After the GSA and Nancy Pelosi’s office turned down TTAC’s request for a breakdown of the vehicles purchased under the Recovery Act’s Energy-Efficient Federal Motor Vehicle Fleet Procurement program, we went all FOIA. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has now released the info to us (as it should, transparency for the program is promised here). We’ve published the list after the jump, formatting the data by model, number purchased, country of assembly and fuel economy. Exactly 11,319 of the 17,205 vehicles purchased were assembled in the USA. [NB: I’ve provided fuel economy numbers for base versions with automatic transmissions, as per typical fleet practice.]

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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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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.

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?

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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We are an equal opportunity auto news provider. Don’t like the news that China’s sales exploded by 55 percent in May? No problem! Go to Russia! In May, Russian car sales tanked by nearly 60 percent, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. The former great hope for car growth and member of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) states turns into a basket case. It’s down to BIC now to re-ignite growth. Ooops, Brazil’s first-quarter GDP shrank 1.8 percent, so let’s make that a bIC. Back to Russia’s implosion: Who’s to blame?

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Far be it for me to extend TTAC’s reputation for putting a negative spin on news trumpeted as a sign that the auto industry’s dark days are coming to an end. But this story—“Toyota sees turnaround, boosts U.S. output”—is making the ’rounds, and it bears closer examination.

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Chrysler may be headed out of bankruptcy, but it’s sales aren’t headed out of double-digit declines any time soon. Chrysler’s best performer? The Challenger, which racked up a meaningless 3696 percent increase over May 2008’s 71 units sold (per Chrysler’s official release).  That translates to 2,695 units sold last month. Also, Wrangler topped May ’08 sales by 34 units. 300 was down only 23 percent, Liberty was down only 26 percent and Ram only shed 21 percent. Otherwise, this was pretty much the monthly bloodbath routine. Aspen (-67 percent), Compass (-70 percent), Commander (-54 percent), Dakota (-76 percent), and Durango (-56 percent) all failed to break past triple-digit sales. Everywhere else, now-routine drops of 50-70 percent were the norm.

Gosh that sounds bad, doesn’t it? Honda’s silver lining is (sorta) legit though, since the big H set an all-time sales record in May 2008. Toyota has no such excuse. Besides, falling sales are salling sales. So let’s put the lipstick away, and take a good, hard look at this pig.

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GM sales dropped last month by 29.6 percent compared to May 2008, according to GM’s press release. Sales volume was up 11 percent compared to April 2009 though. Guess which number GM’s release latches onto with boa constricter force?

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Way hey! Ford is claiming a major victory, even as its U.S. May sales dropped 25.8 percent. The Blue Oval Boyz trumpet the fact their market share has grown to its “highest level since 2006.” So Ford is now where they were when ex-Boeing exec Alan Mulally took over (for a $25 million year one payout). And once again, Ford forgets to assign this glorious rising market share a numerical value. Let’s be clear here (even if Ford isn’t): they’re talking about retail share. At the end of  the first quarter, Ford’s overall share of the U.S. market, measured traditionally, fell to 13.9 percent, a loss of 1.1 percent. What was that about lies, damn lies and Ford press releases? Drilling down is even more depressing.

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Holy global overcapacity, Batman! Trading Markets reports that the world’s largest automaker is cutting Japanese production in half and overseas production by 43 percent, as it struggles to touch bottom. Toyota and its Hino and Daihatsu subsidiaries will produce 433,979 units gobally in April, down 46 percent from April 2008. Exports from Japan have been hit especially hard, dropping 70 percent (year-on-year) in April. According to the WSJ, all of the Japanese majors are dramatically decreasing domestic production on falling sales. Even without bankruptcy filings, it seems everyone in the gobal car game is facing some form of reorganization. Like Renault/Nissan’s new attempt to find another $2 billion in “synergy” savings. Try looking under the couch cushions, guys.

In March 2008, China’s Shuanghuan (SH) Auto presented the Noble to the Greek media. The two-door may look like Daimler’s Smart, but there are crucial differences. The three meter long Chinese vehicle can can carry up to four people; Daimler’s mini (not MINI) mobile seats two. The Noble is a front-engined, front wheel-drive car with a unibody structure; the Smart’s engine is underfloor with a rear-biased drivetrain, built around a “Tridion” safety cage. Yes, well, in April 2008, Daimler’s crack legal team moved quickly to prevent import and sales of the [alleged] Chinese Smart clone. This week, a judge struck down Daimler’s case.

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RLS1400 recently bought a used Mazda from Ramsey Chrysler Dodge. The sales manager just sent him this e-mail:

Hello, My name is Regis J. Larkin Jr. and I am a sales manager with Ramsey Chrysler Dodge and Jeep. I would like to take the time to tell you why you should buy your next domestic product from us. Contrary to all the negative propaganda in the media let me be the one to assure you we are going nowhere. The fact alone that the PRESIDENT of these UNITED STATES BECAME DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN OUR RESTRUCTURING SHOULD SAY A LOT. THINK ABOUT THAT. THEY ARE SO SURE ABOUT US AND OUR PRODUCT THEY ARE GUARANTEEING OUR LIFE TIME WARRANTIES. Thats pretty aggressive don’t you think. In the coming weeks a lot of smaller dealers will be closing. However RAMSEY CHRYSLER DODGE AND JEEP will be going nowhere. In fact we are in the process of redoing our showroom for your comfort and convenience. During times like these we must stand together AS AMERICANS.

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