Filling-up the Odyssey the other day, I was surprised when the wallet-drainage started slowing down at $48. Of course, I knew what wasn't coming: anything more than $50 worth of gas. As an a tax paying member of the world's most pampered people, I found it incredibly annoying that I had to restart the entire sales process for an additional $8. As a free marketeer, I found it bizarre that a large corporation (Shell) would make it hard for me to spend MORE money. Turns out it's the credit card companies– Visa and Mastercard– who are limiting millions of gas purchases to $50 in some states, $75 in others. As USA Today points out, even $75 won't do it for many fuel hungry behemoths. "At $4 a gallon, $75 buys 183/4 gallons. A 2008 Toyota Sequoia SUV's tank holds more than 26 gallons, a Chevy Avalanche sport pickup totes up to 311/2 gallons, and a 33-foot or longer Winnebago Adventurer RV hauls 75 gallons." While environmentalists may have little sympathy for the Devil, the credit card companies claim the limits protect their customers from fraud. Sure, in the same way they write-off fraud rather than upgrade members' card security with photo-embedded plastic or thumb print biometrics. Profits before people? No way.

[Can anyone tell me if their TTAC RSS feeder is working?] 

Everyone's familiar with New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., right? Also known as NUMMI, the plant is a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. Why would the number one and number one two car makers team up? The old answer was that GM wanted to learn about Japanese "lean" manufacturing techniques and Toyota wanted to use the plant as a beachhead to establish North American production. The new answer? We'll leave it to the historians. That said, ToMoCo is thinking about maybe building their hot selling hybrid at NUMMI. Motor Authority is reporting that as American demand for the Prius remains high, the potential move is making a lot of sense to (some) Toyota suits. Like all of their corporate decisions, Toyota will be thinking long on hard on this one. Not mentioned in the article is that due to the weakness of the dollar, American workers can now be paid in chicken feed, or the equivalent there of. Hey, it's not all bad news. Maybe GM can learn a thing or two about what makes a Prius before the 2010 "launch" of the Chevy Volt.

Yeah, I know: car hacks always say that shit. But seriously, this one could hop the Pacific. It's Honda's Fit-based Freed, a Lilliputian van for the Japanese market named for the word yelled by occupants upon exit. Just kidding. The mini-minivan shares the Fit's 1.5-liter engine, which attempts (however fitfully) to move a maximum of eight passengers. Thanks to creative gas tank placement (shades of Toyota Previa), the Freed boasts a low loading floor and– get this– standard dual power sliding doors. Way-hey! The $16k Freed competes against the way cooler Nissan Cube3 and the Toyota Sienta. With gas prices eliminating SUVs as the stateside schleppers' wheels of choice, it's only a matter of time before one of these micro people carriers (or is that carriers of micro-people?) make it across the Pacific. But which one? And when will that vanning thing start anyway?

Auto Motor und Sport's spy photographers spotted this near-production crew-cab version of Wolfsburg's global pickup undergoing street testing. Although VW has stayed true to its legacy of unnecessarily creative nomenclature, the "Robust" is a new day. First, it's a "real" VW, not a rebadged Toyota HiLux (i.e. the Taro which the Robust replaces). Second, VW won't be sending the Robust to America. VW's manufacturing the pickup in Germany, South Africa and Argentina aimed at the bounciest of developing-world roads. The engine offerings wouldn't have played well in Peoria anyway; the Robust will harbor four cylinders (gas and diesel) powerplants, with a V6 for "select markets." Volkswagen has threatened to take pickups seriously for some time. Aside from the infamous "Golfamino" of the 70's, the rebadged Toyota and a few over-the-top studies like the V10 diesel AAC concept, it's been all talk. The Robust's no-frills, (presumably) fuel efficient utilitarianism is a good place to start from scratch.

Apparently the GMC dealer unknown writer posting on the Commercial Auto Dealers web site had a change of heart about hybrids. After warning everyone about the dangers of driving a too-quiet, electromagnetic-field-generating deathtrap, now he wants everyone to know that "GMC is the leader in hybrid vehicles if you're looking for trucks or full-sized SUVs." He goes on to brag "during the first quarter of 2008, the automaker sold nearly 850 hybrid vehicles and about 80 percent of those were large trucks." I'm assuming by "the automaker" he means GM, not GMC division, as the only hybrids GMC sells are monstrous Yukons and pickups. So let's see… they sold a total of 850 hybrids in three months. That works out to an average of what, 293 hybrids per month, 234 of which were trucks? In the month of April, Toyota sold twenty-one thousand Priora. Not fair, you say? Ok, let's look just at trucks. Try 1,624 Lexus RX 400h's. Or 2,578 Highlander Hybrids. Ford even sold 1,682 Escape Hybrids. All in one month. If, as he claims (citing Eric Fedeva without identifying exactly who he is or why what he said is important), "GMC is going to be a serious contender in the hybrid market in the next few years," someone at GM better get serious and produce a full hybrid the average buyer can afford. Oh, and that won't bombard its hapless passengers with the "type of magnetic field [that] has been linked to leukemia in children."

