TTAC has been working with our Best and Brightest to uncover the hidden investors behind Chrysler. We’ve made some headway. First, the name of Cerberus’ Chrysler funds: Cerberus CG Investor I LLC, Cerberus CG Investor II LLC, Cerberus CG Investor III LLC. The information came from Daimler [click here then search for “CG Investor”; it’s under structure of the transaction]. Searching for hits on the CG funds, we’ve unearthed Franklin Templeton Investments’ Mutual Recovery Fund. Here’s the money shot: the fund’s 2008 Annual Report. Scroll down to page 5 (their numbering), second footnote. And there it is. And now we can drill down to some interesting info…

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Wolfgang Bernhard is coming home to Daimler. Not in an exalted position. He will take over Mercedes vans, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. The former McKinsey consultant who became project manager at Mercedes Benz (always a bad sign when McKinsey dumps one of their own on a client) went to Detroit with Dieter Zetsche. As COO, Bernhard was Zetsche’s hatchet man at Chrysler. Back in Germany, he was groomed as boss of Mercedes, but lost in a fight with Jürgen Schrempp. Off he went to Volkswagen, where he ran the Volkswagen brand, along with Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti. Again, he was thought to be groomed as successor of Pischetsrieder. But actually, he was axed shortly after Pischetsrieder was sent packing and the Porsche-Piech putsch unfolded. Eyebrows rose when Bernhard showed up at Cerberus. Some saw him as the new Chrysler head. But no, again. He left a few months after he arrived. A stint at ill-fated Austrian Airlines also didn’t last long. And now he’s back where he began. At Mercedes. In charge of delivery vans.

A TTAC Tipster writes:

According to one of my GM buddies, the May 1 pay cut is as follows: 10% for unclassified (executives); 7% for Levels 8 and 9 (managers, technical fellows, other senior folks); 3% for Level 7 and below. Levels 8 and 9 and unclassified enjoy the use of company vehicles. Last year, a lot of the Level 8s were forced to take demotions to Level 7: no pay cut, but they had to give up their company car, although they got some financial help in getting a new GM car.

All pay cuts are “temporary” and will be under reconsideration in December.

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When it comes to “why can’t U.S. car companies kill their dead brands?” TTAC has always pointed the finger straight at America’s 50-state patchwork of franchise laws. If GM killed, I dunno, Saab, every Saab dealer in these here United States would drag The General’s ass down to the local courthouse demanding—and receiving—reparations. Lest we forget, Oldsmobile’s termination cost GM a billion dollars back when a billion dollars was a lot of money. If, however, Chrysler, GM or Ford filed for Chapter 11, they could kill brands and dealers at will—without paying ex-dealers anything more than the cost of their inventory. And maybe not even that. Franchised dealers can see the writing on the wall, and they’re not happy. So they’re proactively legislating a new post-C11 deal for themselves—inflating the claims against the automakers’ assets, increasing the likelihood that the D2.8’s bondholders will file for same.

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Fourteen percent of GM’s global salaried workforce will lose their jobs by the end of the year, reports Automotive News [sub] as the General flails to slash costs. GM’s salaried ranks will drop from 73k to 63k by the time the current cuts are completed. 3,400 of GM’s 29,500 US salaried employees will lose their jobs by May 1, and remaining workers will see their pay cut by between three and ten percent. These cuts will bring GM’s salaried workforce to a lower level than the 65k-67k called for in their initial December 2 viability plan. DId we mention that these fine folks will be losing their jobs without any buyout offers, just as GM slashes its severance pay? Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be a salaryman.

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The New York Post reports that Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli “transferred a $3.8 million, four-bedroom, five-bath Los Angeles spread to his wife, Susan, on Jan. 17, 2008, according to deed records filed in Los Angeles County and recorded with the Assessor’s Office on Feb. 5, 2008.” There are only three possible reasons for this move: divorce, estate planning or a hedge (there’s that word again) against future legal action, when creditors come to call. Strangely, or not so strangely, Bob’s personal spinmeister is denying the facts of the matter. “A spokeswoman for Nardelli early today insisted the records were incorrect and no transfer took place.” The story gets curiouser and
curiouser . . . .

