Ford has spent considerable amounts of money trying to make its North American workforce more cost-effective. Last year's contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) allowed Ford to hire new workers at lower pay rates, while trimming higher-paid labor through buyouts and early retirements. But when the 54k buyout offers translate into actual gains in efficiency is "anyone's guess." That's the straight dope from VP for Labor Affairs Marty Mulloy [via Wards]. Ford's cost savings are directly related to the number of employees actually taking the buyout offer ('natch), and Ford still isn't saying how many workers are expected to sign up and bail out. Meanwhile, Mulloy says the American automaker will not be making any new entry-level hires this year. That's because five thousand highly-paid Ford workers still languish at the 11 factories once owned by Automotive Components Holdings (ACH), which Ford (in its infinite wisdom) bought in 2005. While Ford wants to sell or shutter the plants by year's end, it has to either hire or buy-off the ACH employees. Folks, it could be years before the Blue Oval's labor costs approach those of Toyota, Honda and other transplant competitors. And Ford's talking about insourcing?

Jeremy Clarkson is wrong! Top Gear demonstrated the Toyota Hilux survives drowning, fire, a tree, a wrecking ball, and the destruction of a skyscraper. However, the one thing he didn't try was handing it over to the average American Airmen/Soldier. Just like the Nissan Urvan, the Hilux' manual transmission couldn't handle the abuse heaped on it by America's finest and ended up with stripped synchronizers and chipped gears. To rectify the situation, the USAF recently purchased a fleet of Chevrolet Silverado Z71 6.0-liter uber-trucks for several deployed locations, with automatic transmissions, and push-button four-wheel drive. I wonder how those would hold up to Jeremy Clarkson?

Finally, it looks like the other shoe is dropping. Nine days after Toyota slashed prices on 16 of its Canadian models, its greatest emulator, Hyundai, has followed suit. CanadianDriver.com reports that Hyundai has recently clawed back the prices the Tiburon and the Tuscon L by $3,000 and $4,200 respectively. So how does this stack up against U.S. pricing? According to Hyundai.com, a new base-level Tiburon now costs $15,995 in Canada vs. $17,025 south of the border. The Tuscon is now cheaper north of the border, at $16,995 versus $17,235 in America. Before you Americans start drafting your business plan around a Canadian domestic market importation scheme, beware: the base Sonata is still more expensive in Canada, relieving of you $18,995 Canadian or $17,670 American. Now that Chrysler, Toyota and Hyundai have put the squeeze on dealers at other car companies' franchises, we expect many more "adjustments" to come. [thanks to Dave McDonald for the tip]

At the International Renewable Energy Center, President Bush was shown a modified plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius and a Mack truck with a biodiesel-friendly Volvo engine. According to The Detroit News, Bush sang the body politic electric. "We want our city people driving not on gasoline but on electricity. And the goal, the short-term goal, is to have vehicles that are capable of driving the first 40 miles on electricity." (Not coincidentally, 40 miles is the projected EV range of the Chevy Volt.) While the Prez signed an energy bill mandating 36b gallons of ethanol by 2022, he's refused to fund advanced battery research (chump change at $500m over five years). "We've got to get off oil," the former oilman pronounced. "Dependency on oil presents a real challenge to our economy." Yeah, but how about political dependency on subsidies?

Though locked in a battle for worldwide sales domination, top executives at GM and Toyota agree on one thing: hydrogen fuel cell cars are a crock of shit (albeit an extremely cold one). Speaking separately to reporters at the Geneva Auto show, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe criticized the "zero-emissions" technology as too expensive, too dependent on non-existent infrastructure, not competitive with other alternative power sources, and an idea that just ain't done cookin'. The Wall Street Journal quotes ToMoCo's top dog as saying "it will be difficult to see the spread of fuel cells in 10 year's time." Meanwhile, the recipient of TTAC's inaugural Bob Lutz Award asks, "If we get lithium-ion to 300 miles… Why do you need fuel cells?" I guess this explains why The General didn't bother installing an actual fuel cell power train into the Cadillac Provoq hydrogen concept making the rounds at this season's auto shows.

