NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Ford Motor continued its successful turnaround as better-than-expected sales and profits easily outdistanced expectations and reversed the operating loss of a year ago.

The automaker earned $2.7 billion, or 68 cents a share, excluding special items. The consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters was for earnings of 40 cents a share, and Ford easily topped even the most bullish forecast of a 48 cent a share profit.

The results were the best quarterly results for Ford in six years and marked the fourth straight quarterly operating profit for the company, which had suffered more than than four years of steady losses before it returned to profitability in the second half of last year.

Ford was the only major U.S. automaker not to go through bankruptcy in 2009, but its year-ago results were still hurt by overall weakness in the U.S. economy and one of the worst quarters of overall auto sales on record. It suffered an operating loss of $638 million, or 21 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

The company has been steadily gaining market share over the last year, with the introduction of critically-acclaimed new vehicles. A year ago it was behind both General Motors and Toyota Motor (TM) in U.S. sales, but it moved back in front of Toyota this year.

Even better results ahead. “We are ahead of where we thought we would be despite the still-challenging business conditions,” said Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally in a statement. “We remain on track to deliver solid profits and positive automotive operating-related cash flow for 2010, and we expect even better financial results in 2011.”

The company posted net income of $2.6 billion, or 61 cents a share, compared with $2.3 billion, or 69 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter, when a conversion of debt to equity gave its bottom line a one-time boost.

Charges in the most recent quarter associated with the plans to discontinue the Mercury brand were partly offset by a gain from Ford’s sale of its Volvo unit to Chinese automaker Geely.

Shares of Ford rose 4% in premarket trading. Shares have climbed 73% in the last 12 months through the close of trading Thursday, although they have slipped 17% from their 52-week high in April.

Revenue at Ford (F, Fortune 500), the No. 2 automakers in terms of vehicles sold in the United States, rose 17% to $31.3 billion, up from $26.8 billion a year ago, topping forecasts of sales of $29.8 billion. The number of vehicles sold worldwide rose 19% to 1.4 million. 

But as Southern Illinois University’s David Gilbert sought to show that electronics might be to blame for the problem in Toyotas, the world’s largest automaker tried to cast doubt on his findings. One Toyota employee even questioned whether he should be employed by the school, which has long been a recipient of company donations.

Electronic messages obtained by The Associated Press show the automaker grew increasingly frustrated with Gilbert’s work and made its displeasure clear to his bosses at the 20,000-student school.

“It did kind of catch us off-guard,” university spokesman Rod Sievers said.

So did the fallout. Two Toyota employees quickly resigned from an advisory board of the school’s auto-technology program, and the company withdrew offers to fund two spring-break internships.

“I didn’t really set out to take on Toyota. I set out to tell the truth, and I felt very strongly about that,” said Gilbert, who was among the first to suggest that electronics, not sticky gas pedals or badly designed floor mats, caused the acceleration that required the Japanese automaker to recall millions of vehicles.

Toyota insists its relationship with the school remains “strong,” and company officials say they have no plans to stop contributing to SIU. They also say the two Toyota representatives who stepped down from the advisory board did so merely to avoid any appearance that the company was exerting influence over Gilbert’s testimony.

“We have absolutely no issues with SIU and retain an excellent relationship. That won’t change,” Toyota spokeswoman Celeste Migliore said.

Driven by his own curiosity, Gilbert in January found he could manipulate the electronics in a Toyota Avalon to recreate the acceleration without triggering any trouble codes in the vehicle’s computer. Such codes send the vehicle’s computer into a fail-safe mode that allows the brake to override the gas.

Gilbert said he reported his “startling discovery” to Toyota, and the automaker “listened attentively.” But Gilbert said he never heard back from the company, which has steadfastly maintained the problems were mechanical, not electronic.

Next, Gilbert told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, then made plans to tell Congress.

“I didn’t feel I could just be passive in this,” he said.

Along the way, Gilbert told the university in writing that he had been tapped as a consultant for a company called Safety Research & Strategies Inc., which asked him to study the safety of electronic throttle controls.

Gilbert’s boss, Terry Owens, wished him well: “Good luck in your investigation,” Owens wrote in a Feb. 10 e-mail. “I hope it leads to public safety and publications.”

One of Gilbert’s research partners, an assistant professor named Omar Trinidad, nervously asked Owens whether the findings would “negatively affect my tenure track or even jeopardize my tenure with SIUC? If you have any reservations on what we are doing, please do not hesitate to inform me.”

Owens tried to reassure Trinidad: “If your investigations are upheld and have major impact resulting in papers, presentations, and national recognition of expertise, these are all factors that will benefit your research productivity.”

Hours later, on the eve of his congressional testimony, Gilbert appeared in an ABC News “World News” report showing correspondent Brian Ross driving a Toyota rigged to quickly accelerate. When it did, a shaken Ross said he had a hard time getting the car to come to a stop.

ABC News later acknowledged that a picture in the segment showing a tachometer with its needle zooming forward was taken from a separate instance in which a short-circuit was induced in a parked car.

But almost immediately after the ABC report, media outlets began calling the school looking for Gilbert. By then, he was headed to Washington — without a cell phone.

Hardly anyone at the university knew Gilbert was going to Washington to testify, Sievers said.

The next day, Gilbert made his case to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and lawmakers seized on the testimony as proof Toyota engineers missed a potential problem with the electronics.

Gilbert’s appearance unleashed a publicity firestorm that Southern Illinois scrambled to control. E-mail chatter among administrators talked of the need to tout Toyota’s “very productive relationship” with the university.

Within days, a product-liability attorney representing Toyota said company attorneys wanted to meet with Gilbert and university officials to discuss Gilbert’s use of donated Toyota vehicles and “related matters.”

“We would like to explain our analysis of the situation and what we believe is a reasonable solution,” Vincent Galvin wrote.

At the meeting four days later, Gilbert said, the visitors pressed him to justify his testimony — something he refused to do, saying he stood by his sworn statements to Congress.

Gilbert, who owns a Toyota Tundra pickup, believes the meeting “was meant to maybe intimidate me.”

The university asked Gilbert and Jack Greer — director of the auto-technology program — to fly to California to see a demonstration at Exponent Inc., a consulting firm hired by Toyota.

“I wasn’t really sure what the point of the trip was, but to keep the peace, I agreed to go,” Gilbert said.

Toyota did not wait for that visit to fire back. Six days later, a group of experts assembled by Toyota to refute Gilbert’s findings told reporters his experiments were done under conditions that would never happen on the road.

Gilbert’s work “could result in misguided policy and unwarranted fear,” Chris Gerdes, director of Stanford University’s Center for Automotive Research, told reporters. His organization is funded by a group of auto companies that include Toyota.

To Gilbert, “it seemed like an awful large amount of effort to be extended by a company to dispel something.” He was unswayed by what he saw in California.

The pressure on him continued to build. On March 8, Mark Thompson — identifying himself as an SIU alum and, without elaboration, a Toyota Motor Sales employee — voiced in an e-mail to the university’s then-chancellor, Sam Goldman, his “great concern and disappointment” about Gilbert. Thompson said he was “deeply disturbed” by what he called Gilbert’s false accusations about the automaker.

