If there's any surprise to be found in The New York Times editorial "Pain at the Pump And Beyond," it's that the Old Gray Lady almost acknowledges the effects of supply and demand on the price of gas. Watch carefully, or you might miss it! "The Bush administration can’t be entirely blamed for the pain at the gas pump. But its shortsighted energy policies — zealously focused on increasing the energy supply, with little attention paid to conservation and greater fuel-efficiency — means the country is far too dependent on oil that is both ruinously expensive and ruinous for the environment. There are several reasons for oil’s dizzying price spiral. Soaring demand in fast-growing developing countries like China and India means there is little oil to spare. The turmoil in financial markets — the White House can take a good chunk of the blame for that — has driven prices even higher, as investors have bought oil and other commodities as stocks and the dollar plunge." There's more Bush bashing (believe it or not), but the ed gets strange when it argues that the U.S. should raise taxes on gas. Huh? Sympathize with consumers for high gas prices, blame Bush and then argue we should be paying MORE at the pump? I guess rhetorical consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. 

"Leading with innovation" (based on a Time Magazine article it read sometime in 2004), Chrysler is following GM in offering a new online "community" at Chryslerlistens.com. "Through our online Customer Advisory Board, we have a new platform to engage our customers in two-way dialogue," Chrysler VP and Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Myers explains. "So we can harness their insights and vehicle dreams as we move quickly to develop and refine technologies and products." Yes, this means you can cash in your buzzword bingo cards at Chryslerlistens.com. But there's more: Social Networking! Community Building! Collaboration Technologies! In short, the perfect opportunity to turn over your information to Chrysler direct-marketing and work your little Cerberus-loving tail off doing focus-group work for which people were once paid. Of course, Chrysler doesn't want to listen-dot-com to just anyone. The site is a "closed community." If you stick out the "three- to four-week period when Chrysler will introduce members to the process and the company," then you can have your "insights harnessed" (kinky!) and help Chrysler innovate and bloviate. Let us know how you get on (literally).

Anyone remember Chevy Chase's immortal line "Francisco Franco is still dead?" I'll wait until the Tata purchase of Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover brands goes through– if it does–  before using Chase's riff. Meanwhile, Tata is launching some kind of weird-ass PR offensive. The Wall Street Journal [sub]  is carrying a press release feature story on Tata's "hands-off" acquisition style. Apparently, the Indian way of such things, in general, is to "Do next to nothing." The evidence for such patent rubbish? Tata didn't throw management overboard when they acquired the U.K.-based Corus Group and Tetley Tea. Oh, and apparently Tata won't be outsourcing. "During a London meeting with Tata Motors executives in November, Mr. Maddison [Unite union rep] recalls, 'We came straight down and said 'We've obviously got fears that you've got a massive component base across Asia. Would it be your intention to source from Asia into the U.K.?'' They hit it straight back and told us 'No way.'" Dude, get it in writing. [thanks to Robert Schwartz for the link] 

TTAC commentator (and now unintentional blogger) Lichtronamo dropped us an interesting email, which we reprint for your dining and dancing pleasure: "I was reading a Saturn brand Special Advertising Section in the April 2008 Automobile magazine (starting on page 40 and ending at page 53). On the last page, I caught this little nugget of info re: the Saturn brand: "Saturn was named for the rocket, not the planet". This raises at least two questions: 1. Wasn't Oldsmobile the "rocket" brand when Saturn was first launched (both the real rocket and the car brand, I guess)? 2. If Saturn was named after the rocket and not the planet– as suggested by the ad– then why is the Saturn logo a stylized image of the planet? Rethink that! [Note: if you come across a TTAC worthy item– in the media or real life– email robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com, including your user name.] 

One of TTAC's Best and Brightest asked the obvious question: "is Lawrence Ulrich working for you secretly?" Nope. It's just that love is breaking out all over for the new Pontiac G8 pickup ute sport truck thingie. More specifically, The New York Times car hack asks "Who exactly was clamoring for a two-seat, gas-guzzling pickup with the cheapest-looking interior this side of a Motel 6?" [NB: TTAC would have said "Who the Hell…"] The Wheels' description of the G8 without the rear seats is plenty pithy: "The 6-liter V-8 from the G8 sport sedan, good for 361 horsepower and a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds. The 74-inch cargo bed can handle just under 1,100 pounds, and there’s a 3,500-pound towing capacity. Now, if it could only tow itself away." Ulrich describes the "we don't know what to call it so you do it" Aussie import as "Like Hell Camino: a pointless hodgepodge that’s worthy of an expletive-filled diss from 50 Cent himself." [thanks to Nicholas Weaver for the link]

