Reuters reports that a former Daimler finance manager was sentenced to serve five and a half years in jail for embezzling more than 22 million euros ($32.5m) from the German automaker over a five-year period. A Stuttgart court ruled the 42-year-old man had submitted fake invoices for computer services and forged supervisors' signatures to obtain up to 2 million euros ($2.95m) at a time. Across the border in France, a court has fined Volvo 200k euros (nearly $300k) after the driver of a Volvo 850 TDI lost control of her car, killing two children and injuring another. The driver claims the brake became very rigid and she could not stop in time. Volvo is expected to appeal the decision. Meanwhile in Israel, a venture group known as C.En, says it’s developed a safe, lightweight hydrogen tank for automobiles. "The tanks will be like a battery that can be replaced and you can carry a reserve in the car," says Moshe Stern, who leads the project’s investor group. Unlike other systems, this one uses hydrogen gas rather than liquid. “We are looking now for one of the giants to adopt our technology and support it," Stern says. Uh sorry, the Giants have more pressing plans at the moment.

Auto Motor und Sport [via Reuters] reports that Ford is contemplating selling Lincolns in Europe. "We are considering distribution in Europe and Asia," FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally told the German buff book. "We already sell Lincolns in the Middle East." Yeah, well, not many. Of the 130,700 Lincolns sold last year, only one percent of those transactions occurred outside North America. No wonder a Ford spokesman quickly spun Big Al's comments into oblivion. While hyping the brand's foreign potential, he insisted that any European incursion by the Reach Higher brand would take place "sometime in the future since the priority right now is clearly on North America." Still, Big Al's loose lips could be another indication that Volvo is heading for the auction block; the Swedes were supposed to be Ford's worldwide luxury brand. Question: what Lincoln could possibly hope to compete in the Eurozone?

According to Autobild (print edition, Jan 25), Alfa Romeo will re-engineer almost all of its models from front wheel to rear wheel-drive (RWD). Since the FIAT conglomerate has practically no usable RWD platforms, Alfa is about to ink a deal with GM to use The General's Sigma platform, currently underpinning the Cadillac CTS, SRX and STS. Alfa plans to use Sigma for its 169 executive sedan, the 159 small sedan, the Alfa Spider convertible, the Brera Coupe and for a new generation of smaller Maseratis. Autobild speculates they might deploy Sigma for the next gen Maserati Quattroporte and the GT. From a GM bean-counter's point of view, the news sounds sensible; why not share the costs? From a branding POV, you might say hey, Cadillac could do worse– at least, they aren't sharing Sigma with Pontiac. However. HOWEVER. GM wants to re-relaunch Cadillac in Europe. And Alfa plans to re-enter the U.S. Why the heck is GM helping a competitor to undermine its own market? And let's not forget that the last time GM got in bed with FIAT, it got burnt for 1.55 billion Euros. Fool me once…

Owners of cars with built-in navigation systems are familiar with the legal disclaimer screen, which indemnifies the manufacturer if the unit distracts you to death. Nissan plans to expand this e-hectoring with a start-up screen reminding drivers not to drink and drive. According to a press release on WebWire, "the alert 'Do not drive after drinking' appears automatically for about five seconds on the navigation panel between the hours of 17:30 and 05:00 at the start of the ignition. In the daytime i.e. between 05:00 and 17:30 hours, the display message reads 'Let’s continue safe driving today.'" The new Nannying– featured on their way cool CARWINGS nav system– is a Japan-only deal. For now. Nissan also says it intends to "widen its use of technology to address the hazards of drink-driving." Could a breathalyzer ignition lock be in Nissan drivers' future? 

Well, they would, wouldn't they? In what Spiegel Online calls a "remarkable change of trends," ADAC (the German equivalent of the AAA) says their car-breakdown stats (2m call-outs per year) indicate that VW, BMW and Mercedes are no longer guaranteed to fail. For the past 10 years, Japanese brands have led the ADAC reliability index. In 2003, nine out of ten of the most reliable cars in Germany were Japanese. But in the 2008 rankings, no Toyota made the top ten of least-likely-to-break-down. ADAC attributes the Japanese automaker's fall from grace to their rapid growth. Meanwhile, ADAC says that German carmakers' attention to "quality as reliability" (as opposed to "quality as tight panel  gaps") accounts for their "win." Here's the company's rundown of Germany's most reliable machines…

1 – BMW X3
2 – Audi A2
3 – BMW 1-Series
4 – BMW MINI
5 – Mazda 3
6 – Mercedes CLK
7 – Audi A4
8 – BMW 3-Series
9 – Mercedes SLK
10 – Mitsubishi Space Star

