Variance

Chrysler earnings bolster DCX In sharp contrast to GM, Ford, automaker reports $3.3B for 2005. Christine Tierney and Josee Valcourt / The Detroit News Strong earnings at DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group and higher profits in its commercial vehicles unit propelled the company's 2005 earnings to $3.33 billion, the automaker said early Thursday.. In the quarter that ended Dec. 31, the carmaker said it earned $1.15 billion -- or $1.13-a-share. Revenue was up 10 percent to $49.9 billion from the same quarter of 2004. Officials said the yearly profit was up from $2.5 billion in 2004. Revenue rose 5 percent to $178.3 billion, meeting the firm's own forecast. Its fourth-quarter net profit nearly doubled to $1.1 million from just $526 million a year earlier. "DaimlerChrysler made significant progress in the year 2005, but our earnings are still not where we want them to be," said Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche. "We intend to grow profitably and to created added value over the long term -- for the benefit of our customers, employees and shareholders." In January, DaimlerChrysler said it will cut 20 percent of its worldwide administrative staff over the next three years, eliminating 6,000 jobs in a move to save about $1.2 billion a year. Most of the job cuts will be in Germany. The company said the downsizing will cost it about $2.4 billion between 2006 and 2008. The company also is reorganizing the management of its commercial vehicles division. Analysts estimated the Chrysler unit earned $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion in 2005. That is slightly less than its 2004 earnings of $1.9 billion, but the Auburn Hills automaker's results contrast favorably with the loss-making North American operations of its larger Detroit rivals, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. GM lost $5.6 billion last year in North America, while Ford's pre-tax loss in the region totaled $1.6 billion. Both automakers lost ground in the U.S. market and relied on profit-eroding incentives to boost demand for their vehicles, putting enormous pressure on Chrysler to offer discounts to sustain its sales. Chrysler is scheduled to announce profit-sharing payments to its hourly workers today. Last year, it paid out $1,500 each to factory workers after a return to profit in 2004 under CEO Dieter Zetsche. He took up his new job as DaimlerChrysler CEO on Jan. 1, succeeding Juergen Schrempp, and has headed the Mercedes Car Group since September. Analyst David Healy at Burnham Securities forecasts Chrysler's operating profit for 2005 at $1.8 billion, out of a total operating profit for the group expected to exceed $7 billion. Excluding nonrecurring items, "all their big segments are profitable," Healy said. For the first nine months of the year, Chrysler contributed $1.3 billion in operating profit, while the commercial vehicles division -- the world's largest manufacturer of trucks -- weighed in with $2.1 billion. For the first three quarters, Mercedes reported a loss of $610 million, reflecting big charges, in part to restructure its persistently unprofitable Smart minicar business. Zetsche is under pressure to stem the losses at the Smart business. Under the restructuring plan, Smart is not expected to break even until 2007. DaimlerChrysler also has retained brokerage firm Goldman Sachs to study partnership offers for Smart to cut its manufacturing costs. The company announced last month that a restructuring of the Mercedes luxury car business also was proceeding on track. It said Mercedes has achieved 60 percent of the job reductions it was seeking in Germany, with 5,000 employees having agreed to retire or leaving the company by the end of 2005. DaimlerChrysler is scrambling to boost Mercedes' profitability to the norm for luxury carmakers -- or between 6 percent and 8 percent of sales. Because of currency swings, DaimlerChrysler's results are likely to show a bigger improvement from 2004 levels when measured in euros than when translated into dollars. Link: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../602160380/1148

