Straightline

Why did these people spend nearly four months trying to push this dump truck off the fourth floor of the abandoned Packard building in Detroit?

Because it was there and no one was around to tell them not to.

It's just one part of a Wall Street Journal article about how Detroit has become a vandal's paradise thanks to an endless supply of empty buildings. Quite the uplifting read. Video after the break.

WSJ: How Do You Put the Dump in Dump Truck? Push It Off the Fourth Floor

Continue reading Video: Dump Truck Pushed Off Fourth Floor of Packard Building in Detroit.

Categories: Auto Industry,Trends

We knew the Cash for Clunkers program wasn't perfect from the beginning, but one particular section caught our attention more than others. Section 1302, subsection (b), item 1, sub-paragraph D was its official name.

Read through the legalese and it basically allowed truck owners to trade in their clunkers for new trucks even if the newer vehicle didn't necessarily get better mileage than the trade in.

Green Car Advisor has been following the issue for some time and weighed in on the matter today with a detailed analysis. It didn't exactly call the program a total farce, but it does make you wonder how well it was planned.

GCA: Clunker Program Allowed Some Truck Trades for Less Efficient Vehicles

Categories: Auto Industry,Trucks

No one's about to say that the automotive industry is out of the woods just yet (certainly not with current unemployment rates), but October 2009 sales numbers give reason for optimism, mainly because they look a lot like the October 2008 numbers.

General Motors recorded its first year-over-year increase in nearly two years, selling 177,603 vehicles (up 4 percent from October 2008). GM also notes that 95 percent of those sales came in its "core" brands (Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick) -- not terribly surprising given that it doesn't build Pontiacs, Saturns, Saabs and Hummers anymore.

Ford was up 3 percent with 132,483 units sold, though its optimism was tempered by the fact that the Fusion is still the only Ford passenger car in positive territory for 2009. Chrysler sales weren't as bad as September's, but were still down 30 percent from Oct. 2008.

Toyota sold 152,165 vehicles, which is nearly identical to October 2008. And just like old times, the Lexus RX was one of the hottest sellers. Honda continues to struggle, though, as the Fit and Insight just aren't doing well.

Auto Observer: October Auto Sales Uptick May Presage the 'New Normal'

Continue reading Shades of Recovery in October 2009 Sales; GM Finally Up; Hyundai, Subaru Still Hot.

Categories: Auto Industry,Manufacturers

After all the speculation that Alfa Romeo would share platform architecture with next-generation Chryslers and mount a return to the United States, Alfa never came up during today's 8-hour Chrysler-Fiat briefing.

Finally, a journalist asked, "What about Alfa?"

And Sergio Marchionne's reply? "We have Alfa in the 2014 sales numbers. But it's not much. Alfa needs to make a case for itself here, though."

That would be here, as in here in the U.S. But 2014 will apparently be no ordinary year. That's the year by which Fiat claims that Chrysler will more than double its current worldwide sales volume, topping out at 2.8 million units. That could happen, right?

Reporting by Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

Auto Observer: Marchionne Disarms Alfa-In-U.S. Speculation, Calls Cost of Coming 300 Platform 'Shocking'

Categories: Alfa Romeo,Auto Industry,Chrysler,Fiat

After the late-2010 debut of the 2011 Fiat 500, the Italian automaker plans to bring us the Fiat 500C Convertible in 2011 and the Fiat 500 Abarth in 2012. The 500 Abarth has a turbocharged version of Fiat's Multiair 1.4-liter inline-4 rated at 135 horsepower and 152 pound-feet of torque.

Also today, Chrysler-Fiat announced that Chryslers sold internationally will share product and dealerships with the Lancia brand. We don't see that helping either brand, unless C-F miraculously figures out a way to resurrect the Delta Integrale and move it in mass volumes.

And by the way, we've been told that by 2014, 56 percent of all Chryslers sold will be Italian in origin.

Reporting by Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Convertibles,Fiat,Hatchbacks

And the great plan for the underwhelming car known as the Chrysler Sebring? The ribs will be removed from the hood during a mid-cycle refresh slated for the fourth-quarter of 2011 2010.

We say it's going to take more than a smooth hood to make that dog hunt. A mercy killing seems more appropriate here, and we expect that to happen in the 2012-2013 timeframe when Chrysler-Fiat introduces a D-segment sedan to replace the Dodge Avenger, the Sebring's twin.

