File this one under, hey, how did we miss that? Time reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ruled that cars belch CO2 and CO2 causes global warming and global warming will kill us all later soon. In other words, “On March 20, the EPA sent what is called an “endangerment finding” to the White House, a proposal that means the agency found that there is a scientific case that man-made global warming poses a threat to human welfare.” A threat to welfare! How can government exist without welfare? Anyway . . . “By concluding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human welfare, the EPA’s finding could lay the groundwork for nationwide regulation of CO2 emissions — just as the EPA is require to regulate pollutants like smog-causing sulfur dioxide.” So, cars?
Truth About Cars, The arrival of Spring means three things: Cars come out of the garages they’ve been hibernating in all winter, new cruising music arrives and women can finally start to show off a little skin again! To celebrate, Zinio has put together a sale that every man should take advantage of: For a limited time, during their ‘Motors, Music and Models’ sale, anyone who picks up a subscription to Maxim or Blender will also receive a free subscription to one of sixteen different automotive magazines, including Car and Driver, Hot Rod, Import Tuner and Lowrider. In addition, subscriptions to Maxim and Blender are lower than they’ve ever been before, so it’s a great time to pick up two magazines for less than the price of one. We’re only publicizing this offer through blogs and other social sites, and if you’d like to let your readers know about this special offer, I’d be happy to set you up with a few subscriptions of your own. Just point your readers to http://maxim.ziniooffers.com/special/ and send over a list of the magazines you’d like to receive and I’ll take care of the rest. I look forward to hearing from you, so please don’t hesitate to send over any questions that you might have. Thanks! – XXXXX
I know, right? I mean, both the Dodge Caliber AND the Jeep Patriot (snap!) made TTAC’s Ten Worst® (just kidding about the ®). A stripper Caliber would be unimaginably dire. And yet there it is: a poll question for the Chrysler Listens customer advisory board (death CAB for cutie). “How interested would you be in purchasing an ultra-base version® [just kidding again] of the Dodge Caliber (estimated MSRP $16,495) or the Jeep(R) [that actually is there] Patriot (suggested MSRP $17,495) if either were offered later this year?” Oh, and don’t forget “Jeep is a registered trademark of Chrysler LLC.” The odd thing is that someone—anyone—responded in the affirmative. What does that tell you?
More than a few members of TTAC’s Best and Brightest have joined the Chrysler Listens customer advisory board. We’re starting to get some of these comms back, and they’re about as revealing as you’d imagine®. Only more so.
This message is a follow-up to our chat with Steven Landry, EVP of North American Sales, Marketing, and Mopar® Parts and Service at Chrysler:
This is a follow-up to the e-mails we sent last week regarding the Fiat® alliance. At Chrysler, we are working tirelessly with the assistance of the U.S. auto task force to continue our progress in meeting the requirements set for us by the government. At this historic time, we need every one of our Customer Advisory Board members who support our ongoing efforts to get the word out to all our local, state and federal representatives that Chrysler is a viable business on a stand-alone basis.
“As the Nano is a city car, Tata has made low-speed acceleration a priority. The sprint from 0-60mph takes an epic 30 seconds and top speed is a mere 65 mph, but the very short first and second gears ensure it covers 0-40 mph in a much more acceptable 10 seconds.”
With what one hopes is feigned incredulity, the Freep‘s Sarah Webster marvels at how political the issue of GM’s bankruptcy has become. “I must confess,” writes Walker with a conveniently wide-eyed naiveté, “I was quite surprised when the issue of whether General Motors Corp. or Chrysler LLC should file for bankruptcy took a turn to the political when the automakers first approached the federal government for a rescue package last fall.” Yeah, it’s a shocker alright. But why is Walker so surprised?
You know that advertisement for the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid where a douchey fellow suggests that “they should hybrid (sic) this thing”? I would post the video, but it seems that Cadillac has pulled all trace of the spot from the interwebs leaving only the marginally less insipid “cupholders” and “checkmate” ads on its website. And though it’s strange to plumb the Tubes of You for hours and not find this mythically inane third ad, it’s disappearance down the memory hole isn’t surprising at all. The spot suggested a troglodyte’s approach to hybrid technology that is only underscored by the reality of GM’s hybrid strategy: quick-n-dirty BAS, expensive and complex two-mode system, and moon-shot EREV. Hybrid this. Okay, now hybrid that. [ED: Zammy found it!] But Nissan’s announcement today that it will be bringing a hybrid version of its Infiniti M to the US market in 2010 has to put the Japanese firm in contention for worst hybrid strategy around.
Daimler has announced that it will raise $2.67 billion to fund future operations, reports Automotive News [sub]. But since we know that the BMW share swap has been nixed by the Quandts, how is Daimler coming up with the cash? By snaffling Opel’s cash from the German government? Or perhaps by jumping on the DC bailout express? No, Daimler followed the real money back to the Persian Gulf. Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments (owned by the state-run International Petroleum Investment Company) will buy a 9.1 percent stake in the German firm. After all, when you’ve repeatedly been fined for violating CAFE standards, you go to the oil wells, not the halls of government for your cash injection. The Emirate of Kuwait had already owned a 7.6 percent stake in Daimler, an investment that has been diluted to 6.9 percent by Aabar’s investment. But according to the analysts, Daimler had little choice but to take Aabar’s cash.
