Ommm – ummmm

The first thing they drummed into me when I started as a copywriter for Volkswagen: “Never use superlatives. They only get you in trouble.” Now, Elon Musk is in trouble over who was first to fully pay back the government loan. 

Yesterday, Tesla wired $452 million to repay the remaining portion of its DOE loan with interest. The company told Reuters it is “the only American car company to have fully repaid the government.”

Chrysler fired back four hours later: “Not exactly, Tesla.”

Having repaid $7.6 billion in federal loans in 2011, Chrysler said today : “Tesla’s information is unmistakably incorrect.”

Musk went on Twitter and came back with a retort that will enrage red, white and blueblooded  Chrysler fans. He said Chrysler is no U.S. car company, it is a division of Fiat and besides, Chrysler never fully repaid its loans.

Says Reuters: “The U.S. government recouped about $11.2 billion of its funds. In 2011, Treasury said it is unlikely to fully recover $1.3 billion owed by Old Chrysler.”

All I can say: Stay away from superlatives. They only get you in trouble.

Those were the days, my friends: LaSorda, Wagoner, Mulally

Tom LaSorda,  formerly CEO of Chrysler and before that a key man at GM, will lose a lot of  money when Fisker goes down and/or bankrupt and/or is sold for pennies on the dollar. The man has a plan to recoup his losses: He started his own venture fund with racing and auto dealing magnate Roger Penske, as Reuters has it.

LaSorda left Chrysler after its 2009 bankruptcy. He later started a venture capital fund called Stage 2 Innovations with Manoj Bhargava of 5-Hour Energy drink fame. That deal brought LaSorda to Fisker. LaSorda invested in the startup, only to become CEO of Fisker, tasked with reorganizing the already teetering company. Six months later, LaSorda was out, and Tony Posawatz of Volt fame was in. That didn’t help either.

LaSorda’s new fund is called  IncWell LP, and it “will provide initial investments ranging from $50,000 and $250,000. IncWell has “strong interests” in the areas of clean energy, medical, healthcare, transportation and information applications,” says Reuters.

In the VC biz, initial investments of $50,000 to $250,000 are seen as bupkis and barely cover the lawyers’ fees for the stockholder memo. A typical angel investment in a small garage-type technology startup is a few millions. Venture capital funds can be a great business. As my friend, who runs such a fund, and who invested a few million in a company which we then gloriously ran into the ground liked to tell me: “Don’t worry, Bertel, if it goes wrong. Typically, one out of 15 goes right. And that brings in a lot of money.”

Also, the trick seems to be to find other people who invest into your fund. Then, you can’t lose at all.

A sad day for both Ford and Australia. The Blue Oval has officially announced an end to building cars in Australia, which Ford has done since the 1920s.

Both the Broadmeadows assembly plant and the Geelong engine plant will close in 2016, resulting in a loss of 1200 jobs. Declining sales of the Ford Falcon, and the expense of retooling Geelong to build engines that are complaint with Euro 5 emissions standards. Ford’s One Ford strategy, which seeks to eliminate regional specific models like the Falcon, also hastened the demise of Ford’s Australian manufacturing operations.

A rising Australian dollar has also been identified as a culprit, but Holden and Toyota are expected to continue their manufacturing operations in Australia despite this. Holden has even committed to a new generation of Commodore beyond the yet to be introduced VF – though it may not follow the traditional rear-drive Aussie sedan template, as smaller, more fuel-efficient cars have become popular in Australia.

Either way, Ford’s Australian operations have been on shaky ground for some time. Today is only a confirmation of what many thought was inevitable.

Ford has long been at the forefront of the currency debate, claiming currency manipulation when the yen went to levels that nearly killed the Japanese auto industry, and shouting “currency manipulation” now that the yen is back to normal levels. Now, Ford itself experiences the devastating effects of changing exchange rates:  Ford is shutting down all its manufacturing operations in Australia. The reason: A strong Australian dollar.  Says Reuters:

“Ford Motor Co  will shut its two Australian auto plants in October 2016, blaming a strong currency and costs that are hitting manufacturers just as the country looks for other sectors of its economy to cushion the end of a mining boom.”

According to the report, the closure of Ford’s  engine plant in Geelong and its vehicle assembly plant in Broadmeadows will cost 1,200 jobs. Ford  built 37,000 vehicles in Australia last year, and has been in the country since 1925.

