A commentator recently accused TTAC of posting a CarMax superbowl ad just because the company owns a panel on our home page. Uh, no. Short of not accepting any advertising and switching to a pay-per-view model—which our Best and Brightest rejected like a high school quarterback talking to an ugly misfit frump in a low-budget horror movie—we’ll take what ad support we can get. But we give our advertisers no quarter. I’ve seen plenty of GM, Toyota, Ford and Chrysler ads on TTAC, and you know how we roll in that regard. Some of you may also recall negative comments from buyers who felt they were boned to the max by CarMax. Personally, I really like Chris Wilmore and his crew. I also like every PR person I’ve ever met (on the personal level). Ça fait rien. No one has ever successfully messed with TTAC’s editorial independence. Nor will they. It’s our USP. It’s what we do. K? Now, CarMax ran an interesting survey asking the question above. Their results after the jump. My take: not asking TVR how long their half-sized underfloor battery could hold a charge. Yours?

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Reading GM’s FastLane Blog sometimes feels like watching the images generated by an underwater camera cruising through the Titanic’s sunken remains. Yes, I know, GM hasn’t cracked in two yet, never mind hit the ocean floor. But the blog’s extended periods of silence strikes this jaded journalist as, well, creepy. A sense of impending doom that’s also reflected by the editorial mix: half-assed attempts to address the key questions vexing GM’s “turnaround plan” (as bulkhead after bulkhead buckles under pressure), interspersed with exec-sourced, over-optimistic appraisals of GM’s prospects. And now, it looks like GM’s just given up, surrendering the floor to “resource analyst” Amory Lovins’ mob over at the Rocky Mountain Institute. Abundance by design™! ‘Cause austerity sucks, right?

The org’s 25-year-old Aspen-dwelling Bulldog-educated transportation consultant uses the platform (so to speak) to plug (so to speak) EV socialism (for real). Apparently, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Volt.” I said, Volt. Not Dolt. But I gotta say, I find the entire premise of Laura Schewel’s article pretty stupid.

I spend my every working (and sometimes every waking) hour trying to make the cleaner, greener promise of plug-in vehicles a reality. The barrier that keeps me up at night is not the high cost of batteries or if Smart Grid will happen. It is the fear that there simply won’t be enough plug-in vehicles soon enough to hit the greenhouse gas reduction targets we must hit. I believe that communities are the best bet for overcoming this barrier.

Consumers and automakers are in a chicken-and-egg situation: the uncertainty of consumer demand for a completely new type of vehicle makes it difficult for automakers to commit to plug-ins in significant numbers. This uncertainty, in turn, affects the building of charging infrastructure and other supporting technologies. This, in turn, creates uncertainty in consumer demand, and so on.

I don’t know about you, but I sleep better at night knowing that Laura is wide awake, helping GM add credibility to their electric/gas plug-in hybrid Hail Mary. I would however like to know exactly which greenhouse gas reduction targets “we” must hit. Kyoto? California? What? You would’ve thought GM would share my curiosity, but I guess not.

That said, you can’t blame them for sharing Ms. Schewel’s sense of urgency—assuming that GM suddenly understands what that phrase means. But who shares her sense that there’s some sort of techno-phobia re: plug ins? You use it like a normal car and plug it into a wall from time to time. The only uncertainty is how much it costs and whether or not the thing will run out of gas/juice and/or break. But Toyota’s got that sussed, one imagines. And, by extension (cord), GM. You know, eventually.

Oh, hang on. She means having lots of sockets available, right? So you can plug in at work or at the post office or something. We need a national plan! Just kidding, ’cause everybody knows that “making a comprehensive national plan will slow us down.”

Furthermore, the ingredients for plug-in success naturally vary from place to place, and a uniform U.S. approach would be a detriment to natural diversity. Of course, this community-based readiness approach should be paired with a national backbone of open plug and communications standards so that vehicles, products, and services can be operated on a national basis. The federal government should also provide funds for cities to implementing their plans.

As Mater from Cars famously opined, you hurt your what? You plug your plug-in into a socket, right?

As far as I know, I don’t need a converter for my shaver when I travel around this great nation of ours. If the plug-in electric vehicles of Toyota—I mean, tomorrow need some special big ass socket, well, let them sell me one. If an apartment complex needs a dozen or so, let them charge their tenants for the privilege of plugging in, tuning out and paying rent. If I’m at the post office needs one, forget about it. I’ll plug in when I get home. Next?

Nope. Ms. Schewel considers this one of those “stakeholder” deals. Which, to me, is the sound bite of my tax dollars flying out of my wallet.

These stakeholders [lots of bureaucrats, ‘natch] must create a coordinated, multi-year plan that makes owning a plug-in better than owning a traditional car for the first local adopters. We’re developing a long list of ways to do this. A few of my personal favorites: a “plug-in” concierge call-in service for all owners; federal and local incentives bundled at the dealer for immediate cash back; special parking spots; free electricity for your vehicle.