Every year, the California-based whack jobs at Strategic Vision announce their "Total Quality Index" (TQI) with some headline-grabbing conclusion. Each year, the media swallows it hook, line and sinker. Each year, we point out that Strategic Vision's methodology is from Planet Claire and their client roster indicates a greater conflict of interest that Gerald R. Ford's presidential pardon. This year we get "Ford vs. Toyota, The Battle for Total Quality Intensifies." Yes, “Ford is back, establishing its vehicle quality in the hearts and minds of its customers,” proclaims Alexander Edwards, president of Strategic Vision’s automotive division. Not to mention Mercury, whose Sable (what the Hell's a Sable?) scoops SV's best large car. And if that isn't enough to discredit these Bozos highly-paid market researchers, ALL the winners are Strategic Vision clients. (Still.) HOW they won is anyone's guess– unless you can envision a way to create a point system measuring "consumers’ motivational hierarchies, including the values that shape perceptions and capture the customers’ emotional responses and drive behavior." Yes, once again, we're ready for someone else to cut down Strategic Vision's "Tree of ValueCentered Knowledge." Please.

Cars.com's Kicking Tires blog reports a low supply of the badge-engineered Toyota Land Cruiser Lexus LX570. The big rig's specs are impressive enough to bring tears to any fan of a full-figured SUVs: 5.7-liter DOHC V8 good for 383hp and 403 ft.-lbs. of twist, 8500 lbs. towing capacity, and a manufacturer claimed 0 – 60 time of 7.4 seconds (presuming the only ass you're hauling is your own). The LX570 starts at $74,700 and ascends from there, from the Technology Pack ($4200) to rear DVD ($1990) to cargo net ($64). The not-so-PC-SUV guzzles gas at a wallet-emptying EPA rating of 12/18 city/highway. Given the temper of the times (i.e. gas prices), it may come as no surprise that the upmarket LX570s is outselling its downmarket Land Cruiser cousin by 50 percent. We're talking small numbers, though. "Lexus doesn't build 60,000 a year; rather, less than 10,000,” Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman reveals. “If the high-volume Chevrolet Tahoe was down to a four-days supply with gas at $4 a gallon, it would be a different story. It's not that demand is high… supply is kept low so that the LX 570 is at a four-days supply of unsold inventory rather than at 100 days and has to be discounted." 

In the wake of last week's revelation that FoMoCo ain't out of the woods yet, the blue oval is in full-on cost-cutting mode. Detroit News reports that Ford VP Jim Farley has announced a 10-12 percent cut in its U.S. salaried workforce to go into effect by August. Saying that Ford is struggling to cope with "a structural change to our economy," Farley told employees at a company "town hall" meeting that the approximately 2k layoffs would be involuntary firings rather than voluntary buyout offers. But Farley isn't losing sleep over the firings, as he sees Ford's problems as being caused by external economic forces over which he has no control. "I would expect other car companies to make similar announcements," Farley told employees when announcing the cuts. "They have the same issues that we do — even Toyota." Even Toyota, eh? Meanwhile, FoMoCo is also trying to tart up its troubled Volvo division by throwing consultants and suppliers under the bus. Automotive News [sub] reports that Volvo has announced that it will pay consultants and suppliers ten percent less than the current contracted rate for services. Proving that shit always runs downhill to the supplier, Volvo spokesfolks blame weak U.S. sales (which they expected) and weak European sales (which they didn't), saying "We're looking into how we can turn the business around." What, so soon? Look for this to simultaneously increase speculation of a Volvo sale (why not screw the suppliers if you've already written the brand off?) and decrease the likelihood of said sale (same reason).

Can you tell we're a little excited about the planned Toyota-Subaru joint RWD sports coupe? Well, the more we learn, the more we want to know, and luckily Edmunds Inside Line has some new info on the project. The coupe's RWD platform will be developed from Subaru's existing AWD architecture, and will be powered by "a revised version of (Subaru's) naturally aspirated boxer 2.0-liter unit generating around 220hp." We're guessing that Subies 2.0 won't make that many ponies without a turbo, so maybe Edmunds got the "naturally aspirated" part wrong. Since the Integra Type R is identified the project's performance benchmark, expect a 0-60 time of about 6 seconds. With 220hp pushing only 2,866 lbs. using an STI-sourced six-speed manual, it sounds like the Toyobaru is going to be up to task. And maybe it's time to stop calling it a Toyobaru. The coupe will be based on Subaru kit and built at Subaru's Gunma factory, while Toyota's main contributions will be in the areas of planning and quality control. In fact, the Toyota version (little more than revised exterior styling) won't even be offered outside of Japan. Then again, if you could buy a sub-3k pound, 220 hp RWD coupe from Subaru with ToMoCo quality control, why on earth would you be tempted by the same thing with a Toyota badge?