“Our costs are double that of Europe and nearly four times Ford in Asia,” Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano told Reuters. “The business case simply did not stack up. Manufacturing is not viable for Ford in Australia.”

The Aussie has climbed from just over 60 cents in 2009 to above parity with the U.S. dollar, where it has been for more than two years. Currently, one AUD costs 97 cents.

A few weeks ago, Jac Nasser, the former head of Ford, warned that Australia’s car industry has passed the point of no return, and said it would die within the next few years.

I am sure that in this case, Ford would have been grateful for a little currency manipulation – or shall we call in central bank intervention – and would not have complained.  GM’s Holden said it will cut 500 jobs, citing damage from the high Australian dollar.

A report from Just-Auto suggests that the next Mazda2 will “use [a] downsized CX-5 platform”. While this is technically true, the headline is a bit misleading.

The platform used by the Mazda CX-5 is the same platform that underpins the Mazda6 as well as the upcoming Mazda3. Not only will Mazda be using it to underpin the Mazda2, but it looks like all of their future transverse, front-drive cars will adopt it. This is great news for anyone who likes to drive, as every vehicle so far that uses it is a superb car to drive.

This is also good news for Toyota. The next iteration of their Yaris is supposed to be built by Mazda using the Mazda2 platform at the company’s new Mexican factory. The Yaris is a bit of a dull drive to say the least, but if it really is sharing Mazda’s new scalable architecture, that should change things quite dramatically. The ability to amortize the costs of one architecture across multiple product lines should also be a huge help to Mazda. As Japan’s last “independent” auto maker, keeping its costs under control is crucial in an era of consolidation and shaky economic fundamentals.

Even as Canada’s manufacturing sector continues to dwindle, Ford is set to invest even further in its Canadian operations, putting together a new investment package for its Oakville assembly plant – provided the federal and Ontario governments can come up with the scratch.

Ford of Canada CEO Dianne Craig expressed optimism for Canada’s auto manufacturing sector, but within her remarks were subtle calls for enhanced government investment in the auto industry. Speaking at the Bloomberg Canada Economic Summit, Craig remarked

“We are optimistic despite the Canadian dollar where it is…So it’s between the business partners that we have, certainly the government, that will enable us to at least keep the footprint that we have today.“

Ford’s Oakville plant is expected to built the next generation Ford Edge, which will ride on the global CD4 platform used by the Ford Fusion. Ford and the Canadian government are said to be ironing out the details, but timing is tight for any deal, as production is scheduled to begin next June. Ford is said to be looking for $400 million from the Canadian government, which is notoriously reluctant to invest in the auto manufacturing sector compared to American and Mexican governments.

As one of the big dissenters from the battery-powered EV lovetrain, Hyundai is about to put its money on Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology. Starting in 2015, it intends to assemble up to 10,000 units of a fuel cell-powered version of the Tucson crossover at its plant in Ulsan, South Korea.

While EVs have grabbed a lot of media attention lately, fuel cells have made a slow comeback at manufacturers like Daimler, Volkswagen, Ford, Toyota and BMW. Even Renault-Nissan is in on it.

One Hyundai officially we spoke to gave a few reasons for the company’s decision to pursue hydrogen fuel cells rather than battery-powered EVs. According to him, hydrogen powertrains are easy to scale to nearly any vehicle size, whereas EV batteries “have a logarithmic function between range, performance  cost and vehicle size.” A battery with increased range is much heavier, costlier and takes longer to refuel. Fuel cells on the other hand, don’t have that problem, and take roughly 9-10 minutes to “refuel”, while range is typically around 400 miles.

Hyundai has also apparently reached a point where cost reduction and economies of scale are making fuel cells viable for the mass market. The next step will of course be the infrastructure  Their internal research shows that fueling stations need to be within 5 miles of one’s home to be viable, and the question of who will chip in to help build that network (government, private corporations or private-public partnerships) is still up in the air on a larger scale – but Hyundai and the U.S. government recently announced a partnership to help advance the network of hydrogen stations across America.

During the launch of the Ford Fiesta 1.0L Ecoboost, multiple outlets ran articles parroting Ford’s PR line about the lack of an automatic transmission. Apparently, Ford declined to offer an automatic or Powershift dual-clutch gearbox on the 3-cylinder Fiesta since a two-pedal option would run counter to the 1.0L’s stated mission of being both fun to drive and good on gas.

