The tires v.v. chicken war has sent stock exchanges lower. It has the price of rubber plunging. It has people deeply worried. The Wall Street Journal has arrayed comments from economists around the world who call the Obama decision everything from “something really stupid” to “disappointing news.”

State-run Chinese news agency Xinhua trotted out their own team of experts, which came to the conclusion that “the new U.S. tariffs on Chinese tire imports could escalate trade disputes between the two countries, but a full-blown trade war is unlikely.” What, no trade war? Wait, there’s worse.
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What’s it with Ford and sliding doors? After getting its butt kicked by every minivan manufacturer known to man (excepting GM and including a descendant Chrysler), the Blue Oval Boyz got out of the minivan biz. Ford then got it into their head that there’s a huge swath of American consumers who want a minivan, but won’t buy it because it’s a minivan. “Sliding doors carry a stigma, which is why the minivan has fallen” out of favor with some US buyers, Ford group vice president of global product development Derrick Kuzak told Automotive News [sub]. Instead of selling these minivan refugees an existing SUV or CUV, Dearborn’s darlings spent billions developing a car that looks like something between a scaled-up MINI Clubman and a funeral hearse (a.k.a. the Flex). Wrong answer. And just in case that answer wasn’t wrong enough, Ford’s bringing over the C-Max. It’s a seven passenger vehicle—with hidden sliding doors! So it’s not a minivan. It’s not a wagon. It’s not a Flex (whatever that is). It’s a . . . “multi-activity vehicle.”

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GM’s constant reference to the “perception gap” is, without doubt, the most galling thing about the company. Despite sucking-up over $62 billion in taxpayer money, the nationalized automaker continues to insist there’s nothing wrong with our products. Oh no, American-consumers are a bunch of [Jap-loving] idiots. If if they would just open their minds they’d see that they’re idiots. And buy our cars. And save the company. And keep Mexicans Americans employed. And get their taxes back. Now, adding insult to insult, they’re launching a taxpayer-funded ad campaign based on that premise: “May the Best Car Win.” Note to New GM: it HAS been winning. Ipso ’effing facto. Now LEAVE IT ALONE. But oh no. In fact, the car Czar who drove GM into the dirt is flooring it, betting the company’s future on this series of comparison ads. And he’s got a new name for “the perception gap” not because he understands the problem but because he’s bored with it.

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Guess what happens to the car market between Labor Day and Thanksgiving? Nothing. Nobody buys cars unless they absolutely need to during this time. You have no shopping holidays. No ‘tax season’ with refunds aplenty. Not even a hint of any government windfall or pork barrel rolling down Capitol Hill. This is the time of year where 2009s and even 2008s will slowly make their march to the ‘deep’ discount aisle. Should you buy?

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The city of College Station, Texas is planning to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on advertising that could save the city’s red light cameras. A citizen-led initiative has put the program’s future up for a public vote on November 3, but documents obtained under freedom of information laws by College Station resident Jim Ash indicate the city intends to spend thousands to saturate local television with pro-camera commercials and run full-page advertisements in the local newspaper. These ads would run in addition to those paid for by the for-profit companythat operates the cameras. “Could the City of College Station go so far with this voter eduction program they end up violating spirit or letter of the Texas Election Code, by the nature, size, timing, and aggressiveness of their planned ‘educational program?'” Ash asked. “Is this the same city that could not find even one more dime in spending cuts last week?”

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Steve writes:

Hi Sajeev, I own a 2005 VW Passat with V6 that has 92000 miles on the odo. VW says I should replace the timing belt ASAP. I let my last Passat (2001.5 V6) go until 120K and my local dealer’s shop lectured me on the danger of letting it go for so long. How much am I tempting fate by waiting until I get to 120K this time? Is a timing belt change too complicated for a decent independent mechanic to tackle? Your sage advice would be most appreciated.

There are a number of people on the VW forums that are posting that VW issued some kind of revised maintenance schedule for TB’s? I bought mine used (from a VW dealer) so I may not be on the mailing list. As usual, the opinions run the gamut. I will be very interested in the comments on this issue. And, I will check with my mechanic (authorized VW repair shop, non-dealer) on Monday to see what he says.

