Back when we started the TTAC news blog, I posted an item about the Maine DMV issuing drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. The site took a real beating from our proto-Best and Brightest for entering the realm of partisan politics. Frank Williams and I paused, thought about it, and pressed ahead. As long as a post had something to do with cars, we considered it fair game. Still do. And I'm glad we did. In the last week alone, I've read (and enjoyed) dozens of passionate discussions about politics, religion, free speech, foreign policy, economics, energy policy, international trade, sexual morality and much more. ALL of it car-related. All of it respectful. That's no small point. Although I've banned some 300+ commentators from this site and warned hundreds more, I have only deleted two commentaires flambé in the last 14 days. Clearly, we've reached a tipping point. We've succeeded in creating a safe place for vigorous, car-related debate. As this long hot summer continues, as the U.S. car industry undergoes paroxysms of change, I commend our Best and Brightest for keeping it real, keeping it civil and keeping us– all of us– entertained. Thanks.

[As always, please report objectionable comments to robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com.]

TTAC has finally broken through the 600k unique visitors per month barrier again (606,569 as of today). Our page views are also looking healthy: 2,018,749 per month. And visitors are spending an average of 4:58 hereabouts. This is a most gratifying result– especially after the huge dip incurred during our most recent site instability issues (a.k.a. daily crashes). My thanks to the technical team for sorting that shit out, and, of course, to TTAC's ME and writers for slogging away through thick and thin. With a bit of luck and the wind in the right direction, we'll keep building from here. (We might even have a photo gallery before Christmas.) At the moment, we're still ironing-out a few kinks. Your patience is most appreciated. And it may be required again; the prospect of our switch to the new WordPress platform leaves me as nervous as a Gloucester teen during her first pregnancy test. High five! Anyway, we've had a nice, slow, steady growth of new registrations lately. So I want to welcome the newbies to TTAC. You couldn't have come at a better time (said the actress to the Bishop). It's gonna be a wild time in the industry for the forseable future. I'm honored to share it with you. Thanks.

I promise we'll post something quirky to lighten the mood later, but I feel compelled (compelled I tell you) to mention that Detroit's meltdown is finally getting the coverage it deserves. Detroit News' columnist Daniel Howes– he of the jump down turnaround better days ahead– has just used the "b" word in his latest rant, finally admitting that "Big three need cash fast" (never mind a competitive small car or ten). The Detroit Free Press is also beginning to wake up and smell the ashes. While I'm pleased that the Motown print media is finally growing a pair, I am astonished that these two august institutions have failed to fully and persistently chronicle the human cost of The Big 2.8's inexorable decline. Jim Dollinger (a.k.a. Buickman) tells me that Flint is even more like a ghost town these days, with business drying-up and blowing away. Where are the papers' reports on the lives disrupted by Detroit's downsizing? While we await these tales of woe from the sharp end– which will arrive in force the moment Chrysler files– we'd appreciate any local reports from our Best and Brightest. 

One of the guys who delivers– well, delivered– press cars to my humble abode related his "normal" phone conversation with the PR folk. "I know the guy comes off like an asshole. Talk to him. Meet him. He's a sweetheart." Yes, well, there's a reason I'm in a tiny office on top of a house listening to the sound of strimmers echoing through suburban surrounds, and it's not because I mastered The 48 Laws of Power. Or basic social skills. Still, I can be charming when I need to be. OK, I can shut up for about ten minutes. Just. Now I'm not saying I'm going to venture south for this Big Apple get together with TTAC Road Test Editor Captain Mike and contributor/podcaster Justin Berkowitz. But if I am, I promise not to make a fool of myself– or at least drink enough so I don't remember it. But there's definitely going to be a brace of Bentleys in the barrio for your dining and dancing pleasure. RSVP below. Or just show up. Enjoy!

The details: Thursday, June 26, 7PM to whenever. Peter McManus Cafe (it's a pub, of course) on 152 7th Ave at 19th st. Close to subways: 1, 2, 3, A, C, E, F, V, L Google maps link. 

