An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. This column will be filed from Berlin until further notice—if & when time allows.

Japan down again: Japan’s domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses fell 32.4 percent year-on-year in February, declining for the seventh straight month, the Nikkei [sub] writes. This is the sharpest fall since May 1974, when sales were hit by the first oil shock. Sales in February totaled 218,212 vehicles, down from 322,613 a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said. The figures don’t include sales of mini-cars or mini-trucks. Toyota’s sales dropped 32 percent to 98,808 units, with sales of the Lexus luxury car plunging 63 percent. Nissan fell 35.2 percent to 40,694 units, while Honda sold 30,101 vehicles, 21.1 percent fewer than last year.

India coming back to life: Most Indian auto makers led by market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. reported a continued rise in monthly sales, driven mainly by discounts, says the Nikkei [sub]. Analysts said if the sales continue to rise beyond March it may indicate a recovery in Asia’s third-biggest automobile market. Maruti, a unit of Suzuki, sold 79,190 cars, up 24.1 percent from 63,822 a year earlier. Total car sales at the Indian unit of Hyundai Motor Co. in February rose to 38,254 units from 29,001 units a year earlier.
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When Nissan introduced the Murano as a 2003 model, the styling raised more than a few eyebrows. In 2008, Nissan embarked on a Quest to redesign the machine as a less visually “intriguing” CUV. They tried to thread to proverbial needle: keep the Murano instantly recognizable while updating every body panel and adding one of the most bizarre snouts available on any automobile at any price. As the pimply-faced high school geek cum dot-com billionaire proved, looks can be deceiving. Does the same hold true for the “It Came from Outer Space (or France)” Murano S?

An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. Note: This week-end, BS will change his location to Berlin for a few weeks. WAS will be filed as time allows—or not, as RF fancies to say.

Daimler may buy Opel plant: Opel has contacted Daimler over plans to sell its Corsa-building Eisenach plant. The Financial Times Deutschland [via Reuters] bases its story on “government sources,” who also claim that Opel’s Astra and Zafira-producing Bochum plant is on the chopping block. Daimler management board member, Thomas Weber, said a takeover of Opel is not on the cards. “That also goes for Volvo or Saab,” Weber told Reuters. Meanwhile, Opel’s management is about to present their supervisory board with a restructuring plan. It’s expected to call for thousands of job cost and closure of one or more plants. Opel dealers have signaled a willingness to help secure their livelihoods by taking some form of equity stake in an independent company—an automaker without the excess workers and capacity, presumably.

And here comes the trade war: France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy wants the World Trade Organization to consider the legality of American aid to its domestic automakers. “We need to see if the U.S. aid is compatible with the WTO,” Sarkozy said in eastern France at a roundtable discussion on the car industry on Thursday, reported by  Automotive News [sub]. [NB: This is the same Nicolas Sarkozy who recently announced protectionist aid for French automakers and called for a coordinated European plan to help the E.U.’s car industry.]  EU competition authorities are scrutinizing car industry support from governments in France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Germany and Sweden. Separately, European Transport Commissioner, Antonio Tajani, said Europe’s lawmakers would consider appealing to the WTO if US aid made conditions unfair for European manufacturers.
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An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

And finally, the Nano: Tata’s Nano, slated to be the world’s cheapest car at under $2,000, will finally go on sale in April after months of delay caused by problems at its main production plant, Reuters reports. Tata said it would formally launch the Nano on March 23, and buyers could start ordering the model by the second week of April. “We expect only limited quantities to be produced now—maybe about 3,000 a month—so the waiting period could be long,” said Surjit Arora, auto analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher. Tata Motors’ new Nano plant in Gujarat, in western India, is not expected to be ready until the year-end. The company has said it would make the first Nanos at one of its two existing plants in Pune, about 170 km north of Mumbai, and at Pantnagar in northern India.

Aftermath: Japan’s eight passenger car manufacturers curbed their domestic output by 40 percent compared with a year earlier to 560,471 units in January as they stepped up efforts to correct inventory levels amid a sharp downturn in global demand, the Nikkei [sub] sums up yesterday’s reports. Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, and Mazda had embarked on their biggest cutbacks since they began releasing production data. Daihatsu was the only one to keep its domestic output reductions in the single digits, at 2.7 percent. Production cutbacks overseas also gained momentum, with carmakers lowering output by 41 percent to 602,502 units. Honda curtailed US output 50.1 percent in January. Exports sank more than 50 percent.

