The Better World Club differentiates itself from other roadside/travel services by dint of its "dedication to preserve the environment." We're talking discounts on hybrid rentals and green hotels/eco-travel; the nation's only bicycle roadside assistance ("service for you and your bicycle up to 30 miles annually with a maximum of two service calls per covered member, per year"), free Carbon Credits with auto insurance, one percent of revenues (gross? net?) donated to environmental cleanup/advocacy and "a unique policy agenda includes supporting state attempts to regulate autos to reduce greenhouse gases." And just in case that isn't politically correct enough– and I'm thinking it is– Better World is now proud to offer married gay couples free membership. "We want to congratulate all the same-sex partners who are taking the big step," says Mitchell Rofsky, BWC President. "We didn't think you'd ever get married!" Don't worry if you're a gay couple in a state without gay marriage, or a breeder. BWC will "even" offer opposite-sex couples the same wedding present. "Gay marriage is good for everyone, so we're including all the June brides… grooms… spouses… whatever!" says Rofsky. In other words, BWC's using gay marriage to generate a fundamentally generic press release to lure media coverage. Mission accomplished. 

GM has stated publicly and repeatedly that they're fully committed to cutting back on incentives. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, what they're doing shouts so loud we can't hear what they're saying. Automotive News [sub]  caught wind of a conference call between GM dealers and Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve. GM's [non-PHEV] volte face starts tomorrow, when the ailing automaker will offer 0 percent financing for 72 months on "most Chevrolet and Buick-Pontiac-GMC products." On a $30k rig, that’s about $8100 in savings versus a standard 9 percent rate. If you're buying instead of leasing, The General will add in another $500 in bonus cash (they have to clear the lots before the 2009s start rolling in with their 3.5 percent price increase). And yet, with so many lightly used trucks and SUVs on the market– many with a great GM warranty– even this offer may not move the needle. GM's facing disaster; some analysts reckon their sales could tumble by 28 percent in June. Hence the fact that the special financing will run until they sell something June 30. Or longer. Meanwhile, LaNeve also revealed that his employer's hired Citibank to help it "complete their study" on HUMMER and they're open to "all options" for the brand. Except incentives? Go figure.

With inflation around 30 percent, interest rates over 20 percent and fuel at all-time highs, auto dealers in Sri Lanka are facing worse times than their American counterparts. (And that's saying something; ChyrCo's U.S. sales are down 19.3% year-to-date, 25.4% in May.) One dealer is trying a time-honored tactic to move the metal: a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. Lanka Business Online (LBO) reports that Diesel and Motor Engineering company (DIMO) is offering a free Tata Xeta when you buy a new Jeep 4×4 or Chrysler Grand Voyager van. Chryslers aren't selling in Sri Lanka because of "their high prices and maintenance costs and consumer preference for cheaper rival brands." LBO also points out they have lower fuel economy ratings than other cars, because "Chrysler is a US firm, where fuel has been lightly taxed compared to the rest of the world." DIMO said the promotion should also "help liquidate the stock of older models of the Xeta." Perhaps U.S. Chrysler dealers should try a reverse tactic: buy a Caliber, Sebring or Compass and get a Durango, Aspen or Commander free.

Washington Post columnist Warren Brown shares his thoughts on last week's Escalade Hybrid (EH) press conference. Not suprisingly, Warren's aware that now my not be THE best time to be launching a $79k SUV– even if is less thirsty than its less expensive gas-only variant. Still, in the end, Warren joins GM in their luxury barge as it drifts down denial. "Big tricked-out SUVs… retain considerable market pull, even in a market where monthly fuel bills are beginning to rival monthly amounts due on vehicle finance notes. There appears to be a cadre of hard-core fans, influenced by needs real and imagined and guided by a passion for motorized might and luxury, who are keeping the big rides on the road and in the showrooms." Warren is happy to parrot GM's sales projections for the EH (say it like you mean it). "With 60,000 Escalade sales last year, Cadillac was the undisputed leader of the luxury SUV market. But even with its new Platinum and hybrid models, Cadillac will be lucky to sell 40,000 this year, GM officials conceded. But 40,000 is still good business." This from the same company that overestimated '08 U.S. new vehicle sales by some two million units– so far. And just in case you'd think that Warren would call GM on this turkey, no. "The 'hybrid' tag comes with a hefty price premium — $5,000 to $8,000 more, depending on the model. Will hard-core SUV buyers go for that? Maybe they will." For sure, they won't. 

