A few years ago, when my mother was car shopping for entry luxury sedans, I suggested she "just get an Infiniti G35x." I've never been wild about the G – especially when laden with AWD – but it had more power than any competitors at the time, offered the AWD, the all-important luxury badge, and it was the best price in the class. I cannot count the number of time when I've seen in car forums somewhere, a debate or discussion in which the G35 plays the role of spoiler. "Why get a BMW 328i with only 230 horsepower when you could get an Infiniti G35 for the same price with 300+?" Replace BMW 328i with Mercedes C300, or Audi A4, or Lexus IS. That being said, they moved about 5600 G35 and G37s in June, compared to over 9000 BMW 3-Series sold in the US that month. Then again, the BMW 3-Series has a cult following going back 30 years. While the Infiniti G35 wears the legendary Skyline name in Japan, 99.9% of car shopping Americans don't know that. (Ken Watanabe, Japanese movie star and costar in The Last Samurai, is featured in the ad above). The bottom line is: Infiniti figured out how to get to the bargain breaking point. By that, I mean the position at which they offer the best value in the class, but not so much value that their car is no longer desirable.

Motown pundit Peter DeLorenzo frequently takes his hometown heroes to task for their insularity. It's more than a bit ironic; the self-styled Autoextremist steadfastly refuses to allow comments underneath his weekly rants. The columnist also backed out of simultaneous TTAC publication because he didn't want to respond to TTAC's Best and Brightest when they ripped his writing to shreds thoughtfully analyzed his insightful commentary. In e-pistle 454, DeLorenzo once again tries to play it both ways. On one hand, he validates the "perception gag" [sic]. You know; the deep psychological chasm between U.S. consumers' understanding of GM and Ford's products (ominously enough, Chrysler's been excluded) and the vehicles' "true" competitiveness with their transplanted rivals. Well, some of them. OK, the Chevy Mailbu. On the other hand, Sweet Pete eviscerates The Big 2.8 for their "indecision, non-decisions and monumentally bone-headed decisions." In sum, uber-mensch Bob Lutz and his pals tried hard to do/build the right thing. They got tripped-up by gas prices (in just three months!) and hamstrung by their handlers' stupidity. And who do you think you are criticizing Detroit, Jane you ignorant slut? Despite DeLorenzo's writing talent, it's clear the inside outsider is rhetorically conflicted. But at least DeLorenzo has doubts. Even now, deep into the last act of a Shakespearian tragedy, the same can not be said for the people who once paid his salary.