Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut

ISUZU QUITS US MARKET; LEAVES LEGACY OF GREAT TV SPOTS, WINNER OF WAR WITH CONSUMER REPORTS

They built the first truck which Honda ever sold in the US, but in spite of being part of automotive trivia, Isuzu has made it official: After 27 years in the world's most important automotive marketplace, Isuzu is leaving the light-vehicle market in the United States, but keeping their medium-duty truck business. The character of the lying, scheming car salesman "Joe Isuzu", portrayed in Isuzu TV ads by actor David Leisure, will be remembered long after any Isuzu vehicle. Now the company is closing-up shop in the US, one of that rare and small group of "Asian car-maker failures" which includes Japan's Daihatsu and South Korea's Daewoo. (Photo - 1991 Isuzu Trooper photographed in its natural habitat).

If any Isuzu vehicles sold in the US are thought of at all in 50 years, it will probably be the Isuzu Trooper, possibly in a "case study" for an advertising agency or a college-level marketing class. In 1996, Consumers Union (CU), which publishes Consumer Reports (CR) magazine, said the 1995 and 1996 Isuzu Trooper SUV had demonstrated a "tendency to roll over in certain situations" in its tests, and that CR had determined that this was "not acceptable". The magazine and Consumers Union issued warnings, advising the public not to buy the vehicle, and suggesting that federal officials should launch an investigation into possible (but unnamed) product defects. Isuzu filed a lawsuit against CU; the court ruled that Consumer Reports had made "numerous false statements" and had put the Trooper SUV through tests that competitors were not subjected to. Though eight of ten jurors wanted to assign punitive damages, they did not find enough evidence of malicious intent and did not assign Isuzu cash damages. (Photo - Isuzu Ascender; rebadged GMC Envoy).

As Audi found after a devastating, and proven false in court, report on the CBS "60 MINUTES" news show on an "unintended acceleration" problem with their vehicles, and as Suzuki found after another CU hit job on their Samurai small SUV, once the "cat it out of the bag" it's very difficult and amazingly expensive to recover from such an attack. In July 2004, Suzuki's case against CR and CU was settled and dismissed, with no money changing hands. But the vehicle was cleared of all of CR's negative claims. There are many cases of CR and CU making claims against products, claims which have been proven false. Some feel that because there is no advertising in CR, its parent, CU, along with the magazine, occasionally and purposely make some outrageous safety claim about a vehicle, only to create interest in the magazine and their organization. Settlements reached in or out of court can not make-up for the damage to these, and other, companies caused by CU and CR. Meanwhile, CR and CU walk away after giving an apology and changing their rating for the vehicle in question. It's cost them little and their profile with the public is certainly much higher after they make one of these claims than before.

"Joe Isuzu" made his first appearance in 1985, and though the campaign cost American Isuzu a paltry (for the car business) $7 million, the campaign, created by Della Femina, Travisano and Partners, became an instant hit. Della Femina understood that Americans were so used to hearing stilted claims not only from corporations, but also from their government, that "Joe Isuzu" presenting himself as a lying car salesman, and proud of it, was a stroke of genius and created an atmosphere in which Isuzu flourished. Joe Isuzu lasted but a few years, until 1990, but it succeeded in making the unusual and somewhat difficult to pronounce word 'Isuzu' a household name throughout America. (Photo - Joe Isuzu).

Even the actor portraying Joe Isuzu seemed to be playing his own little inside joke; his last name, Leisure, was also the name of a particular style of clothing of that era, the much-derided, and with good reason, leisure suit. These suits were made from so many different man-made fibers and available in every ridiculous shade a colorist could come up with, that they actually "hurt" to wear, according to some who had donned these suits and headed for their favorite local disco.

The character had a huge impact on American culture of the time. President Ronald Reagan once compared Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega to "that fellow from Isuzu," and Chrysler's Lee Iacocca proclaimed in his own company's advertising, "If Chrysler isn't the performance company, then I'm Joe Isuzu." The Jerry Della Femina-headed ad agency created one of the best advertising campaigns not just in the history of the car business --- But in business, period. His smarmy, cynical, underhanded method was that special kind of sarcasm which hits the target; it was not only a "home run" for Isuzu, a company which unfortunately had more than its share of bad publicity, it was the proverbial "grand slam".

Joe Isuzu confirmed what many, if not most Americans felt about car salespeople ... That they would do and/or say absolutely anything to make a sale. For a vehicle-maker to not only appear to agree with what Americans thought, but to substantiate that in their advertising, was a courageous move which changed advertising forever. And it got the results which usually follow an "authentic" ad campaign --- Sales boomed. In 2001, Joe was returned, by popular demand, but this time as a "regular" corporate spokesman, instead of the lying salesman, for Isuzu's then-new Axiom SUV. Of course, with Leisure's character now "more normal," the results were nowhere near what the "liar campaign" did for Isuzu.(Photo - Isuzu i-350 Crew Cab).

Isuzu had the right ideas about SUVs for the U.S. market at the right time. In 1992 and 1993, the mid-size Rodeo was the top-selling import brand SUV nameplate with sales of 45,257 units. In 1993, it sold 48,903 units. The brand's sales pace continued for much of the 1990s, but slowed dramatically after 2000 as more competition emerged in the segment. Isuzu sales have slid from 103,937 in 1999 to 7,098 in 2007. (Photo - Actor David Leisure portrayed Joe Isuzu).

Isuzu also built a version of its top-selling Rodeo midsize SUV for Honda. That vehicle, the Honda   Passport, was available from 1994-2002. It was Honda's first-ever truck entry in the United States. From 1996-1999, Isuzu also built for Honda a luxury SUV called the Acura SLX. It was based on the Isuzu Trooper.

According to industry publication Automotive News, the company's shut-down was announced during a conference call with American Isuzu execs and their dealers. One dealer with three Isuzu showrooms said the company was being very generous in their buy-out plans with dealers. Dealers will receive $1,000 per new car they sold on average for the past four years, they can remain Isuzu service dealers and the company plans to spiff up incentives to help dealers clear out their inventory (which means more cash from a sale will remain with the dealer ... and the salesperson ... than in the past; it also means that this is a great time to go Isuzu-shopping because salespeople are being "encouraged" to close sales, no matter what they need to do to accomplish that).

In a press release, Isuzu Motors America said it is leaving the market because General Motors may discontinue the Ascender SUV and its small-pickup platform. Isuzu has 201 dealers and sells only two models -- the five-seat Ascender, based on the Chevrolet TrailBlazer; and the i-series pickup, derived from GM's small-pickup platform. (Photo - Isuzu medium-duty conventional cab diesel truck with a flatbed trailer).

The company says they were unable to secure any commercially viable replacements for those GM vehicles, which means the company would have no new products to sell. Isuzu took great pains this week to point out that Isuzu will continue to stand behind its customers and dealers here for years to come; current owners can be fairly certain their vehicles will not become "orphans", with no factory support for parts and/or service. To that end, the company says they will continue to honor all product warranties and roadside-assistance programs and will maintain its owner relations call center.

In addition, all current US dealers can continue as service dealerships for Isuzu, and the company will sign new contracts with dealers who want to stay. Current vehicle owners should check with their Isuzu dealer to see what they plan on doing; stay with the company or, if not, owners should find another dealer as nearby as possible to do warranty work and be a source for parts and repair as their vehicle ages. We'd expect resale value of all Isuzu vehicles to suffer, though, whether an owner sells to a private party or plans to use their Isuzu as a trade-in with a dealer. Although owners will probably not even notice the change, outside of possibly having to find another dealer to do warranty and repair work and be a parts source, the company closing-out operations in the US creates a poor image for them, true or not. (Photo - Isuzu city bus).

Isuzu will instead focus on its diesel-powered commercial trucks, a much larger business in the U.S. and abroad. In the fiscal year that ended last March, Isuzu earned $910 million on $14.2 billion in worldwide sales. The company said that quitting the U.S. passenger vehicle market would cost about $37 million over two years, including fees to franchised dealers.

The company also has a very successful marine diesel engine business, with no fewer than eight different engines, ranging in cylinders from three to six, listed on various marine equipment websites, with horsepower ratings from 26 to 260. This business will also continue uninterrupted worldwide and in the US. (Photo - Isuzu VehiCross).

A Japanese failure in the United States is a rare occurrence. The last Japanese automaker to pull out of the United States was Daihatsu, which offered the Rocky small SUV and Charade subcompact in the United States from 1988 to 1992. But the company never sold more than 17,000 units a year and was forced out of the United States because of voluntary export quotas in effect at the time.

Our feeling, having spent a lot of time with Daihatsu executives and seeing all their facilities in the US and in Osaka, Japan, was that in addition to the export quotas, Daihatsu's price point was much higher than their competition in the US for vehicles which had a perceived value of lower than was reflected on their price sticker. Both the Charade ("Our president is a big Audrey Hepburn," I was told when asking why they named a car with a word which can be perceived as being "fake" or "phony") and the Rocky (for which Daihatsu had to pay the copyright owner of the film named "Rocky" a fee for every one sold) were high-quality vehicles, perhaps too high quality for the price market in which they were playing. (Photo - Off-road race-ready Isuzu Amigo).

Daewoo, a Korean automaker, quit the US in 2002. GM now owns a majority of Daewoo and is importing one of their cars from South Korea, marketed here in the US as the Aveo.

Triumph 2008 Sprint ST --- Updated Tourer With "Superb Handling, Powerful Engine and Unrivalled (sic) Reliability"

One of the great names in motorcycling, Triumph, might have occasionally gone out of production,  and its factory was shut down completely in 1983, until resurrected by construction magnate John Bloor (he bought the name and whatever else was left for $100,000), but Triumph never went out of style. For the past several years they've even begun to flourish, with the company paying attention to trends worldwide and, much like Harley-Davidson, realizing, understanding and capitalizing on and exploiting the value of nostalgia, building machines which in appearance and even sound hearken back to an earlier time, to 1959 perhaps, which was the best year in history of British motorcycling, but with modern mechanicals and electronics which makes bikes like Triumph dependable, along with already being good-looking, in that retro sense, and, of course, fun to ride. (Logo above - Triumph's current logo, beginning in 2005; Photo below - 2008 Triumph Sprint ST).

Many of us of a certain age, who grew up in a time when the machines from a particular Asian nation were just getting started with very serious sales in the US, which continue to this day, had our very first rides on a bike with either an American or British pedigree. These were, for the most part, and looking back with our perfect 20/20 hindsight, truly horrendous machines to use to learn how to ride a motorcycle. Heavy, unreliable and with poor handling, Harley-Davidson and Triumph, BSA and Norton bikes allowed the student to perfect a riding technique which out of necessity included the "best way to pick up a bike once it had been dropped while waiting at a traffic light", as well as the proper way to, using foot pressure, get one of the two pistons into its TDC (top dead center) position, the better to make the beast start using the kick start method. They machines were almost always twins (with the occasional single-cylinder thrown in for good measure and even more torture for the rider).

When kick-starting a bike, the rider is trying to start the "flame propagation" procedure in just one cylinder, no matter how many cylinders total. So, with a 500cc machine, for example, in a twin configuration, the rider was kicking 250cc's at a time; when Japan's four-bangers came out, they were easier to kick-start, as the rider was kicking only 125cc's worth of the engine. Triumph's unique use of three cylinders (Triples, they were called, and demons they were and still are continues to this day. Japan's Kawasaki brought out their own triples in the mid to late '70s, and they were some of the meanest, nastiest bikes ever built. So ill-handling were they that Kawasaki eventually put steering dampers on them). (Logo - Triumph's 100 year anniversary logo, 1902 to 2002).

Also, there was generally no other way to start the bike; no electric start as a regular feature. Those that did come with this wonderful new technology, which had been in-use on cars and trucks for, oh, at the time, only 65 years or so (electrical engineer Charles F. "Boss" Kettering developed an electrical self-starter first used on the 1912 Model 30 Cadillac) often had the feature incorporated into their name (1977's T140ES Bonneville Electro Triumph motorcycle). Some of these machines had large displacements, which meant kicking-starting them and having your foot slip off the kick pedal could result in a truly interesting "rebound" or "kickback" strong enough to either break the rider's right leg and/or ankle and/or throw the rider off the bike, sailing some 20 feet into the air, with the motorcycle left in a heap. Messy affair, that.

With all that said, who can resist the allure of a new Triumph? This from the same UK industry which produced rotary-engined motorcycles for both the police and general public, just to keep things "interesting" on the Motorways (Norton), and the 1981 Triumph T140LE Royal Wedding Bonneville in honor of Prince Charles and Diana. Someday I'll post my road test of the Suzuki RE5 rotary, the single scariest machine to ever hold a human passenger. But that nostalgic feeling definitely exists, especially among those of us who learned to ride on a Triumph Tiger Trail (750cc, pre-electric start). We'll let the folks from Triumph tell their own story of their machine, because frankly, how could we write anything better than a PR release which includes the words "keen" and "sublime" in the same sentence, and "delighted" in the opening paragraph? (Logo - Our favorite, Triumph's logo from 1932 to 1933, it reads, "All over the world").

Without further ado, the 2008 Sprint ST, which is for sale only in the UK, in their own words:

"TRIUMPH LAUNCHES 2008 SPRINT ST

Triumph
Hinckley, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

For 2008 Triumph Motorcycles is delighted to announce the release of an updated version of its acclaimed touring champion, the Sprint ST. The bike, which was originally launched in 1999 and last updated in 2005, has been a consistently popular member of Triumph’s UK line-up.

A direct response to customer feedback, the changes for 2008 are subtle but serve to enhance the outstanding performance of this superbly versatile motorcycle. The new model features a steel fuel tank, enabling the use of a magnetic tank bag, whilst the footrests have been modified and now employ a more durable rubber for prolonged wear. The headlight performance has also been markedly improved.

