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VW TELLS BEIJING: "FURTHER OPEN UP (YOUR) SOCIETY"

Volkswagen, the first foreign automaker to enter the Chinese market and a sponsor of the 2008 Beijing games, urged China's government on Thursday, April 24th, to "embrace the spirit of the Olympic Games". (Photo --- VW's Lavida sedan is the first "China-only" car made by Shanghai Volkswagen, and was debuted at the recent 2008 Beijing Auto Show).

Everyone around the world knows what a fantastic "success" the Beijing Olympic Torch Armored Stampede, uh, Run, has been, at least in those countries where a brutal, militaristic central government can offer the Torch Run the kind of, uh, "encouragement" desired by their like-minded buddies in Beijing. (Photos --- It was protesters versus police in San Francisco; a torch-bearer enjoys his moment in the San Francisco sun).

Places like San Francisco, a city which prides itself on offering "the run of the town" to just about anyone, provided the proper permits are paid and security arrangements made. Didn't anyone wonder why San Francisco was the Torch's only US stop? While we understand San Francisco's desire and need to host their Red Chinese guests in a safe and sane manner, the city nonetheless made itself look ridiculous by playing "Hide the Torch" for several hours, toying with the city's own citizens while "kissing up" to Beijing and their crack security teams guarding the Torch.

Surprisingly, but also happily, Volkswagen has become the first Beijing Games' sponsor to stand-up publicly to China's contributions to murderous, violent, cruel repression and political manipulations not only aimed at their own people, but also in Tibet, Nepal, Darfur and other nations. They did it in a way which, while it might seem timid and weak to the average American, nonetheless attempts to "gets the message across" to their Chinese business partners in an Asian, "face-saving" way.  (Photo --- The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet has long been a flash-point between the nation which he was forced to escape, in disguise, in 1959, as China began to complete their dominance over the country, Tibet, which had been traditionally led politically and religiously by the Dalai Lama for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years).

Volkswagen is no innocent company. Born in the earliest days of what became WWII, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche sought-out and received a personal commission from Hitler to design and build the "People's Car", what was to eventually be called the Volkswagen. Porsche (the engineering firm Ferdinand founded and led) was involved as were other infamous firms of Nazi Germany, including Daimler-Benz and Bayer, in developing munitions, vehicles and many other war-related products. Today, Volkswagen, Porsche and Audi are all strongly inter-related (by both stock ownership and family) and all, including Daimler, have been involved in the payment of billions of dollars in war reparations to the war's victims and the State of Israel; these companies and many of their top executives and labor leaders, and the German government, have tried to make honest and appropriate amends following WWII, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so. (Photo --- Beijing traffic; the city now averages more than 10,000 new-car registrations per week, a number continuously on the rise).

So it is especially appropriate that the first Beijing Games' sponsor to openly criticize Beijing and try to  push the regime towards more openness should be one which had its own first-hand experience as a member of what was possibly the world's single-most deadly "government;" no one will ever be certain if China killed more people during their "Cultural Revolution" than were killed due to Germany's murderous aggression in WWII.

     As reported by Reuters, "The Olympics offer China and its people a unique opportunity not only to continue their economic development, but above all to further open up their society," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn told shareholders at the VW annual meeting.
     "We hope and firmly believe that our Chinese partners will seize this unique opportunity."
     The CEO said Volkswagen had stressed this in talks with those responsible in China.
     The second-largest carmaker in China behind U.S. rival General Motors, Volkswagen decided in June 2004 to become a partner of the Beijing games and went so far as to dub the restructuring of its two Chinese joint ventures the "Olympic Programme."
     The Games have turned into a public relations disaster for China after violent crackdowns in Tibet provoked protests in the West and forced runners bearing the Olympic torch around the world to be protected by security forces. (End of Reuters story).

This is the interior of the VW Lavida, "Made in China, Only for China." Around the world, VW interiors are used as styling and quality benchmarks for other car-makers

Click below to read more about Volkswagen criticizing China using "soft diplomacy" and possibly cutting the amount of supplies purchased from Chinese companies!

BIG WILLIE TO BE FEATURED ON NBC-TV SHOW "WHIPNOTIC"

A group of General Motors officials and executives, hosting about a dozen automotive journalists from throughout the Western US, gathered recently in the painfully-hip Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, CA, for a media introduction of the all-new Pontiac G8 and 2009 Pontiac Vibe. All were pleasantly surprised to find the legendary co-founder of the "National and International Brotherhood of Street Racers," "Big" Willie Robinson, in their midst. He was taking a meeting with a segment producer of the NBC-TV automotive show, Whipnotic. Robinson (on the right in the photo) and Whipnotic's Yon Motskin spoke for well over an hour, doing the necessary initial planning for a Whipnotic segment about Willie, his recently-departed wife of 38 years, Tomiko, the Brotherhood and the hoped-for re-opening of Brotherhood Raceway on Terminal Island in the Los Angeles Harbor area. (Photos by Steve Parker).