Auto cuts slam blacks African-Americans are hit the hardest as good-paying factory jobs fade away. Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News As American auto factory jobs have steadily moved south of Detroit into nonunion plants over the past 25 years, African-Americans have been hit hardest by the loss. Whites and Latinos also are losing ground, but the decline in stable, high-paying union work is far greater among blacks, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington-based think tank. The transition is chipping away at the middle-class lifestyle auto factory work has provided for generations of black families, many who left their native south years ago to pursue opportunity up north. "Union jobs in auto (plants) has been one of the most importance sources of well-paid employment for African-Americans since World War II," said John Schmitt, one of two economists behind the study. In 1979, 2.1 percent of all African-American workers in the United States were helping assemble cars and trucks. At the time, there was one nonunion auto plant operated by a foreign automaker in the United States. By 2004, when there were 27 foreign-owned plants in 11 states, the share of black workers assembling vehicles had fallen more than one-third to 1.3 percent, according to the study. That equates to a loss of about 120,000 jobs, given the current size of the work force. The shift helped pull down median weekly wages of all black workers 5 percent between 2000 and 2004, to $523, Schmitt said. By contrast, the percentage of the white work force laboring in auto assembly plants fell 0.2 percentage points, from 1.3 percent to 1.1 percent. The share of Hispanic workers dropped 0.2 points, to 0.6 percent. The pending layoffs of 60,000 auto workers by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. could widen that gap. "The upcoming layoffs (by Ford and General Motors) will have a disproportionate effect on African-American workers," Schmitt said, "as it has for quite some time." Big 3 toll grows The majority of auto plants shuttered during the past two decades were run by Detroit-based automakers -- GM, Ford and Chrysler, now a unit of DaimlerChrysler AG. Most of the facilities closed were in urban areas with large black populations, including Detroit, Pontiac, Flint and St. Louis, and workers were represented by the United Auto Workers union. Today, 28 plants run by foreign makers are mostly in rural areas, mainly in southern states, and none is represented by the UAW, despite several union attempts to establish a foothold. Racial diversity may not be a defining characteristic of their communities. In 1982, Honda Motor Co. began making Accords in Marysville, Ohio, where less than 5 percent of the population is black. At one point, a group of blacks sued Honda in a bid to force the automaker to hire more African-Americans. Toyota Motor Corp. is preparing to open an $800 million plant in San Antonio, where blacks represent 7 percent of the population. Foreign automakers say their work forces reflect the local population of factory towns. Many with plants in Alabama, often dubbed Detroit South, say that means plants have a large black work force. Hyundai Motor Co. recently opened a facility in Montgomery, Ala., and at least 50 percent of the workers are black, said Hyundai spokesman Kerry Christopher. At least 30 percent of workers are black at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and a Honda facility in Lincoln, Ala. At Nissan Motor Co.'s plant in Canton, Miss., the work force is 30 percent black, in line with the area's demographics. At Honda, the percentage of black workers at six facilities in west central Ohio far exceeds the local black population in surrounding counties, where less than 8 percent of the population is black, said spokesman Ed Miller. Toyota's eight U.S. manufacturing plants reflect the makeup of local communities, where the population is often less than 10 percent black. Mich. loses auto workers Overall, the number of U.S. workers building vehicles and auto parts has held steady at about 1 million for the past 15 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But more than 25 percent of U.S. auto workers are now employed by foreign automakers. At the same time, more than one-third of Michigan auto workers have lost their jobs. "I don't need a study to know that black auto workers have taken it on the chin more than other communities," said Sam Kirkland, who works at GM's Pontiac service parts operation facility. He also is shop chair of UAW Local 653 and active in supporting the link between blacks and unions. "You could walk into a plant and meet black families and you talked to so many proud parents who could afford to send their kids to college," Kirkland said, who is a 24-year veteran of GM. "It's less so the case now. Unions have been so pivotal in helping build a black middle class and, as you can see, without that representation we're losing ground." The intersection of civil rights and union membership is deep-seated in the black community. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached as early as 1958 that the path to black economic equality was through unions. But blacks are quickly dropping out of unions and the trend is accelerating. Since 2000, the number of blacks in all unions has fallen 14.4 percent, while white membership has dropped 5.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2004, the latest data, 167,000 blacks dropped out of unions, about 55 percent of the total loss in union rolls. Blacks represent about 15 percent of all union members. Since 2000, the UAW estimates it has lost some 20,000 members in Metro Detroit alone, many of them black, though the union couldn't give an exact percentage. The drop in black union membership has resulted in a widening gap among classes that affects minority communities more, economist Schmitt said. "Economic growth is much more unequal," he said. "The gap from the middle to the bottom and from the middle to the top is getting bigger. That disparity is going to hit African-Americans hard due to the decline of union membership and auto manufacturing. Those upcoming layoffs will have an impact." Link: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../602160402/1148