Man, am I getting old. I surfed onto The Incredible Hulk on the SciFi channel last night to find David Banner getting all Gamma rayed-up. The Hulk burst through the front of a house. All I could think was, oh my Lord, that's going to cost a fortune to fix. (My neighbor's house was recently pulverized by a large green… tree.) Maybe it's because I'm happily married, or perhaps it has something to do with the WWF, or it could be that episode of House involving hypogonadism, but steroids-run-amok homoerotic imagery just doesn't do it for me. Sure I understand the appeal of watching someone or something getting mad and busting up the joint. Call it the Shiva the Destroyer Complex. But I want to assure you this site in general and myself in particular take no joy in what's happening to The Big 2.8. That said, I've come to terms with TTAC's bearer of bad tidings nature a long time ago. While I will endeavor to add some levity to the mix, the U.S. automotive market is going to get a LOT worse before it gets better. And TTAC will be there every step of the way, no-holds-barred. The truth hurts.  

So GM's share price closes the day at $14.75, down 6.7 percent. The new historic low came in response to the news [reported here] that GM is going to borrow $10b to stay afloat. And yet tomorrow morning, GM CEO Rick Wagoner will report to work at RenCen and continue to do whatever it is he does to collect his $15.7m annual pay package. Obviously, I'm not surprised by this turn of events. Nor will I be surprised when Chrysler files for Chapter 11, or GM scores tens of billions of dollars in federal loan guarantees, tax incentives and good old-fashioned hand-outs. Or when Ford cries foul and makes sure it gets a piece of your tax money. But the thing that really amazes me: how long it's taken for the American media to wake up to the fact that our very own automakers have been going belly-up. This even as the carmakers have pulled the rug from under our feet, exporting our manufacturing base to Mexico, Canada, South Korea, etc. Or have they? What of all the transplants building cars in the U.S., presumably at a profit? More to the point, why should we reward companies that can make U.S. manufacturing work at the expense of those that can't? Ultimately, we can't.  

In today's most excellent editorial, Michael Karesh highlighted Toyota and GM's relative approaches re: creating and selling new automotive technology. Karesh didn't delve into the cultural differences between the two automakers. For insight into ToMoCo's slow and steady vs. GM's ADD, I offer this quote from Jeffrey Kluger's Simplexity: "Exploitative organisms are creatures with fixed niches and well-established survival strategies. An exploitative organism is unlikely to try something evolutionarily new, preferring instead to stick with what it knows and exploit its environment for familiar resources. This is good for the individual or the next few generations, since playing it safe prevents you from making adaptive mistakes. But it can be bad for the species, which may be slow to adjust to a rapid change in circumstances…. Explorative organisms tend to seek new niches, mutate fast, explore new survival strategies when the opportunities present themselves. This can be costly in the short run, since any evolutionary innovation has a chance of failing, but over the long run it keeps the species flexible." As mainstream manufacturers, both Toyota and GM are intrinsically exploitative organisms. But GM acts like an explorative. And therein lies its weakness. In case you were wondering. In any case, today's news…

Last night, I commented on the fact that Autoblog reported on Pamela Anderson's Viper sale– without postng a shot of her breasts. I was a little, uh, "under the weather" at the time. In fact, my alcohol-fueled analysis of AB's mammary aversion tested the limits of the phrase "in vino veritas." It was such a vituperative effort that Frank did something he's never done before: he pulled my post back from "published" to "draft" (ironically enough). For that I thank him. I have no business calling anyone anyone else's bitch, or pointing out that the words "I think" completely undermine a car reviewer's credibility. And just for the record, I never didn't sleep with a college girl because she had a poster of a saucer-eyed puppy on her wall. Anyway, I [now] applaud Autoblog for showing the editorial restraint that clearly evaded me in the wee hours. It's just one more reason TTAC will never be the autoblogosphere's "newspaper of record." In our defense, I bet we have WAY more fun than they do.