Renowned for its superb handling, powerful engine and unrivalled reliability, the Sprint ST has won a host of accolades since its launch and has come to represent the very pinnacle of sports touring refinement. Just last year, it beat off competition from 12 other bikes to win German motorcycle publication, Motorrad’s, 50,000km endurance test.

Available from January, the 2008 Triumph Sprint ST costs £7,999 (USD$15,897) otr. An ABS version is also available at £8,599 (USD$17,089) otr. Colour options are Pacific Blue, Graphite and Tornado Red.

For those keen to experience this sublime machine for themselves, a free test ride awaits at most Triumph dealers." (end of release) (Logo - What may be Triumph's first logo, 1902 to 1906).

Now, didn't we tell you? Would Harley ever use the phrase "whilst the footrests"? Though (probably) not intentionally so, the phrase "The headlight performance has also been markedly improved" brings back memories of the dreaded UK electrics firm, Lucas, whose nickname for ages has been "Prince of Darkness". There are the great Lucas jokes, such as "Lucas headlamps have three positions; dim, flicker and off" and "Smoke coming from a Lucas-equipped machine is nothing to worry about; it is merely a leak", and many more. It's said that sarcasm needs a bit of truth in order for the joke to be understood; in Lucas' case, and speaking as the ex-owner of a Triumph Spitfire sports coupe, the truth in Lucas "irony" jokes is more than just a "bit".

What is also special about this release is that in the US, one of the strictest rules of PR is that one should "never repeat the allegation", because that only reminds people of the original charge. The classic example of this rule is Richard Nixon's declaration of, "I am not a crook". That sound/picture bite will live on in infamy. Anyone who sees it, even centuries into the future, will assume Nixon was a crook (and they'd be right). Likewise, Triumph is reminding everyone in this release that, apparently, the older version of this bike had a poor headlight, and the bike's footrests wore out quickly and were poorly placed. But when all is said and done, there's a lot to be said for corporate honesty (something Richard Nixon would not have understood).

The British motorcycle industry will always be remembered and appreciated for one particular thing, and this is a positive, a good way to end this story: The penchant for coming up with some of the best names for their companies and the individual models made by those companies. (Logos courtesy www.sorenwinslow.com).

LUTZ GIVETH WITH ONE HAND, AND WITH THE OTHER, HE TAKETH AWAY ... THE HUMMER H3T

Oh, that Bob Lutz ... He's just one tough to figure good ol' boy, ain't he? He's jus' gonna be the death of us, don'cha think? Here he was in Los Angeles, seems like just a few weeks ago, and he's there goin' on and on about all sorts of "green" things and one of them trucks he makes is getting 15 miles per gallon or some silly thing and he gets an A-WARD for doin' that! Hell, my lawn tractor and snowblower both do better than that! And he's jawin' away 'bout that new VOLT car that Chevrolet is gonna make ... Then no sooner does he get back to his prime-rib-and-Rob-Roy-with-a-sidecar lunches at the Rattlesnake then sure enough, they ain't makin' that there VOLT thing ... Then they are again! Well, forget 'bout all that green stuff, because looks like GM finally got what we ol' boys and gals really want ... A HUMMER PICKUP! Man, oh man! OOOHWEEE! Y'all just gotta get one of these here trucks ... Hey! Mebbe GM will start running these here H3Ts in that NASCAR truck racin' deal! (Photo above - Bob Lutz captured in his most-favored habitat).

  Yep, it's true: In the spirit of helping the planet, General Motors is not only continuing to make the  Hummer brand, they're expanding it! Hummer is entering the midsize pickup market with the H3T pickup, which General Motors will intro next week at the perpetually-frozen Chicago Auto Show.
   Some years ago, I was a "celebrity", albeit a fairly small one, hired by GM to man their exhibit for way-too-many-hours each day of the Chicago Auto Show, which is actually the most-attended auto show in the US, larger than Detroit's, New York City's and even the annual exhibition in America's car-central, Los Angeles. Why? Because people in Illinois and about eight other surrounding states have absolutely nothing better to do between September and May than drive to Chicago, weather permitting, of course, and take-in the car show. At that show, where I was wined-and-dined in true GM fashion every night (which is first class; this was back when GM had lots of discretionary money) and put up at The Drake Hotel, one of the city's oldest and always one of its best, I learned what real "cold" was; I was raised in NYC and on Long Island, and had walked to school in -9, so figured I knew from cold  ... I was wrong. Walking up Michigan Avenue, towards the lake and the hotel, at 10 or 11pm in the first week of February, now that was cold.
   I actually feared parts of my face would freeze and simply fall off. Going to the car show when day-after-day promised nothing but more dehumanizing, demoralizing cold, would definitely seem like a good idea if I lived in the area.
   This is what those brave Chicago show-goers will see when the H3T debuts in their fair city:
   Based on the architecture of the Hummer H3 (though I wouldn't use the term, "architecture", it might embarrass architects), the smaller of Hummer's two SUVs, H3T is bigger than a midsize pickup, like the Toyota Tacoma, but smaller than a full-size pickup like the Ford F-150 (or Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra, for that matter).
    H3T has a five-passenger crew cab and a five-foot-long bed. Hummer also makes a larger truck, the H2 SUT, with a six-foot bed. Still, getting that proverbial and used-to-be-standard 5' x 8" sheet of plywood into the H3T's bed is an impossibility; you know this before even trying to do so. Now that people who do not buy pickups for work have ruined the pickup market for those that do, pickups are just now actually beginning to revert to their original purposes: Work trucks for people who actually use them in their work.
   All that softness and friendliness and comfort and fold-down stuff for transporting the soccer team in the bed and overall usefulness --- not for real work, but for the family --- which has been designed-into these trucks are not going to be needed much longer; fuel prices and shortages of same will eventually guarantee that.
    But did that stop GM from trying to milk one more penny from buyers so dazed, confused and bewildered by marketing that they actually still think that any Hummer model is useful and makes sense? No. In fact, it probably encouraged GM more than anything else. If members of the public are scared that the Hummer brand might go away, well, they might even be more likely to buy one right now, to make a true "impulse buy", as if the H3T was a candy bar or tabloid rag in the check-out aisle.
   Hummer says the H3T retains the brand's "signature design and off-road capabilities", with standard four wheel drive, 32-inch tires and optional 33-inch tires and front and rear wheel-locking differentials for increased traction. Just the stuff for the neighborhood carpool.
   There is a standard 3.7-liter, five-cylinder engine with 242 horsepower and an optional 5.7-liter V-8  with 300 horsepower that can tow up to 5,900 pounds. Hmmm ... How many people who buy Hummers actually tow horse trailers?
   The H3T is scheduled to arrive in dealerships in fall, 2008. GM said production will begin in the third quarter at the company's Shreveport, La., assembly plant. No price was given, but the 2008 H3 starts at $30,595.
   GM is fervently hoping that the new pickup helps revive Hummer sales, which sank 22 percent last year as consumers perhaps finally realized how bamboozled they'd been by not only GM, but Ford and Dodge and now even Nissan and Toyota (both of whom, by the way, are having huge sales problems with their made-in America, V8-equipped full-size trucks).

TOYOTA #1 IN SALES, NET WORTH, REVENUE, PROFIT --- GM LED FOR 77 YEARS

Sales numbers and titles are taken very, very seriously in the auto industry. More seriously even than magazine awards, JD Power titles or auto show prizes. And it looks like General Motors had the early lead in the industry's annual sales competition, but Toyota eked out the win, becoming the world's best-selling car-making company. And to their shame, GM claimed the victory only after counting the production of vehicles at a plant in China where GM was not the majority owner --- And that's not allowed. Did GM cheat? Well, as they say in NASCAR, "If you're not cheatin', you're not racin'".

The numbers are confusing because there's a big difference between "sales" and "production", and production of vehicles made in plants where less than 50% of the operation is controlled by another, outside firm. In fact, some car-makers have been known to add extra shifts in manufacturing plants right before the New Year's break, when most car companies shut down for a week or more, in order to "win" the production derby. Another outright sneaky tactic, in the past years when the "#1 sales" title was invariably one of the Big Three, one company making a sudden, massive and surprising sale of fleet, lease or daily rental vehicles could garner the prize. For instance, Ford controls Hertz, and it could have been arranged for Hertz to place an order for 15,000 Taurus sedans on November 31 or even later; we're not saying Ford ever actually did that, but if they did, it wouldn't be a surprise.

But today, with all business international, the only numbers which really matter are the ones which bring money into the company (and its home country), and for 2007, the title goes to Toyota, a company which started selling vehicles in the US in 1957. GM owned the title for 77 years; now it's time for others to take the baton and run ... and the winners are going to be running in a westerly direction, towards Korea, China, India and all of Indo-China and Toastmaster Asia, not east across the Pacific, at least not anymore, for some time to come. (Photo - The Toyota Camry, best-selling car in the USA, led the way for Toyota to grab the world sales title for the first time in 2007).

Industry weekly Automotive News reported that General Motors did have a solid 2007, with global sales  up 1.9 percent from 2006. But it is now the world's second-largest automaker. GM slipped well behind Toyota in global sales. GM sold 8,885,599 vehicles in 2007, while Toyota says it sold an estimated 9,370,000. Toyota will issue an official total in about a month.

It was widely reported in the final week of 2007 that the two automakers finished in a dead heat for the No. 1 spot. Here's why: In its total, GM includes 516,435 vehicles of the Wuling brand in China.

For the year 2007, Toyota sold a minimum of (their estimate, but trusted enough by Automotive News enough to use) 9.37 million cars and light trucks, a 6% raise from their 2006 total. GM sold 8.89 million vehicles in 2007, a rise of 1.9% from their 2006 numbers.

But GM owns only 34 percent of the Chinese company that produces Wuling vehicles, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., a major automaker in China, owns 50.1 percent.

Industry weekly Automotive News follows the industry practice by including sales of only majority-owned subsidiaries in an automaker's global total. For instance, sales of Mazdas are not included in Ford Motor's total because Ford owns just 33.4 percent of Mazda. (Photo - Chevrolet's 2009 Camaro convertible concept has reawakened the "dream car" gene in many Americans; when it debuts next year, how many will be sold remains to be seen, but GM, Ford and Chrysler have all successfully used the "retro craze" to their advantage in the past decade).

General Motors  was founded by William C. Durant on September 16^th, 1908, as a Delaware corporation, with its headquarters in Detroit, MI. Prior to the formation of GM, Durant had bought out Buick Motor Company in 1904 and four years later attempted to merge it with Ford Motor Company, and a few others, which have long since faded into the pages of history before the formation of GM.

Durant formed GM to create one large corporation that could cover the car market from top to bottom; as many of us whose family's bought GM products throughout the 1950s, '60s and into the 1980s, a family would start-out buying a Chevrolet, then move into a Pontiac, then an Oldsmobile or a Buick, depending how "sporting" your mom or dad might have been, and then, finally, into a Cadillac. There was no place in the GM "buying system" for an individual, nor in the corporation; the corporation had traditionally been led by white men, generally Catholics, and an unmarried man or a man who headed a family with no children was, at best, a questionable man, and he would never advance in the GM hierarchy. This all remains true, to a lesser degree then in the '80s and past years, but still true enough, to this day.

These are the car companies bought-out by Durant, and important GM stakes purchased much later in Japan-based companies and others (ie, Saab of Sweden), all of it starting with Durant's purchase of the Buick Motor Company in 1904, and most-recently, controlling interests in South Korea's Dewie, now known as GM DAT, General Motors Daewoo Auto & Technology; GMDAT gives GM automotive and light truck manufacturing and assembly facilities in China, Thailand, India, Colombia, South Korea and Vietnam. India's Tata, which only recently brought out the $2,500 (wholesale) Nano small sedan, bought Daewoo's truck division. Other early and more-recent GM purchases:

• Oldsmobile Motor Company (1908, though the REO, Ransom Eli Olds, company remained independent and came to be known as White Truck Company and REO Trucks; yes, the "REO Speedwagon" was a real truck, not just a Canadian rock group's name)
• Oakland Motor Company (1909, which became Pontiac)
• Cadillac Automobile Company (1909)
• Rapid Motor Vehicle Company/GMC (1909)
• Chevrolet (1915)
• Saturn (1989; Created by GM)
• Saab ('Svenska Aeroplan Aktie Bolag' or Swedish Airplane Corporation; GM bought 50% in 1990, and the rest of the company from Trollhattan, Sweden in 2000)
• Isuzu (GM bought 49% of the company in 1971; that stake was reduced to 12% in 2002)
• Subaru (GM bought a 20% stake in Subaru's parent, Fuji Heavy Industries, in 1999; since then, GM has been selling-off their share, mostly to Toyota, and has stated its intention to fully divest their stake in the company)    (Photo - A 1958 Toyopet Crown, similar to first Toyotas sold in the US by "North Hollywood Toyota", the nation's first Toyota dealer; we imagine the family which owns that dealership is doing pretty well these days ... And deservedly so).

Toyota is now not only the largest car-maker in terms of sales, but also ranks first in net worth, revenue and profit. It is also the only car-maker found on something called 'BrandZ', which, beginning in 1998, has collected data annually from consumers, with hundreds of people interviewed asked to evaluate brands, in a competitive context, from a category they shop in. In that respect, and to those many interviewees, when shopping for a car, Toyota is the world's #1 car-maker.

And no matter how many plants Toyota, and all the other "captive imports", build in other countries, and no matter how many people they employ in those countries, and no matter how many vehicles they sell in other countries, all the profit that company clears from all those nations goes right back, in Toyota's case, to Japan ... and not even Tokyo; no, Toyota is actually based in a place called (of all things) Toyota City, which is outside Nagoya, about 300-or-so miles south of Tokyo. One of of its big subsidiaries, Daihatsu (which is Toyota's small car expert; they make the "kei cars", those with engines under 650cc, which qualify for big tax breaks in Japan), is located in Osaka, much closer to Nagoya than it is to Tokyo. (Photo - 1967 Toyota 2000GT, about 400 were built by Yamaha for racing homologation purposes, it was campaigned unsuccessfully in Japan and the US, but co-starred in the James Bond film, "You Only Live Twice" --- Those of you movie buffs who remember the "headquarters building" of the "Osato Chemical Company" should know that the facade used in the film was actually the front of the Tokyo Hilton International; I stayed there in 1979 on my first trip to Japan ... The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles has a 2000GT in their collection).

