Judging from the comments on this site, the average TTAC reader is closer in age to a Buick buyer than a Sciontologist. Then again, you never know. I would have given my right testicle to find a site like this as a boy– you know, if it had dropped by then. In deference to the possibility of juvenile readers, I tend to keep the language in the posts and comments G-rated. Or at least asterisked. God knows why. Three of my four daughters– aged ten through 14– are fully conversant with every one of George Carlin's seven words you can't say on TV. I reckon it's a matter of days before my four-year-old learns that "stupid" isn't on the comedian's list. Just last week, I overheard one of these fine little ladies tell a notoriously aggressive classmate to f-off. Did I upbraid her? Yeah right. Truth be told, I'm a big fan of swearing. Although I don't swear in front of the kids, I'm not averse to a little plain speaking in unmixed company. In fact, I've toyed with the idea of using swear words on TTAC as a way to differentiate us from our more mainstream competitors. But the last time I deployed obscenity on this site in the name of art, the shit hit the fan. I received a barrage of emails suggesting that my salacious sailor-speak destroyed TTAC's credibility. Fair enough. So I want you to know that the F-bomb in the attached podcast was entirely inadvertent, although, I thought, editorially appropriate. You be the judge.

[Warning: the attached podcast contains intemperate language, including the "F-word"] 

When Frank and I heard that Mike Spinelli was disengaging from daily Jalopnik, we agreed: blogging ain't for sissies. To have a hope in Hell of attracting a regular audience, a blog must constantly and consistently feed the gaping maw that is the internet. As a former CNNer and borderline workaholic, I've got no problem facing an empty literary quiver every morning. I just bloody well get on with it. Frank's military discipline and undiagnosed personality disorders also qualify him for the task. But I understand that what we do requires a rare level of craft and commitment. If you think about it– and I have– every week, TTAC produces the equivalent amount of editorial as a monthly car magazine. And we're doing it for a fraction of the cost– and getting a fraction of the revenue, but that's a whole 'nother story. Anyway, all this is an excuse for why I didn't post this podcast yesterday; I simply ran out of time. Well, that and I had to drop my step-daughter off with her Dad in Boston and my brother-in-law wanted to see what The Ocean State has to offer in the way of nightlife (let's just say parking isn't a problem on Thursdays). Normally, I'd let the podcast slide and move on to the next one, but Justin had some real insights worth presenting. I think.

Underneath the latest GM Death Watch, a kvetch of commentators are hashing-out an old argument: why doesn't Ford bring its Euro-Focus to America? As KatiePuckrik points out, the current U.S. – Euro exchange rate makes any such proposition a potential financial catastrophe. A $40k Focus? No way José (i.e. Ford's Mexican workers can relax). On the other hand, why not? Let's say Ford imports their vastly superior European subcompact and sell it for $20k, losing $20k per car. And let's imagine they sell 100k of them. So they'd lose, what, two billion dollars? You could make a case that it would be worth $2b to put Ford back on the map as the American purveyor of quality small cars. The consistency clockers amongst you will note that I'm suggesting a flag-planting strategy that I've condemned in GM's case re: the Saturn Astra. The crucial difference is that the Focus is a quintessential Ford, while the Astra is an Opel modified for a brand whose amorphousness rivals that of Cnidaria Scyphozoa. In any case, someone in Detroit needs to make some Bold Moves. But I guess that'll have to wait 'til bankruptcy brings in some new players. Meanwhile, happy birthday to a man with genuine backbone: Justin Berkowitz. 

First Samir Syed reminded me that the New York Auto Show is a crashing– I mean, static bore. Then I looked out my garret window and saw the dirty snow covering the Lady and the Tramp Victorian landscape below my perch. And then blautens suggested we move the TTAC party to West Palm Beach to coincide with the Barret-Jackson auction. This idea has a couple of things going for it. First, auctions have a certain pleasing rhythm to them– unlike car shows which are Stendhal syndrome in-car-nate.  And second, it's warm in Florida. So what do you say folks? Spring break for TTAC? Meanwhile, I'm taking a few days off. We'll resume this adventure next Thursday or Friday. I thank you all for your continued patronage. Frank, myself and the TTAC team will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that we are worthy of your time. Merry Christmas!