After losing its "best-selling vehicle in America" badge, Ford's F-150 has hit another pothole. Automotive News [sub] reports that the beleaguered Blue Oval Boyz are postponing the release of the all-new 2009 model by two months. The coompany says the delay will Ford can burn through its massive overstock of the outgoing model. Both F-150 plants will lose a shift this year, and one of the two will idle for most of the third quarter. These cutbacks are just part of the Ford's production slowdown. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ford will cut overall production by 25 percent in the third quarter, and by as much as 14 percent in Q4. "Ford has taken decisive action to respond to this accelerating shift in customer demand away from large trucks and SUVs to smaller cars and crossovers, and we will continue to act swiftly moving forward," says FoMoCo CEO Allan Mullaly. Ford also says its pre-tax earning will be worse in 2008 than 2007, and that cash burn will be higher than previously expected (by them, maybe). With $40b in liquidity, $23b in debt and $16b as good as spent to keep the turnaround on track until 2009, these cash burn issues are troubling, to say the least. Ford's stock reflects these concerns, currently down nearly 7 percent on the day. Paging Captain Kirk!

The Wall Street Journal [sub] reports some unsurprising news: "Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to struggle to make money at its two truck plants in the U.S. this year." The $2b San Antonio plant ran at about 92 percent of capacity last year. This year, it's limping along at 72 percent. Its sister truck/SUV factory in Indiana is said to be at a Chrysler-like 45 percent. Thanks to its flexible labor (i.e. non-union), Toyota has already re-assigned Indiana workers from the truck line to Camrys. Both Toyota truck factories are also cutting work hours: "Workers on each shift will work seven hours instead of eight assembling cars and will spend one hour in training." No layoffs, no jobs bank and no 95 percent pay for not showing up. Meanwhile, the car side of Toyota's portfolio remains strong and continues to gain share against Detroit. The Tundra is down, but Prius, Camry, Corolla and Yaris are rocking and rolling out the door.

Analysts are predicting auto sales in June will drop below 13m units for the first time since 1992. The Detroit News reports the shift from trucks to fuel-efficient cars is hitting the truck-heavy Big 2.8 the hardest (ya think?). Ford market analyst George Pipas provided the auto industry understatement of the year: "Unfortunately, the consumer demand for [trucks and SUVs] is very low." Equally disturbing, "The inventory for products which are in high demand is very low." Even the transplants are feeling the pinch; their production can't keep up with demand for fuel efficient cars from buyers willing to all but give away their gas-guzzlers. What happened to those pre-May prognostications from the D2.8 that the sun will come out in September? *crickets chirping* Meanwhile, even as American automakers struggle to shut off truck production, they still don't have desirable small cars and hybrids anywhere near the production end of the pipeline. It's 1973 all over again. 

Like any Big Lie, this one's based on fact. Automotive News [sub] reports "Through April, Chrysler reduced fleet sales by about 45,000 units, or 17 percent, from a year earlier. GM cut fleet sales by nearly 40,000 units, or 14 percent. And Ford Motor's fleet sales fell 25,000 units, or 9 percent." Both AN and our good friends at Autoblog are happy to parrot the "admirable restraint" explanation. In other words, Detroit could dump sales into fleets, but chooses not to to protect vehicle residuals. AN: "GM is not going to reconsider its decision to reduce fleet sales, said Brian McVeigh, GM's general manager of fleet and commercial operations. Residual values have been rising since GM started cutting daily rental fleet sales three years ago." Autoblog: "Showing great discipline amid declining sales, the Detroit 3 have held back on the temptation to dump vehicles on fleet customers in order to boost numbers." Bullshit. First, the rental car business is in the crapper; they're buying less cars. Second, ALL fleets are holding onto their vehicles longer. Third, they're not buying Detroit gas hogs (or even their relatively thirsty cars). Fourth, reflecting U.S. sales trends, fleet buyers are switching to more fuel-miserly transplant products (ToMoCo sold 100k units into the fleets in the first four months of '08). Fifth, if you think WE'RE nervous about Detroit's prospects, how would YOU like to be a finance company that gets stiffed with a hundred thousand cars made by a bankrupt automaker? And sixth, how gullible IS the U.S. automotive press anyway? 

