Audi’s US market product plans have been spilled to Automotive News [sub], and there are a few surprises in the mix. The e-tron all-electric R8 has reportedly been given a green light for production within two to three years. Staying with Audi’s EV plans, there’s word that the Europe-only A2 could be brought back as an EV for the US market. Though the all-aluminum A2 ceased production in 2005, the AN report is unclear whether a possible A2 EV for the US would be based on a new version of this blogger’s favorite city car. An A3 sedan has reportedly been approved for the US as well, although rumors that the forthcoming A1 could be coming stateside as well have been squashed over currency concerns. A restyled A8 is planned for 2010, and an A6 refresh is scheduled for 2011. Meanwhile, the A7 (shown as the Sportback concept) will go into production in Europe, although it doesn’t seem likely to arrive in the US. A Q3 crossover is planned for 2011, but not until a hybrid version of the Q5 debuts. Audi has dropped FWD TT models from its lineup, and is considering selling an A4 with the Q7’s 3.0 twin-turbo diesel V6.
The Federal Trade Commission has announced revised rules guiding advertisement, endorsements and disclosure for bloggers. These new rules will particularly affect car bloggers, due to the heavy influence that advertising relationships exert in editorial decisions by auto journalists. And the seemingly undying trend in mainstream auto “journalism” towards pimpatorials. Needless to say, they also validate TTAC’s long-standing disclosure policy. From the FTC’s release:
The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization.
One last General Motors-Condé Nast parallel worth pursing: Both companies have been badly run by executives who invested more effort in pursuing perks, status, and empire-building than chasing profits. Writing in a slightly different context, Condé Nast veteran Tina Brown summed up what ails the magazine company in an April post on the Daily Beast: “The court of the Sun King is a rats’ nest of competing favorites who jostle for the 81-year-old supremo’s [S.I. Newhouse] attention.”
Jack Shafer connects the dots between the failures of Condé Nast and General Motors over at Slate.
GM’s Daewoo division is on the verge of being taken over by its largest creditor, the Korea Development Bank, reports the Korea Times. KDB CEOO Min Euoo-sung warns GM:
If General Motors does not play the role of the largest shareholder of GM Daewoo in an appropriate manner, we will start to retrieve loans that will mature this month. General Motors should accept both the financial and non-financial requirements of the creditors. If not, we will collect loans and will not participate in a paid-in capital increase
GM Daewoo lost about $2.6b in forward exchange transactions (a form of currency hedge) last year, exhausting its $2b line of credit with KDB. GM had asked KDB to roll these obligations forward and throw another billion dollars on the fire, a request it then reduced to $835m. The problem is that GM hasn’t raised enough money, or offered a larger equity stake in GM Daewoo. As a result, KDB is forcing GM to raise new equity, share licenses for jointly-developed vehicles and introduce a co-financial officer to look after KDB’s interests. Otherwise, the collections begin, with $100m due this month alone. And interestingly, money isn’t the only issue at play.
Though I’m not as old as Bob Lutz (who rivals Mermaid Man for out-and-out age-related dottiness), I’m ancient enough to remember when Night Rider first put the pixels in pistonhead. I also recall an era when social commentators got their knickers in a twist about videogame violence. In terms of driving sims, they seemed to find the idea of running people over somehow anti-social. Personally, I saw nothing wrong with it—save the homicidal motorists’ tendency to imitate Beavis and Butthead when doing the deed. But I wonder what’s happened to the really violent stuff. Oh sure, you can find the odd gem— like this flash game called Blood Car. But the Carmeggedon franchise is dead; in 2005, the fourth installment was canceled without explanation. That’s the same year 60 Minutes reported on an alleged link between Grand Theft Auto and an actual cop killing—producing yawns for all concerned (save the cop’s family and the defense lawyers). So, for those of us out of the loop, what’s the current state of play when it comes to electronic automotive mayhem? [Warning: video NSFE… not safe for epileptics]
I’m sitting inside one of the largest auto retailers in the world. Khakis. Shorts. Blue shirts are wandering. Aimlessly. Finally a family of ‘fish’ enter this pond of corporate hookery. They look at the displays. And then a nice middle-aged female lady comes to make her greeting. And the fun begins…
The FT-86 concept, based on an RWD variant of the Subaru Impreza chassis, has been revealed at the Tokyo Auto Show. And behold, the Toyobaru coupe of internet legend appears to be in near-production trim. With a 2.0 boxer four, a six-speed manual and a forecast base price of under $30k, the FT-86 hopes to live up to the promise of its AE86 reference point. If nothing else, it signals the possible end of a long winter for Toyota’s enthusiast lineup, which effectively went into hibernation when the MR-2 Spyder was canned in 2007. But don’t get too excited. The FT-86 production model won’t go on sale in Japan until “late 2011,” so it’s anyone’s guess when it will become available in the States.
