Ford Cars to Run on Laser Beams?

No, not that kind of Ford Laser...

I’ve decided that Ford should be the domestic automaker this country rallies around.

I mean really, it’s the only company that hasn’t gone bankrupt or been bailed out by the U.S. government. General Motors doesn’t appear to have changed its management style, and the old-timers at the company are still running the show. Chrysler might show some promise later, but its current lineup of vehicles is laughable. Plus, the company now has an Italian owner, which could present the question of whether or not it is a true “domestic” company.

Ford, though, is making genuine technological advances at a time when they are needed most.

...that kind!

How’s this for technology: Ford  engineers have found a way to replace spark plugs with lasers within two years. Yeah, a car powered by honest-to-God laser beams… is that the coolest thing in the world?

Laser ignition would reduce the amount of fuel needed and produce more stable combustion, so less fuel would be needed in each cylinder.

Our friends at Left Lane News said,

Not only does the system need less fuel, it also requires less electricity than normal spark plugs. Researchers say the laser’s pinprick beam fires more than 50 times in a fraction of a second to produce 3,000 rpm. The laser can also be reflected back to a receiver to provide information to the computer about fuel type, to help optimize the engine’s settings.

The new technology will probably show up first in high-end Ford products, but eventually become standard fare in even the company’s entry-level offerings.

If you had to buy a domestic automobile today, would you buy from Ford, GM, or Chrysler?

-tgriffith

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Nummi Is No More

A Pontiac Vibe rolls off the line at Nummi

Maybe you’ve never even heard of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. After all, it has kept a fairly quiet public profile since its 1984 debut.

I guess GM and Toyota didn’t want to make a huge deal about the two fierce competitors working together. But the Nummi plant in Fremont, California, has quietly built more than 6 million vehicles, including the current variations of the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Tacoma, and Pontiac Vibe.

The partnership gave Toyota a head start on the American market in the mid-’80s and gave GM an up-close view of Toyota’s efficient, lean production strategies. Guess who benefited most from that partnership!

At the time Nummi began, GM had a stronghold on the title of world’s number-one automaker. Toyota was just an upstart in America. In the years since, Toyota has nabbed the #1 title, while GM never implemented Toyota’s lean manufacturing strategy.

On Monday, GM finally said it was done.

Now the 4,700 employees at Nummi find themselves in an uncertain situation, as they wait for Toyota to decide what it will do with the plant. It’ll either be closed, converted to a Toyota-only plant, or use a substantially smaller amount of its capacity.

Since the plant uses UAW labor, I think Toyota should close it before the company gets saddled with union contracts. Toyota is smart, though, and knows the potential backlash for eliminating union jobs could include some really bad PR.

But a few months of bad PR would be better than years of binding and expensive union contracts. Nummi has served its purpose, and it’s time to move on.

Had you heard of Nummi before this news? Should Toyota keep the plant running or close it forever?

-tgriffith

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Ta-Da! GM Bondholders Relent

At least some of them did, and they’ve agreed to take the 10-percent stake the company offered, plus warrants (permitting them to buy stock at a low price) for up to 15 percent more. Some of the largest bondholders have now come on board, but the Treasury still needs acceptance from more of the unsecured creditors, who could otherwise tie up bankruptcy proceedings for years. These small investors are looking at big losses.

Altogether, GM has some 35 percent of its bondholders now agreeing to the deal. That’s not enough, so the death watch will continue, at least through Monday. Don’t, however, hold your breath, since bankruptcy is still the most likely outcome, which may take at least 60-90 days. However, last night’s deal might speed up the process.

In a not-so-favorable development, GM’s Opel-Vauxhall talks in Berlin hit the fan last night, with no agreement on a crucial bridge loan to keep GM-Europe going during the parent company’s presumed bankruptcy. Apparently, the GM and Treasury representatives may have torpedoed the working agreement by suddenly announcing the company needed $415 million more in short-term financing (beyond the $2.1 billion Berlin had offered).

Shocked, the Germans called this demand “bizarre” and “impertinent.”

Klaus Franz, head of Opel’s works council, echoed the accusations of amateurish strongarming: “The German government is right in not allowing General Motors to blackmail it. It demands from GM to either pay for the additional financing need[ed] or to give a guarantee to cover it. General Motors has to know that Europe is no casino for gamblers. It is solely for General Motors to bear the blame, as they wanted to make us a puppet in the poker game about their bankruptcy.”

The talks did reduce the number of potential partners to two, Fiat and Magna, and another meeting was scheduled for Friday. If that one also goes down the tubes, Opel will be headed for bankruptcy, some 25,000 Germans will lose their jobs, and there will be, you can bet, big political repercussions.

Do you think there’s a way to bring the remaining 65 percent of GM bondholders (or a good portion of them) on board? Should the government sweeten the deal?

—jgoods

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Obama Raises the Bar for Cleaner Cars

It’s quite amazing that the auto companies, after years of fighting the slightest move toward better CAFE and emissions standards, are now happily signing on to the much more stringent regs the President proposed today. Mr. Obama complimented the diverse group gathered in the White House Rose Garden for having “set aside the past for the sake of the future.”

So by 2016, automakers must meet a 35.5-mpg fleet average and institute a 30-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions, both first proposed by California and tabled by the Bush administration. The new rules bring in four years sooner the 40-percent cut mandated by 2020 and basically put the whole country on the California standard.