I recently visited the Saturn website to check on an Astra factoid. I was surprised to discover that the brand has dropped the "American" part of their "Rethink American" advertising strapline. It's now just "Rethink," with various bits added as and when needed (e.g. Rethink Hybrids). The idea of a generic prefix, followed by a campaign-specific suffix, is not new. Mercedes dropped it's "Engineered like no other car in the world" shtick a long while ago, in favor of a revolving series of "FILL IN THE BLANK like no other car in the world" pronouncements. Nissan has been shifting this and that for some time now, from Expectations to, uh, I can't remember. Which is the problem. While a flexible strapline certainly helps the marketing mavens, like any brand extension, a one-size-doesn't-fit-all marketing solution weakens the impact of the original, highly-focused brand promise. In fact, none of these automakers keep their strapline front and center on their web pages. In any case, Saturn's shift in my expectations got me to re-thinking like no other journalist in the world. What IS a Saturn? I rang up Kyle Johnson, Saturn's Director of Communications, to ask him about the streamlined strapline, cupholders and Saturn's Unique Selling Point.

It is with great trepidation that I raise this possibility. I remember my first foray into bridging the gap between Internet postings and FTF. I was writing "The Truth About Cars" column for Pistonheads. Flush from my proto-fame, I decided to attend their inaugural Pistonfest. Not only did I feel like a Jew at baptism, I was a Jew at a baptism. An American Jew at the birth of a particularly English enterprise characterized by an inordinate number of TVRs in the parking lot and a peculiar pride in a certain fondness for meat pie. These particular pistonheads had little time or interest in a writer whose keyboard spat vitriol like a milked puff adder, who couldn't even tell an Audi S4 Avant from an Audi S Avant (a mistake with an apparent half life of strontium). My wife and I retired to the world's nastiest hotel room where we watched Anneka Rice fly around the UK in a helicopter looking for a teapot named Ralph (look, don't ask). Anyway, any suggestions for a TTAC party venue? And if we do a TTAC get together, I warn you: I may give my name tag to one of my writers and look on from the sidelines. What was it my report card said? Doesn't play well with others. 

Hunter Thompson and Ernest Hemingway are my greatest literary influences. The former taught me that writing is important. The latter taught me to use as few words as humanly possible. I mean, to write concisely. But let's not forget technology. I would never have become a writer without the advent of word processing. As someone who suffers from OCD, pre-WP days were Hell. I'd write a paragraph, start editing it, realize I could hardly read what I'd written, copy it over to a new piece of paper, and then start a second paragraph. Then I'd edit the second paragraph, rip it off from the first, and re-write that paragraph. By the time I had three paragraphs on three separate pieces of paper, I had to copy all three on a new piece of paper. A single page of text could take me an hour. And it still wasn't done. The moment I started writing on an Apple II, I was reborn. I accepted highlight delete as my personal savior. I worshipped at the altar of cut and paste. But I never forgot that Thompson's best work was born of personal conviction, not literary perfection. And I never forgot that Hemingway's skills were the intellectual embodiment of his ill-fated quest for a clean, well-lighted place (which is, for me, TTAC). As we've just heard that the Detroit Auto Dealers Association's has reconsidered– they will grant TTAC two presses for the North American International Auto Show (out of four requested)– this thought occurs: while we're heavily out-gunned, I've been training for this all my life. As have our NAIAS writer/reporters, William C. Montgomery and Sajeev Mehta, and Managing Editor Frank Williams. Watch this space. 

you'll go broke. This was my father's admonition to my mother whenever she returned from the sales, triumphantly proclaiming she'd saved vast quantities of cash. He was right, of course, the spoilsport. Comparing what you would have have spent with what you actually spent might make you feel better, but the real comparison lies between what you spent and what you can afford. My father's words returned to me as I read  "Lutz: Astra a Huge Cost Saver" [Automotive News, sub]. In this erstwhile piece of automotive journalism, GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz claimed that importing the Opel Astra saved Saturn about $900m in development costs. Given that Lutz admits that GM spent $100m Americanizing the Astra (which didn't stretch to additional cupholders or a center armrest), does this mean it costs GM a billion dollars to develop a compact car? (Someone should tell Telsa.) Also, does the money that GM didn't spend on the Astra figure into the calculations that Maximum Bob uses to assert that the Belgium-built hatchback will generate a profit for his employer? We're talking about a product that will sticker stateside for $15,995 to $18,495 (absent discounts and incentives). Automotive News didn't say. Which is why TTAC has a place in this world. 

