It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as the Detroit automakers reach for their checkbooks and write out annual cost-of-living adjustment bonus checks, known fondly among workers as the annual “Christmas Bonus.” This year, GM, Ford and Chrysler will pay out $305m in these COLA “bonus” checks… but, in classic UAW style, you can only get one if you no longer work. Yes, you got that right: if you are a salaried or hourly worker currently employed by GM, there will be no COLA bonus this year… or even next year. If, however, you are one of the lucky GM retirees who never had to face the modern challenges of two-tier wages and a near-bankruptcy experience, check your mailbox because there should be a $700 check waiting there to make your Christmas a little brighter. After all, retirees are the future of every company… right? [via Automotive News [sub]]
A federal judge last week overturned the result of a traffic stop in Baltimore, Maryland after the reason for the stop was found to be bogus. On January 26 at around 1:30pm, Baltimore City Police Officers Jimmy Shetterly, Frank Schneider, and Manuel Moro ordered a white Ford Crown Victoria with tinted windows to pull over while driving on Pennsylvania Avenue near Mosher Street. As part of the Central District Operations Unit, the officers saw their mission as “proactive crime fighting” and instead of waiting for calls, their mission was to go and find a crime. The officer sitting in the back seat of the patrol car found one in the form of a claimed vehicle defect.
With the effects of the various scrapping incentives across Europe slowly working themselves out of the system, the worst appears to be over in Europe. According to the official numbers of the ACEA, registrations of new cars across the EU27 fell by 7.1 percent to 1,069,268 units in November. However, this November is above the 904,577 units sold in November 2008. From January to November, a total of 12,349,743 new cars were registered, or 5.7 percent less than over the same period of 2009. All in all, Europe seems to have weathered the carpocalypse much better than the New Country. Read More >
When it comes to inside dirt on the happenings in Auburn Hills, Allpar tends to deliver the goods. Today they have what they say could be Dodge and Chrysler’s new marketing taglines, to wit:
Life is best when driven
Imported from Detroit
Of course, we must note that marketing is an irony-free zone. These slogans could just as easily be a practical joke as the real thing. After all, what right-thinking automotive marketer would not only associate its products with Motown, but do so in a way that actually reinforces the market’s preference for imports? Especially considering an Italian firm is paying said marketer’s salary. Say what you want about “Life is best when driven,” at worst it’s painlessly generic. “Imported From Detroit,” on the other hand, is the modern “Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile”: self-aware and self-destructive.
Guys, I need some help. In the summer of 2008 with gas prices going up and having a decent bank account due to high school graduation money, I sold my 1989 Prelude Si and bought a brand new Cobalt LS stripper (roll up windows, manual locks and all) to have a more economical and reliable ride since I was going off to college near DC and would regularly travel 350+ miles a weekend. 2 years later I loathe the car and wish for something else, but something fun and practical that I can keep for at least 5 or 6 years until I’ve got a full time job income coming in for sure. I’ll be 21 in a month so insurance price are still a concern, but I’ve got a pretty good income and stable job for a college student.
The recent “Carpocalypse” has not been kind to automotive engineers, as automakers cut back on Research and Development and fired white collar workers with abandon. Now, with sales regaining some momentum, OEMs and suppliers are hiring engineers again… and they’re having to work to make the hires. The supplier Ricardo recently had to take out billboards and radio ads in order to hire qualified automotive engineers… and this in a state with 12.8% unemployment. CEO Kent Niederhoffer tells Bloomberg
We’re all playing in the same sandbox, competing for some of the same talent. It isn’t as simple as throwing a shingle out there and saying ‘Job Opening.’ Attracting this kind of talent has gotten absolutely tougher and we’re trying to raise our head above the crowd.
The life cycle of your typical Opel GT appears to have gone like this: 8 years on the street, 30 years up on blocks in the back yard, then a quick stop in the wrecking yard before getting crushed. I haven’t seen a GT on the street for years, but they’re quite common in The Crusher’s waiting room. Here’s a pair of GTs I spotted at a Denver self-service yard. Read More >
At a press conference announcing new cooperation between Nissan and Mitsubishi, Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn presented the tie-up as a far-sighted move that will help both sides prosper. The Renault/Nissan boss explained
In the global auto industry, cooperation on specific projects among automakers is becoming increasingly common. It is a signal of how our industry is evolving to sustain success over the long term
But if his words were saying “cooperation,” Ghosn’s body language said “I’m hungry and your company looks bite-sized.”
