The accounts are empty, GM keeps saying no, the reconstruction administrator is about to pull the plug on Saab. Unfazed, The Church of The True Saab goes from clumsy spinning to simply telling lies. First, they turned “a bank in China” into “the Bank of China.” As Chinacartimes quips, this “could be anything from the smallest local city bank to a national level bank.”
Before the Tokyo Motor Show, we were told that the Juke Nismo on display there is a prototype only, to gauge customer reception. If customers react positively enough, the car will be made. If not, forget about it.
Apparently, Nissan’s Chief Creative Officer Shiro Nakamura heard nothing but positive remarks because … just watch the video until the end and hear what he says.
In Once Upon a Car, Bill Vlasic artfully employs quotes gained through over 100 interviews to make readers feel like they’re “in the room.” Assuming that Vlasic has accurately reproduced the original dialogues, we learn how senior executives really talk… (Warning: Graphic language after the jump.) Read More >
Chinese media are going wild because BBC’s Top Gear has landed in China. Jeremy Clarkson and James May arrived in Beijing for filming a new Top Gear episode which will be on TV in next year’s season. Judging from the pictures take on-scene, the shoot seems to center on two topics, and both may make the Chinese car industry lose the ever so important face. Read More >
The long-awaited pent-up demand is finally here, and it’s here to last – at least into the first quarter of 2012, says Edmunds.com. A “mini-bubble” of new car sales has been identified, and it could make for a good start of 2012 say the car-counters of Edmunds. Read More >
On a freeway in southern Japan, at least 10 supercars were involved in what The Telegraph calls “likely to be the most expensive car crash outside of a car racing track.” Total damage is estimated at around $4 million. Read More >
There are a lot of things you can do instead of spending five figures on a new ride. Travel the world. Pay off debt. Get a house. Heck, you can even pursue that elusive shangri-la known as retirement. Or have lunch at Waffle House for three years straight so that you can completely avoid that ‘growing old’ business.
A new car is a big chunk of an expense for a lot of folks. But sometimes it’s worth it.
Avoiding the usual Auto Journo networking opportunities like the plague leaves me with the road test equivalent of everyone’s sloppy seconds. But there’s a good story behind a nearly dead model, unless we are talkin’ about the Chevy Malibu. Without the charms of a 6th gen Honda Civic or Panther Love (‘natch) this whip’s demise couldn’t come soon enough. A recent sales chart proves the point: a sad commentary for a car that was once hailed as “the car you can’t ignore” by people genuinely interested in making a CamCord fighter…so how exactly has the ‘Bu faired since then?
The “Race Of Champions” is a made-for-TV event which purports to pit the world’s best drivers head-to-head using a variety of vehicles on an indoor stadium course. This year’s event was won by up-and-coming WRC pilot Sebastien Ogier (for the individual event) and the rather formidable team of Sebastian Vettel and M. Schumacher (for the Nations Cup).
Whom did the United States send? Well, we sent our very best — Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan. How’d they do? Well, Pastrana’s gone as far as the second round in the past, but this time it was all bad news for the Americans. How badly did they get beaten? Click the jump to find out…
Swedish Automobile N.V. (Swan) announces it is in discussion with Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. Ltd. (Youngman) and a bank in China about an equity interest in Swan. The discussions include a short term solution to enable Saab Automobile to pay the November wages and continue reorganization. The outcome of the discussions is still uncertain. Any possible transaction would be subject to the approval of the relevant stakeholders. [emphasis added]
As always, you can read about the proposed new structure (which has PangDa out of the picture) and why it will solve all of Saab’s problems over at Saabsunited.com. But far more interesting is the English-language interview with Victor Muller, found here (skip ahead to the 38:40 mark), in which Muller explains that GM can block any deal in which an automaker takes a 20% or larger stake in Saab, and that he is essentially Vladimir Antonov’s front man. After all, trying to understand Muller is far more compelling than this latest deal, which can be approved by GM (because it keeps automakers below 20% ownership), but won’t actually solve Saab’s basic problems (for precisely the same reason).
China might be going on a deadly brand binge as Bertel prognosticated. Here is a new brand that at least is worth a look: Qoros. It is a joint venture between Chery Automotive and Quantum LLC from Israel. The joint venture had been approved way back in 2007, but things slowed down soon after that – in 2008. Now they are back, with a very first concept car that looks – well, it looks like a cow. Read More >
“Under current foreign exchange rates, there can be no shipments from Japan of totally new projects,” Nissan’s COO Toshiyuki Shiga said. According to the report, anything with a new chassis that is intended for foreign markets will begin its life in those foreign markets. Says The Nikkei: Read More >
The Church of The True Saab reports rather breathlessly that a YADTFSS (yet another deal to finally save Saab) has been found. The organ that prides itself to have knowledge of insider information (which it usually never releases) relies on Sweden’s TTELA, which says (translation courtesy Church of The True Saab : ) Read More >
Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! If you have enough followers on Twitter and the like, Chevrolet might give you a free 2012 Sonic. Not for keeps. But for 3 days. It’s the new long-term tester of the 140 character age.
According to Automotive News [sub], General Motors has hired Klout, a company that ranks a person’s “social influence.” Well, social networking influence. In the past, people with high Klout scores received free review copies of software, deodorant, or coffee. Now, they get a car. Read More >
The accounts are empty, GM keeps saying no, the reconstruction administrator is about to pull the plug on Saab. Unfazed, The Church of The True Saab goes from clumsy spinning to simply telling lies. First, they turned “a bank in China” into “the Bank of China.” As Chinacartimes quips, this “could be anything from the smallest local city bank to a national level bank.”
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