Writing these Saab stories is becoming as much fun as visiting a fading relative in a hospice: You have to do it, but you want to get it behind you, quickly. Today is the day a court in Sweden will decide whether it admits Saab’s appeal of a prior court decision that would have forced the Swedes into bankruptcy. In the meantime, Victor Muller came up with another plan. Read More >
Find News by Subject:
Category: News Blog
One man’s waste can be any other man’s treasure… given enough hard work. For one of his many projects, Belgian “neo-conceptualist” artist Wim Delvoye took well-loved tires and transformed them into hand-carved works of art that wouldn’t look out of place in Beijing’s Forbidden City. Anyone who’s destroyed a set of tires in a day and felt a tiny twinge of guilt at the delightful wastefulness of the experience can relax knowing that they haven’t destroyed something, but merely sent it on the next phase of its life. In most cases your used P-Zeros and Potenzas will end up as astroturf or hot tar, but a lucky few will fall into the hands of an enterprising artist like Delvoye and end up as transcendent art. If I could afford to regularly destroy tires, I’d be looking for one of these to display in my garage. [via Gizmodo]
I’m not generally much for anniversaries. Heck, after more than six years together, my steady sweetie and I can’t remember our actual anniversary, so we had to make one up… and we (both) still forget it most years. But here on the internet, there’s a record of everything. And looking back, it seems that it was exactly two years ago today that Robert Farago called me to say that The Truth About Cars was going to be my problem from now on.
Once upon a time, this stuff was easy. When Jean Jennings needed a little extra pocket change all she had to do was… make an ad. Like this one, for the Silverado. Or this one, for Jeep (which I swear was still visible less than a year ago). Nowadays, however, you’ve got to be a little more careful about how you go about lending your “editorial credibility” to one of the brands you’re supposed to be covering rather than shilling for. So instead of the straight-up “Hi, I’m Jean Jennings, Editor-in-Chief of Automobile Magazine, and here’s why I love Chevy’s Silverado” pimpatorial of the past, you’ve got to layer on the irony, load up on non-car-related distractions (I’ve got it… a puppet!) and generally avoid the personal testimonial format as much as possible.
Read More >
In yesterday’s coverage of the new UAW-GM contract, I wrote
What’s not yet clear is whether entry-level “Tier Two” workers, who make half what their “Tier One” brothers make, got a raise. Though it’s clear that GM and the UAW worked to avoid major increases to fixed costs by concentrating on jobs and profit-sharing bonus checks, the NYT confirms that the union was asking for some kind of entry-level raise. Given that no outlet is confirming any such Tier Two raise, though, it seems as though the UAW’s culture of seniority-over-solidarity has won out.
I was wrong. The Detroit News‘s Christina Rogers reports that GM will
give entry-level workers a $2-$3 an hour increase. Those so-called tier two employees, who are paid $14-$16 an hour, will be boosted to $16-$19 an hour.
Good for you, UAW. Thank you for proving me wrong. But the sooner the union shares the burden of the “new normal” equally across its entire membership, the better. This is a step in the right direction, but as long as some brothers are more equal than others, it’s going to be tough to talk transplant workers into what still amounts to a seniority pyramid scheme.
Interesting twist in the Volkswagen-Suzuki sopu opera (see, Japanese is easy!): Suzuki could be doing Volkswagen a favor by filing for divorce. This way, Volkswagen can swallow Suzuki whole. Read More >
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy tells the story of Frogstar B, pretty much the most evil planet around. Frogstar B had been a happy planet until things got just a little bit depressing… and people started to look down at their feet. They started buying shoes. They became obsessed with shoes. Designing, making, and selling shoes of increasingly shoddy quality became the primary occupation of the whole world. When the economy finally collapsed, the people of Frogstar B gave up in disgust and evolved into birds.
I found these two vehicles in a hotel parking lot yesterday. Ninety percent of the spots were empty, but these two were huddling together, perhaps for warmth. It put me in mind of a discussion I had with a PR fellow at Cadillac back around the time of the CTS-V Challenge.
