The six top-selling brands in America have sold between 450,000 and 1.3 million vehicles so far this year, with Hyundai (410,047) just missing the party. 2010 is shaping up to be Ford’s year, as the Blue Oval started strong and hasn’t looked back. Chevrolet has taken advantage of Toyota’s image issues to widen a lead for second place, putting Detroit on track for a one-two finish as the year enters its final quarter. But will Toyota fight back? Will Hyundai edge out the Pentastar’s last big-volume brand by the end of the year? Will Nissan follow Honda upwards or slide towards the oncoming Hyundai juggernaut? Stay tuned as Chart Of The Day documents the battle to the finish.

It used to be that you paid for your car keys.  If BMW gets its w ay, you will pay with your car keys. Automobilwoche [sub] reports  that BMW ist developing the “car key of the future.” Oddly enough, it won’t unlock revolutionary new features of the car. It will replace the credit card, a train ticket and a room key at the hotel. Say what? Read More >

Once upon a time, there was a Volkswagen executive who couldn’t figure out how to get American consumers emotionally invested in his brand. Then one day it hit him: why not re-skin the Golf as a Beetle? It could be less practical and efficient than its donor car, but baby boomers would buy it in Costco volumes anyway, for the sheer gauzy nostalgia of it.  After flogging that Beetle for 12 years, through two successive updates to the car it was based on, it was time to update the old classic. But how?

Luckily history had an answer. Following the example of Beetle tuner/modders at the end of the original Beetle’s lifespan, VW apparently chopped the roof, exaggerated the fenders and called it good. Perhaps with the goal of making for a more “original” feel, the windscreen appears to have been moved back as well. Unfortunately tough, the change simply emphasizes the front-engine proportions, making the end result more reminiscent of a Morris Minor than the ur-Käfer. But, as the Volkswagen executive had learned by now, Americans don’t notice that stuff. The only remaining problem: how to avoid calling it “The new New Beetle.”

Mitsubishi started production of the European-spec model of its i-MiEV electric vehicle Wednesday to maintain its lead over rivals in a non-existing market segment expected to grow rapidly. At the same time, Mitsu started production of the iOn, which is an i-MiEV, rebadged for PSA Peugeot Citroen.

According to The Nikkei [sub], the iOn needed “changes from the Japanese version to meet European safety standards.” Let’s hope that the Euro-spec i-MiEV received the same changes, otherwise it will be DOA. Read More >

Given the rush to load up cars with the latest technological gadgets, you’d think that in-car television would have taken off by now. But Chrysler, the pioneer of in-car live TV, has sold only 850 units of its FLO TV system since it began offering the $629 (plus installation) MOPAR accessory last year, according to the Detroit News. And now Qualcomm is winding down its FLO TV business (likely due to low sales, reports the LAT), leaving Chrysler with only the Sirius TV subscription service to offer consumers who want live TV in their Grand Caravan. Chrysler is

Bloomberg reports that the credit rating firm Fitch Ratings has given GM a BB- credit default rating, the same as Ford Motor Credit. The difference: Ford has over $20b in debt, while GM is sitting on less debt and more cash. So why the identical rating? Fitch’s Stephen Brown explains:

Although they have similar ratings, you sort of get to them from different paths. GM doesn’t have a whole lot of debt, but they have very large pension obligations. Ford’s pension obligations are significant, but they’re lower than GM’s by quite a bit. But Ford has a lot of debt.

At the end of the first half of 2010, GM had $32b in cash and $8b in debt, while Ford had $22b in cash and $27b in debt. GM’s pensions, on the other had, are underfunded to the tune of $27b, while Ford’s are underfunded by $6.1b. Analysts have consistently suggested that GM’s IPO valuation should be in the neighborhood of Ford’s $40b market cap, and an identical credit rating seems to confirm the wisdom (or at least the popularity) of the comparison. Unfortunately, a $40b GM valuation would fail TTAC’s last standard for even marginal bailout “success.” After all, if GM is worth less than the $50b taxpayers put into it, there’s going to be no chance of spinning the IPO as a success.

The Countryman is a game-changer for us. We are going from extra-small to small

Nobody (except for lawyers who desperately try to keep the fire burning) talks about Toyota SUA anymore. No ghosts were found in any machines. The matter doesn’t make the news anymore, and customer complaints suddenly dropped by 80 percent. However, the witch-hunt against GM’s  Japanese nemesis, launched by GM’s owner, the U.S. government, had its effect: According to Automotive News [sub] data, Toyota’s market share in the U.S. dropped by 1.5 percent compared to September 2009. That’s a lot when you drop from 16.9 percent to 15.3 percent. Ironically, the bigger ward of the U.S. government, GM, did not pick up those sales. They lost 2.8 percent. The winners were Ford (+ 1.4 percent), and would you believe it Chrysler (+2.1 percent).

