While BMW and Porsche look like they're intent on reducing their brand equity, other car makers are busy attacking the field of sporty & sexy. First, FIAT announced it's rejuvenating the Abarth brand. Abarths were small cars that buzzed and bit, and stung like the scorpion in the company's logo. Abarth was fierce in the 1960s, sad in the 1970s and dead by 1980, but enthusiasts still lust for the cachet. And now Alpine. I'll never forget a nail-biting drive a friend gave me in 1982 in his A110, when he out-accelerated and out-maneuvered a Porsche 911E. From 1954 to 1994, Alpines were ass-engined fun cars for pistonheads who wanted an alternative to Porsche, and could live with a degree of rawness, as well as with so-so reliability. And now, according to AM Online, Renault-Nissan (incidentally, upon acquisition of Russia's Avtovaz now the world's third largest carmaker) is working on two Alpine-branded models: an affordable, fun to drive sports car and a top-of-the-line luxury model. "Think Mazda MX-5 or even Smart Roadster and you are on the right lines", said a Renault exec. "Ideally we would like to have an affordable sports car on a rear wheel drive platform that is great fun to drive.” Renault is rumoured to be unveiling a 'desirable' concept car (possibly re-introducing the Alpine name) at the Geneva Motor Show on March 4. We will report from Switzerland, and rejoice should the day cometh.

There's an old Jackie Mason joke, "I love Puerto Rico. I go there every year– just to visit my hubcaps." I mention this funny/racist joke because gasoline prices have more than doubled in the last four years and the money's going… where exactly? Sure, Exxon Mobil and their oil baron friends are posting quarter after quarter of historic record profits. But how many cigars can you light with a $100 bill? Someone else must be getting fat and happy too, right? Right. Investment adviser, Ron Paul fan and economic blogger Michael "Mish" Shedlock posits that a lot of the oil revenue is headed towards the UAE's capital city. How much oil revenue? Only about six percent of the UAE's take home comes from actual oil. However, the JAFZA free trade zone offers many perks for those with huge surpluses of cash to, uh, invest. Check it: come 2009 Dubai will feature the world's tallest building (The Burj Dubai — 2,684 ft), the world's tallest structure (The Al Burj — 3,937 ft), the world's tallest hotel (The Burj al Alam — 1,644 ft), the world's first underwater hotel (Hydropolis), the world's biggest amusement park (the Disney World trumping Dubailand) and even more indoor skiing. Not to mention the world's largest waterfront and hundreds of luxury man-made islands. Let's put it this way: Dubai is home to about 20 percent of the world's [mechanical] cranes. Have a look.

Actually, UK scribe Steve Wakefield says nothing of the sort. In fact, his review of the new Bentley Brooklands doesn't offer much in the way of literary thrills. But if you're a student of serious horsepower, hand-stitched pampering and tightly focused branding, Wakefield's luxury car liturgy will be music to your ears. For those of you who can't get enough power, the £230k two-door is "powered by the most powerful V8 in the company’s history:" a twin-turbocharged 6.75-liter mill that stumps-up 530bhp @ 4000rpm and 1050Nm of torque at 3200rpm. (No mention of mpgs.) Good thing customers can opt for the largest brakes in the world: 420mm, cross-drilled, carbon/silicon carbide fronts with 356mm rears. And the factoids keep coming! The Brooklands makes the 50 to 70mph "overtaking dash" in just 2.4 seconds, tops-out at 184mph (or more), boasts "the largest rear seat area of any production coupé in the world" and handles well (you know; for a car that weighs more than southern Rhode Island). For some reason, Wakefield feels obliged to end his piece by touting the car's "infinitesimal impact" on global warming. He also advises Brooklands owners to middle finger salute the greens. "It’s a statement, an opportunity for the world’s richest to say, 'This is going to be my car. I’m going to enjoy every minute spent specifying it and driving it.'"  

According to Wired, Toyota's set to show off the production version of their iQ microcar at next month's Geneva Auto Show. The iQ is as wide and tall as a Yaris and just a bit longer than a smart fortwo. Thanks to innovative design and packaging, the iQ seats four (at least in concept form). Toyota hasn't said what'll motivate their mighty mite, Given its diminutive size, look for a powerplant displacing a liter or less. If the styling stays true to the concept, ToMoCo will have no problem selling every iQ they can screw together. No word on whether they'll bring it to the States. But with gas prices continuing to climb and the smart money on the new smart, it's a good bet Toyota will try to raise America's iQ, or some such pun.