Thompson reminded Goldman that he and Toyota regularly contributed to the university — including a $100,000 check to the auto-tech program in late 2008 — and “due to the outstanding reputation your automotive technology program has, we donate much more than money,” including cars.

“I ask you why your organization allows such activities to be performed by one of your professors and most importantly allowed to be reported to the media in a false manner,” Thompson wrote. “I believe he should not be an employee of our fine university.”

Goldman later assured Thompson that “we are taking this matter very seriously for the reasons you cite in your e-mail and for our very strong desire to maintain our relationship with Toyota.”

As a research university, Goldman added, faculty are allowed to research independently and publish their findings, while observing ethical and conflict-of-interest guidelines.

Gilbert insists he never felt his job was threatened, though “there were some moments where I kind of felt I was standing alone.”

Still, he said, if his work “can somehow make a car safer in the very narrow scope of electronic throttle controls … then to me it’s worth it. Because that could be someone’s life that I could be saving.”

Then, a much larger deal — the $400 million acquisition of Cobalt. The company offers marketing services primarily to auto dealers.

The transaction is expected to close in four to six weeks. What’s more, Cobalt’s private equity investors — Warburg Pincus, ABS Capital and Oak Investment — likely made a nice return.

A Look at Cobalt

An early pioneer of the Internet, John Holt founded Cobalt back in 1995. He believed that emerging technologies would bring about major changes in advertising. So why not focus on the massive auto market?

However, this required more than $100 million in equity capital. After all, it takes tremendous resources to build new online platforms as well as find willing customers.

For example, Cobalt provides dealers with customized websites, search engine optimization and help with Internet search advertising. The company has also continued to innovate over the years, integrating social media, such as Twitter and Facebook as well as mobile applications, into its offerings.

What’s more, Cobalt has a thriving lead-generation business. This includes partnerships with Edmunds.com, MSN Autos, Kelley Blue Book, AOL Autos and Yahoo! Autos. Cobalt also operates UsedCars.com, which attracts 11 million unique shoppers a month.

Bulking Up the Dealer Segment

ADP already has a large dealer-services business. But it’s focused mainly on management systems that help with accounting, inventory management, service and so on. Thus, by adding Cobalt’s marketing capabilities, the platform will certainly be more competitive. Besides, the company has relationships with more than half the auto dealers in the U.S. and about 30 manufacturers across the globe.

The deal for Cobalt will help ADP deal with the continued problems in the auto dealer market. With the recession and closure of many dealers, ADP has forecasted a 3% to 4% decline in the business for the year.

But over the next couple years, the online advertising market for autos is expected to be strong. At the same time, ADP’s core payroll business is showing signs of stabilization and should also start to grow more as well.

Before Toyota Motor (TM) became mired in recall woes, the Japanese automaker was well-known for developing innovative vehicles such as the Prius gas-electric hybrid. Now, the company is preparing to move to other alternative fuel technologies to ensure its future viability, according to reports.

Toyota’s recent $50 million investment in electric-car start-up Tesla Motors (TSLA) is just the first such partnership the world’s largest automaker is pursuing, company President Akio Toyoda said Friday in Japan. “Collaboration with other partners is an important part of the future of Toyota,” he said. The companies are jointly developing an electric car prototype.

Toyoda said his company is taking a multipronged approach, looking at all options on the alternative fuels front, including hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, biodiesel and other biofuels. Toyota is also examining the use of smaller, low-cost lithium-ion batteries, rather than the large, expensive ones that are currently used in electric-vehicle technology.

Tesla’s use of small, laptop-style batteries, however, isn’t an ideal solution, said Shinichi Sasaki, a Toyota executive vice president, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The technology requires thousands of cells to power a car, raising the chances of individual cells failing. Still, Sasaki said, if Tesla’s system can be shown to work, it would be intriguing because those lithium-ion batteries are simpler.

Toyota is motivated by the need to produce more fuel-efficient, lower-emission vehicles. New federal standards, announced in April and set to go into effect in 2016, not only raise fuel-efficiency requirements, but for the first time set greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks.

In addition to the prototype it is developing with Tesla, Toyota has developed its own electric vehicle, which it plans to begin selling in 2012.

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David Schepp

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Business News Reporter

David Schepp has covered business news for more than a decade at news organizations such as Dow Jones, BBC News and Gannett. His beats have included technology, biotechnology, health care and workplace. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

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COMMENTS ( 63 )

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siggytow

2:20AM Jul 11 2010

Dude that is so cool manLou
www.ultimate-privacy.net

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Floatgod

12:35AM Jul 11 2010

You there dickx? I guess he must have gone to bed.

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Floatgod

12:08AM Jul 11 2010

Dickx: The President of these United States just gave one billion dollars to Abengao (sounds American doesn’t it?), a Spanish firm to produce solar panels in Arizona. Don’t we have a company in the U.S. that can build solar panels. Dickx, stop blaming ordinary Americans and look around you, the enemy is everywhere! I agree with you, we must take back our country, but don’t blame ordinary Americans!

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Floatgod

11:55PM Jul 10 2010

Dickx: Did you attend the ribbon cutting ceremony at Midland Michigan with VP Joe Biden? You would have seen him gloating over the $161 million that the US Treasury gave to Dow-Kokam, the Kokam part being a Korean lithium ion battery maker who soon be an employer in Michigan. Oh, by the way, the State of Michigan chipped in $180 million in tax incentives to Dow-Kokam. Doesn’t that make you feel proud to be supporting the Koreans? Or maybe you are proud to be supporting TODA of Japan, another lithium ion battery maker who just received a tax credit from the State of Michigan covering TWELVE YEARS, and $35 in a U.S. energy grant. It must be heart warming to you to know you are doing all you can to support the U.S. while the U.S. Treasury and the State of Michigan give away hundreds of millions (billions) to the Asians.

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Dickxl500

11:28PM Jul 10 2010

Oh yeah, just like the Japanese do, laugh at all the stupid so-called Americans who screw our own country to support the Orient instead.

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dang6710

11:10PM Jul 10 2010

Way back in the midst of 1995 and 2000, GM, Chrysler, Ford and the automakers were laughing and ridiculing Toyota with their electric vehicle venture. Well, TODAY who’s being laughed at now???? Toyota is the most successful and most profitable auto company with the electric vehicle venture and where are GM, Chrysler, and Ford are now???? STRUGGLING and was DYING hadn’t the nation bailed them out with 100-billion$$$ of taxpaying SHEEP monie$$$!!!And once again, Toyota is doing what it usually been doing best, ignores the ridicules and stepping up to a HIGHER LEVEL by partnering TESLA with 100% electric vehicles. And with this awesome partnership of the two remarkable auto companies, let’s see who will be begging to be begging for more billion$$$ of sheep tax monies within the next 5-years when oil jumps to $500 bbl and gasoline reaches to $20 per gallon!

Yeah, be entertained and laugh while oil is still at $75 bbl and cheap $3.45 per gallon gasoline as at hand.
But don’t you fsheep mother vckers come crying and biatching 5-years from now when oil is jacked to $500 bbl, and gasoline screams at $20 per gallon!!!