We've finally removed the broken page view counter. The numbers we've been displaying for the last week or so have been completely misleading. We've been getting hundreds of page views where you've been seeing dozens, and thousands where you've seen hundreds. In sum, we're still bumping along at 580k uniques and 1.8m page views per month. Of course, I'd like to grow the site beyond this glass ceiling, but not crashing has been our number one priority. Not that I'm fucking complaining. Every single day, TTAC gets new registrations. Not many, but some. Every one is precious: a testimony to the fact that we're doing something right. Regardless of the numbers, our job to keep the Best and Brightest well supplied with new material, regardless of technical setbacks or disappearing features. (We're still working on restoring TrueDelta pricing and specifications, and we know the comment edit button's screwed for some of you.) At the end of the proverbial day, it's time for a nice bottle of Coppola's finest chardonnay. And while I'm drinking [some of] it, I know that I'm privileged to chronicle these amazing times in the automotive industry. And get paid for it, no less. I will do whatever I can to get this house in order. Meanwhile, thanks to our crack (as in expert) technical team and to you, for your patience.

Michael Karesh's deconstruction of J.D. Powers' Initial Quality Survey (IQS) got me thinking. Clearly, J.D.'s mob shelter behind the [accurate] assumption that most people can't be bothered to, as they say, "do the math." Just as automakers draw strength (or not) from our natural instinct to slot brands into clear-cut categories, J.D. plays to the peanut gallery's desire to quickly identify "winners" and "losers." Add in a bit of Argumentum ad Ignorantiam (a proposition is true because it hasn't been proved false) and voila! Porsche is America's most reliable car brand. An Audi is more reliable than a BMW. Never mind the difference between initial quality and five years down the road. Never mind the varying definitions of quality, or the fact that J.D. won't tell you its exact methodology. Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain because he's an old bald guy– just like that pathetic pre-tornado snake oil salesman. The '08 IQS represents the same sort of lazy thinking Detroit has been feeding itself– and feeding off of– for decades. It's one thing to fool others, another to fool yourself. Here, Lieberman and I attempt a reality check. 

Hunter S. Thompson's early work is his best. No, I mean his really early writing, before the inventor of Gonzo Journalism reported on– and then succumbed to– fear and loathing in Las Vegas. Back when Thompson wrote for The National Observer, Esquire, The New York Times magazine and other highbrow literary publications, the former USAF Airman was a wry observer of political, economic and moral corruption. And man, the guy could write. Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Story of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs was Thompson's greatest work, as passionate and informed a piece of non-fiction writing as you'll ever read. From there, Thompson lost focus. Well, "Dr. Gonzo" became the focus. And that's exactly what happened to the domestic automakers' upper management. At some point, they stopped worrying about building great automobiles and started thinking about… themselves. Their priorities shifted from cars to car-eers. And today's bad news is the result. Just as Thompson reported on the zenith of the hippie culture in San Fransisco, TTAC has born witness to the fall of Detroit. It ain't over yet. But the end is in sight. And it is truly terrifying. As Thompson isn't here to report on this epic tragi-comedy, we will do so in his name. 

Google is a rational thinker's nightmare. If a surfer has the slightest pseudo-scientific bent– astrology, phrenology, Dianetics, Jessica Albanism– Google reinforces their problematic predilection. For example, while Wikipedia defines numerology as "any of many systems, traditions or beliefs in a mystical or esoteric relationship between numbers and physical objects or living things," there are 6.8m more credulous alternatives. It's even worse if you start a search with the idea that numerology is for real. Enter "GM 29 percent" and you find the USPO's FlexFuel fleet gets 29 percent worse mileage than its gas-only vehicles, GM's SUV sales fell 29 percent in April, GM CEO Rick Wagoner got a 29 percent raise in 2002, GM sales in Brazil rose 29 percent in the third quarter of 2007 and GM reduced its output of Saturn vehicles by 29 percent in 1994 (the same year Tahoe sales increased by 29 percent). Search "GM 29 percent lapel" and The New York Times reports on the magic number. "In 2003, G.M.'s market share dropped to 28.3 percent, said Paul Ballew, G.M.'s chief sales analyst. That is down from 28.7 percent in 2002, and the first decline for G.M. in three years. Some G.M. executives have started wearing lapel pins with '29' on them to encourage employees to push the company's share over that figure." Guess who was CEO back then? Guess what GM's share is today? And guess who's still in charge? And while you're contemplating that non-mystical mystery, Justin and I discuss the day's car news.

