Definitely infrequent for a few weeks while I’m in Europe, hunting the elusive Euro: 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 Berlin – when I’m in Berlin.

Toyota shifting down in NA, again: Toyota will shut down all seven vehicle assembly plants in the U.S. and Canada on some days through early April, as part of an effort to cut growing stockpiles by half, the Nikkei (sub) reports. The number of non-operating days will vary by facility. The production line for the Sienna minivan at the Indiana plant will be stopped for 30 days. Toyota had shut down some production lines in the U.S. for three months starting last August. Toyota hopes to reduce inventories from the current 80-90 days to the desirable level of about 40 days by the end of June.

Nissan shifting down in Japan, again: Nissan will reduce Japanese domestic output by 64,000 vehicles in February and March from its earlier output plan, prompted by an increasingly decelerating global auto demand, the Nikkei (sub) says. The company had already announced reduced production as sales at home and abroad tank. Nissan had decided to dismiss all non-full-time workers by the end of March. Although it has no plans to shed any full-timers, it does intend to reduce their base pay for February by designating some of the days the plants will be idled as non-work days.

Honda shifting down in Japan, again: Honda will cut production in Japan for this fiscal year by 56,000 vehicles on the continued slump in auto sales, the Nikkei (sub) writes. The latest production cutback follows a domestic output reduction by a combined 86,000 vehicles that Honda already had announced. Japan’s second biggest car maker by volume now expects its domestic output to total 1.168 million vehicles in the fiscal year ending March, down 10% on year.

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The Detroit Free Press reports that Ron Gettelfinger is confused. Yes, the United Auto Workers (UAW) boss is waiting for “clarification on loan impact.” You know the loans, right? The $17.4b hoovered from your tax money to prop-up the bankrupt automakers known as GM and Chrysler (not to mention the $25b retooling loans, which seem to have dropped off the MSM’s radar). The same “bridge to nowhere” loans that require the UAW to agree to wage and benefit parity with Toyota, Honda and Nissan’s American workers before the rest of the money– however many billions that will be– can be shoveled in Motown’s direction. “During an interview on WDET-FM (101.9), Gettelfinger reiterated his complaint that the loan terms dealing with the union are unclear.” What is it with Ron and radio? Why can’t he give the print boys his best stuff? And what doesn’t Big Ron understand about “parity?” “There’s a lot of provisions in the loan guarantees that the companies had to sign,” Gettelfinger said. “We don’t really have any documents to work from other than their loan agreements, so we’re waiting to see until President-elect Obama gets in power, then we’ll see how this thing comes out.” Badly. I assure you. Maybe not in January or February or March. But soon. And forever.

First, I visited the Eco drive event in the basement. In past years, they stuck suppliers and the Chinese down here. This year, with Nissan and Porsche absent and others asking for less space, most everyone moved to the main floor. So what to do in the basement? How about a lavishly landscaped road course on which to sample hybrids and such?

The public will only be able to ride along; it’s been deemed too risky to let them drive. The press gets to drive, but only up to 10 mph, with a guide in the passenger seat. One guide talked my ear off– you’d think I’d never driven a car before- but the others were mercifully silent. Up to 10 mph, most hybrids and EVs feel like… any other car with lifeless steering (nothing but electric-assist systems here). To their credit, the vehicles’ brakes all felt natural; a welcome improvement from older hybrids. I sampled a Chevrolet Equinox powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Yep, felt just like a regular Equinox, at least at these speeds.

Next, I stopped by the presentation of the “Eyes on Design” awards. Unlike most “the media are the massage” awards, the Design gongs are meaningful. Dozens of actual designers vote to decide the best vehicles at the show. Four awards are given: two for concepts and two for production cars. Unlike past years, nothing distinguished the two winners in each category. Not even first and second place.

The concept category winners were no surprise. The Cadillac Converj, based on the Chevy Volt, easily had the strongest reaction of any concept during the show. And the Audi Sportback was chock full of interesting details The only other concepts that deserved a shot were Chrysler’s 200C EV (photo in earlier post) and Volvo’s S60 precursor (photo below). Other concepts were either weird (Lincoln’s) or uninteresting (the precursor for Subaru’s next Legacy). There weren’t many concepts this year. Not much money to spend on them, and all that.