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dang6710

11:09PM Jul 10 2010

Way back **************** 2000, GM, Chrysler, Ford and the automakers were laughing and ridiculing Toyota with their electric vehicle venture. Well, TODAY who’s being laughed at now???? Toyota is the most successful and most profitable auto company with the electric vehicle venture and where are GM, Chrysler, and Ford are now???? STRUGGLING and was DYING hadn’t the nation bailed them out with 100-billion$$$ of taxpaying SHEEP monie$$$!!!And once again, Toyota is doing what it usually been doing best, ignores the ridicules and stepping up to a HIGHER LEVEL by partnering TESLA with 100% electric vehicles. And with this awesome partnership of the two remarkable auto companies, let’s see who will be begging to be begging for more billion$$$ of sheep tax monies within the next 5-years when oil jumps to $500 bbl and gasoline reaches to $20 per gallon!

Yeah, be entertained and laugh while oil is still at $75 bbl and cheap $3.45 per gallon gasoline as at hand.
But don’t you fsheep mother vckers come crying and biatching 5-years from now when oil is jacked to $500 bbl, and gasoline screams at $20 per gallon!!!

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Floatgod

7:56PM Jul 10 2010

gfrat: This is about Tesla and Toyota, please stay on topic.

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gfrati8

7:50PM Jul 10 2010

Yo Fluff for brains they have been very critical of Obama too….the idea you want all Americans now to carry papers to prove they are citizens reaks of the Nazi’s during WWII…..what you are for is larger govt…In order to supervise this you will need more law enforcement people and billions for the jails to put people in whether they are legal or not and tie up our courts with this costing billions……what you people are doing is asking for the largest govt. ever…..

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gfrati8

7:48PM Jul 10 2010

LOL oh god tooo tooo funny…so you’re saying our 401ks that are invested mostly in the market or CDs Obama is going to take our 401k illegally mind and distribute that money to illegal aliens? Are you so stupid you can’t see he’s got the same policies as Bush other then health care? He passed a raise for our Vets that Bush veto’d three times in office….Name the bill that allows the Govt. to attack our 401ks….What a complete liar…..Please name where the trillion dollars went to that Bush borrowed from Red China…you have no problem with Republicans stealing from you do you? Just curious when you get your way and remove all illegal aliens from America is your family going to pick the crops and live the the refugee camps that the illegals live in or you’re going to help those farmers go under so you can support the Chinese brought in goods?

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// <![CDATA[//

Before Toyota Motor (TM) became mired in recall woes, the Japanese automaker was well-known for developing innovative vehicles such as the Prius gas-electric hybrid. Now, the company is preparing to move to other alternative fuel technologies to ensure its future viability, according to reports.

Toyota’s recent $50 million investment in electric-car start-up Tesla Motors (TSLA) is just the first such partnership the world’s largest automaker is pursuing, company President Akio Toyoda said Friday in Japan. “Collaboration with other partners is an important part of the future of Toyota,” he said. The companies are jointly developing an electric car prototype.

Toyoda said his company is taking a multipronged approach, looking at all options on the alternative fuels front, including hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, biodiesel and other biofuels. Toyota is also examining the use of smaller, low-cost lithium-ion batteries, rather than the large, expensive ones that are currently used in electric-vehicle technology.

Tesla’s use of small, laptop-style batteries, however, isn’t an ideal solution, said Shinichi Sasaki, a Toyota executive vice president, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The technology requires thousands of cells to power a car, raising the chances of individual cells failing. Still, Sasaki said, if Tesla’s system can be shown to work, it would be intriguing because those lithium-ion batteries are simpler.

Toyota is motivated by the need to produce more fuel-efficient, lower-emission vehicles. New federal standards, announced in April and set to go into effect in 2016, not only raise fuel-efficiency requirements, but for the first time set greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks.

In addition to the prototype it is developing with Tesla, Toyota has developed its own electric vehicle, which it plans to begin selling in 2012.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/9pNzoE

Jan 27th 2010 | From The Economist online

AFP

IN A race that matched Formula One for its predictability, Toyota Motor Corporation slipped past General Motors just under two years ago to become the world’s biggest carmaker. But even as Toyota built up the revs, all has not been well. The latest setback came on Tuesday January 26th when the firm announced that it would halt production temporarily at six assembly plants in north America and suspend sales of eight of its most popular models, including the Camry, the best-selling car in the United States.

Toyota’s latest troubles in America had begun to surface a week before when it announced a huge recall of 2.3m vehicles to fix accelerator pedals that could jam open, sending cars racing forwards without warning. Toyota is mulling a similar move in Europe that could affect a further 2m cars. The firm’s decision to stop sales and production in America is a substantial blow for the stumbling car giant. The output of these plants accounted for some 60% of sales in 2009. The news put a banana skin under its share price.

Although recalls are a routine matter for carmakers, taking cars off the market is not. And while the car-buying public will tolerate occasional recalls Toyota is making a habit of advertising the defects of its latest models. Last November, Toyota issued a safety recall affecting 4.2m American vehicles that were also potentially subject to sudden acceleration. That time, Toyota blamed badly fitted floor mats for a problem that has affected its vehicles since 2007. The company insists that instances are rare and has issued safety advice to loyal customers for bringing their cars to a halt in the event of a malfunction. The question for Toyota is how far it can test that devotion to its vehicles.

Toyota eased ahead of other carmakers largely because of its reputation for producing good-quality, reliable cars at reasonable prices. These attributes won over buyers who were prepared to overlook the fact that those cars were often dull. But in America, Toyota’s biggest and most profitable market, the company seemed to be losing some traction, even before the latest woes struck. In 2009 its market share was 17%, much the same as the year before even as America’s home-grown car industry fell apart. However sales were 20% down on the year before, better than GM’s performance but worse than Ford’s. It has also fallen back in China, the world’s fastest-growing car market, and in Europe. It is likely that Toyota’s share of the world market fell below 12% last year.

Toyota’s dash to become the biggest carmaker may have had unfortunate consequences. The pursuit of volume seems to have dented the company’s enviable record for reliability. In 2006, after another bout of recalls, the company promised a “customer first” strategy to restore its slipping reputation. But recalls continued and Toyota started to slide in customer-reliability polls while Ford, VW and others such as Hyundai, which added to sales in America last year, caught up. And these rivals are making cars that are often more desirable than those Toyota has to offer. The latest troubles can only make customers more wary of buying a Toyota. Even Toyota’s much vaunted leadership in electric and hybrid vehicles is under threat as other big carmakers prepare to launch their own green models soon.

The sense of alarm sweeping Toyota found a voice last October. Akio Toyoda, the company’s boss since June and grandson of Toyota’s founder, gave a stark warning about the firm’s spiral of decline to a group of astounded Japanese journalists. At least he also recognises that Toyota has to make more exciting vehicles. But the firm needs to rebuild its reputation for rock-solid reliability too. The drastic step of halting vehicle production in America is sure to set back that aim for a long while.

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15390573

Aluminum use in automobiles has been increasing steadily. Today, the average aluminum content per vehicle is almost 150 kilograms, or 9 percent of the total vehicle weight. Around one fourth of the aluminum consumed in the U.S. is used in automobiles.

The advantage of using aluminum lies in its potential to reduce vehicle weight. Replacing iron and steel with aluminum can help lower fuel consumption. However, the energy required to produce aluminum is nontrivial.

