Turns out, Twitter is good for something after all.

TTAC loves to hear from its readers. Whether you want to give us feedback on the site, request advice about car repairs or purchasing decisions, or point us towards a promising story, we encourage our readers to drop us a line at our contact form. And remember, if you don’t write us, all we’ll get is offers for various drugs without prescription… and business opportunities that you’d only consider after taking too many “drugs without prescription.” Like this one…

How are you?

We are Oversea Market Development Dept. of China Chongqing Big Science & Technology(Group).Co,. Ltd. One of the professional Chinese Auto manufactures. Our products including (electric)mini Moke, (one or two cabin)pickup, SUV, car, (CNG)bus, truck, ATV, UTV, CNG tricycle and CNG motocycle. etc.(For more information, please visit www.chinacngbus.com). At present, we are searching for partners
with comparatively strong economic strength to establish simple auto assembly plants in Africa, the Middle East and Central America,as such developing countries.

Cooperation Method:
Turn Key Project for auto manufacturer in your local model.
Basic Conditions for A Real Cooperator:
Partners should own estimated non-fixed assets over 200,000 US Dollars and a workshop or land more than 2000 square meters.

Yes, you read correctly. For less than $200 I recently added a brand new Cadillac to my garage. The catch: it has only two wheels and I must supply the power myself.

There’s a slightly used 1977 Peugeot 504 on the market, and the last bid stood at one million $.

One owner only: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His car was put on an international auction this Saturday, Iranian state media reported as per the Business Recorder. According to Iran’s official IRNA news agency, the bid came from an Arab country.

Brooklyn residents, already riled by the city’s slow response to the Blizzard from Hell, have new reason for outrage. A city Sanitation Department tractor, while trying to tow a snowplow out of the snow, systematically demolished three cars on Joralemon Street in the course of four minutes.

What’s better than a Bentley 8-litre? A Bentley 8-litre with a 42 liter Packard V12 from a World War II-era torpedo boat, of course. [via The Telegraph]

…and this is Fiat’s. The Italian brand left the US market in 1982, but it has returned with a first ad that seems like it was made sometime in the late 1990s. It’s a good thing the 500 has been relatively well– received, because it isn’t cheap and it clearly doesn’t have a fraction of the MINI’s marketing mojo. Between this, the “my tank is full” Ram ads ( not to mention the entire first wave of “New Chrysler” ads), and the hallucinogenic Caravan spots, it seems like Chrysler’s Olivier Francois should be up for some kind of special award this year…

NHTSA Investigation Action Number AQ10001, opened November 18, 2010 notes:

The agency, particularly in recent months, has been informed of incidents involving allegations of personal injury and death claimed to have been caused by safety defects and failures to conform to minimum Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) on rental car vehicles for which a safety recall to remedy the safety defect or noncompliance had allegedly not been performed prior to the rental car company’s lease of the vehicle. NHTSA understands that there is presently a petition before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeking to prohibit at least one rental car company from renting vehicles on which safety recall campaign remedies remain outstanding. The purpose of this audit query (AQ) is to investigate recall remedy completion by rental car companies on the above-listed safety recall campaigns. These campaigns were chosen due to their inclusion of vehicles used in the rental market. This information is expected to provide the agency an indication of how completely and how quickly rental car fleets, in general or individually, perform necessary recall-related repairs or other remedies on the vehicles owned and then leased for use on the roadways.

But rental companies wouldn’t risk the safety of their customers for a buck would they? The Enterprise/Alamo/National syndicate tells Bloomberg it grounds cars upon receiving recalls… Hertz and Avis have yet to chime in. The weirdest part of it all: only vehicles made by GM, Ford and Chrysler are being investigated. Why are the Accents and Rios receiving recall repairs while Avengers and Malibus are left to be investigated for “failures to conform to minimum Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards”? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? A list of vehicles under investigation can be found below the fold.

You have to imagine that plenty of Lamborghini Gallardo owners have been hauled in front their local magistrate for daring to allow their Italian stallion to stretch its legs… but surely none of them were ever treated as well as Leone Antonino Magistro of Perth, Australia.

We’ve heard a lot of arguments on all sides of the bailout, but we had yet to hear anyone call for prolonged government ownership and involvement in General Motors… until now. What follows is a letter from Ralph Nader, former NHTSA boss Joan Claybrook, Center for Auto Safety honcho Clarence Ditlow and Public Citizen president Robert Weissman, urging the Obama administration to suspend GM’s IPO and take firmer control of the government-owned automaker’s decisions on a number of issues including lobbying, employment and the environment. Because, despite appearing to be stuck in the 70s, Nader and company have never heard of British Leyland. Taste the madness below.