Whipnotic, the NBC-TV show, is now in its fourth month of brand-new episodes every week focusing on the Southern California automotive lifestyle each Saturday at 5pm. My guess is that the segment will show sometime in the next 3 to 6 weeks; as soon as we know the exact date, we'll announce it and have it available for viewing right here on this SteveParker.com website and it will also be on the Whipnotic.com website, too.

I have been a consultant to NBC-TV's Whipnotic show,  and also the Whipnotic.com website. We've been working closely with Fred Roggin and Kip Epps, the show's executive producers, on various aspects of the program, and also have been providing material for the Whipnotic.com website since well before the first week both the show and the website went "live" on NBC-TV and the Internet, in mid-January, 2008. We're happy and proud to have been able to have introduced the people behind-the-scenes at Whipnotic to Willie and the Brotherhood and to have some small part in making this segment on the show possible.

Here's the latest on the status of Brotherhood Raceway's re-opening: Land for the track on Terminal Island appears to be available; the concrete barriers, grandstands and other items which have been loaned in the past by the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach to Brotherhood Raceway are again available; Southern California weather is now dry and warm for the next several months, and members of both the LAPD and LA Sheriff's Department are making their support known of the track known publicly. Also, and most unfortunately, many injuries and deaths resulting from illegal street racing keep occurring throughout Southern California and throughout the nation, and gang-related crime including injuries and deaths of gang members and innocent civilians resulting from shootings and other violent crimes continue throughout the City of Los Angeles and the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego and Orange. The positive results throughout the entire community which came from Brotherhood Raceway's opening after the 1992 Los Angeles "Rodney King Riots" are well-known; many people in all levels of government in the area are saying that "the time is right" for Brotherhood to re-open.

Whipnotic is the first NBC-TV program produced in both English and Spanish. KNBC sportscaster Mario  Solis hosts the English-language version, seen every Saturday at 5pm on KNBC/TV4 Los Angeles, and repeated at 2am Sunday mornings. The program also airs on KNBC’s Digital Channel 4.4 (available on Time Warner Cable) at 8pm on Saturdays. Toni Romero hosts the Spanish-language version on Telemundo's KVEA/TV52 in Los Angeles, which runs each Sunday at 9:30am.

E-mail Big Willie by clicking anywhere on this line. We're doing our best to keep everyone up-to-date of the very latest news concerning Willie and the track's soon-to-come re-opening. Please direct any other Brotherhood members and/or others interested in Big Willie and the track to this SteveParker.com website. And be sure to let us know any related news by e-mailing us directly; just click anywhere on this line to do so. Thank you!

2009 CORVETTE ZR1: 638-HP, 205-MPH! YOWZAH!

"The 2009 Corvette ZR1 produces 638 horsepower." This is one of those stories which tear our automotive conscience and loyalties every which way but loose, to paraphrase the title of a really bad Clint Eastwood movie featuring him and a chimpanzee sharing cross-country driving duties in a big-rig truck. As we all know, all work and no play make Jack and Jill a boring couple. We don't have to preach to you, don't have to tell you about the price of gas, about the embarrassing lack of fuel-efficient cars and trucks made in America or how none of the Detroit Three seems really, truly committed, as yet, to providing high-mileage, low-emissions cars and trucks. And when Audi and BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz (see a "national" pattern here?) among others, begins selling new-generation turbo-diesel cars and trucks later this year in the US, Detroit will have even more egg on their face. Both Audi and Peugeot have been dominating world sports car endurance racing with 5-Liter, V12 turbo-diesel powerplants in their race cars. The Euro-diesels coming to a showroom near you this fall are fast, quiet, clean and smooth along with having the traditional diesel qualities of high-mileage and engines which, with regular maintenance, start to get "broken-in" at about 500,000 miles. And did we mention enough torque to pull not just a house trailer, but an entire house? (Artwork of ZR1 engine "ghost view" by David Kimble, the world's best).

