Egg crates! The most ubiquitous pattern in…egg storage devices and grilles. Now which year and model car used this particular variation of the theme? Figuring that should keep you out of trouble for a few hours, maybe. Maybe not. The Toyota FJ hubcap kept at least one of our readers involved for some time. At 8:44 PM, the duke got real close, with his Toyota Toyopet guess. Even though I shot that down, the duke did not give up, and at 12:46 PM, he got it! Congratulations; persistence does pay off, sometimes.

This is a company that could not tell you, on any given day, within five hundred million dollars, how much cash it had… not only were they not prepared, but Rick Wagoner had very specifically said he didn’t want to prepare… frankly, it’s an irresponsible position [for a CEO to take].

What do you do when you’ve overseen a divisive bailout and an investment scandal all within the last year? Writing a book goes without saying, but it doesn’t hurt to bash on the executives you ousted while “Overhauling” the industry. That way, people who were (ahem) bearish on GM leading up to the bailout can at least be vindicated in their pessimism (and have the pleasure of imagining what might of happened if Ron Gettelfinger had been fired as Wagoner’s sacrificial lamb). In any case, that’s just what former auto bailout czar Steve Rattner has done in an interview with CBS News, and despite Rattner’s relentless striving to appear respectable and brave, it’s worth a watch. Especially in hindsight, pre-bankruptcy GM makes even Rattner look good.

Government’s solution to distracted driving: hold summits and tweet at Jersey Shore cast members. The OEM solution: run ads legitimizing unfocused driving and then sell an electronic solution (in the example above, a $2,950 “Driver Assistance Package” for the $49,400 Mercedes E350). Or argue that voice-controlled in-car Facebook updates pose no more of a distraction than, say, radios. Or roll out a “feature-disabling feature.” What Ray LaHood calls an “epidemic,” and “menace to society,” the automakers call big business. If LaHood is as serious about distraction as he says, should he not be calling out the trend towards increased in-car communication? And if he is exaggerating the problem, shouldn’t the automakers be more actively defending their decision to market distracting in-car technology?

If LaHood keeps his rhetorical War On Distraction alive long enough, the current OEM approach will inevitably come under the microscope. Given that private concerns generally prefer self-regulation to government regulation, what should the automakers do to keep the government off its back? Ignore LaHood and hope his crusade blows over? Fight him, commission studies, and definitively prove the safety of in-car communication? Or change course, risking a huge disadvantage but possibly carving out a new branding opportunity? Now that the least safe part of the modern car is the human doing the driving, everything has become a lot more complicated…

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s second annual distracted driving summit begins tomorrow, and the party’s getting started right: with the release of 2009’s distracted driving fatality numbers. 5,474 Americans died as a result of driver distraction last year, according to NHTSA data [PDF here]. 448,000 “traffic injuries” were attributed to the distracted driving “epidemic,” an epithet LaHood has employed since his crusade against driver distraction began last year. Strangely though, distracted driving deaths remained flat as a percentage of overall traffic fatalities (16%) last year.

But, argues LaHood in an Orlando Sentinel op-ed, police often don’t report the role of distraction in traffic incidents, so the actual number could be higher. That’s an argument we’d expect from the guy hosting a database that is infamous for its inaccuracy, but we’re still struggling how a statistically flat phenomenon (in an environment of improving highway safety) qualifies as an “epidemic.” More importantly, we’re not sure that LaHood’s conference will have any more of an impact than last years. But hey, at least it’s better than scolding Snooki on Twitter. A cabinet Secretary can only do so much…

Discovered by Discover Magazine, this “speed bump” in a Vancouver BC parking garage is the creepiest application of the “trompe-l’œil speedbump” technology to date. Apparently,

the girl’s elongated form appears to rise from the ground as cars approach, reaching 3D realism at around 100 feet, and then returning to 2D distortion once cars pass that ideal viewing distance. Its designers created the image to give drivers who travel at the street’s recommended 18 miles per hour (30 km per hour) enough time to stop before hitting Pavement Patty–acknowledging the spectacle before they continue to safely roll over her.

In order to produce and sell cars in China, foreign firms are required to form joint partnerships with a Chinese firm. With a ten-year, $15b government EV stimulus in the works, automakers are complaining that a requirement to build EVs in partnership with Chinese firms amounts to government-mandated barrier to market access. A foreign automaker executive complains to the Wall Street Journal that the draft version of the government plan is

tantamount to China strong-arming foreign auto makers to give up battery, electric-motor, and control technology in exchange for market access… We don’t like it.