Indian car maker Tata has announced plans to export its Nano city car to Europe; albeit in a different form, at a different price, in the future, eventually. Quoted in Germany's Focus Online, Tata's Head Head of Small Car Projects auditioned for the Hindi version of "Promises, promises." "We won't export the current model [unleashed in India this autumn]," Girish Wagh admitted. "But in five years time, we will have developed the second-generation Nano which will be good enough for Europe. The Nano will then meet the Euro 5 emission regulations as well as all crash standards." At the same time, Tata's cheerleader promised to improve on the Nano's fuel consumption, from 47 to 78 mpg. Methinks the Indian automakers' plans for the Nano are a tad… ambitious. The current car's Unique Selling Point is price: $2,500. Add in the safety, comfort and convenience features that the average European economy car driver currently enjoys, throw in the eye-watering sales tax that the average European economy car driver forks over to his government, and Tata's Nano will be bumping-up against the VW Up!, Toyota IQ and other highly accomplished machines, sold from a large number of established dealerships. Good luck with that.

CNN Money reports that potential oil-supply disruptions in Venezuela, along with reports of new violence in Nigeria, has oil-industry traders all a-tizzy. "The combination of these factors creates some concerns about the supply side of the equation," pronounced David Moore, a commodity strategist with Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Further frazzling traders' nerves: pipeline sabotage in the Niger Delta. Royal Dutch Shell says terrorist activity will prevent it from honoring all of its export contracts from the region for two months, deducting some 130k barrels a day off world supply. Still, after jumping to $93.59 a barrel on Monday morning, light sweet crude settled at $93.04 by late afternoon. Meanwhile, over at Oil-Price.net, blogger Steve Austin says the Iran Petroleum Exchange (or "Bourse") is set to begin using Euros to price oil on February 19th. (Currently, major oil markets trade in U.S. dollars.) The switch to Euros "could have devastating effects on the US dollar," Austin says. "Although under-reported by the media, this historical shift and its consequences should be watched closely." Rest assured, TTAC will oblige.

While GM CEO Rick Wagoner is busy talking-up his plan to consolidate Saab, Hummer and Cadillac dealers into some sort of weird ass "luxury car" salon, Auto Motors und Sport [via Reuters] reports that Saab sales are slouching towards Bethlehem. Saab's head honcho, Jan-Ake Jonsson, told the German buff book that the erstwhile Swedish brand sold just 125k cars last year. That's down eight thousand cars from the year previous, and 35k less than Saab's recently revised internal goals. (In June, GM European Prez Carl-Peter Forster predicted 160k '07 Saab sales, down 10k from the previous estimate.) So, uh, where does that leave Saab's plans these days? "It is our target to sell 150,000 to 200,000 units per year," Jonsson told Auto Motor und Sport. "But in order to reach such annual sales we need the new models." Not if they're like the old new models…

Honda is quite literally gearing up its California-compliant diesels for the U.S. market. A few months ago, Honda started telling everyone that their i-DTEC oil-burning engines were headed for the U.S. Diesel fans were all a-twitter– even if the high mileage, high torque powerplant was destined to sit in the new, overdone and overweight Accord (or more expensive but generally better looking TSX). What Car reminds us just how much prep is involved. Step one, emissions compliance with a particulate standard that's twice as tough as the European Union's. Step two, configure an automatic transmission to work with the damn thing. That's right, until now the Honda-branded diesels (in Honda cars) were stick only. As less than 10 percent of U.S. driver drive a manual car, a diesel-compatible autobox is mission critical. Other updates in diesel news: Volkswagen hasn't released any info about its 50-state diesel engine since it said it would be delayed… again. So no, that's not really an update. It's a complaint. Get on the ball VW, before Honda beats you to the punch.

Dacia is one of Renault-Nissan's success stories: a new, almost-global brand specializing in not-quite-ultra-low-cost cars. According to most reviews, the Dacia Logan is a decent drive with a hideous interior. At €5,400.00 (net), the Logan is by far the cheapest more-or-less modern car sold in Europe, Russia and many third-world countries. So, despite being one unattractive son of a Munstermobile, it's a hit. Autocar has scooped the new, more eye-friendly Dacia Sadero. Although its shares mechanicals with the Logan, the Sandero's smaller: a Yaris-size supermini. Autocar reckons the Sandero will be larger and more capable than the smallest Euro-Fords and clock in at £6.5k, undecutting FoMoCo's cars by about a thousand quid. Dacia plans to unveil the Sandero at the Geneva show, three weeks hence. We'll be there and report. [FYI: the UK V.A.T. rate is 17.5 percent, so the Sandero would net at  £5,363.00. At current exchange rates that would be $10,450.00, but according to Purchasing Power Parity, which filters out short-term exchange-rate distortions, the Sandero's net-US price could theoretically be around $8,350.00.]