General Motors may be singularly unwilling to tell its shareholders and stakeholders when the company will return to profitability (or exactly how they're going to get there), but they're happy to announce a three-year plan for their annual ad spend. And the winner is.. online media. GM says it will allocate fully $1.5b of its $3b annual advertising budget to the Internet. The revelation keeps the death knell pealing for newspapers. According to followthemedia, GM's 2007 online display ad spend clocked-in at somewhere between $193m to $208m. At the same time, America's most profligate auto advertiser trimmed newspaper advertising by 32 percent, to $149.3m. The new Internet-heavy target will also eat into TV advertising. And where GM leads– in ad spending anyway– other automakers follow. "You know it’s getting dangerous for traditional media," scribe Steven Stone wars. "When the likes of Joel Ewanick, Marketing VP for Hyundai Motor America, says, 'Online is getting to the point where it may be more important than the 30-second spot.'" So look for GM advertising on TTAC soon. In other news, Hell is getting chilly.

Good news! The April issue of Ethanol Producer Monthly (EPM) is already online! Actually, if Sarah Smith's article "Ethanol's Excedrin Headache: Where Have All the Good Sites Gone?" is anything to go by, the news isn't that great for the mag's target market. EPM has identified organized ethanol plant protests in 14 states. "Rural communities that once heralded the arrival of an ethanol plant are now thumbing their noses at them." Before listing litigation from California to Wisconsin, Smith gives ethanol boosters a quick course in how not to win friends and influence people. "Plaintiffs swap strategies over the Internet, trade petition forms, success stories, failures, even going so far as to design T-shirts and coin the perfect acronym for their groups. Their reasons for filing causes of action are as myriad as the ethanol technology itself: not in my back yard, zoning board decisions, economic benefit, industry distrust, environmental concerns and water use issues. The view from the third tee box, listed in one cause of action, illustrates the lengths plaintiffs will go to halt a project in its tracks. After all, golf is life, isn't it?"

The Mazda2 (Demio) has won the 2008 World Car Of The Year prize. How was the diminutive Demio chosen for this honor? According to the WCOTY press release "Rather than being just a popularity contest, the objective was to ensure that the World Car of the Year would be the product of a fair and thorough assessment process that considered the needs and wants of consumers the world over.  The process began with individual jurors evaluating and rating the candidates using a variety of standardized parameters – everything from styling and quality, to performance and safety." Hmm, somehow we have a hard time believing that "standardized parameters" can objectively measure things like "styling," but whatever. The Mazda, which beat out the Ford Mondeo and Mercedes C Class for the award, had previously won national Car Of The Year awards in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, New Zealand, and Japan. You should be able to buy one in this country sometime in 2009 as the Ford Fiesta, but as Frank Williams pointed out, nobody should buys cars just because they win ridiculous awards.

"Farago better cover his ears," former TTACer Chris Paukert said, kneeling by one of his colleagues in the floor of the press room. As if. Turns out Porsche has issued a cease and desist order against Paukert's current employer, windingroad.com, after the website referred to the new Solstice hardtop as a "Solstice Targa." Within hours, the automaker sent a legal document ordering them to stop using the word "Targa" for anything other other than a Porsche Targa (named after the Targa Florio). They "suggested" the alternative: "T-top" or "removable glass roof." While we understand Porsche's Kleenex-like desire to protect their model nomenclature, perhaps a quiet word in the website's proverbial ear would have sufficed. We also wonder if Porsche would have been satisfied if Winding Road had used a small "t" instead of a capital "T." I know: let's see what happens. Solstice targa. Anything? Just for fun: Solstice Targa. Frank, put Ms. Brown on standby.

Since 1936, Oscar Mayer's hot dog-shaped vehicle has been keeping the company's weiners in the automotive limelight. (We're talking MECHANICALLY SEPARATED TURKEY, PORK, MECHANICALLY SEPARATED CHICKEN, WATER, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, FLAVOR, SODIUM LACTATE, CORN SYRUP, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, DEXTROSE, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE (MADE FROM SUGAR), SODIUM NITRITE on wheels.) And during that time, the Wienermobile has always ridden on an American chassis. As The New York Times reports, the previous gen was no exception, sitting on a Chevy W-4 series truck platform. No more. As you can see here, the new Weinermobile is a based on the German-owned, British-built MINI Cooper (S no less). It's a change that didn't escape the attention of NYT scribe Robert Peele. "I asked [spinmeister] Big Dog Bill if the smaller vehicle was a signal that Oscar Mayer was adjusting to concern over gas prices and fuel efficiency. Was this an attempt at a greener Wienermobile? The answer was slightly disappointing. While the Mini Wiener will indeed be more fuel efficient, he said, its true raison d’être was to celebrate Oscar Mayer’s 125th anniversary." (Way to press the point, Mr. Peele.) Too bad the Weinermobile doesn't sit on an old Subaru platform. Then they could could take it international as a Bratwurstmobile. [thanks to starlightmica for the link]