The bright spot? Chevrolet sells about 35,000 Corvettes a year, almost an inconsequential  number in the American market, which will see about 15,000,000 new cars and trucks sold in 2008. Of those 35,000 'Vettes, about 10%, or 3,500, will be Z06 models. And there will be even fewer of the all-new ZR1 models produced and sold. Just as a reminder, the Z06 is available as a coupe-only and comes with a 505-hp 7.0-liter V8 and mandatory 6-speed manual transmission. It also has specific suspension tuning, tires, and brakes. The 2008 "427 Limited Edition," which is a Z06 with some extra safety and convenience fetaures, is priced at almost $84,000. This means the 2009 ZR1 will base-price for near or over $100,000.

So, all things considered, the ZR1 will be loud, frighteningly fast, have slot-car-like handling, get lousy mileage, produce more emissions than they have a right to make and Chevrolet will probably have to sell 100 Aveos to each ZR1 to keep Chevy legal when it comes to the division's CAFE corporate average fuel requirements) standards. But you know what? With fewer than 3,000 of them planned to be sold, we say: Go for it! At least some people are having some fun out there!

Here's how Chevy described all the excitement, with an occasional note from us here at SteveParker.com: When it was introduced at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1’s power was estimated at 100 horsepower for each of its 6.2 liters of displacement. GM Powertrain has completed SAE certification of the ZR1’s supercharged LS9 V-8 and the results exceed the estimate: 638 horsepower (476 kW) and 604 lb.-ft. of torque (819 Nm).

The LS9’s output is nearly 103 horses per liter, or just about 1.7 horses for each of the engine’s 376 cubic inches. It is unquestionably the most powerful automotive production engine ever manufactured by General Motors and enables the Corvette ZR1 to achieve a top speed of more than 200 mph (322 km/h). In fact, on a GM employee website, Chevy engineers reported the ZR1 achieved almost 205-mph at a company test track in Germany.

The Corvette ZR1 goes on sale this summer. Its 638-hp supercharged engine is complemented in the chassis by heavy-duty components not offered in any other model, including a six-speed manual transmission with race-hardened gears and dual-disc clutch technology that delivers exceptional clamping power and lower inertia, as well as strengthened axle components.

Fuel economy testing has not been completed, but engineers are confident the ZR1 will be the most fuel-efficient 600-plus-horsepower car on the market (and how many of those are there "on the market" anyway?).

The LS9 engine is hand-built by specially trained technicians at GM’s Performance Build Center in Wixom, Mich. It is a unique, small-volume engine production facility that also builds the Chevrolet Corvette Z06’s LS7 engine and other high-performance GM production engines.

The key enabler of the LS9’s performance is the industry’s first production application of a new, positive- displacement Roots-type supercharger that has a unique four-lobe rotor design. Its design promotes quieter and more efficient performance, while the large, 2.3-liter displacement ensures adequate air volume at high rpm. Maximum boost pressure is 10.5 psi (0.72 bar). It is teamed with an integrated charge cooling system that reduces inlet air temperature for maximum performance.

A raised hood provides adequate clearance for the LS9, while a polycarbonate window in the hood provides a view of the engine beneath it.

Click below to read more details about the 638-hp, 604-lb. ft. of torque, 205-mph 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1!

FORD'S FIRST QUARTER LOOKING UP WORLDWIDE; USA REMAINS IN THE RED

Good news from Ford! Well, the company is not yet making a single cent in the US, but worldwide the Blue Oval is doing well. Alan Mulally, the former-Boeing executive who is now running Ford and demanded (and got)  $20 million in cash deposited in his bank account before his first day of work, isn't able to yet demonstrate that Ford's American new-vehicle sales arm can recover from the phenomenal bashing they (and GM and Chrysler) have been through the past 37 years. The improving (for Ford and their stockholders) facts below (and haven't we been telling you to BUYBUYBUY Ford stock? It's easy to find ... it's stock ticker symbol is easy to remember: "F"). (Photo Above --- Ford is predicting 100,000 sales annually for their all-new Flex CUV; you might remember it as the "Fairlane" concept car).

While Ford has some great products which they've developed for (and are building in) many other countries around the world, the company's main method of saving money is going to be through worker attrition, voluntarily or otherwise. Fewer workers using fewer platforms to make more models with much-fewer option packages is the secret to Ford's stabilization in this, their long-time home market. And a Ford connection with Nissan/Renault is not out of the question, though Chrysler seems hellbent on partnering with Nissan before the "Ford question" officially arises. (Photo --- Ford's association with Carroll Shelby has served both parties very, very well; Shelby is seen here with their latest collaboration, the Mustang Shelby GT500KR).