The winners in the production category were a surprise, at least to me. First up, the Audi R8 5.2. Sure the V10 is new, and I believe the body was lengthened a bit to include it, but the design isn’t new. In fact, one wonders how it even qualifies for consideration. Well, if the Malibu could win car of the year when it was a reskin of the previous year’s winner (Saturn Aura), anything’s possible.

The other winner: the BMW Z4. Which is good mainly to the extent that it isn’t bad-i.e. Bangled like the first-gen Z4. There’s nothing particularly new or exciting about it. So if an already familiar Audi and cleaned-up BMW scooped design kudos, what does this say about the designs Detroit is counting on to save it? I’m not a huge fan of the exteriors of the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Taurus or Lincoln MKT, but some of them do more for me than the BMW. Then again, the same could be said for a bar of soap.

The interiors of the Buick and Lincoln are the best yet from their manufacturers. Still, it seems that designers weren’t enthusiastic about Detroit’s 2010s. Also absent from the winners: both of Fisker’s Karmas. Apparently designers aren’t impressed when one of their own starts his own company from scratch. Or maybe they’re just past pastiche.

Finally, Tesla presented. How did they end up as the only manufacturer presenting on this sparsely attended third day? Clearly someone didn’t do their job. Or is it cheaper to present on the third day?

The focus of CEO Elon Musk’s presentation: Daimler just gave Tesla permission to announce that the Silicon Valley start-up will be supplying batteries and chargers for the upcoming Smart EV. Which will enable Tesla to reap greater economies of scale, and advance the day when electric propulsion is cheap enough for the masses. In theory.

Questions centered on Tesla’s reliance on a large number of small cells, the planned S family sedan, and what Elon Musk has learned from his venture.

Economies of scale are much greater with small cells, so it’s cheaper to use them for at least the next few years. The S sedan will cost $49,900 after a tax credit of $7,500, and will be introduced two years after they get a hoped-for Department of Energy loan. My pricing analysis: this price makes it about half that of the Fisker, so the two won’t directly compete. The Volt will be a direct competitor. In theory.

After investing $70m of his own money, Musk learned you need car people to run a car company; nearly the entire executive team has been replaced. Mr. Musk seemed a bit worn out, and less confident than the bunch across the aisle at Fisker.

Tesla also showed video of an upcoming higher-performance variant of their Elise-based roadster. Acceleration time to 60 will improve from 3.9 to 3.7. No one in the press corps seemed to care.

Money’s too tight to mention. But Rick Brown, president of GM Asia Pacific, mentioned it to Automotive News [AN, sub]. “We won’t be participating [in the you can call it the Tokyo Auto Show]. If you really look at the business conditions that we are in right now, where we really have to make a bang out of every buck we spend, it’s simply a business decision.” AN reckons a presence at the Tokyo show cost $2m. No wonder Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper says Ford and Chrysler also “missed” last year’s deadline to register for the show. That’s the price of one year’s G4 lease! As we reported yesterday, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association is hemming and hawing about whether or not to cancel the event until 2011. Previous media speculation centered on whether one of Japan’s “Big Three” (Toyota, Honda, Nissan) would withdraw and kill the event. Now, with the Americans out of play, it’s only a matter of time. Who’s next to go? New York? Barcelona? Watch this space.

20 years. When most folks ask me how long the average car should last, that’s what I tell them. It’s actually not true though. The real answer these days is a lifetime. In fact, I’ve seen cars at the auctions that were literally passed on from one generation to the next. They hit all sides of the American, Japanese, and European palette. Older Volvo 240’s and Toyota Camry’s are truly numerous. But Subaru SVX’s, Suzuki Samurai’s and even old-school Buick Roadmasters have been there in the automotive flesh as well. In fact, I’ve even seen some of the most unreliable vehicles in recent history (Excels, Chevettes, Kadetts) crawl through the 20+ year old finish line in good running order. What makes the real difference? Read on.

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Sorry, it’s a bit infrequent for a few weeks while I’m in Europe hunting the elusive Euro: 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 Berlin – when I’m in Berlin.