Didn’t the Soviet Union have a little bother with all their coordinated, multi-year plans? If I recall, they were a communist dictatorship at the time. I know the Earth is warming, but can anyone understand my gut instinct: let’s not go there?

Surprisingly, Schewel’s GM-promulgated propaganda doesn’t end there. For me the segment title “How Much is Enough?” pretty much answers itself. But for Schewel, the sky’s the limit. Or should it be “this guy’s the limit”?

President Obama’s goal of 1 million plug-ins by 2015 is not a revolution either. We need millions upon millions of plug-ins (coupled with smarter land-use planning to reduce driving, and huge investments in public transit).

Me? I need a drink.

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 Tokyo this week.

GM flirting with FAW: GM is holding discussions with major Chinese automaker FAW Group to form a partnership for light commercial vehicles, Reuters reports. The two parties have already registered a name with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which is the first step of Chinese joint venture courtship. GM already makes light commercial vehicles in China in a three-way tie-up with SAIC and Liuzhou Wuling. GM manufactures Buicks in Shanghai with SAIC, China’s largest auto maker. FAW, one China’s three biggest automakers, operates car manufacturing ventures with Volkswagen and Toyota. SAIC is also in a joint venture with VW. SAIC and FAW have been considered bitter rivals, although there are reports of a thawing. GM said its commercial vehicle venture in China sold 19.7 percent more vehicles in January than a year earlier, helped largely by sales of the Wuling Sunshine minivans.
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The Financial Times reports that the glut of unsold new cars has spilled onto previously underutilized ships. Carmakers have apparently run out of space on dealer lots, ports of entry, rail cars, and airport runways. Just last spring, there wasn’t enough capacity aboard the world’s fleet of 640 car carriers to go around, a situation upended by the global downturn in car sales starting around September. Coincidentally, there are 70 more (and larger) car carriers due to be delivered this year. Shipping companies are relieved to get the storage business, and carmakers get someplace to hide their cars. The FT.com article was able to confirm that up to 2500 Toyotas are chartered for an extended cruise to nowhere aboard the Morning Glory in Malmö, Sweden. (Pictures, anyone?) As long as the boats don’t flip over, the cars will be just fine. [ED: Until the marine environment takes its toll.] And if not: sad, sad pictures of shredded Mazdas aboard the Cougar Ace here.

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 Tokyo this week.

India‘s car sales up: Just like neighbor China, India reports rising cars sales for January. Most car companies registered positive sales despite the withdrawal of price rebate schemes, India’s Economic Times reports. Tata Motors continued its negative run, with its passenger vehicle sales declining by 9 percent.

Toyota losses spreading: Toyota’s parts arm Denso and four other Toyota Motor Corp. affiliates are expected to suffer group net losses for the year ending March 31 as the automaker’s drastic output reductions battered businesses along the supply chain, the Nikkei [sub] writes.

Hitachi lowers volume of auto biz: Hitachi considers cutting in half the number of 85 marketing and production sites handling automobile-related equipment, the Nikkei [sub] says. Hitachi group company Clarion has already decided to close a factory in Hitachinaka around the end of 2010 and keep just one domestic factory open. In the US, where Hitachi operates Hitachi Automotive Products (USA) Inc. in the state of Kentucky and three other production bases, two locations may be closed.

Mazda sees red: Mazda expects its first loss in eight years for this fiscal year due to damage sustained from a strong yen and a sharp downturn in consumer sentiment, the Nikkei [sub] reports. The Hiroshima-based company now expects a net loss of ¥13 billion for the current fiscal year through March, compared with its previous forecast for a ¥50 billion profit.

Ford moving to China: Ford Motor Company’s Asia Pacific and Africa region headquarters, will be moving from Bangkok to China, Gasgoo reports. Bangkok will continue to serve as Ford’s ASEAN regional headquarters. In 2004, Volkswagen AG and General Motors relocated their Asia Pacific regional headquarters to China.

Small getting bigger and bigger: Underscoring China’s move from big to small, SAIC-GM-Wuling, a Chinese venture of GM and leading manufacturer of mini-trucks and mini-vans in China, reported all-time high sales of 75,168 units in January, Gasgoo writes. The record sales were largely on the strength of Wuling Sunshine, which remained the best-selling model and saw its sales volume hit 1.4 million units by the end of January 2008.