FoMoCo US definitely has some sales winners, but even their popular cars and trucks have greatly suffered the past decade --- and more. Mustang has always been a bright spot, and remains so, but a car which sells "only" 50,000-or-so units a year might not be able to keep a place in the factory line-ups of the future. Ford sold 14,737 Mustangs in the first three months of 2007; this year, 2008, January through March sales were way down, to a total of 10,180. In fact, Mustang sales alone for January through March of last year were almost exactly the same as the total number of all Lincoln-Mercury vehicles so far this year.  But there's some nice news, too, when a week after its 44th anniversary on April 17th, Mustang production (not sales, yet) reached nine million units. That Mustang GT Convertible went to a dealership in Iowa, and we predict that car will be seen this coming January on some TV cable network's coverage of auto auctions. As Ford's longest running nameplate, the Mustang sold over 22,000 units on its first day and more than one million sold in the first two years. Those of you of a "certain age" will remember, as we do, that the Mustang was introduced at the 1964 New York World's Fair Ford Pavilion.

Automotive News also reports that Ford Motor Co. will spend more than $100 million to market the revamped 2009 F-150 pickup, the single best-selling vehicle in the US for more over 50 years. A Ford official told AN that the model-year launch budget is in the same ballpark as the spending allocated when the automaker introduced the current F-150 in 2003. When that redesigned 2004 model went on sale, Ford said they planned to spend more than $100 million on what they called the "biggest launch campaign in Ford's history". The same kind of emphasis is being planned for the re-engineered and restyled 2009 F-150, which goes on sale this fall. Ford's Focus is doing better than last year at this time; Fusion's numbers are tied with last year's, as are the Taurus/500's numbers. Ford's critical Edge started-out strong, but sales have either dropped or remain near-steady each month since mid-2007.

Now, that news which may portend further success for Ford in the US (paraphrasing from Automotive News):

Ford Motor Co. surprised Wall Street today with a first quarter earnings report full of black ink -- saying it posted net income of $100 million on total revenue of $43.5 billion. That's compared with a net loss of $282 million on revenue of $43.0 billion during the same period a year ago.

Ford stock skyrocketed on the news -- closing the day up 88 cents, or 11.7 percent, to $8.40 a share.

Click below to read more about Ford's positive overseas sales numbers and their ongoing attempts to close-the-gap in the USA ... and what they can expect!

INDIANA AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLIER PLANT CLOSES; 138 MORE LOST USA JOBS

More skilled American auto industry jobs are gone. The three major presidential candidates are campaigning in Indiana, leading-up to that state's Democratic and Republican primaries, both slated for May 6, 2008, just two weeks from now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both called-for an end to tax deductions for any company which has "off-shored" what used to be US jobs. John McCain, though, using a shuttered factory yesterday as a backdrop for a "media event", promised to "retrain" workers who had lost their jobs due to off-shoring and plant closings while opining that the lost jobs would probably never return to the US. McCain's "event," which had to be one of the worst-planned and "advanced" of any of the campaigns, at least so far, was tantamount to Hillary Clinton holding a press conference on the lawn of AT&T's corporate headquarters and thnaking "her good friends" in the company, or Barack Obama planning a $10,000-a-plate fundraiser in the parking lot of the drug industry's Washington, DC, lobbying offices. Unfortunately for everyone involved, there was more bad news brewing in Indiana just today. (Photo Above --- "Closed" sign at a Buick plant in Flint, MI).

To paraphrase from the auto industry's weekly newspaper, Automotive News, we learn that:

Citation Corp. will idle its aluminum-molding plant in Butler, Indiana, by the end of July, the company said  today. Citation manufactures cast, machined and assembled components for the automotive, heavy-truck and industrial markets. Operations at the plant, including production and equipment, will be shipped to factories owned by Diversified Machine Inc. in Bristol, Ind., and Milwaukee.

"We continue to focus our strategy on opportunities that enable us to meet our long-term business objectives," Citation CEO Doug Grimm said in a statement. " Divesting a noncore business is a logical step in that process and will ensure Citation remains a strong, viable company." (The guy delivering this terrible news is named "Doug Grimm"; now is that some gallows humor or what?) (Photo --- Non-union worker at a bright, clean automotive plant in America; she is helping build Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Alabama).

Interestingly, this website has learned that Grimm joined Citation Corporation very recently, in January 2008, as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors following various senior management positions in the automotive sector. Previously, Grimm had executive positions at Visteon, where he led that company's $4 billion business relationship with Ford globally, including Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. And we know what just happened to Jaguar and Land Rover ... They are both now owned by an Indian automotive company called Tata. Grimm also had top positions at Metaldyne, Dana and Chrysler. Grimm certainly has had varied experience in dealing with once-great American manufacturing companies with severe financial problems, and we won't even try to address the possible "chicken and egg" possibilities.