Ahead of the March 31 bailout buffet deadline, GM’s North American Vice President of Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing is finally taking action to quell queasiness about GM’s “restructuring.” A GM insider sent us this message from GM’s marketing maven, who sent it to GM dealers, to send it to their customers. Shall we file this under “methinks they doth protest too much”? Anyway, bottom line (as well as the top): GM’s warranty is “safe and sound.” That’s because GM dealers remain open for sales and service. And when the dealer aren’t open, as GM pares dealers and GMAC pulls the financing the stores need to survive? Moving on . . .
GM would like its millions of current and future customers to know one thing: GM’s warranty coverage is absolutely safe and sound, now and well into the future, no matter what the GM make or model.
I said, moving on . . .
We always taken care of our customers [sometimes in that mafiosi sort of way] and stood behind our products ‐‐ and we will continue to do so.
Right up until and through Chapter 11. How . . . reassuring.
In their quest to position the German automotive brand as, uh, something, Audi has decided to “invest” in the New York Yankees. Audi’s decision to back the Yanks may miff supporters of the 29 other Major League Baseball teams. But hey, those that own Audis could get a shot at seeing their team play the pin-striped perennial pennant winners in the newly re-christened Audi Yankees Club, a “premium entitlement area” perched high atop The House that Ruth Built. I thought it was baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet. Tempus fugit.
Lambo’s abortion-for-four is “on ice,” reports Autocar. Because of “me-too” positioning and questionable styling? No, apparently “the timing and market conditions are just not right for an additional model line,” says Lambo’s R&D boss, Maurizio Reggiani. That’s it? What about a nice, reassuring “Lamborghini refuses to build bland, uninspired vehicles in a faddish niche just because several competitors are” retort? Or, perhaps, “we encourage the folks behind the new Lagonda to join us in supporting death with dignity for similarly useless concepts”? No? Fine. Blame the economy. But file this one under “creative destruction.”
I thought that “hand built cars are better” thing disappeared on March 5, 1908. That’s when Cadillac won the Dewar Trophy, awarded by the Britain’s Royal Automobile Club for progress in automobile engineering and racing. Cadillac scrambled parts from three cars (720 × 3), reassembled them and drove the vehicles straight into the history books. (Who knew you could park a car in a book?) But the idea of hand-crafted supremacy survives—thrives even—at the top of the market. Rolls Royce, Maybach and Aston Martin all play heavily on the fact that the vehicles are hand-crafted. I know there’s no way to mass produce parts for a car that’s made in Fabergé egg quantities. I’ve seen (and commissioned) the world’s best automotive artisans. But there’s something ridiculously antiquated about celebrating price-no-object one-off-mobiles. Surely modern mass production is the greater, unsung triumph, where hundreds of thousands of people work together to create a vehicle that’s safe, somewhat stylish, reliable, comfortable and, above all, affordable. Should it ever come to fruition, the Tata Nano will bring bring prosperity to millions of Indians. The Nano will be a greater accomplishment than this fantastic work of art. Just sayin’.
Here’s un peu de inside dope from France’s L’Automobile mag. Bottom line: the on-again off-again on-again off-again Toyota – Subaru rear wheel-drive car is . . . on again. And it’ll be called a Celica. Or not.
Chez Toyota, les bons et loyaux services ne sont pas toujours récompensés : après sept générations et six titres de champion du monde des rallyes, le coupé Celica a été remercié, en 2006, faute de ventes suffisantes (ci-contre, la septième et dernière génération). Mais le géant japonais s’apprête à lui donner une seconde chance. En 2010, Toyota lancera à nouveau un coupé sportif abordable, étudié par Subaru. Une information confirmée par Thierry Dombreval, vice-président des ventes et du marketing de Toyota France, dans le numéro 755 de L’Automobile Magazine.
Loads of flames this weekend. The police stop video had members of the Best and Brightest morphing into the Mean and Nastiest. Please remember that TTAC’s posting policy is clear: no flaming the website, its authors or fellow commenters. Feel free to rip apart an opinion, but do not diss the site, the scribes or the folks. We also don’t allow meta-discussions about our editorial stance or style underneath an unrelated post. For example, I exorcised this broadside from thoots’ comment re: my Toyota Venza review:
As some have said, this is no ‘review,’ this is an ‘editorial.’ And it’s the kind of thing that makes me go elsewhere, rather than *cough* actually consider paying for somebody’s personal diatribe against car-like crossover styling or whatever it is that he or she happens to hate. Geez, just say that you prefer school-bus-style visibility, and get on with your life, could you? Crimony.
After a few emails with thoots—the proper place for site criticism—I’ve agreed to open the subject up for debate and turn off the anti-flaming directive. So, what’s wrong with TTAC’s reviews? What should we do to improve them?
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