Not so, says a supplier source. According to them, there were plans to offer such a combination, but the combo was axed due to “customer expectations” not being met. What does that mean? The performance, ride and NVH characteristics were far below what was considered acceptable, and therefore the decision was made to offer the 3-cylinder with 3-pedals, and no fewer.

With 4-cylinder engines increasing their market share from 40 percent to 53 market share in just 5 years, Ford is forecasting even more growth for these engines in the years to come. The Blue Oval is betting that by 2020, 66 percent of cars will come with a 4-banger.

If Ford’s numbers sound on the high side, that’s because they are.  Four-cylinders have become more prevalent in recent years, making their way from compact cars to vehicles as large as the BMW 528i and the Ford Taurus. But for the forseeable future, they won’t be making their way into full-size trucks, which still account for 13 percent of all auto sales, will be sticking with V6 and V8 engines. Larger crossovers and body-on frame SUVs have also retained their V6 and V8 engines, as well as minivans.

Having invested so heavily in 4-cylinder engines, it’s natural that Ford would be so bullish on their future. But the engine downsizing trend also looks here to stay, and with so many boosted 4-cylinder engines replacing V6s in various products, their numbers may not be so unreasonable.

Detroit area teens looking for a summer job can now get a paid internship with GM, and will recieve education, training and service projects to carry out over the summer. Sure beats my prior summer jobs as a carnival barker (I’m not kidding).

According to the Wall Street Journal

The students will develop and implement service projects in the Detroit area under the guidance of 60 GM retirees and other volunteer employees. 

Potential service projects range from painting and cleanups at local parks, planting and tending a community garden, setting up food banks or meal programs. Students will also be taught such “life skills” career development, banking and finance, and health and safety.

Not to take away from what GM is doing (hey, maybe what’s good for GM is good for America after all) but I can’t help but think that this sort of program should be implemented in schools as well as by private corporations. A personal finance course on its own would be a tremendous benefit for young people.

This week, the idea of Brazil’s cars being “unsafe” due to inferior construction has been gaining a lot of currency on the blogosphere after the Associated Press published a report on this topic. Very few outlets have anyone posted in Brazil to do any deeper digging, but TTAC does. Unfortunately, our man Marcelo de Vasconcellos is currently in exams right now (good luck, Senhor!) and was unable to write up an article refuting these claims. Still, Marcelo took the time out to talk to TTAC about the problems behind the article.

The various articles floating around the web allege that Brazilian cars are doomed to be “unsafe” due to poor workmanship, excessive cost-cutting and poor grades of steel. Marcelo was able to speak to people at Fiat Brazil, as well as some engineering professors, and found out that the truth is that road fatalities are up, but not for the reasons people think they are.

A report by the Associated Press cites electricty savings on welding and shoddy workmanship as a key culprit behind the poor crash safety of Brazil’s cars

“If you save on electricity, you save on cost. One way to save electricity is either reducing the number of spot welds or using less energy for each spot weld made. This affects structural performance in the event of a crash.”

Marcelo asserts that since most of the cars sold in Brazil are unibody subcompacts, this argument holds little weight. Welds are done via robot, and the process is highly standardized, with little variation. Furthermore, many Brazilian made cars are exported. Fiats are sent back to Italy, while Volkswagens are exported to Argentina, the Middle East, Russia and other locations. Any cars sold in Europe must meet strict Euro NCAP standards, and the European magazines publish the results in great detail.

Brazilian steel is also blamed due to its apparently poor quality. Marcelo asserts this is false as well. Brazil’s iron ore is a sought after commodity on the world market as well (especially in places like Australia and Brazil), and Brazil is home to ValeInco, one of the world’s leading steel producers. This is far from the Eastern European sheetmetal that was notorious for causing Fiats to rust within minutes of coming into contact with road salt. We are dealing with a globally marketed commodity that must be competitive.

Marcelo instead places the blame on the increasing number of cars on the road, piloted by first-time drivers on poorly maintained road infastructure

The professor [Marcelo's friend who is an engineering professor] also commented that while the article showed an increase of 70% in fatalities (I think that’s what the article said, I have not read it) it did not say that the market has grown more than 150% over the last 15 years. Many, many of these buyers are first time drivers. Due to credit, many people don’t have the money to buy a used car (still more expensive here than in America) but they do have credit to buy said car in 60 months.

