The Cash for Clunkers (C4C) program is on its way to Senate approval, as your elected representatives have attached the bill to the $106 billion military spending bill. As the Detroit News reports, the C4C rider sallies forth into legislative battle in the same form as the House version: “Under the program, owners of cars rated at 18 mpg or less in combined highway and city mileage could turn them in for a cash voucher. Buying a new car rated at least 4 mpg higher would earn a $3,500 voucher; a 10 mpg improvement would earn a $4,500 voucher. Pickups would be eligible as long as the new vehicle has a mileage rating of at least 18 mpg and is at least 2 mpg higher than the old vehicle. A new truck rated at least 5 mpg higher than the turned-in vehicle would earn a $4,500 voucher.” One problem: the feds are not planning (i.e., budgeting) for success . . .

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A major credit rating agency yesterday released a report reinforcing a negative outlook on the financial stability of the toll road industry. Fitch Ratings analyzed the performance of forty US toll road facilities during 2007 and 2008. It predicted that the roads would not see a recovery from the recession until 2011 at the earliest and that motorists would be paying more money in tolls as a result.

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TTAC Spammer, goodluck.victorian, spams my inbox with:

Hello My name is miss Victoria. I saw your profile today on www.thetruthaboutcars.com and became interested in you. 

I will also like to know more about you, and I want you to send a mail to my email address so that i can give you my picture for you to know whom l am. I believe we can move from here. Remember the distance or colour does not matter but love matters allot in life. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN.  YOURS VICTORIA

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GM LETTERHEAD

June __, 2009

VIA Federal Express

[DEALER ENTITY CORPORATE NAME] 

[DEALER ADDRESS] 

To All GM Dealers in the US Who Received a Participation Agreement:

First and foremost, thank you for your continued support and efforts on GM’s behalf in these difficult times.  As we indicated when we sent you the June 1, 2009 letter agreement (the “Participation Agreement”), GM wants your dealership to be part of GM’s future and our whole focus is to try to improve, together, the GM dealer network.  We are gratified that, through Monday, June 8, we have received ______ signed Participation Agreements, indicating broad dealer support of our objectives for the dealer network.  

We have, however, received thoughtful and insightful questions and comments from individual dealers, the NADA and the National Dealer Council (the “NDC”) regarding the Participation Agreement. In response, we have had discussions with the NADA and the NDC. As a result of those discussions, we are writing to provide clarity on several points addressed in the Participation Agreement, as well as to amend certain terms and conditions of the Participation Agreement. Again, our whole focus here is to work with GM dealers to insure that both GM and the dealer body are best positioned to compete in this challenging environment and more importantly in the future.

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I am turning to the B & B for some new (used) car advice. My current bad weather bomber is a 2004 Jeep Liberty (I ride a bike on any and all good weather days). While it’s served me well, the commute is becoming Novocain for my soul. That and summer trends for higher prices at the pumps is a pain. I’ve narrowed my search down to two finalists: 2002 BMW 325Ci or a 2002 Subaru WRX wagon. The bimmer appeals to my inner snob, while the subie to my inner hoon. Both have around 200k (km’s not miles) but both pack a 2-year warranty. With the Subaru I get the AWD for Toronto’s increasingly snowy winters and the convenience of a wagon for schlepping just about anything I want. The 3 Series was/is the ultimate driving machine. Both run on premium juice, but beat the Jeep hands down for fuel (and fun) efficiency. The WRX has a $2K price advantage, too, but lacks the leather lap o’ luxury the Bavarian boasts. Feature for feature, it’s BMW all the way, but the toys all come at a high price (of maintenance). So what say TTAC’s panel of experts? Test drives start tonight!

The worldwide car market contracted in the first five months of 2009 by about 20 percent. And what did VW do? Last month, all brands of Volkswagen actually edged out a little growth, 1.5 percent over May 2008. The core VW brand increased 10.2 percent in May, says Automobilwoche [sub]. For the first five months, all VW brands were down 7 percent worldwide, way above the -20 percent world average. Why? VW is strong, and they are strong in strong markets such as China (+ 45.2 percent), Germany (+36 percent) and Brazil (+4 percent). In the US, VeeDub can only do better. Their market share in the U.S.A. was an anemic 2.1 percent in May.

The German government is sending strong signals to GM to move on the Opel deal with Magna — or else. Their message: “Get on with it, or Opel will be Chinese.”

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TTAC reached 10,000 posts on Wednesday!

We couldn’t have done it without the 12,000+ subscribers, 1,000,000+ unique visitors (monthly), numerous contributors, and the 250,000+ comments made so far.

