GM has been heavily advertising its bailout bait (a.k.a. Chevrolet Volt) since the concept car was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show on January 7, 2007. Strangely, I haven’t seen a single TV or print ad featuring the new, less chop-topped bodywork. Where was I? Oh yes… From a PR perspective, GM’s electric – gas “extended range EV” has been a singular success (literally). So it’s no surprise that a Canadian power company looking to greenwash its image is jumping into bed with The General to get a Jolt from their Volt™. Ontario Power’s press release reveals that they’ve launched a two-month ad campaign that “features a 30-second TV commerical showcasing the environmental benefits of plug-in electric vehicles. The TV ads are supplemented by print, billboard and internet advertising that feature the upcoming Chevy Volt Extended Range Electric Vehicle.” In case you were wondering, that’s an EV with a “range extending power source– a small gasoline engine– that will engage seamlessly to recharge its batteries.” Only, uh, it doesn’t. Anyway, look for this “let THEM pay for it” ad deal to be replicated at a power company near you. [thanks to emro for the link]

This morning, Bloomberg took a look at Renault’s epic implosion in the past year. Financially, the big French carmaker saw its stock nosedive 55% in the past twelve months. Sales are down, and Renault’s European market share has fallen from 9.7% in 2005 to 7.7% so far this year. And Renault’s traditional strong market segments (i.e. mini-minivans) have been taking a beating from other companies, including French rivals Peugeot and Citroen. To make matters worse, VW is about to come out with a new Golf three weeks before Renault releases its new Megane, and the Golf gets better fuel economy than the Megane across the board. Nissan – of which Renault owns 44% – is at huge risk in the US economy (goodbye Murano, Pathfinder, Xterra, Armada, QX56, FX35, and Quest sales). Oh, and Renault’s big hope for making their estimates for the year is a €160 million royalty payment from Russian manufacturer AvtoVaz for licensing the design of the supercheap Dacia Logan. And speaking of which, Renault is facing declining sales for the Dacia Logan as the global economy gets crappier and people in places like Eastern Europe and Latin America have less money to spend on a new car. With all this in mind, Ghosn – once considered Nissan’s savior – may have to step down from the CEO position at Nissan as a bargain with irate shareholders so that he can keep his Renault job. And you thought things were bad for Chrysler.

Jim Dollinger (a.k.a. Buickman) never met a windmill he couldn’t tilt at. Our kinda guy really. We’ve already chronicled the dealer’s battle with GMInside News (GMI). When the site’s administrators grew tired of Jim’s front line reporting and corporate criticism, they banned him from posting (later rescinded as a “technical problem”). The recently GMI-re-enabled Buickman has just informed us that he used his access to post Ken Elias’ General Motors Death Watch 201 over on the website’s forum (careful with that copyright, Jimbo). It was immediately deleted. We here at TTAC don’t mind fan boy sites, but just like the corporation it covers, GMI needs to step up and take it like a man.

It find it more than a little ironic that the animation on GM’s Volt media website offers an embed code that doesn’t work. Thankfully, GM is web enough to give the average car nerd access to its propaganda, so you can click on over and see what all the fuss is about (hit the little higher res button under the image). The cartoon in question– complete with the kind of background music you’d find at a Lebanese restaurant– clearly indicates the Volt will not recharge its batteries until its owner plugs it in. So, are we to assume that once Chevy’s hybrid depletes its battery to about 30 percent of charge, after a [maximum] of 40 miles (downhill, wind at your back), the Hail Mary’s 1.4-liter ICE mini-mill will sustain the generator sufficiently to maintain something other than really crap performance? Good luck with that.

China’s Build Your Dreams (BYD) is something of a dark horse in the hybrid/EV game. BYD has leveraged its status as a major manufacturer of NiCad and Li-Ion batteries to create what it calls a unique hybrid drivetrain, shown in a number of derivative concept vehicles, The system purports to offer a Prius-like parallel hybrid mode, a Volt-like serial hybrid mode AND an EV-only mode. Without independent verification, the firm has invited accusations of vapor-mongering. Automotive News [sub] reports that the thinking man’s billionaire Warren Buffet has cast aside such concerns and dropped $230m on a ten percent stake in BYD. “(BYD founder) Mr. Wang Chuanfu has an extraordinary managerial record, and we welcome the opportunity to work with him,” said Buffett in a statement announcing the purchase by MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a unit of his Berkshire Hathaway financial juggernaut. This development gives BYD exactly what it needs: legitimacy. Buffett is well known for investing purely on a firms business fundamentals; his vote of confidence lifts BYD from unknown quantity to potential, yes that word again, game-changer. Meanwhile my home town of Portland, Oregon has been reaching out to BYD in hopes of landing a local production deal. Hope rain doesn’t short-out these things…