Each kilogram of aluminum requires 160 megajoules of energy to process — from mining the bauxite ore to smelting the alumina and casting an ingot — a value that is about seven times that of steel. When examining energy use in road transportation, one should also consider the production phase of the automobile’s life-cycle. A new study by researchers at MIT examined the production-energy impact of aluminum in U.S. passenger vehicles in the present and the future.

The cumulative amount of energy required to produce aluminum for new vehicles is reported to rise to 8 billion gigajoules by 2035. This is a quarter of the amount of energy used by the U.S. transportation sector in 2008 alone.

This production impact can be lowered by using more recycled aluminum and/or improving the energy efficiency of aluminum production at a faster rate. However, this may potentially be countered by efforts to use lighter weight, stamped aluminum in vehicles, which uses less recycled aluminum and therefore requires more energy to process. Use of stamped aluminum, such as in body panels and closures, has been making inroads in vehicles, appearing in vehicle models like the Jaguar XJ (pictured above), Audi A8, and Acura NSX.

The MIT study also looked at the recovery of aluminum from scrapped vehicles. The stock of 250 million passenger vehicles on the roads today embodies a significant stock of the material — 30 million metric tons of aluminum. That material stock is expected to continue growing, to reach 54 million metric tons by 2035.

It takes time for aluminum in automobiles to return to the scrap market, due to long vehicle lifetimes. Despite that, the researchers found that scrap aluminum in retired vehicles will almost always exceed the secondary aluminum demand for the domestic manufacture of new vehicles, so this automotive aluminum scrap system will remain in balance.

Details of these findings are available in the fall issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology as part of a special issue on Applications of Material Flow Analysis, funded in part by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation.

- Lynette Cheah, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover North America. Image restricted; contact Jaguar Land Rover North America for image rights and restrictions.

source=

http://www.livescience.com/researchinaction/ria-100114.html

By Matt Hardigree, 10:30 AM on Fri Oct 9 2009, 12,824 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

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A blasted-looking J.C. France, grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France and Grand-Am racer, was arrested in Daytona Beach with his “housemate” for an illegal trifecta: drug possession, street racing and DUI. Yup, Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

Police stopped France and his housemate Russell Van Richmond for racing a Porsche Cayenne against a green Lamborghini across Seabreeze bridge. When they were pulled over Richmond, who is the son of one of J.C’s dad’s ex-wives, protested saying “I want your commander now. I am a France. Do you know what that means? We own this city.”

It apparently didn’t impress police because France was allegedly so drunk he could barely climb out of the car and had a bag of a “white, cakelike substance” in his pocket.

Richmond kept screaming to the police “I am gonna have your job. This is the biggest mistake ever. You are so done in Daytona.” How Ironic.

According to reports, Richmond’s last words to police were “Oh, shit” when they searched his pockets and found a tablet of hydrocodone.

Our favorite quote, though, was from an unidentified woman in Richmond’s Porsche who told police he was “going so fast, I put my seatbelt on.” We’re pretty sure you should wear a seatbelt anytime you go out for a drive with a coked out, drunk person.

France has been suspended from Grand-Am indefinitely.

[Daytona News-Journal, Photo Credit: TMZ]

Kia’s motto, “The Power to Surprise” has been all fluff up until recently. With the Kia Soul released this year and now the Forte, I’m looking forward to whatever else this car maker has up their Korean sleeves.

The just-released Kia Forte replaced the yawn-inducing Spectra as their compact sedan, and stands up to some very big players in this segment – the Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Ford Focus are all direct competitors. So now that Kia is finally getting their act together, will the Forte stand a chance against these superstar compacts?

It’s really hard to compete with cars like the Civic and Corolla, but Kia is doing exactly that with the 2010 Forte. Pictures don’t do it justice, but it’s actually a very attractive car, penned by a former Audi designer. A bit of everything thrown in – some Civic, some Sentra, some Corolla, and even some Volvo styling cues help the Forte achieve a conservatively aggressive appearance while still standing out on its own. Interior design is great. While not particularly engaging, the dash and controls are extremely well laid-out and easy to use, as are the steering wheel mounted controls. As in all Kias and Hyundais, it comes standard with the excellent aux/USB/iPod jack with iPod integration.

Driving the Kia Forte is typical of small-medium sized cars. Plenty of room up front, a little bit cramped in the back. The trunk on this thing is huge, which is surprising the first time you see it. The driver info display, which shows overall and trip odometer should also include fuel economy. In a car that people will buy partially because it gets 27 city / 36 hwy mpg (which by the way is highest in its class,) should display the real-time and average economy. In the Forte’s defense, it did include the “EcoMinder” system (standard on all automatics,) which lights up a little “Eco” indicator when you’re getting maximum efficiency. It’s a nice reminder for you to keep light feet while driving if fuel economy is a concern. Steering in our model came from the optional motor-driven power steering system, which took a little bit of getting used to. Low speeds feels completely normal and light, but once you started to get up to speed, the steering tightens up noticeably, which Kia says will help increase fuel efficiency 2-3% I like it.

Our Forte EX test model came with a 2.0-liter 156 hp four-cylinder engine paired to a 5-speed automatic transmission. The EX (and the lower LX trim) comes standard with a 4-speed automatic or 5-speed manual, but we have the Fuel Economy Package, which updates the car to a 5-speed auto. I wish the 5-speed was standard in all trims; I don’t think there’s a place for 4-speed autos anymore. If you step into the sporty SX model, you get a 173 hp 2.4-liter engine with a 6-speed manual or 5-speed automatic. Both engines are appropriately powered for this segment.

The 2010 Kia Forte is good enough to compete with other cars in this segment like the Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Honda Civic. It gets more power, better fuel economy, and more space than you’ll get in many of the other cars, with no sacrifices. A $13,695 starting price ensures even the lowest budgets can get inside a good new car, and the top of the line SX model doesn’t disappoint those who are looking for more fun. A 10-year, 100,000 mile warranty is also second to none. Kia’s got a real winner on their hands with the 2010 Forte, and I can’t wait to get into a new Forte Koup when they’re finally released.

2010 Kia Forte EX with Fuel economy package
Base: $16,795
As tested: $18,090
Starts at: $13,695 (LX)

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Mahindra Planning A CUV For U.S.?

I was looking at Mahindra’s North America web site (http://www.mahindrana.com/indian-cars-and-trucks.html) , which advertises its two door and four door diesel pickups (planned for fall of 2009), and its SUV, promised for 2010.

If you click on “future vehicle”, you see an artsy picture of what looks like a minivan, or perhaps a crossover, called the MUC.   I suspect this is a version of the Xylo (see http://www.lnkr.net/archives/prem/technology/mahindra-xylo-more-images/2011 for photos) which is something like short minivan with swinging doors.

Mahindra is talking big, I wonder if they will deliver?

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 1:53 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Sunday, July 26, 2009

CARS: Watch The “Doc Fee” Trick!

Joe over at MyFordDreams2 was talking to a Mercury salesman about the CARS (aka cash for clunkers) program, and the guy tried to tell him that there was $50 documentation fee.

As I posted previously, (see here) and I’ll do it again as a public service:

Dealers are not allowed to charge fees to customers to participate in the CARS program. If you dealer tries to do so, above and beyond their standard fees, they are trying to cheat you.