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The Detroit News reports that GM and Chrysler are working furiously behind the scenes to extend the March 31 government deadline re: meeting the conditions of their $13.4b bridge loan to nowhere bailout buffet. Surprise! The American automakers’ inability to take responsibility for their actions may be true-to-form, but that doesn’t make it any less nauseating. Nor does the News’ coverage of the company’s weaseling, which put the “sick” in “sycophancy.” The only satisfaction to be had from this lede is the use of the word “scurrying.”

As General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are scurrying to put the finishing touches on their restructuring plans due next Tuesday to the Treasury, finance and auto industry experts say submitting plans is one thing, but getting bondholders and all other parties involved in a massive restructuring to agree to those plans by the March 31 deadline seems unrealistic.

Pass the Alka Seltzer, here we go . . .

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No truncated suicide doors. No SUV ride height. No gimmicks. OK, there’s a Mad Max/Fast and Furious sport button in front of the gear stick that repositions the boost earlier in the drop top’s rev range (i.e., sacrifices government pleasing mpg for power) and sharpens steering. The four pot providing said oomph is a “significantly revised” (i.e., larger air intake) version of the MINI Cooper S’ 1.6-litre turbocharged mill, the same unit found in the MINI CHALLENGE race car. GOT IT? How’s this for PR sneak: “Extra-large disc brakes paired with upgraded bright red Brembo performance callipers are supplied” [italics added]. The thirty-second MINI variant (and I don’t mean the zero to sixty time of the basest of the bast models) yields 132 hp per litre and 39.8 mpg. (Highway, downwind, windows up, a/c off, one-up, no luggage.) The hardtop version was one of the fastest things I’ve ever seen down a country road, I shit thee not. This will be a genuine hoot.

An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

Nissan’s no-hitter: After announcing an expected loss in the current fiscal, Nissan will suspend corporate sports activities, including its standout baseball team, the Nikkei [sub] reports. Nissan’s ball club, which was founded in 1959, has won corporate championships and produced a string of professional baseball players. Also to be sidelined is Nissan’s table tennis team, which also dates back to 1959. Its most recent stint atop the winner’s podium occurred in 2007. The table tennis and track and field teams will be disbanded at the end of next month. All eyes are on Toyota and whether they will ditch their vastly more expensive F1 team. The rumor mill says they will stick with it for the now.

Nissan goes for green green: Nissan has applied for low-interest loans being offered under a US government program aimed at promoting the development of environment-friendly cars, the Nikkei [sub] says. This is the first time a Japanese carmaker has applied for the 25-billion-dollar program. One of the conditions for qualifying for the federal loan program is that the applicant has been operating facilities in the US for an extended period of time. Nissan intends to apply for similar aid programs for developing environment-friendly vehicles in Europe and China.

Cheaper hooch: One of the many problems of bio-ethanol is that it’s expensive to make. Toyota, Nippon Oil, Mitsubishi Heavy and three other firms will jointly develop technologies to produce cellulosic ethanol from nonfood plants. By bringing together their know-how in such fields as plant cultivation, glycation and fermentation, they hope to develop a comprehensive production system and bring down production costs to around 40 yen ($0.44) per liter by 2015, says the Nikkei [sub].
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Ford’s press release lays down markers for its electric powered vehicle offerings. First up, an all electric version of the Transit Connect small commercial vehicle for 2010. But wait, the Electric Transit Connect is actually the work of Smith Electric Vehicles, a UK based company which has been re-powering conventional commercial vehicles for years. No surprise then that Ford’s Electric Transit Connect looks and specs out just like Smith’s “Ampere” (pdf). This makes Ford’s PR spin a bit hard to swallow when they say: “The initiative leverages the “One Ford” global strategy, delivering pure battery electric power for commercial applications on a global platform.” Slapping your name on someone else’s work must be the newest definition of “One Ford.” Further on, Ford is promising a full electric small car for 2011 and its Volt-zapping plug-in hybrid fin 2012. One can only hope the promised “full electric small car” doesn’t have the name Zap hidden under it somewhere.

