A long way back, after trashing GM’s car designs, I said I would mention some GM products I do enjoy. I’ve been lazy about this blog lately but I haven’t forgotten about that. This will be a short post though because there’s only one car I can think of that I would seriously consider buying: the 2010 Buick LaCrosse.

That I would like a Buick is amazing because I am under 50 years old. The new LaCrosse is so different than the frumpy old man cars I’ve seen Buick churn out though. Technically Buick is a second tier luxury nameplate, like Acura or Infiniti. However I think this car is so well done it can be compared to low-end luxury cars from first tier nameplates like the Lexus ES350 or Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Buick finally produced a body that looks modern and refined with the capability to dust a few at the line. It’s a huge departure from their past designs, which to my eye, looked like they were trying to emulate the 1996 Ford Taurus. Oh and that interior just sells me. Sumptuous is the word that repeats in my mind when I look at pictures of it.

To be fair, I haven’t seen the car in person. I liked the ES350 until I sat in it. So maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but it’s a huge leap forward for Buick to have a 30 year old Californian actually consider them at all.

But there’s a onion in the ointment. Actually two. What is the point of buying a luxury car if it won’t impress women? Last December when I told a woman I was looking to buy a Lexus, she swooned! Honest to God, she swooned. She became breathless and started peppering me with questions about it. I really doubt any woman is going to swoon over a Buick.

Second, GM has become Government Motors and I am far too angry over that to buy any GM. There is no way I will consider getting a GM car so long as the government owns a share. Hell, even if the government divests I’m not sure that will satisfy my anger.

I suppose it’s just as well that way. Since I’ve started hiking, I’ve been driving on a lot more country roads and gravel paths. I really shouldn’t bother getting a luxury car if I’m just going to beat them up with that sort of use.

America has four car companies again! GM has sold the Saturn franchise to Roger Penske. I never believed it would happen. I’m glad to have the choice in the marketplace.

Technically though this is probably a temporary situation. Once Fiat buys Chrysler, will Chrysler still count as an American car company anymore? The business will take its orders from Turin even if Fiat doesn’t own a controlling percentage of Chrysler shares. Well, maybe it will still be American. Mazda is still Japanese right, even though Ford tells it what to do.

Even though Penske won’t be building cars it does leave some exciting possibilities for the future. GM will provide Saturn vehicles for the first few years, but eventually Penske will contract with other automakers and rebadge their vehicles. What could we have in store? From what I read online, most people expect rebadged Renaults. That idea surprises me because Renault and Nissan are allied, so why would Nissan allow itself to compete against its ally’s cars in the US? I expect Nissan would veto any move by Renault to sell cars to Penske. I hope so anyway. I don’t care for Renault’s lineup (based on UK models). The Laguna coupe is the only exception and I’m still not that excited about it.

I sure as hell don’t want Penske to import the New Kangoo.

I would think Citroen or Peugeot might be a possibility. They’re a large company without any ties to the US. Neither of their lineups interest me either though. Here you can see Citroen and Peugeot in the UK. My heart still skips a beat for the Citroen C5 however. If the C5 Airscape is ever made and sold as a Saturn I’ll sell my ass on the street to get one.

Certainly Fiat is out of the running since they’re taking on Chrysler. That also rules out Alfa Romeo since it’s a part of the Fiat Group. I can’t really think of any other European manufacturers that could possibly supply a US car company. No American is going to buy an AvtoVAZ.

Representing Asia… I think Proton is a strong possibility. They sell in the UK and Australia so they’re familiar with first world safety standards, and they’re a bargain leader. I could see them supplying Penske with one or two compact, fuel-efficient cars; perhaps a small SUV as well. Nothing they make excites me though.

Other than Proton, Asia doesn’t have much to offer Penske. South Korea’s two biggest native manufacturers, Hyundai and Kia, already sell in the US. That leaves SsangYong which is in bankruptcy. I doubt Penske wants to rescue a second failed automaker. Even if he did I don’t recommend he save SsangYong. They manufacture some awkward looking vehicles. Japan doesn’t have any companies that aren’t involved in the US so no sense looking there. That leaves China.