Two days ago, we told you that Senator Debbie Stabenow was barking up the wrong tree when she again fingered China for “attempting to pressure American automakers, including General Motors and Ford, to transfer core technologies of their electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to Chinese companies, in order for those vehicles to qualify for China’s clean energy vehicle incentive program.” Both Ford and GM quickly and as diplomatically as possible said it isn’t so, simply because neither of them has any plans to build electric vehicles in China. Now it turns out that Stabenow was barking up the wrong forest: Nissan will export its Made in Japan Leaf to China. And the Chinese clean energy incentive program looks like a non-starter. Read More >
Better late than never: Honda is following a long line of other manufacturers to Russia, and will be assembling cars there. This according to a report in The Nikkei [sub]. It is said that Honda has submitted a plan to Russia’s Economy Ministry for the production of 30,000-50,000 cars per year.
The Russian government had been strong-arming the industry for a while. Either set up assembly sites in Russia and enjoy favorable treatment for the parts to come in. Or stay out and face grim import duties that exclude even the average oligarch from your target group. Read More >
This is not a new video. It is from an Edmunds session in June. However, it had only 119 views since it was uploaded. This video is required watching when you talk about distracted driving. Or when you have kids. If you love them, give them Call of Duty. And you’ll be amazed when she talks about the “Schumacher of the road” part.
The question of automotive preservation jogged an unblogged memory loose today, from earlier in this chaotic summer when I was in Wolfsburg, Germany. I was touring the Zeithaus, or “House of Time,” in Volkswagen’s sprawling Autostadt, taking in the remarkably well-curated exhibit of some of the most influential and important cars of all time. Unlike the GM Heritage Center, for example, the Zeithaus is not reserved for VWs alone, but includes fine examples of undeniably iconic cars from various marques. Organizing VW’s official museum in this way gives the brand a sense of sophistication, sending the message that VW knows quality even when it’s not the one producing it. And the Zeithaus’s curators use this well, offering up such flattering (if ultimately apt) comparisons as an Audi A2 poised alongside a Citroen DS.
You may not have heard of the Historical Vehicle Association before, but it’s a 30,000-member advocacy group that actually emerged from a special insurance plan for historic cars offered by Hagerty Insurance. Now ratified by the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens, the HVA offers commissions on History, Skills and Trades, Technical Issues and Legislative Affairs, as it seeks to fulfill its mission of “Keeping Yesterday’s Vehicles on Tomorrow’s Roads.” One of its more laudable legislative tasks of late has been raising awareness about the damage caused by ethanol-blended gasoline and seeking to ban mandatory blending. But now it’s got another goal, as reported by Automotive News [sub]
The federal government has national registries for historic buildings, boats, airplanes, railways — you name it. But not for cars. And the Historic Vehicle Association is trying to change that…
A concern among enthusiasts is that government initiatives — such as the 2009 federal cash-for-clunkers incentive — could send many vintage cars to the crusher. Legislation might prevent cars from being destroyed. Or it could allow gas guzzlers to remain on the road if other laws preclude them.
As it so happens, my significant other is an Architectural Historian who spends her days evaluating buildings that could be impacted by federally-funded projects… so I hear about this issue (in terms of the Register of Historic Places) more often than you can even imagine. And it’s not as simple as it might seem…
Not long ago, I considered asking the Best and Brightest if something like this were possible. You see, when I was a younger man, I was a big fan of the game Aerobiz, a tough, take-no-prisoners Super Nintendo simulation of the (Cold War-era) airline business. Since I’ve been immersed in the world of the car business, I’ve often wondered if it were possible to create a game that similarly captured the challenges of running a car company. And now, it seems, that game is already in development by a couple of coder car nerds from Australia. Called “Automation,” the game is still a ways from completion and its creators are soliciting pre-orders to help fund development (sound like any car startups you can think of?).
Read More >
As predicted, the hand-wringing over Sergio Marchionne’s letter to Bob King was not enough to derail the basic motivations for the UAW to reach new deals with the automakers. Last night the union agreed to a tentative agreement with GM, its pattern target for this, the first round of negotiations since the bailout. That agreement must be approved by the union rank-and-file, but if ratified, Reuters reports that it includes
- The re-opening of the idled Spring Hill, TN plant to build an unspecified “new product”
- $5,000 signing bonuses (at a cost to GM of $245m)
- According to the NYT, “significant improvements to health care benefits” are also part of the deal
- According to AN [sub], the union “successfully fought back efforts to make major changes — and weaken — our retirement plan.”
That’s not us making the prediction. Stockholm News says that “Saab’s fate could be decided on Tuesday.” On Monday, the Court of Appeals will meet and will deliberate whether Saab will be allowed to appeal the District Court’s denial of a reconstruction.
Stockholm News does not expect a decision until Tuesday. But it predicts: Read More >
Recent Comments