Cutting the 138-person work force will begin next month. The company has not released any information regarding severance packages. Citation Corp., of suburban Detroit, ranked No. 85 on the Automotive News list of the top suppliers to North America, with sales totaling $527 million for the 2006 fiscal year. (end of AN story paraphrasing).

Get that? OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS IN 2006 SALES for an American company which employs just 138 people ... And the place is so poorly run by its management that they can't even keep their doors open? Or, the company's owners/stockholders are not satisfied with their earnings and have decided to off-shore the company's jobs to a country where unskilled labor making a few bucks an hour can turn-out shoddy products.

The US auto industry, which came off a 70-year-long bender of worldwide domination beginning in the  1970s, has still not turned-around their industry in a way meaningful enough to keep traditional high-paying American jobs in this country. Now THAT'S something which all the candidates had better address this year, and in a big, realistic and meaningful way.

EARTH DAY! PRESIDENT BUSH LOOKS "GREEN AND MEAN" BEFORE HE'S ESCORTED OUT OF TOWN

US President George W. Bush is eager to appear busy as he marks time until the next president is sworn-in this coming January (and it can't come soon enough, for me or our nation). He has recently included meeting the Pope, appearing on NBC-TV's "DEAL OR NO DEAL" and planning the coming US attack on Iran into his "busy work". On a day when the Democratic candidates fought the latest round of their true Heavyweight Championship, John McCain defended NAFTA to a town-hall-style meeting at Youngstown (Ohio) State University full of union workers that, "Last time I checked, NAFTA was a five-letter word, not four," and was ridiculed by the crowd for doing so, the White House decided to roll-out new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (those much talked-about CAFE standards) while, basically, no one was listening. But these new numbers, while tougher than the Detroit Three would like them to be, nevertheless were a little bit stronger than some expected. But, hey! It's Earth Day! (Photo Above --- Well, just write your own caption!)

As reported by McPaper (aka USA TODAY), cars and light trucks would have to be 25% more fuel efficient by 2015 under a proposed rule announced April 22nd, by the Transportation Department. Under the proposal, automakers would have to speed up the timetable for achieving an average fuel-efficiency standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Today's car and truck fleets average about 25 mpg.

The proposal would require each automaker's car fleet to achieve an average of 35.7 mpg by the  2015 model year. Light trucks, which include pickups, SUVs and minivans, would have to meet a 28.6 mpg average by 2015. (Photo Below --- Wonder what the MPG is of the all-new Popemobile? This snazzy new model, with Benedict XVI on his glass-enclosed throne, uh, seat, appears to be built on a Mercedes-Benz M-type or G-type chassis.)

The federal proposal is tougher than the fuel-economy requirements passed by Congress last year, which called for a 3.3% annual increase in gas mileage. The federal plan calls for a 4.5% annual increase from 2011 to 2015. If those increases are achieved, Transportation Department officials said automakers would need to increase fuel economy by only about 2.1% a year from 2016 to 2020.

The CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the lobbying arm of the auto industry, said, "Automakers are prepared to meet that challenge."

In the interest of full disclosure, and your own edification, Alliance members include: BMW Group, Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, USA, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota, and Volkswagen of America, Inc.

To us, the Alliance's positive comment about the proposed new standards is a major red light. Whenever the lobbying arm of this nation's auto industry (including Germany's Porsche) agrees so fully and so publicly with any government standards ... fuel types, safety, emissions, mpg, whatever ... Then those standards deserve a long, hard look by all sides involved. Our 35+ years of experience covering the auto industry tells us that only when all sides involved are upset with new or proposed standards that they might possibly be good for everyone involved ... including this country and all its citizens. Right now, with the White House trying to look "tough on the car-makers," it only looks laughable. These proposed standards are still nowhere near where they should be, not even what the car-makers could achieve practically tomorrow with just a few simple re-settings of the CPUs in every car and truck built after 1974 (a lot of vehicles could get these updates by a quick trip to their local factory service center, putting the vehicle online with the factory computers, and having the engines re-set for better mileage and even cleaner emissions in a few micro-seconds).

(Photo Below --- Fuel conservation made history this past week. Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an open-wheel Indycar race, her victory coming April 20th, 2008, in the "Honda 300" at the Twin Ring Motegi race track in Japan. Patrick's win came about through her judicious use of fuel conservation "tricks", including one as simple as slowing her racing speed while her competitors all needed to make a pit stop with only about 10 laps to go to fill their need for fuel; Patrick and her pit crew stayed in-communication via two-way radio all through the race, and her crew chief outsmarted all the competition when it came to being forced to make fuel stops during the race.)