Small cars are back in action Japanese models to hit the market starting in March February 16, 2006 BY MATT NAUMAN KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS Forget Pinto, Vega and Gremlin. Get ready to learn Yaris, Fit and Versa. Not since the oil tensions of the 1970s have subcompact cars gotten such attention. The three big Japanese automakers will introduce new small cars this year, and the best-selling model, the Chevrolet Aveo, gets a redesign soon. Researcher J.D. Power and Associates expects sales of the smallest, cheapest cars to zoom 94% from 2005 to 2010 as new vehicles hit the market. "I think you can say they're back," said Mike Dawson, manager of global forecasting analysis at Power's Troy office. "During the '90s, it was SUVs. In the '80s, it was minivans. So people had moved away from the small cars. It's definitely, since the '70s, the most new small cars on the market." The most frequently mentioned reasons for the small-car boom are sustained higher gas prices and higher sticker prices for such popular compact models as the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. The Honda Fit promises fuel economy up to 38 m.p.g. in highway driving. Nissan says the Versa will get a combined 38 m.p.g. And Toyota said the Yaris with a manual transmission will be rated at 40 m.p.g. on the highway. Also, the popularity in recent years of higher-priced, but equally small models, such as the Scion xA and xB and BMW's Mini Cooper, has paved the way for the new wave of small autos. "There are 64 million Gen Y buyers coming into the marketplace," said Jim Lentz, Toyota's group vice president and general manager. "We know when they come to market to buy a vehicle, new or used, they will spend on average about $15,000." But the average compact sells for about $17,500, he said. "So you've got this hole underneath now that you can attract buyers with these $13,000 to $14,000 cars." Toyota's answer is the Yaris, which will replace the Echo. The 2007 Yaris will sell for $11,000 to $14,000 as a four-door sedan or three-door lift-back when it goes on sale in March. Toyota's Corolla sells for $14,000 to $18,000. A 2006 Honda Civic sells for $14,360 to $23,350. The 2007 Honda Fit goes on sale in April for $13,000 to $14,000. It is designed to appeal to empty-nesters looking for an affordable, maneuverable car as well as to younger buyers, said Christina Ra, a Honda product planning manager. "It will be their first new vehicle," Ra said. "They're kind of in the first stage of adulthood." Yet, they're not interested in the econoboxes of yore, she said. They expect standard features such as cruise control, power windows and mirrors and split and folding rear seats. Nissan will bring out its Versa as a five-door hatchback in July and then as a four-door sedan in December. The Versa will sell for $12,000 to $15,500. It will arrive shortly after Nissan updates its Sentra compact. Jed Connelly, Nissan North America's senior vice president of sales and marketing, said he expects Versa buyers will be young people getting a first new car and young families in search of a second car. "I like the fact we're coming to market the same time as the Fit and the Yaris," said Connelly. "I think that is going to help everybody expand that segment, create a lot of attention, and then it's going to come down to product." New subcompacts already are popular in Asia, Europe and South America, based on their better fuel economy and easy-to-park size. Honda said it has sold more than 1 million Fit -- or Jazz, as it's known in Europe and Australia -- models since 2001. The Nissan Versa is sold as the Tiida in Japan, while Toyota uses both Yaris and Vitz nameplates for its subcompact. While small cars are cheaper and more fuel-efficient, a government study released last week showed that compacts had the highest fatality rates per 100,000 vehicles, and subcompacts ranked third. Other challenges exist, too, for subcompact makers. "The struggle is going to be to get the American consumer to spend that $11,000 to $13,000 for this vs. going out and buying a 2-year-old Accord or a 1-year-old Corolla," said Mark McCready, director of pricing strategy and market analysis at carsdirect.com. He also questioned whether Americans would be "comfortable in a car of that size." The Honda Fit measures 157.1 inches, nearly 18 inches shorter than the Civic coupe and nearly 20 inches shorter than a Civic sedan. However, Honda says the Fit can be configured to carry a bicycle or a surfboard inside the vehicle. "The large interior adapts to people or cargo like no other car in its class," said John Mendel, senior vice president of American Honda. McCready pointed out that Japan's Big Three are introducing new small cars while the domestic Big Three are embracing crossover-utility vehicles. "You see two very different tactics, each betting that one is going to be the winner over the other," he said. Until the Fit, Yaris and Versa arrive, the subcompact segment includes such offerings as the Chevy Aveo ($9,305 to $13,050), the Hyundai Accent ($12,455 to $13,305) and the Kia Rio ($10,570 to $13,295). All are built in South Korea. The Aveo is the segment leader; its sales grew 20% in 2005 to about 68,000. Coming in the summer is a redesigned 2007 Aveo sedan with a new exterior and added features. McCready notes that recent subcompacts, such as the Toyota Echo, haven't been market successes. Toyota's Lentz said the Echo "was just not what younger people wanted to buy." But Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand has been a success. It went on sale, only in California, in 2003. Last year, as Scion expanded nationwide and added a third model, it sold more than 156,000 cars -- up 58% from 2004. Link: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.../602160561/1014

This list is for 2006 vehicles. The Yaris is a 2007.