So, first time buyer, many times the first car in the family, many times young people, a disaster is waiting to happen. The other ingredient is of course the government. Badly maintained roads, almost no police presence on streets – an over-reliance on radars, just recently a crack down on drunk driving (the limit in Brazil is now 0, yes zero), lack of signs, roads designed and engineered and built in the 60s. Plus traffic conditions lots and lots of very old, decrepit really, buses and trucks…

Of course small cars are involved in more accidents. 70% of the market in Brazil is Palio, Uno, Gol, Fox, Celta, Classic, Sandero, Logan, 208, Ka, Fiesta and derivatives. All considered subcompacts in America. Of course they are in the majority of accidents. Of course most people get killed or maimed in them. A Gol sells 30k a month, a Corolla is lucky to get 3k…

As far as crash testing goes, Marcelo admits that Brazil does have a long way to go with both crash testing standards and mandatory safety features, but notes that the country is improving.

For you to have an idea, a Renault Sandero recently crash tested did better than a Chinese JAC 3. Detail: the Sandero was not equipped with airbags or ABS and the JAC was. Brazilian built Corollas got the same results as American Corollas. Now, airbags and ABS become mandatory next year. Look for Brazilian cars to then get the same results as their first world brethren. Take an American Fusion, strip it of its airbags and it’ll get the same 1, 2 or 3 stars Brazilian cars have been getting in such tests.

Brazilian cars are sort of middle of the road. They are not deathtraps but they are not first world because they don’t have lots of active safety systems. But they do have a lot of passive systems, collapsible steering wheel columns, collapsible brake peddles, fuel cut off systems in case of accidents, crumple zones, 3 point seat belts, they are all there.

While it would be irresponsible to ignore the AP’s report out of hand, it’s worth highlighting some of the non-car related factors in Marcelo’s interview. The lack of any drunk driving regulations, the substantial amount of inexperienced drivers on poorly maintained roads with scant traffic laws and the lack of any real enforcement of the rules of the road is clearly a recipe for disaster. Whether these locally-built subcompacts are in fact death traps is another debate that I’m not comfortable wading into.

One point that nobody has raised yet is the obscene prices that Brazilian consumers pay for cars. Often times they are 2-3 times more expensive than in America. Brazilian consumers could potentially be driving inferior cars and paying through the nose for them.

GM stockholders, especially the large stockholder in Washington, DC, have reason to rejoice: Today, GM shares “topped their 2010 initial public offering price, which will help the automaker’s largest shareholder, the U.S. Treasury, pare its losses,” Reuters says.

The price in the November 2010 IPO was $33.00. Today, the stock rose as high as $33.58 in morning trading.

According to Reuters, “the run-up in the stock price could help Treasury, which provided GM with a $49.5 billion bailout, trim losses that will likely still total billions of dollars. Treasury said earlier this month that it would begin another round of sales of its 241.7 million GM shares.”

Executives at GM told Reuters “that putting this issue behind them will improve the company’s image and boost sales, as they believe some consumers have held the bailout against the company.” For a current GM quote, click here.

Car and Driver scribe (and TTAC alum) Justin Berkowitz has penned an amazing feature about the U.S. Government’s campaign against grey market Land Rover Defenders.

According to Berkowitz, Defender enthusiasts have been trying to skirt the government’s 25 year exemption for imported cars by fudging the ages of Defenders from Europe and elsewhere. VIN plates are often tampered with on newer examples, being replaced with older VIN plates that make the Defenders eligible for importation. But as Berkowitz reports, the Department of Homeland Security has gotten wise to this tactic, and have even enlisted Land Rover to help them catch cheaters. Check it out at Car and Driver’s blog.

The Ford Fiesta looks to be picking up and moving from its current assembly locations in India and Mexico to a central location in Thailand when the next generation rolls around in 2016.

While other outlets are reporting the story as a rumor, TTAC has confirmed this news via an independent source. Since Fiesta’s main markets are Europe and Asia (as well as South America, which loves the ungainly 4-door sedan version), Thai sourcing is seen as the smart move to help bring costs down.

Moving the Fiesta from Mexico will also free up production capacity in a NAFTA country. Thailand does not have a free trade agreement with the United States or Canada.

If it weren’t for a Papal visit, Dr. Z may never have come to know Mercedes-Benz.

