#BertelSchmitt

What do People’s Daily, the voice of China’s Communist Party, and Jalopnik have in common? More than you would imagine. Just as a for instance, both are masters of the fine art of pecksniffian outrage. Both are experts when it comes to condemning loose morals, as long as the condemnation can be illustrated with enough graphic, click-generating pictures that show said loose morals in practice. Sanctimonious click-whoring knows no boundaries, and it transcends ideologies: Gawker and CCCP, unite!

A few days ago, Peoples Daily ran an 11 high resolution picture gallery, ostensibly condemning the fact that

“in addition to taking off clothes, some commercial promotions have chosen a more disgusting way to attract public attention. From sexy dress to body painting, public’s moral bottom line has been challenged again and again.”

(Jalopnik, aware of its TL;NR clientele, would have said it with fewer words, and with at least as many pictures.)

“Struggling to match rivals’ scale and efficiency in smaller cars, as well as their success in China, Stuttgart-based Daimler has fallen further behind German peers BMW and Volkswagen,” reports Reuters. Alone by bringing outsourced SAP systems in-house, Daimler wants to save €150 million (nearly $200 million.)

With Volvo in Chinese hands, with a new Volvo plant in Chengdu “more or less completed,” and a second assembly plant in Daqing to come online in late 2014, there have been reports in Europe that Volvos may soon come from China instead from Sweden. Not true, Volvo’s production chief Lars Wrebo told Automobilwoche [sub]. However, “other markets” than Europe could get the Made-in-China Volvos.

Fiat might be looking for another Chinese joint venture partner to manufacture Jeeps, Fiat CEo Sergio Marchionne told Reuters. “In China we have a good partner, and we have the possibility to use a second one to develop Jeep,” Marchionne said.

Today we inaugurate a new series: As the Best & Brightest. Many sites dispense advice, and you know what they say about the free variety. At TTAC, we unleash the massive power of our readers and commenters to answer tough questions, for which there is no easy answer.

Today, John Lunbeck asks whether his brother-in-law (and by default John’s sister) should start a luxury car dealership.

John writes:

“My pretty savvy brother-in-law has the means and ambition to become a franchisee here in the US for some luxury makes. My question is, is that wise at this point?

I had no idea that today is National Donuts Day, would Jenna of Webershandwick.com (“Our passion, intelligence and commitment are essential ingredients in our clients’ success“) not have sent me a free link to a free donut video.

An attempt of Germany to water down CO2 targets, about to be imposed by the EU, explains why automakers are eager to build EVs despite a lack of an eager market. Germany proposes that so-called supercredits can be used to off-set the limits. “Unlimited supercredits could allow the manufacture of electric cars for which there is little or no demand, while allowing just as many polluting vehicles as before on to the roads,” campaigners against supercredits told Reuters.

Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne jumped, so to speak , into the flames erupting around the rebuffed Jeep recall. Says Reuters:

“Marchionne Friday reiterated Chrysler’s resistance to a recall of 2.7 million older-model Jeep vehicles, adding that the automaker is preparing to supply the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with information it had requested.”

Marchionne told Reuters:

After enduring what The Motor Report calls “a spiraling and damaging media campaign – run, in the main, by Fairfax media,” Volkswagen spoke up. According to Reuters, “Australian Managing Director John White told Australia’s Fairfax newspaper on Friday that VW “have issues” after car owners complained of transmission and engine failures causing loss of power, but did not order a general recall.”

MAN is now officially part of the Volkswagen empire. MAN stockholders approved a profit and loss transfer agreement that “ends MAN’s autonomy,” as Automobilwoche [sub] reports.

A bit kinkily, that agreement is called a “domination” agreement in Germany. It defines a corporate power exchange.

Nice car you’ve got here

After newly elected President Barack Obama slapped a punitive tariff on made-in-China tires, China looked for a good tit-for-tat and quickly found one: The US imported $1.8b worth of Chinese tires in 2009, while China imported $1.1b worth of US-built cars in 2008. A retaliatory tariff was slapped on Escalades et al. Now, the same is about to happen to BMWs and Benzes coming from Europe.

“China is considering imposing import duties on high-end European cars following complaints over subsidies that enable EU carmakers to sell in China at a loss,” Reuters reports. That, of course, is only half of the story. The EU slapped a punitive tariff on made-in-China solar modules, despite opposition from a majority of EU countries, most notably Germany. Not surprisingly, China fights back.

When there was labor unrest in South Africa, the UAW was quick to spend union dues for a long trip to the scenic South African locale, ostensibly to show their solidarity with South African union brothers who, coincidentally, fought against Mercedes and Volkswagen. Back home, the UAW pulled a whole packet of race cards. It headlines, a bit strenuously: “South Africans have more rights than workers in Mississippi.”

It would have been more a propos if the UAW would have flown to South Korea to show solidarity with workers who are about to go on strike against GM, the company, ooops, that is partially owned by the UAW.

Usually, automakers never mention the competition, especially when you are BMW and the competition is Porsche. Soon, the Porsche 911, according to BMW “the flag-bearer of the German sports car fraternity,” will celebrate its 50th birthday, and BMW has a special birthday greeting.

A free-maintenance program introduced earlier this year to get its full-size pickups moving was expanded across the entire 2014 line. For most 2014 vehicles, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC dealers will complete an oil and filter change, four-wheel tire rotation, and conduct a 27-point vehicle inspection based on what’s called for in the vehicle’s maintenance plan.

According to GM CEO Dan Akerson, this plan sells more cars:

Nissan and Mitsubishi today presented their jointly developed, but separately badged and marketed kei car to an amazingly large contingent of the Japanese press. TTAC readers are quite familiar with the car(s). They have watched the Nissan DAYZ and its Mitsubishi siblings, the eK Wagon and eK Custom on its first day of production at Mitsubishi’s plant in Mizushima, near Hiroshima, more than two weeks ago. Today, the car arrived in Tokyo.