The company was founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda as a spinoff from his father (Sakichi Toyoda)'s company, Toyota Industries, to create automobiles. Toyoda was, at first, a maker of looms and sewing machines and all sorts of sophisticated automatic mechanical equipment basic to what we call the "shmata" business; literally, the "rags", or clothing business. When Toyoda first came to the US (and Kiichiro visited the US, enjoying tours, especially, of Ford's huge Rouge Factory, the only plant in the world at the time with raw materials coming in one end and completed cars driving out the other), it was hoped that the American public and western journalists would pronounce the family and company name as it was pronounced in Japan, with the emphasis on the last syllable, ie, "Toy-yo-da'", but all things being equal, creating the name "Toyota" was just the first smart move of many the Japanese company would make here in the US. (Photo - Chevrolet's Volt at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show; GM says that Chevrolet is their "green" division and Volt its first product, maybe available in 2010, maybe not, but GM says it'll be able to reach 600 miles on 12 gallons of gasoline which feed a small engine which charges and then recharges batteries as needed to make electricity which drive the motors inside each wheel and thus move the car ... It all sounds a little Rube Goldberg-ish, no? But in theory, it should work well, and if they bring it out, we'd buy one!).

Toyota also owns and operates Lexus and Scion, has a majority shareholding in Daihatsu Motors, and has minority shareholdings in Fuji Heavy Industries, Isuzu Motors, and the engine, motorcycle and marine craft manufacturer, Yamaha Motors. In fact, one of the most popular and legendary cars ever made by Toyota, their  2000GT sports car, driven by no less than Sean Connery/James Bond in 1967's "You Only Live Twice", and raced in the US by no less than Dan Gurney, but to little success, was built entirely by Yamaha. Toyota now includes 522 subsidiaries, which is why it is still known and respected (and even feared) as the biggest of the Japanese "keiretsus", or conglomerates, some of which might well be considered monopolies in the US; before WWII, these conglomerates were called "zaibatsus".

TESLA NOW SAYS PRODUCTION STARTS MARCH 26th --- MANY QUESTIONS STILL HANGING OVER ROADSTER MODEL AND "WHITE STAR" FOUR-DOOR SEDAN

As Mark Twain once penned, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," and maybe that's what's happening with EV company Tesla Motors of San Carlos, CA. Just a few weeks ago, as noted on this website, Tesla was firing people left and right, including one of the two co-founders of the company and rumored to be closing offices, and that problems with developing a suitable transmission for the car had not been overcome. We also reported on the company's close, longtime ties to the Bush Administration, including big time Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Condoleeza Rice being given rides in the car, with pitches about the roadster given them by the company's top officers. Tesla's sad exhibit at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show, which was part of another company's display, led many to believe that the end might not be too far off for the company.

Now, like a bolt out of the blue, Tesla says they will be starting production of the two-seat EV on March 17th, very slow production at first, then ramping-up to their planned-for full production mode. The company also says that beginning in fall, 2009, they will start annual production, at a plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of 10,000 all-electric, five-passenger, four-door all-electric sedans called White Star. Wait a second ... Not one Tesla roadster has been produced for sale as of this date, and now they're announcing plans to being producing 10,000 sedans annually ... ? It's a bit hard to believe, but the company has received a waiver from the feds excusing them, for three years, from the federal advanced airbag standards. Things seem to be happening very fast with this small car-maker ... (Photo above - Tesla undergoes rear crash-testing).

(From various sources) Tesla Motors has received a waiver from the government on a federal air bag standard, bringing it, the company says, a step closer toward the production of its all-electric Roadster later this year.
   Tesla says they have pre-sold all of its 2008 Tesla Roadsters, a fully electric sports car that sells for $98,000. As noted elsewhere on this website, customers ordering the roadsters were required to "put down" a 100% deposit on the car; therefore, these initial buyers have already paid for their cars in full. The company says they now expect to begin deliveries in the first quarter of this year, but needed the waiver to be able to sell in the United States.
   Based on information provided by Tesla, NHTSA estimates the waiver will cover 3,825 Roadsters, including 625 vehicles this year and 1,600 in each of the following two years.
   Tesla says that NHTSA called the Roadster "one of the most advanced full electric vehicles available" and said the "public interest is served by encouraging the development of fuel-efficient and alternative-fueled vehicles." High praise, indeed. But keep in mind Tesla's close ties to the current administration in DC.
   The federal agency said Tesla posted operating losses of $43 million from 2003-2006 and that without the waiver, Tesla would "have to cancel its pending development of an electric-powered sedan, and would ultimately have to terminate its operations."
   Tesla said in a statement last week that it had received all regulatory approvals to import the first production Roadster for sale in the United States and production would begin March 17th.
   We say "import" the cars, because Tesla has based its Roadster on the two-seat Lotus Elise sports car, built in the UK, and Lotus itself also could not comply with the advanced air bag rule and received an exemption from NHTSA in August 2006. Tesla roadsters will be manufactured at a Lotus factory in Hethel, England, under Tesla's supervision. The White Star sedan is planned to be a more proprietary design, not based on a Lotus car.
   Another major problem standing in the way of Tesla roadster production has been the development  of  a transmission which would suit the all-electric vehicle. Previously, Tesla said that early production units will be equipped with an "interim transmission" that meets durability requirements but limits acceleration to 5.7 seconds from 0 to 60 mph. Tesla engineers do say that they have designed a permanent solution for mass production that supports the original specification of 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds. "Designed" is a long way, though, from "prototyping" and even farther from "production".
    The planned solution, Tesla has said, "reduces program risk, provides better efficiency, lower weight, equal or better range, better thermal performance and quicker quarter mile acceleration due to the elimination of the need to shift gears."
     Tesla also says that early production will proceed at a limited rate and then ramp up to full production when the permanent powertrain solution is production-ready later this year.
     The upgrade from the interim solution to the higher-power, permanent solution will be provided to customers free of charge when available later this year, according to Tesla. Translated into normal English, this means, apparently, that customers driving at least the first year roadsters will be limited on how fast they can drive the car, and then, if and when a better tranny is developed, the car will need to be returned to Tesla's shop for retro-fitting. Lovely, huh?
     We wish Tesla all the best, though there are still many questions which stand between what Tesla says they'd like to do and what they are apparently capable of doing; such as, delivering one completed, operable EV roadster to one paying customer. We are happy though, with the announced March 26th start-of-production date. It could have been April 1st.

2008 HONDA CIVIC MUGEN TYPE RR MAKES 260-HP AT "TOKYO AUTO SALON"

The "Tokyo Auto Salon" is not a place where people can get a drive-in hairdo, but, held annually, is sort of Japan's version of the SEMA Show, held each November in Las Vegas, albeit about 10%, if even that, of SEMA's size. It focuses on the automotive aftermarket in Japan and elsewhere, and has become a pretty reliable predictor of what might be shown, in some small part, at the next SEMA Show, or pop-up in enthusiast magazines worldwide. This "Civic Mugen Type RR", made by Mugen, a Japan-based high-performance and appearance specialist, is fairly typical of Mugen's work, if any car which looks and goes like this one can be called "typical". Tuners worldwide look to both the Tokyo Auto Salon and Mugen for what "the next big thing" in tuner cars just might be.

This Type RR from Mugen  features carbon fibre replacement pieces on many of the body panels, if not all of them (specific information on this car, especially in English, was very sketchy, even on the Web) and 260 horsepower and 173 lb.-ft. of torque. Getting all that out of a 2.0 liter Inline-4 is no easy trick.

"Mugen" is one of those words that, if you're speaking with someone about cars and use it in a sentence, and they recognize the name, then both people know that the other  might really know what they're talking about. The Japanese word "mugen" translates into English as "without limit" or "unlimited power", so it's appropriate that what started out in 1973 as a Honda "tuning" shop, founded by Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda, should now be known worldwide, in many different forms of racing.

Many people assume that Mugen is owned wholly or in part by "dad's company", but it has always been a company totally separate from Honda Motor Corporation, but naturally has very close ties with Honda. Since his father's death in 1991, Hirotoshi Honda has been the major shareholder in Honda Motors, adding to the confusion about "Who owns Mugen?"; Honda generally disdains taking on partners of any kind, so Mugen remains independent of the car- and engine-making business.

Now, if someone says "Mugen", you won't say "Gesundheit!" to them, because now, you're "in the know".

Quick story about Soichiro Honda: When he came to the US to see the then-new and still palatial American Honda headquarters campus in Torrance, CA, when Mr. Honda walked into the lobby for the first time, he went to the reception desk and asked the woman working there for a visitor's pass. A bunch of American Honda execs tried to steer him away as he was filling out the company's Visitor's Log and getting his pass and asked him why he was doing that. "This is American Honda," he said, "and here, I am a visitor". Talk about humility!

Mugen also tunes and races Honda vehicles in the Super GT championship, and sells aftermarket parts to  we "amateur enthusiasts" around the world, by catalog and of course through the Web. Mugen parts can also be found at some auto parts stores in the US which specialize in the small, quick "tuner cars" which come from the US, Asia and Europe. There are many online discussion groups dedicated to Mugen parts and their care and feeding ... and price. Mugen was also a part of partnerships that won the Formula 3000 championship in 1990 and 1991, and that led to Mugen's involvement in F1 from 1992 to 1999, and up to 2005 Mugen the exclusive engine supplier to Formula Nippon, a Japan-based "spec" road racing series.

AUDI'S WILD V12 TDI CONCEPT R8 SUPERCOUPE --- A DIESEL?!?!

At the Detroit Auto Show, Audi pulled out  all the stops ... well, some of them, at least. The company's R8 coupe, which had its US introduction at the November, 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show, is an over-$100,000 hardtop which pushes Audi into supercar territory.

The "plain vanilla" and naturally-aspirated gasoline-powered with Audi's quattro system of all-wheel drive R8 comes outfitted with a 4.2 liter aluminum-block V8 making 420 horsepower and 317 pound feet of torque (torque is the "oomph" you feel when you step on the go pedal). All that's enough to push the 3,450-pound car from 0 to 62 miles per hour (100km/h) in just 4.6 seconds; Corvette's most-recent 3,132-pound Z06, 318 pounds less than the concept Audi V12 TDI, with a massive 7.0 liter V8, moves from 0 to 60 in (97 km/h) in 3.7 seconds. (Photo above -- Audi's R8 at the November, 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show and it was an instant hit, photo by Steve Parker; Below --- Audi's TDI concept).

But apparently that wasn't "good enough" for the engineers from Ingolstadt ... So, in their on- going effort to make Americans think "nice" about diesel engines, because a glut of them are about to land on the USA's soil from Europe and Japan, Audi has shoe-horned a twin-turbo, twin-intercooler 6.0 liter version of their 5.5 liter, 650+ horsepower V12 TDI turbodiesel racing engine in an R8; that's the same basic engine which for the past two years won the "24 Hours of LeMans", the world's most-important endurance race. As used in the R8, the V12 turbodiesel makes 500 horsepower and 737 foot pounds of torque.

"TDI" is the name Audi (and Volkswagen) give to their "clean diesel" technology engines (Mercedes is using "Bluetec"; all these engines use technology developed in tandem by those three companies), which will enter the USA later this year with a 3.0 liter TDI V6 available in Audi's Q7, what we think is the best-looking SUV on the road, anywhere. Audi also makes a V8 4.2 liter TDI powerplant, and both are sold in Europe in several Audi models. (Photo -- Audi's "LeMans" concept at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show, basis for the R8, photo by Steve Parker).

The concept R8 V12 TDI is a great way to educate Americans about the power, longevity and performance potential of today's modern diesel engines. With over 60% of all vehicles, cars and trucks, sold in Europe equipped with diesel engines, and with Europe Euro 6 emissions standards, expected to go into effect in 2014, diesels are a world away from what most Americans remember from the clanky Mercedes-Benz diesels of years past.

Leave it to General Motors to have left a bad odor and taste for all things diesel into Americans' minds.  From 1978 through 1985, GM put poorly-built diesel engines into some Oldsmobile (and you know what happened to them!)  and Cadillac models. In fact, The Cadillac diesel V8 was America 's first production passenger-car diesel engine, and was an option on every 1979 Cadillac. GM took a huge bet and, rather than build new diesel engines from the ground up, the company decided to use engine blocks made for gasoline engines, and essentially create a new top-end for these powerplants, but leave the bottom-end alone. Oldsmobile offered three different diesels, two V8s and a V6, while Cadillac used only the largest of those two V8 engines.

Some of you can guess what happened. The explosions which occur at the top end of every engine, gas or diesel, are nonetheless much more powerful in diesels. The combination of diesel top-end and gasoline bottom-end forced pistons, rods and scores of other parts from these diesel engine's cylinders right through the bottom end of the engines, taking along pieces of crankshafts just for good measure.

GM wound up having to replace every one of those diesel engines; the replacement was a GM gasoline engine. That attempt by GM to make car engines which could produce better mileage than their gasoline cousins was a complete failure, and something many Americans, and definitely every Car Nut, remembers to this day. "Diesel" became a dirty word in America.

But European manufacturers continued with their decades-long process of constantly refining the diesel engine, to the point now where the clean, modern, powerful and quiet diesel engines from that part of the world will be on-sale in America from Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Audi and probably several others within the next five years.

Domestic car- and truck-makers already have their own diesels, which they use in some of their full-size pickup and SUV models. Many of them use outside vendors for making their diesels, including International Truck and Engine and Navistar. Saturn is due for a diesel perhaps later this year, and all other GM divisions are talking about and planning diesels for several of their models. (Photo --- Audi R10 endurance racer; V12 turbodiesel makes 650+ horsepower).