Attention car companies who desperately want to beat Toyota at the green car game: start building diesel hybrids now. Accordingt to Automotive News [sub], Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe says his company has no plans to build a hybrid diesel car. Toyota leads worldwide sales of gas – electric hybrids, plans to offer diesels on the Tundra/Sequoia platform and sells a truck in Japan with a hybrid diesel powertrain. So what's the issue? Unlike other companies we could mention (cough, GM, cough), Toyota doesn't see the value in rushing prohibitively expensive green technology to market. "A diesel hybrid car would cost more than a gasoline hybrid," explains Watanabe, reminding the greenrush crowd that the car business is still a business. So what of diesel hybrid concepts from Mercedes and Volkswagen? We can only assume that consumers have long become accustomed to overpaying for German offerings. 

If you’ve ever stood at a Swiss platform and watched a train pull in within seconds of its ETA, you’ll know that this small country knows how to get shit done. The Geneva auto show is no exception. Its precise schedule and small scale make it the crown jewel of car confabs. This year, there was enough greenwashing to scrub the Amazon clean. Where once style, performance and a beautiful babe made show cars sexy, halo cars must now wear a badge proclaiming “Saving the planet one car at a time.” As if.

Of course, a hypocritical herd instinct does not an exciting auto show make. How many plug-in diesel-electric belt-assisted hydrogen-fuel-cell regenerative-braking lithium-ion dual-fuel unrealistically aerodynamic hybrid alibimobiles planned for 2011 were there? Lots. Suffice it to say, GM introduced its fifth hybrid powerplant at the Geneva show, a marginal improvement that’s testimony to the intensity of the PR war waged in the name your home planet.

And let's not talk about non-news such as the Audi A4 Avant. Or the Toyota Urban Cruiser (wasn't there an Al Pacino movie by that name?) which leaps to the top of the ten most boring Toyotas ever made in the history of the world, ever.

Meanwhile, the Tiny-Yet-Sexy niche continues to, uh, grow. We’re talking (comparatively) expensive little things that intend to make you feel good about yourself, the environment and parking (not necessarily in that order). As Paul Niedermeyer pointed out, this is the small car future that the MINI started. Toyota's iQ could take it mainstream. Priced higher than the larger Aygo, it looks great and sips fuel.

Another important trend: the Almost-Disposably-Cheap-Yet-Quite-Crap car. Mr. Tata brought the Nano to Geveva in his hand luggage. It’s an attractive appliance, a sympathetic amoeba on roller skates. Yes it has 12" wheels, but the original Mini had ten-inchers. The €9k-ish Dacia Sandero is of the same ilk. Taking purchasing power parity into account, that’s about $8k net, list. The Nissan Pivo is a bit more expensive and a lot more sci-fi, but if this is the future, include me in.

If you need another sign that Renault-Nissan is bursting with self-confidence, how about the Euro-Zone launch of their American (shhh) Infiniti brand? The FX50 is quite the looker. It’s not the segment buster they need, perhaps, but the FX is a lot more distinctive that the G-cars that’ll battle Bimmer’s best.

The stubby/cheeky Audi A3 Cabrio lives somewhere between laughable and laudable. The Cadillac CTS Coupe may not be the brand builder traditionalists seek (V16?), but it gets nothing but props here. It’s Caddy’s best chance abroad. 

I liked the suicide doors on the future Opel Meriva– it's a good sign when a company devotes itself to a topic as prosaic as entry and egress. Surprisingly, the Passat CC is a fantastic improvement on the conventional, frumpy Passat. Honda displayed its handsome, competent Euro-Accords on a blood-red floor. The setting was dramatic, but unnecessary– unless you’re a big fan of The Shining.