Take one for the team, Japan style: Department heads at Toyota are asking colleagues in management positions to buy new Toyota cars by the end of the fiscal year to boost the company’s sluggish sales, the Nikkei (sub) says. “The rare request is the result of a voluntary effort among a group of about 2,200 departmental chiefs and other managers. Employees are under no obligation to buy a car, and no specific models appear to have been singled out.” Hitori wa minna no tame, minna wa hitori no tame. Or: one for all, all for one, as they say in Japan.

Daihatsu may have to cut back: Toyota’s Daihatsu may do “a reorganization of its production structure if sales do not recover by March,” the Nikkei (sub) reports. Daihatus’s minicars had been relatively unscathed by the weak sales. Now they begin hurting too.

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Chrysler has been – some say desperately – seeking to “sell key assets” for a while. The Nikkei (sub) now says that Chryler might be getting close. The usual “unnamed people with knowledge of the discussions” whispered that Chrysler is talking to Nissan-Renault and the Canadian auto supplier Magna. The topics of the discussion are the Jeep brand and Chrysler’s Belvidere plant. The Jeep brand would go to Renault-Nissan, Magna would take the plant.

The parties aren’t strangers.

Chrysler had announced an alliance with Nissan last April.

As for Magna, the interest probably stems from Magna’s subsidiary Magna Steyr, which is creating more and more auto contract manufacture business. Magna Steyr has produced the Chrysler Voyager from 2002 to 2007, and currently produces the Chrysler 300C, the Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Magna was one of the bidders for Chrysler when it was sold by Daimler in 2007.

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After a weekend of concept-touting and audacious hoping, Detroit is praying that the bitter taste of bailout beggary will be cleansed by the redemptive powers of PR. From the sight of hundreds of rallying GM workers to a lineup of future concepts, the North American International Auto Show played host to a number of highly-managed media messages aimed at convincing skeptics that it’s no longer such a lonely world for American automakers. But the emphasis on public relations highlights how far Detroit still has to go, and fails to mask the desperate need for, well, bankruptcy. And while cheerleaders for a largely-imagined Detroit renaissance hold on to that feeling, time marches remorselessly on.

The unifying theme of Detroit’s campaign for hearts and minds: a throwback to the good old days. Back when city boys were the plucky, working class heart of the nation. “Detroit: not a town of quitters,” is how the Freep‘s Sarah A Webster frames the argument, Webster posits that a car wash billboard on Woodward Ave– which reads “never give up”– exemplifies this civic pride. “For all I know,” writes Webster, “it’s been up there for years.” Which is a major part of the problem. Detroit’s automakers have been in savage decline for so long that most Americans don’t even know what they would come back to become.

Webster notes that she “quite ironically” first noticed the sign’s long-running message of not quitting “on Dec. 12, the morning after the U.S. Senate voted against lending Detroit’s automakers the $14 billion they sought to survive the global economic downturn.” At that dark hour, the sign on Woodward shone like a beacon of hope to Webster after “Congress had just voted to turn the lights out on the Motor City.” As a “darkest moment before sunrise” though, this hardly inspires the kind of faith and sympathy that Detroit is clearly looking for. It simply highlights the new reality of Detroit as an oversized, reality-ignoring, bailout-begging hype machine.

Motown’s plucky, blue-collar image overhaul depends on prodding Americans to reach back to a decades-old model of a successful, competitive Detroit. To pull off its Lazarus risen act, Detroit must also hide the fact that the road to redemption doesn’t lead through River Rouge or Hamtramack. It comes in the form of government checks. And this causes internal discord, cognitive dissonance and a renewed emphasis on style over substance.

Should Chrysler not be “stung” by GMAC’s extra $6b worth of TARP loving? After all, if one American automaker can have its self-destructive incentive binges underwritten by the government, shouldn’t they all? Besides, if Chrysler can convince no less than the LA Times‘ Dan Neil that its 200C concept is a “real-world car” and that it “will be available in two years” (actual car courtesy of Nissan), isn’t that good enough for some know-nothing congressmen?

With Obama’s vast stimulus under debate in the new congress, the Detroit Auto Show was not a showcase of the consumer-driven products that the once-big three can put on the showroom floor. It was a message to lawmakers that Detroit could fulfill their politically-driven goals as long as the checks keep coming. And the transition from a consumer-driven culture in Detroit (if such a thing ever existed) to a politically-driven one shouldn’t be difficult.