Filming yourself speeding has become an problem of pandemic proportions in Great Britain. Or at least that's what it would seem, based on the way the constabulary in England and Wales are reacting to the videos of highway hoonage on YouTube and other sites. Equating the videos to slasher flicks and pornography, the Old Bill wants the government to pass laws banning them. Apparently, the home-made vids "encourage more young people to speed and in turn, more young people to get killed." In Fife, Scotland, Chief Inspector Alex Duncan actually spends time scouring YouTube looking for the videos. He says if he can identify anyone in the footage, they'll persecute prosecute them. Even more Big Brotherish, Duncan hints at a wider probe. "What really scares me is how many people are doing this and not putting it on websites where we can find it." YouTube says it won't ban the videos, but if police think a post is evidence of a crime, they should "get in touch with them." While TTAC doesn't condone lawbreaking, and we accept the police's right to investigate criminal matters, we defend freedom of speech and personal privacy in all its permutations. And the video here was shot on a derestricted section of the German autobahn. In case you were wondering.

Isuzu once had one of the most recognizable ad campaigns on the planet (you have my word on it!). Their Giugiaro-designed Impulse was considered one of the best-looking cars on the road. Honda thought their SUVs were good enough to rebadge, to get Honda and Acura into the growing SUV market. And now, after they've struggled along for the past five years with nothing more to offer than rebadged Chevy TrailBlazers and Colorados, Mobile Magazine reports they're officially abandoning the American market.  It'll cost them about $37m to pull out, but they probably spend that much each year just keeping their American operation limping along. They'll still provide replacement parts for their existing models, but it's very doubtful you'll ever see a passenger vehicle with the Isuzu brand on it. If I’m lying, may lightning hit my mother.

"If everything goes well in the rest of the world, we can take a couple hits in the U.S. and still be okay." Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman of Global Product Development. [via TTAC]. "Those emerging markets can't carry GM. We've got to get the job done in all markets." Fritz Henderson, GM Chief Financial Officer [via Automotive News, sub]. Given GM Car Czar maximum Bob Lutz' reputation for "shooting from the hip" (a.k.a. making shit up as he goes along), I'm going with Fritz' analysis. Oh wait, "Henderson also said the U.S. economy in general is faring better than the financial markets. He said he doesn't think the nation is in a recession, thanks to strength in certain sectors of the economy, such as exports." Holy Cruising Down Denial Batman! If anyone is in a recession– you know, other than the housing market– it's the U.S. automobile industry. On the other hand, Fritz also told the assembled car hacks "In terms of what we have to do — profits, cash flow, market cap — we're not the world's largest automaker." So he's down with that. But– "That's what I'm spending 100 percent of my time trying to figure out." Hmmm. Maybe it has something to do with, I dunno, product, or, I'm guessing here, branding. Anyway, if it's not a recession, what is it? Downturn? Market correction? Help Fritz out here guys; what euphemism should he use? 

As we mentioned last September, Herpa secured the rights to the Trabant name. Rumor had it that the toy manufacturer was considering reviving what we termed the "plastic-bodied, smoke-spewing, two-stroke, two-cylinder rolling testimonial to everything that was wrong with communist East Germany." Well, it looks like Herpa's actually going to do it. Worldcarfans reports that Herpa is partnering with specialty car manufacturer IndiKar to form an initiative called "newTrabi." The plan's originator, Klaus Schindler, hopes to incorporate "the wishes and expectations of the cult car's many enthusiastic fans… in the development." They'll debut a 1/87 scale model of the newTrabi in February, shooting for a full-scale prototype for the IAA in 2009. Again we have to ask, WTH are they thinking? Perhaps our European readers would like to comment on the possible market for a machine with a well-earned reputation for being the worst car ever produced by hand of man. 

Fiat's CEO once called his employer "so worthless it could not be sold." As recently as 2003, Fiat lost $2.7b for the year. In the middle of its travails, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne jumped in bed with GM CEO Rick Wagoner. The Harvard MBA swapped six percent of GM's shares for 20 percent of Fiat's. And get this: Wagoner signed a "put option" obliging The General to buy the remaining 80 percent of the Italian car maker between January 2004 and July 2009. In 2005, GM paid Fiat $2b– not including lawyer's fees– NOT to consummate the transaction. GM's epic stupidity funded winning new models like the Fiat 500, Panda, and Grande Punto. Five years later, a resurgent Fiat has paid off ALL of it debts, turned a profit and kept a few hundred million in reserve. And now… Moody's and S&P have looked at Fiat's balance sheet and returned Fiat SpA to "junk" bond level status (again). Sergio Marchionne's response: "that's obscene." If so, the fact that the man who funded Fiat's turnaround is still the head of GM is pure pornography.