The WSJ has come up with a list of the top fifty Gawker passwords. The most common is “1n5i9t7t2f8a6g5m7y5c1t4t2a2o9tc$%”, which is part of the Fibonacci prime sequence interlaced with the first letter of each word of the phrase “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country”, ending with two non-letters to slow down brute-force attacks.
Oh, who am I kidding! The most popular password was 123456! Other popular choices: password! qwerty! superman! iloveyou!
Luckily they haven’t figured out my Jalopnik password yet; I know of one fellow who will be personally offended when it’s retrieved.
About 5% of the population buys a car out of love. The rest are just balancing the checkbook. Maybe I’m nuts for writing this since cars are seen as an embodiment of freedom in many cultures. But even with the halo of “freedom,” true hardcore auto enthusiasts are still a very small portion of the entire population. Consider how many people would own a car if they didn’t need one? Ever?
Chrysler has earned the reputation of having some of the shoddiest interiors in the business, a perception they’re working hard to address with their new products. Jack Baruth calls the new Grand Cherokee’s interior “class competitive,” and the new 300 will aspire to at least match that accolade. And though we won’t know just how good the 300 is until we fondle the materials, jiggle the dials and knock the dash, we do have a few pictures of the 300’s interior to pass snap judgment upon. Leaving aside details like whether the 300’s wood trim has ever seen a forest before, is the 300 shaping up to be a pleasant place to spend time behind the wheel?
When “Maximum” Bob Lutz showed up on the advisory board at Lotus, we were hardly surprised about his choice of post-retirement projects. After all, Lotus is one of the most audacious (privately-funded) turnaround attempts in an industry that runs on turnarounds, and Lutz is the king of building automotive hype, fresh off of one of the most overexposed automotive projects in recent memory, the Chevy Volt. Besides, Lotus’s shot at an overnight leap from niche enthusiast brand to Ferrari and Porsche-rivaling juggernaut is so brazenly implausible, that Lutz actually lends credibility to the project. At least, he would do if he didn’t have that irrepressible knack for saying things like
People keep asking me if I’m sure the new plan will work, and of course I can’t guarantee that. It’s a risk. But I’m quite certain it stands a better chance than the Lotus status quo, which for sure would eventually lead this great brand into terminal decline
Lutz goes on to tell Autocar that Lotus’s billion dollar turnaround “a big gamble,” and admits that “a fair bit of showbiz” is driving Lotus’s quantum leap towards becoming a full-line sportscar and supercar maker. Does it sound like Lutz might have some mixed feelings about Lotus’s rush to trample its enthusiast credentials? More maximum mixed feelings below the fold.
The red light camera program in Cleveland, Ohio faces serious legal trouble as the state’s second-highest court ruled Thursday that a class action lawsuit could proceed. In its decision, a three-judge panel of the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Eighth Appellate District overturned a county court ruling that had blocked a class action challenge to the city’s issuance of photo tickets to the drivers of leased vehicles. The appellate court insisted that the case had merit as did a federal appeals court in a separate case decision over Cleveland’s automated ticketing machines handed down last month (view ruling).
We have said the race for who will be the #1 luxury brand in the U.S.A. is too close to call and that it will come down to the wire. Now, those weenies of Mercedes throw in the towel and concede defeat. “I’m pretty sure we’ll be No. 3,” Ernst Lieb, president of Mercedes-Benz’s U.S., told Bloomberg. Whatever happened to “we will never surrender?” (Sorry, that was a Brit.) But look at those numbers, and join us in shouting “boohoo” at Lieb. And Mercedes. No fight left in them no more? Read More >
For the past two weeks, China’s capital had been awash in rumors that it would use stern methods to stamp out rampant car growth. Most popular rumor: A one car policy. Only one per resident. There are 4.7 million cars in Beijing and 22 million people. That disparity did not allay the worries of motorized Beijingers. They want their two cars just like they want their two kids. A run on the showrooms ensued, dealers ran out of cars.
In numbers: The city of Beijing usually registers 1000 cars a day. Lately, that number had risen to 2000 a day. The rumors caused panic buying. During the week from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, “Beijing had 21,000 new cars on the roads, translating to 3,000 more cars per day,” reports People’s Daily. To curb car growth caused by car growth curbing rumors, the city had to do something fast. And they did. Read More >
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