Kia's Soul concepts, which intend to emulate Scion in being young & groovy, is interesting, but not quite convincing. The Soul Burner: I thought that was something you ordered at the Indian-food takeaway. The Soul Diva: a bit Paris-Hiltonny, no? The Soul Searcher: this one I liked. Rural and tough-looking, but not macho or in-your-face. Sorta kinda like the Cévennes Turbo-CNG: a futuristic eco-car which rips off the Porsche 356? And the Magna-Steyr Hybrid is the way I like off-road vehicles: less fat, more fun!

BMW showed its X6. It looks a lot less ugly in the metal than on paper, but it still makes about as much sense as broken cuckoo clock. The Skoda Superb is a lot more sensible, although BMW called and they want their Hoffmeister kink back. Volkswagen should consider taking back– and Americans should stop lusting after– the new Portuguese-built Scirocco. It’s a lumpen, fat, graceless, derivative car: an amalgam of Alfa Brera, VW Passat and whatnot.

BYD– isn't that how they pronounce "bird" in the Bronx? In this case, it stands for Build Your Dreams, Chinese style. Of course, Geneva was full of catchphrases. Maserati had "Excellence through Passion." Bentley left the caps lock on, promising "RELAXING EXILARATION," "DRIVEN BY YOUR DESIRES" and "THE SEDUCTION OF YOUR SENSES.”

VW officially unveiled their new global mantra: Engineered Like No Other Porsche in the World. No, wait. It was “Das Auto” or “the car.” This must piss-off Pontiac, who now insists that Pontiac is Car. (This reminds of Garp’s father in The World According to Garp, who lost letters as he lost his life.) No matter what you call it, the main message coming out of Geneva is that small is beautiful. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Click here to view Pixamo gallery of the Geneva Auto Show 

In an announcement that surely had industry-types frantically calling their favorite headhunters, Businessweek reports that nine of Toyota's top U.S. executives will be retiring by the end of the year. There are now openings for vice president positions in logistics, sales, motorsports, business technology, Toyota University and the top job at Toyota Racing Development. Toyota maintains that these are all normally-scheduled retirements but… what of the Jim Press effect? Aren't experienced Toyota managers learning that they're worth their weight in gold to, ahem, less successful, car companies? Analysts say that this year's sagging sales mean the the time is right for ToMoCo of NA to bring-up a new generation of leaders. Before you polish-up your c.v., the Japanese automaker has a long history of promoting from within. Hai!

Forty years ago, Toyota’s invasion of America (and effectively, the world) began in earnest. In 1968, the newly-minted Corolla was sent stateside to do battle with the perennially best selling VW Beetle. Only two short years later, the Corolla was the second-best selling car globally. By 1975, Toyota surpassed Volkswagen as the top import brand. The Corolla has taken all the global production crowns (1.5 million sold in 2007; over 33 million total). It has been the engine powering Toyota’s rise to the world’s largest carmaker. Has the Corolla achieved immortality, or will it eventually lose its way like its spiritual predecessors, the Model T and VW Beetle?

Toyota’s “little crown” started out a bit under-armed to take on the world. More suitable for the crowded and slow streets of Japan, the first Corolla was tiny, narrow, lightweight (1637lbs), underpowered (60hp) and notoriously under-braked. But its $1660 sticker ($10k inflation adjusted) went a long way to compensate for any limitations.

Toyota’s ambitions were limitless, though. Tatsuo Hasegawa, Corolla’s chief engineer, expressed his lofty (and prophetic) goal: to build “a Corolla for the welfare and happiness around the world.” It’s certainly done wonders for the welfare and happiness of Toyota’s shareholders.

The Corolla was launched with a defining statement: “that quality, reliability and durability could be affordable.” That the statement is as true today as it was then can be credited to Toyota’s never-wavering focus. It is the key to the greatest automotive success story ever.