As has been pointed out here many times, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. And depending on which statistics you're looking at, they can be used to support whatever you want to say. For example, Ford is number three in sales. Or Honda, depending on which statistic you're looking at. As far as total sales year to date are concerned, FoMoCo (781,791) is still solidly in third place, after GM (1,058,014) and Toyota (789,447) while Chrysler's staked out forth place (601,622) and Honda's trailing in fifth (487,642). However, Automotive News reports that if you factor out low-profit fleet sales, Honda moves to third and Ford drops to fourth. That's because retail sales make up only 65 percent of Ford's total sales and Honda's fleet sales are negligible. So Honda's retail number remains unchanged while Ford's drops to approximately 421k. So who's really number three? We report, you decide.

Before setting off on a 2000 mile roadtrip around the Great American Southwest in a loaner Jaguar XF, my co-driver and I commented, "We are taking a brand new, unproven, Jaguar, across barren deserts and across mountain passes, through blowing dust and drifting snow, and the nearest Jaguar dealership lies over 300 miles away. How much water did we bring?" The Jag proved faultless no matter what we threw at it– until now. Arriving back in Oklahoma City, in true Labor Party fashion, the headlights went on strike. The local Jag dealership proved very useful in not only taking immediate care of me, but also gave me coffee and a loaner Toyota Camry– which while not as much fun, will probably have working headlights. Due to a parts shortage on the new XF, the Jag rep had the dealership cannibalize a new XF to provide the parts. Stay tuned for a full second take on the Jaguar XF.

There are two kinds of people: people who split the world into two kinds of people and people who don’t. I usually consider myself part of the latter group. However, after spending a few years with The Truth About Cars, I’ve become fascinated by the variety of opinions from readers who share so much in common. Type in anything to do with the Prius and watch the battle lines form. Last year, The Cambridge Strategy Center published some ideas that go a long way towards explaining why this website isn’t always unified, taken as gospel and/or followed like law. It seems there are two kinds of car people.

The Cambridge Strategy Center is a marketing/brand consultant think tank, serving clients as diverse as Coca Cola, Phillips and BMW (who embraced and set forth the Center’s ideas regarding car consumers).  Inspired by Jungian personality archetypes, the Center believes drivers are either ‘instrumentalists’ or ‘expressives.’

Instrumentalists believe cars should serve a variety of purposes: commuting, schlepping, joy riding, the works. In fact, the closer their car is to a Swiss Army knife, the better. 

Instrumentalists tend to name their cars, overlook windshield wipers that deploy with the high beams and believe that you can coax a car to start with a soothing voice. In general, instrumentalists want their car to be the kind of friend who helps you move on a Saturday, attracts the opposite sex and stays out of a ditch during a snow storm.

Expressives perceive their vehicles as [yet another] expression of their personalities. They are what they drive.

Expressives want a car that shows they are smart, rich, hip, practical and/or environmentally conscious.  Conversely, in a different form of expression, they might not give two puffs what you think.

Expressives like to drive. All driving is a form of competition, whether it’s racing the wannabe in the Honda Civic or owning the world’s most fuel efficient vehicle. The believe an automobile should do one thing and one thing well. Expressives want the best rock climber or dragster or delivery van.

The Caterham is extreme example of an Expressives’ ideal whip. Quick and harsh and so severally pruned for performance that only Jonny Lieberman might like it (and probably not even him). While any niche vehicle will illustrate the Instrumentalists’ desires, a Honda Insight or H1 also serve as excellent examples of their heart’s desire.

Both Instrumentalists and Expressive can care deeply about cars– for vastly different reasons. Their personal rating systems diverge, cross and curve like the streets of Boston. An instrumentalist might consider a Porsche Cayenne sublimely multi-functional; an expressive might contend that the same model is a waste of space and a brand betrayal. 

When it comes to the new car market, Instrumentalists rule. The preponderance of Camcordimas on American highways illustrates the point. By the numbers, these cars are almost identical. They’re also not far from the Malibu, LaCrosse, Galant, Aura and a host of others an Expressive would be too bored to list.

The entire SUV surge can also be explained by the preponderance of Instrumentalists. Sport and utility?  Both traits are severely compromised-– a Ford Explorer can't haul as much as an Econoline or traverse inner Greenland without some serious modification. It can ALMOST do everything, though. And that is the point of an instrumentalist’s instrument. 