Well, the CLK55 made 362hp. That makes for well over a 100hp leap. Mercedes is really going nuts with power. Personally, I'll take a modded GTO and keep the change for what the AMGs go for.

The 6.3 doesn't make the same power in every application. The CLS55 made 469hp. It seems like a decent bump in power to me. It's about the same jump the GTO took when it went from the LS1 to the LS2.

I believe so. The naturally aspirated 6.3L AMG engines are taking the place of the supercharged 5.5L V8s.

Probably because it would make the SL600 pointless and come too close to the SL65. The next generation will likely have an SL63.

Geneva World Debut: Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG and CLK63 AMG Date posted: 02-15-2006 STUTTGART — Mercedes-Benz said on Wednesday that the upcoming 76th Geneva International Motor Show will be the setting for the world debut of the high-performance CLS63 AMG and CLK63 AMG models. The company said it would also unveil the face-lifted SL-Class and its AMG versions, the SL55 AMG and SL65 AMG. For the new GL-Class, Geneva will host the international premiere of the GL320 CDI and GL420 CDI diesel models. The new CLS63 AMG, which Mercedes-Benz describes as a "four-door coupe," is powered by a 6.3-liter V8 AMG engine, which was developed entirely by Mercedes and AMG. The new 514-horsepower AMG power plant is mated to an AMG seven-speed transmission with automatic or manual-style shifting. The car sprints from zero to 62 mph in 4.5 seconds and has a governed top speed of 155 mph. The CLS63 AMG also has a new sport suspension. In the CLK63 AMG coupe and cabriolet models, the AMG 6.3-liter V8 engine produces 481 hp sent to the rear wheels via a seven-speed automatic transmission. The CLK models have the new AMG suspension and new 18-inch AMG alloy wheels. Mercedes-Benz said the GL420 CDI's new V8 diesel engine makes 306 hp. The GL320 CDI makes 224 hp. All engine versions of the GL are equipped with the seven-speed automatic, the company said. What this means to you: It's not likely that the diesel versions of the GL will show up in the U.S. — but who cares when the high-performance AMG models are on the way? Link: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=109328

I'm gonna take a stab and guess the reason is because this is a GM fan forum and Toyota is GM's biggest competitor. gmrebirth, I'm going to be as respectful as I possibly can... Look man, you've probably been told this several times by now but you've got to get it through your head that this is a GM forum. Now, could some members stand to be a little more open and less venomous towards competition? Probably. But the fact of the matter is, you can't come here and expect every member here to be as open-minded as you'd like them to be. Some people just plain don't like Toyota for whatever reason and that's ok. You can't expect every person have a rationale for what they feel and to be quite frank, they don't need to justify it to you or anyone else. Now, if you want to come here and contribute your point of view in a respectable manner, that's fine. If someone disagrees with you, discuss it without sarcasm and/or let it go. Getting snotty with other members is just going to make you look like a troll trying to disrupt the forum. We welcome other opinions critical of GM and respectfully defending the imports but not if you going to be whiny or an ass about it. If you can't accept any of this, the best thing for you to do may be to just leave. Thanks.

Just so you guys know: 2010MY = as early as 2009 calendar year.

I'm glad my dream car is already here...now, if I could only afford it.

Rideroom News: Ferrari 599 GTB Commercial Shoot

A nice, solid "thunk" is nice but it's not exactly a turn-off if the doors don't sound like a bank vault.

So now that the hybrid no longer offers a horsepower premium over the gas-only version are they going to pair the hybrid system with the 3.5L to regain it? (I guess there still is the torque in the 400h's favor...)