Dear President Obama,

The U.S. government bailout of, and acquisition of a majority share in, General Motors was anexceptional action, taken in response to exceptional circumstances. The U.S. stake in GM obviously poses novel managerial challenges to the government. The appropriate response to those challenges, however, is not to run from the responsibility through passive ownership and premature sale at a loss to taxpayers.

Given Toyota’s dominance of the hybrid market, and its early skepticism about pure-electric vehicles, it’s safe to say that we didn’t expect this badge to show up anytime soon. But sure enough, Toyota’s new corporate EV badge will grace the firm’s RAV-4 EV concept, which debuts at this fall’s LA Auto Show. And it won’t be the most jarring image on that vehicle either…

Automotive News [sub] hasn’t received the memo that EVs need good news, badly. Instead, AN hammers the last nail into the electric vehicle’s coffin. If range anxiety, the lack of 220V outlets at your curbside parking spot, and high prices aren’t enough to keep you away from an electric car, how about “an Orwellian future where faceless international corporations track your every move. Drop by the bar after work, call in sick to go to the beach, visit your mistress’ house. The all-seeing eye of Big Brother knows where you’ve been.”

That’s what will happen when you drive an EV, says Automotive News [EN]. Your green friend will snitch on you. 24/7.

I’m going drifting. I’m going drifting dressed in the finest English brown velour ever to roll out of Dagenham, England. I’m going drifting in what this week’s Curbside Classic should have been, a 1983 Ford Sierra. And with that, I rejoin TTAC after a long hiatus due to our wonderful country sending me to various deserts to hunt for Osama bin Laden.

I have survived, although my Hilux did not after one ill-placed Taliban rocket sent shrapnel through the radiator. I also relish returning to write for one of the finest audiences I know, the Best and Brightest.

We’ve known that the Cadillac Escalade was America’s most-stolen vehicle, but we never asked why. The answer: GM didn’t put steering locks on a number of Escalade and other GMT9000 Ute model years, and shifters on these models are easily pushed out of “Park.” These weaknesses (and their ineffective fixes) allow thieves to push Tahoes, Denalis and Escalades to a safe spot where parts stripping can be done in a matter of minutes. And as the report details, Onstar is rarely effective at stopping quick snatch-and-strip-style thefts, because the damage is typically already done by the time vehicles are reported stolen. Hats off to WXYZ TV for looking past the statistics and finding the truth behind the Escaladae’s stealability. GM is reportedly working on a new steering column replacement for these vehicles.



Editor’s Note: On Monday, TTAC’s Martin Schwoerer wrote about a planned record-breaking non-stop run of 600 KMs, from Munich to Berlin, with a car that was equipped with a “revolutionary” electric battery system. Something smells funny, he said, and vowed to donate 100 Euros in case the drive was completed. Well, it was. So, how does it feel to have pie on your face?

How about Vegetarians Against the klan? Or maybe the Tugg Speedman Foundation? No, there are probably better organisations to give my money to. Guess I’ll ask the Best & Brightest…

Want a free car? Threaten to burn a Quran, the holy book of Muslims around the world. It also helps if you are a Christian pastor, and you threaten to do it on the anniversary of 9/11.

Everybody, please help me out here and look out of the window: Is the sun rising in the west? No? Are clocks running backwards? No? Then WTH is going on? NHTSA Chief David Strickland praised, yes praised automakers for their dispatch on recalls, and wait until you hear this: Strickland gave a gold star to Toyota for its improvements.

With sanctions piling up against Iran because of their nuclear ambitions, Iran is getting more and more isolated on the world stage. They need to assert their authority and let the world know they won’t be pushed around. And they may have found a way of doing it according to the Iranian Student’s News Agency (ISNA).

Got a BMW? A little short in the nookie dept? Longing back to the olden days when a car would get you the girl? Come to China!

China’s Global Times, the English writing sister publication of the rather staid party organ People’s Daily, reports that a 24-year-old lady from Shanghai is offering herself to any man for a month in exchange for the loan of a BMW for one week.