That defining statement would certainly be applicable to the previous global production record holders, the Model T (16.5 million) and the Beetle (21.5 million).

Yes, well, Henry Ford permanently destroyed his company’s market dominance by refusing to change his beloved T for twenty years. And VW experienced a deep crisis as a result of ten years of dithering about the Beetle’s replacement after its thirty year run. But Toyota committed itself to a rigorous self-renewal program with the Corolla, spitting out a substantially refreshed model every four or five years (ominously stretched to six for the latest U.S. generation).

The Gen2 Corolla (1971-1974) was the breakthrough success. It grew just enough to accommodate four adults in comfort (as it was defined then). In 1971, Car and Driver praised the Corolla for “its spacious and attractive interior, good overall quality and economy” as well as being “fun to drive… as it feels more like a sports car than the others.”

Given Toyota’s unwavering focus, if “fun to drive” had been part of the Corolla’s initial defining statement, we might still be grinning behind the wheel today. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, because the Corolla was just hinting at fun when C/D tested that 73hp 1200cc four-speed sedan.

In 1971, Toyota introduced the legendary 2T-C engine, a 1600cc hemi-head that spit out 102hp. In the lightweight Corolla (1800lbs), it represented the best dollar/horsepower/weight/fun equation in the land. And when the five-speed SR5 coupe arrived (hand-in-hand with the 1973 energy crisis), the formula overwhelmed Detroit.

Confronted with bloated, emasculated, fuel-gulping 4,000lb “intermediate” coupes with opera-windowed padded tops and fake wire-wheel hubcaps, buyers voted with their feet and Toyota sales exploded. The Corolla SR-5 was the perfect antidote to seventies malaise.

Gen3 and Gen4 Corollas refined and consolidated the rear wheel-drive (RWD) era up until 1984. The Corolla’s durability became legendary; outside of the rust-belt, they’re still a common sight on the streets, earning their keep. But sportiness increasingly took a back seat, especially with the switch to front wheel-drive with the 1985 models.

The exceptional gifted exception to FWD dullness was the AE86 RWD GT-S coupe, with 124hp. It was the last of the old narrow, light RWD formula. Pistonheads still seek it today for its drifting potential.

U.S.-bound Corollas since 1985 have stayed true to the original concept, except that ride quality increasingly displaced any lingering hint of sportiness. But as the Corolla increasingly became a global commodity, it had to adapt, especially in Europe.

To compete against the class-leading Golf, the European Corolla took on Germanic attributes. (The current version has even dropped the Corolla moniker for Auris.) Its angular Golf-esque hatchback body doesn’t share a single panel with U.S. Corollas, and sports Toyota’s advanced diesel engines and a sophisticated multi-link rear suspension. It’s the equivalent of the euro Focus to our notoriously white-bread version.

The Auris clearly represents one point of departure from the old formula. The automobile market is becoming ever more stratified, in America. The Corolla-based Matrix is a reflection of the trend; Scion also provides in-house competition.

Undoubtedly, the Corolla formula still has legs, here and abroad. But the MINI’s effect on the small car market may turn out to be game-changing, where style and image trump dowdy practicality. The Corolla took the world by storm, but fashion is a fickle creature. Toyota’s fight for dominance must move in a different direction.

Every forty seconds, another new Corolla rolls off a dealer’s lot. Statistically speaking, it’s piloted by a middle aged woman without a college degree. She could be your house cleaner, mother or receptionist. For forty years, the Corolla has satisfied her with its predictable blend of reliable, economical and durable transportation. These days, old is out, youthful is in. Toyota’s PR professed and ambitious goal for their tenth generation Corolla: “to connect, more than ever, with younger buyers on every level” (Toyota’s italics/underlines). So, has the new Corolla hooked up?