Not a good start for Deutschland: Germans bought 14.2 percent fewer cars in January 09  than in January 08.  Saab (-60.7 percent), Chrysler (-53 percent), Land Rover (-51.9 percent), Nissan (-51.1 percent), Jaguar (-31 percent), Skoda (-30.7 percent), Mercedes (-30 percent), Porsche (-24.7 percent) and Opel (-22.7 percent) were the big January losers in Germany’s car market, Automobilwoche [sub] reports.  Ford sold 25.9 percent more. Smaller importers such as Hyundai (+50.8 percent), Mazda (+27.2 percent) and Lancia (+13.7 percent) gained. The trend goes from big to small.

Out with a Bangle: After 17 years with BMW, U.S.-born Christopher Bangle resigns as chief designer of the BMW Group. The Bavarians go Dutch with Adrian van Hooydon. According to Reuters, Chris Bangle is “one of the most well-known and controversial people in the auto industry.” Bangle was the object of multiple online petitions calling for his sacking. After his 2002 redesign of the 7 Series sedan, the vehicle was voted one of the 50 worst cars of all times by Time magazine, along with such other infamous models as the 2001 Pontiac Aztek and the 1998 Fiat Multipla.

Honda reported in with their sad sales numbers with unadjusted monthly sales down 27.9 percent. Fit sales were steady, up 5.9 percent. Accord and Civic took drubbings of minus 31 and minus 32 percent respectively, with the Civic Hybrid down 62 percent. Light truck sales were down 27 percent with the Odyssey minivan trailing an unusually heavy 38 percent hit. (The number one selling minivan nameplate just took a back seat to the rebate-stuffed Toyota Sienna.) Over on the Acura side, TSX buyers ignored TTAC reviews and sent sales up 16 percent, which comes out to a little over 300 cars. The more expensive numb-feeling, shovel-nosed sedan, the TL, was down 40 percent. The Acura CUVs got similarly neglected, down 46 percent. Needless to say, Honda’s management team is on the case. Well, someone’s case.

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Toyota sold 117,287 vehicles this January, falling 34.4 percent compared to January 2008. Losses were split relatively evenly between the Toyota/Scion division (down 34.9 percent) and Lexus brand (down 30.3 percent). Toyota doesn’t break out Scion brand sales for its press release, but all of its models are down between 41.8 percent (xD) and 59.5 percent (tC). Corolla (down 10.8 percent), Lexus RX (down 7.2 percent) and FJ Cruiser (down 18.7 percent) were the best performers in the ToMoCo lineup. Elswhere, sales drops by model were as bad as 67.2 Percent (Land Cruiser), 61.6 percent (Lexus SC) and 63.6 percent (Lexus GX). Hybrid sales hit 11,876 in January.

When I called Las Vegas home, massive towers were going up, traffic was bad (especially on the Blue Diamond Highway), tourists were annoying and gas was cheap. Now, leaving Las Vegas, massive towers are going up, traffic is bad, tourists are annoying and gas is—once again—cheap. But it’s always worth saving a few gallons. After all, that $1 could win you the $1m payout at the Luxor’s giant slot machine. It’s thinking that makes both Sin City and the VW Jetta diesel so great.

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It’s the hottest road race of the year. Who are the champs and who are the chumps of the global auto industry? Everybody who’s somebody wants to become a statistic in “world motor vehicle production by manufacturer.” Officially, that race is not over until the fat lady at OICA, the “Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles” or International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, sings. OICA still has the 2007 numbers on their website. Yet, General Motors has already conceded the top post to Toyota. All other manufacturers have already announced their numbers. While OICA is taking their good old time counting, the Nikkei [sub] performed its own tally.

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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 Tokyo this week.

Here they come: China’s SAIC will sell its homegrown cars to Spain, UK, and Israel beginning in 2010, Gasgoo reports. Some of the cars will come directly from SAIC’s assembly plants in Shanghai and Nanjing, while others will come from the company’s UK assembly plants, which SAIC acquired from Rover. The UK will get domesticated Chinese. All cars will comply with EU Euro-5 emission standards.

Germany down 14 percent in January: Not quite 19 percent as feared yesterday, but close. Germany sold 14 percent fewer cars in January 2009 than in January 2007, Automobilwoche [sub] reports. If you are looking for a statistical savior: Adjusted for buying days, the drop is only 8 percent. All eyes on the clunker culling money, €2.5K. It was introduced 1/27, too late to save the first week of the year.

Sania rejects Porsche, Porsche happy: Much to the relief of Porsche, Sweden’s truckmaker, Scania, rejected a bid Porsche had to make after taking over VW, the Wall Street Journal [sub] writes.

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Back from the dead after I’m back from Europe: 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 Tokyo this week.

Itai: Japan’s domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses dropped 27.9 percent year-on-year in January, declining for the sixth straight month, the Nikkei [sub] writes. Sales in January totaled 174,281 vehicles– the lowest for the month since 1976. The Nikkei: “Auto sales are closely monitored by economists since they are the first consumer spending numbers released each month.”  And these figures don’t bode well.

