Lexus struggled for years to find its identity. Now, that the brand is done teenaging (it will turn 20 next year), we can see clear signs of maturity in its visual language. The manufacturer that had to draw its inspiration form the likes of Mercedes-Benz is now a trend setter. Lexus’ L-finesse brought us two of the best sedans on the market (IS & LS). The GS is the remaining model due to be L-freshened-up. I tried to make this rendering fit between the current IS and LS (that are gorgeous designs IMO), ensure that it advanced enough for the next decade and offered an evolution on the front quad lamps theme. For the first task, I blended elements from the IS and the LS. The proportions and volumes distribution are a mix between the sporty feel of the smallest Lexus and the elegance of their flagship. I tackled the second objective by drawing  inspiration from the HPX Concept: front air intakes divided by a chrome stripe (including LED fog lights), a descending edge on the rear shoulders, edgy cuts in the front spoiler and side skirts. The third part was tricky. I wanted some quad lamps that will no longer evoke Mercedes E-Class, while maintaining a subtle connection to the other sedans.

Who says the little guy can’t profit from Porsche’s mucking-around with the Volkswagen stock? Jochem Heizmann, a lowly member of Volkswagen AG’s BOD and head of Group Production (which doesn’t mean he’s in charge of producing rock groups) just sold a measly 2000 shares of VeeDub stock for a paltry €537.93 a piece, clearing a trifling $1.39m, Automotive News Europe [sub] says. They unearthed this inconvenient truth after reading the disclosure statements which are now obligatory even in Germany. Previously, Dr. Prof. Heizmann (we are at Volkswagen, after all, which must have more professors than MIT) worked at Audi. He ran VeeDub’s plant in Zwickau, then was responsible for production at Audi again. Just your average engineer. If a guy like him can clear a mil in a few days, anyone can. Or not.

I’ve received a few emails upbriading the site for OCDing on the bailout story. My only defense: TTAC has covered this story for well over three years. We are the clear path through the blizzard of bailout B.S. being bandied about by bailout backers. While we glean our info from the usual suspects, our editorial eye is fixated on the details and implications that other outlets miss, ignore or bury. For example, this Automotive News [sub] story reveals the fact that the cappi di tutti cappi di automobili left their sit-down in Nancy Pelosi’s Washington office “through a hidden exit from the office suite of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sometime around 6:30 p.m. Security personnel kept reporters at a distance.” THIS is how OUR politicians spend OUR tax money? In closed-door meetings with a coven of craptastic carmakers? OK, no surprise, but it’s clear the important questions are not being answered– if only because the principles involved are literally sneaking away into the night. So, anyway, here’s the latest teat-sucking scenario…

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Smaller loss, bigger burn. Relative to last year, The Blue Oval Boyz narrowed their Q3 losses from $380m to $129m. But the cash burn is, as expected, intense. The Detroit Free Press tells the tale. “The automaker’s cash reserves dropped from $26.6 billion at the end of the second quarter to $18.9 billion at the end of September. That means Ford burned through $7.7 billion in cash in three months, or $2.6 billion a month — a much faster burn rate than over the prior 6 months, when Ford burned through about $1 billion a month.” But wait! There’s less! “Ford recorded a positive accounting charge of $2 billion for retiree health care costs during the quarter that helped the company’s overall result. Excluding special items, Ford posted a pre-tax loss of $2.7 billion for the quarter, which is worse than the $2.1 billion in losses that Wall Street analysts had been forecasting.” So… “As part of Ford’s latest plan to preserve cash, Ford said it would also cut its 24,100 remaining salaried workers by another 10%, further reduce capital spending in a variety of areas, such as advertising. Ford also said it would continue to explore selling non-core assets, in addition to other actions.” Meanwhile, if my math is right (which it seldom is), assuming Ford needs a $10b pad to keep the lights on and nothing much changes ($675m per month cash burn), they’ll conflagrate their cash in just over a year. [Raw numbers here.]

OK, before we get into the gory details, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the fact that Chrysler’s presence at the SEMA show was something of a minor miracle. Of course, there are presences and there are presences. Chrysler’s display was tucked far away from the highest-trafficked areas of the Las Vegas Convention Center. And its stand was the only major OEM presence on the ground floor of the South Hall, which was otherwise packed with wheels, tires and cheesecake. Of course, if you never found it you’d not have missed much. The whole shebang could be summed up in a single word: Challenged. There were about equal numbers of new and vintage Challengers making up the vast majority of the Mopar display. Sure, there were a handful of lifted Rams and Jeeps, but otherwise it was all Challenger, all the time. In the interests of complete fairness, Chrysler also showed a Landaulet version of its 300C and there was a Viper as well. But no Calibers, Chargers, Avengers, Sebrings, etc. Not that they were necessarily missed, but it definitely gave the impression that ChryCo’s corporate masters were spending as little money as possible in order to highlight only the most strip-and-flippable brands in the stable. And though the 300C-ized Magnum’s crucifix art pictured here seemed to sum up Chrysler’s tragic circumstances, it was not part of the Chrysler display.