A brief article in Automotive News mentions M-B boss Dieter Zetsche’s first encounter with a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which ultimately led him to the company that he is now CEO of

During the launch of the new S class in Hamburg last night, Zetsche said what he remembers most from a pastoral visit that Pope Paul VI made to the area where he was living as a young man was the Mercedes that his holiness was being driven in.

Mercedes’ top-of-the-line model wasn’t known as the S class at that time, which didn’t matter to Zetsche. He said he knew right then and there that he had to figure out a way to someday get behind the wheel of a car like that, “without having to become pope.”

As far as Popes go, Paul VI is a fairly controversial figure for some Catholics. I always thought the faux-Idi Amin S-Class used for the Entebee raid was the world’s coolest S-Class but that’s just me.

Bad news on the subprime front, as credit rating agency Experian reports a rise in delinquencies and repossessions for auto loans in Q1 2013.

Melinda Zabritski offered a rather dubious explanation for the nearly 17 percent rise in repos (as well as the 1.3 percent uptick in 30 day delinquencies and 12.4 percent rise in 60-day delinquencies)

“Obviously, we never want to see a rise in delinquencies or repossessions, but when you compare the current findings with previous years, they are still lower than the recession-level rates…However, one thing most lenders will agree upon is that today’s subprime borrower is less delinquent than those in the past.”

Zero Hedge, reporting on the latest data from the Fed, is reporting a nearly 24 percent rise in delinquent balances year-over-year. Experian only expects things to get worse, stating

“As we continue to move forward, we should start to see more increases as some of the subprime loans coming onto the books begin to deteriorate.”

And still, financial institutions are happy to keep pumping out bad loans. The total dollar volume grew to $726 billion, up from $663 billion in Q1 2012. Banks increased their loan portfolios by $20 billion, finance companies by $18 billion, credit unions by $14 billion and captive finance arms by $12 billion, while but average charge-off amounts rose by 9.8% to $7,401 on each defaulted loan. But, as Experian kindly reminded us, “Charge-offs are still well below recession levels, however, as Q1 2009 average charge-offs were $10,126.”

That’s definitely reassuring news!

Beleaguered EV start-up Better Place faced yet another blow this week, as Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn declared that rapid-charging, not swappable batteries, will be the predominant charging technology for EVs.

Israeli business outlet Globes quotes Ghosn as saying

“When you look at the overall trends, we must conclude that replaceable batteries are no longer the main track for electric vehicles…The main trail is flat batteries in cars with charging. We believe that people want flexibility in the technology, and we can see that the demand is for rechargeable standard batteries.”

Ghosn stopped short of completely writing off Better Place and their battery-swap technology, but Ghosn made it clear that the focus would be elsewhere. Commercial fleets were one area where Ghosn identified potential demand for swappable batteries, due to a lack of downtime with charging the vehicles.

“There may be cases where people prefer replaceable batteries – as we have tried to include Israel and Denmark. Here we will continue to offer the Fluence with replaceable batteries. There may also be large companies, where they have a huge fleet of cars, and do not want to wait for charging. But it will not be the majority of the market, and going forward, our focus is on the charging technology, among other things look at our new Nissan Leaf.”

Increasingly efficient rapid-charging technology and a lack of demand for EVs has led to a downward spiral for Better Place’s fortunes. The company recently shuttered their American and Australian operations and gave founder Shai Agassi the boot.

Cadillac may be gunning too hard for Germany’s domain of rear-drive sports sedans, but one area where The Standard of the World won’t be gunning for them is in the volume race. GM CFO Dan Ammann told Automotive News that unlike BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, ”We’re not going to be in every single segment that they’re in”.

“In some ways, I think that not having the pressure to sell the last incremental car at whatever cost … is actually not a bad place to be right now. Continuing to move down price points, and microsegmentation of all of these little categories, all seems to be driven by a sort of volume-at-all-costs mentality,” Ammann said. “What that does long term for brand health I think remains to be seen.”

Now, it’s true that Cadillac is working with a different set of circumstances than the Germans. For one, its product and sales base is much smaller than globally-integrated German luxury marques. And frankly, Cadillac should expand a little if it wants to make a real run at Europe and China. A small crossover to compete against the Audi Q3 wouldn’t be a bad idea, along with a brand new Cadillac SRX.