Click below to read more about these new "proposed" White House goals for improving your vehicle's "miles per gallon" and how they might affect us all.

SHE'S THE MAN! DANICA PATRICK WINS "HONDA 300" AT TWIN RING MOTEGI, JAPAN

To paraphrase Richard Nixon, "They won't have Danica Patrick to kick around anymore". And in a nation where women are traditionally held in much lower esteem than men, perhaps a few more women throughout Japan won't have to ask their dads or husbands or oniichan ("cute older brother") for the keys to the car anymore ... Now that Danica Patrick has become the first woman to win an Indycar race, and she did it in Japan. (Be sure to check our left-hand margin for an all-new Photo Album featuring Danica Patrick's historic win at Motegi, or simply click anywhere on this line!)

And, oh yeah ... America's best open-wheel racers will once again be competing in a single series after this weekend, with Motegi the last IRL-only event and Long Beach's street race the final Champ Car event of all time. So, racing history is being made in more than one way this weekend ... And as we watch it all transpire, live and in HD. What a country! (Photos --- Danica Patrick in Victory Circle at Motegi, Japan, and greeting the media following the race).

She's become the first woman to ever win a major open-wheel series racing event, claiming the checkered flag at Twin Ring Motegi, a 1.5-mile D-shaped oval about 70 miles north of Tokyo in a mountainous area of Honshu, Japan's main island. (Photos --- Danica Patrick at speed on the track at Motegi, Japan, and greeting the media following the race).

Patrick ran at a slow, measured pace after taking on the last 22-gallons of fuel in her #7 Andretti Green Racing team car, a Dallara chassis powered by a 650-horsepower Honda engine and shod with Firestone tires. Taking direction from her pit crew, she saved enough fuel to still be running at a fast pace at lap #200, the final lap of the event. (Photo below --- Perhaps some future Danicas arrive at the track).

After the race, Patrick mentioned several times to various microphones that winning "wasn't hard", that it didn't feel any different from running her "regular" race, if the word regular can be used to describe a sport which consists of driving around a race track at nearly 200 miles an hour with competitors of varying degrees of skill. She seemed somewhat surprised by the relative normalcy of it all. Apparently she didn't have to "dig deep" as Indycar announcer Scott Goodyear opined after the race; Patrick learned that she was fine, but that a complete, very serious team effort is what brings a win. (Photo below --- Danica's hand-in-hand work with her pit crew brought her the first victory ever by a woman in a major US-based open-wheel race series).

And her win meant a lot to Michael Andretti, co-owner, with Barry Green, of a four race car team at Motegi  including Patrick. Another team member, Andretti's son, Marco, went into the wall seconds after the green flag dropped and the cars were building-up to high speeds. He probably correctly blamed his maneuver on the relatively cold ambient temperature, about 59 degrees F. As soon as the 650-horsepower Honda engine began putting much of its power to the car's rear wheels, the tires spun and Andretti, who just turned 21, was into the wall, happily with no injuries, other than to the car, which kept him from continuing in the event. This is why Formula 1 race cars use electric tire-warming blankets; to keep the tires at a warm, usable and consistent temperature.

EV = LAWSUIT; TESLA SUES HENRIK FISKER

Ready for an "Only in California" quote? Try this on for size: “I think it’s ironic that Fisker chose to name his car the Karma, when what he’s done is very bad karma,” said Adam C. Belsky, a lawyer at Gross, Belsky & Alonso who represents Tesla. (End of quote) Now, where else would a lawyer representing a car-maker make a bad joke about the word "karma"? (Photos --- Above, Concept drawing of Fisker's "Karma", Below, Tesla's "Roadster").

So, here we go! Here come the lawsuits! It wasn't enough for Tesla to spend the past two years embarrassing themselves in the world's media ... Nope, now they start with the lawsuits. Promising too much, too soon wasn't in these guys' minds ... With all their Silicon Valley billions, they have little real concern for the "rest of us". No, they need to feel important, need to feel they are doing something for humanity. Well, they're wasting a lot of time and money in doing so ... If that's what they are trying to do.