Watching people “Snap” is very funny (when I was at school in the UK they were called “cuss matches”). I learnt some very funny insults. Some insults were so funny, I’ve been banned from reproducing them on TTAC (Ed – We’re a family website!). But nothing lifts the spirits more than watching 2 people going head-to-head, armed with the sharpest, finest “Yo mamma…” insults. But what happens when that element comes to the automotive world? Well…

Even though the luxury car market in India is very small, the players are taking it seriously. So seriously, they’re trying to bitch slap each other. The Hindustan Times reports that Mercedes-Benz and BMW are “trading verbal volleys at each other at every opportunity.” 2 Germans hurling insults at each other in the middle of India? Did someone put a load of magic mushrooms on my pizza? Pee in your curry? Gee, in Germany something like that would get you a “cut it out now!” phone call from the VDA, the “Verband der Automobilhersteller” (formerly “Verband Deutscher Autobomilhersteller”). But in India?

The things we make, according to the Jeep Grand Cherokee “Manifesto,” make us. Which apparently means that the Grand Cherokee is an on-the-job drinker. Yes, despite an ad campaign that touts craftsmanship and American manufacturing prowess (not to mention the litany of “Detroit Reborn” hype), Jeep Grand Cherokee assembly workers at the Jefferson North plant were caught drinking and doobing on their lunch break. Clearly, these gentlemen appreciate Chrysler’s new-found dedication to quality, and are eager to create value for their union and taxpayer owners. Oy vey…

UPDATE: The Detroit News reports

The lunchtime habits of a small group of workers, which included a trip to a party store and then to a public park, were captured on video by WJBK-TV (Channel 2). WJBK was tipped off by concerned workers at the plant.

Chrysler executives are now using the video to identify the workers, a number of whom have already been suspended without pay.

Since TTAC is already “ noted for dissing its mainstream competitors for cosseting carmakers,” we might as well not try to resist temptation on this one… because Car And Driver may have just outdone themselves. It starts with the one of the best headlines in ages:

10Best Surprise: Plastics Make the Chevy Volt’s Interior Possible

Surprise? Where? But in spite of the painfully unambitious headline, what follows is a symphony of strange. The ultimate point of which appears to be that C&D is absolutely thrilled about GM’s decision to make the Volt’s interior out of plastic. Yes, really.

Now that Geely has bought Volvo, their founder and chairman Li Shufu is seeking a new challenge. He’s going virtual.

Geely plans to sell cars specially designed for Internet sales at Alibaba, China’s biggest online marketplace, reports state news agency Xinhua.

PSA Peugeot, and their joint venture with China’s Dongfeng, are planning to export cars made in China to Russia, said Gregoire Olivier, Peugeot-Citroen’s recently appointed head of Asian operations, to The Beijing News via Gasgoo.

PSA wants to sell cars made at the Chinese JV in other regions of Asia and Russia as early as next year, said Olivier. The only thing that’s keeping them from doing it right now is the lack of a logistics platform. But they are building that in Shanghai as we speak, and it should be up and running next year.

Because Olivier was recently appointed, he may have missed various memos, and will be forgiven. Here a quick update:

Sometimes we forget that Toyota Motor Corp. is a member of a huge keiretsu (conglomerate). Well, The Nikkei [sub] reminds us that a “Toyota Motor Corp. affiliated trading house will obtain artificially raised juvenile fish about 6cm long from the university’s fishery lab in Wakayama Prefecture.” Juvenile fish?

Automotive enthusiasm is a hugely diverse phenomenon, and for plenty of hobbyists, the smaller the car the better. The NY Times recently caught up with a few such microcar mavens at the Microcar/Minicar World Meet, and helped shed some light on the miniaturist automotive subculture. Sure, some might call driving a Goggomobile pickup the length of Route 66 without ever exceeding 30 MPH a bit…eccentric, but the passion that these microcar maniacs exude is undeniable.

The core hypocrisy of the UAW is that it claims to work on behalf of workers everywhere, while actually serving only the interests of its most senior members. And the cognitive dissonance produced by this grotesque contradiction can lead to some interesting challenges in the day-to-day life of the union, particularly in the design of parking lot signs designed to keep the competition out. The sign shown above and the sign shown in the post preceding this one show the UAW at its most honest: if it’s built by one of the Detroit Three, it’s OK. If it’s got a “foreign nameplate” it’s not. But this honesty also betrays the fact that the UAW simply wants everyone to support it’s employers, rather than lead a nationalistic or class-based crusade.

