China’s going nutty over the next-generation of Buick GL8 minivans, which recently strutted its Buick Business Concept-derived styling in downtown Shanghai. We’ve heard rumors of a Buick MPV coming stateside for some time, with each successive rumor placing the “Baby Enclave” on a different platform, first Delta then Gamma. Though the latest intel seems to indicate that the US will get a Buick-badged version of the suicide-doored Opel Meriva, wouldn’t an Epsilon-based full minivan be a more natural fit for the US market? Sure, it might cannibalize the Enclave some, but that hasn’t stopped Buick from offering no fewer than three mid-sized sedans. Could Buick be the next brand to re-hip the minivan? Should it be?

News that the government will sell only $6b-$8b worth of its GM equity has been joined by an even more surprising GM IPO announcement: GM will buy the Treasury’s entire $2.1b holding of preferred stock in the initial offering. GM has not announced how much it will pay for the stake, and the Detroit News reports that it’s not yet clear if GM will also buy some $400m in preferred stock held by the Canadian and Ontario governments. We’re also getting word via Twitter that GM will put $4b in cash and $2b worth of its stock into its overdrawn UAW pension fund, as well as making a $2.8b payment to the UAW VEBA account. With a $5b line of credit secured, GM says these and other steps will reduce its debt by $11b over an unspecified timeline. And speaking to Reuters, GM CEO Dan Akerson made it clear what the point of these moves are:

It’s up to people like you and me, the burden we share, that we deliver on the promise and return the investment to the American taxpayers. We are going to do our level best to make that happen, and we will only do that by expanding our industrial base and entering new markets and being a better competitor.

Of course, we’ll have to see what value The General places on the preferred stock to know how seriously Akerson should be taken. After all, talk is cheap and money isn’t. [UPDATE: It appears that GM will buy the preferred stock for $25.50 each, essentially giving the Government its book value of $2.14b]

Although the Korean Won has stayed strong this year, hurting the profitability of Korean exports, Hyundai has banked $1.2b in profits in the first three quarters of 2010, reports Automotive News [sub]. Analysts had expected the resurgent automaker to earn closer to $1b in profits, but they say that an even stronger Yen has helped Hyundai cut into the sales of its Japanese competitors. And with a new Elantra, Equus, Sonata Wagon, Veloster sports coupe and other much-anticipated products about to hit the market, Hyundai is expected to keep its momentum rolling. Fujio Ando, adviser at Chibagin Asset management explains

Dodge has debuted images of its updated Avenger mid-size sedan, as Auburn Hills continues its re-boot of its entire product line. The new Avenger boasts the chrome-lined crosshair grille found on its updated Charger cousin, but seems to lack the depth of refresh that its Sebring platform-mate received in its transformation to the Chrysler 200. Will the Avenger update give Dodge a reasonably competitive offering in America’s most competitive segment, or is this just lipstick on a pig? We’ll need a full test drive to say definitively, but for now feel free to pass snap judgment based on the Avenger’s looks alone. After all, you won’t be the only one…

Certain cars make you feel better after you have driven them. A late-90’s Jaguar XJ8 swathed in Connolly Leather. A late model Mercedes S-Class that’s running properly. And of course a Lexus LS430 which has been known to put some drivers in a near euthanasia state. Then of course there’s the classic American Buick of the 21st Century… the Toyota Camry.
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Ferrari may not sell you a new car if you haven’t already purchased a used model, but starting today the Maranello mob will let anyone into their new palace of branding run amok, Ferrari World Dubai. General admission is a highly reasonable (by Ferrari standards) $60, which is actually cheaper than a kids “Fernando Alonso” polo shirt at the Ferrari Store, and that includes access to the fastest roller coaster in the world, as well as 200,000 square meters of other Italian-sportscar-themed attractions. The opening had been delayed by the death of the Sheikh of Ras Al Khaimah, a neighboring Emirate, but according to the most recent reports, Ferrari World is opening today. Enzo would be so… er… something.

Since I’ve been writing for TTAC, I have kept my eyes on exports from China, which according to popular wisdom, will take over the world. The truth about Chinese car exports is that they aren’t happening in the grand scheme of things. Keep that in mind when you will hear reports about skyrocketing Chinese exports. Read More >

TTAC’s own Israeli man of mystery, Tal Bronfer, has been busy with non-TTAC related work this summer, but he’s just checked in from the Alps with brand new images of the Hyundai Sonata Wagon (known in Europe as the Hyundai i40) brake testing on Austria’s Grossglockner High Alpine Road. Tal was blasting through the Grossglockner in some rapid Teutonic metal (let’s just say it has at least one “R,” and one “S” in its name, and a review is forthcoming) when he smelled brakes. Naturally, his first thought was to check his own, but the culprit was this lightly-camouflaged wagon “slowly, braking downhill all the way from the top of the mountain.” Another Sonata Wagon was tow-testing.

