March sales are coming in, and it looks to have been another month of steady growth for the US market. GM’s “core brand” sales were up 11 percent, Chrysler enjoyed a 31% increase in volume, while Ford’s sales grew 19 percent. For only the second time since 1998, Ford beat GM’s overall volume by 5,674. Meanwhile, Nissan recorded its strongest monthly sales in its history in the US market, and at came within 589 units of topping Chrysler’s volume. Honda’s sales rose 19 percent last month. Hit the jump for a developing table, and check back in for more sales data as it becomes available.

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Doesn’t anybody read the Detroit News? I can think of 6,750 people who don’t. They are the people, rental agencies, or hopeless confused aliens trying, albeit incompetently, to fit into human society who took home a new Chrysler 200 in March. This kind of volume won’t worry Toyota, but a full year of this volume would pay back the likely development costs for the car and then some.

This 200-centric news is part of a pretty solid month for Chrysler overall. The platform mate Avenger rang the register for 5,954 units, while the brand as a whole sold over 121,000 cars and trucks. The full press release is here, but no matter how you look at it, this is good news for the Mopar crew. Let’s see what a few months of restricted Accord and Camry production does for them…

Toyota reports [PDF] that it has increased its MSRPs by an average of 1.7%, as the automaker seeks to regain control over pricing which has taken a hit in the year since its recall scandal. Of course, the fact that the firm’s supply of vehicles is likely to be limited by the chaotic aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami was causing its transaction prices to rise anyway, but Toyota tells Automobile magazine that the MSRP increase

has no relation to any production shut downs or shortages stemming from the recent disaster in Japan

Uh huh. Whatever you say.

As we had warned a few days ago, the Japanese car market took a punishing hit in March. Sales of new cars, trucks and buses dropped 37 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association reports. Separately reported minivehicles took a similar hit and dropped 31.6 percent, according to data by the Japan Mini Vehicles Association, published in The Nikkei [sub]. Read More >

Bugatti’s jumping onto the high-po four-door bandwagon, as its parent company Volkswagen has approved its Galibier concept for production, according to Automotive News [sub]. Initial specs: 1,000 HP and a $1.4m pricetag. All other questions should be directed to the video above.

Somebody must have slipped Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne some Sodium Pentothal as an April Fools joke, as he’s just topped his previous high-water mark for ill-advised candor (set earlier this week). Automotive News [sub] quotes the feisty CEO admitting

The economics of EVs simply don’t work. On the 500 that (Chrysler) will begin selling in the U.S. next year, we will lose over $10,000 (per unit) despite the retail price being three times higher [than the gas version].

And no, it’s not an April Fools day story! Bloomberg reports

The United Auto Workers membership rose 6 percent to 376,612 last year, the first gain in six years as U.S. automakers began hiring amid a recovery in sales.

The UAW’s membership increased by 21,421 members from 355,191 in 2009, according to a union filing today with the U.S. Department of Labor.

UAW President Bob King has wasted no time in declaring this a sign of recovery in what you might call the UAW’s “core business”:

This increase is a reflection of new organizing by the UAW, the recovery of the domestic auto industry and UAW members who won a first contract during the year. We hope to continue this growth in 2011 and beyond, as we fight to win a more fair and democratic process for workers to organize.

Of course, King’s attempt to link this minor improvement in his union’s membership to the recovery of the domestic auto industry is the real April Fools joke here…

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Like most manufacturers, BMW is getting ready for the pilgrimage to Shanghai, where the Shanghai Motor Show will open its doors to the press on April 19, and to the public on April 21. Some at BMW go with mixed feelings. There will be some delicate discussions between BMW brass and their Chinese joint venture partner Brilliance. The reason: At Asia’s and possibly the world’s most important auto show, Brilliance will show their A3 SUV. Germany’s Auto Bild calls it “a brazen BMW X1 rip-off, with inspirations from Audi.”

The matter becomes even more touchy as BMW plans to produce the X1 in China with a launch date in 2012. It will be built by BMW’s Chinese joint venture with Brilliance. Read More >

Lawmakers in four states this week advanced legislation that would, if passed, either place mild restrictions on or outright ban the use of automated ticketing machines by municipalities. The Florida state Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday voted 4 to 2 to approve an outright prohibition on the use of red light cameras — just one year after the legislature had given in to the lobbying effort of localities in authorizing their use. Senate Bill 672 must now clear the Senate Community Affairs Committee before being considered by the full Senate.