China’s automotive market is projected to grow faster than most, and with $15b of government assistance, the Chinese government has a big carrot with which to tempt foreign firms into sharing their technology. But the backlash is already building…

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Are you a top talent in the international auto market? Looking for a job? Why not give Brilliance a call? They are looking for 70 top talents globally, Gasgoo reports. Ever since Brilliance’s former General Manager Liu Zhigang and several other executives deserted to Huaitai Auto, there have been major openings at Brilliance. Qi Yumin, President of Brilliance Auto said that these positions will be filled. Read More >

The 24 Hours of LeMons came back to Houston, and it was another race of epic proportions with a side order of sheer lunacy.  While the racing was hot, the Texas heat and humidity with a shocking lack in coastal winds made the event even more punishing on everyone involved, including the punishment-intensive judges who laid down the law in LeMon’s BS inspection.  I still have battle scars from the late night mosquito bites. No matter, I weighed the facts presented by the team’s (supposed) $500 budget and snapped a few pics that readers of Piston Slap might enjoy.

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Having applied for a trademark on the phrase “range anxiety,” GM seemed to have wedded itself to the idea that all-electric cars are fundamentally compromised in their ability to inspire consumers. But with its range-extended Volt costing $8k more than its prime competitor, the Nissan Leaf, GM appears to be backing away from that position as the International Business Times reports that The General will begin testing EV versions of the Chevy Cruze/Daewoo Lacetti Premiere in Korea. According to the report,

The Cruze EV is equipped with a 31-kWh battery that generates maximum power of 150 kW. On specific test schedules conducted by LG Chemicals, the demonstration vehicles may achieve a range of up to 160 km (100 miles).  The vehicles can go from 0 to 100 km/h (60 miles per hour) in 8.2 seconds with a maximum speed of 165 km/h (102.5 miles per hour).

The Cruze EV will be tested as part of a demonstration fleet, so don’t hold out for a Chevrolet EV anytime soon. Reports that GM has “redeemed” itself after “killing the electric car” may yet prove to be premature.

The last time Lotus trotted out an “Elite,” it was a funkily be-hatched, sports tourer which, at about 2,000 lbs, was already nearly a thousand pounds heavier than the sleek fiberglass coupe it replaced. Thirty five years later, the beat goes on: as part of its mainstreaming effort, Lotus is showing a new “Elite” concept at the Paris Auto Show that is the heaviest and most powerful model the brand has ever produced. At 3,700 lbs, and offering a hybrid five liter V8 (reportedly based on the Lexus LS600h drivetrain) and a folding hardtop, this Elite appears to be aimed at Ferrari’s California… and more generally, at people who don’t know who Colin Chapman was. Lotus CEO Danny Behar tells Autocar

Make no mistake, there’s a definite market requirement for the Elite. It’s the ultimate compromise of sports car feel with comfort and space. There will always be those who say Lotus should stick to small sports cars, but we didn’t take the decision to design something like the Elite lightly. It is based on months of careful research and planning.

What Behar apparently doesn’t get is that McLaren would be more than happy to take Lotus’s status as the preeminent British sportscar maker if it takes its eye off the ball for a second. And going from the Elise to the Evora to a full-fat, hybrid hardtop convertible tourer is quite the leap of faith for Lotus. Business is business, but brands are brands… and we didn’t realize just how mainstream Lotus was aiming for.

USA Today reports that Tennessee’s 2 Republican Senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander and GOP congresswoman Marsha Blackburn received a rather frosty reception when they went to Spring Hill on Friday to toast GM bringing jobs back to the Ex-Saturn plant. They got booed and heckled. Why the frosty reception? Well, if you remember, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker (along with the unnamed Congresswoman) were very vocal opponents against the bailout of GM and Chrysler. So, for 3 politicians to come back to their state and welcome back the very jobs which they would have been quite happy to see lost in the name of free market economics, probably stuck in the craw of the electorate. Namely, the UAW. Read More >

There used to be a time when Japan exported cars. Now, they export car factories. Nissan has been on the forefront of this movement for a while. Now comes their biggest export deal: Nissan plans to double its capacity in China by 2012, writes Reuters. That would bring their annual capacity in China to 1.2 million units. Read More >

The Grand Terrace, California city council on Tuesday reluctantly voted to pay Redflex Traffic Systems $72,203.75 after the Australian company threatened to impose a $27,500 late fee on the city if it did not pay up immediately. Redflex operates the red light camera program at two intersections, and as of July 1 the company had mailed out 4283 fines worth $446 each. While Grand Terrace officials expected that the system would be a money-maker, the program to date has only enriched the county, the state, the courts and Redflex, which insisted on the additional cash payment.

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If you are one of the richest car executives of the world, if you have “about twelve children. You never can tell for sure”, if those children are from four different women (I did not say wives), and if you are 73, you slowly start doing some estate planning.  That’s exactly what Ferdinand Piech, Emperor of Volkswagen and Porsche, did. His heirs are livid. Read More >

Ford is in pretty good shape now and it’s quite clear that they’ll survive, provided they don’t fall under the huge amount of debt they have. But don’t be fooled that things are safe at Ford. Especially if you’re a dealer. Read More >