Automotive News [sub] reports that the promotion of Lancia CEO Olivier Francois to Chrysler brand boss heralds a closer alignment of the two brands in the European market. According to AN’s Fiat source, Chrysler and Lancia will share products and distribution going forward, not mention a luxury mandate that has yet to convince the wider market. The association might lend a certain amount of panache to the Chrysler brand, which its former CEO Peter Fong has said should aspire to “a notch above Cadillac.” If nothing else, Chrysler will probably get a version of the next Lancia Ypsilon city car. And Lancia? A new Thesis flagship based on Chrysler’s LX platform, and “a car derived from the Sebring’s successor,” according to AN. In other words, a Fiat. Nothing about these product-sharing plans sound particularly exciting, considering they hardly get Chrysler and Lancia away from their traditions of peddling upscale versions of pedestrian grocery-getters. But Messr. Francois has kept Lancia from going the way of Oldsmobile through his Gallic brand of sultry marketing, like the Carla Bruni spot above (by the way, is that a Chrysler limo?). The hope is that the Francois panache can similarly rescue Chrysler’s efforts, but that’s a tall order for a brand with basically no competitive product. Meanwhile, does Europe need another brand of luxe Fiats?
It is the time of the season that used car prices fall off. I began following the wholesale used car market in 1996. I distinctly recall a dealer friend of mine, Jerry McKinney, explaining it to me this time of year “Son you better get your nuts in the nest, winter is a comin’.” Translation: a dealer needs to convert any questionable inventory on today’s market to cash. Then take a new position in fresh inventory after the flop hits.
The Supreme Court of Ohio last Wednesday voted 4-3 to impose criminal sanctions for the first time on a motorist exercising his right to refuse to submit to warrant-less testing after being accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Until recently, the only sanction imposed for such refusal was administrative. The decision came down in the case of Union County resident Corey Hoover who had been pulled over by Deputy Kelly S. Nawman on September 8, 2006. Nawman testified that Hoover’s tire crossed over the center line of the road, that he smelled of alcohol and that he performed poorly on field sobriety tests. Nawman arrested Hoover and asked him to perform a breathalyzer test at the sheriff’s office. Hoover refused.
A member of our TTAC faithful brought this Car and Driver BM photoshop scandal to our attention in a comment posted under a recent Ask the Best and Brightest. I let it go unremarked at the time. But now that Autoblog has picked-up the Car and Driver cudgel and beat the mag over the head with it, the story has officially mainstreamed (not to verbize or anything). Whatever credibility and good will the Alterman regime has generated at Car and Driver just disappeared in a puff of imaginary tire smoke. Imagine blaming the writer for browbeating the art department into faking a drag race to mislead the reader. And then calling deceived readers idiots. As someone who grew-up devouring Car and Driver, this is the final straw. Enjoy the slide boys. There’s no coming back.
John Phillips became so attached to the BMW X6M that it – appropriately enough – triggered many irrational responses. One of these was his insistence that we photoshop the BMW beating the clearly superior Chevy Nova. Any attempt to dissuade him – by telling him, for instance, that only an idiot would believe a BMW SUV could beat a purpose-built drag car – just resulted in heated calls to the suicide hotline and even more foaming at the mouth than usual.
I actually think right now is the best time to pursue an automotive career because all of the domestic automobile companies have been through the cleansing fire of sharp retraction — getting ourselves competitive on wage cost, reducing capacity, getting rid of excess people and so forth … the UAW concessions on wages … etc. I see a genuine resurgence for the U.S. automobile companies, especially General Motors. So I think it’s a very good time to pursue a career.
Maximum Bob Lutz gives Northwood University students some of the worst career advice in recorded history [via MLive]. But to be fair, Lutz can imagine at least one scenario in which GM won’t regain its former glory…
The Detroit News reports that nastiness between Chrysler and its former overlords at Daimler could prevent the much-needed (by ChryCo) launches of new versions of the 300/Charger and Grand Cherokee/Durango. Apparently production of these new products can’t take place until Daimler and Chrysler agree to terms for Daimler-supplied components. Chrysler needs to resolve its legal differences with Daimler within 20 days in order to prevent delays to the roll-out of the Grand Cherokee/Durango. If the conflict continues, Chrysler admits it won’t be able to find a new supplier until January 2011. The Grand Cherokee/Durango and 300/Charger are planned to be Chrysler’s only 2010 debuts.
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