You don’t need TTAC to tell you what’s new at this year’s Paris auto show. If you want the re-hashed-yet-excited PR-based bits about the newest 515 HP sports car concept, or if you want to hear about which electric cars VW will maybe/probably/possibly introduce in 2014, and how great they already are at this very moment, then you probably know where to go.

Yet there is, undoubtedly, plenty of stuff from Paris worth writing about. For any car nut, the place is a Xanadu. Especially for me personally, when the opportunity presented itself to see the Paris show with one of my very favorite automotive writers (and I’m not just saying that because he’s the boss’ father), Paul Niedermeyer. Here’s an (edited, because you don’t want to spend the next three hours reading this), highly subjective conversation between two car fans. – Martin Schwoerer Read More >

Predicted by site founder Robert Farago when few people thought it could actually happen, GM’s bankruptcy is now history. So, time for the histories.

Paul Ingrassia certainly seems qualified to provide one. The Wall Street Journal’s man in Detroit for years, he won a Pulitzer (with Joseph White) for his coverage of the auto industry’s early 1990’s brush with disaster and subsequent recovery. That coverage provided the basis for 1994’s Comeback: the Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry, a definitive account of that period.

Does Crash Course: the American Automobile Industry’s Road from Glory to Disaster similarly deserve a place on your bookshelf?

Well, it depends. Did you know: Read More >

The leather still has that fragrant smell of dead thick cow skin and the interior offers a better living space than many Manhattan apartments. It only has 104,000 original miles after 21 pampered years on the smooth roads of North Georgia. Everything about it is world class. But as soon as I utter the name BMW, some of you will be instantly turned off. A Yuppiemobile. A prestigious status symbol loaded with whatever arrogance and hubris the Germans can muster. Not to mention that it’s not a Lexus, or a Jaguar, or a…. Read More >

While in August it was tudo azul, September brought some clouds to the previously céu de brigadeiro. Sails dropped 1.75 percent on the month (falling to 291,409 vehicles sold). This is the first time this has happened since May. According to Fenabrave’s President Sérgio Reze (in declarations to Brazilian communications giant Globo’s news portal g1.com) this was due to September having one less sales day than August. As giant Brazilian web provider UOL points out, the silver lining in the clouds is that on the year the market is still up by 7.12 percent (good for a grand total of 2,368,932 sales). Read More >

So, this weekend has been crowned “Sexual exploitation” weekend? See what happens when you put a German in charge? If you can pull your eyes away from the scantily clad ladies, who have nothing between their ears, except for the photographer’s tongue, and look at a calendar, you’ll see that October is upon us. The beginning of a month. What could that mean? It’s the monthly sales figures! Which leads us to Toyota. Read More >

You’ve probably digested September’s sales figures. Now comes the paying the bill part. Quite literally. Edmunds (via Newswire) has broken out the incentive figures.Industry average for September 2010 stands at $2,576 (lower than August 2010, which stood at $2,701 for the month). Read More >

U.S. auto sales climbed 29 percent last month, the biggest gain of the year. (Nearly) everybody was a winner: All but two booked increases in September. Suzuki lost 12 percent (itai!), and the “others” brand lost 4 percent.  Ford shot up 40 percent. Chrysler rocketed up by 61 percent. GM looked downright lame  in comparison by growing only 11 percent. From Porsche (+ 25 percent) to Hyundai (+44 percent), from Daimler (+ 18 percent ) to Toyota (+17 percent), everybody reported huge gains. But why is nobody partying? Read More >

TTAC (and just about everybody who comments on the Japanese market) saw it coming: After 14 months of government subsidies-induced growth, the Japanese car market took a corner. And now its nowhere but down.  Japanese sales dropped 4.1 percent  on the year to 308,663 units in September, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association told The Nikkei [sub]. This number does not include Kei cars, which will be published separately. Read More >

In a new ad sponsoring all kinds of programs, on regular and cable TV, Nissan is taking the competition by the horns. In their new ad touting their Livina 2011 (pics here), they directly attack GM, Honda and Fiat. Yes, they cite their competitors by name and even put their logos and cars in the ad.

In Brazil, this is almost unheard of. Back in the 90s Pepsi did a South American version of the coke wars. Some beer companies soon copycatted them. However, the ads were pulled quickly and I had the impression people were not impressed with such tactics. Read More >

Putting Brazil aside for a second (Sorry, Marcello!) Asia is where the car industry is looking for their next piece of pie. There’s Russia (let’s face it, Russia is more in Asia that it is in Europe), China, Japan and India. All markets with either big potential and/or plenty of customers. But there is a 5th place which always gets overlooked. South East Asia. Countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore are growing just as well, as the aforementioned countries, but never get the same attention. Well, someone has noticed their potential. Read More >

Even the most casual of TTAC readers will have noticed that we frequently feature stories about the strength of the Chinese economy and the increasing importance that China has to automakers everywhere. This afternoon I was actually standing on the factory floor of a noted “transplant” automaker and I found myself wondering: Is it too late for the United States to follow the “Chinese way” to create more opportunities for domestic vehicle production?

WARNING: Do not read any further if you are easily enraged by protectionism…

Read More >

Earlier we posted an article about the ten largest markets in the world. According to Brazilian car mag Auto Esporte, the Jato Dynamics auto consultancy group has also compiled the top ten car makers in by August 2010. They have crunched the numbers. Can you guess who is top dog?

Disclaimer: We are talking car BRANDS here. Not manufacturing groups as they are usually tallied in worldwide rankings. This puts companies like GM at a disadvantage that relies on gadzillion of Buicks and Wulings in China to get their numbers. It also should hurt that department store of brands, Volkswagen, but as we shall soon see … Read More >

I used to play poker a lot. So I’m perfectly aware of the old adage “Strong is weak and weak is strong“. If someone is acting weak, chances are, they’ve got a good hand and are trying to lull you into a false sense of security. Likewise, if someone is acting bold, then there’s a good chance they’ve got “rags” and are trying to scare you off to collect the pot for themselves. Like when Cerberus purchased Chrysler. It was an open secret in the industry that Chrysler was ready for the knacker’s yard…again. But Cerberus still pushed ahead with the purchase. Eventually, Chrysler failed and Cerberus lost money. Which made everyone wonder “What were you thinking?” I have a suspicion people will start asking the same question about Toyota soon. Read More >

A few weeks ago, one of our overabundance of resident Germans wrote about how Volkswagen wanted to marry the Italian bride, Signorina Alfa Romeo. The project was colloquially called “Italian dressing” (Those Germans and their crazy sense of humor(!)). But it was soon dismissed as a throwaway comment from a company hell-bent by taking over ze vorld. Well, now Piech himself is getting involved, and if Piech wants something … Read More >

While TTAC gets scorn for lofty criticisms of mainstream vehicles, should we demand perfection in a $405,000 (as-tested) vehicle? Because the Phantom is inches away from yesteryear’s glory: the highest regarded, finest engineered luxury vehicle before anyone cared about luxury vehicle upstarts like Mercedes-Benz or Lexus.

That’s not to say the Phantom isn’t drop dead gorgeous. The suicide doors are dumbfoundingly awesome. That Hooper Coachwork inspired design is impossible to miss: clock the long hood and short deck. And an elegant swageline, strong and stoic at the front, gently falling earthward before the taillights. Which are suitably small, drawing your eyes to the beauty of finished metal instead of the overwrought lighting details of lesser vehicles. Read More >