And who are they suing? Henrik Fisker, he with the (some say) solid-gold Aston-Martin/BMW-design pedigree, and whom Tesla apparently hired, and quietly so, sometime last year. Now Tesla is saying that Fisker's Karma show car, seen at auto shows over the past year, and which has gotten tons of media attention, rips-off hybrid technologies which he, Fisker, only learned about from his paid association with Tesla. And that his Karma sedan is nothing more than the (code-named) "White Star" which Tesla told the media they were planning on building in an all-new facility somewhere in ... New Mexico. Tesla says their made-by-Lotus "Roadster" all-electric sporty car is now in production, even with a pasted-together transmission which is able to make use of about 50% of the power developed by the car's electric motors, and with that car out of the way, they now want to get-to-work on their White Star all-EV sedan, somewhere (we guess) in New Mexico. Now, everyone knows that New Mexico is a hotbed of All-American born-and-bred automotive technology, with numerous parts suppliers just off I-10, I-40 and I-25. And don't forget about the state's universities, full of professors with voluminous industry experience and packed with students of all sorts desperate to learn the latest of American car technology. Not. And Tesla says Fisker sold-out for under $1 million. Here's some of the NEW YORK TIMES story about the latest Tesla happenings (and now aren't you really glad you didn't lay-down $100,000, the "100% deposit" required of the Roadster's buyers?):

Tesla Motors, the Silicon Valley maker of electric sports cars, filed suit in San Mateo Superior Court on Monday against a competing company and two of its employees, saying they stole some of Tesla’s design ideas and trade secrets. (Photos --- Below, Fisker's Karma at the Detroit Auto Show, Bottom, California Governor Schwarzenegger met with Tesla officials and rode in the car almost two years ago, garnering the company free, positive media throughout the world).

Tesla, which has generated much interest among fans of cars and technology, recently started shipping a  two-seat electric sports car in limited quantities. Last year it hired Henrik Fisker, a Danish-born designer who is known for his work on high-end exotic sports cars, to do the body design for a four-seat sedan, code-named White Star.

The Tesla lawsuit contends that Fisker and his chief operating officer, Bernhard Koehler, doing business under the name Fisker Coachbuild, fraudulently agreed to take on Tesla’s $875,000 design contract to gain access to confidential design information and trade secrets, then announced a competing vehicle. Last fall Mr. Fisker founded Fisker Automotive, which is backed by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The quarrel sheds a light on the insular world of the Valley’s investors in environmentally friendly technologies.Sergei Brin and Larry Page, whose Google search engine was originally backed by Kleiner Perkins, were both early Tesla investors.

Both the planned Tesla sedan and Fisker’s recently announced Karma are meant to be hybrid cars using a small gas engine to power a generator that charges a battery, which in turn powers an electric motor. The design, known as a serial hybrid, is thought to greatly extend the range and efficiency of hybrid vehicles.

The Tesla lawsuit states that before doing the design work for Tesla, Mr. Fisker had no experience with hybrid technology. It says that he did substandard work for Tesla, essentially sabotaging it, and then used the revenue from the design contract to develop his company’s car.

“I think it’s ironic that Fisker chose to name his car the Karma, when what he’s done is very bad karma,” said Adam C. Belsky, a lawyer at Gross, Belsky & Alonso who represents Tesla.

Calls to Fisker Automotive were not returned. A person answering the phone at Finck & Dadras, the San Francisco law firm representing Fisker Coachbuild, said it was the firm’s policy not to comment on litigation.

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MV AGUSTA AND CITROËN ITALIA PRESENT THE NEW C2 1587 BRUTALE

In our "Everything Motorcycle" section, we wrote a few weeks ago about a new offering from MV Agusta, their Brutale 910 ... Now Citroen and Agusta have decided to embark on some pretty cool "cooperation". Everyone knows about the rugged and good-looking Ford F-series and Harley-Davidson "special editions" ... It was a smart match for America, a marriage made in marketing heaven. It appears that even with full-size pickup sales sliding because of the economy (including everything wrong with it right now, from the housing downturn to the price of gas), Ford and Harley are both intent on keeping their association together. By the way, if anyone can remember another marketing plan which matched a pickup (or any other vehicle, car or truck) with a motorcycle, please let us know! This "Harley/Ford" hook-up is just the sort of thing which smart car-makers and motorcycle-making outfits can do which can help perhaps, if only just a bit, prove to bring an increase in sales of either a car, truck and/or bike ... And that's good for everyone involved, from the people on the assembly lines making the four- and two-wheel vehicles to the folks in the showroom trying to make a living selling dreams at a time when it's become a pretty expensive proposition. Here's the latest from Europe (with all those fun little phrases and misspellings which, well, I enjoy .... and maybe you do, too):

MV AGUSTA AND CITROËN ITALIA PRESENT THE NEW C2 1587 BRUTALE

At the 6th edition of the My Special Car fair in Rimini (Italy), MV Agusta and Citroën Italia will present the  new C2 1587 Brutale, a show car destined to attract the attention of the qualified public at one of the most important Tuning Trade Fairs, where nothing is standard.