Oichi: Honda downgraded its earnings forecast, but still expects to report an 80 billion yen group net profit for the year ending March 31, the Nikkei [sub] reports. Stalled sales in Japan, the U.S. and Europe, as well as the stronger yen, led the automaker to lower its projected profit by 105 billion yen. Strong motorcycle sales in Asia helped Honda skirt the losses seen by Toyota and Nissan.

Aua: Worldwide sales of all brands dropped 25 percent in January. Compared to that, VW’s January loss of 15 percent is not all that bad, says VeeDub’s Martin Winterkorn according to das Autohaus.

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Friends’ star Jennifer Aniston crashed her Jaguar back in the 00’s. Since then, Jennifer has kept the PC flame alive with her Toyota Prius. Courtney Cox crashed a white Bimmer in Hawaii, but she’s normally seen driving a Range Rover (even if she isn’t sure which one’s hers). Sarah Jessica Parker got to keep her clothes from Sex and the City; here’s hoping Ms. Cox added an Audi R8 to her Dirt contract. Lisa Kudrow snagged a car out of her deal with Lexus’ internet-only L Studio. Matt LeBlanc races for fun, and fessed-up about running a Porsche Turbo on Conan O’Brien. Well, not on him… Matthew Perry also crashed a BMW, but moved on to a Porsche Cabriolet. David Schwimmer’s first car was a 1976 Chevy Monte Carlo. Pause. He also dated Minnie Driver. Pause. And that’s enough for the guy who went from being a poster child for sarcasm to the whiniest man on planet Earth. Now, ALL of them can get do the right thing for American manufacturing (whatever that is) AND get a discount on a GM product simply by finding a “friend” who works for the company. For people who pay people to get rid of stalkers, how hard can that be? And you can get the same deal too! Not on stalkers but GM products! GM’s announcement to its employees after the jump.

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Rumors of GM channel-stuffing became reality when we heard that the General was forcing dealers to take on unwanted inventory to qualify for incentive cash. And while the smaller dealers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, big boys like AutoNation at least have enough clout to make a choice. And CNN reports that AutoNation has told GM where it can stick its overstock. GM and Chrysler “have implemented wholesale incentive programs where they basically say to get the incentives for the inventory you want, you have to buy more inventory,” AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson said Thursday with his trademark subtlety. “The channel is full, and they are trying to stuff more in. I think this is the wrong thing to do. We are not playing that game.” Meanwhile, GM and Chrysler are exhorting their dealers to take more unwanted inventory. While on a sales drum-up dealership tour last week, Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press said the automaker needs dealers to begin ordering vehicles because the “downside could be a lot worse” if orders don’t increase. For the OEMs, anyway. AutoNation’s fourth quarter sales dropped 34 percent, although $200 million in cuts and $750 million in debt paydown last year have helped keep the retailer afloat. “We do believe that there’s the possibility of an improvement in March if credit really begins to thaw, but we are taking a wait-and-see attitude,” Jackson said. “We want to see it before we’ll stop at that level.”

Now that President Barack Obama has decided to let California raise America’s fleet-wide fuel economy regs to something like a 42mpg average, the automakers are howling with righteous idignation. Not. How could they? Not only would that be impolite to the incoming adminstration, environmentalists, the Democratic party and mother Earth, but GM and Chrysler are now more-or-less owned by the same federal government that just told CA to go for it. The New York Times dusted off ye olde “greedy American automakers are dragging their heels over higher mpg vehicles” template, but really, their heart just isn’t in it. But you’ve gotta give the Gray Lady credit for digging up a least one hysterical Neanderthal. Yes, it’s our old pal David E. Cole, whose Center for Automotive Research (CAR, geddit?) created the widely-quoted and entirely specious study that justified the Motown bailout buffet in the first place (if they go down, 42b workers will hit the soup lines). You can guess what David said, but it’s still fun to read. And wait ’til you don’t hear what Detroit doesn’t say…

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Inflammatory much? Of course we do. Quick digression: Bain & Co is one of those international consultancies whose website doesn’t provide a client list, or any exact idea of what it does for them. Reading between the lines, like McKinsey & Company, they probably specialize in firing people (e.g., “Where appropriate, we work with clients to make it [increasing “value”] happen—which may mean fundamentally changing the company.”) The connection between Bain and a study of potential EV ownership is left unspoken. Looks like the usual client angling to me. OK, so, Business Week reports that Bain reports that EV intenders are rich bastards. “The survey of 4,000 people in eight countries, including the U.S., China, Japan and Germany, finds that high-income buyers are ready to buy all-electric vehicles as a second vehicle for short trips. ‘Consumers would be buying now if there were products,’ says Gregor Matthies, a Munich-based partner at Bain who specializes in the auto industry.” Did they only survey high income buyers? Not specified. So which theoretical EVs are we talking about?

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