Hot Tahoe fuels GM optimism Sales of revamped Chevy SUV were up 50% in January despite slump in large-truck segment. Brett Clanton / The Detroit News When the lease on his old Chevy Tahoe expired, Michael Wujczyk toyed with going in another direction. Maybe something smaller. Maybe a different brand. But when he saw the 2007 Tahoe, he stopped looking. "They just made some great changes to the truck," said the 52-year-old door distributor from Farmington Hills, who leased one of the new SUVs last month. Such praise has helped GM get off to a good start with the redesigned Tahoe -- the nation's top-selling large SUV and a critical piece of the automaker's comeback strategy. Fueled by a rash of advertising, exposure at events such as the Olympics and auto show hype, Tahoe is turning in good numbers despite a softening market for large truck-like SUVs. Tahoe sales were up more than 50 percent in January. The 2007 model is fetching a higher average selling price than its predecessor. Even without rebates, the new SUVs are sitting on dealer lots for less than a week before customers snatch them up. "It seems like there's a lot of good initial buzz on this product," said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis at J.D. Power's Power Information Network. So far, so good. But a true verdict on the vehicle is probably still months away. Only on sale since Jan. 10, GM has booked just more than 4,000 sales and is still in the process of shipping Tahoes to dealers. Tahoe, Ford Expedition and other large SUVs bankrolled Detroit in the 1990s and were once the vehicle of choice for American families. But their popularity has waned in recent years with the rise of smaller, more fuel-efficient alternatives, uncertainty over gas prices and growing attention on the environment. For that reason, Wall Street has raised doubts about the wisdom of GM hitching comeback hopes on vehicles whose best days may be behind them. "(The launch of the large SUVs) is important," said Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy in a recent report, "but not a solution to GM's financial problems." Large SUV sales plummeted last year after Gulf Coast hurricanes drove gas prices above $3 per gallon. Predictions are that the category will level out around 700,000 vehicles a year -- a far cry from its 1 million-a-year peak a few years back. But while GM leaders acknowledge the segment has slipped, there is still plenty of life -- and profit -- left in the segment. They say they will use a new lineup of SUVs -- including Tahoe and updates of the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Suburban and GMC Yukon -- to expand their 62 percent market share of the category. The rollout of the Tahoe gives a flavor of how aggressive GM will be as it moves to strengthen its stance in large SUVs. "We are going to be unafraid to tell our story," said Ed Peper, general manager of Chevrolet. Anyone who has turned on a TV or opened a newspaper recently knows he's not kidding. GM has launched an all-out advertising assault for Tahoe, trumpeting its new convenience features, versatility and $33,990 base price, which is $2,000 less than the outgoing model. As a title sponsor of the Olympics, Chevrolet now is painting the airwaves -- and much of Torino, Italy -- with marketing messages, putting Tahoe at the center of the campaign. In a first, GM also shelled out to have a new Tahoe in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve and paid to make Tahoe the official vehicle of the Daytona 500 NASCAR race next weekend. GM does not publicly release its spending on advertising, but Brent Dewar, vice president of marketing for GM North America, said last week that the automaker's advertising budget this year will be roughly flat with 2005 despite more vehicle introductions. The automaker spent an estimated $1.3 billion on advertising last year. To silence critics who deride large SUVs for being rollover-prone gas hogs, GM introduced Tahoe with a raft of new safety equipment and improved fuel economy that rivals that of some midsize cars. And in recent weeks, GM summoned Chevy dealers for exhaustive training sessions to make sure retailers hit on all the right points when customers enter their showrooms. Don't big SUVs get bad gas mileage? Answer: The Tahoe gets more than 20 miles per gallon on average. Don't large SUVs tip over a lot? Answer: Not with a new anti-rollover system. If it happens, Tahoe has optional three-row head curtain airbags. And so on. "It was very grueling," said Kelly Livingston, inventory manager at Brasher Motors, a Chevy dealership in Weimar, Texas, who recently attended a six-hour workshop on the new Tahoe in San Antonio. "I got the feeling a lot is riding on this vehicle." GM is placing special emphasis on promoting the new Tahoe in Texas, which claims five of the vehicle's 10 best-selling markets. Playing up the fact that Tahoe is built at a plant in Arlington, Texas, GM has dotted roadways in the state with Lone Star flag-draped billboards reading "Made by Texans for Texans." More broadly, GM is dividing its marketing to target two groups: new customers who may not have considered a Tahoe and loyalists who may be feeling the pull to other vehicle categories. The Tahoe marketing touts its cleaner exterior design, new power-lift tailgate and a second-row seat that tumbles and folds at the push of a button. GM also equipped Tahoe with a 5.3-liter V-8 engine option that drops to four cylinders at cruising speeds to conserve gas. But so far, Wujczyk, the door distributor who traded for a new Tahoe, hasn't detected a big improvement in fuel economy over his old truck. "Right now, it's not getting the kind of mileage I expected," he said. "But we're still getting it broken in." Though big SUV sales are under pressure, it's hard to deny their place in the U.S. auto market, said Brian Chee, managing editor of Autobytel.com, a Web site that compiles auto-buying research. "A lot of people still need large SUVs, whether it's for towing or for passengers or cargo," he said. "It's a vehicle that isn't going to disappear just because of gas prices." The entry of updated GM vehicles into the category may even help it rebound a bit in 2006, J.D. Power's Libby said. "Will this help the whole segment? I think it will," he said. Last year, with its profits tumbling, GM decided to move up the release of its new large SUVs to help fuel a rebound of its North American auto business. Instead of arriving in the spring as scheduled, they began arriving in January. GM, which lost $8.6 billion in 2005, is eager to focus attention on 19 new models it is introducing this year. Big SUVs and pickups derived from GM's new full-size truck architecture, known internally as "GMT900," represent the biggest portion of that rollout -- and the best potential for improved profits. In other words, getting them right is a must. "I think everyone knows how important everything is for General Motors right now," said Steve Witcher, general sales manager at a Chevrolet dealership in Taylor. Given the anxious climate and speculation that GM could be forced into bankruptcy if it can't correct its cost problems and improve sales, Chevrolet's Peper said he is confident the Tahoe is the right vehicle to lead off the company's comeback. "This is a great vehicle," he said. "We're fighting back all the time, and I think America is rooting for us." Link: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../602150411/1148