At most locals the signs are more simple and ideal-oriented, but they’re also completely misleading. For example, a Japanese-built Camry or Korean-built Elantra should be OK in a lot with a “Union Made Vehicle Parking Only” sign, and an American-built Camry or Sonata should be fine in a lot with a “No Foreign Cars Allowed” sign… but of course, neither scenario would be tolerated. While you’re pondering the deeply cynical self-delusion at play here, enjoy this hastily-assembled gallery of union parking lot signs.

Update: Picture 417 has been removed at the request of the photographer. The original photo can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mlavander/4034221120/#/

No, it’s not a Mel Gibson joke… Scientists at Edinburgh Napier University have developed a formula for making butanol biofuel out of byproducts of the Scottish whiskey industry, reports Sky News. Apparently researchers

combined so-called pot ale – the liquid from the copper stills distillery equipment – and the spent grains used to make whisky, also known as draff

to create Butanol, an ethanol-like biofuel. Unlike the corn juice, however, Butanol can run in any gas-powered engine and does not degrade components over time.

Yesterday, Cammy asked what could be the ugliest car. She said “currently on market,” but that limitation that was soon forgotten. Being a customer centric blog, we opened it up to the ugliest of all times. And who knows, ugly as they are, they still might be “on market,” looking for a buyer with a vision problem. Or a warped sense of humor. And with this, we present to you: TTAC’s Top Ugly Car Picks Pics. The Best and the Brightest pick the worst of the worst.

When the New York Times asked me to write an editorial about the Chevrolet Volt, it never occurred to me that it would be published on the day that Barack Obama toured Michigan’s auto plants touting the success of the auto bailout. Because of this timing, however, my piece was apparently taken as a partisan attack on the White House… and it touched a nerve. How do I know? Because, according to the Washington Examiner, on the Air Force One flight back to Washington D.C., White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs joined a proud tradition that dates back to at least my first year of kindergarten: he made a Niedermeyer-based funny.

“Did you guys ever see ‘Animal House?’ Right?” Gibbs asked reporters on Air Force One. “Remember when they go, ‘Neidermeyer dead?’ I’d say his argument is largely there.”

I always feel a little trepidation about abandoning the internet for a weekend in order to focus on a new car review (2011 Jetta, coming soon), but never in my most paranoid moments did I imagine that I’d come back to find the White House press secretary comparing me to the villain of Animal House.

Shanshan Du and Yu Qin of Troy, MI have been indicted on charges including conspiracy for allegedly stealing GM hybrid technology between 2003 and 2005. According to the Detroit News,

Du, who was hired at GM in 2000 and worked in the company’s Advance Technology Vehicle Group, copied thousands of pages of GM trade secrets onto a portable computer hard drive five days after accepting a buyout offer in 2005. The indictment alleges the theft of secrets dates back to 2003.

GM estimates the value of the stolen documents at $40 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The indictment charges that Du and Qin set up their own company in hopes of transferring technology to the Chinese automaker Chery, but that no technology ever made it to the Wuhu-based automaker. And though this is an obvious opportunity for a laugh at the expense of “Chinese R&D,” the real story here is just how stupid Du and Qin were for targeting The General’s hybrid technology between 2003 and 2005.

Like most modern corporations, car companies tend to be extremely opaque. Only rarely do non-insiders like us get a peek behind the PR curtains of a major automaker, and when we do, we have to wonder why we’re getting the show… and what are we looking at, anyway? Just such a moment has arrived, as a tipster has pointed us to coolsprings.com, where an interview with a Nissan consultant based at Nissan North America’s headquarters in Tennessee appears to be literally overflowing with the kinds of juicy scandals, corporate gossip, and inside baseball that we so rarely see in print. But can the self-described whistleblower Sharyn Bovat be trusted? Is Nissan-Renault’s upper management really locked in a global struggle for control of the company? Do Tennessee taxpayers really pay for Nissan executives’ spa treatments? Did Nissan really relocate a number of employees from California to Tennessee, only to try to fire them shortly thereafter? This is The Truth About Cars, so we’ll proceed with caution… but this story is just too juicy to ignore.

If you’re reading this article, that means Fuhrer Schmitt has figured out under what moniker this article should be filed under. As far as I’m concerned it should be a “Question Of The Day”, but it could easily slot into “WTF” and “Wild Arse Rumor Of The Day”. So, here we go…