GM, Chrysler and Ford executives are forever bemoaning the American consumer’s ignorance of their product’s self-evident desirability. And the oft-touted “perception gap” is much easier to tackle among easily-influenced subsidy check signers in DC than it is among financially struggling Americans.

AdAge reports that a $50m effort to revamp the image of American automakers in the minds of consumers is failing to gain traction, despite David E. Davis’ midwifery and the blessing of Lee Iaccoca. Ford is especially trying to distance itself from these efforts, rightly believing that associating itself with the PR efforts of tax money-guzzlers is counterproductive, at least in terms of consumer opinion.

Now that GM and Chrysler are on the dole, they can not deny that they have lost their way. As TTAC’s Ken Elias wrote this morning, decades of denial can only be swept away with a quick admission of guilt and a plausible vision of a brilliant future. But Detroit chases feelings of nostalgia and futurism while remaining stuck in a dismal and seemingly eternal present.

Detroit has singularly failed to understand that the classic American narratives of rebirth and redemption begins with a dark night of the soul– not a trip to DC to ask Santa for a multi-billion dollar bailout. A bankruptcy reorganization would not only have given GM and Chrysler the tools to transform themselves, it would have given Americans a reason to cheer for new underdog brands, freed from their toxic legacies.

Instead, Detroit is trying to conjure up sympathy by ignoring the rules, begging for money and selling a future they know is out of reach without more handouts. And even, one must now conclude, with them.

Seven days and I’ll be back in the United States, having bid my farewell to the Middle East (but knowing I will return). As the countdown commences, I eagerly anticipate driving something without a Toyota badge on it, and possibly buying something interesting with all the money I have saved eating government food (and some sand). These past many months I have pored over eBay, Autotrader, and mobile.de (German used car site, check it out, forbidden gems!). After looking at the multitudes of steel out there, I wondered something… what could I get that would have oodles of character, the shades of a future classic, and not cost too much. So I present, Seven Future Classics for the Depressed Economy:

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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 this week, from Berlin next week,

Chinese Buick: The Buick LaCrosse, set to debut at the North American International Auto Show next week, is a Chinese product. Due to Buick’s popularity in China, the company’s design team there took the lead in remodeling the LaCrosse, Gasgoo writes. Sales of Buicks in China reached 332,000 units in 2007, according to data supplied to IHS Global Insight, a consulting firm. The LaCrosse was the second-best seller there, with 71,500 cars sold. Figures for full-year 2008 year are not available yet. By comparison, GM sold 137,197 Buick branded cars and light trucks in the U.S. in 2008, down 26.4 percent from 2007. The company sold 36,873 LaCrosses in 2008, down 23 percent from 2007. In December alone, LaCrosse sales dipped 59 percent to 1,451 units.

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I think it’s great to get excited about new cars, announcements from manufacturers, spec sheets, press kit photos, and concept cars. I’m a jerk, but I’m not a jerk made of stone. With my mea-culpa qualification out of the way though, I do find it frustrating to see what I think of as undue enthusiasm. If you jump, you can see my five TTAC-spirited assessments of the product announcements of the week.

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China’s Passenger Car Association released their numbers for the year. For China, which was used to double digit growth, they are disappointing. Other markets, such as the U.S. would die for them. China’s full year passenger car sales rose 7.4 percent in 2008, the Association says.

Before we delve into them, be warned about Chinese numbers. China doesn’t have a “light vehicle” category. Vans or minivans, such as the GM-Wuling offerings, are counted as “commercial vehicles,” and are not in China’s passenger vehicle count. Also, to understand the market, one must be aware of China’s wild and woolly joint venture situation where cars of the same brand are made by different and often competing companies, and sold through different dealer networks.

Here are the top 10 Chinese passenger vehicle sales as Gasgoo reports them. These are real sales, not cars dumped on dealer’s lots. These are government numbers, based on cars that have been registered by owners and issued license plates. However, they count factories. They don’t count brands.

1. FAW VW: 498,867 units
2. Shanghai VW: 490,087 units
3. Shanghai GM: 468,642 units
4. FAW Toyota: 365,699 units
5. Chery: 356,092 units
6. Dongfeng Nissan: 350,621 units
7. GAC Honda: 305,997 units
8. Beijing Hyundai: 294,517 units
9. Geely: 230,420 units
10. Changan Ford: 202,797 units

Now for a closer view:
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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 this week, from Berlin next week.