Here’s to 10,000 more posts!

I’m honored that the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has decided to publish my Op-Ed on GM’s political entanglement in tomorrow’s paper and online. [link here] I trust the piece will bring TTAC some fresh eyeballs. But it’s not the most important aspect of the deal. This website didn’t get to 1 million visits per month through powerful links (thanks, Instapundit), media showboating (shukran, Al-Jazeera) or celebrity journalism (oy, Yates). We did it by providing you, our Best and Brightest, with a steady diet of no-holds-barred automotive news, rants and reviews. The most thrilling bit of the WSJ publication: it will confer legitimacy on our collective mission. Meanwhile and in any case, thanks for your patience with our recent technical troubles. TTAC’s new owner, a Canadian outfit called VerticalScope, is gradually cleaning up some of the, uh, challenged back end software. Our new tech guy, Jonathon Marshall, is a creative, methodical and tenacious bastard. Kinda like us. And you. Cue the “Barney” song. Or better yet, not.

And I predict Ford CEO Alan Mulally will be proven wrong. Of course, I could be wrong about Mulally being wrong. I mean, I’m the not-so-proverbial nutter in the attic. Big Al’s probably got an entire building full of MBA-owning sales analysts doing nothing but crunching numbers (and hanging out by the water cooler talking about how TTAC talked about them hanging out by the water cooler). I base my false dawn dismissal on three main facts. First, Detroit’s been blowing smoke up the media’s ass since The Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates by two runs to clinch the inaugural World Series. If not before. I don’t trust a word they say. Second, same again, only this time not discounting the fact the automakers may actually believe their own delusions. Which is some deeply scary shit. Still. And third, housing starts.

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My first car was a 1970s–era Opel Rekord. It was one of the most beautiful cars GM ever made. It was also roomy, reliable, as well as cheap to own and service. Those typical brand values made Opel a star player in Europe, and demoted Ford and many others to the status of also-rans. Later, Opel lost the reliability and beauty part of the plot. Is today’s Rekord – the Opel Insignia – good enough to lead an almost-dead company to the future?

Good afternoon,

I am responding on behalf of my colleague Bob Lesino [PR for the General Services Administration] and at this time we can’t provide any other information than what was in the press release.

Thank you.

MaryAnne

Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with the country of origin for these vehicles . . . TTAC will now file a Freedom of Information Act request. Press release after the jump.

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Now that New GM is aborning, does Toyota feel obliged to become old GM? Seriously. I’ll forgo the recap (feel free to discuss this amongst yourselves) and get straight to the latest ill-advised Toyota: the new Lexus HS250. Yes, they’re right: they’ll sell 25,000 of the suited and booted Prius clones in the first year (which says bad, bad things about the Volt’s prospects BTW). And I’m sure the HS’s hybrid powertrain will kick ass, ’cause the Lexus LS 600hL is a sweet motor. But why are these Lexus guys constantly chasing volume, in a Cadillac kinda way? And if you think I’m just putting the hate on ToMoCo (Death Watch transference?), consider the fact that the group vice president of the Lexus Division for Toyota North America is seeing lights at the end of tunnel—just like the federal teat suckling infernal optimists over in Detroit.

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You thought the Magna/Sberbank/Union/Russia/GM/Et/Al. deal is done? It’s not. Germany is still talking to potential investors, says Reuters.

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Did you know that BMW owns Rolls-Royce? Of course you did; you’re the Best and Brightest. Which means you also know that the new Ghost is not going to be a very expensive, modified 7-Series with bespoke bodywork and cabin. (Of course not.) But you’ll also recognize that the chassis technology trumpeted in today’s RR press release below is boilerplate BMW. I mean, they didn’t even change the names, dear boy. Which makes me wonder: what should they call this stuff? Active Roll Stabilisation [English spelling, Jeff] implies, well, roll. Variable Damping Control should at least have “en” in the middle of the middle word for the car’s effect on the fairer sex. Any suggestions (bonus points for clever acronyms)?

At the heart of the Rolls-Royce Ghost’s magic carpet ride will be a state-of-the-art chassis which uses an intelligent four corner air suspension system and multi link aluminium front and rear axles. Designed to be fully integrated, each of the cars dynamic handling and safety systems has been engineered to work together in harmony. Systems such as Active Roll Stabilisation, four corner air springs and Variable Damping Control operate as one, imperceptibly to the driver and passengers to provide the best possible comfort for occupants and to ensure that the tyres maintain optimum contact with the road, even on rough surfaces for driving safety.

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