On the other hand, I’m glad that Ammann feels no need to pursue this strategy of going for every last niche. In the long run, I think it will do some damage to luxury brands if they keep moving too down market, as their premium position will be diluted by making the brand too accessible. Europe is plagued by a declining car market, an aging population and a lost generation of young consumers. Their auto makers have to do something to make their products accessible to the next generation. Like Jaguar Land Rover, Cadillac isn’t as exposed to these problems as Europe’s auto makers. Their big markets (the United States and China, India and the UK for JLR) have both economics and demographics on their side. Refraining from the “volume or bust” mindset is a luxury they can afford to indulge in.

Carmaking is a cyclical business. In crisis times, it’s “we are all in this together.” When business improves, relations between automakers and their suppliers revert to the old arrogance, to hurry up, make more for less. It’s that time again.

A study conducted by Planning Perspectives Inc. shows that “recent improvements in rapport between automakers and their supply base stalled this year, with suppliers complaining about lack of communication, last-minute engineering changes and inconsistency in management.” This according to Reuters.

Automakers are pushing suppliers to increase production to meet higher-than-expected new vehicle demand, however, “Most of the suppliers are finding it very difficult to increase production to meet the needs of the OEMs,” PPI President John Henke told Reuters. “They haven’t forgotten what they went through, so they’re much more prudent, much more cautious than the OEMs.”

Following in the footsteps of Spanish bank Santander, GM Financial announced that it would enter the prime lending market in 2014.

SNL Financial, a subscription-only financial news service, reports that

General Motors Financial Co Inc officials said on a May 2 conference call that the company plans to launch a prime retail product in North America on a limited basis with an initial focus on General Motors dealers with which the captive finance company maintains a commercial lending relationship.

GM Financial, formerly AmeriCredit, was acquired by GM in 2010 to provide leasing and subprime financing options, alongside Ally Financial, which absorbed the former GMAC. While GM Financial claims that they don’t want to become the ”predominant” prime lender for GM dealers or “supplant the banks and other providers in this market,” CEO Daniel Berce said the move would help achieve “strong growth in our earning asset base over time.”

Given GM Financial’s portfolio, it’s not hard to see why Berce is eager to transition to prime lending and see some growth in its earning asset base. In 2012, 85 percent of GM Financial’s portfolio was subprime, while delinquencies grew by $200 million, to $933 million according to its latest SEC filing. Meanwhile, GM Financial’s prime customers are said to have default rates in line with the industry average. Small wonder that the firm is looking to capture more of these lenders and eliminate some risk from its subprime-heavy portfolio.

Subprime aside, the move into prime lending will help GM Financial transition into a full-fledged captive financing arm. In addition to offering lending services to consumers, GM Financial also offers commercial lending products for its dealers. SNL reports significant expansion in these areas for GM Financial

GM Financial’s lease originations for GM vehicles of $620 million in the first quarter marked a sharp increase from $384 million in the year-ago period; the captive is a full-spectrum lease provider for its parent company. GM Financial also reported $882.7 million of commercial finance receivables as of March 31, up from $560 million on Dec. 31, 2012. The company rolled out the commercial loan products in mid-April 2012.

With Chrysler forming their own captive arm with Santander and GM Financial’s expansion, Ally stands to be the biggest loser. According to SNL, their commercial floorplan financing business saw a 3 percent decline in Q1 2013 versus the same period last year, and both Santander and GM Financial will undoubtedly take a good bite out of Ally’s consumer lending business, which previously targeted Chrysler and GM buyers. Ally’s President, William Muir, was rather blunt in his assessment of the Chrysler situation, stating ”pure subvented business from Chrysler should go to zero pretty quick”.

Weaker than expected growth in the United States has led Carlos Ghosn to issue an even more ambitious goal; double Nissan’s sales by 2017.

Nissan North America sold 1,141,656 vehicles in the United States last year, with just over 1 million of those vehicles coming from the Nissan brand. To achieve Ghosn’s goal, Nissan will have to post 18 percent gains every year for the next four years.

Automotive News reports that some of the blame has been placed on production issues, while Nissan is also looking to boost efficiencies at the retail level to help increase sales. Nissan wants to double the number of unit sales per outlet by the end of fiscal year 2017, from 959. By comparison, Toyota sells 1,491 units per franchise while Honda sells 1,220. Adding dealers in the West, Midwest and Northeast is also a possibility.

To say that Nissan’s plan is aggressive is an understatement. When Volkswagen issued their call for 800,000 units in the United States, it set a target date nearly a decade into the future, and matched it with a strong product push targeted squarely at the tastes and budgets of U.S. consumers. While there’s still another 5 years to go, Volkswagen is already at 438,133 units in the U.S. as of last year.