Volkswagen makes its million in China: When Winfried Vahland, VW’s honcho in China, stuck to his guns and a 1m sales target months ago, people rolled their eyes. Well, he made it, Automobilwoche (sub) reports. VW sold 844,491 units in China, Audi contributed119,598, newcomer Skoda sold 59,284 – a total of 1,023,373 units. Growth for 2008 was 12.5 percent, above market trend. With this result, and the slight plus in the home market, VW could be the overall winner for 2008.

Audi sells a million worldwide: Audi defied gravity, motor malaise, and assorted other ailments, and closed out the year 2008 with a plus of 4.1 percent worldwide, for a total of 1,003,400 four-ringed units sold throughout the world. In Asia/Pacific, Audi sold 15.6 percent more for the year. Outlook for 2009 is even better, because in the disastrous December 2008, Audi sold 17.4 percent more than in the same month a year before.

SAIC lets Ssangyong fail: Ssangyong Motor Co. has filed for court receivership after if had failed to secure necessary funds to continue operations, the Nikkei (sub) reports. Ssangyong Motor is 51.3 percent owned by China’s SAIC. They only wanted to help if the unions would make significant concessions. Now they may have to. Ssangyong Motor’s board Friday called on management and the company’s union to closely cooperate on voluntary retirement, paid leave, wage cuts and a halt to certain benefits. Commenting on the filing, Ssangyong union spokesman Choi Hyung-gil said: “The decision is very disappointing. We will discuss how to react.”

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You can sort of understand why Nissan decided to pull out of the Detroit Auto Show, er North American International Auto Show. For carmakers, these are the worst of times and the worst of times. But The New York Times reports that Nissan went on to strong-arm their Detroit area dealers into staying home as well. The locals had come up with a plan to staff a Nissan show presence on their own dime. Corporate’s stated reason for weaseling-out back of NAIAS in November: they had “no major new products to show.” And furthermore “the current economic conditions will impact the shows’ marketing effectiveness.” Nissan used those same reasons to back out of the Chicago Auto Show. But wait, it gets stranger. Nissan spokesdude Brian Bockman said that Chicago is back on after corporate “worked with our Chicago-area dealers and came up with a good creative solution that we could maintain a presence while still having an eye toward the challenging market out there.” One function of these regional auto shows: get potential customers out looking at the goods and falling in love. In fact, Nissan’s Detroit area dealers are pretty chapped about missing the shot at their traditional post auto show sales up-tick. The question is: why it is great for the Chicago dealers to put on a presence, but not OK for Detroit’s already challenged Nissan dealers to do the same? Could it be that Nissan corporate a stick it to all things Detroit agenda? Does Chicago’s home town status for the new President-elect have something to do with this? Damn strange. Any Nissan insiders care to share the real story?

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 this week, from Berlin next week,

Mitsubishi electrifies PSA: Mitsubishi will supply France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen with electric cars beginning as early as next year, the Nikkei (sub) reports. The French government is providing subsidies of up to 5K Euros, and tax breaks for consumers who purchase electric cars. “With the U.K. and Germany offering incentives as well, Europe is expected to soon become a leading electric-car market,” says the Nikkei. Mitsubishi Motors will provide its iMiEV passenger car on an OEM basis. This plug-in electric vehicle, which is powered by a high-performance lithium ion battery, is slated to debut in Japan this summer. It runs 160km on a single charge. The iMiEV is expected to be priced competitive with conventional gasoline-powered cars in France once the subsidies are taken into account. “Mitsubishi Motors Corp shares jumped 5 percent” on the news, Reuters reports.

Mazda saves cash in cats: Japan’s Mazda said on Thursday it would introduce technology that would slash the amount of precious metals used in catalytic converters by 70 percent in the new Mazda3 model, due for sales globally this year, Reuters says. Mazda said it would be the world’s first application of the single-nanocatalyst technology. The technology will be rolled out globally on certain models. Nissan last year introduced nanotechnology that would halve the amount of precious metals used in the new Cube.
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