That works, I suppose. Instead of giving– sorry “loaning” GM, Ford and Chrysler $25b, Nancy Pelosi and Co. will tell voters that the money’s going to “help the Detroit 3 meet their obligations to newly created retiree health benefit funds.” So tax money’s not going to incompetent SUV-building American automakers. It’s going to blue collar retirees, who never did a thing wrong except show up for work and put in an honest day’s labor. This according to Automotive News‘ source familiar with the people close to the matter who are actually the people who are cutting the deal but are too chicken-shit to say so and therefore co-opt lazy journalists by getting them to let them go “off the record.” Perhaps this would be a good time to revisit the fact that the $25b Uncle Sam’s minion want to dump into the United Auto Workers’ voluntary employee beneficiary association (VEBA) will fall into the grasp of a union known for corruption, waste, fraud and mismanagement. If that link doesn’t convince you that the UAW may not be the best stewards of your tax money or the workers’ health care, have a browse here. Or have a look at General Motors Death Watch 165. As the Brits say, they’ll be tears at bedtime. Oh, and would it be churlish of me to point out that Ms. Pelosi, winner of the Cesar Chavez award, own a non-union vineyard and hotel, yet counts unions as one of her top three largets contributors?

AutoNation’s third quarter 2008 financial release is more grim news. The US’ largest automotive retailer reported “a 2008 third quarter net loss from continuing operations of $1.40 billion or $7.95 per share.”  Total sales revenue was down 22%, driven by a new vehicle unit sales decline of 24%. Overall industry unit sales for the period were down 31%, a set of numbers consistent with the observation that smaller dealerships are going belly up.  As one of the big boys, AutoNation is doing a little better than the averages.  We know that the small, and some not so small (Bill Heard, groan) dealerships are dropping like proverbial flies. AutoNation’s press release provides commendable detail on the domestic brand, import brand and premium luxury business segments. No real surprises there. Domestic brands got whacked with a 57% revenue decline while import brands and “premium luxury” both dropped 23%. The usual suspects of tight credit markets, high fuel costs and scarred silly non-buyers are duly noted. Operations wise, AutoNation squeezed out a $159 million profit for the quarter compared to $226 million in 2007’s equivalent period, a 29% drop off largely inline with the revenue hit. Why then the huge reported loss?: Value of the company’s domestic branded franchises. These dealerships were bought from small groups and owner-operators over the years. When purchased, the amount of the purchase price in excess of the real estate, inventory and any other hard assets of the business was booked as “goodwill and/or franchise” value. Today market value for a domestic branded car dealership is zero, so AutoNation had to write off $1.46 billion in recognition of the new reality. If and when those values ever go back up, AutoNation will be able to book an upside … but let’s not hold our breath.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has met with the heads of Ford, GM, Chrysler and the U.A.W. While the meeting was closed to the press (way to go government openness), what’s the bet the words “how much?” escaped her plumpness-assisted lips? The Detroit News reports that Pelosi emerged from the confab with her political PR prepared for battle: “‘We may need to make a statement of confidence in our auto industry,’ Pelosi told NPR this afternoon. ‘We’re not saving those companies, we’re saving an industry. We’re saving an industrial technological and manufacturing base… It’s about jobs in America.'” More interestingly, “Congressional leaders are likely to put out a statement on Friday — the same day that General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are expected to announce heavy third-quarter losses.” So here’s how it goes down: Ford and GM announce catastrophic losses and third-degree cash burn, the stock market freaks (for the few remaining hours before the weeked) and Pelosi and Co. ride to the rescue with a fast-tracked bailout plan, which may or may not be pegged at $25b (for starters). Then it’s a race to the trough, as Cerberus hopes and prays no one notices that it’s using your money to cover their ass.

The Senior Director of Communications for the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers has revealed that Subaru and Nissan are applying for Department of Energy’s (D.O.E.) low-interest loans. As TTAC reported earlier, the just-released rules for the loans do NOT contain a provision limiting calls on the $25b available to American factories twenty-years-old or older– as originally thought. The door is now open for any automaker with operations within these United States that thinks it can build a vehicle that’s 25 percent more fuel-efficient than a comparable model. “For competitive reasons, I would think that any elegible automaker would apply for the loans,” Charles Territo told TTAC. “You can’t write anyone off.” That said, if the D.O.E. rules are enforced as written, you CAN write off GM and Chrysler; they don’t meet the regulations’ criteria for financial viability. Territo expressed confidence that Detroit’s automakers will “figure out a work around” for that and other stipulations. “It’s Washington. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Territo’s organization is also supportive of the next bailout: another $25b to $50b aimed at improving American automakers’ liquidity. “A failure will cost more than a bailout,” Mr. Territo opined, declining to provide statistics to justify the claim.

