By Andy Bannister

12.23.2008

In another sign that some of the weaker players in the global auto industry could soon be knocked out, one of South Korea’s smaller manufacturers, Ssangyong Motor Company, has reportedly told its 8,000 workers it cannot pay their December wages.

Although largely unknown in North America, Ssangyong widely exports a limited range of mainly 4X4 vehicles to markets around the world including Europe and Australia.

The company is 51% owned by China’s SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation), which has threatened to withdraw its involvement as early as next month unless a restructuring plan is agreed by unions. Continue Reading

By Brendan Moore

12.23.2008

We can’t make this stuff up.

Apparently, Jim Press, co-president of Chrysler LLC, stated in an interview last week that should Chrysler survive, it would survive as a small boutique manufacturer producing high-performance, high-quality cars much like German automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz do currently.

In fact, according to Automotive News, an industry weekly, Mr Press stated: “If there’s one company in America that can build high-craftsmanship, innovative vehicles, it’s Chrysler.”

Referring to the new 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, Mr. Press opined that, “If Mercedes-Benz built a pickup truck, that’s what it would be”.

Jim, Jim, Jim.

There is nothing wrong with having a positive corporate self-image, but statements like that just boggle the mind.

Sure, it’s possible that Chrysler could transform itself into BMW or Mercedes-Benz. I mean, it could conceivably happen. But at this point it would be the equivalent of Pamela Anderson becoming a respected Shakespearean actor. Or Detroit becoming as much of a tourist destination as Paris, New York City or London.

Yeah, both those things could happen, but, you know, it’s not a good percentage bet.

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By Kevin Gordon

12.23.2008

Of all the things about cars, including those things in and on them, my favorite part is the turbocharger. The name could have come from a toddler – albeit a smarter one than the inventor of the name supercharger – this device’s potential is all grown up. Also known as a turbo for short, this exhaust gas powered compressor can turn an ordinary car into an extraordinary car. In today’s automotive marketplace it appears as if this technology has gathered strong and steady support. Over twenty manufactures use them in their vehicles. To clarify, this is cars and SUVs, sold in the U.S., and does not include diesels.

I am guessing that you are saying to yourself. “Big deal; a lot of cars have “turbos.” What’s the point?” Well, the turbocharger can have benefits beyond free extra power from your engine.  The benefits range from the ability for manufacturers to use a single engine model across a variety of model lines (without the penalty of bloated and underpowered models), smaller engine displacements, less weight, increased fuel economy, and most important to the automotive enthusiast, easy end-user tuning.

For the uninitiated, turbochargers are a type of forced induction. Please understand, I do not intend to write a complete and/or detailed explanation of how a turbocharged engine, but a quick description seemed valuable. Turbochargers take incoming air, compress it to levels higher than atmospheric pressure, and force additional air and fuel into each combustion cycle of an engine. This compressed air volume is generally referred to as boost. In order to compress the incoming air, the exhaust gas of a car’s engine is used to turn a turbine or impeller, which in turn spins a compressor wheel. This compressor wheel draws incoming air from the intake and passes it into the intake manifold. Since the power output of an engine is ultimately determined by how much, and how efficiently, air and fuel is burned, turbochargers can allow a smaller engines to perform like larger engines.

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By David Surace

12.22.2008

Those of you who follow the auto industry like we do have become somewhat jaded to the sense of drama about these “…Of The Year” awards, in part because they happen every year (I know, right?), and also because many times they’re a bit of a snore. The casual observer can see plenty of conflicts of interest in the decision making process for “OTY” awards at a fistful of magazines, and not just automotive ones, either.

That’s really too bad, because perhaps one of the better annual awards, the North American Car/Truck of the Year, unveiled annually at the Detroit Show, seems to go largely unnoticed. The jury is comprised of no less than 50 international automotive journalists at any one time, who are invited to contribute based upon their breadth of knowledge and length of time covering the auto industry. The funds to cover the Awards come from membership dues only, to avoid outside influence. What I’m trying to say is, if I had to pick one “Of The Year” award each year, the North American Car/Truck Of The Year would get my Car Of The Year Award Of The Year… award.

Anyway, enough about them. The real story here is that we have a very interesting mix of vehicles on the table this year, with some clear winners, but also some surprises.

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By Kevin Gordon

12.22.2008

Toyota announced today that is will post an operating loss for the fiscal year 2009. This loss is a first in the companies 70 year history. Toyota Motor Corp., the largest company, by market cap in Japan, highlights how truly severe the troubles of the global economy are. When the ultra-competitive Godzilla of the auto industry is faltering, it hurts to think about the odds that the U.S. companies have to overcome to meet  the conditions of the recent bailout.

Toyota’s President Katsuaki Watanabe spoke at a news conference today stating that the company would post an operating loss of 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion). This was the result of decreased demand in the U.S. and Europe, and the strength of the yen against the USD. This is the second time that Toyota has lowered their outlook and it is not only a bad omen for the auto industry, but for the economy of Japan.

Japan’s export levels have now dropped by the largest amount on record, driven by the lack of car sales to the rest of the world. This has all of the major Japanese auto manufactures warning that 2009 may be as bad, if not worse. Unlike Honda, Toyota did not have a deep and detailed list of things that they prepare to do in the near future to stop the bleeding. Instead, Toyota plans to resort to cost cutting and stopping all expansion projects. These projects include a reduction in temporary workers and postponing a new factory in Mississippi, where they planned to build the Prius hybrid. President Katsuaki Watanabe spoke today at a press conference in Nagoya. “We’re facing an unprecedented emergency situation. Unfortunately, we can’t see the bottom.” Continue Reading

By Andy Bannister

12.21.2008

One of the iconic sights of London, the double-decker Routemaster bus, could be reinvented for the 21st century, with sports car maker Aston Martin just named as joint winner of a competition to design a replacement.