A Chinese manufacturer presents political problems in the US. Penske will have a lot of baggage to deal with in terms of quality questions, safety concerns and a freakout over the loss of US manufacturing to China. The benefit is that Penske has plenty of choice in China – Geely, Great Wall, BYD, Brilliance, Chery, and probably others I can’t think of. I’m sure they would all bend over backwards to crack into the US market. Penske would also provide them with a lot of manufacturing know-how to bring their cars up to US standards. That’s a lot of work for Penske.

Don’t think Penske is going to import cars from several different sources. That would be a collosal headache for maintainance. Dealerships would have to stock parts from so many different companies and train their mechanics on completely different systems. I actually expect Proton to win out. They’re third world cheap but already know how to operate in the first world.

I found out through RedState that the Obama Administration has no love for the Chevy Volt. Now, RedState is the only conservative source I’ve read on this subject, but it seemed pretty negative on Obama’s report. I hope the conservative media doesn’t take this meme to heart. The Volt is a bad idea and GM will be better off the sooner it stops wasting money on it. This report denouncing the Volt is probably the best thing that will ever come from the Obama Administration.

Not that the whole report is smart. Apparently the great conclusion is that GM needs to produce better conventional small cars. Grade A genius right there. After all who can disagree with advice like “make better cars, duh!”

Seriously what would save GM? GM is too weak to push for cutting-edge tech like the Volt. Honda or Toyota, with piles of cash in reserve, can subsidize such a program for a few years while it’s developed into something affordable. GM doesn’t have the cash for that, and the car will cost much too much at the start to be a big seller. GM needs to stick to basic technology: four cylinder engines with superchargers. They can strike a balance between fuel efficiency and power with that. They should also stick a toe into the diesel auto market. There are few options for car owners to drive a diesel. GM could instantly get buzz in the press by serving this neglected market. Best of all it’s with technology they’ve been using for decades. They’ll just need to downsize those truck engines to fit into a car frame. That’s no snap of the fingers, but it’s got to be easier than creating an electric vehicle.

But what’s under the hood doesn’t really sell cars. GM needs a whole new design language. They lack the reputation for reliability that the Japanese have, so they can’t get away with producing boring cars. GM needs to excite people again. I think this is GM’s greatest challenge. Ford is going through similar product problems, but they have acclaimed car designs in Europe. Ford can simply bring those designs over here. GM doesn’t have anything overseas they can plunder for ideas. They really do have to create a design revolution. I wish I could offer something more constructive, but I’m no designer. I don’t know enough to contribute. All I can say is most of the current designs are dull (although I do want to come back and mention some GM products I do enjoy).

GM’s future is in doubt, but the demise of the Volt should not be mourned. Conservatives, don’t waste your time lamenting it. It’s for the best.

Fiat is returning to the US! I probably shouldn’t get so excited but I find it difficult not to when a car company enters a new market. Fiat has agreed to purchase a 35% stake in Chrysler. I do find it amusing an Italian car company with a reputation for being…finicky is going to raise the quality of Chrysler offerings.

The reason I bring this news up is the report that the Fiat-Chrysler alliance would bring seven Fiat models to the US. The most notable is the Fiat 500 which I mentioned nearly a year ago. I was excited about it back then, but today I’m feeling harsher. Perhaps it’s because now gas is $2 a gallon instead of above $3, but I’m just less willing to put up with the 500′s ugliness.

I’m also less confident the 500 can compete against the Mini Cooper. The basic Mini will get you a zero to 60 mph time of 8.5 seconds and 118 horsepower. The 500 has a 10 second 0 to 60 time and only 100 horsepower. Doesn’t the Mini Cooper also have more interior space? Unless Chrysler and Fiat is planning on selling the 500 for several thousand less, I’m not certain the car will be a success.

Those small headlights still bother me by the way.

The authority is legally required to have a balanced budget; it has massive budget gaps, he explains.

“Whatever,” Bria said with a note of jest. “He should just get the money for it. It’s a big commuter system. It’s cheap and it’s good for the environment to ride the bus.”

Why thank you Bria. What a great idea. The MTA will just get the money. It’s so simple.

Yes, the Daily News decided to speak to MTA chief Elliot Sander’s daughter about the coming service cuts. No, I have no idea why.

