Well, the global car business is not as trusted as the technology business, according to Edelman’s 2011 Trust Barometer study, but it’s now doing better than any other industry out there. Yes, really. Cars may have taken some lumps over the last several years, but thanks to improvements in auto industry trust in the US and China, it’s now beating everything from telecom to pharmaceuticals to food. Does the auto business deserve that trust? That’s a question for you to answer…

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Though I’m generally too much of a libertarian to be a huge fan of the work of the neo-prohibitionists at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, this in-car breathalyzing technology is definitely the kind of active-safety mandate I can get behind. After all, the social debate over the the effects of and responsibility for drunk driving has taken place, and despite heavy penalties against it, drunk driving still kills too many people. Unfortunately, since this technology won’t be usable for another ten years, we’re all going to have to live with the risk of drunk drivers for quite a bit longer… and by the time this hits the streets, you had better believe that distracted driving will be a far more relevant risk factor. After all, if the current state of debate over distracted driving were compared to the drunk driving debate, the automakers would still be arguing that in-car kegerators help keep the danger out of in-car drinking… and the government would be working to set voluntary safety standards for those kegerators.

The moral of the story: by the time we recognize societal safety problems as real problems, we are already halfway to solving them… and the final 50 percent of the problem can take years afterwords to solve.

Ever since it beat back expectations of bankruptcy, Ford’s stock has been on fire, pushing the Blue Oval to the highest market capitalization of the Detroit automakers. Then, on Friday, when Ford announced its best financial results in over a decade, investors mysteriously sent the stock tumbling, pushing GM’s market cap higher than Ford’s for the first time since its government-ordered restructuring. How did that happen? Even with the one-time expenses Ford blamed for its Q4 drop in earnings, analysts expected Ford was expected to earn $2.05 per share… and analysts punished the automaker for making only $1.91 per share before special items and $1.66 after same. Since markets re-opened today, Ford’s market cap has gone on to $55.39b while GM has dropped back down to $54.73b, suggesting that GM’s stock price has been corrected downwards relative to Ford’s disappointing financial performance. Still, despite greater European-market problems, GM’s strong Chinese-market position will keep The General hanging just behind Ford waiting for the upstart automaker to stumble again.

Auto makers forget at their own peril that competitors are also working on better cars, and that customer expectations are consequently a moving target. When developing a new car, you can’t just aim to be better than today’s leaders. Case in point: the Hyundai Elantra. The 2007-2010 Elantra was so forgettable that I never remembered [...]

With the UAW entering contract negotiations this year, all eyes are on Volkswagen’s discussion with its largest union IG Metall… and the signs coming from those European labor talks aren’t looking promising. Automotive News [sub] reports that VW has offered IG-represented workers a 2.9 percent pay raise over the next two years and a €300 one-time payment by June, but with VW raking in billions in profits this year, the workers aren’t biting. IG Metall chief negotiator Hartmut Meine tells Automotive News [sub]

The difference between demand and offer is much too big. The length of the deal has to be shorter and the proposed pay hike higher, before we can talk about a compromise

“The wage gap east of our domestic borders and new competitors from the Far East force us to be measured in all permanent increases in costs,” Schumm said, adding that VW already pays its workers 10 percent of the brand’s operating profits as a performance bonus.

Poor Ray LaHood. Having endured considerable embarrassment over his department’s handling of the Toyota Unintended Acceleration recall, all the Secretary of Transportation seems to want to do is talk about the “epidemic” of distracted driving. But, as TTAC has continually reminded, changing driver behaviors is a notoriously tricky task. The government’s choice: mandate intrusive measures like in-car cell phone blocking or continual surveillance of all vehicles, or go for voluntary “cures” that don’t even begin to address the underlying problem of increased driver distraction. And despite repeatedly referring to distracted driving in epidemiological terms, LaHood seems to prefer the “it’s actually your problem” approach, telling automakers [via AN [sub]]that NHTSA will

issue voluntary standards to handle the dangers of the connected car… in the third quarter of 2011.

Which means that nothing meaningful will ever actually be done about distracted driving. After all, the automakers contend that drivers will use cell phones in cars “no matter what,” and that in-car connectivity systems simply make the inevitable sin less dangerous. Of course, the evidence doesn’t seem to back up that position, as an IIHS survey shows no significant difference in safety after a hands-free cell phone ban. But, because the industry is under intense pressure to deliver profits from new connectivity systems, the logic that more systems will make drivers more likely to unsafely use phones in their cars is simply being ignored. And though the voluntary approach is better than intrusive government-mandated workarounds, is still nowhere close to living up to LaHood’s overblown rhetoric.

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Yes, there’s a place where you’ll see AMC Eagles on a regular basis; there are several parked on the street in my Denver neighborhood, and you see even more when you go into the mountains. Even the ahead-of-its-time Eagle can’t last forever, however, and this one has begun its journey back to the steel mill. (Read More…)

Can Saab overcome a miserable couple of years that saw global sales plummet as the Swedish brand was kicked out of the GM kingdom? If so, you will be seeing lots of this, the first US-market ad from Saab since the brand’s sale to Spyker was completed. Meanwhile, with Volvo in rebuilding mode as well, seeking to maximize its marketing spend per vehicle, America had better get used to the Swedish turnaround storyline. And, for the sake of these two marginal brands, consumers had better respond to their heritage-heavy pitch.

Via Autocar come these first pictures of a long-rumored entry-level Maserati sedan testing in Europe with Quattroporte-based bodywork. The British buff book reports

Despite looking similar to the Quattroporte at first glance, the mule’s identity is given away by its shorter wheelbase, smaller front brakes and ill-fitting windscreen. The mule also sports just one exhaust pipe on each side at the rear, instead of the brace that appear out of the bumper on each side of its bigger brother.

The €55k Maserati sedan is said to be based on the platform used for Alfa’s 166 replacement, which is widely rumored to be the same Chrysler LX platform that currently underpins the 300 and Dodge Charger. However, because the LX platform’s wheelbase is only .6 inches shorter than the Quattroporte’s 120.6 inch measurement, it’s perhaps more likely that this BMW M5-fighter is based on the shorter LY variant, which has a 116 inch wheelbase. In any case, the global success of the Quattroporte makes this entry-level model of special interest… especially if Maserati can spin a Chrysler-based platform into sales gold.

TTAC Commentator jrominski writes:

Sajeev, re: New Or Used article a while ago on rust belt engineer relocated to Saltillo with $45k car allowance from first tier supplier employer to drive whatever he wants to drive for work.

Fast forward: 1 year in, he is handing in his employer’s used-up 1 year old V6 cayenne and taking a new GTI with the new engine next weekend. He drives hard, which is OK from destructive testing point of view. He asked for, and receives VW factory 17 wheels, unlike US public. They fit. (Cue old racing adage about brake size and wheel size)

His job prospects include offer to go to Mongolia – new plant there. Who knows what he’d drive there.

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