Reporting by Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit 

Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Fiat,Sedans

The 2011 Fiat 500 will be sold through select Chrysler dealers, mainly in metro areas, by a dedicated staff within the dealership. Expect the sales process to be Scion-style with a huge list of accessories and no-haggle pricing. No word yet on whether each dealer will get a walk-in Fiat 500 in its showroom.

Reporting by Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Fiat,Hatchbacks

We learned today that the Fiat 500 will launch in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2010, so we'll start calling it the 2011 Fiat 500. It will debut with Fiat's Multiair 1.4-liter four-cylinder presumably making in the neighborhood of 100 horsepower. A turbocharged version will come later on, though no word if the resulting car will get Abarth badging.

Other interesting news: Chrysler's family of four-cylinder engines (1.8-liter, 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter) from the now defunct alliance with Hyundai and Mitsubishi will live on but will be modified with Fiat's Multiair system and direct-injection technology.

Multiair is the Italian automaker's variable valve timing technology, and it's among the most advanced of its kind. Fiat's powertrain expert, Paolo Ferrero, describes the Multiair system as, "variable valve timing on steroids." We'll bring you more details on the tech side of it at a later date.

The other bit of powertrain news is that Fiat intends to share its 6-speed dual-clutch transmission with Chrysler, though it hasn't said which model(s) will get it.

Reporting by Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Fiat,Green Tech,Hatchbacks

Chrysler's new Pentastar 3.6-liter V6 will debut in the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which hits dealerships in the second quarter of 2010. In the Grand Cherokee, this engine will be rated at 280 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque.

Single- and twin-turbocharged versions of the Pentastar V6 are also in the works.

Reporting by Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Fiat,Jeep,SUVs

The Dodge Viper just got a bit more collectible, as Chrysler has announced that only 500 more will be built. A new sports car will arrive in the summer of 2012, but don't expect it to be anything like the old-school Viper, as it will use Fiat alliance architecture.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, though, our Detroit editor, Dan Pund, reports that Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of the Dodge brand, said, "When you have friends across the ocean that are the world's best at building sports cars, that's exciting." Friends, as in friends in Maranello...?

Alongside that, we've learned that the Dodge Nitro gets to live through the product cuts and will continue to be sold under the Dodge car brand. Apparently, Fiat President Sergio Marchionne owns one.

Chrysler has also said the Caliber, Avenger, Journey and Grand Caravan will get new interiors -- evidently on top of the upgrades already made to the Caliber for 2010.

And with the splitting off of the Ram brand, the new Dodge logo will lose the horns and just say "DODGE" on a black background with a touch of red. 

Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Dodge,Fiat,SUVs,Sports Cars

Chrysler-Fiat anticipates that by 2014, V8 engines will account for only 11 percent of its mix (and that's including the new Ram brand), down from 18 percent in 2010.

At the same time, the company anticipates anticipates that four-cylinder engines will make up 38 percent of its mix in 2014 -- up considerably from 19 percent in 2010. And there will be more diesels, too. Look for them to make up 14 percent of the mix in 2014, compared to only 9 percent today.

-- Dan Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Diesels,Fiat

The deal to sell Opel is officially off. General Motors announced today it will keep its German subsidiary.

Back in September GM announced it would sell a 55-percent stake in Opel/Vauxhall to the consortium of the Canadian parts supplier Magna and the Russian bank Sberbank (representing the Russian automaker GAZ). Opel employees would have gotten a 10-percent stake and GM would have held onto 35 percent.

But the deal was delayed when the European Union expressed concern that it violated EU law: The German government had promised $6.6 billion in aid to Opel, but only if GM sold its subsidiary to Magna/Sberbank (which were thought to be most amenable to preserving German union jobs). This essentially made other bidders, among them RHJ International, the Belgian affiliate of private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, less attractive. European press reports indicate that Germany subsequently relented and said it would provide the same aid package to other bidders.

It's not yet clear exactly what role this issue played in today's decision, thought Reuters reports that GM's board met immediately after the EU pressed GM officials to confirm that the company still would have chosen Magna/Sberbank had it known that Germany would have provided aid to any of the bidding companies.

Of course, there's nothing about this matter in GM's press release, in which Fritz Henderson states, "While strained, the business environment in Europe has improved. At the same time, GM's overall financial health and stability have improved significantly over the past few months, giving us confidence that the European business can be successfully restructured."