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All day, Japanese carmakers have been issuing January production and sales numbers. They are horrible. Three makers report production reductions of around 60 percent. Mazda and Mitsubishi reported export reduction of over 70 percent. There is a bloodbath in the making in the land of the cherry blossom.

Honda posted year-on-year falls in domestic production and sales, exports and overseas output in January, the Nikkei [sub] reports. Domestically, production fell 23 percent to 77,224 vehicles and sales slid 23.4 percent to 34,160 units, both marking the third consecutive month of decline. Exports dropped by 46.3 percent to 32,934 units and overseas production tumbled 37.9 percent to 149,327 vehicles, both down for the fourth straight month. Compared to others, Honda is doing fairly well, especially due to its burgeoning motorcycle business in the 3^rd world.  And that was the good news . . . .
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An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

Paris backpedals after slap from Brussels: France struck a clause from its €6b bailout package. Recipients were prohibited from closing a plant in France and moving it elsewhere in Europe. Automobilwoche [sub] reports that the clause ran afoul of EU rules. Despite the cleaned-up clause, the French government claims there’s a “moral obligation” for the French to stay in France. Brussels will perform a thorough vetting of the French moral imperative.

Russian bailout: Reuters reports that Russia’s car sales have slumped by one-third. In an effort to save its nascent car industry, Russia will subsidize car loans for consumers buying any one of 30 foreign and domestic models. The car-loan subsidies, worth $55.45m, will compensate banks for charging lower rates on car loans. “The decision to help seven foreign brands along with two Russian ones is a surprise coming from a government that introduced sweeping measures in January to protect local car makers from foreign competition,” says a shocked Reuters. The Ruskies have earmarked another $347m to buy up unsold parts and commercial vehicles from local producers such as AvtoVAZ, as well as Fiat, Isuzu, and SsangYong. [For a full list of parts and vehicles eligible for the two aid programs, click on www.minprom.gov.ru] Russia began a 30 percent import duty on second-hand cars on January 1 to prop up the struggling domestic car industry. The move stirred concerns about protectionism from Russia’s trading partners, and led to large-scale protests in major Russian cities that rely on the second-hand car industry.

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Anybody who knows how the auto industry ticks (as long as its clock hasn’t run out) sees the next two items as a given:

1.)    Cars will be more and more crammed with electronics. Already, some modern cars have more computers and networks than a small business.

2.)    Keeping track of the software and its bugs turns more and more into a nightmare.

So far, most large automakers have used their own proprietary solutions, which makes the nightmare even bigger. Many common parts cannot be fitted unless their internal software is “flashed” to be (hopefully) compatible with the car being repaired. Something’s gotta be done. And, finally, it is.

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An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

Chinese government orders consolidation: The Chinese government issued its plan to consolidate the auto sector. It includes decisions to merge the country’s major auto-making groups to from 14 to 10, and to subsidize rural buyers of new vehicles, China Securities Journal reports via Gasgoo. According to the plan, the current 14 Chinese carmakers, which together hold 90 percent market share, will be reduced to 10 or less through mergers. The government wants to see two or three big Chinese groups with annual production each exceeding 2 million vehicles, plus four or five groups making over 1 million vehicles.

Japan going down, down, down: Japan’s domestic auto sales may fall below 3 million vehicles this year, the Nikkei [sub] reports. Japan Automobile Dealers Association Chairman Yoichi Amano predicts Japanese sales could sink to the lowest level since 1971. “The projection made last year that sales would decline below 3 million vehicles some time between 2015 and 2020 might come true as early as this year,” Amano told a general meeting of association members, expressing concern that the economic downturn may further depress demand.

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Google Analytics provides an interesting look as to how visitors reach a website. I’d like to give our B&B some examples of how others (those who do not subscribe to the RSS feed or those who’ve not bookmarked TTAC) come our way and you’ll find the reason near the end of this post.