“DOE would like to invite you [ED: who shall remain nameless] to participate in a conference call for industry stakeholders on the new Interim Final Rule for the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program issued this evening. The program was authorized by Section 136 in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The FY09 Continuing Resolution authorized up to $25 billion in direct loans. The press release is attached. The Interim Final Rule is posted at http://www.atvmloan.energy.gov/.” Interim Final Rule? Yeah, that sounds like the feds alright. Anyway, while I scan the pdf myself, I once again invite TTAC’s Best and Brightest to cast their collective beady eye on this doc, which was allegedly going to take over a year to produce. I guess it pays to have high friends in low places. Right. Let’s get stuck in…

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Automotive News [sub] reports that Toyota’s profits took a dive in Q3, as sales in its North American and European markets dried-up and blew away. “North America slumped to a $335.9 million operating loss in the April-September fiscal first half. Sales there slid 9.4 percent to 1.357 million vehicles in the period. For the full year, Toyota lowered its ambitions 2.420 million units, an 18.2 percent fall off.” Bottom line? “Toyota now expects global operating profit to plummet 73.6 percent to 600.0 billion yen ($5.83 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. Just three months ago, Toyota had forecast operating profit to decline a comparatively modest 29.5 percent to $15.5 billion. The new goal would be Toyota’s lowest operating profit since the company began calculating in U.S. accounting standards in 1998.” But it is, let’s face it, a profit. If GM and Ford report similar revenue drops tomorrow– and why wouldn’t they be worse?– excrement and air movement device will collide. (As everyone and their mother are predicting.) Meanwhile, back to Toyota…

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I know Autoblog and TTAC are the Michael and Garth Knight of the autoblogosphere, but I can’t help but reach out across the e-aisle to happily married blogger Alex Nunez and extend him an invitation to live blog auto-related TV shows for TTAC, should AB seek to purge itself of its only writer with cojones (willing to draft 18-wheelers for mpgs, no less). Once again, Nunez nails it. His haiku-like (haiku-esque?) summation of the new but not improved Knight Rider is nothing short of genius. For example, “8:25: Time to defuse KITT, but it’s complicated, natch. I somehow missed the part where he turned into a convertible. Billy’s magic parabolic mic is is recreating the shooting, because you can do anything in Knight Rider, except the one thing that NEEDS to be done at any given moment.” Or “8:49: Blah blah blah, it’s all a setup. Mike wants to stop downloading KITT. It’s too late. We have a Sexy Cheerleader Zoe doppelganger. And she has a gun to Billy’s head. Do it.” Folks, it just doesn’t get any better than that. Kudos.

On Tuesday, voters in Cincinnati, Ohio made it clear that photo enforcement is not welcome in the city. A majority of voters approved an amendment to the city charter prohibiting local officials from ever installing either red light cameras or speed cameras. Referendum co-sponsor Josh Weitzman hopes his coalition’s victory inspires other cities “This election is further proof that people do not want to have traffic cameras,” Weitzman told TheNewspaper. “Politicians in cities across the country need to take note of this if they plan on getting re-elected.” Cincinnati city council members had been trying for the past four years to install the devices that promised to generate between $2m and $12m in annual revenue. Advocates were stopped in 2005 when former Mayor Charlie Luken vetoed a camera ordinance saying, “Let’s be honest with the public– we didn’t think about this until we came up with a budget problem.”

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The Detroit Free Press claims to have access to the results of Ford’s most recent buyout program, designed to downsize the ailing automaker, and they ain’t good. “Despite an aggressive [and expensive] campaign by Ford Motor Co. to get more autoworkers to leave the company through a voluntary job buyout program, fewer than 3,000 of Ford’s 60,100 autoworkers in North America have decided to go.” In case you missed the meaning of that failure to entice a posse of Blue Oval Boyz to blow town, the Freep sums-up the situation succinctly. “Ford already has lost $8.6 billion through the first half of the year, and it needs to shed workers as quickly as possible to reduce its costs, as global demand for its cars and trucks continues to shrink in the suffering economy.” Even though Ford’s fighting for its survival, the workers’ reluctance to cut bait and fish is understandable; where the Hell are they going to get a job these days? “They can stay and risk their job being eliminated,” analyst Aaron Bragman opined. “Or, they can try to find a new job in one of the worst job markets in years.” In other words, like the orchestra on the Titanic, they’re staying.