What these pictures reveal is that the Sonata Wagon is not a simple sheetmetal job, as the elongated roof falls away gracefully towards the rear of the car, and appears to offer integrated roof rails. It’s a Euro-style “sport-wagon” in the mold of the European Accord rather than a US-style “cross-wagon” like the Venza or Crosstour, which indicates that it won’t come to the US. After all, with the Mazda6 and Subaru Legacy wagons discontinued, the mass-market station wagon seems all but dead. On the other hand, the Sonata has been punching above its weight since it debuted, and with the Euro-Accord wagon coming stateside as the TSX Sportwagon, and a Buick Regal wagon rumored, the i40 may yet come to the states as a Sonata Wagon.

The highest courts in California and Louisiana yesterday denied the requests of municipal officials desperate to save their photo enforcement programs. In New Orleans, the red light camera and speed camera program must shut down after the Louisiana Supreme Court unanimously rejected the city’s request to overturn the decision of Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Paulette R. Irons who found earlier this month that the program violated the city’s own charter.

“We are obviously disappointed in supreme court’s decision because these cameras have proven to be an important deterrent to unlawful traffic practices,” a city statement explained.

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The Turbo Sprint’s rosy-pink intake orifice certainly got everyone’s attention, if not the kind that helped them guess what it was attached to. But one person stayed focused; thirty-three guessed it was from a Suzuki Swift Turbo. Since the two are identical except for badging, he gets the win.

Since you’re all so hot on body cavity openings, here’s another, although it is a bit less suggestive.

Notice a difference between these two pictures? No, not the fact that one is a sexy press shot and the other is a bush-league amateur snap. Both pictures show the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, but one of them has a torsion beam rear axle, the other has a variation of the Golf’s multilink setup. One has a 2.5 liter blunt instrument of an engine and a slushbox, the other has a high-tech “twincharger” engine that won the International Engine Of The Year award two years running, mated to a dual-clutch ‘box. One has a nasty, plasticky interior, the other offers “higher quality materials and trim.” By now you’ve probably guessed that the less desirable of these two Jettas is the US version, and the fancy-pants version has just been announced for the European market…
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Want a sports car, outfitted with an ejection seat, machine guns, radar and a nail-throwing machine? Too late. The silver Aston Martin DB5, driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger, changed hands for $4.1m at auction today. Read More >

Herr Winterkorn is not backing off from the ambitious Strategie 2018. In eight years, Volkswagen wants to be the king of the hill, in all disciplines from making the most cars on earth to making the most money, from having the most satisfied customers to having the most brilliant ideas. Haughty hubris, you say? Winterkorn disagrees with you. “We are well-positioned to achieve the goals laid down in our Strategy 2018”, said Winterkorn as he presented the nine month interim report of Volkswagen today. Read More >

Backup beepers are everywhere, it seems. Wherever the heavy metal–trucks, steamrollers, steam shovels, cement mixers, buses, or any other vehicle with substantial girth–is backing up, you know it, even if you can’t see it. Because like [monochromatic] laser light, monotone sounds carry further. And now, within the last couple of years, the backup beeper comes standard equipment on your Prius (and, pending passage of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, all electric-drive cars). But if you don’t like it, you can disconnect it. My brother Tom—who has always considered cars to be appliances, but LOVES his Prius—has not disconnected his. “I am not bothered by it particularly,” he says. TTAC Prius owners: what about you? Have you left it on? Disconnected it? Why or why not?

The Freep reports

A laid-off worker at General Motor’s Orion Assembly plant has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in Detroit against the UAW for negotiating a deal to employ 40% of the workers at a lower wage rate.

Nick Waun, 31, of Lapeer said the UAW negotiated the agreement without giving workers a chance to consider it.

“The main thrust of this is to try to get a vote on the agreement, because they denied us a vote,” Waun said.

You don’t say? Didn’t see that one coming. No sir. But will the NLRB be sympathetic to the UAW’s well-reasoned position that some union brothers are more equal than others? Or is the union’s nominal ownership (by way of its VEBA benefits trust) of some 60 percent of GM’s equity possibly, just possibly, incompatible with the duties of a union? It’s a head-scratcher all right.