The proof is here, from www.cars.gov/faq:

Can dealers charge me a fee for buying or leasing a vehicle under the CARS program?

While dealers can charge their normal types of fees, the CARS Act specifically prohibits dealers from charging a fee for purchasing or leasing a vehicle under the program.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 5:38 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Friday, July 24, 2009

Why NUMMI Is Probably Closing

With GM out, Toyota has to decide if it wants to keep NUMMI going.  Here are a few reasons why they won’t.

• NUMMI is the most expensive, labor-wise, of any of Toyota’s plants in NA (Detroit Free Press)
• The Corolla is also built in Canada, at the TMMC plant
• The Tacoma is also built in Mexico, in Tijuana.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 2:49 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Cash For Clunkers Details

In addition to the already released rules, some additional details have been posted by NHTSA at the www.cars.gov web site:

• Only one voucher per customer.  You can’t trade in 2 cars for 2 vouchers for 1 new car.
• Leases may be purchased with the voucher, however, the least must be for at least 5 years.
• Dealers can not charge extra fees such as administrative fees for the CARS program.
• Customers may have to pay sales taxes on the voucher amount, depending on state law.
• The CARS voucher is on top of other incentives from the manufacturer (dealers can’t keep the manufacturer incentives back)
• The CARS voucher is in addition to other government programs, such as the hybrid vehicle credit.

So, if your dealer tries to charge you an extra “doc fee” for CARS, call him out on it.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 12:12 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Cash For Clunkers: Engine Death

The NHTSA has released instructions for dealers on how they must destroy the trade-in car’s engine.  Dealers are to replace the engine oil with about 2 quarts of sodium silicate solution, and run until the engine siezes. The sodium silicate in the oil path will heat up, and form a glass-like structure.

For some reason, the thought of thousands of engines running until they die is sort of sad to me.  It’s like… euthanasia.

Appendix B to Part 599 – Engine Disablement Procedures for the CARS

Engine Disablement Procedures for the CARS Program

THIS PROCEDURE IS NOT TO BE USED BY THE VEHICLE OWNER

Perform the following procedure to disable the vehicle engine.

1. Obtain solution of 40% sodium silicate/60% water. (The Sodium Silicate (SiO2/Na2O) must have a weight ratio of 3.0 or greater.)

2. Drain engine oil for environmentally appropriate disposal.

3. Install the oil drain plug.

4. Since the procedure is intended to render the engine inoperative, drive or move the vehicle to the desired area for disablement.

5. Pour enough solution in the engine through the oil fill for the oil pump to circulate the solution throughout the engine. Start by adding 2 quarts of the solution, which should be sufficient in most cases.

CAUTION: Wear goggles and gloves. Appropriate protective clothing should be worn to prevent silicate solution from coming into contact with the skin.

6. Replace the oil fill cap.

7. Start the engine.

8. Run engine at approximately 2000 rpm (for safety reasons do not operate at high rpm) until the engine stops. (Typically the engine will operate for 3 to 7 minutes. As the solution starts to affect engine operation, the operator will have to apply more throttle to keep the engine at 2000 rpm.)

9. Allow the engine to cool for at least 1 hour.

10. With the battery at full charge or with auxiliary power to provide the power of a fully charged battery, attempt to start the engine.

11. If the engine will not operate at idle, the procedure is complete.

12. If the engine will operate at idle, repeat steps 7 through 11 until the engine will no longer idle.

13. Attach a label to the engine that legibly states the following:

This engine is from a vehicle that is part of the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS). It has significant internal damage caused by operating the engine with a sodium silicate solution (liquid glass) instead of oil.

14. File this document in the file for the new vehicle purchase.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 11:59 AM 0 comments Links to this post

Thursday, July 16, 2009

G8 Dead Again

After studying the issue, Bob Lutz says on GM Fastlane Blog that there isn’t a business case for the G8 after all, sorry to get your hopes up.

That’s all still true. But I have to say that, with my new “marketing” hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today’s market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be.

What was interesting to me was the hint dropped that GM might try to make it a police car. GM currently sells the Impala as a police vehicle, but it hasn’t made a very large dent in Ford’s Crown Victoria sales. A RWD Caprice might have really gotten some attention, but it was probably too expensive to pull off.

This leaves Ford as king of the police cruisers for now, but it is no secret that the Crown Victoria’s days are numbered. According to rumors on the web (such as Blue Oval Forums), the plant that builds the Crown Vic will close in 2011, which means tha that the last cars would be built as 2011 or 2012 models.

Will Ford give up the police cruiser business to the Dodge Challenger, or the expensive and not-yet-existent Carbon? Currently, it is commonly thought that the police want a rear wheel drive vehicle. Ford won’t have anything to sell after 2012. Will they perhaps put lights and pusher bars on the Taurus SHO?

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 11:01 PM 2 comments Links to this post

Maximum Bob Rides Again

I love Bob Lutz.

From the recent web chat on GM’s Fastlane Blog. Italics are my, er, interpretation.

2:13	[Comment From Guest ] What is your number one priority in your new role and please be as specific as possible?

2:14

Bob Lutz: Until I know more about the job I won’t be as specific as possible because i might have to recant next month when i know what i’m doing. My top priority now is to enhance the ability of GM to let the public know about what great cars and trucks we build. For all the money spent in the past, this seemingly simple task has eluded us.

Our marketing has been weak. I’m going to fix that.

2:17

[Comment From Mike Ruby ] Bob, will we see in improvment in GM commercials now that you are in charge of them? The new Buick commercial is very embarassing. I’ve had many family members and friends comment on how dumb it is, plus some of the other poorly done commercials on the Traverse and the “Surprised” commercials that played for about a week over Christmas.

2:18	Bob Lutz: Let me put it this way: That Buick commercial tested very well, which is not the same as saying that it’s an effective ad. I think you will very quickly see a drastic change in the tone and content of our advertising. And if you don’t, it will mean that i have failed.

It sucked and we know it, but I wasn’t asked ’cause I wasn’t on duty yet

2:19	[Comment From Tom ] How can we get people as hyped up about small cars? Where’s the Aveo SS or the Vibe GXP?

2:20

Bob Lutz: The best way to get people hyped for small cars is to 1) do great small cars instead of mediocre ones and 2) rasie the price of fuel. As long as Americans pay less than $3 /gall vs $7 in the rest of the world, it’s a tough sell. Having said that, the Vibe is gone, and the Aveo will be replaced by an all-new and much more exciting vehicle.

Cheap gas will kill the mini-car, so Obama had better raise the price.

2:20	[Comment From Neighbor ] Did you sell your jet? We don’t see you flying around anymore.

2:21	Bob Lutz: I sold the Alpha jet due to economic worries, and got a good price for it, but have retained the L39 Albatros so i’m still flying regularly. And if i’ve failed to entertain you recently you have to tell me where you live or work.

I needed to sell one plane so I could afford a Volt. I’m gonna buzz your house, smart-ass.

2:43	[Comment From Nate ] Does GM have any plans for diesel cars in the US? Or are they banking entirely the Volt and Converj platforms? There appears to be customer demand for diesels as well as the Volt technology. Is there room for low production diesels?