Aston’s entry was a collaborative effort with leading architects Foster and Partners. Their design envisages a highly-manoeuvrable, zero-emissions vehicle, with solar panels built into a glass roof, full accessibility, warm lighting and wooden floors.

A second design was joint winner of the competition and produced by British bus, coach and truck design firm Capoco Design.

Capoco’s entry pays closer homage to the original Routemaster, with a design combining old and new, featuring the classic model’s front engine and open rear platform, plus a low flat floor.

Transport for London, the agency responsible for public transport in the British capital, wants to see greener and more accessible double-deckers in service within two years time, although clearly the new Routemaster will take much longer to appear.

The winning concepts will now be passed on to bus manufacturers, following a competitive tendering process, to develop into a final proposed design.

Recently elected Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is a Routemaster fan and has enthusiastically backed the competition, which had 700 entries from five continents. Many of those taking part were children. Continue Reading

By Brendan Moore

12.19.2008

By now you have read that the federal government (read: the Bush Administration) acted to give some short-term aid in the form of loans to General Motors and Chrysler early today so that the automakers would not collapse.

It is a 17.4 billion dollar (USD) bailout.

Ford did not ask for aid at this time.

This has a produced a good news-bad news scenario for the two automakers.

The good news, of course, is that they won’t run out of money in a few weeks and have to shut down. They now live to fight another day.

The bad news is that the federal government now can tell them what to do whenever it suits them, starting with some very tough loan conditions in the first few months.

These are the terms from a “fact sheet” released by the Bush Administration this morning.

Fact Sheet: Financing Assistance to Facilitate the Restructuring of Automobile Manufacturers to Attain Financial Viability

Purpose: The terms and conditions of the financing provided by the Treasury Department will facilitate restructuring of our domestic auto industry, prevent disorderly bankruptcies during a time of economic difficulty, and protect the taxpayer by ensuring that only financially viable firms receive financing.

Amount: Auto manufacturers will be provided with $13.4 B in short-term financing from the TARP, with an additional $4 B available in February, contingent upon drawing down the second tranche of TARP funds.

Viability Requirement: The firms must use these funds to become financially viable. Taxpayers will not be asked to provide financing for firms that do not become viable. If the firms have not attained viability by March 31, 2009, the loan will be called and all funds returned to the Treasury.
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By Kevin Gordon

12.19.2008

At 5:04pm on Friday you start your car to embark on your trip home. You have spent the last three hours watching the clock, waiting for the school bell to release you. Once you finally escape the confines of your office, the last thing you want is to be snarled traffic, doubling the time of your commute. As you glance at your navigation screen, you see your typical route home peppered in yellow triangles connected by red lines. Your future has been predicted, and you are screwed. Or are you?

This is often the quandary you are presented with if you have up-to-the minute information on what traffic is doing ahead of you. In this instance, the dilemma presented by a navigation system that has the ability to gather and present traffic data. For the past two years, I have had the chance to live with one of the better implementations of these systems, in a 2007 Acura RDX.

During those two years I have seen red (a bad sign for traffic flow) on almost a daily basis. Initially, when my navigation system would alert me to slow moving traffic ahead, I would avoid the highway in question. Instead, I would jump on my favorite back road, and smugly assume that everyone else was stuck suffering in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The thing I learned as time passed? More often than not, I was better off heading for red and waiting through it, as I had before I was enlightened by technology.

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By Brendan Moore

12.18.2008

While there is a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the auto industry these days, the things the companies usually do continue in the background, muted by the noise being generated by the grindingly awful economic news.

One of those things the companies are still doing is supporting racing of their machinery.

With that in mind, Ford, specifically Ford Racing, has just rolled their 40th Anniversary Mustang Cobra Jet specially built drag-racing car off the production line.

Some of the fondest memories of my misspent youth came about in a stock-looking 1968 Mustang GT fastback that my friend’s engineer father had taken apart in the Seventies, then considerably upgraded with all the bits from a Cobra Jet race car. Voila! A drag-racer for the streets.

Not that we ever engaged in any crazy shenanigans like that.

These Mustang Cobra Jets are sold with serial numbers, but those serial numbers are not legal VIN numbers, so you can forget about ordering one and then making some money on the informal racing circuit – you can’t license these Mustangs for the road.

Interestingly, Ford wasn’t even going to make this car until someone had an idea eight months ago to bring back the racer. Eight months of hard work by the Blue Oval Boys later, the first finished car is rolling off the line, ready for its new owner. By the way, that new owner getting the keys in the photo is Brent Hajek, owner of Hajek Motorsports, who will enter four of the new CJ’s at the 2009 Winternationals at Pomona, Calif. in February. The guy in the suit is Brian Wolfe, Director of Ford Racing Technology.

Brent looks happy, doesn’t he? Continue Reading

By Chris Haak

12.18.2008

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the merger talks between GM and Chrysler – which have been publicly acknowledged at least three times by my count – have again restarted.  Though neither company has yet commented on the development, the Journal cited the usual “people familiar with the matter” when reporting the story.

The closest the companies have probably come to merging was in October, when GM COO Fritz Henderson was leading a team to explore the purchase of Chrysler from Cerberus, only to disclose with the release of some ugly third quarter 2008 financials a few weeks later that the company was abandoning the pursuitto focus on near-term liquidity challenges.  During the automakers’ Congressional testimony, CEO Rick Wagoner of GM and Bob Nardelli of Chrysler agreed to reconsider the possibility of a merger, particularly if it was a condition of receiving government assistance. Continue Reading