After my Wall Street Journal Op-Ed gave Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank serious shit for personally intervening with GM’s turnaround plans—to save a parts distribution warehouse in his district—the WSJ has gone on the attack. OK, sure, they would have done it anyway. It probably had nothing to do with me whatsoever. Anyway, personal ego issues aside, the WSJ‘s forced Barney to explain his influence-peddling. Apparently, it was OK for the TARP-meister to ring-up GM CEO Fritz Henderson and ask (demand?) for the Norton facility to remain open because . . . it’s not a factory or a dealership. The headline above offers the politician’s distinction. Which begs a number of questions: how is a parts distribution center environmentally friendly? Does he seriously expect us to believe that he acted to save the planet? And if he can mess with GM, what’s to stop his colleagues?

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OK, so it’s going to be one of those days is it? No problem, we’ve got a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot category and we’re not afraid to use it. And here we go (again) . . . Fox News reports that “The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has a new campaign targeting drunken driving. Operation Would U Like Fries, or Operation WULF, will put undercover deputies inside 24-hour fast-food restaurants to spot impaired drivers placing their orders.” No, really. “Sgt. Doug Hanna, a DUI unit supervisor, says if deputies notice someone with classic symptoms of impairment — slurred speech, red or watery eyes or beer breath — they will have a uniformed deputy stationed outside pull the driver over.” A $128,000 grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety will pay for the munchie patrol. Expect AZ drive-thru traffic to quadruple. At least. Dude. [thanks to Dave for the link]

Bloomberg reports that Honda has dialed-back its US sales predictions for the Insight hybrid by a third. “First-year Sales of Honda’s gasoline-electric Insight, which debuted at U.S. dealerships in late March, may be between 50,000 and 60,000 units, John Mendel, the company’s U.S. executive vice president, said in a June 11 interview at Honda’s U.S. headquarters in Torrance. ‘I don’t think we’ll get to 90,000.'” (Bloomberg sat on this story for four days?) Apparently, Mendel forgot to explain the discrepancy between expectation and reality—so Hizzoner’s family firm did it for him . . .

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Why would GM’s VP of sales and marketing for North America expect his company’s [remaining] dealers to contact their elected representatives to support Government Motors’ dealer cull? Times two when you consider that GM is planning on making another round of dealer cuts in the future. “Hey. It’s Mark LaNeve. Thanks for lobbying for our downsizing. Oh, by the way, you’re next.” No, I’m not making this up. Here’s the e-mail, complete with fill-in-the-blanks phone script. [Thanks to you-know-who-you-are.]

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According to Automotive News [sub], GM plans to shed an additional 520 dealers through “attrition” by the end of 2010. AN does the math: 1380 (by corporate fiat, so to speak) + 520 (attrition) + 500 (HUMMER, Saab and Saturn’s disappeared) = 2400 dead franchises trading. Given that many stores have overlapping franchises, I’m not sure how many dealers GM will have at the end of the federally-sponsored day. In any case, GM is on the ropes on the coasts and tanking in Texas. The bankrupt automaker needs a wide spread of smaller dealers to cover their last redoubt (the heartland). Still, one wonders what the ideal frnachise network size should be, and this process of attrition. More specifically, what will GM’s market share be and what’s GMAC’s role in this “inadvertent” downsizing? Is the lender—sorry, “bank”—continuing to make life difficult for GM stores? In other words, are Government Motors’ dealers fading as GM’s market share continues to tumble or will they be pushed? Or both? Oh, and AN reports that GM dealers are having something of a morale problem. Ya think?

The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) will kick off a week of “open house” meetings today to promote a proposal that would add tolls along the 400 miles of Interstate 80 that pass through the state. Unlike interstate tolling plans introduced in other parts of the country as “congestion reduction” measures, this one would not add new lane capacity. In a state with a population of just over a half-million, congestion is not even an issue after projecting population and traffic growth for another thirty years. WYDOT’s real target is out-of-state truck drivers.

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Even if I were a billionaire, I would still buy the store brands at the local supermarket. Names really mean nothing to me and the better deals always seem to be with the unproven or unpopular brands on the bottom shelves. Especially if they come with the right coupon as an incentive. When it comes to cars, I generally have the same attitude. Yes, there are brands that I personally disfavor on the low side (Daewoo-based Suzukis) and on the high side (BMW) as ‘keeper’ cars. But in between I’ve found a lot of great cars that simply carry the wrong name on their hood. And the loser – winners are . . .