A type of modern powerplant which lends itself well to an updating with the tried-and-true diesel engine is a hybrid system; in this case combining electric batteries used to power a vehicle's wheels and all other ancillary systems on and in the car or truck, combined with a small diesel engine used to recharge the batteries and keep them at a constant state of being ready-to-use. The "dual mode hybrid transmission" developed by GM, BMW and Daimler, adds power from electric motors to the transmission itself, adding power when needed. While gasoline engines are found in the Chevy and GMC trucks equipped with these dual mode trannies now, GM says it will not be difficult to substitute a diesel engine for the gasoline one, and those trucks will come online soon. (Photo --- Cut-away of the Audi twin-turbo 5.5 liter 650+ horsepower racing engine which has won LeMans twice ... so far).

Many people don't realize that submarines (the non-nuclear types) and huge locomotives as well as some engines on huge ocean-going ships all utilize diesel/electric hybrids of some type, and have done so, quite successfully, too, for almost 100 years.

Audi plans to have newly-developed diesels in many of their vehicles on-sale in the US within the next few years. Under the hood of Audi's amazingly uninteresting concept car called "Cross Cabriolet" at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show was a Volkswagen-built 3.0 liter TDI diesel V6 producing 236 horsepower and 369 foot pounds of torque. That engine will be available beginning sometime late in 2008 in the US in Audi's Q7 SUV; the new Audi A4 will follow with the same powerplant sometime in the year after the Q7 SUV diesel is on-sale.

The R8 concept really has too many outstanding features on it, from a magnetic ride control system to  ceramic brakes to a superfast six speed transmission paddle shift system to really do it justice. Will Audi's R8 ever come from the factory with a diesel engine? We wouldn't bet on it, but the thought of a strong, dependable, quiet, longlived and clean diesel in their Q7 SUV ... Now that's something we could definitely get behind!

TESLA SACKINGS A "BLOODBATH" : COMPANY'S CO-FOUNDER, MANY MORE GONE

Say what you will about Carroll Shelby (and we've said plenty of uncomplimentary things along with the good; there are at least two sides to every story), but something he told me a long time ago holds true today, even more than it did 50 years ago. "Steve," he said, while we were sitting in some hotel suite in some city, "It's just as tough and expensive to make one car as it is to make a million." His point is an old story: The costs of R&D, manufacturing, tooling, marketing, advertising and emissions testing and crash-testing are enormous, and not anywhere near the total of what real car-making costs. And only people who know what they are doing should get involved in such an undertaking. And an "undertaking" it has, quite unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, turned-out to be for California start-up EV venture Tesla Motors. (Photo - A Tesla "roadster" on LA's streets).

When we saw the sad, sorry "exhibit" which featured Tesla at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show, it was obvious that either the company was "in-between" PR and marketing people, or, worse (and true, as we found) the company itself was going through some terrible divisions. (Photo - Tesla's LA Auto Show exhibit was part of the Yokohama Tire display in the LA Convention Center lobby; how far --- and how quickly --- the mighty had fallen).

And we've seen some shlocky "car companies" come and go; we know plenty of "car-builders" who somehow bolt-together one version of the earth-shaking "car" they're trying to raise money for, and they re-paint it every few weeks so it appears that he or she has more than one car already built.

Talked-up to the world's media by no less an odd couple of American politics than Condoleeza Rice and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tesla, heavy on cash and brainpower but low on car-industry experience (like, none at all) seems now on the verge of shutting down ... but maybe reappearing, we'd hope, as a company which might actually be able to deliver on its promises.

Elsewhere on this blog, we've detailed the close connections between Tesla, the Bush Administration and Republican heavyweights. Is it possible that, as many say General Motors did with their "EV1", Tesla was organized in order to "prove" once more that a true battery-powered electric vehicle is untenable given today's technology? That oil-fueled internal combustion engines still make the most sense? (Photo - Martin Eberhard, a co-founder of Tesla, was fired by the company).

We're all entitled to an opinion (last time I checked ... the Supreme Court hasn't changed that yet, have they?), but the co-founder of Tesla, Bernhard Eberhard, and other "Tesla Founders", have a thing or two to say about Tesla on their blog. Even though going to that blog today has this message from Eberhard about some specific entries of his: "This blog entry has been taken down at the strong request of Tesla’s management. By taking it down, I am in no way admitting that anything I wrote was in violation of any agreement I signed with Tesla Motors, and I stand behind the truth of what I wrote. But it was explained to me that Tesla and its financial backer(s) can spend far more than I can on a lawsuit… Most of the comments on this blog entry have also be taken down; sorry for the inconvenience", we at SteveParker.com have found the original postings by Eberhard and others (Tesla can't fire us); the numbers of those fired by Tesla are between 26 and 40, depending on the source, and offices in Detroit and possibly Washington, DC, have been shuttered. With all that, here's what at least some of the "Tesla Founders" have to say:

“As you may have heard, the ax has been steadily chopping away at Tesla. I don’t pretend to understand the choices being made and honestly wouldn’t even be surprised to learn if I was next on the list. At this point, I’m not even sure if that would necessarily be a bad thing.”

“The company has changed so tremendously since I started. It’s very secretive and cold now. It’s like they’re trying to root out and destroy any of its heart that might still be beating.”

“I came to Tesla with a great deal of optimism to work for a company with a noble purpose that had a real chance to make a difference in the world. That sense of mission and hope generated incredible energy and determination to overcome the many challenges of producing a great EV. This energy has been drained by the cold, irrational bloodletting that has been going on there. Everyone understands necessary, rational cost management actions in startups, but this was neither necessary nor rational. No thought has been given to the immediate and long term impact on the future of Tesla. Entire departments are stumbling around stunned, bleeding, and headless.” (Photo - California Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tesla's Martin Eberhard give Tesla the "walkaround" treatment at a Santa Monica, CA, media event in 2006).

“It is a damn shame about Tesla. I once again spent the day dreading the words, ‘Did you hear?’ Today I heard that both Wally Rippel and [REDACTED1] are now gone. I just don’t know what they’re thinking. [REDACTED2] referred to it as a ‘stealth bloodbath.’ It’s next to impossible to concentrate and actually get anything done. And the real insult in my mind is that they have the nerve to host the holiday party this Saturday. It’s going to be more like a wake(!)”

“The atmosphere at Tesla Motors has been suffering for the last couple of months as the new management have slowly squeezed the life out of engineering. The way in which the layoff/reduction-in-force/firings have been handled is one almighty cluster cabbage. In a stroke of pure genius, the two HR folks were the first to go, leaving nobody to turn out the lights. Only after they left the building did they realize that now there was nobody to write the termination letters. Like I said, pure undiluted genius.”

“Sadly - and I do mean this - I am not sorry to leave. The culture that Martin and Marc created is gone. The car is nice, but every day in the office was like a visit to the dentist, not knowing what was going to happen next. Enough. I have moved on.”

“Unfortunately, the company that I used to love has changed drastically. If I were to pin point a critical turning point, it would be the day when you were pushed aside. Until then, it was not so obvious how Tesla Motors was really Martin Eberhard’s company. After you were gone, I think the spirit and the character of the company went with you. It was surprising how quickly it happened. Yes, there were technical and operations delays for sure, but these could have been better managed and, to a certain extent, anticipated since what you have started was a major paradigm shift in the industry. It was well understood that a revolutionary movement always comes with major challenges and costs. What Tesla has now become is a mere profit-loss centric company—and with a poor chance of making even that—unless someone absorbs it for its remaining core value that you have left behind. Tesla lost its true evangelist and the leader..”  (end of blog quotes)

So, what do you think happened at and/or to Tesla Motors? One thing we can probably rule out, and that's the forming of Tesla to rip-off people's money. Even though the company demanded (and got) 100% down-payments of $100,000, or more, from each potential buyer just to get on a list of those wanting a car, the founders of Tesla already had tens and maybe hundreds of millions of their own dollars; many of them came to Tesla after retiring at young ages from their various Silicon Valley success stories.

That's where the mystery deepens, the part of the story when people shake their heads and force themselves to wonder: Was Tesla simply the modern iteration of what used to be called "planned obsolescence"? Were the Tesla EVs always destined for the dump, their real purpose to "prove" to the world that even the money and minds of Silicon Valley are unable to build and market an EV?

These and other questions will probably never be satisfactorily answered. For our money, we bet Tesla will not be an exhibitor at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show.

HARLEY TO SPONSOR "ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP"

Harley-Davidson has enjoyed amazing success by appealing to two very different segments of society in the USA; the first group we'll call the "hardliners", those people who may have spent time on the fringes of society and are truly "rebels", people who didn't belong to "motorcycle groups", they belonged to "clubs" with names like "Hessians" and "Hell's Angels". These are the hardcore Harley owners, and the company was brilliant in co-opting that lifestyle as their own. The second group of Harley owners are newer, wealthier, younger and more likely to add sound-baffling to their bikes because the noise bothers their wives. These people are generally known as "Rubbies", the shortened version of a derisive term, "rich, urban bikers". There is another, third important group of Harley buyers, those riders in other countries who feel that Harley is the epitome of the "American lifestyle". There are many Harley clubs in Japan, for instance, which may have hundreds of members, and they all might be over 65 years old; not too bad in a country where the average new Harley costs $30,000 and above. And the Harley exhibit is always one of the best-attended (and among the largest) at the Tokyo Motor Show. A visit to the Harley website offers visitors a choice of some 25 different countries from which to get sales information. Click on this line to visit "Harley World" in Japan. Worldwide, their "Harley Owners' Groups" (HOGs), have been a tremendous success in organizing Harley owners and bringing new buyers "into the fold". Harley has just made another tremendous business decision in deciding to become the first major international product sponsor for the "Ultimate Fighting Championship".

  According to the Associated Press story: On its way to becoming a mainstream sport, Ultimate Fighting Championship, just the latest in guilt-free homo-erotic entertainment for American males, has long courted a sponsor that could bolster its image. (Photo  --- Harley's good-looking and successful V-Rod was designed with help from Porsche).
   The fast-growing UFC is finally getting one. The Las Vegas-based company that specializes in mixed martial arts is teaming up with Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Motor Co.
   UFC President Dana White, whose comp any surpassed more than $200 million in customer retail revenue for the second year in row, said it was the first time UFC had landed a major sponsor in a long-term deal.
  The deal calls for Harley-Davidson to place its famous logo in the center of UFC's well-known Octagon, where the fighters duke it out in usually explosive and sometimes bloody fashion, and at weigh-in backdrops and news conferences.    The sponsorship also includes World Extreme Cagefighting, which
Zuffa LLC, UFC's parent's company, bought in Oct. 2006.
   UFC held 11 pay-per-view events in 2007, one more than the previous year.
   Harley-Davidson, known for its sleek designs and powerful engines, is the leading motorcycle maker,  with about half the market. The UFC pairing gives the company a chance to reach younger riders.
   Mirroring an industry trend, Harley-Davidson has seen its average buyer's age creep up in the past few decades, with the average rider in 2002 just under 45 years old. In 2006, the average buyer was in his late 40s.
   Harley owners are nothing if not loyal. According to the company, nearly half of its sales in 2006 were to previous owners.
   Harley-Davidson's profit and sales have been slipping as U.S. consumers become more cautious about their spending. Mirroring the overall U.S. motorcycle market, Harley-Davidson's domestic sales were down 2.5 percent in the most recent quarter, while they were up 8.8 percent overseas.
   The company is due to announce its fourth quarter results next Friday. Analysts are expecting another weak quarter.

MOTORCYCLE BUILDER "JESSE JAMES" IS NOW AN ENVIRONMENTALIST ... RIGHT

Just because he regularly and proudly co-opts Nazi insignia for his own corporate logos, stands accused of stealing a union's logo for his own (anti-employee, anti-union) purposes, was fined $275,000 by the California Air Resources Board for selling motorcycles with engines not approved by the state and has to go 2,000 miles from his home in So Cal to find a group which might listen to him, all that doesn't make motorcycle customizer "Jesse James" a bad person. No, because now he's an environmentalist, too.

Speaking (or whatever it is he does) to a so-called "design forum" sponsored by Autoweek magazine in Detroit, James said, according to news accounts, "Ten years ago, I didn't care about the environment, now I'm wondering, am I turning soft or is it real?"

Whether James was speaking about the environment or some aspect of his personal life "turning soft", we don't know, but someone should tell James that most of the people in the world who know about these things say that yes, "it", meaning global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, among other problems, is indeed very real. We'd recommend that the next time James and his wife are at a show business awards event of some kind, he might want to ask some of the many celebrities pulling-up in alternative-fueled or alternative-engined vehicles just why they are doing so. Most of them can afford any vehicle they'd want. Bike-riding, car-loving celebs like George Clooney and Jay Leno might be able to clue him in on what's going on outside that hamburger stand he owns in Long Beach, CA.

"I see Al Gore --- he's a dork. I see these people on the Internet, and it's like they just want to take away all the Camaros. Is it just hype or is it real and there will be no gas? I know I don't want to go to an electric Formula One race," James said. "At the track it would be like, 'I think they're coming, but I can't hear them.' "

Now, who can argue with that? When James gets his own Nobel Prize, I'm sure Al Gore will send him a note of congratulations.

Speaking about the $275,000 fine levied on his company, James said, "Someone has got to get the EPA and CARB under control so it's really about the environment and not just about collecting money."

Maybe James should run for office. Or his wife could; Californians have some strange predilection for voting for actors.

"I think Japan is whipping our ass with small, basic cars. Cars try to do too much these days. We should just make basic cars and let people do what they want to them."

Now, there's enlightened thinking ... for 1974. Just what Japanese "small, basic cars" is he referring to? The $80,000 480-horsepower Nissan GT-R? Any Lexus, Acura or Infiniti models included in his thinking? Subarus? Mazdas?