What made this synergy possible is the attention to detail that both brands reserve for their products, a guarantee of quality and reliability.

The car gets its name from the best selling naked bike produced by MV Agusta and inherits the sporty Pearl White/Black colour scheme.

The colour scheme of the concept car has been carefully studied directly by the MV Agusta Style Centre and replicates that of the Brutale 1078RR, possibly the highest performing naked on the market.

The interior underlines the sporty character of the show car; perforated alcantara seats, black leather detail trim with red stitching, Brutale logo on the seats and steering wheel in black alcantara with red stitching. The dashboard and foot plate are carbon fibre effect and complete the aggressive racing-style interior of the C2 1587 BRUTALE.

The C2 1587 BRUTALE is based on the top of the range C2, the VTS, featuring a 1.6 16 valve engine with 125 hp. The racing character is underlined by the Supersprint twin exhaust that gives this sporty car a racing sound that blends-in with its aggressive character.

Citroen
Paris, France

NISSAN MOVES TITAN BUILD TO CHRYSLER MEXICAN PLANT; CHRYSLER TO SELL NISSAN-MADE SMALL CAR

It's both a rare admission by a Japanese "captive import" and a powerful indication of the poor state of the American economy and the American dollar: Nissan announced today that it no longer makes financial sense to single-handedly build a full-size pickup in the current US marketplace, and starting in 2011, they will end production in Canton, Mississippi, of their Titan pickup, and partner with Chrysler, which will build the next-generation Titan at their plant in Saltillo, Mexico. (Photos --- Above, 2007 Nissan Titan, Below, Tata's Nano, being driven by Mr. Tata himself at the car's introduction at the recent Delhi Auto Show in India).

In turn, Nissan will manufacture an all-new, fuel-efficient small car based on a Chrysler concept and design. This model will be sold in North America, Europe and other global markets in 2010 and manufactured at Nissan's Oppama Plant in Japan. Analysts, including this one, think the new small car may be, in part, an answer to the Nano, which just debuted in India, built by that nation's Tata Corporation, which just purchased Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford. Tata is selling the Nano to dealers for about $2,500, so all the website chatter and noise these past few weeks about a "$2,500 car from India" was incorrect; $2,500 is the approximate wholesale cost to dealers, the customers will pay about $3,000 or more, depending on how large the demand is for the cars (and it's expected to be massive) and how much Tata dealers are allowed to add to the "factory sticker price". One thing we know for sure: The new car, designed by Chrysler and built in Japan by Nissan, will not be selling for anywhere near $3,000 in the US.

For several years, Chrysler has been making efforts to produce a "third-world car" similar to the Nano, based on using just a few large plastic pieces which could be bonded together to provide both the car's platform and chassis. However much input Chrysler will have into this all-new Nissan-built vehicle remains to be seen. Nissan recently committed to building a small car for Chrysler based on the Nissan Versa sedan platform, but only, at this time, for "limited distribution" in South American beginning in 2009. (Photos --- 2004 Nissan Titan loaded for bear; Nissan Armada, full-size SUV variant of the Titan).

Nissan also said the production of their massive Armada SUV, which is based on the Titan, will not be affected by this decision to move Titan production, though that is difficult to accept. Nissan also builds their big-selling Altima in Canton, called by industry observers a "radical new assembly plant" ... And it was expensive, costing the #2 Japanese car-maker over $1 billion. The company also said recently that it would discontinue building their seemingly ill-fated Quest minivan and super-deluxe Infiniti QX56 (Infiniti's version of the Armada) in Canton, and begin building light commercial trucks there instead.

Nissan was the first Japanese company to attempt building a full-size pickup in and for America, but  its being available only with a 5.6 Liter V8 and only in King Cab or Crew Cab configurations sealed its fate early on. Nissan had hoped to sell 100,000 Titans annually when they started selling the truck in 2003, and reviews of the truck were generally quite favorable. We know we liked it, and its Armada variant, too. But that big V8 was a massive guzzler, and smacked more of the 1980s than the 21st century. The company struggled, though, to sell just 60,000 a year, and new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) ratings for trucks, in a market which was 2.5-million trucks in 2003 but has shrunk to 2.1-million forced Nissan's hand with their big, powerful --- and pricey --- Titan.