2:44

Bob Lutz: For diesels to meet US emissions (US regulations are six times more severe than European) we’d have to increase the diesel surcharge by another $2500 to $3000. The total would amount to about $6000. For that surcharge of $6K, the customer gets a 20% in mpg, but has the privilege of paying for fuel that is 20 cents per gallon more expensive. Show me where this makes sense. Several Europeans and both Toyota and Honda have canceled their US passenger car diesel plans, as have we.

I’m sick of people asking about diesels–there’s no way to make money on them right now!

2:54	[Comment From Guest ] Any plans to either filter your comments or perhaps even support the green movement, since you’ve made such harsh comments against the concept of Global Warming, which upset a lot of people?

2:58

Bob Lutz: I obviously won’t go out of my way to upset people but since i have a tendency to speak my mind i will occasionally unwittingly do so. I am totally dedicated to reducing petroleum usage, which is one of the reasons i championed the Chevy Volt. My personal opinion on global warming has nothing to do with my professional performance. By the way we just had the coldest June on record in the East, and are in the middle of the coldest July.

Yeah, sorry about that global warming is BS thing. Hey, is it cold in here?

3:01	[Comment From ETB ] Favorite TV shows? No doubt seen Top Gear. Would you consider going and taking on Jeremy Clarkson for us?

3:02	Bob Lutz: Why would i want to take on Jeremy Clarkson? He loves the CTS-V and has declared Corvette ZR1 to be the finest vehicle of all time. I love the guy.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 10:37 PM 4 comments Links to this post

Friday, July 10, 2009

Tragic Stupidity: Five Die In Canton, MI

Yesterday, a 19 year old idiot with a suspended drivers license tried to beat an Amtrak train, and lost big. His Ford Fusion was struck in the side as he tried to race through the crossing. The barriers were down, and the lights were flashing, and the train was moving at around 60mph. He had 4 others in the car with him, ranging from 14 to 21. Apparently dissatisfied with waiting for the train to come, he raced around a waiting car through the opposing lane, and didn’t even slow down to check the crossing. His timing was perfect and lethal.

Detroit news story here.

This photo shows what is left of the Fusion. This is the whole car–it was smashed nearly flat from the side. I can only imagine what a mess it was for the fire and police departments to clean up.

This video was recorded from the security camera of a nearby business.

One of the wise-guys at AR15.com made this, in response to a Facebook memorial page:

It’s mean, but I agree with the sentiment. Dan deserves a nomination for the Darwin award for 2009.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 6:08 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

“Cash For Clunkers”: Check If Your Car Qualifies

Use my handy applet below to look up your car to see if it might qualify for the CARS “cash for clunkers” voucher from the Uncle Sam. This is a list of cars from Edmunds that gets 18 MPG or less and has an expected fair market value of less than about $4,500. Edmunds was kind enough to post the raw data (here) and I massaged it a little and stuffed it into a Google Docs spreadsheet.

You may need to wait a little while for the data to load.

To use the applet, pick your car’s age and make from the drop down list.

Update: Edmund’s data only goes back to 1990, that’s why that 1984 Saab isn’t on there. Only cars younger than 25 years old are eligible, so the oldest model year that would qualify would be a 1984.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 6:15 PM 19 comments Links to this post

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Ford and Hyundai Jump on CARS Program, Others Dawdle

Ford has really jumped on the “cash-for-clunkers” news. Before Obama’s ink was dry, Ford put up a web site (the impossible to type www.letfordrecycleyourride.com) which lets you input you car to check if it is eligible. Then the page shows you a list of Ford vehicles which would qualify for the voucher. Ford puts a happy green spin on the whole thing by offering to “recycle” your old car, which is much nicer than “scrap”. It’s very slick.

It surprises me that none of the other major car makers did the same thing. I checked the home pages of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Chrysler, GM, Kia, BMW, VW, Mercedes, and Subaru. None of them had any CARS information.

The only other major automaker which has a CARS information site is Hyundai, here. Hyundai’s site is not as slick as Ford’s but it does give a list of Hyundai vehicles which are eligible for the government voucher.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 8:42 PM 5 comments Links to this post

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Tesla?!

Tesla?!

Why would the Department of Energy give half a billion dollars to Tesla?

I understand Ford. Ford has many projects, such as GTDI and electrification, that can be filed under CAFE compliance.

Nissan was moneyed to show that there is no favoritism to domestic brands, and to spread some joy down south, to soften the stance of the anti-union and anti-Detroit politicans.

But Tesla is puny, until recently a financial disaster. And what it is building now is a toy for the very rich. The Model S is projected to sell for a price around $57,000, which is certainly cheaper than the Tesla Roadster, but hardly affordable for the average person. Call it a toy for the slightly rich.

What Tesla has accomplished with the Roadster is impressive, but it is not revolutionary. Battery packaging, charging control, DC motors, these have been understood for a long time. What Tesla accomplished was to do a nice job integrating an electric powertrain into an already mature vehicle platform, the Lotus Elise. Chrysler can come along and replicate the achievement fairly quickly with their Dodge Circuit, using A123 battery systems. Magna can do the same with the hoary old NA Ford Focus.

With the Model S, Tesla is trying to step into the world of the big boys, developing a new mid-size vehicle platform. They will be responsible for tooling and assembly process, crash worthiness, NVH, durability, and the thousands of other requirements that go into building a car. It’s a huge learning curve. The DOE would be better off giving the money to someone who already knows how to do it.

I suspect the real reason Tesla was given a loan was to throw some Obama love to California, with its rabidly green congress members.

I predict the taxpayers are going to get cleaned out on this particular deal.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 9:11 PM 2 comments Links to this post

Monday, June 22, 2009

The MKS Abomination

I saw this abomination near downtown Birmingham tonight. A new Lincoln MKS with a blue faux roof.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 10:45 PM 2 comments Links to this post

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Bentley At Einstein’s

This morning I stopped in at Einstein’s for a $1 refill (bring your own mug), and I noticed a Bentley Continental had parked nearby, with Ontario plates.  I guess I didn’t realize that there would be Canadians rich enough to flaunt a Bentley, but there isn’t any reason to think there aren’t.  Inside, it was immediately obvious who the driver was.  A trim, tanned woman, wearing workout shorts and a hoodie stood in line in front of me. She had chunky gold jewelry on her fingers, and a large designer purse.  From her face, you might think she was about 30, but from the less smooth skin on her hands, it was clear she was closer to 40.  The tag on her jacket was poking straight up from the back of her neck.

“You’re tag is showing.”, I told her.  I admit, I got a little rise out of correcting someone who was so obviously concerned about appearances and social status.

I don’t hate the rich.  Some of the most charitable people I know are rich.  But if you tool around in a Bentley, and flaunt gold and fancy purses, in a place like Metro Detroit where thousands of people are losing their jobs, you can go to hell.  At least have the decency to drive your au pair’s Malibu or something.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 1:29 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Autoweek Journalist Survives Bouncing Wheel Of Death In Fiesta

This is an interesting read: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090610/CARNEWS/906109990

Natalie Neff was test driving a Ford Fiesta when a loose wheel from an old Olds nailed her.  She is impressed how well the car stood up to the pounding, and attributes it to the use of high-strength steel.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 12:21 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Tata Nano In The U.S.?