margarita

Geneva Buzz: Dodge Resurrects Hornet Name for Its New B-Segment Concept Date posted: 02-15-2006 GENEVA — The new front-drive Dodge Hornet concept, a small car powered by a 1.6-liter OHC supercharged four-cylinder engine that cranks out 170 horsepower, is a preview of how the Detroit automaker plans to woo the European market as it expands its global reach. The car will make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show later this month. In a statement, Dodge describes the chunky-looking Hornet as a combination of "European sensibility" and "American flair." Chrysler spokesman Sam Locricchio told Inside Line that the Hornet is built on a "totally unique platform — not based on anything we have." He said the Hornet is as wide as a C-segment car such as the Dodge Caliber, but noted that the Hornet is not based on the Caliber. Locricchio said the Hornet's European reveal is significant because it "shows we're not bringing over a bunch of [Dodge Ram] Mega Cabs just because they are Dodge." The Hornet concept is characterized by a signature Dodge crossbar grille set above an exposed engine intercooler flanked by front brake air ducts and foglamps. A recessed scoop on the driver side funnels air to the engine air box. The Hornet is outfitted with 19-inch open-section aluminum wheels designed to show off its mechanicals, including gold-colored brake calipers. The B-pillar-less Hornet is said to be inspired "by the look of fashion sunglasses," Dodge said. All glass in the vehicle, including the sunroof, is rendered in a deep blue tint that contrasts with the car's Liquid Silver exterior. The 170-hp, supercharged, four-cylinder engine makes 165 pound-feet of torque and is mated to a six-speed manual transmission. Inside, the Hornet puts a premium on flexibility. Both the passenger front bucket seat and the three-passenger rear seats fold forward and collapse to the floor to provide a flat load bed. The rear seats flip rearward to stow in back, flush with the liftgate sill. The modular instrument panel is designed to accommodate both left- and right-hand drive. What this means to you: Dodge shows its hands with a spunky B-segment entry which is designed to play well in Europe as well as the States. Link: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=109320

Clark

Basically Acura claims the Lincoln "MKX" name is too close to their "MDX".

Basically driving like they're the gods of the road (speeding, tailgating, cutting others off, etc.).

Damn. When it rains, it pours, eh?

Look again. Nyscene911 and El Scorcho did.

German union: Another 1,000 jobs at risk at GM's Opel BERLIN -- General Motors Corp.'s Adam Opel AG unit could cut another 1,000 jobs in Europe because of slowing demand for its Astra compact, labor representatives said Tuesday. Rainer Einenkel, head of the works council at Opel's factory in Bochum, Germany, said the carmaker was considering axing one shift at one of three plants making the Astra. The shift could be cut at Bochum or at Opel plants in Antwerp, Belgium, or Ellesmere Port, Britain. "That is a very real danger," Einenkel said. Opel said it had no current plans to cut a shift but added it could "adjust production capacity to customer demand" in future as the latest Astra model ages. Capacity utilization at all three sites is currently "satisfactory," it said in a statement. Klaus Franz, the top labor representative at Opel, said talks on production levels were slated for April. He proposed easing production at several sites to avoid possible job cuts. Opel announced last year it would cut 9,500 jobs in Germany as its parent, GM, trims employment and costs in Europe. Link: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...427/1148/AUTO01

Nah, not murder. At most it'd be manslaughter, I'd think.