The reason why I’m being so hard on the unformed policy ideas of a 15 year old girl is that I just know millions of New Yorkers will say, “Yeah, she’s right!”. Millions of idiots who will bitch and moan, but never take a second to actually think of a workable idea. No she is not right. She didn’t say anything to be right about. I don’t care if ”whatever” is said in jest. She’s just being dismissive because she’s too lazy, just like everyone else, to make a hard choice. If she would have just given an answer I didn’t like I wouldn’t even bother bringing this up. She could have told her dad to abandon the 2nd Avenue Subway again to save money, or the 7 train extenion too. She could have suggested the subway stop running service from midnight to 6 am. I don’t like any of these ideas but at least she would have made the effort to solve the problem.

But fine, if just getting the money is good enough I can do that. The single ride fare is going to $5 and I’ll have the state legislature pass a special law to make it illegal for MTA workers to unionize so I can then slash their salaries. I won’t have to make any cuts in service after that. Problem solved.

This is so damn predictable I don’t know why I’m bothering to write about it. I guess because it pisses me off so much. Remember not too long ago the White House and Treasury agreed to give GM and Chrysler a $17 billion loan to make it through next fiscal quarter? That loan had a few conditions that were supposed to force the domestic auto manufacturers to make the hard decisions that would lead to them becoming profitable long-term. One of these conditions was:

Reduction of the total amount of compensation, including wages and benefits, paid to their U.S. employees so that, by no later than December 31, 2009, the average of such total amount, per hour and per person, is an amount that is competitive with the average total amount of such compensation, as certified by the Secretary of Labor, paid per hour and per person to employees of with Nissan Motor Company, Toyota Motor Corporation, or American Honda Motor Company whose site of employment is in the United States.

By the end of 2009 compensation costs (wages + benefits) should be the same, on average, as what the foreign auto companies are paying to manufacture in the US. Going by memory, I believe there was also a February deadline for submitting a plan that would show how compensation would be cut. Does this seem reasonable to you? Do you find it excessive to ask workers to accept wage cuts when the company is considering bankruptcy? The UAW seems to.

The UAW has stated they will seek to renegotiate this stipulation. By “renegotiate” I imagine they mean “completely kill”. I’m not surprised in the least. Greed, laziness and ineptitude are synonymous with unions and the UAW is the king of unions. They will bring down these companies because they’re too stupid to see the damage they cause.

Well maybe I’m being too harsh. I shouldn’t fault them for this course of action. This is a no risk decision because the UAW knows there won’t be a bankruptcy. Bush is too wimpy to allow it at the end of his term. Obama is going to take office next month and we know all Democrats are bought and paid for by unions. Obama will step in and toss aside any notion of lowering UAW wages. The spigots will turn, the tax money will flow and the UAW will continue to grow fat. They may even ask for pay increases. After all these hard workin’, blue collar folk deserve a raise [INSERT CRAP REASON]

Suggested Crap Reasons:

• to get Main Street working again.
• to preserve the middle class.
• to keep the American dream alive.
• before those fat cat executives get anything.

I’ve seen a few news reports that went to Michigan to get man-on-the-street interviews with auto workers. I’ve never seen an interview with an employee of Nissan or Toyota. I would love to hear how they feel about their tax money going to prop up the wages and benefits of UAW workers.

I’m certainly not happy with it and I work in the auto industry. The idea of it makes my blood boil. I was actually tempted by the 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid. It’s no secret that after owning a Mazda3 for three years my eye is wandering. The Fusion hybrid gets 36 mpg highway and 41 mpg city, and looks pretty good (except for the Gillette Mach3 grille). The price is decent too at $27k MSRP. I would consider this car except now that the UAW refuses to live with real world wages, I’m disgusted. I don’t want anything made by union members. From now on whenever I plan a big purchase, I’ll look here at the list of UAW made products. I refuse to buy any of these.

Another company fell victim to the credit crisis, but this time it isn’t an investment bank or an insurance giant. Bill Heard Enterprises, the nation’s largest Chevrolet dealer group and thirteenth largest dealer group overall, is closing all thirteen of its stores at the end of business today. This was a company with over $2 billion in revenue last year, gone in an instant.

Why is this happening? Crashing truck and SUV sales certainly didn’t help Bill Heard. A general decline in domestic automotive market share didn’t help either. High fuel prices just added insult to injury. These are all terrible things to happen to a dealership but they wouldn’t have killed this company immediately. No, only a lack of financing could do that. Bill Heard was unable to get financing from GMAC for their floorplan. Floorplan is the cost of all those vehicles kept in inventory. Dealers don’t bring suitcases of unmarked bills to manufacturers to pay for those cars. They finance millions of dollars so they can have the vehicles in stock and ready to sell. If they can’t get financing, they can’t get any cars.