The British media is all a-twitter this morning over a video posted on YouTube that shows a driver pushing his Vauxhall Cavalier to 125mph down the the M23 in Sussex. According to BBC News, the police are looking for him. They've also warned other potential scofflaws that anyone filming such activities could themselves be filmed and hauled into court. While YouTube said the video was not "considered offensive" and would not be removed, apparently the user, "paulscav," took it down (when I searched for it, YouTube said the account was closed). Meanwhile, the Royal Auto Club (RAC) Foundation is calling for all website operators to remove clips "that glorify speeding on public roads." In the spirit of international relations and all that, we'd like to do our part by showing the RAC how it's done right– I mean, wrong, in a Ford GT at 200mph.

Here we go again: pictures hitting the net before an official debut. Snaps that prove that Volkswagen's European bargain brand Skoda does VW better than VW does VW. Skoda, a Czech company whose cars were punchlines for years ("A friend of mine got a new side mirror for his Skoda. Sounds like a fair trade to me"), has been churning-out one reasonable reskinned VW after another. The first generation Superb was a stretched, bargain-priced Passat. Skoda passes 'at with a new model based on the current Mk6 Passat (currently sold Stateside). The Superb may not live-up to its name, but it a looks damn sight better than the Passat: more stolid, more German and more "European." Best of all, there are non-wild ass rumors coming from VW's American HQ that the Superb could be headed stateside a in lightened content form. As a re-badged Volksie, the Superb would serve as a lower-priced mainstream replacement for the Passat, as the Passat Coupe moves upmarket. What do you reckon: should VW NA pass or play? 

According to Automotive News Europe, Porsche’s new holding company will increase its VW holdings after Sunday's state elections in Lower Saxony (whose government is VW's second-largest shareholder). Speaking at Porsche’s annual general meeting, the prospect had the automaker’s CEO all misty-eyed. "Barring the unexpected, we should once again achieve a result where it will be difficult to suppress tears of joy." Along the same line, Wendelin Wiedeking revealed that "The operating profit in our car business is developing according to plan and our hedging transactions in the context of our long-term VW strategy look good." What if the U.S. economy tanks? "Porsche is well prepared for a possible economic crisis in the USA, with inventories in the local market having been significantly reduced." Wiedeking also submitted his application for TTAC’s Bob Lutz Award (no really). "It would appear that the only way to escape the end of the world is to hop into those quaint little baby-cars from Italy and France." So much for a “unified” Europe, eh boys?

Hey, the entry form for iAfrica's competition for VW track instruction at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit doesn't say anything about residency requirements. If you scoop their prize (chosen entirely at random of course), you'll attend the VW Driving Academy to gain "practical experience and confidence in dealing with potential dangers — from avoiding collisions to the optimal way to respond in a hijack situation." (Hint: aim you Glock at their chest, not their head.) After spending the morning hooning about on the skidpan and an executive lunch ("I eat executives for lunch"), you will "move onto the racetrack for some driving sessions around the circuit, brake distance recognition and an ESP exercise" (I'm thinking of a number). While I wait for the caffeine to wear-off, an insider's tip: don't send them the R32 engine's output in 'Merican-style horsepower stats. Think Reddy Kilowatt. 

[Complete list of RSA's VW driving courses here] 

I'm sure plenty of auto bloggers and erstwhile reporters will hail GM's decision to form a new engineering group to "focus on hybrid vehicles, extended-range electric vehicles and battery technology." It's easy enough to see the development (reported by CNNMoney) as proof that GM has, finally, put its chips on the alternative propulsion (alt prop) table. But I'd like to raise the red flag here. GM already has a 500-member team working on the electric – gas hybrid Chevrolet Volt. GM already has another team working on the plug-in Saturn Vue. GM already has vehicle development teams for all its eight U.S. brands, spanning some 49 models. GM already has boffins in Germany working on their products. GM already has a hybrid development team in China. In theory, consolidating all these efforts under one Alt Prop Czar–  Robert Kruse, executive director of vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries– makes sense. But the fact that GM says it will be "based" in North America, Europe and Asia tells me that this new GM fiefdom will struggle within The General's Byzantine bureaucracy and competition fiefdoms, floundering within a culture known for product paralysis and financial profligacy. Just sayin'…