I know it sounds like I'm being sensationalistic (perish the thought) and making this up (never!), but there's no other way to interpret NIKE's decision to feature "car jumper" Chris Bryant in a national TV ad set to air at 4pm today (Monday) on the Ellen Degeneres show. The ad, which can be seen HERE, shows Bryant, uh, jumping cars. After jumping cars in shoes of his own design, he says "You know what I'm going to say the next time someone asks me why I do what I do? Why don't you?" Now it should be said that the cars are stationary, but one of them is parked in the middle of a street. And what's the deal with glamorizing such a patently dangerous practice? (Anyone remember what a Lotus Esprit did to a car jumper's foot on Ye Olde That's Incredible!?) The Akron Beacon Journal reports that we're late to the Chris Bryant car jumping hoe-down, as today will mark the former busboy's third appearance on the show. Anyway, we've tried to reach NIKE's press office for comment, but they're out to lunch. And now… they're back. Podcast with Dean Stoyer, U.S. Media Relations Director for NIKE below.

A friend of my father's taught me there are only three markets: price, value and quality. Price-driven consumers want the lowest possible purchase price, period. In car terms, they want to pay as little as possible for a vehicle. Everything else is secondary. If the car falls apart, if it loses them money in the long run, it doesn't matter. Manufacturers catering to these customers need not concern themselves with anything other than purchase price. At the other end, quality driven car customers want the best car, money no object. Manufacturers catering to quality-seekers have a [relatively] easy time. All they have to do is secure the world's best talent, give them the resources they need and not get in their way. Value-driven customers balance price against quality. Automobile-wise, they want as much of everything as they can get– economy, features, safety, ride, handling, resale, the whole schmeer– for as little money as possible. Manufacturers aiming for value-driven customers are fighting an endless war against everything: low-end carmakers aiming high, high-end carmakers aiming low, direct competitors, production costs, fashion trends, technological innovations, you name it, they've got to sort it. Like Icarus, the one thing they must never do is fly too high. Ford GT. Chevrolet Corvette. The new Saab Turbo X, Mitsubishi Evo and Toyota Land Cruiser. If a consumer says, wow, that's a lot of money for a —–, it's a clear sign that a value-oriented car brand is shooting itself in the foot. Short term, it can work. Long term, it's a big mistake.  

I'm a big fan of Autoblog. While there are some who might suggest that there's a good reason that re-writing (or republishing) press releases is a lost art form, and that a 53 minute podcast is the pistonhead version of waterboarding, I don't count myself amongst them. At least not until now. In any case, there's no denying that Autoblog is, as Justin says, the newspaper of record. Equally clearly, TTAC is a bunch of cybernetic muckrakers who abide by Oscar Wilde's dictum that if you can't say something nice about someone, come sit by me. While I don't begrudge Autoblog their success, there are times when I wish they'd grow a set of stones. But then I think, hang on, these are genuinely nice folks. Just because Autoblog doesn't share TTAC's jaundiced view of the auto industry doesn't make them bad people. Why be so [double] negative? Not all children are born with a desire to turn over rocks and unearth the life-and-death battles beneath. Why begrudge Autoblog their wide-eyed, unquestioning, puppy-dog enthusiasm? Because they get press credentials to the Detroit Auto Show and we don't? Well, yes, precisely. And while we await final word on that subject, rest assured we will not go quietly– or cheerfully– into that long good riddance. Or something like that. 