James might be surprised to find out that the vast majority of car-buyers (and motorcycle-buyers) do very little, if any, customization to their vehicles. The aftermarket is indeed huge (some $30 billion annually, worldwide), but fewer than 10% of car-buyers 'customize' their rides to any major degree. (Photo --- The "Sheet Metal Workers" union logo on the left, and James' co-opted version of it on the right).

Hmmm ... Maybe if people like James, instead of joking about the future he's leaving his kids, would take the time and whatever brains they have to develop products which save fuel, cut emissions and increase horsepower, all at the same time ... like Ford's EcoBoost engines ... people like him could afford to pay their fines, stay in business, design their own logos and not need to cozy-up with Nazi and White Supremacist types to make their money ... Just a thought! James might even get, dare we say it, respect! And we'd like nothing better than to see James develop some of these kinds of products. We could not care less about him personally... But the world needs these products, and if someone like James can build them, that's fine with us.

Don't get us wrong ... James is an easy target ... And we do think it's great that he is "talking the talk," but next he needs to walk the walk ... Perhaps at next year's Detroit Auto Show (or maybe he'll even be invited to speak at his local auto show, the Los Angeles Auto Show), "Jesse James" will roll-out some great, environmentally-oriented engine products which will make him more money than he's ever dreamed of. We doubt it, but maybe ... just maybe ... he'll prove us wrong. And if he does, we'll be the first in line to invest in the products and encourage others to do the same.

EVEL KNIEVEL MAKES COME BACK! (WELL, ACTUALLY IT'S JUST A REPLICA OF HIS BIKE ...

Think of the phrase "Evel Knievel's motorcycle", and what bike comes to mind? For me, it's the "All-American" Harley-Davidson. Knievel was often photographed astride his trusty Harley, and it kind of "went without saying" that Harley was the only bike that this American icon would ride, direct from Harley's home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But the truth is that Knievel played no favorites; he put the Harley name on his bikes as long as Harley was supplying the machines and kicking-in a goodly sum of dollars ... American dollars, to be exact. But there were other machines in Knievel's large stable, and one of them in particular still carries with it the hopes and aspirations of anyone who has ever ridden a "Made-in-the-UK" Triumph motorcycle. Now, a well-known motorcycle parts and service hard site and Website presence in the UK is turning out what they call "Knievel Commemorative Editions" of modern Triumphs. Triumph motorcycles are designed, developed, and built at the factory in Hinckley, England.

Originally intended as a tribute to the 40th anniversary of Evel Knievel's unforgettable Caesar's Palace jump, UK bike dealer Jack Lilley has created a special edition of Triumph's on-and-off-road Scrambler. The choice of motorcycle makes sense because that original jump some 40 years ago was done aboard a Triumph T120 Bonneville. Although the project was started before Knievel's recent death, it has taken on new meaning now that the legendary stunt-man has passed and is a tribute to more than just that one jump.

According to the Jack Lilley company, the bike "is based on a Scrambler and has a superb paint job along with short front mudguard, Thruxton seat and hump, chrome engine cases, red cam cover and other small details." The one-off tribute bike will be sold with a signed picture of the man himself in mid-jump and will command a few thousand extra over the base price of the Scrambler.

The bike sells for UK8,250-pounds, which translates into USD$12,068.26. But who's counting, right?

HYUNDAI: IN AGAIN, OUT AGAIN IN SUPER BOWL --- NOW THEY'RE BACK 'IN'

Hyundai has decided to place spots on the Super Bowl telecast, after all. We reported here recently that the gigantic Korean 'chaebol' was considering skipping their Super Bowl ads altogether this year due to the faltering American economy. But, discretion still being the better part of valor, Hyundai has decided to spend the bucks ... and big bucks they are ... to again put their name in front of what is usually the single most-watched American TV program of the year. (Photos --- 2008 Hyundai Genesis sedan; looks very much like a BMW 5-series, especially from the high rear 3/4 shot, no?)

Automotive News reports: "Earlier this week, Hyundai said the weakening economy was giving it the jitters about using millions of dollars to buy Super Bowl ads, and it was unsure if it would keep the two :30 second spots in the second half of the Feb. 3 game that it had purchased from Fox. But a spokesman today said the carmaker would air ads in the game after all.

Getting in the Super Bowl isn't for everyone. Super Bowl spots typically go for some of the highest prices  for 30-second ads on network TV; Fox, which is broadcasting the game this year, has sought as much as $2.7 million to $3 million for a 30-second ad.

Marketers often use Super Bowl ads for to talk about a new product, a new brand, a significant product change, or a complete change in image." (end of Auto News story)

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD! CANCELED DAKAR RALLY MOVES TO SOUTH AMERICA!

The Dakar Rally has been re-scheduled for South America. As documented elsewhere on this website, the annual Dakar Rally was canceled on January 4th, one day before the scheduled start of the event in Lisbon, Portugal. Almost 600 teams had gathered in Lisbon to prepare for the start of the event, which this year was celebrating the event's 30th year. American racer Robby Gordon (photo), who captains a team which was slated to run two Hummer vehicles, which cost an estimated $1 million+ each, was understandably upset with the cancellation. Gordon, who had taken part in past Dakar events, wrote at length on his own website about the estimated $4.5 million the team had already spent, much of it on the carbon fiber Hummers and the team of 40 people who had arrived in Lisbon several days before the cancellation, waiting for the green flag and the excitement to begin ... And this amount not even taking into account the team members who stayed "back home"; several dozen fabricators, machinists, various tech experts and staff members with the combination to the Gordon safe. (Photo - A biker breaks down n the Sahara ... "I don't think it'll rub out").

But the Dakar event has often come "under fire" from various sources, including Pope John Paul II,  who lamented the native people who had died in Dakar-related accidents (some in the Vatican have estimated that number as high as 59), the destruction of habitat, including parts of the Sahara Desert, and the destruction of personal property. Shortly before this recent Christmas holiday, several French vacationers in North Africa had been killed, four of them reported to be members of the same family. There also had been attacks reported on French troops at about the same time. Several terrorist warnings and threats specifically aimed at the rally had also been reported this year. That was the 'official' reason given to the teams and the media for the sudden, last-minute cancellation. But a few team members, in Lisbon when the event was canceled, told a story concerning the sanctioning body losing their insurance coverage as the real reason behind the cancellation.

Now, South America to the rescue! (Photo - The huge support trucks started having their own race a few years ago, this truck with sponsorship from French oil company Total, and Czech truck-maker Tatra).

Autosport, a popular European motor racing magazine, reported today that, "After the cancellation of the 2008 Dakar Rally following terrorist threats, it appears that the route for 2009 will be completely new, moving continents from Africa to South America. ASO, the organizers of the event, have signed a deal with a promotion company in Argentina to have a fresh start, therefore distancing themselves to the terrorist problems that eventually stopped the 2008 edition earlier this month.

A return to the traditional January 1st start date looks to be in the cards, with the rally taking over the former Rally Raid World Cup event in Argentina, The Pampas Rally. The route looks to go to Chile and back. Other routes that have been investigated include Dubai, but this may be too short. Paris-Beijing was favored by Mitsubishi and KTM, but the conditions may be too cold for a January running. (Photo - Motorcycles compete with a helicopter hovering nearby).

Paris-Beijing is being run this year by former Dakar winner Rene Metge, but concerns of high costs reportedly were problematic. Australia has also been looked at too, but it seems Africa is out of the running for a while. ASO had discussed running the event in 2008 just in Morocco, but intelligence ruled that out with terrorists close to the Mauritanian border. It also has become apparent that the terrorist threats made directly to ASO following the murder of four French tourists near Nouakchott, Mauritania were specific towards the rally, and made by groups that intelligence sources say were heavily armed and organized.

With a bivouac at night of upwards of 1500 people, the consequences could have been unthinkable. There was to be a bivouac in Nouakchott for two nights as it was to be the venue for the rest day, meaning that people would naturally wander off into the town from the bivouac, potentially putting themselves in danger." (end of Autosport story).

Frankly, what's the difference between North Africa and South America? Are the indiginous South Americans easier to 'sacrifice' for the sake of a motor sport? Are there no terrorists in South America? We know of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) Maoists in Peru, and there are other terrorist groups and narco-terrorists in almost every South and Central American nation. In southern Mexico, there are states and areas which have been engaged in a near full-scale war between narcotics militas, the federal police (Federales) and the local police and the army. And if the same format for the rally is kept, then the personal property and, especially, the lives of local native peoples, as well as the environment, might well be subject to the same problems as the people, property and ecology of North Africa. (Photo - Bike racers "fill 'er up" at a middle-of-nowhere pit stop).

Don't they get it at the ASO? The time has come, now that we are in the 21st century, for these "wide open" rallies (and "open road races", which have gained some amount of popularity in the US), simply have to be stopped. It just isn't cool anymore for people from another country to show-up en masse to participate in a race which means the ripping-up of the deserts, the dry lake beds and mountain forests (which are just some of the natural environments found in both the Baja 500 and Baja 1,000). Land needs to be set aside for the use of these events, but only if the indigenous peoples offer their blessing for the rally, not just agreements between politicians and some race organizers and a sanctioning body fully a continent away.

HYUNDAI MIGHT SKIP CORPORATE 'SUPER BOWL' PARTY

Hyundai was the first Korean car-maker to advertise in the Super Bowl. Of course, at the time they were the only Korean company selling cars in the US, so they were first by default. Now, company spokesman Chris Hosford, who probably has the longest tenure of any American employee of any Korean company, says that the gigantic "chaebol" might sit-out this year's Super Bowl. Hyundai is by far the biggest company of any kind in South Korea, said to be responsible for as much as 10% of that nation's  gross national product. The company is so "important" to South Korea that, as you read on this website, when the head of the company was found guilty of several criminal counts, the judge refused to send him to jail, saying the country was so dependent on this corporate leader that putting him in jail would somehow endanger all of South Korea.

According to Automotive News, Hyundai Motor America is considering withdrawing as a Super Bowl advertiser. The automaker blames a worsening economy, says Chris Hosford, Hyundai spokesman. " We are reviewing whether or not we want to advertise on the Super Bowl," Hosford tells Automotive News. (Photo - Hyundai Chairman Chung was ordered to contribute US$1.1 billion "to society" following criminal convictions, but avoided prison time when a judge said his incarceration would harm the country).

" A lot of economic indicators clearly show the economy is slowing," Hosford says. " Is this the best thing  to do with our advertising funds in the first quarter?"

In October, Hyundai said it would advertise during the Super Bowl for the first time with two 30-second commercials. Super Bowl XL II airs on Fox on Sunday, Feb. 3. Fox is charging advertisers as much as $2.7 million for a 30-second commercial, two sources familiar with the negotiations said in October. Hosford says that if Hyundai remains in the Super Bowl, the automaker will review its creative strategy to determine whether it fits a deteriorating economy. (end of news story)

Hyundai has had some bad luck with the Super Bowl before. As we've noted elsewhere on this website, Hyundai's first few years in the US, selling the Excel small car, had their US sales beginning in 1986, but were so poorly-built that thousands of them literally fell apart after just a few thousand miles. Also, Hyundai was so determined to set a "100,000 sold in one year" record (which they actually accomplished in an impressive seven months) that the company would sell a car to just about anyone who wanted one, credit standing of the buyer often not taken into consideration.

Hyundai improved their quality and began offer iring the industry's first-ever 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. They developed a larger car, Sonata, and used Super Bowl advertising to launch that model; Sonata was the first Korean car advertised on the Super Bowl. (Photo - A 1992 Hyundai Excel, the model which launched the South Korean car business in the US).

The problem was that the ships carrying the cars from South Korea to the US arrived late, so people who saw the TV spot and went to their local dealers found out that the car was not yet available ... "Still on the boat", most of them were.

The company has made tremendous leaps forward in design and reliability, and their all-new upper-class Genesis sedan was launched this week at the Detroit Auto Show. Hyundai has partnered with Ford and, to some extent, Mitsubishi over the years, since they started making cars in 1974.

Hyundai is the largest of all the South Korean "chaebols," a term whose meaning is similar to that of the Japanese "keiretsu".

Many Americans in the business world know that Japanese "keiretsu" are the huge corporate conglomerates which cut across many layers of that society, and what led to the coining of the phrase, "Japan, Inc.," in this country in the late 1970s. Before WWII, keiretsus were called zaibatsus. Zaibatsus were broken-up by the General Douglas MacArthur-led American occupation following Japan's surrender, but were essentially re-formed, in time, through the purchase of other companies' stock by competing Japanese corporations. (Photo - Hyundai's 2009 Genesis sedan, introduced this week at the Detroit Auto Show).

Which car companies choose to advertise in the Super Bowl, and whether or not they pay the additional  stiff fees demanded for some sort of "exclusivity" (ie, only American car-maker, only Asian car-maker, etc.) remains to be seen for this year's extravaganza.

Hyundai has more capital and worldwide political influence than some sovereign nations. When they talk about dropping advertising in what is traditionally the highest-rated TV program of the year, that doesn't bode well for the American economy, and sends a strong negative signal to the rest of the world.

THE DETROIT AUTO SHOW, ALSO KNOWN AS, "THE WAYBACK MACHINE" : PLEASE JOIN US IN 1957!

If the recent Los Angeles Auto Show was the first truly "green" exhibition in the US, then this week's Detroit Auto Show remains, as it always has been, a throwback to a time when gas was under 50 cents a gallon and the only question about engine size was "How big?"
(Photo - Cadillac's hydrogen-fueled fuel cell EV 'Provoq' concept).

Cobo Hall is once again redolent of that peculiarly-American fragrance of Aqua Velva and testosterone ... A high-octane combination which kept Detroit quite literally on top of the world for the past 100 years. But Chrysler is now a privately-owned company, coming off a horrible mixed marriage, one we now know was built on lies and which never seemed would work; General Motors trots out a 600-horsepower Corvette ZR1 and now can't decide if the high-mileage Chevy Volt, intro'd here last year to great fanfare, will ever be built; and Ford must keep on a happy face, while the president of Toyota, making his first trip to Detroit since rising to Japan's top corporate spot in 2005, accepts Ford's perennial title of "World's #2 Carmaker."