Asked about the American Axle strike, GM Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve said "I don't know how long this thing is supposed to last. It's not a threat to our daily business. If it persists for a long time it could be." Yes, that's factually accurate. But it sure sounds like LaNeve couldn't give a shit. It's a far cry from something along the lines of, "We deeply regret this disruption at one of GM's trusted, longtime suppliers. For the sake of our employees and customers, we're hope to see a speedy and amicable resolution to this dispute." And at almost the exact same moment that LaNeve was poo-poohing an industrial action that's hurting GM's other suppliers, Toyota was handing out its 2007 Top Supplier Awards. "The awards were presented at Toyota's Annual Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, bringing together approximately 500 North American suppliers. Toyota hosts this annual event to communicate objectives for the current year, recognize top supplier performance for the prior year and enhance relationships… Suppliers' commitment to continuous improvement is key to achieving Toyota's long term focus on quality and value." 

Showcased in the Saab 9-X concept at Geneva, GM's unveiled their fifth hybrid powerplant: an evolution of their first-gen Belt-Alternator-Starter system (a.k.a. BAS or "mild hybrid"). The Detroit News says upgrades include a new, Hitachi-sourced lithium-ion battery, a new electric motor, the addition of "brief electric-only propulsion" and improved regenerative braking. At Geneva, GM hybrid guru Steve Poulos said these upgrades do not an American Revolution make. "We took the same [first-gen BAS] system and put it on steroids." GM's next gen system is three times more powerful than the existing BAS unit. That said, Poulos admitted that the new system will improve a BAS-equipped vehicle's fuel efficiency by one to two miles per gallon. CEO Rick Wagoner says this new drivetrain is "important step to make hybrid technology more affordable to a wide variety of consumers." Baby steps indeed. If GM wants to catch-up with Toyota's Synergy drive, they'll have to do better than this.

GM and Chrysler weren't the only ones singing the blues when February's sales numbers plunked onto the e-mat. Automotive News [sub] reports Ford and Toyota also showed declines in February– although not quite as precipitous as The General and Mopar. Ford's sales fell 6.3 percent compared to last February, while Toyota's (including Scion and Lexus) dropped a jaw-dropping 6.6 percent (when adjusted for the extra selling day this year). Toyota's atypical performance is attributed to poor truck sales. Group vice president of marketing admitted that ToMoCo's full-size truck and SUV sales "could get tougher before it gets better." With a 37 percent decline in the U.S. construction industry, Randy Pflughaupt ain't just whistling Dixie. Honda, Mazda and Nissan, on the other hand, bucked the trend and actually posted gains. Honda was up 4.9 percent, Mazda increased 6.7 percent and Nissan rose 1.2 percent. Hmmm… the two companies with no V8 engines and no full-sized pickups or huge SUVs showed the largest gains. What does that tell you?

I live in a hilly area of high-crowned, barely two-lane back roads. There are no center lines, lots of blind corners, hills and crests; and not much traffic. You could say it’s an enthusiast's paradise. But then… stupid drivers. It happened to me last week, for the third time in a year. A driver without the slightest situational awareness put me into a ditch, leaving me yelping moronically and bleating my horn while they sped off. This has got to stop.

In the last couple of years, the four o'clock rush has provided a perfect illustration of vehicular inattentiveness. That’s when the contractors and service guys in vans and pickups and the boys in the local U.S. Military Academy cadre jump in their big trucks and race home. Fortunately, I get to view the show from the opposite-direction traffic. It’s an inbound kamikaze squadron. Negotiating our only four-lane, I can almost hear Darrell Waltrip: “Lookit, lookit, they’re three wide into the corner and somebody’s gonna wreck!”

On the back road shortcuts, I meet guys in compact cars coming the other way. A simple, mutual flick of the steering wheel to move aside and we're by each other. But the pickup-and-SUV crowd hews to the crown of the road.  It’s move off the road or be killed.

Folks, I'm not talkin' Alzheimered grandmothers or soccer moms on cell phones. These are NASCAR dads with toolboxes in back who imagine that on a good day they could give Junior a run for his money. And yet they’re obviously unable to put their enormous right front fender any closer to the edge of the road because they haven't the faintest idea how much clearance is available.