Before you start wondering about the color of the sky in CNBC's Phil LeBeau's private little world, the writer understands "that for many people (soccer moms, the guy putzing around the suburbs, etc) driving a gas guzzling SUV makes no sense." Whew! Phil's talking to those motorists who need an SUV's cargo, passenger or towing capacity; or off-road capability, due to job or locale. While TTAC Best and Brightest prepare to discuss the Marxist implications of needs vs. want, one thing's for sure: it's an SUV buyer's market out there. Kelly Blue Book prices for used SUVs are down more than $2.5k. Even so, you might want to hold off; they're expected to go lower as leases from 2005 vehicles start expiring and pump-shocked SUV refugees trade their behemoths for economy cars (no really). In an online poll, CNBC asks readers if they'd buy an SUV now. Almost half (49 percent) said "no." Of the remaining 51 percent, 13 percent said they'd "think about it," while 39 percent stated yes, they would buy one now. I guess there are still either a lot of "contractors, people in specialty trades, those who live in rural areas where the roads can get dicey at times" or gas prices aren't high enough to prise the keys from SUV fans' cold, dead fingers.

A dealer reports: "Ford just re-released 'Employee Pricing' on their Ford Trucks (plus up to $3500 cash back). GM just released up to $4000 additional owner loyalty bonus cash on their trucks and SUVs (in addition to the up to $2000 already on the hood). Normally, these incentives give the dealer enough cash to throw at trade-ins to at least make a deal possible. Not profitable. And not painless for the customer. Merely do-able. Well, it ain't enough. In our meetings with manufacturer marketing teams and dealer advisory committees (where the smell of fear is palpable), the stories from the field are apocalyptic. One salesman stood up. 'I had a customer with a two-year-old Expedition. Crazily-enough, he wanted a new F-150. I tried everything, every trick in the book, and I couldn't put a deal together. And he was my BROTHER!' (Read: I was taking a loss, he was taking a loss, and the numbers were cutting us both so bad we couldn't deal). Another meeting, another dealer. 'I brought a year-old GMC Denali to auction. Priced it at rough wholesale book, minus seven grand. I was prepared to accept any offer up to 10 grand behind rough wholesale book. I was taking to take a tremendous beating to unload it. And it didn't sell. Didn't get an offer of any kind.' (Read: You can't give 'em away. Wait; you cannot PAY people to take them.) Now that the wealthy (who can afford the beating) and the quick-movers (who have already glutted the market) are in their Civics, Camrys and Accords; consumers in full-size trucks and SUVs are pretty much owners-for-life. And dealers, who must move new metal, can't do anything to help them. Not even if it's their brother."

I'm very familiar with, and very grateful for, the Hertz "Premium Car Collection" available at most tourist destination cities. Many times I have been sent to Las Vegas for an Air Force exercise– only to have been stuck with a Cobalt, PT Cruiser, or something else that sucked the very soul out of my body. Then I discovered the Premium Cars from Hertz. Subaru Outbacks, Volvo XC90s and XC70s, Audi Q7s, and A4s. I will take my German luxury off-roader in brown please. Yes, I want the full coverage insurance. Now, much to my chagrin, Hertz offers a Chevrolet Corvette ZHZ, a Shelby GT-H rent-a-racer version of the Vette (with a 6hp bump thanks to a new exhaust system) for Chevy fans. We're talking 436bhp, yellow paint, $250 a day. So now you too can go to Las Vegas, surrender your credit card, and drive like an absolute hooligan in an overpowered car that you don't own (and hopefully bought the daily insurance coverage for) down the strip. Since RF and I both agree that the Corvette is a death car (a car that when driven hard intends to kill you), how many crashed ZHZs will we see before Hertz auctions them off at twice the price of a normal Corvette?