Known, too, as the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), the frozen hallways and exhibition spaces of downtown's Cobo Hall have been opened once more to greet the world, give the domestic car-makers a place to unashamedly pound their chests and welcome industry executives and motoring journalists from around the world ... including Toyota's Katsuaki Watanabe.

Toyota bypassed Ford in 2007 to become the second-biggest car-maker in the world, and is expected to replace General Motors as #1 by Detroit show time next year, displayed a new crossover to be built in the USA called Venza, but also gave Westerners a rare and unexpected look inside how Japanese executives communicate the needs of their company to their employees. (Photo - Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota, speaking in Detroit). Reminder: Click on any photo to view it in large format. 

Speaking through an interpreter and gesturing with his hands and arms more than the usually staid "Japan Inc" executive might on his home turf, Watanabe, at an open press conference, not only scolded those in Toyota who have blamed suppliers on recent quality problems which have resulted in unprecedented numbers of Toyota and Lexus vehicles being recalled, but also asked everyone in Toyota to take personal responsibility for quality and, thus, the future of the company. High quality equaling high sales equaling a company which won't have to lay-off employees is a proven philosophy which has brought Toyota, since its 1957 American introduction through a single dealership in North Hollywood, California, to being in contention for replacing GM as the world's dominant vehicle-maker. Not bad for a 50-year corporate history.

Let's start with a look at the 2009 Toyota Venza. Toyota is calling Venza a "crossover sedan."

The press material tells us that "all aspects of Venza’s engineering and design were targeted specifically for the North American market where it will be sold exclusively. Venza was engineered at Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., and designed at Toyota’s Calty design studios in Newport Beach, Calif. and Ann Arbor, Mich. Venza will be assembled at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK), in Georgetown, Ky. The development focus of the Venza design team was to create a new crossover vehicle that shifted away from the more traditional SUV styling themes that tend to dominate the segment." 

The Venza will go into production later this year as a 2009 model and will initially be offered with a 3.5-liter V-6 engine mated to a six-speed automatic with sequential shift and will produce 268 horsepower and 246 pound-feet of torque. A four-cylinder model will go on sale shortly after the launch of the V6; Camry offers a similar mix of V6 and I4 engines, and the 4-cylinder engines outsell the more-expensive V6 models by almost two-to-one. Sporty and popular twenty-inch wheels come standard with the V6, while nineteens will be offered on four-cylinder Venzas. No word yet on whether all-wheel drive will be available; clearly Subaru Outback and Forester buyers are targets for the Venza. Pricing should start near $20,000.

Cadillac, as always, was a big-hitter at Detroit, with their Provoq concept (pictured above) and a two-door take-off on their very successful and Motor Trend "Car of the Year"-winning CTS, the CTS Coupe Concept. The GM division is hitting big notes with their CTS, and a natural outgrowth of the sedan style is the coupe, and Caddy seemed to hit as many home runs with this concept as they have in the last year with the sedan version of their CTS. Although based on the sedan, the CTS Coupe shares only the instrument panel, console, headlamps, front fenders and grille with the production model.

Cadillac media material says: "The CTS Coupe, of course, ascertains the sedan’s 3.6L V-6 engines, including the 304-horsepower Direct Injection power plant. The Coupe Concept also is designed for a new 2.9L turbo-diesel being developed for international markets. This new engine, tailored for use in the CTS, will deliver an estimated 250 horsepower and 406 lb.-ft. of torque. A six-speed manual transmission backs the engine, sending torque to an independently sprung rear axle. The CTS Coupe’s sport-tuned suspension gives it a slightly lower ride height than a production CTS – a look enhanced by the car’s rakish shape and large, 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels."

Cadillac has put much effort into the car's interior, and the press material says: "Custom-trimmed sport seats from Recaro are located in all four positions. They support the grand-touring nature of the car and are covered in rich, black and suede-like microfiber material, with yellow ochre-colored inserts. The yellow ochre color provides dramatic contrast with the black surrounding trim, but is a subdued hue consistent with the interior’s overall feeling of refinement. Yellow ochre stitching also is used throughout, including the seats, instrument panel, shifter knob and more." (Photos Below: From top, Ford's 2009 F-series, Dodge's 2009 Ram, Chevrolet's Silverado).

Ford, Chevy/GMC and Dodge still fight the traditional battle of the "Big Three"; Toyota's Tundra has not  made, at least yet, the major inroad into traditional American pickup sales which that company had hoped. They are building the Tundra in Texas, but for a long time it's been said that, "the Suburban is the national truck of Texas", so Toyota still has a great ways to go in developing the entire package, price a big part of that, which Americans want.

American truck-buyers take very seriously their purchases, and while Toyota is being given a long look by some of those buyers, not many of them are ready to buy their full-size pickup from that company yet; Nissan, with their Titan model never having racked-up enough sales to be more than a blip on the sales chart, is still trying to find the secret to making an appealing pickup for American buyers.

This particular battle is still one among the traditional Big Three, really the last battle of this kind left. And all the manufacturers love pickup trucks; they are relatively inexpensive and simple to build when compared to sedans and coupes, and all-new models don't have to be developed for as much as seven years or sometimes even more, as opposed to cars, whose buyers demand new models every three or four years, five at the most.

Dodge had been able to offer their Ram truck buyers as much as $6,000 off the sticker price in various ways, and Ford "gives up" up to $4,000 per truck. Ford announced at Detroit that no V6 engines would be available in their F-series trucks beginning with the 2009 model year, it's going to be V8s only; nothing that extreme, so far, from Chevy/GMC or Dodge. Chevy will have that interesting 'dual mode hybrid' Silverado available late in this model year.

Saturn made some news at the NAIAS by displaying a plug-in hybrid version of their Vue "green line". Here's what the press material said: "Saturn announced today at the North American International Auto Show that production may begin as soon as 2010 on a plug-in hybrid electric version of the Saturn Vue Green Line, expected to be the first regular production plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Depending on a consumer’s drive cycle, the Vue plug-in hybrid will be the most fuel-efficient vehicle offered by a major automaker."

The press material continued: "This Vue Green Line will use a modified version of GM’s two-mode hybrid system and plug-in technology, a lithium-ion battery pack, highly efficient electronics and powerful electric motors to achieve significant increases in fuel economy. When the lithium-ion batteries are fully charged, the Vue plug-in hybrid will potentially double the fuel efficiency of any current SUV. After electric-only propulsion depletes the lithium-ion energy storage system to a specified level, the battery is replenished by utilizing the two-mode hybrid system’s electric motors and regenerative brake systems."

See, that's the problem with GM at this auto show. The Volt, introduced at this very show last year and trucked around the country like a rock star, featured in a large amount of GM corporate advertising, print and electronic, and of course seen in what seemed like every Chevy ad, was treated like the bastard son at this year's Detroit outing. GM's fuel-saving emphasis was on ethanol in Detroit, and just a few days before the show, in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, GM CEO Rick Wagoner said the Volt's technology was "a stretch". GM reps have been talking a lot about how the Volt won't make sense until battery technology makes some great leaps; that hasn't been a secret to anyone, why GM has been toting the Volt for a year only to downgrade it, publicly, is the mystery. Especially when this Saturn Vue uses much of the same technologies.

The Detroit show, as Frankfurt is for European car-makers and Tokyo is for Asian manufacturers, is the traditional place for the Big Three to let themselves go crazy with their wildest, craziest concepts. Things have toned-down a little in the past few years, since it's been apparent that there is not an infinite amount of oil, and especially since it's become apparent that Americans are going to die on a regular basis as long as we need that oil.

But we really like this 2008 Chrysler ecoVoyager concept! There was a car built in the '30s, in very small numbers, called the Stout Scarab. Stout Engineering was the name of the Detroit-based outfit which made them, and today, many car experts (including this one) consider it the first minivan. I've driven in one, and it was simply so far ahead of its time that people didn't know what to make of them in the 1930s. That is, until Chrysler built a larger one and called it a "minivan". (Photo - Stout Scarab on display in the Owls Head Transportation Museum, Owls Head, Maine).

Here's what the press material says about this beauty: "Featuring crisscrossing forms defined by hard lines with fluid intersections, the style vocabulary of the ecoVoyager embodies Chrysler’s harmonization of functional technology with beautifully-styled exteriors and interiors. The Chrysler ecoVoyager concept was developed for customers wanting a travel experience on par with a private jet, but without a lot of fancy gadgetry. These customers seek three critical attributes: elegance, simplicity and serenity." (Photo - Chrysler ecoVoyager concept; compare it to the Stout Scarab pictured above!).

The material continues: "The all-new Chrysler ecoVoyager’s wheels are driven by an electric motor, with power primarily supplied by a lithium-ion battery pack capable of satisfying a consumer’s typical daily commute of less than 40 miles. The electric motor develops 200 kilowatts (268 horsepower), enabling acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in less than eight seconds. A regenerative braking system captures energy that would normally be lost and returns it to the battery, making the Chrysler ecoVoyager concept a very efficient and spacious vehicle."

There's more from Chrysler: "The ecoVoyager takes advantage of a range extender – in this case, a small, advanced hydrogen fuel cell -- to extend the vehicle range for occasional long trips. With this advanced technology, the Chrysler ecoVoyager’s total range is greater than 300 miles, while no emissions—besides water vapor—come from the tailpipe along the way. With the entire propulsion system located below the ecoVoyager’s floor, space is maximized for utility of passenger and cargo." (Photo - Chrysler ecoVoyager concept).

Chrysler recently honored the seven engineers who responsible for Stow ‘N Go seating with a first place for the 2005 Walter P. Chrysler Technology Award. As far as we're concerned, they could have also given them the Nobel Prize and one of those "Freedom" awards President Bush gives his buddies as soon as they have to quit, but before they're actually indicted. Stow 'N Go seating makes us anxious for the next minivan breakthrough ... What will they think of next? After all these years, since they invented the minivan (mostly because Lee Iaccoca took the engineer who had the idea with him when he was fired from Ford), they've some up with great stuff almost every year. They still are #1 in the segment and still have the best product in class.

Next up, Honda's 2009 Pilot. They call it a "prototype", which means it is beyond the "concept" stage and will probably look about 90% like this early version, jazzed-up in various ways with styling cues which probably make it look better than it really does (they always do that, and a pox on them if they didn't!). All of these "boxy" cars/trucks/crossovers look nearly the same from a distance (which explains the more aggressive front end on this Pilot, so people will know what it is when it comes down their street). The Scion xB is in the same league, and if you think boxy is hip, wait until you see the Nissan Cube. Take it from us: The name is very appropriate.

Here's what Honda's press material says: "The prototype conveys design features of the more boldly-styled 2009 Pilot, set to debut in spring 2008, which emphasizes authentic SUV styling, clever and more accommodating interior packaging and advanced technologies for safety, fuel efficiency and convenience. Functional eight-passenger seating, a hallmark of the Pilot, becomes even easier to access in the third row as key dimensions for legroom, cargo and occupant space increase in all seating positions. A redesigned platform allows even more refined handling and ride comfort to exist seamlessly with all-weather and medium-duty off-road capabilities."

Honda goes on to state: "A crossover SUV platform underpins the Pilot to provide the best of the car and  truck worlds by integrating the refined traits and packaging advantages of a unit body car design with the utility and capability of an SUV design. A V-6 engine introduces the latest generation of Honda fuel-saving Variable Cylinder Management™ (VCM®) technology that operates in 6-cylinder mode for power and 4- and 3-cylinder modes for efficiency, an improvement compared to the existing Pilot's available VCM system that works exclusively in 6- and 3-cylinder modes."

What's great about almost all of these vehicles aimed at younger buyers and drivers is that they come packed with concern for safety. Many of us came of age in a time when buying the least-expensive model from any car-maker meant you didn't get the power and certainly not the same safety considerations which their bigger, pricier vehicles came with; in effect, buying the cheaper car or truck meant you got "punished" for doing so.  Today, it's easier to count the number of cars and trucks which don't have advanced safety devices than the ones which do.

Audi did something surprising and very, very clever at the show. In order to promote their powerful turbo- diesel engines, which they've been using in race cars to win the "24 Hours of LeMans" the past two years, they decided to display a diesel powerplant not in their Q7 CUV, but in their all-new and very, very hot R8 sports coupe. This car looks fast standing still; making this statement with their V12 turbo-diesel was a great idea and will get Audi and their diesel engines, which are going to be the next step in achieving better mileage and lower emissions in the US (as they already are in Europe), all sorts of good publicity.

Here's how Audi's PR folks put it: "Audi is presenting a revolution in the top class at the North American International Auto Show 2008 – the first 12-cylinder diesel engine in a high-performance road going sports car. The V12 TDI with a displacement of six liters powers a concept car based on the Audi R8. This unit generates a huge 500 hp and 1,000 Newton-meters (737.56 lb-ft) of torque. Audi is writing a new chapter in diesel technology with this power unit. Equipped with the expertise that Audi has built up through its motor sport activities, the R8 V12 TDI in mat "Grace Silver" embodies superb road handling, pioneering technology and fascinating design."

Audi continues: "The V12 TDI is closely related to the engine in the Audi R10, the two-time LeMans winner, so it catapults the Audi R8 into supercar terrain concerning performance too. It sprints from zero to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) in just 4.2 seconds and its top speed is well over 300 km/h (186.41 mph). The peak torque, reached at only 1,750 rpm, paves the way for effortless acceleration that is unrivaled even at this level."

No word on price, but the V12 TDI may not actually see the light of day as an actual box to check off on your R8 order form.

Lexus showed a roadster version of their somewhat time-worn LF-A sports car concept (their answer to Acura's NSX, something we've been hearing for several years from this Toyota division).