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If you are tired of carmageddon, and you are not ready for the dizzying near-triple-digit growth rates of China, go to Ye Olde Country (as long as your $ still buys something). Europe as a whole is slowly clawing its way back into a territory long forgotten: Growth. Slow, but steady growth.
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60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee Dealer Participation Agreement

On Monday, September 14, 2009, GM will begin to offer a national 60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee program to eligible customers. The Program will be announced initially through November 30, 2009.  As a dealer, your full participation in this program is absolutely critical to the Program’s success. The terms and conditions of your participation in the program are fully explained below. We urge you to participate in this exciting Program designed to help drive traffic and build confidence in you and in your products. Starting on September 11, 2009, dealers can go to www.gmprograminfo.com to opt-out of this program. Click on the “GM 60 Day Guarantee Program” button, and then click on the “I Decline Participation” button at the bottom of the page. If you do not opt out of this Program by the close of business Tuesday September 15, 2009, you are participating under the terms and conditions described below.

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I don’t expect an automatic car wash to clean my car particularly well. As long as it takes the bird shit and obvious dirt off and doesn’t scratch my paint, I’m happy enough. I’ll do the wheels myself. But if the machine’s going to leave water drops all over the surface, so that I have to chammy [ED: Chamois?] every damn square inch of the Beast’s sheet metal, what’s the friggin’ point? I might as well have washed it myself. I’ve never been in an automatic car wash that A) washed all the dirt off the back end of an SUV and B) dried a car properly. I’m sure there’s an association somewhere that’s already got an e-mail teed-up for this one; something about the 85th percentile of automotive shapes and hi-tech blowers. Never made the tech guys. If car wash owners weren’t trying to save a few pennies on electricity costs, the line would proceed slowly enough to let a couple of hair dryers finish the job. And what happens if I complain? They offer me a free wash. I’ve got an idea! How about YOU come out here and dry my car by hand, instead of peddling refined sugar, corn syrup, starch, fat, salt and nicotine whilst waiting for the day you have to say, “I can’t open the till, I swear!” Just sayin’.

Getting involved in European companies is likely to bring a complexity of personnel management that will blow their minds.

European auto analyst Graeme Maxton in an Automotive News [sub] report on potential issues with Chinese buyouts of western auto brands. “I’m not sure they can handle a brand like Volvo and turn it around,” adds an anonymous “senior executive working in China with a major U.S. automaker.” To be fair, Maxton concedes that auto-sector mergers are difficult under any circumstances, but that doesn’t stop AN [sub] from trotting out an ominous quote from BAIC chairman Xu Hey, who blames “western discrimination” for China’s trouble wooing established brands.

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Bob Lutz’s latest Fastlane livechat was dominated by discussion of GM’s “May The Best Car Win” campaign. As you might imagine, things got . . . interesting. Right out of the gate, Lutz confirmed that he would be racing Jalopnik’s Wes Siler. He also more or less confirmed TTAC commentators’ suspicions that GM would, well, cheat. “We’ll see if age and treachery beat youth and skill one more time,” Lutz said, echoing sentiments expressed by a famous pop chanteuse of which he is no doubt unaware. You want more?

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As a former car salesman, I can tell you that relations between the front line troops and management is usually no better—often much worse—than the relationship between the dealership and its customers. To wit, this email just in:

I used to work at —– Toyota in —–. My friends working there told me that during cash for clunkers, —– cut the sales commisions on the cash for clunkers deals by “packing” the gross of the deal with a bogus internal charge to screw the sales reps out of money. Pretty pathetic. The dealers get a bailout, raise the prices on cars to the consumer, and cut the salesmans commission. You might see if this was an industry practice. PS. I work for CARMAX now and I love it. It’s like car sales heaven. Tom

We noted a few months back that $6.25B worth of Delphi pensions were being dumped on the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, in what we termed part of GM’s “stealth bailout.” The Detroit News reports that bills have been introduced in the Senate and House now that would appropriate $3B worth of stimulus funds towards paying those obligations. “There was a promise made that health benefits would be available for Delphi employees when they entered their golden years and we are going to leave no stone unturned in our effort to see that they get what they’ve earned,” says Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), who introduced the House version of the bill.

Calling all history buffs! Identifying this car shouldn’t be all that hard. But there’s something unusual and extremely rare about this particular variant. An oddity of history, if you please. To win, you need to explain.