Here the credit crunch has destroyed a formerly productive enterprise. Bill Heard may have been wounded by the weak auto market, but a lack of credit caused this loss of hundreds of sales and service jobs. For those of you who think nothing should be done about this financial turmoil, here is a taste of what’s to come. I’m not advocating a massive bailout, but inaction would be disastrous.

Speed limits are a complete sham! There, I said it. That felt good too. Any law that criminalizes the majority of the population is a sham.

Some students decided to make a short film about the ridiculousness of the speed limit. Four of them got together to line up on an Atlanta-area highway and obey the 55 mph speed limit. Watch the video to see how they completely screw up traffic flow by obeying the law.

Speed limits make criminals out of everyone. By creating a category of laws that don’t really need to be followed, you erode respect for all laws. It also erodes public respect in their local government by turning traffic enforcement into a reverse lottery where if you’re unlucky enough to be picked out from the crowd you have to pay the penalty.

If you want to have any limits, which I’m not convinced is a good thing, they should be set above the typical speed to give people a speed cushion so they can behave normally. The government that supposedly represents us shouldn’t be coercing us in a dubious bid for safety.

We’re all brainwashed to think speed limits are about safety. If that’s the case, why is there a hard limit? Wouldn’t it be logical for the limits to vary by traffic density? What sense does it make to have the same limit at 2 pm when I’m surrounded by cars, than it does at 2 am when I might only see one other car on the road? Besides, if you accept the argument that lower speeds save lives, where do you draw the line? If 65 mph is better than 75, isn’t 55 just as better than 65? Why not go down to 35 mph? Why even have cars? Maybe the government should ban personal cars and save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

Speed limit laws are just another manifestation of government overreaching into everyone’s lives. The safety whiners get their wishes and the government levies a hidden tax. I guess things will never change.

Watch this ad! Watch this ad! Watch this ad! I can’t believe this made it on TV.

Rumors about bankruptcy can swirl around any company going through a rough patch. I wouldn’t automatically lend them credence. Chrysler’s troubles are no secret and it’s natural for people to whisper about the chances of bankruptcy.

The rumors of bankruptcy were whipped up recently because Chrysler made use of a line of credit that was negotiated when Cerberus Capital bought Chrysler from DiamlerChrysler. Chrysler borrowed $1.5 billion from Diamler, and $500 million from Cerberus. The act of borrowing made investors swoon with thoughts that Chrysler was having cashflow problems. However this line of credit had an August deadline. If Chrysler didn’t use it, it would disappear. So they decided to borrow now to ensure they had access to this $2 billion in extra liquidity. Explained in that light, it seems like a prudent decision.

But today a little event made me believe Chrysler’s position is far worse than they’re admitting to. To try and allay everyone’s fears they organized a media event/rally to explain the situation. Then I read that Lee Iacocca was brought out at the rally to speak. I guess Chrysler’s management thought Iacocca would add some credibility to the message, but that just implies management itself has no credibility. They have to go draw from the Iacocca well to try to calm everyone down. Resurrecting Chrysler’s Grand Ol’ Man looks like an attempt to distract everyone from the real problems facing the company. Chrysler’s sales are slumping worse than anyone else’s, and they have no good product in the pipeline to try and save themselves with. GM has the Volt. Ford is bringing its highly successful European designs here. Chrysler is circling the drain. Iacocca is there to lull people into thinking everything is okay. He saved Chrysler before and now that he’s involved, he’ll save Chrysler again!

This move smacks of desperation and only convinces me Chrysler is in dire straights. Bankruptcy is looking all the more likely. That may not be a bad thing though. Chrysler has been the weakest American car company for decades. A bankruptcy, done right, could put the company on some firm footings. It would force the UAW to accept massive cuts in labor and wages. I wonder if bankrupt Chrysler would try to eliminate all union workers. A lot of facilities would be sold off, but I wonder if any would be moved to cheaper places. Moving a factory isn’t free so I don’t expect the whole company to move its manufacturing operations to the US south, or to Mexico. You can rule out Asian factories thanks to the higher cost of shipping from expensive oil.

However if there is no bankruptcy, or an inept one, I think Chrysler will become a Chinese brand by 2015. It’s an easy way for an ambitious Chinese company to buy some recognition and a distribution network.