Car talk!

[Woochifer]

The renaissance is happening right now. Under "Ultimate Car Guy" Bob Lutz, GM has brought us the Malibu, 'Vette, Tahoe Hybrid, CTS, and G8 GT to name but a few. All are world class cars.

Amazing how quickly GM has turned things around. It took them a long time to get their product quality anywhere close to industry averages, and some of their individual plants (most notably their Buick and Cadillac plants and the NUMMI facility they jointly operate with Toyota) now rank among the world's best. Problem is that they might have cut down the failure rates, but the driving experience with most of their cars was still pretty bad. Seems that they've gotten around to now putting the driver first, and that bodes well for their fortunes.

Chrysler is the one I'm worried about and it is becoming more and more likely Cerberus will do what they've done with many of their other holdings: chop and drop.

GM has figured out it's all about the product. Ford is getting there (check out the new Verve). Chrysler is clueless.

Chrysler just announced a two-week companywide shut down over the summer. I guess this is more extensive than the normal summer plant retooling shut downs in preparation for the next model year. Things aren't looking good for them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080313/...er_shutdown_dc

They're even permanently shutting down their San Diego design center, where some of the company's best designs over the past 20+ years came from. That seems to signify that Chrysler does not want to regain its competitive edge anytime soon. The importance of the California market at setting trends for the auto industry as a whole is the reason why so many auto makers opened design centers in Cali. For years, it gave Toyota (which opened their Calty design studio in Newport Beach in the mid-70s) an ear to the ground that other automakers did not have.

Wasn't too long ago with the buzz from the PT Cruiser and the 300 that Chrysler was the best positioned U.S. carmaker. I guess it only takes one model cycle for things to go south in a hurry -- case in point, Volkswagen. Or for things to turn around for the better -- case in point, Mazda.

It's more marketing than innovation at this point. I have no problem with making cars more friendly to the environment (Tesla anyone?), but at this point even "hybrids" aren't very green when you consider the cost involved with making the batteries, shipping them to assembly plants, the disposition of the said batteries, etc. That process will leave a bigger carbon footprint than any Corrolla or Focus.

I would agree with you in regard to the manufacturing process, there are a lot of processes that people don't consider in assessing the impact of a hybrid. But, once that car gets out into a consumer's hands, then the carbon footprint is likely much smaller than a typical car over the entire life of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, many people buy hybrids just so they can wear their conscious on their sleeves like their favorite Hollywood hypocrit...er, actor; "Look at me! I'm going to save the Earth one gallon at a time, just like George Clooney! Same color, too!" Whereas a chrome "V12" on the decklid used to impart instant status, today you need a little green leaf and the magical "hybrid" scrawled across the flank.

I wouldn't go that far. My retired parents are ready to buy a Prius because they're pennypinchers and want that 40+ MPG. It would be a huge stretch to call them environmentalists -- I have a hard enough time just getting them to dump their aluminum cans into the recycling bin rather than the trash -- but they are certainly cheap! They currently drive a Camry, and were looking to get another one. But, with gas heading towards $4 a gallon, and my mom's retiree friends telling her how much they love their Prius, that's where they're headed. They could care less if that Prius has got the carbon footprint of a Gulfstream jet -- if it cuts their gas costs in half, they want it.

Among people I know in the Bay Area (and down in L.A. as well), the hybrid's real status symbol's not the green leaf logo, but rather that DMV sticker that lets them drive in the carpool lane!