According to Automotive News, Tata says that it could bring the Nano to the U.S. as soon as 2011 or 2012. However, you can bet your bottom rupee that it won’t cost $2000, won’t weigh 1300lb, and probably won’t get 61mpg.

Before Tata can sell the thing in the U.S., it must be fitted with “2.5mph” bumpers front and rear.
It will need ABS and stability control.
It will need front and side airbags.
It will need front, rear, and side impact crash structures so it will get a decent score on NHTSA’s crash tests.
It will need properly formulated catalytic converters to meet tough emissions standards.
It will need an automatic transmission, since we Americans are forgetting how to shift our own gears.

When these and perhaps other features I have not thought about have been added, it will likely cost more than the $6000 or so that the Tata Europe is expected to cost.

Suppose it comes in at an industry leading price of $7,500. That’s great for a new car, but in 2012 you could probably get a nice used compact or mid-sized car of the 2007-2009 vintage for that kind of money. Nothing exciting, but a solid reliable ride. With amenities such as power locks and windows, decent radios, an opening trunk, dual wipers, fold down seats, and so on.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 10:35 PM 5 comments Links to this post

Excerpts From GM Live Chat

Fritz Henderson did a live chat on GM’s Fastlane Blog. Here are some interesting Q’s and A’s, excerpted form the whole chat. Red highlights are mine.

Fritz Henderson GM CEO, LIVE Webchat (06/04/2009)

15:07
[Comment From Bing ]
Mr. Henderson, If you were starting a “new” company, wouldn’t you want it to be with folks that hadn’t failed before?
15:09
Fritz Henderson: If I was starting a new company, which we are in fact, I would start with a blend of people that have been involved in winning businesses and outstanding people that learn from their failures. at least for me personally, I have been involved in both.

15:09
[Comment From Todd Lassa ]
How did a Chinese company with no prior history or experience in personal vehicle production snag the Hummer division? And can you comment on reports that the Opel-Magna deal isn’t final?
15:11
Fritz Henderson: with regard to hummer, the potential buyer sichuan tenzhong offered the best overall alternative, and we did not have broad portfolio of other buyers!

15:11
[Comment From GMX206 ]
What do you think is the most important change that needs to be made in GM’s corporate culture?
15:14
Fritz Henderson: we need to make some important changes in our culture. at least for me, we must drive home the following concepts and behaviours every day:
1. product and customers should dominate our activities and day to day lives.
2. speed. this is not sense of urgency, it is speed.
3. risk taking: we have great people. we need to allow them to take risks and coach them accordingly.
4. accountability: results count, period. consistent with a culture that encourages smart risk taking, with speed and delegation to act, we must all feel and live with a sense of accountability.

15:18
[Comment From Sumo ]
Mr. Henderson, the Asian carmakers have really taken away a lot of market share from the American carmakers? Will GM be able to challenge them in their home turfs?
15:19
Fritz Henderson: in china, we are rocking. in korea, we have gmdat with at or around 10% share, with good opportunities to grow. in japan, I have precisely ZERO interest.

15:20
[Comment From Michael Petrilla ]
What a great opportunity this is to speak directly with the CEO of a major corporation! I love the styling of the 2010 Buick LaCrosse and 2010 Cadillac SRX, both inside and outside. I was wondering if the Ecotec 4 cylinder/6 speed automatic combination will be made available at a future date for these two vehicles. The fuel mileage would be increased substantially and the performance would still be acceptable. I had a ride in a 2009 Saturn Vue (a dealer courtesy car) with the 4 cylinder/6 speed auto and it had plenty of power. Will the bankruptcy filing delay the introduction of these new vehicles? Also, I own a 2009 Saturn Sky Redline and naturally I am sad to see the Sky and Solstice discontinued. The demographics of Sky buyers seem to match those of the new LaCrosse and Solstice buyers seem to match up with Chevy buyers. A plan to make the Solstice a Chevy and the Sky a Buick made a lot of sense to a lot of people. And to build them at Bowling Green made sense as well. What was the deciding factor against the plan? Thank you.
15:22
Fritz Henderson: for lacrosse, subsequent to sop, we do have plans for a performance version of our 4cyl ecotec engine. srx will only have 6′s, with great fuel economy and performance. on sky and solstice, we intend to complete production later this year and phase out as part of our brand actions on pontiac and saturn.

15:25
[Comment From Guest ]
Can you explain your rationale for keeping the GMC brand alive?
15:25
Fritz Henderson: profit. great and clear brand. passionate customers. profit can I be any clearer?

15:25
[Comment From Kathy Tomasik ]
I had a small amount of shares from the old GM. What has happened to them?
15:26
Fritz Henderson: unfortunately, the value of gm shares is expected to be zero.

15:29
[Comment From Jeff ]
I am what you might call a Volt skeptic. Can you say that they will find their hands into average people and not just limited to rich executives and celebrities (ala the Tesla roadster)?
15:31
Fritz Henderson: this will not be an inexpensive vehicle in its first generation, but it will be extremely affordable relative to a tesla. while we have not made final decisions on pricing, you should be thinking about $40k ish, with a $7500 available tax credit.

15:35
[Comment From John ]
Will the Corvette survive as athe V8 engined rear wheel drive icon we all love?
15:36
Fritz Henderson: yes. my wonderful baby is my 2005 corvette coupe. we have more in store for the future and this iconic brand will retain its powerful place within the new gm.

15:49
[Comment From One of the Faithful ]
GM has recently been behing the 8 ball on the release of its product. The Camaro was in concept form for 5 years before the vehicle actually hit the floor. The Mustang was on the ground WAY to long, and even though GM is selling every Camaro it can make right now the Mustang had to hurt Camaro sales. The same is with the HHR compared to the PT Cruiser. What are your plans to keep ahead of your competitors?
15:50
Fritz Henderson: with 34 nameplates to drive across 4 core brands, we have the right sized portfolio to maintain a fresh and exciting portfolio with the right launch cadence.

15:53
[Comment From Robert Tukes ]
Sent we all realize the camaro is a great hit. Will we make a electric Camaro ?
15:53
Fritz Henderson: not likely.

15:54
[Comment From Employee ]
Great news coverage on the G8 GXP today – any chance it will live on as a chevy or maybe an entry level caddy?
15:54
Fritz Henderson: no.

15:57
[Comment From Tony ]
What does it feel like being the CEO of a company with 60% government ownership? While the government won’t be heavily involved, that must be an amazing responsibility to all Americans
15:59
Fritz Henderson: we do have this amazing responsibility and we all need to be immensely thankful for the support, which is not popular broadly. this means we have the responsibility to deliver.

by the way, a friend of mine sent me an email indicating that I am the ceo of a company that will have 300 million shareholders. actually, we will have 330 million shareholders, including the taxpayers of the US and Canada.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 10:03 PM 1 comments Links to this post

An Open Letter To GM

Dear GM,

Despite your decision that keeping Pontiac around is not a good business plan, I am asking you to consider saving some of Pontiac’s product. Over the last few years, you started to build some Pontiacs that were actually exciting.

(Photos courtesy of Edmunds)

You should try to save the G8. This car is the best large sedan GM has sold in the U.S., outside of the Cadillacs, in a long time. Yes, it is expensive, and is being shipped from Australia. I think it would make an excellent top of the line Chevrolet–like an Impala with soul. It might make an interesting cop car, too, if you could work out the economics. Once people realized it was here to stay, sales would improve.