BMW's upper management tends to be more tight-lipped than treasure hunters. As a result, Wall Street sees the automaker's executive culture as closed-minded, overly proud and parochial. The Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) and the Financial Times  report that Bimmer's boss has broken his vow of silence, trying to soothe the markets regarding the automaker's poor share performance. At a conference in London yesterday, Reithofer outlined BMW's plan to increase its return on capital to 26 percent and its return on sales to eight to ten percent by 2012. The propeller people promise to reduce R&D expenditures from 6.1 percent of sales to five percent, save millions on purchasing and cut 8k jobs. No one was buying it. One analyst said, "the market in its current state is not in any mood to buy cheques dated to 2012". Morgan Stanley said in a research note: "The company provided incremental detail on its cost- cutting efforts, but it offered precious little in terms of specific figures or intermediate milestones." And while Reithofer was speaking, BMW's share price slid five percent, on a market-friendly day. Reithofer left the conference after one hour, saying he felt sick, and canceled further appearances in New York and Boston. By day's end, BMW's share price had lost 2.8 percent, equivalent to €609 million.

“Technology, alone, cannot solve this question of how to reduce emissions from cars. Reducing CO2 emissions from cars should be a shared responsibility.” And there you have it: Wolfgang Hennig's rationale for urging the European Union (EU) to spend more of its members' tax dollars to teach drivers how to emit less C02 (via their car, not personally). Wards Auto reports that Ford of Europe's "eco-driving manager" isn't alone in this "why don't you pick on someone else for a change" strategy. "The European Automobile Manufacturers Assn. says eco-driving training can lead to an immediate reduction in fuel consumption of up to 25%." So.. we're talking about government intervention in how you drive your car? Uh-huh. "The EU is leaving it up to the individual governments to run their own voluntary schemes, which if successful could lead to the EC including rules and standards on eco-driving in future legislation." But… how? "Isuzu Motors Ltd. has a new range of commercial vehicles equipped with an onboard computer system that records the use of the accelerator, gearshift, brake and clutch. Data is downloaded into a laptop, showing each driver how they perform on the road and acting as the basis for tailored eco-driving lessons." There's more, but it freaks me out. 

Think The Big 2.8 have it rough with new federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards? The ex-chairman of Shell Oil is calling for the European Union to ban all cars that get less than 35mpg. Pistonheads reports that Sir Mark Moody-Stuart told the BBC that "nobody needs a car that does 10-15mpg." An Aston is OK, "but only if it did 50 – 60mpg." Sir Mark doesn't agree that increasing road and fuel taxes is a better way level the proverbial playing field; the wealthy shouldn't be allowed to pay their way out of their responsibility for climate change. Sir Mark did relent a bit on the subject of older cars. Under his "If I ruled the world" plan, sub-35 mpg motors would be allowed to "die off" as they're replaced by newer high-mileage vehicles. And if you think Sir Mark is just another sherry-addled Lord, keep in mind that the EU in general, the UK in specific and London in particular are doing everything they can to tax low mileage cars off the roads. Sir Mark's ban is simply the logical progression of an existing policy.

You may recall that GM sold its stake in Subaru to… Toyota. Last spring's union between the two Japanese automakers is about to bear fruit. Motor Trend reveals that one of the first toys out of the Tubaru toy box will be a latter day reincarnation of the Toyota Celica. The new sports coupe will arrive both as a lower-priced rear-wheel-drive base model and a full-bore AWD model, complete with the Impreza STi's 300hp engine. The new Toybaru will be offered in two flavors: two-door coupe or three-door hatch. To keep the price duo-brand-compliant, the Subota will be a high-volume model; you can expect to see it in a number of markets including the U.S. GM may rue the day it threw Subie's shares into its cash conflagration. 

Do you happen to be an "engineer for hybrid development and transmission controls"? Is your title "Project Engineer High-Voltage Safety and Batteries?" Or, as a matter of fact, do you do anything at all that touches the hybrid field? Then Porsche wants you! In a recent full-page, national newspaper ad, Porsche revealed that it's not ashamed to admit that its hybrid talent pool is a bit, er, thin. But the ad also indicates that (oddly enough), the automaker's taking this gas – electric stuff seriously; no mild hybrids for the sons of Ferdi. According to Automobilwoche [sub], the first model on which the (new) engineers will be able to cut their teeth will be the second-generation Cayenne, starting in 2010. The Panamera sedan will be introduced in 2009, but it won't be hybridized before 2011. Other politically-correct plans include lower weight: The Panamera's four doors will probably be made of magnesium. (Let's not be callous and picture the bright colors in which a Panamera with Li-Ion  batteries and magnesium doors would burn). Even Diesels, God forbid, are on the horizon. According to Porsche's boss Wendelin Weideking, oil burners are being "taken into consideration." Porschefiles, the end is nigh.