Below is a selection of the most interesting “entrance keywords” in the hope of giving you an insight in to the psyche of the non-B&B. Consider this: TTAC receives orders of magnitude more visitors than we have registered users. And, of registered users, a relatively small percentage are active participants (guest writers and active commenters), a.k.a. the Best & Brightest.

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Public relations people say the darndest things. Shills for the car companies that chose to speak to the press at the 2009 Dallas Auto Show were no exception. The folks at Chevy are still “excited about the Camaro” a full three years after they excitedly announced the product. What impressive stamina they have. Buick intends to “shatter the myth that Buick only builds sedans for old people” Good luck with that. Chrysler Corp. claims twenty-four new cars and trucks are under development. “If taxpayers can support us, we’ll have some sweet products for you to test drive.” Goodie, maybe I’ll get to drive another redesigned Sebring. That’d be super sweet! But the biggest story coming from the show is what the PR refused to talk about.

“We’re here to talk about product,” the Dodge mouthpiece declared. “Any questions ’bout the company will be referred to Corporate.” This was a common theme. GM’s hackles shot up when a writer asked whether the new Lacrosse would be marketed in China, where the interior and electronics were designed and tested. “We can’t comment on what GM plans to do or not do in China,” the PR hack tersely said, cutting off the questioner. The phrase most oft uttered at the Ford, Buick, and Dodge press conferences: “We’re not prepared to comment on that.”

Other automakers simply didn’t even bother to speak to the press at all. This year’s itinerary of scheduled press conferences was only six manufacturers long and concluded by lunchtime. In recent years we have heard from Toyota, Cadillac, Nissan, Lexus, Hummer, Aston Martin, Saleen, Infiniti, Honda, and Subaru. All of these manufacturers were all present at the show (except Saleen); they just had nothing to say to the press corps.

Furthermore, the first two press conferences, Ferrari and Lamborghini, weren’t press conferences at all. The media assembled at the Ferrari display but there was no presentation so everyone dissipated. It wasn’t until later that I realized that one of the individuals gathered there was actually a soft spoken Ferrari rep. Ditto Lamborghini. Don’t the Italians have anything to tell the public about their cars, how their product is evolving, and all of the rest of the PR drivel that is communicated in a proper press conference?

But enough of all that. Here are the 2009 DAS winners and losers:

Winner: Buick Lacrosse. I’m not saying that this car will save Buick or GM or that it will even sell well. But The General certainly put his best spit-shined boot forward with this car. American styling built by Canadians on a new European developed platform with Chinese innards, this is truly an international car. The car bests Buick wannabes from Toyota and Lexus with dynamic styling and matches them with an outstanding interior. If this car drives half as well as it looks, it could be a contender. Buick claims to be in the midst of a “design renaissance.” That bit of hyperbole might actually be true.

Loser: Acura. Would somebody light that car a cigarette? The grille blighting every new Acura has the expression of Iron Man aglow in post-coital ecstasy—not something I want to see.

Winner: Ford Taurus SHO. Ford designer Earl Lucas shows that Americans can design a mature and subtle executive’s performance sedan. The car possesses the power and elegance of an NFL linebacker in a tuxedo. The D-sized sedan had the press mob drooling on the SHO’s exclusive Atlantic Green paint.

Loser: Chevrolet Camaro. The car is beautiful. The power is impressive. The price is right. The timing is awful. Look for the 2010 Camaro to makes its debut later this year. Its launch coincides with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the sequel of the movie that it starred in two years ago (along side the lovely Megan Fox and the dopey Shia LaBeouf). The Camaro has been so prominent at auto shows and in GM advertising for so long that it’s already due for redesign.

I sat on the front row in the Buick press conference admiring the contemporary look of the 2010 Lacrosse. As I did so I realized that GM could not have produced a car of this caliber ten years ago. Neither could Ford. Life or death competition has forced these companies to break from many of the lazy and lardy practices of their past.

It might be too late for GM to right its ruptured and sinking ship, but the positive and constructive influence of free market pressure is in full display in their latest products. On the other hand, Chrysler remains distinctly unimproved. For every one thing they do right, they are doing five things wrong. This is about the same ratio of incompetence that they operated under two decades ago.  No amount of marketing spin masks that.