TTAC has previously reported deep concerns about the GT-R’s ‘Ring recond. Australian Herald Sun automotive journalist Paul Gover reports that Porsche was sehr unglücklich with Nissan’s claims that its GT-R is faster around The Green Hell than Stuttgart’s mean machines. To test its suspicions, Porsche bought a GT-R in the U.S., flew it to the ‘Ring and ran its own back-to-back tests with the Japanese supercar. Porsche’s expert ‘Ring runner couldn’t get within 25 seconds of Nissan’s claimed record. Porsche also “discovered” that its 911 Turbo and GT2 were both faster around the legendary German circuit than the bonkers Nissan. “This [GT-R] wonder car with 7:29 could not have been a regular series production car,” proclaims August Achleitner, the 911 product chief for Porsche. “For us, it’s not clear how this time is possible. What we can imagine with this Nissan is they used other tyres.” Achleitner’s mob clocked the GT-R at 7 minutes 54 seconds; the 911 Turbo managed 7:38 and the GT2 lapped the track in 7:34. “The Nissan is a good car. I don’t want to make anything bad with my words,” he says. “It’s a very consistent car. But this car is about 20 kilos heavier than the Turbo… This technical puzzle now fits together.  With the other numbers we had problems to understand it.”

“The film ‘Flash of Genius’ chronicles the life story of Bob Kearns, who asserted that he invented the intermittent windshield wiper and sued Ford, Chrysler and other automakers for patent infringement. While films like ‘Flash of Genius’ are made for entertainment purposes, the facts are often less dramatic.

Bob Kearns as well as hundreds of engineers from many companies, including Ford, helped develop the intermittent wiper as part of an evolution of existing automotive and electronic components.

While there are inaccuracies in the film, Ford sees no value in re-hashing the history of a legal case that was resolved in court almost 20 years ago, when a jury ruled that Ford did not willfully violate Mr. Kearns’ patent.

Today, Ford continues to make engineering and design breakthroughs in areas such as fuel efficiency, safety and smart technology, and is proud of its 100-year legacy of innovation in automotive technology.”

Before Congress rejected the $700b Wall Street bailout bill, TTAC warned that its failure would send a spear through the heart of the domestic car industry. Unless Uncle Sam made good on The Big 2.8′s blizzard of bad paperand re-started the car loan snow machine, car buyers would crawl off into a deep, dark and cave and enter a period of extended hibernation (or something like that). And lo, it has come not to pass. The symbolic snow machine has become a plain old fan, with excrement heading towards it. “Absent intervention from Congress, the ability of manufacturers to finance motor vehicle sales may come to a halt,” affirms Chris Stinebert, president and CEO of the American Financial Services Association. (That’s the cash-dispensing machine trade group representing Detroit’s Big Three automakers’ finance arms, as well as major foreign auto finance companies.) The Democrat for Dearborn, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee John Dingell, also knows the score (F-R-E-E, that spells free): “If access to credit continues to dry up, the automobile financing companies will be unable to keep vehicles on dealership lots and help customers obtain financing.” And then what? TTAC’s Ken Elias has his take on the prospects, and the Street has theirs. After the bailout bill vote, GM’s stock price plummeted 12.8 percent to $8.50, its lowest closing price since June 1954. Ford stock fell 13.3 percent to $4.17, its lowest level since February 1986. Chrysler is privately held. For now.

When a company doesn’t have enough money to pay creditors what they’re owed, it’s considered insolvent. By this definition, GM is insolvent. The American automaker’s working capital stands at negative $20b. Cash outflow for the half year through June 30 remains negative, at over seven billion dollars. And it’s getting worse, as cash calls arrive on a regular– and irregular– basis. There’s no more credit to tap, and GM has few assets of meaningful value left to sell. Oh yeah, GM’s gonna file for bankruptcy. Then what?