AdAge reports "supermodel" Ganna Makeeva is suing Leo Burnett for negligence. Apparently, whilst shooting a superbowl ad for Cadillac back in '05, Ms. Makeeva was asked/instructed/paid to walk down a runway with a hole in it, as lights flashed, music thundered and her stomach rumbled (my add). The model fell. She sustained injuries to her "legs, knee, hands, wrists, stomach, head, neck and rib cage" and that she "has already undergone one knee surgery and must undergo yet another one to try to repair the painful and debilitating injury caused by the fall. She presently attends multiple therapy sessions each week in an effort to heal and recover from injuries she sustained." Wow. That sucks. But not, it seems, as much as the ad. "The ad… ultimately earned 2.5 out of four stars from Ad Age critic Bob Garfield, who wrote at the time: 'This is beauty photography, ostensibly eye-catching and sexy, in which slinky, exotic runway models strut their couture fashions while dripping with liquid chrome. Then, up from the vat, rises the 2006 Escalade, also slick with chrome. The visual is designed to stop you in your tracks. It won't.'" Stop you in your tracks. Geddit? If you didn't know ad folk are cold-hearted bastards before, you do now. Oh, and we reckon GM should step-up here and offer Ms. Makeeva a free car. Wouldn't you?

Well, I've sent it off: my email to the Detroit Auto Dealers Association. I've politely requested that their Credentials Committee reconsider their decision to deny TTAC press passes for the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). As the Powers that Be didn't list any reason for their rejection, all I could do was throw some new stats into the mix and forward a letter of recommendation kindly sent by former Car and Driver editor and occasional TTAC contributor Stephan Wilkinson. The data was mined by Adrian Imonti, one of The Gang of Four that we hope (still) to send to Cobo to cover the car confab. Mr. Imonti reported that our Google page ranking is "7." That's equal equal to that of AutoWeek, Autoblog and the home page of the Business Week and CNN/Money Autos' sections. It's better than The Detroit News Autos Insider page, Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Automobile, Top Gear, Road and Track and Edmunds Inside Line (all rated "6"). I don't know about you, but I'm impressed. We have a tiny fraction of their resources. But we do have an unstoppable dedication to telling the truth about cars, and you, the autoblogosphere's best and brightest. And that's the key. These days, whenever I write/edit a review, editorial or blog post, I think of it as a starting point for your evaluation, discussion, context and yes, correction. In fact, we are a team. In the coming days, I may need team TTAC's help in this matter. But for the moment, let's assume that the Detroit Auto Dealers Association will recognize the importance of this website, and our potential positive contribution to Detroit auto show coverage. 

We here at TTAC have gone out of our way not to characterize Toyota Prius owners as left-leaning tree-hugging pompous, uh, people. As the Toyota gas – electric hybrid's gone mainstream– sales north of 50k per month– we've taken pains (pains I tell you) to point out that its success is down to the fact that the Prius is a well-built, practical car that makes economic sense. And then I get this press release from Scarborough Research (fayre enough?) that boldly declares "Hybrid Vehicle Owners are Wealthy, Active, Educated and Overwhelmingly Democratic." [Fair disclosure: I've been personally overwhelmed by more than a few Democrats at dinner parties.] It gets worse/better. Thirty-three percent of hybrid owners belong to a health club (as opposed to 18 percent of the generally obese population). They're sixty-six percent more likely to have gone biking in the last year and twice as likely to practice yoga. They're also twice as likely as the average Joe to hold a college degree. Some 27 percent of Prius owners hold a post-grad degree. Forty-two percent of them have household incomes above $100k per year. All of which raises an interesting question: if the Prius appeals to such wealthy, active, socially conscious people, why did sales take off when Toyota lowered the price? Cheap, rich AND smug? What's that all about?

We're preparing our reapplication for press credentials to the Detroit Auto Show, but it's hard to know what to send. TTAC's mono-maniacal Managing Editor Frank Williams sent in the original application, and Frank didn't get to be a Lt. Colonel in the USAF by failing to follow directions. My phone conversation with the PR flack didn't help; the credentials committee (whose members' names she declined to reveal) doesn't provide an explanation for their rejections. Which is fair enough, given the thousands of journalists who flock– or seek to flock– to The North American International Auto Show each year. My gut tells me this is personal. But I don't want to make it so until after I jump this final hurdle. And if our reapplication finds favor, I will publicly declare my faith in The Detroit Auto Dealers' Association– who run the gig– and state my desire to have the credentials committee's baby. Meanwhile, suffice it to say that TTAC is dedicated to telling the truth (duh). We will not compromise this mission for anyone, anytime, ever. If that means we're denied press cars (as we are) or access to auto show press days, so be it.