The release also indicates that GM estimates restructuring costs for Opel at 3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) --"significantly lower than all bids submitted as part of the investor solicitation."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Washington, DC, this week, so it will be interesting to see if she weighs in on this announcement. The sale of Opel was a hot-button issue during her recent reelection campaign.

Reuters

Categories: Auto Industry,General Motors,Opel

The messy public relations situation stirred up by apparently ill-fitting floor mats in Toyota and Lexus vehicles and the potential for unintended acceleration isn't going to just go away. Certainly, not if ABC News has anything to say about it.

ABC has produced an investigative piece on the issue, wherein a few Toyota owners and an independent safety expert make the case that reports of unintended acceleration in Toyota/Lexus products cannot be written off to mere bunched-up floor mats.

Independent safety analyst Sean Kane, of the Vehicle Safety Information Resource Center, LLC (VSIRC), was interviewed for the story, and he says he has uncovered evidence of more than 200 accidents and a dozen deaths involving Toyota and Lexus vehicles that apparently accelerated out of control. His numbers come from another company, Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. (SRS), but neither Kane nor the SRS web site lays out those numbers in any kind of detail. Kane then speculates that electronic thottles may be the real culprit of unintended acceleration but offers nothing in support of that.

So, in the absence of hard evidence, we can't exactly describe ABC's report as a rigorous investigative piece. ABC does at least acknowledge that no engineers or automotive safety experts have been able to duplicate this condition in a Toyota or Lexus, and that NHTSA denied the latest petition for a defect investigation of the current-generation ES 350.

ABC says Toyota officials refused interview requests for this story. If that's true, Toyota may have lost an opportunity to state its side of the story and save face.

Video: ABC News -- Are Toyota's Accelerators Safe?

Categories: Auto Industry,Toyota

After asking owners of certain Toyota models to remove their floor mats in September, Toyota has begun sending out letters to Toyota/Lexus owners with affected VINs. This isn't yet the formal recall campaign; rather, this is an interim letter explaining the how/why of the floor mat situation and advising customers that a second letter detailing a specific dealer remedy is forthcoming.

Toyota also announced in a press release that the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) recently advised the company that the agency has denied a customer petition for a defect investigation into the 2007 Lexus ES 350. The petition was filed in March by Jeffrey Pepski, of Plymouth, Minnesota, owner of an '07 ES 350, who claimed his car experienced unintended acceleration. Note that this petition was unrelated to the fatal crash in California involving an ES 350 dealer loaner car with non-standard floormats.

This remains a messy public relations situation, so Bob Daly, senior vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, has made this video for the Toyota faithful.

"It's important to note that no defect exists in vehicles in which the driver-side floor mat is compatible with the vehicle and properly installed," Daly says. "The question of unintended acceleration involving Toyota or Lexus vehicles has been thoroughly investigated by the NHTSA's engineering experts without any finding of a defect other than an unsecure or incompatible driver's floor mat.

"In fact, the federal agency recently closed yet another study [the above petition] finding that the only cause of unintended acceleration in that case was an out-of-position or inappropriate floor mat."

Toyota's letter to owners

--> List of vehicles with potentially affected VINs after the jump.

Continue reading Toyota Sends Out Floor Mat Warning Letters, Reassures Customers on YouTube.

Categories: Auto Industry,Toyota

Yesterday, Edmunds released an analysis of the Cash for Clunkers program. It concluded that each car purchased under the program cost the taxpayers roughly $24,000. You can read the full release here to see how we arrived at that number.

Well, it appears as though the White House doesn't like people going around calling its programs expensive. "This is the latest of several critical 'analyses' of the Cash for Clunkers program from Edmunds.com, which appear designed to grab headlines and get coverage on cable TV. Like many of their previous attempts, this latest claim doesn't withstand even basic scrutiny," it wrote on the official White House blog.

We have, of course, responded. Decide for yourself who's right here, we know where we stand.

Edmunds: Cash for Clunkers Results Finally In, Taxpayers Paid $24,000 Per Vehicle Sold

White House Blog: Busy Covering Car Sales on Mars, Edmunds.com Gets it Wrong Again

CNN Money: Taxpayers paid $24,000 per car
 

Categories: Auto Industry,Trends