To me, this lack of spatial awareness (SA) is the clearest sign of a national diminution of driving skills. And yet America’s driving instruction (and tests) still teaches new motorists that their safety depends on maintaining a “safe margin of distance”– rather than focusing on SA and car control. That’s two kinds of stupid.

Once upon a time, positioning skills– rather than simple speed– were the mark of an excellent driver. Ken Purdy’s classic book Kings of the Road contains a wonderful chapter about the Italian racecar driver Tazio Nuvolari. Though I’m working from 40-year-ago memory here, the author relates how Nuvolari accepted a dare to drive through an ancient stone arch. The passage provided his monoposto Alfa-Romeo with two inches of clearance on each side.  Nuvolari did it at a triple-digit speed. With ease.

In Germany, Autobahn-repair rubber cones sometimes funnel two lanes into a space earlier taken by one. Everybody slows, positions and keeps moving. In New York, Michigan or California, traffic comes to a standstill whenever they cut the flow down to a single-lane merge, since nobody could deal with such proximity. I always wonder what Europe must be like for the American rental-car drivers who can’t make it down their small-town streets without clipping side mirrors.

It’s hard to know which came first: American cars without enough road feel for proper positioning or American drivers’ lack of interest in cars with enough road feel for proper positioning (never mind cornering). In any case, the result is truly frightening. 

I’m an EMS volunteer. Our ambulances can’t even use our town’s quite ordinary Main Street when we’re in a hurry; we’re too likely to come up against somebody in an SUV who has to fearfully get out of our way and inch past, even with a foot of clearance on either side.

At the risk of offending someone with the truth, it’s  often a woman who has no more business driving a 6,000-pound truck with fingertip light power steering than she does piloting a Lear. But she likes the visibility and her husband insists. (My own doctor’s wife tells me that she loathes her towering Toyota Land Cruiser, but her better half feels better knowing his wife is encased in so much metal.)

If you don’t count my time aboard a Farmall tractor, I learned to drive in 1952, and the olden days were a time when you worked on your own skills and pretty much assumed everybody else on the road was reasonably competent.   These days, I spend far too much of my driving time looking out for the other guy– whether it’s the duallie Ram half in my lane, the Expedition bearing down unchecked in my rear-view mirror at the stoplight, the woman who looked left and right and then pulled out 20 feet in front of me awhile ago (in EMS, we call them “looked but didn’t see” crashes) or somebody inexplicably crossing from their lane into opposite-direction traffic.

Drunk? Distracted? Simply lost control? We’ve seen ‘em all, and they’re usually fatal for somebody. All too often the other guy,

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: the only realistic hope for increasing public safety on our roads is the automated car. Personally, I can think of nothing worse than surrendering control of my vehicle to a microchip. But then, like you, I’m not the problem.

When contemplating the full horror of February's sales stats, the key metric to keep in mind is -6.3 percent. That number represent the overall decline in new car sales for the month, relative to '07. Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that Chrysler was the biggest loser in this declining market, registering a 14 percent February sales drop. Truck sales, upon which ChryCo's fortunes (or lack thereof) depend, sank 22 percent. The situation over at GM, is equally dire. Sales for the month dropped by 12.9 percent. Both automakers responded to the news with characteristic bravado/denial. GM Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve told analysts it's everybody's problem ("Toyota, Ford, all had a difficult month") and blamed the media ("I personally believe that this discussion of a recession hurts consumer confidence"). Chrysler's executive vice president of North American sales said the sun will come out tomorrow. While predicting double digit declines for every month for the rest of the year (!), Steven Landry said "We know there will be an upside. If it is March we want to be ready." Yes, well, if sales at GM and Chrysler continue to crater at this pace, both carmakers' cash conflagration will force them to file. It's simply a question of who'll file first.