An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

After Saab, will Opel be next? GM’s decision to push its Saab unit into bankruptcy protection puts pressure on Germany, the UK and Spain to come up with funding to save the rest of GM’s European business, Bloomberg reports. Hours after Saab filed for creditor protection, Opel supervisory-board member, Armin Schild, said the Ruesselsheim, Germany-based unit needs a rescue package that may exceed 3.3b euros ($4.23b). GM has set March 31 for deciding on all its European divisions’ future as the carmaker seeks as much as $16.6b in new U.S. federal loans. Saab’s move to seek protection from creditors “creates a sense of urgency” at Opel, said Laurenz Meyer, a lawmaker and economics spokesman with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats. On the dark side: some members of Merkel’s Christian Democrats oppose government guarantees for Opel. They say Opel won’t operate profitably in the long term because it lacks an effective business model. They’re also worried that aid would go directly to the US. On the bright side: should Trollhättan-based Saab survive a three-month “reconstruction” under court supervision, the Swedish company may play a role in a more independent Opel. As GM’s only European brand with market recognition in the US, Saab could offer Opel a chance to “re-skin” its products for the world’s biggest auto market. On the sinister side: Most European automakers wouldn’t mind Opel fading away.

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Today’s been rather hectic, in a Swedish go-fish kind of way. I caught sight of this Bloomberg report on a possibile Chrysler-GM shotgun marriage this morning. And, somehow, it’s still there. “Chrysler LLC may be sending a message to President Barack Obama’s autos task force by saying the ‘best option’ for survival is a merger with General Motors Corp. that both sides have labeled dead.” ChryCo spinmeister insists that Bloomberg’s got it wrong: “We are in exclusive talks with Fiat.” Now that the supposed deal with Nissan is dead. And the one with Chery. And the previous talks with GM. Speaking of which, The General’s aide de camp, PR spinmeister Steve Harris, also ruled out an Alliance—I mean, alliance. Yes, well, JR didn’t want to marry Cally either. (You could say this doesn’t bode well for either automaker.) Now, some scary stuff . . .

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An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

Opel needs more money: Up until now, Opel had mentioned that they may need €1.8b in loan guarantees “just in case.” Now Manager Magazin reports that Opel will definitely need twice the amount. There are mounting indications that the German government will only part with the money if Opel is spun off and totally separate from GM. States where Opel has plants have indicated that they would take a stake. Also, there is pressure from Berlin that GM finally transfers the €1b which it owes Opel. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is still waiting for a viability concept promised, but not delivered, by Opel.
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An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

Increasing indications that GM plans to cut Opel loose: North Rhine-Westphalia’s Premier, Jürgen Rüttgers, had a chin wag with GM’s CEO, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. Rick Wagoner told Rüttger there are no plans to close any German plants, including the one in Bochum, which is in Rüttger’s state. “Currently.” News flash! Wagoner expressed his interest in spinning-off Opel. Rüttgers told Rick that GM would have to keep the German plants open to qualify for German government money. How the spin-off is going to work still is anybody’s guess.

Saab may go bankrupt this week: GM’s Saab will start insolvency procedures as early as this week, das Autohaus reports, citing Swedish news reports. Sweden’s Economy Minister has already said that this would be the proper way to go.

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Farago is going to kill me for this one, but if I don’t tempt fate every so often, the dullness wins. Since the discussion of the bailout has turned my brain to Chex Mix, and seeing pictures of the Porsche Panamera and BMW 5-Series PAS SAC KNICK KNACK just make me nauseous, I figure we should try some lighthearted fun. Readers, please put the following cars in order according to . . . whatever you like. Just tell us your sorting mechanism when you post, or be more mysterious and let folks guess.

(A) Nissan 370Z
(B) Dodge Charger R/T
(C) Volkswagen Jetta TDI
(D) Lexus IS-F
(E) Hyundai Genesis 4.6
(F) Audi A4 2.0T
(G) Citroen C6 V6 HDI

And if this wasn’t enough to make you say “huh?”, please enjoy today’s podcast.