Today's editorial on the Nissan GT-R's Nürburgring record (second fastest-ever lap by a production car) raises some interesting questions about the veracity of that claim. On one hand, who cares? My first experience in a proper car on a proper track– riding shotgun in a tail-happy 911 with Jody Scheckter at Porsche's Weissach test track– taught me I could never do what professional drivers do to get a car around a track in as short a time as humanly possible. Nor, for that matter, did I want to. (Scary is just a word for nothing left to think.) Even if the GT-R can lap the 'Ring faster than a Porsche Carrera GT, I can't. Paint me respectfully unenthralled. On the other hand, what about the truth? Nissan knew full well that setting a 'Ring record would guarantee positive PR. If they cut corners or fudged the protocol to do the deed, they should be held accountable. In fact, Nissan should make a public statement on the issue, so that we may expose their weasel words, or murmur appreciatively over their mea culpa or issue an apology for besmirching their good name. The ball's in your court, Carlos. 

A number of our Best and Brightest have emailed this link to The Wall Street Journal. The article seeks to reposition the American auto industry's most recent go-go years (1999 – 2005) as a bubble: a delusional miscalculation by the industry's movers and shakers that demand would increase, well, forever. In a sense, yes, absolutely. The Big 2.8 inflated their turnover with dodgy deals and bulk sales. And now they're getting hammered by unsustainable excess production capacity. But it should be said that The Big 2.8 have lost market share to their rivals, as well. In other words, their fall from grace is not just a reflection of a down market; it's a reflection of decades of competitive mistakes, misfires and misadventures. They didn't misjudge demand as much as they misjudged everything else. And it's not like they weren't warned. This website has been sounding the alarm for over five years. We predicted the death of SUV and truck sales. We flagged cannibalism. We pointed our fingers at image-bleeding brands. We highlighted hybrids. We rang the alarm on cash burn. We predicted the systematic pillaging of the UAW's multi-billion dollar Health Care VEBA (oh wait…). And TTAC will continue to ring in the changes, no matter how gruesome. The only bright spark in all of this is the fact that a blogger from GMNext has responded to a post. This is the first time Detroit's gone online with us. Perhaps they finally recognize they need strong medicine. But probably not.  

Stephan Wilkinson couldn't make his date with the Ford Flex press launch. So the former Car and Driver editor and occasional TTAC contributor graciously ceded his spot to Justin, who graciously ceded his podcast responsibilities to Michael Karesh. Our ace reviewer and truedelta.com partner in crime prevention acquitted himself admirably. And why not? Michael is our kinda guy. He shares our commitment to truth, justice and Steve McGarrret. Actually, knowing Michael (or at least Michael's age), I'm sure the consumer champion has no idea what I'm talking about, or the fact that Jack Lord spent the last two seasons believing he was the head of the Five-0 (itself a fictional agency). Fortunately, TTAC is not delusional. We know we're not perfect or infallible or particularly good at Parcheesi (for that matter). Once again, we thank our loyal readers for pointing-out our mistakes. We will always operate from the principle that we could be wrong, and provide space for those who wish to take a contrary position to our resident contrarians. We eagerly await the day when the playas themselves take those first few hesitant steps into the light. Meanwhile, Karesh.