Kicking Tires has apparently been curious about yet another potential pitfall of the Volt’s Extended Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) design: gasoline aging. If gas sits in the Volt’s fuel system for an extended period while its owner stays within the EV range, will it degrade over time and harm the gas engine performance? That’s what KT asked GM alt-energy poobah Britta Gross, and guess what? Her answer wasn’t wildly convincing! Writes KT’s Kelsey Mays “It’s certainly a concern, Gross said, but it shouldn’t be a problem: The Volt’s system stirs fuel in the tank about once a month to fight fuel-system buildup. At most, ‘it’s a minor impact on performance and emissions,’ she said.” Unconvinced, May took the query to Volt spokesman Dave Darovitz. “I wish I could talk about it,” he said, “but we will have solutions in place to address the aging-gasoline situation. It’s a great problem to have . . . [and] the engineers are addressing that situation.” Darovitz says the issue came up in product planning, and that GM wasn’t disclosing its workaround for “competitive reasons.” Not that consumers need convincing, or anything.

The developed nations of the world have all seen local car demand drop by about a third in recent months and are scrambling to save the home teams. For example, France’s Sarkozy, despite his supposed “center-right” political leanings, is but one of many national politicians speaking in protectionist terms: “We want to stop factories from relocating abroad, and if possible bring them back home.” Despite grumblings and mumblings from the WTO, EU and other multi-national pseudo-governments, little can be done to stop the instinct amongst the nations to take care of their own first. Hence, a rolling thunder of loans, grants, clunker scraping bills and so on; all designed to keep as many people on the home team going to work as possible. Be prepared, this storm is only just getting going. Here’s your latest Bailout Scorecard (PDF).

The General Motors spin-off of Delphi which never really was, isn’t. Today’s Wall Street Journal [sub] has another “people involved in the negotiations”-sourced story claiming that these latest moves are all “part of a strategy to qualify for additional government loans”. Delphi has never really been an independent company from the start. The obvious reason of course is that GM provides the vast majority of Delphi’s business. But more than that, GM is on the hook for Delphi’s pension costs, has paid the price for voluntary separations at Delphi and has repeatedly been the source of bailout bucks for Delphi. Considering that “since 2005, GM has poured in $11.7 billion to help sustain the company,” they might as well just call it the Delphi Division. But how do federal bailout dollars get wrapped up in this mess?

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The Freep reports that GM will not be offering the customary buyout offers to its white-collar employees as it seeks to cut its salaried ranks by double digit percentages. Huh? The General’s offering its UAW workers $20k and a $25k car voucher to bugger off. Turns out GM’s bailout agreement with the government prohibits the ailing automaker from using GM’s pension fund to pay for those kiss-off packages– as it has done in the past. Specifically, the loan states that “the prohibitions on benefit increases under this covenant include… a prohibition on the creation or… payment of any obligations associated with any plant shutdowns, permanent layoffs, attrition programs or other workforce-reduction programs after the effective date.” And guess what? With the pension fund piggy bank cut off, there’s nowhere else to get the money!

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I got to spend some face time with Kia’s Soul at the Portland Auto Show this weekend, and the more I see of it, the more I think it will be a solid hit. A slightly Americanized version of the Mk 1 Scion xB, the Soul seems to hit a small car sweet spot. It’s more spacious and flexible than an xD or Fit, without sacrificing style or efficiency (à la the current xB). And the quality will make you forget every bad Rio experience you’ve had. The only weak points to be found from a clamber around the stationary Soul are poor rear-quarter visibility (an epidemic problem among stylish small cars) and tiny, hard-to-read guages up front. Otherwise, it’s looking like small-car nirvana with houndstooth upholstery. Still, I’m not sure it means Kia should be seriously considering a production pickup version based on the Soulster Concept. And yet, according to Automotive News [sub], they are.