In an op ed entitled "Driving Miss Chloe," New York Times scribe Caitlin Flanagan argues that the drop in teenage drivers reflects over-protective parents. Seemingly oblivious to journalistic scandals involving fictional composites, Flanagan invents a teenage girl named Chloe and castigates her for riding with Mom in a Toyota Sienna– instead of learning how to drive. "When I was in high school in the 1970s, we had a name for teenagers like Chloe: losers… In my day, we did whatever was necessary to get out on a Saturday night: we climbed out of windows; we jumped on the back of motorcycles; God help us, we hitchhiked. We needed, on the most basic and physical level, to be out in the dangerous night, with one another, away from our parents and the safety of home. It was no way to live, and some of us didn’t. But it was a drive so elemental and essential that there seemed no way to deny it." In a nod to reality, Flanagan mentions the enormous cost of insuring a teen driver– and then dismisses it in her relentless assault on today's teens' lack of gumption. "Learn to drive? Why would they want to do that?" she concludes. Offer coherent analysis of teen driving trends? Why would Flanagan do that?

The Times pits a BMW 520d with Efficient Dynamics against a Toyota Prius to see which one gets better mileage. After a bit of Hollywood hybrid-bashing, the Times sets the stage for their battle of the fuel misers (meisters?). "To find out [which one gets better mileage] we set a challenge: to drive a Prius [and BMW 320d] to Geneva using motorways and town driving. The direct route is 460 miles but we drove almost 100 miles further to give the Prius the advantage of running in urban conditions where its petrol-electric drivetrain comes into its own." Strangely, the article doesn't follow the headline writer's "take no prisoners" style– "Toyota Prius proves a gas guzzler in a race with the BMW 520d." In fact, the authors don't pronounce a winner. But the chart at the bottom tells the tale. BMW 520d: 10.84 gallons (50.3mpg); Toyota Prius: 11.34 gallons (48.1mpg).   

Yesterday, we reported that California roads suck, linking to KGTV. The station used The Road Information Project (TRIP) as their source. Bozzie wanted to know more about this "non-profit organization that promotes transportation policies that relieve traffic congestion, improve road and bridge conditions, improve air quality, make highway travel safer and enhance economic productivity." Yes, well, The Sierra Club's 1999 Sprawl-Watch.org newsletter described TRIP as “a non-profit highway research organization sponsored by equipment manufacturers and distributors, material suppliers and businesses involved in highway engineering, construction and financing.” True dat. Back in ‘04, TRIP named Keith Harlan, then president of the general contracting firm A.M. Cohron & Son in IA, to their board. They also elected Paul Diederich, then president of Industrial Builders Inc. in Fargo, N.D., to their executive committee. TRIP’s list of state-by-state “news releases” shows that the org. plays the “INSERT STATE NAME HERE roads suck” game around the country. And, as yankinwaoz pointed out, TRIP reckons the financial “cost” of bad roads includes fuel “wasted” by sitting in jams. California's roads still suck, but next time, we promise we'll be more cynical about media manipulation– if such a thing is possible.

TTAC's no apologist for any automaker. And we're big fans of the editorial equivalent of the arched eyebrow. But we call foul over Motor Trend 's coverage of Toyota's decision to extend its warranties on Tacoma pickups sold between 1995 and 2000 due to problems with rust. The mag's online scribe Andrew Streiber reports the facts– well, edits the press release slightly– with studied impartiality. "Though Toyota says the problems have been limited to trucks in states where salt is used to de-ice roads in winter, the company is extending rust-perforation warranty coverage to all 1995-2000 Tacomas regardless of location. The coverage will last 15 years from the original date of sale with no mileage cap. Owners who think they may have a rust problem can simply visit a dealer for a free inspection, and if damage is found Toyota will either repair or repurchase the truck (they decide)." But Streiber can't resist finishing with a cheap shot. "Given the well-publicized problems in early examples of the new Tundra, it's still another blemish on their reputation for quality the company didn't need." Note to MT: if the domestics had adopted a similar approach to similar problems, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in. 

The Camaro has had spy photographers up its tailpipe ever since GM announced that they were thinking, maybe, about possibly perhaps building a new Camaro. And although we've seen some pretty good shots before, GM is now running undisguised prototypes around so you can get a complete view of what the Camaro looks like. Can you really call them spy pictures when GM is asking to have the pictures taken? Instead, maybe we'll call them "pre-press kit photos" because they're taken before GM invites over the professional studio photographers and then rubs oil all over the car and puts up those funny silver umbrellas. Aside from the horrific watermarks involved, there's a downside to documenting every step of the testing process and showing people the car before it's actually good to go (the Flex effect). Even though the development time line for the Camaro has been reasonably quick, it seems like we've been waiting since Burt Reynolds' first face lift for the new Camaro to hit the showroom floor. Anyway, to quote Three Dog Night, a child is black, a child is white, it turns by day, and then by night.