After a lot of bowing and apologizing, Toyota now goes on the counter offensive. Read More >

Cars in public parking lots can be searched at any time by police with drug sniffing dogs, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled last week. The precedent was handed down in the case of James S. Hobbs IV who was arrested on March 13, 2009. State troopers had an arrest warrant for Hobbs and were waiting for him across the street from the Pizza Hut where the suspect worked. At 9:15pm, Hobbs left the restaurant and placed an object in his car, but the police were not able to grab Hobbs before he returned to the restaurant.

Read More >

More than a few of you had a simple question (or statement) regarding my Infiniti G20 Capsule Review, namely,

“Why didn’t you check the mileage of the dealer trade?”

The answer is simple: I wasn’t even permitted to call other dealerships, much less arrange trades. At that particular shop, salespeople weren’t even permitted to see the final numbers at deals. We were intended to be “product specialists”, not wheeler-dealers.

In fact, our rather idealistic general manager believed in specifically hiring people with no experience in the industry. His boss, the dealer group manager, had deep roots in the buy-here-pay-here biz. The conflict between these two philosophies occasionally led to trouble…

Read More >

Darren writes:

I recently took my 1990 Miata to St. Matthew’s Imports, a reputable shop here in Louisville, Kentucky. The a/c was not blowing cold, and a running light was out. I also wanted them to inspect and tighten the undercarriage bolts like it says to do in the manual. They tested the a/c for leaks, it had none but they said the low pressure side had too high a pressure and there were signs of moisture in the evaporator case. They want to replace the compressor, drier, expansion valve, and possibly the evaporator core. Also the radiator is leaking coolant, the right rear brake caliper is leaking, the left rear parking brake does not hold, the front brake pads have no shims, and the master cylinder is leaking fluid. To make matters worse, the front engine seals, the rear main seal and the valve cover gasket is leaking.

Read More >

Former GM CEO Fritz Henderson is no longer a $3000/hr consultant for General Motors, reports Reuters [via ABC]. Henderson, who was paid $59,090 per month for 20 hours of work per month as a consultant, left that lucrative position after being hired by Sunoco to oversee the spin-off of its SunCoke Energy business. TTAC estimates that Henderson made over $400,000 since being fired as CEO by Chairman Ed Whitacre. We remain mystified as to what possible impact his consultancy had on anything, short of possibly preventing an embarrassing (but likely very dull) tell-all book.

Well, the R4 clue kept you all going for a while. I knew it was very similar to the R5, but not quite the same. Stingray could have nailed it, but self-doubt reared its ugly head. Our winner is Portnoy, from Germany, and a recent addition to the TTAC family. Willkommen!

Well, some of you complained about our wasting bandwidth on such a weak-chested effete little tin box like the R4. So let’s do something more manly; a rugged and macho vehicle thoroughly capable of hauling a family and towing a caravan with its sturdy Euro-style hitch.

Watching people “Snap” is very funny (when I was at school in the UK they were called “cuss matches”). I learnt some very funny insults. Some insults were so funny, I’ve been banned from reproducing them on TTAC (Ed – We’re a family website!). But nothing lifts the spirits more than watching 2 people going head-to-head, armed with the sharpest, finest “Yo mamma…” insults. But what happens when that element comes to the automotive world? Well…

Even though the luxury car market in India is very small, the players are taking it seriously. So seriously, they’re trying to bitch slap each other. The Hindustan Times reports that Mercedes-Benz and BMW are “trading verbal volleys at each other at every opportunity.” 2 Germans hurling insults at each other in the middle of India? Did someone put a load of magic mushrooms on my pizza? Pee in your curry? Gee, in Germany something like that would get you a “cut it out now!” phone call from the VDA, the “Verband der Automobilhersteller” (formerly “Verband Deutscher Autobomilhersteller”). But in India? Read More >

The flip-flopping over GM’s IPO strategy continues, as The General backs away from its “retail investor” focus and begins courting Sovereign Wealth Funds in earnest. Bloomberg reports that GM’s underwriters have approached

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia- based Kingdom Holding Co., Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co., Qatar Holdings LLC and Singapore-based Temasek Holdings Pte.

In hopes that they’ll become “cornerstone investors” in the new GM’s IPO. Who knows what will come of the negotiations, but assuming that one or more of the Arab SWFs end up with a large chunk of GM equity, a number of PR problems present themselves. Though (marginally) less emotionally-charged than a possible ownership stake by a Chinese firm, such an outcome would amount to the US-sponsored foreign takeover of an American firm. Politically, the bailout is much easier to justify if GM ends up in American hands… especially since Fiat is likely to gobble up the Chrysler equity it wasn’t handed on a taxpayer-funded platter. But beyond that, GM will have to work twice as hard to convince the American people that it’s not working to serve the interests of its oil-rich Gulf State owners. Renewed scrutiny over its most profitable business, namely gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, would be a given. Any hesitation (however well-justified) over electrification of the automobile would be interpreted as an oil-cartel plot. And renewed turmoil in the middle east could further inflame anti-Arab or anti-Muslim sympathies, potentially bringing greater pressure on GM. Meanwhile, GM’s energy-independence rhetoric around its E85 ethanol efforts would be extremely awkward.

But will Americans notice or care? At what percentage of ownership would these factors come into play?