Here's the word from Lexus PR on this good-looking drop-top: "The LF-A Roadster is based on the sturdy yet lightweight carbon-fibre and aluminum body used for the LF-A coupe, which helps maintain the structure's strength and rigidity even without a top. Like its coupe counterpart, the LF-A Roadster is powered by a high-revving V10 engine that approaches 5.0 liters in displacement. The V10, capable of more than 500 horsepower and test-track speeds greater than 200 mph, is mounted in front of the passenger compartment but behind the front-axle centreline in what the LF-A's engineers refer to as a "front-mid" configuration."

But when can we buy one? When can we at least test-drive a prototype? No word on any of that, as yet.  What we do know about Toyota, and, really, all Japanese companies, is they take what seems to us a very long time to make any decisions, but once they do, they stick with it and will do whatever is necessary to make the project a success. We're just getting a little tired of waiting for them to make this car a reality.

Jeep always has one or two outrageous concepts for the major auto shows, and this year's Detroit extravaganza was treated to a Jeep concept, yes, but more important than the exterior, which we'll never see on anything outside of a dune buggy or golf cart, is the engine in the "Renegade".

Chrysler is using their Jeep division as a good excuse to show-off one of their Bluetec diesel engines. Bluetec, developed in Europe by Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and others, when Chrysler was still part of Daimler, will find a home in some Chrysler products. Jeep is a good choice for a diesel because the huge amounts of torque which are developed by diesels are perfect for low-speed activities like rock crawling, fording streams, etc. What's interesting is that Jeep is using a small Bluetec diesel for exactly the same work which Chevrolet said they were planning on using a small gasoline engine for in the Volt --- To essentially serve as a battery charger. You know, for stuff where "only a Jeep will do". Wasn't that one of their slogans in some past year?

Here's what Jeep PR says: "The advanced propulsion system in the Jeep Renegade concept starts with a 40-mile lithium-ion battery pack. A range extender – in Renegade’s case, a small-displacement (1.5-liter, 3-cylinder) BLUETEC diesel engine – allows for journeys beyond 40 miles. In fact, the Jeep Renegade concept boasts a 400-mile range. Renegade’s BLUETEC diesel engine generates an additional 115 horsepower when needed, while greatly reducing exhaust emissions when compared to standard gasoline engines. Renegade is capable of achieving an equivalent petroleum fuel economy of 110 miles per gallon, which is four-to-five times greater than an equivalent gasoline-only vehicle."

That's all well and good, but aren't the folks at Chrysler running into the same problems bedeviling the Chevrolet people? That being the problem with those lithium-ion batteries not being able to hold a charge for long periods, not able to be recharged quickly and more?

Jeep goes on to say this: "The all-new Jeep Renegade concept’s lightweight aluminum architecture and regen-braking system help to improve overall efficiency, while dual electric 200 kilowatt (268 horsepower) motors propel a very capable 4×4 system – complete with low range and locking differentials — worthy of carrying the Jeep name." Well, we shall see, won't we?

GM's LUTZ HAS HIS OWN "ROGER SMITH MOMENT": IF PEOPLE CAN'T BUY A VOLT, "THAT'S TOO BAD ... THEY CAN BUY A COBALT OR MALIBU"

When Roger Smith, who died just a few weeks ago, was in-charge of General Motors, he made what was, even for him, a very impressive, embarrassing verbal gaffe during a major GM new car introduction media event at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. While on-stage and taking questions from reporters, Smith was asked by a reporter who mentioned he thought many Americans would find the prices on these GM vehicles too high, "What do you say to people who want a moderately-priced car from GM?" Smith, not being one who was known for thinking on his feet, paused for a moment and told the gathered media, "Well, they can always buy a used Buick." (Photo - GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz introduces the Chevrolet Volt at last year's Detroit Auto Show; this year, Volt has been somewhat disavowed).

There was something of a stunned silence among everyone in the large ballroom, according to people who were there, and before Smith could open his mouth again, his eventual successor, Bob Stempel, also on the stage, took to the microphone and began to "explain" what his boss had just said. Stempel spent much of that night and most of the next day meeting individually with reporters and downplaying Smith's statement. Stempel won the day, but Smith won the war, as he made sure that Stempel was kicked-off the GM Board of Directors after Smith himself had resigned from his own GM CEO job.

Now, the question is, what is Rick Wagoner going to do about Bob Lutz, and what he said to the media yesterday, during media vehicle introductions at the Detroit Auto Show? Stay tuned for that in a moment ... (Photo - Bob Lutz and one of the first models to have Lutz' prints all over it, the Pontiac GTO; it was a remake of GM Australia's Holden Monaro, and a sales fizzle in the US).

Since its introduction at last year's Detroit Auto Show, the Chevrolet Volt has been one of the most exciting and talked-about concept cars using existing technology to make somewhat "clean power". As detailed elsewhere on this website, the Volt, as we saw at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show, is planned, according to GM, to be capable of delivering well over 600 miles on less than 12 gallons of gas. Here's how: A small on-board "generator", really a gasoline engine, is used to constantly charge a battery pack which supplies the electricity the Volt uses to power its drive wheels. The Volt, which also combined plug-in hybrid technology, can run on batteries-only for about 40 miles after it is recharged by plugging it into a normal wall socket for a few hours.

GM introduced two new high-mileage vehicle concepts at the Detroit exhibition this week, the Hummer HX and the Saab 9-4X, both of which depend on the use of ethanol, not electricity or fuel cells or even small gasoline-powered "generators," for their lowered use of plain-old gasoline. Coupled with GM CEO Rick Wagoner's statement at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Volt technology is "a stretch", and news reports coming out of GM which can't seem to agree on when a vehicle similar to Volt might be available (originally they said 2010, then 2009, now it is 2010 again, if at all), the public can only assume that GM is, at best, confused, and at worst, duplicitous, in what their gas-saving plans for the near-term might be. Which is a shame, because GM's big SUV, the Chevy Tahoe, was named "Green Car of the Year" at the LA Auto Show, thanks to a new "dual mode hybrid automatic transmission" developed in conjunction with BMW and what was then called DaimlerChrysler.

All this set the stage for Lutz' remarks to a reporter at the Detroit show yesterday; according to the LA Times:

"Asked by reporters what he would tell people unhappy that they can't get their hands on a Volt, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said: "That's too bad. They'll have to visit a Chevy dealership and buy a Cobalt or a Malibu."

Perhaps Roger Smith, recently deceased, was somehow channeling himself through Lutz. Whatever the case, his remark seems callous and even cruel, based on the public clear excitement about the possibilities of Volt and its technologies being used in a variety of GM vehicles, perhaps even being licensed to other car-makers, as Toyota does with their "hybrid synergy drive" technology (see Nissan's Altima hybrid and Porsche's forthcoming Cayenne hybrid model). (Photo - "Maximum Bob" where he finds himself most comfortable; at and as the center of attention).

Lutz, now 76, wrote a best-selling book called, "Guts!", detailing his history in the car business and his own personal philosophy. An unabashed and unapologetic egomaniac who loves being the center of everyone's attention, was a Marine Corps fighter pilot and one of his hobbies is collecting (and restoring and flying) fighter jets from other countries. Some are saying that perhaps the time will soon come when Lutz himself should show the ultimate in real guts, and either involve more of GM's younger execs in his plans. and how and why he makes decisions, or simply take his leave from the company and the industry which he served well for many years.

In any event, it seems that the only "mileage" GM, Rick Wagoner and, especially, Bob Lutz have gotten out of their once-exciting Volt concept was not on the road, but in the world's newspapers, magazines and websites; we'd call it "PR mileage".

ALL THE DETROIT AUTO SHOW NEWS ... COMING TONIGHT!

COMING TONIGHT: We cover the North American International Auto Show ... better known as "the Detroit show" ... With their choices for the "International Car and Truck of the Year" (yet another pretty meaningless award!), GM's change in their plans for the future (if it depends on batteries, we ain't building it ... yet), a lot of stuff we already saw at the Tokyo and Los Angeles shows (how excited can you get after seeing the Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen-fueled fuel cell EV for the third time in three months?) and plenty more ...

Even concepts are SUVs (or CAVs) these days ... As in this hydrogen-fueled fuel cell EV from Cadillac, the "Provoq", unveiled at Detroit.

The Car Nut Radio Show, Soft Launch This Weekend

The Car Nut Internet Radio Show is planning a soft launch on Saturday, January 26th at 4:00 pm PST. You'll be able to tune in right here on the Car Nut Web Site. Be sure to bookmark this site, this page, and check back in for more information, announcements. You may also want to sign up for our "Car Nut Newsletter" to be kept apprised of the latest news and announcements for the newest information concerning the launch of our interent radio program. If all goes well, Car Nut Radio should be on the air this Saturday! We hope you'll join us call-in, tune-in and join the Car Nut chat, live online when the Host Steve Parker returns to radio and goes on the air with a live call-in automotive talk radio program!

TATA STUNS WORLD WITH $2,500 FIVE-PASSENGER FOUR-DOOR

"They" said it couldn't be done. And for a long time, "they", unfortunately, were right. Now, as usually happens, the naysayers are proven wrong, and in a quite impressive way. The Indian company, Tata, long-rumored to be first-in-line with Ford in the current auction of their Jaguar and Land Rover holdings, has introduced the long-awaited Nano, a $2,500, truly 21st-century sedan which seats five and achieves near 50 miles per gallon.

The "$2,500" price-point certainly rates the attention of everyone in the car world; there are still questions about whether or not the car could be produced in large volumes and still meet that price. Even though $2,500 is actually the dealer's price for the car, and most Nanos are expected to be sold closer to the $3,000 mark, the challenge for Tata is still clear. Clearly, a company this large can afford to take some losses as all car-makers expect to do for some time after the initial production of an all-new vehicle, so analysts and pundits will be watching Tata's financial performance more closely than usual over at least the next two years.

Many companies gave it their best effort, even Chrysler, in years when it was making money, was involved in developing an all-plastic car which would sell for a very low cost and could be built very inexpensively. This "target" car also had to be able to withstand the rigors of a third-world country where roads range from none at all to rutted, dirt tracks to modern super-highway, temperatures range from below zero at high altitudes to some of the most scorching, driest deserts in the world as well as some of the most hot and humid conditions anywhere on the globe. Yet in the end, it took a company located in a country which will be able to make immediate use of it on a large scale, to develop the vehicle, and they gave it a great name ... "Nano". Nano is likely the first of many cars of this type suitable for use, if the company's press is to be believed, practically anywhere on earth.

India is one of the great powers which, while it welcomes the investment of foreign-owned manufacturers, has developed its own heavy-vehicle manufacturing business, with or without assistance from other countries. Many companies based in India, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Mideast, South America and elsewhere have large and growing home industries which build buses and all manner of large work trucks and huge earthmoving machines. In coming years, as Tata and Maruti have both done in India, for example, many of these large-vehicle makers will be modifying their companies to build small, safe and efficient passenger cars. There's a 'pent-up demand' for privately-owned passenger cars throughout the world, and as a true middle-class develops in more countries, car production and sales will grow to be an even bigger business than it is now, worldwide. Here's the 411 on Nano:

Automotive News, as they've done many times before, scooped the world, and in a story written by an old  friend, Jesse Snyder, reports that gigantic Indian vehicle-builder Tata has delivered on company leader's Ratan Tata's pledge for a one lakh ($2,500) car. The long-awaited minicar, named Nano, is aimed at the gap in the Indian transportation marketplace between motorcycles and conventional minicars. "A promise is a promise," Ratan Tata said at the unveiling in New Delhi. (Photos Above -- Ratan Tata, group chairman and scion of the Tata dynasty, introduces the Nano in New Delhi, India, on 1-11-08). The Nano was unveiled at the 9th Auto Expo.

The no-frills, four-door, 33-horsepower car seats up to five passengers and is powered by a 624cc, two-cylinder gasoline engine and a continuously variable transmission. It uses 1.3 gallons of fuel per 62 miles, getting almost 50 miles per gallon. It meets local crash test and emissions guidelines, and is designed, according to Tata, to pass international side offset and side crash tests as well as Euro4 standards. It is 8 percent shorter than the Maruti Suzuki 800, the original Indian "people's car", which was introduced nearly 20 years ago and will be Nano's main competitor in the local market, but claims to offer 21 percent more passenger space. There are more than 1 million Maruti Suzuki 800 models on the road in the Subcontinent.

Nano will have air conditioning but no power steering, and Americans will find the front disc/rear drum brake set-up familiar.

It appears that Tata is thinking about the Nano not just as a "home market-only" product, but has plans for export in mind. Interestingly, its 624cc engine size falls well within the Japanese "K-car" standard of 650cc. In Japan, vehicles with engines smaller than 650cc qualify the buyer for extraordinary tax breaks, and these "minis" also receive preference when owners apply for special parking permits, necessary in some Japanese cities even before a vehicle can be purchased.

The car would be commercially launched in the second half of 2008 and will be produced at the Singur plant in West Bengal.

TATA's IMMINENT PURCHASE OF JAGUAR, LAND ROVER CLOSER THAN EVER; GOT A FEW EXTRA BUCKS? THEN GET IN LINE FOR A CHANCE TO BID!

Well, it's coming down to the wire --- Not in Iowa, where Barack Obama tonight decisively proved he is never to be discounted ever again for any reason ... He's in it for the long run! Now, 'Our Personal Soapbox' over, we can tell you it's coming down to the wire elsewhere in the world, specifically in the biggest-manufacturing industry on the globe, that of cars and big business, and especially for India-based vehicle-maker, Tata. Produced from 1963 through 1965, Sean Connery's character, "James Bond", already had a cool factor, but when he drove the DB5 in the film "Goldfinger", and though Aston Martin is not going to be directly involved with the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to, probably, Tata, after every James Bond featuring an Aston Martin , interest in the marque skyrocketed. (Photo Above --- Aston Martin made improvements on their then-popular DB4 model, thus DB5 pictured above was was born; and below, Pierce Brosnan seems relaxed posing in front of the car he drives when he becomes "Bond, James Bond". It's an Aston Martin "Vanquish" with a 12-cylinder engine in a "V" configuration).