You should save the Solstice/Sky platform. This is a fun little car, and though it needs some qualty improvements and some refinement, it is one of the few cars you build that people actually fall in love with. I met a guy that got one from his wife as a 50th birthday present, and he acts like it is his mistress. Restyle this as a Buick, or perhaps as another Chevrolet, a “baby Corvette”. The Solstice might also be an interesting platform for an all-electric sports car, something to compete with Tesla.

Finally, you should to do something with the Vibe. Not because it is that exciting of a product, but because it is a solid product with good quality numbers. Since Ford killed the 5-door Focus, this is one of the few domestic tall compact hatchbacks. It is much better than the Dodge Caliber. I’m not sure if the Vibe would make a good Chevrolet, as far as styling goes, but I do think it might make a decent Saturn. Maybe build the Vibe as a Saturn for Roger Penske, if you don’t see it as a Chevrolet.

As for the G3, G5, G6, and Torrent, no tears shed here.

Sincerely,

–TAP

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 9:29 PM 2 comments Links to this post

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

How do these two brands survive?

In May, Mitsubishi sold 4,352 vehicles. Dying Saturn sold twice as many cars, and dying Pontiac three times as many. And Mitusbishi’s sales were down by 58% over last year.

Suzuki sold only 2,585 vehicles in May, down a whopping 75% over last year.

The entire Suzuki line-up was outsold by Mini, which has a few variations of a single model.

How is it that Mitsubishi and Suzuki will survive in the U.S. market? What does Mitsubishi sell that is exciting, other than the Lancer? Does Suzuki sell anything exciting? I suspect they will go the way of Isuzu, fading out of public memory.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 11:00 PM 7 comments Links to this post

Props To Fritz

You have to give credit to GM… they have the fortitude to post difficult, pointed questions on their Fastlane Blog. Sample:

“Mr. Henderson, I have been a loyal GM owner until June 1, 2009. I will no longer purchase a GM car because owners of the 566 million shares of GM stock and the holders of 27B of bonds have been completely written off by you, the CEO and the US Government – e.g. President Obama.

Why would ANYONE invest in the new company? You just zeroed out the existing investors.

Because of this, I will not buy a new Cadillac CTS this year, but I will buy either a Lincoln or luxury transplant car but here in the USA. -JE”

We recognize our actions have a significant impact on many constituents, including stockholders, bondholders, employees, dealers, retirees and others. Bondholders will receive ownership in the new GM. We are committed to turning around the company to the benefit of all stakeholders in General Motors, and we plan to do that as quickly as possible.

Taking it on the chin, in public, is not something big corporations usually do. But GM is showing that they are serious about patching things up with the customers, and the new majority owners, the U.S. taxpayer.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 9:30 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Vista Problem: Filling My Hard Drive

I ran into my first major headache with Windows Vista. After I added a second internal hard drive to my system, it quickly began to fill up, to the point where it is now 99% full. But I am only storing about 40% worth of stuff on it!

At first, i was worried I had a virus or something, but then I remembered about Vista’s Shadow Copy feature, which copies old versions of files so that if you make a change and you want to undo it, you can restore a previous version.

I found this article which explains how to dig into the settings for Volume Shadow Copy. It turns out that somehow, Vista decided that the shadow copy settings for my D: should be UNBOUNDED, which means, copy until the drive is full!

I was able to use VSSADMIN to fix it, following the directions of the posting. I simplay ran this command as an administrator:

vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /On=D: /For=D: /MaxSize=50GB

Note to Microsoft: Volume Shadow Copy should default to a safe value, and not to UNBOUNDED!

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 9:03 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Labels: technology

Video: Amazing Rally Race Crash

Somehow I missed this when it first came out. Ford rally racers Jan-Matti Latvala and Mikka Antilla went over a railing and rolled down a hill, over and over again. It is a testament to the engineering that goes into these cars that they were not seriously injured. The hard roll cage structure in the cabin of the car remained intact, while outer body panels deformed to absorbe energy.

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 8:55 PM 0 comments Links to this post

Sunday, May 31, 2009

GM Announces U.S. Small Car Plant

It looks like the UAW (and Obama) took GM out behind the shed for a little talk… GM is announcing that the will re-tool on of their U.S. plants (not “North America”) to produce a small car (maybe the Spark).

Actually, it was not just coercion, but negotiation. According to news reports, the UAW gave GM further concessions, such as broader job classifications, to allow a small car plant to be profitable.

GM was looking at a public relations mess, with Ford previously announcing that the European Focus would be built in a re-fitted Michigan Truck plant, and the UAW howling that taxpayers should not fund more off-shoring of vehicles. By bringing a b-car line to the U.S., GM leapfrogs Ford, which is going to build its Fiesta in Mexico.

The whole thing makes me wonder, though. Was GM’s plan to import Chinese cars a business plan, or was it a bargaining stick?

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 8:47 AM 6 comments Links to this post

Digging Into “Dealergate”, Part II

Posted by The Auto Prophet at 12:23 AM

We’ve polled people from Maine to California, and they all come up with the same answer: The sharpest, sexiest, hottest vehicle of this past year is … the Dodge Nitro!

Well, if enough people think it’s the best-looking, that will make it so. That’s how the Mercedes E-Class Coupe got to the top. In May it was reported that

the German publication AUTO BILD asked its readers to vote for the best looking car in each of five categories, with the prerequisite being that all of the vehicles must have made their debut in the last year. Then, some 100,000 readers responded, voting the 2010 E-Class Coupe winner in the “Coupe and Cabriolet” category and bestowing the 2010 E-Class sedan with top honors in the overall ranking. Based on this highly scientific, one-hundred percent definitive study, Daimler arrived at the only conclusion that one could derive from a study of this type: that the E-Class business saloon [sedan] is “the most attractive new car in the world.”

Well, the cars shown here, excepting the Nitro, are my choice, my taste, and so there. The E-Coupe is just above. You decide.

The Germans are surely producing prettier cars than they have in years past. BMW’s new Z4 is a big improvement on the older version. I want one.

There has been much hoopla about the new Jaguar XJ, and I’ve looked at some photos and video. I think they missed the boat on this one. The downmarket XF is better looking and still a great performance sedan. I saw one in New York a couple of months ago, and it’s even better looking in the flesh.

In the same vein, we’ve heard much about the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, including its $300,000 pricetag. For that kind of change, it better be good looking. Alfa has also produced the MiTo (above), which may be the world’s best-looking small car.

Okay, you ask, why no American cars? ‘Cause most of them are just plain ugly. Everyone says the Fusion is the best looking U.S. hybrid. If so, that speaks volumes about how lackluster our cars are. The Mondeo (above), on which the Fusion was based, is much better looking, but Ford dumbed the design down, for reasons best known to them.

But we still like the Corvette, especially the Grand Sport version.

And finally the Mazda CX-9 crossover, which is a really sharp design for a medium-size crossover, beautifully executed. My nephew has one, and it makes his former 2006 Volvo look like something out of a World War II motor pool.

Let us know how you rank these babies and, of course, which cars I should have included but didn’t.

—jgoods