With Europe in the toilet and Japan and China looking shaky, America is one side of Ghosn’s magic coin (the other being low cost cars), since it’s a locale where auto sales are not in freefall. Ghosn’s pursuit of marketshare for Nissan is reflected in the newest round of products, like the Versa, Sentra, Pathfinder and Altima, which emphasize comfort, interior space and value. In this context, their decision to slash prices to make their cars more competitive in online comparisons makes sense. With such a short timeframe and such a far-fetched target, every little bit will help move Nissan across the board.

Despite sales of the Fiat 500 picking up, Fiat dealers are getting antsy for new product, with some showrooms struggling to turn a profit based on sales of the subcompact alone.

Reuters reports that dealers have been given the runaround about future product – including everyone’s favorite phantom marque, Alfa Romeo. Fiat has twice postponed a meeting to discuss these matters, and no future date has been set.

But dealers are feeling the stress of having to market a small, subcompact car in a market that has traditionally been less than receptive to these products. Gary Brown, chairman of the Chrysler dealer council and the owner of a Fiat store on Long Island, described his sentiments

“I’m struggling to break even…With the one car in a small (volume) segment, it’s a tough go right now. The real key is rolling out new product, additional offerings,” said Brown. “The four-door (500L) is really going to be a shot in the arm. It will put a franchise on more people’s radar as they are shopping for a small car.”

Fiat’s sales are up slightly in 2013, growing along with the rest of the market. The brand has managed to reach the milestone of 40,000 vehicles annually, something that took rival brand Mini twice as long. But the constant delays and backtracking around product, especially Alfa Romeo’s return to America beyond the pricey 4C sports car is an obvious source of frustration to a dealer body that has  committed to significant investment on the promise of a range of new cars from both Fiat and Alfa.

A little light reading for the weekend? Someone went and scanned a German language version of the all-new Mercedes-Benz S-Class brochure. Bertel’s preoccupied at Nissan right now, so other folks with knowledge of German will have to help with the translation.

“Self-driving sounds like it’s going to do something you don’t want it to do. Autopilot is a good thing to have in planes, and we should have it in cars.”

According to Elon Musk, what we have here is… failure to market effectively.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg News, the man whose divorce rated a story on Jalopnik offered his opinions on the future of self-driving cars. The most notable talking points? First, Musk likes the idea of camera-based systems more than he likes a Google-style LIDAR scanning system. In a world where camera lenses never get dirty, this should work perfectly. In the real world, one suspects that the owner of said car will have to intervene fairly often. Better not turn away from the road while you’re reading the tenth book in the “50 Shades” series, ladies.

But that’s okay, because Musk doesn’t like the idea of a “self-driving” car. Better to call it “autopilot”, as noted in the above quote. Here, he has a genuine point. The early self-driving cars will almost certainly be incapable of operating effectively in mixed conditions without frequent and occasionally immediate assistance from the tool behind the wheel. If you look at these systems as “autopilots” — that is, something you use like cruise control in limited situations while remaining at least partially aware of what’s happening — rather than “self-driving” — which implies you can take a nap on the way to work — it makes more sense.

The problem comes when autopilot-level cars have to co-exist with an ever more ridiculous set of rules on distracted driving. What will the owner of the “autopiloted” car be permitted to do? Will he be forced by law to look forward and simply watch the wheels go round and round, just in case something happens that the car can’t handle? Can you imagine being forced to watch a car drive itself from Indianapolis to St. Louis? We’ll need the Clockwork Orange eyelid-grabbers for that, methinks. Or maybe you should just stop thinking about it and participate in mass transit. The government would prefer that, and if there’s no mass transit where you live, that’s a clue that you should leave, right?

Bosch has introduced a home charging point for EVs that costs half as much as current competitors, which will no doubt be welcome news for current and prospective EV buyers.

Dubbed the PowerMax, the charger is said to be capable of 240V charging at half the time of the equivalent Level 2 chargers currently available on the market. The PowerMax comes in a 16 amp configuration with a 12 foot cord or a 30 amp version with a 25 foot cord. Bosch said that it was able to lower the price of their charger by eliminating the overly-long cords featured in many competitive units. Sales begin in June, and while a home evaluation is included in the price, installation is extra.