The "talk in the paddocks" of tracks worldwide says Tata is soon to be the proud owners of two bouncing baby car companies --- Jaguar and Land Rover, both of which unapologetically continue to manufacture cars and light trucks that are powerful, heavy gas-guzzlers whose prices start north of $50,000 (there is one Land Rover model, though, their LR2, with a base price just a tick under $40K). Potentially, Tata could soon find themselves in possession of important and valuable pieces of Ford/Jaguar's unsuccessful F1 team, which ran for five seasons. India has already been fielding a sort-of "national" F1 team, using Spyker chassis. In September, 1986, luxury marque Spyker announced the acquisition of Midland F1 Racing, the first, and so far only Russian-owned F1 team, at least that we know of.

All these rumors have been around for weeks, even months. Today, January 3, 2008, a statement released by Lewis Booth, executive vice president, Ford of Europe and Premier Automotive Group and also Chairman, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Ford of Europe, lends even more credence to all the talk:

“Ford is committed to focused negotiations at a more detailed level with Tata Motors concerning the potential sale of the combined Jaguar Land Rover business.”

"There is still a considerable amount of work to do, and while no final decision has been made, we will proceed with further substantive discussions with Tata Motors over the forthcoming weeks with a view to securing an agreement that is in the best interests of all parties concerned."

The above statement, released worldwide this evening by Ford Motor's headquarters in Dearborn, MI, is only 74-or-so words in length, yet those few words are potentially worth many, many tens of millions of dollars, with the futures of two of the world's iconic car companies at stake. (Photo --- Mark Webber in the Jaguar F1 race car; the team ran five seasons, 2000 through 2004).

In BusinessTalk 101, it means that Ford and Tata are very close to an agreement on Tata's taking over those two crown jewels in Ford's crown. It also lets other possible buyers of Jaguar and Land Rover know unequivocally that now is the time to make a bid and get it to the right people at FoMoCo.

Ford bought a piece of Aston Martin in 1987, then purchased Jaguar in 1990; in 1991, Ford also took over Aston Martin and had owned it outright until last year's auction.

Aston Martin was sold early in 2007 for just over $925 million to a consortium including Prodrive's David Richards (who until 2004 had headed BAR, the F1 team formerly known as British American Tobacco Racing), Aston Martin collector John Sinders, and Kuwaiti companies Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co. Just two months after its purchase of that large stake in Aston Martin, Investment Dar reported receiving "several" offers of US$722 million for their piece of the company, 50% more than they had paid for it barely 60 days earlier. Ford has retained a 40% stake in Aston Martin, worth about US$80 million given the dollar's current value. (Photo --- A Tata-made SUV called "Sumo").

ProDrive, the company headed by David Richards, is one of the most-respected "boutique racing fabrication" shops which the UK is so well-known for among the sport's cognoscenti. On their own website, ProDrive introduces themselves thusly: "Prodrive is one of the world’s leading motorsport businesses. For more than 20 years, we have been running race and rallying programmes for some of the biggest names in the sport, including Subaru, Aston Martin, Ford, Porsche, Honda and BMW. At the same time we provide race and rally cars for private teams." Prodrive's site also states: "We currently run programmes for the Subaru World Rally Team in the World Rally Championship; for Aston Martin Racing in world sports car series; and for the Ford Performance Racing team in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series."

Prodrive also has had plans to enter F1 for some years now, and 2008 was their target season, taking advantage of new F1 rules allowing "customer cars". The new F1 Concorde Agreement, which all teams and participants must sign and agree to and adhere to in order to participate in the series in any capacity,  has been "read" more than a few different ways. Many think that the new rules say that new F1 teams could be formed not to develop, build, test and race both the engines and chassis, as the series traditionally calls for, but merely to purchase year-old chassis and engines from their respective manufacturers. But because of the internecine battles about this new rule, typical for any change in F1, no matter how small or inconsequential (though this change is, admittedly, huge), Prodrive says it will be at least 2009 before they can enter F1. (Photo --- Jaguar's Super Eight has a supercharged V8 which pumps out 400-horsepower; it's built on Jag's XJ sedan long wheelbase model. Click on our "Road Test" section, which is on the right-hand margin of each page, in order to read a complete review of this car).

There are some very interesting possibilities for the future, specifically for Jaguar, if it does become part of Tata. Interesting mainly because India is fielding their own Formula One race team. Called "Force India Formula One Team", Tata's purchase of Jaguar could quite possibly bring a lot of F1 technology to that country, as Ford fielded a Jaguar-branded F1 team from 2000 through 2004. Ford purchased Stewart Formula One from former F1 champion and racing analyst Sir Jackie Stewart. Even with drivers including Mark Webber, Eddie Irvine and Christian Klien, much of Jaguar F1's seasons were debacles, bringing not praise, but derision from fans across the world, expecting more from gigantic Ford, Jaguar's owner and main benefactor. (Photo --- Land Rover's new LR2, known in other nations as Freelander).

We would guess that much of the technical know-how Jaguar F1 either developed themselves and/or bought and paid-for during their five-year career in that most-expensive of all racing series, is still squirreled away in boxes, on computer discs and hard drives, and in the hands and minds of the skilled people and talented drivers who worked over the years for Jaguar F1 ... And perhaps Tata, a major manufacturing and political power in India, sometimes called the GM, Ford and Chrysler combined of the gigantic sub-continent, might find themselves in a position to create a partnership with Force India F1. With that company's money and reach, and a country which is just beginning its climb into becoming a First World member, now populated by millions of highly-educated people, if the Jaguar/Land Rover sale becomes a reality, Force India could become a major force, of many kinds, in the world of motor racing.

Tata is a huge vehicle-maker, yet we've not seen their products on most of this side of the world, and in our particular spot of North America. Tata Motors was established in 1945, when the company began making trains. Tata Motors was first listed on the NY Stock Exchange in 2004. Tata is India’s largest automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company. It is also the world's 5th largest commercial vehicle manufacturer. It is part of the Tata Group, and is headquartered in Mumbai. In 2004 it also bought Daewoo’s truck manufacturing unit in South Korea (while GM was busy buying the car-making part of Daewoo). (Photo --- Tata's "Elegante" sedan). Motors' range of passenger cars is still not complete by international standards. In commercial vehicles, Tata Motors commands an amazing 65% market share in their home market. That’s similar to the market share which Toyota enjoys in the cities surrounding their headquarters in Toyota City, which is near Nagoya, about 300 miles south of Tokyo.

Tata has a workforce of 22,000 employees in three plants and other offices across the country. Tata

There's much more information on Tata and their soon-to-finally-be-announced deal with FoMoCo to buy Land Rover and Jaguar just a few postings below, so scroll down a bit for the "rest of the story".

Technorati Trackback

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR SEVERAL SOUTH KOREAN CAR EXECS! THEY ESCAPE THE SLAMMER!

HAPPY "CAR NUT" NEW YEAR TO ALL! Mr. and Mrs. Car Nut (and Tippi the resident and incumbent Cat) wish everyone, everywhere a Great 2008 --- With good health, safe journeys, laughter, fun, (reasonable) excitement and Great Prosperity for all!

IT'S GONNA BE GREAT IN '08!

That's our wish to you ... Apparently, in South Korea, the well-known, kind-hearted and soft-on-crime courts in that bastion of democracy (written with tongue firmly in cheek) have made the wishes of at least three major automotive executives come true --- They ain't going to jail, after all! Here are those stories from last year, this first one (of three below) found in South Korean papers on New Year's Eve, 2007:

The founder and former chairman of South Korea's Daewoo has been pardoned in a traditional New Year amnesty. Kim Woo-Choong, 71, was sent to prison for eight and a half years in 2006 for crimes including embezzlement and accounting fraud. But one month later the court ordered the suspension of the sentence because of ill health. (Photo --- Daewoo executive Kim Woo-Choong, pardoned for his crimes; and why not ... he looks so terribly honest).

Daewoo went under in 1999 with debts of US$82 billion leaving the government to rescue its component companies. Woo-Chong fled the country and was accused of ordering his executives to lie in order to obtain loans. He was also accused of smuggling money overseas. He eventually returned to South Korea in 2005 to face charges. In addition to the prison sentence, he was ordered to forfeit 17.9 trillion won (US$18.2 billion) and pay 10 million won in fines (which amounts to $10,617, and, yes, that's in US dollars; hope it doesn't break the poor, sick guy --- Though apparently he did have US$18.2 billion to "forfeit", just like any other average auto exec).

Daewoo started out as a small textile firm, which he had bought for $5,000 in 1967. From this simple beginning, Kim turned Daewoo into one of South Korea's most powerful industrial conglomerates, or "chaebols", with close ties to other business leaders and top politicians. At its height, Daewoo employed 320,000 people in 110 countries. General Motors bought a major stake in Daewoo Motor to create GM Daewoo in 2002.

Apparently, there are special times on the South Korean calendar other than the "traditional New Year amnesty" when those in need of a little help from those on-high get just what they wished for. In September, 2007, the following news out of South Korea had millions of people around the world shaking their heads in disbelief, save for the White House, where some of our employees probably thought that a convicted big-time swindler being pardoned, entirely, from a prison sentence, simply because he is so big-time was a "good move". While you ponder the ways of Korea and Scooter Libby, read this:

An appeals court suspended a three-year prison sentence for Hyundai Motor Co. Chairman Chung Mong-koo on Thursday, saying the tycoon is too important to South Korea’s economy to go to jail for embezzlement. (Photo --- Hyundai execs and others cutting a ceremonial ribbon; Chairman Chung is third from the left).

A three-judge panel at the Seoul High Court suspended the sentence for five years, meaning that the 69- year-old head of the nation’s biggest automaker will avoid prison as long as he keeps a clean record during that period.

A lower court had sentenced Chung in February to three years for embezzling more than $100 million from the company to set up a slush fund. Prosecutors say the fund was used to pay lobbyists to gain government favors and for personal use.

Presiding Judge Lee Jae-hong told the packed courtroom that Hyundai Motor has great influence over the nation’s economy and Chung, its hands-on leader, is the symbol of the company.

“I am also a citizen of the Republic of Korea,” Lee said. “I was unwilling to engage in a gamble that would put the nation’s economy at risk.” Chung, free on bail after spending two months in jail after his arrest in April last year, has been actively running the company, which ranks as the sixth-largest automaker in the world and has ambitions to become the fifth-largest by 2010.

Lee said he struggled with the decision, originally set for July 10, and postponed it twice, saying the court needed more time. He said he sought the views of various people, including other judges, prosecutors, lawyers, journalists and “even taxi drivers and restaurant employees.” That would give anyone a lot of confidence in the South Korean court system ... That the presiding judge of the Seoul High Court, their equivalent of the US Supreme Court, would wander the streets asking people he bumps into their opinion on what he should do about this pesky "Chung case". (Photo --- An apparently proud and happy Hyundai Motors' Chairman Chung, standing amid some of his company's products, avoided any prison time when prosecutors asked judges to give him six years; well, you know, at least they asked).

In his appeal, Chung asked the court to be allowed to avoid prison to devote his energies to South Korea’s biggest automaker to contribute to the country’s economy. Prosecutors sought a six-year prison term, saying the original decision was not harsh enough for the crime. The court also ordered Chung to fulfill a promise he made last year to donate 1 trillion won ($1.1 billion) of his personal assets to society and told him to do community service.

But Park Wan-gi, an activist with the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice, denounced the ruling, saying it reinforced the perception that the rich can avoid jail. In a similar case, the Seoul High Court in 2005 suspended a three-year prison term for accounting irregularities handed to Chey Tae-won, CEO and chairman of South Korea’s leading oil refiner, SK Corp., now SK Energy.

Chung has pushed Hyundai Motor to expand aggressively overseas, building factories in China, India, Turkey and the United States, with another one currently under construction in the Czech Republic. Hyundai Motor affiliate Kia Motors Corp. has done the same, manufacturing cars in China and Slovakia and building another plant in the U.S. state of Georgia, near Hyundai Motor’s factory in Alabama.

Last year, Hyundai and Kia accounted for about 72 percent of South Korea’s automobile exports. Autos account for 13 percent of the country’s total exports. Hyundai welcomed the decision. “We can now devote our full energies to addressing the numerous challenges that face us and building a global brand,” it said in a statement.

This pardoning of convicted criminals in South Korea, when they just happen to be what some used to call "Captains of Industry", was nothing new when Hyundai's Chung had his sentence commuted; no, just a few months before the Chung pardoning, the gears of South Korean justice had already been ground to a halt. Even earlier last year, on March 28, 2007, the South Korean government also saw fit to pardon another top automotive executive, yet another one from Hyundai, the Big Boy of Korean money and politics:

Hyundai Motor is South Korea's top carmaker, and prosecutors have arrested the chief executive of carmaker Hyundai Motor's logistics subsidiary, Glovis, on corruption charges.

Lee Ju-eun is suspected of embezzling 7bn won ($6.73m; £3.85m) in company money for use in lobbying  politicians. Prosecutors say the investigation is linked to the arrest of businessman Kim Jae-rok on illegal lobbying charges. Hyundai Motor is suspected of paying Mr. Kim for his influence with politicians and local government officials. Prosecutors have also banned a number of top Hyundai Motor officials from leaving the country.

Hyundai was featured in a corruption investigation in 2003, when prosecutors examined allegations of illegal election campaign financing. Vice-chairman Kim Dong Jin was given a two-year suspended sentence and later pardoned. (Isn't being "featured" a rather strange way to describe Hyundai's predicament?)

Well, there you have it! Obviously, the way to "beat the cops" in South Korea is to make sure you work for one of their big car companies while you are committing your crime, whatever it may be ...