Ford's Twin Cities production plant in Highland Park, Minnesota– one of three that build the Ford Ranger pickup– is slated for closure in 2008. FoMoCo's been looking to sell the 138-acre parcel to local property developers. The site, which still has tunnels where the company mined sandstone to make glass windshields, occupies one of St. Paul's nicer neighborhoods. Only The Minneapolis St.Paul Star Tribune reports that the site is awash with toxins: waste oil and solvents, paint sludges, batteries, gasoline and diesel. There are over 40 identified "hot spots" and the groundwater ain't too healthy neither. Stefanie Denby, communications and marketing director for Ford Land, promised a thorough clean-up: "We take our environmental responsibility very seriously." Given the enormous cost and effort required to "remediate" large, heavily polluted sites, the company's seriousness could push the land deal from the profit to the liability side of Ford's ledger. 

Just as anything Apple now gets an "i" prefix and any traditional industry moving its products or services online feels compelled to stick an "e" in front of it (e.g. eLoan), anything hydrogen-related gets a "hy" five. I'm speaking here of HyHauler™ and HyHauler Plus™. The first is Quantum Technologies' portable hydrogen filling station, while the second is a mobile filling station PLUS an on-board hydrogen generator! Now how much would you pay? Just-Auto reports that GM has purchased three hytankers at an undisclosed price. The rolling Hindenbergs filling stations will support GM's hydrogen fuel cell-powered hyhypemobiles at "various locations from vehicle proving grounds and public ride-and-drive events to fleet demonstrations." Quantum's website is strangely silent about cost, safety and the energy needed to create and pump the hydrogen into zero emissions vehicles.

How does 0 – 60 in less than a second, and 156 mph in the quarter mile sound? Like… a loud whir. MSNBC reports Scott Dube's lithium-ion powered KillaCycle is breaking local records at drag strips and hopes to challenge the world record for bikes powered by nitromethane. That's not too bad for "a giant cordless drill with wheels." In the four-wheeled world, Dick Brown's White Zombie started life as a 1972 Datsun 1200. The undead automobile is now the world's quickest-accelerating street-legal electric car, covering the quarter mile in 11.46 seconds (the Corvette Z06 needs 11.8 seconds to cover the same distance). In terms of consumer aplications, the Zombie's quarter-mile driving range could be something of an issue.

Pundits who've called on Cadillac to return to its roots as purveyor of the world's finest full-size luxury sedans can now officially abandon all hope. Automotive News [sub] reports that Cadillac is trading its luxobarge image for the small, sporty, European thing. GM is killing the full-size STS, DTS (nee Deville) and SRX. In their stead, Caddy will develop a new, high performance BMW 5-Series competitor and roll-out a CTS wagon and coupe. Cadillac will also introduce two new models into the U.S.: a small, entry-level sedan, similar to (if not the same as) the Euro-spec BLS, and the BRX, an as-yet-undeveloped V6-powered cute-ute. Question: who's driving these nails into the brand's coffin? Both Mark LaNeve, GM's top marketing maven and former Cadillac brand manager, and Jim Taylor, Caddy's current jefe, have specifically decried downsizing the brand's products and moving it downmarket. Is this the work of The General's beancounter General Rick Wagoner? Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz? Anyway, that's it for our Cadillac dreams. We're done.

I test drove Nissan’s 2008 Altima Coupe 2.5 S on a sunny summer morning in Denton. Keen to clock the whip’s curb appeal, I stunted and flossed around the University of North Texas campus, stopping to pose (the car) in front of the school’s giant beetle larva-inspired fine arts auditorium. Blurry-eyed students of the Fast and the Furious generation yawned as they made their way to classes. And yet the Altima Coupe’s flying off dealer lots. Does that mean this car’s sex appeal is designed for people who like to wear sensible shoes? Uh-huh. 

As previously reported, Chrysler's new task masters are getting tough in their efforts to cull the automaker's 3700 member U.S. dealer network. After excluding under-performing Chrysler stores from the company's dealer-only used car auctions, Sales Suit Steven Landry has sent 173 dealers formal notification that they have to increase sales in six months or else (i.e. lose their franchise). Hang on. That's not it. "We're not going after any dealers to get rid of them," Steven Landry told The Detroit Free Press. "The notes that we sent out say that you are under-performing by a very high degree compared to other dealers in your market, and we'd like them to improve their performance." The question is: how? Surely providing dealers with vehicles people want to buy is the best way to improve their performance. Surely putting so much pressure on the dealers that they cut corners, screw customers and sully Chrysler's name for decades to come is the worst possible solution. Oh wait. Private equity firms don't think long term. Right. Carry on.  

The battle to shape the urban landscape continues, with plenty of planners considering cars machina non gratis. Despite the automotive demonization, some cities have realized that pedestrianization sacrifices commerce on the altar of political correctness. Providence, Rhode Island and other urban centers have learned that lesson the hard way. Add St. Albans, West Virginia to the list. The Sunday Gazette-Mail reports that the town is about to re-open the pedestrianized city center to four-wheeled travelers, hoping to recapture lost biz from the suburban malls. The move is in sync with former New York City urban planner Alexander Garvin theories, as found in The American City, What Works, What Doesn't. "Well-conceived, privately managed shopping centers manipulate the flow of customers from their point of arrival to their destinations. For the most part, cities are unable to do this because they neither own the properties that abut the public streets nor determine who will lease them. In short, "pedestrianization cannot attract a market where none exists." 

We repeat: the Toyota Prius is the official car of the intellectually superior. According to InsideBayArea.com, after trailing Camry, Corolla, Accord, and Civic in Santa Clara County in California's Silicon Valley last year, Prius has outsold all four through May of this year. Ron Diridon, executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University and himself a Prius militant owner, shows no lack of hubris in his assessment of the situation: "The intellectual capacity within Silicon Valley is amazing. That higher level of education reflects a higher level of understanding of the terrible consequences of global warming." Intellectual superiority aside, the free pass to the carpool lane that was available for Prius drivers, the outrageous price of gas in California and the fact you can now buy a Prius for less than sticker had a bit to do with it as well.

SG Gate columnist Arrol Gellner reckons as goeth San Francisco, so goeth America. Opposing the Vietnam War, spearheading ecological concerns, mandating energy-efficient buildings, banning smoking in public places, demanding equal access for the disabled and now, hybrid vehicles. Where would the United States be without "Berkeley radical thinking?" Gellner's self-congratulatory diatribe claims the large number of hybrids humming about Berkley signal "the beginning of the end for conventional internal-combustion-powered vehicles." Ignoring Ford and Chrysler entirely, Gellner says Detroit missed this boat "thanks to the monumental stupidity, shortsightedness and greed of General Motors executives, who preferred to wallow in the lucrative SUV trough while foreign competitors did their homework. Maybe those GM folks should've gotten out of the boardroom now and then, and taken a drive around Berkeley." Bong optional?

Canada's Report on Business had a good old chin wag with Steven Landry. Chryslerberus' Canadian-born and educated executive vice-president NAFTA sales, global marketing service and parts is charged with reigniting the market for the automaker's new, Canadian-built minivan. According to Landry, Swivel 'N Go seating is the key. "It becomes a lifestyle type of vehicle versus a people transporter." The new minivans will also sport a dual TV system; second and third row sprogs can watch different satellite TV channels or DVDs– unless you're sitting in the second row facing the third row, in which case you can watch the third row watching the screen. Siriusly. If Chyslerberus was going down this path, why doesn't their van have a bed or move the Caliberesque "chillzone" drinks cooler to the rear? In short, it looks like the van's success will ultimately depend on the aftermarket.