in January 2009. What are the odds, eh? Unfortunately, todd erred on the side of common sense.
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