Congratulations Cadillac. The GM brand scooped first place in BusinessWeek’s first-ever ranking for the best provider of automotive related customer service. Overall, the wreathed ones placed third, surpassed only by insurance company USAA and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. From its lofty perch near the top the elite twenty-five, Cadillac can look down upon such notable companies such as Starbucks (tenth), Southwest Airlines (thirteenth), and Apple (eighteenth). Caddy’s kudos offer beleaguered GM supporters a much needed glimmer of hope.

When DaimlerChrysler unveiled Project X, the media was abuzz. Chrysler’s turnaround strategy included eliminating thousands of jobs, slashing vehicle production by a quarter and mothballing its Newark factory. More ominously, the plan pledged to consider “any option in order to find the best solution for both the Chrysler Group and DaimlerChrysler." To tell the truth, DaimlerChrysler’s “Recovery and Transformation” document should have stated the management’s desire to explore “any option to pump and dump Chrysler.” Those alternatives are gradually coming into focus. First, here’s what’s not going to happen…

There I was, having fun, fun auf die autobahn, when nature called. Somewhere southeast of Stuttgart, I took the wrong exit and found myself outside the gates of Audi’s Neckarsulm factory. A large sign proclaimed the brutally Bauhaus industrial complex ground zero for the German automaker’s R8 supercar. I was immediately convinced I was destined to park one in my garage. Of course, by then I’d been chasing R8 ownership for over three years. So, do good things come to those who wait?

Twenty-six summers ago I arrived in San Antonio, Texas. I quickly surmised that the pickup truck was River City residents’ favored mode of transport– preferably with an occupied gun rack. These pickup-driving Hill Country Texans worshiped at the altar of one of two churches: Chevy or Ford. Since those simple days of my youth, the rules of the game have changed. That community, so steeped in American pickup truck tradition, is now the production site for the all-new 2007 Tundra. Question: is Toyota’s big rig good enough to pry the keys out of the hands of F150, Silverado, and Ram-loving Americans?

At some point in the not-so-distant future, one or all of The Big 2.5 will go bankrupt. It will not be the end of American automaking. The company or companies involved will finally be free to jettison terminally ill brands, abandon onerous union contracts and trim their bloated dealer network. It will be a new dawn for the U.S. car industry. Or not. The same bureaucratic forces responsible for Detroit’s current decline and inevitable fall may continue to cling to power, until, like TWA, even the company name disappears into the mists of time. To avoid that ignominious end, management must use bankruptcy to change the 2.5’s culture. These are the principles they must live by.

New York City boasts the highest concentration of gargantuan rear wheel drive V8-powered cars in the country, 99% of which sit on Ford’s Panther platform. Still, in layout and public transit it may be the most European city in the U.S. But there’s nothing European about the way people drive in the city’s five boroughs. It’s like the Matrix – you can’t really be told what it is, you have to see it for yourself to understand. Let’s start with the rules.

The University of Iowa’s reputation for intellectual excellence lured my family away from Innsbruck (it sure as hell wasn’t the skiing). Despite the fact that my elementary school education was a lot less than enthralling, I decided to jump on the academic bandwagon. I threw myself into the study of all things automotive, harboring a secret hope that the University might award me an honorary degree in Autology.

Since the General Motors Death Watch began, GM employees, dealers and customers have emailed me their perspective on the General’s general degradation. Obviously, financial analysts are important (and confidential) contributors to this mix. While their info provides invaluable insight on the automaker’s slide into bankruptcy, their language can be daunting. So when I read this simple declarative statement in a recent investor briefing, I was shocked. “GM and Ford retail sales should continue their precipitous decline."

The Big 2.5 have always struggled with vehicles of the four-cylinder persuasion. A series of broken nameplates dating back to Omni, Vega, and Pinto highlights Detroit’s longstanding fear and loathing of Thinking Small. Now the 0.5 is attempting to renew its ardor with the Caliber, branding it a “world car” and exporting it to Europe. Unfortunately, the Caliber shows that bad Detroit habits are hard to break, firing blanks in this latest battle of the econobox wars.

News flash! The 2007 MINI looks like the 2006 MINI. As there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with the “old” model, BMW’s decision to leave things well enough alone shows welcome restraint. Well, almost. BMW’s added two extra inches to the new MINI– and we all know how meaningful two extra inches can be for guys (legroom!). But you’d be hard pressed to see any exterior effects– good or bad. So is it still all systems go for MINI’s V2 rocket, or does the new model (codenamed R56) prove that more is less?