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Tengzhong’s bid for Hummer brand “is normal behavior for a company seeking to take advantage of the global downturn to broaden its horizons,” a spokesman of China’s Ministry of Commerce said according to Reuters. “Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, it is rational and normal for Chinese companies to adopt an international outlook,” MofCom spokesman Yao Jian told reporters.

Does that mean that China’s government will approve the deal? They may, or may not. Sympathy for “normal behavior” doesn’t equal a big red rubber stamp. And none has been asked for . . .
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TTAC commentator SpeedJebus writes:

This issue has boggled me from Day 1. I own a 2007 Honda Civic EX Sedan, with the 1.8 litre 4-cylinder, and the oh-so-wonderful Drive-By-Wire throttle system.

My issue is that it is LAZY. Lazy to rev that is. Also, at some points it appears to lose power for just a split second in the middle of a gear. Now at first I thought this was the result of an A/C compressor kicking on (I picked the car up in June 2007). But it has demonstrated this year round.

It doesn’t happen every time though. But it’s enough of an annoyance for me to bring it to the dealership. So my lovely Civic has been there a few times. They can’t figure it out. They’ve reflashed, and cleared the ECU, so that it will learn my driving habits all over again, etc however, it still happens. Can you, or anyone else explain to me how Honda can get this so wrong (And by comparison, a VW GTI with a DBW system can get it oh-so-right)? Can anyone suggest how I can get this remedied? It’s getting more and more of an annoyance. Especially since it IS (was) a new car. I’m not looking to replace the car, since I do plan on keeping it, so that is out of the question.

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The New York Times reports that Buick is using your hard-earned taxes to try to get you to drive beautiful. The new campaign (also at buick.com) asks you to rethink the damaged brand because “[e]verything you thought about Buick just went boom.” Question: how long before Buick goes “poof”? Anyway, what do you make of the new tagline “Take a look at me now”? According Leo Burnett’s general director for advertising and promotion, Buick’s motto is completely unrelated to the Phil Collins song. Yeah, sure. I believe that. But speaking of guilt by association, did anyone at Buick or Leo Burnett actually listen to the song? Sample: “Ooh take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space. And you coming back to me is against the odds and that’s what I’ve got to face.” Roger that. Just for fun, full lyrics after the jump.

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OK, I missed this one: an Automotive News [sub] Op-Ed by Mike Jackson, GM’s former marketing and advertising Veep [thanks for the heads-up, Frank]. In his piece, Jackson rips Government Motors a new one. Well, not exactly. ‘Cause excoriating GM for past mistakes would require Jackson to admit his own role in the debacle. Jackson can’t do that. That would be too much like taking the same sort of personal accountability for which the ex-exec now calls. Less enigmatically, Jackson’s rant tells GM what it should do, you know, now that he’s got the hell out of town. First up: culture. “Streamline the organization structure. Get rid of the cancerous GM lifers. The new GM must be nimble and evoke emotion and passion. Have the leaders of the divisional brand teams report directly to the office of the CEO, rather than through four layers as they have done.” More? Of course there’s more.

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What was the best selling import SUV ten years ago? 4Runner? Passport? Daihatsu Rocky? It’s really a trick question because the vehicle in question was actually made in Indiana. Nope, not a Subaru Forester. It was the last successful GM import model, the Isuzu Rodeo. For most of the 1990s, Isuzu was indeed the star player in the import SUV segment. The Rodeo was their big one hit wonder. So big that Honda decided to trade badges and give Isuzu a minivan (Oasis) in exchange for the Rodeo’s street cred. On the flip side, their other SUV was the Trooper: a tall and awkward SUV on stilts that somehow managed to become . . well . . .

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Click here to download the famous Elmer Johnson GM memo.

The Winnipeg, Canada, Police Service has been caught a second time underreporting the number of accidents at red light camera intersections in order to make the lucrative program appear effective. The Winnipeg City Auditor was first to note the police tactic in a 2006 audit report. This week, the Winnipeg Sun found the police are still using the same technique to protect a program which generated $14,086,804 CAD in revenue for 2008.

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