As goes ToMoCo, so Ghosn Nissan. Once truck-happy, Nissan is shifting its production away from not-so-good-on-gas trucks and SUVs and is instead building more cars. Nearly alone in the industry, Nissan's sales rose 8.4 percent in May. However, sales of the full-size Titan and Armada were off a 50 percent each. Nissan stayed afloat on the back on the Altima; the CamCord competitor saw its sales climb to 34,428 units (up 43 percent). By shifting around production at its North American plants, Nissan feels it can up production of the hot selling Altima, while decreasing production of the not big boys– without laying off any workers. The shift should yield an additional 2k Altimas a month. It doesn't mean Nissan is getting out of the truck business, though. The Titan will be replaced by a Mexican-built badge-engineered Dodge Ram while Nissan rebadges Frontiers as "Equators" for Suzuki. The plant currently building Titans will start building commercial vehicles.

Pickuptrucks.com reports that skyrocketing diesel prices have hit oil burners' resale values harder than their gas-powered counterparts. According to Blackbook, the value of 2005-07, 3/4 to one-ton diesel pickups have dropped nearly $6k since January; gas-engined models lost only $3k. Up until the recent fuel-price unpleasantness, lower diesel prices and higher efficiency justified the higher entry cost to diesel ownership. Today, that higher initial cost– increased by new emissions standards compliance– has taken diesel sales (and resale values) from "suck" to "craptastic." Hundreds of Workers building Cummins, Duramax and Powerstroke diesel engines have been laid off either temporarily or permanently. Pickuptrucks.com tries valiantly to end on a happy note, suggesting that diesel prices could regain sanity if developing countries cut subsidies. There's also talk of a new generation of diesel half-ton pickups that might just rescue the day. Meanwhile, unless you have a fryolater to tank from, diesel is dead. Just ask the latest round of striking truckers…

The Toyota Camry is one of four vehicles (including the Corolla) that now sells more prolifically than Ford's dethroned F150 full-sized pickup. At the same time, the new Toyota Tundra pickup is a drug on the market; sales fell 34 percent vs. May 2007. Do the math. ToMoCo have. The transplant's looking at using its famed production flexibility to replace excess Tundra capacity with Camry assembly. Automotive News [sub] reports that Toyota is switching its Princeton, Indiana plant from cranking-out slow-selling Tundra/Sequoia trucks and Sienna minivans to producing the Camry, which sold 51,291 units last month. Though Toyota has not officially responded to the reports of production shuffling, though the company does say it's "looking at a lot of things to balance production." With Tundra production already slowed at Toyota's second truck plant in San Antonio, there's no doubt that Toyota (like many automakers) is over invested in a product that dropped sales to the tune of 31 percent last month. Camry spent much of the 1990's at the top of sedan sales records, and with the battle for the best selling vehicle in America wide open, boosting Camry production could help Toyota's champion snag top-spot bragging rights.

Yesterday, we (and that includes Chrysler's Jim Press) predicted post-Black Tuesday light truck fire sales. This is how they start for GM, focusing on loyal GM customers, trying to get them out of their negative equity hole (a.k.a. backwards or under water). Interestingly, the deal include those "low profile" two-mode hybrid SUVs…

• Chevrolet — Tahoe (nonhybrid) or Suburban: $2,000 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $6,000 total cash.

Tahoe (hybrid): $0 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $4,000 total cash.

Silverado or Avalanche: $2,000 customer cash + $3,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $5,000 total cash.

• GMC — Yukon: $2,000 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $6,000 total cash.

Yukon (hybrid): $0 customer cash + $4,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $4,000 total cash.

Sierra: $2,000 customer cash + $3,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $5,000 total cash.

• Cadillac — Escalade: $2,000 customer cash + $2,000 bonus cash + $2,000 owner loyalty bonus cash = $6,000 total cash.