For a car to appeal to both camps it must be useful for a number of tasks, and do at least one thing better than everything/anything else. Obviously, there aren't many cars that fall into this category. But any vehicle that does can attain both cult status (Expressives) and popular sales (Instrumentalists).  The Volkswagen Beetle, the early Toyota Corolla, a proper Land Rover, a genuine Jeep and, most recently, the Toyota Prius are the “real” crossovers.

A list like that just begs for debate. It has to, because everyone who comes to this site arrives with a different set of values. My guess is TTAC readers tend to be Expressives, though it’s not a black and white distinction. People are shades of gray. Most of us need to adapt pocket book to lifestyle to desire.  You can’t fit three kids in an Audi TT unless you’re very angry. In a Honda Pilot, the entrance ramp to the I-90 is simply no fun.

This would account for the large number of consumers who own two vastly different cars. RF’s Porsche Boxster S and Honda Odyssey make a strange, but entirely understandable pairing. How many “boring” sedans sit next to a Miata in the garage? Lots.

Personally, I don’t like to force the world into Venn diagrams. I lean different ways at different times. And I now know that many of the disagreements here stem from diverse values, not from the fact that one commentator is smarter than another. Present company excluded, of course.

The Volt cheerleaders at GM-Volt.com have given The General a chance to explain away the controversy over CEO Rick Wagoner's $30k price pledge on their new plug-in gas electric hybrid Volt. And the spinmeisters have grabbed it with both hands. "I now have official confirmation [from] GM spokesperson David Darovitz that 'there was an unfortunate misunderstanding that resulted in inaccurate information published,'" Dr. Lyle Dennis faithfully reports. "He also went on to say 'we are not in the position to speculate on the retail pricing of the Chevrolet Volt.'" Not after that debacle, you're not. Anyway, Dr. D. provides a helpful update on GM's efforts to use your tax dollars to help the Volt compete with the Toyota Prius. "Last week a new bill called HR 6049 was passed again by the house, allowing $5000 in plug-in tax credits for a car like the Volt with a 16 kwh battery. It allows $3000 as a base plus $200 per kwh over 5 kwh up to a maximum of an additional $2000. It may soon go before the Senate." Although volt.com's blog post on this misunderstanding displays a roll call of Senators who championed/shot down the last attempt at same, so that Volt supporters may lobby on behalf of a Volt subsidy, members of TTAC's B&B who wish to email their senators to oppose this legislation might find the list equally helpful. That said, Dr. Dennis didn't link the list to the Senators' email. Oops! 

The latest from Lambo's CEO Stephan Winkelmann is both a breath of fresh air, and it isn't. Automotive News reports Lamborghini won't be meeting the strict emissions standards laid out by the EU and the USA. Not this year. Not next. They just won't. Why? Well for one, it's against the brand's DNA. When asked if they'll be dropping their V10 and V12 engines in favor of turbo-V8's, the CEO replied, "No." Two, while 2007 was the very best year ever for the raging bull, they only sold 2,604 cars. Toyota's sold more than that since you sipped this morning's coffee. Also, people who buy Lamborghinis don't drive very much. Winkelmann points to an average of just 5,000 miles per car per year. Finally, all things being equal, his cars don't pollute that much. The new Gallardo LP560-4 with its 560 horsepower (though "only" 552hp according to American metrics) 5.2-liter V10 gets 17 mpg. Well, that's according to Winkelmann. We're sure that pushed off a cliff the newest Gallardo will average at least that. Back on point, while ceding that greenhouse gasses are "an emotional issue," Winkelmann proclaims that Lamborghini, "[W]ill never reach the emissions that are asked for." What's the bet that Porsche and their 100k annual sales would love to say the same? 

The price for the 2010 Chevy Volt has been going up. Once pitched as a direct Prius competitor, the mostly-electric Volt is now expected to sticker for around $40k. Not kosher, as Toyota's hybrid stickers just north of $22k. Automotive News reveals the General has a plan: make you pay for it. No, not "you" as in Volt customers– "you" as in American taxpayers. GM is hoping to get a $7K tax credit for "extended-range electric vehicles." That would put the plug-in electric – gas hybrid Chevy Volt's price within spitting distance of the Prius' Monroney. I guess when Slick Rick stated "we want to bring the Volt to the market in 2010 at a price of less than $30,000," "we" meant GM and the taxpayer. (Of course, when he said "we want to make money on the Volt from the beginning," the taxpayer was nowhere in that picture.) As for product readiness, an unnamed source says "We still have a lot of development and testing to go." Let's hear it for representative democracy.