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A truck at the Nordschleife? No, no service truck. One that does some 190 mph. Possibly more. A truck made by BMW. In a press release, BMW dubs it “the world’s fastest pickup.” If they say so. One needs to be very careful with these statements in Germany, lest someone will sue you faster than the truck completes the Nordschleife lap. Read More >

A news brief from the Agenzia Giornalistica Italia notes

AGI) Turin – FIAT CEO Sergio Marchionne has said that it is not true that FIAT is Americanizing its models, on the contrary, more than 50% of Chrysler parts “start off from a European basis”. Speaking at a press conference, Marchionne also emphasized that the “internationalization process has began, and is making progress and our engineering is too.” The CEO also said that, “it is totally absurd to say that an American car is not a Fiat product.”

Oops!

As galling as the auto bailout was for many Americans, the hidden “stealth bailouts” that occurred during the government-led industry reorganization are often even more galling. Today the final chapter of one of those “stealth bailouts” has taken place, as GM has sold its stake in its spun-off supplier Delphi for $3.8b, booking a $1.6b gain on the deal. So, how is GM divorcing its former in-house supplier a stealth bailout? Back in the dark Summer of 2009, the government organized a GM-led rescue of Delphi, which had been languishing in bankruptcy since 2005 (after GM. By buying a chunk of Delphi for $2.5b of the government’s money and selling it back for a profit, GM’s helped itself to a little extra bump of public money. Oh, and did we mention that GM dropped all kind of pensions in Delphi’s lap when it spun the supplier, including workers who had never been employed by Delphi.

But that’s not the worst part: any guesses as to why GM’s stake in Delphi is suddenly worth so much more? A recovering industry, perhaps? Wrong. Shortly after GM bought back its stake in Delphi, the supplier dumped $6.5b worth of pensions onto the government’s Pension Benefit Guarantee Company, causing huge benefit cuts and hidden government costs. What did the PBGC’s stake, given as “partial compensation” for that pension dump, yield it? A cool $594m. Meanwhile, thanks to the government ‘s arguments, GM still had to top-up UAW retiree pensions, leaving non-union retirees and members of other unions out in the cold [read all about it in a just-released GAO report in PDF here]. A shell game inside of a political payoff inside of another shell game, in other words. There’s nothing to not love here…

Tesla has sued Top Gear for depicting its Roadster running out of electricity in the 2008 segment shown above. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Tesla is suing because

Top Gear’s allegation that the car’s range is 55 miles is defamatory because it suggests Tesla “grossly misled potential purchasers of the Roadster,”

But Top Gear spokesfolks tell the BBC

We can confirm that we have received notification that Tesla have issued proceedings against the BBC. The BBC stands by the programme and will be vigorously defending this claim.

And, as long as the Tesla Roadster that Top Gear tested was a first-generation machine (and we think it is), Tesla’s going to have a little problem making the case that the BBC defamed their car…
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Texas is the last state in the nation that still imposes different speed limits on its highways depending on whether it is daytime or nighttime. Roads marked 70 MPH during the day can only be legally driven at 65 MPH when its dark. Big rig trucks must also obey specially lowered speed limits. The state House Transportation Committee yesterday filed a favorable report on legislation that would simplify the Lone Star State’s speed laws and boost the speed limit in most rural areas.

“A difference in vehicle speeds can contribute to accidents,” the House committee report explained. “HB 1353 seeks to minimize the number of accidents that can occur when cars and trucks change lanes or pass or tailgate slower-moving vehicles by removing the different, lower speed limit for heavy trucks.”

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I’d like to think that it’s time the global car industry moved past its old fixation on national characteristics, but apparently the “national question” is still relevant, at least to Peter Schreyer, Kia’s German-born chief designer. Previewing his latest design concept, the Naimo EV, Schreyer tells Automotive News [sub]

A lot of people ask what is the K-factor, what is the Koreaness, in the cars, which is hard to answer because there isn’t any really. To be honest, we don’t want the cars to look Korea.

This one we did with the inspiration of using Koreaness. So it will have some clues in it coming from Korean crafts and art

How so?

Its pale green jade color is derived from that used in Korean Celadon-style pottery. The headliner is made from hand-crafted hanji paper. Korean oak is used to trim the doors and cover the floor, as it is in traditional Korean architecture.

And the rest of the design? Is that supposed to reflect Schreyer’s “Germaness,” or is it a product of his German-based perception of what “Koreaness” is supposed to be? Meanwhile perhaps the most interesting question for Schreyer would be: how do you keep production Kias from “looking Korean”? The national question is one huge can of worms, and it inevitably leads to some awkward conversations. And, in this case anyway, it seems to have even led to an awkward design.