The occasion brought forth the kind of Washington conviviality that often masks painful truths. Consumers will have to pay an additional $1,300 per vehicle. Some $1.4 billion in R&D funds will be needed. Increased gas taxes may well be coming.

The carmakers say having one federal standard (not different ones set by individual states) apply will make their goal much easier to achieve. Baloney. The government is now the major industry stakeholder, the economy stinks, bankruptcy is imminent for GM and already a reality for Chrysler, sales are down 40 percent—and there’s no way they could have held on to the old standards.

Not everybody claims to be happy. One former GM employee in Florida thinks there is too much pressure on automakers.

“The government keeps moving the bar higher and higher and making it that much harder to be successful. If the government keeps changing the rules, I don’t know how they [the carmakers] can keep up.”

One dealer thought the challenge of the new standards could be met and was far preferable to having to conform to a multitude of state standards. But in the end we couldn’t find too many naysayers, and of course the environmentalists are thrilled.

They should be. This is a real step forward in producing more-efficient cars and a cleaner atmosphere, something we all want and need. For the moment, the Obama administration has gotten old enemies to shake hands and, we hope, finally get down to work on the future.

The President says a buyer will recoup the $1,300 cost of a cleaner, more-fuel-efficient car in three years’ time. That’s figured on $3.50 gas by 2016. Do you think these are reasonable assumptions?

—jgoods

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The 10 Best Used Car Deals!

Kiplinger.com has released its list of the 10 best used car deals available in 2009, and by the looks of it, they found some great deals available on some great cars. 

I can break their list into three categories: the obvious, the surprising, and the flat-out wrong. I won’t repeat the whole list here, but if you check out Kiplinger’s slide show you’ll see each car’s original MSRP, dealer retail pre-owned price, and certified price. Good stuff.

First, the obvious choices on their list:

Honda made the list with three different vehicles, the 2005 Civic, the 2007 Pilot and the 2006 Acura TL. Kiplinger got these spot on - you just can’t go wrong with a pre-owned Honda (unless of course you’re me… my 2002 CR-V was a lemon).

I also put the 2005 Toyota RAV4 on the list of obvious choices; it’s a nice little ute that should last forever! Not all of us want obvious choices, though - some of us want to stick out from the crowd a little and might opt for…

The surprising choices:

The 2006 Infiniti G35 sedan easily reached into the mid-$30s when it was new. Now you can pick up a certified pre-owned version for about $21K and have all the clout and performance that goes with it.

If it’s pure luxury you’re looking for, look at the 2005 Lexus LS 430. At $60,000 new, it’s out of reach for a lot of us… until now! You could snag one of these deluxe Lexuses for less than half the original cost. Can you say booyah?

Before I go into the flat-out-wrong category, I want to say that I love Ford. Their new Taurus is a game changer. The Fusion kicks butt. The Fiesta is cute and cool all in one. But the 2007 Ford Five Hundred really shouldn’t be on any best-of lists. Apparently Kiplinger felt otherwise. Yeah, it’s cheap now, but I’d recommend waiting for a certified pre-owned 2010 Taurus instead. 

Kiplinger’s choice to add the 2006 Pontiac Vibe falls into the same category. Instead, buy a 2006 Toyota Matrix for the simple reason that Toyota still exists.

What are some of the best used-car values you’ve seen lately?

-tgriffith

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Maxximus G-Force—World’s Fastest Car—for Sale: $3 Million

The story goes that David B. McMahan, a wealthy philanthropist from Indianapolis with an interesting past, was being chauffeured by a car freak named Marlon Kirby and they got to talking.

McMahan and Kirby (right)

“Building a record-breaking performance car is something I always dreamed of as a kid,” says David. Marlon: “Hey, I’m your guy. I’ve got a car tuning shop, and I used to wrestle competitively.”

Speed nuts have their own affinity. Anyhow, the Maxximus they created together is a glorified kit car that, thanks to Marlon’s ingenuity and David’s money, has claimed the title of world’s fastest street-legal car.

It is indeed an accomplishment, though you can question whether a one-off car that could in no way meet DOT crash tests or emissions standards is “street legal.”

Over the course of four years, Marlon was able to stuff a 1,600-bhp Chevy small-block V8 with twin turbos into the British Ultima, whose low volume and kit-car status enable it to be registered for street use. Add a three-speed sequential paddle-shift gearbox, six-piston calipers surrounding 14.2-inch discs, and a 2,700-pound frame, and you get 0-60 mph in 2.1 seconds (the Bugatti Veyron does it in 2.8), 0-100 in 4.5 seconds, and 0-100-0 in 8.9 seconds. The latter figure is particularly amazing.

Even though lots of bloggers are calling it ugly (one said it looks like a Porsche 911 with Down’s Syndrome), the G-Force is getting great PR, it’s all over the Web (photos and website here), and you can have it for your very own if you quickly call David and fork over $3 million for the only copy. Rumor is, though, that you’ll be competing with some Middle Eastern buyers - or at least that’s what he’s telling the press.

On the other hand, consider this: Tthe Ultima GTR, on which the Maxximus is based, goes almost as fast and is a veritable bargain compared. Again with the small-block V8, the factory GTR ran 0-60 in 2.6 seconds, 0-100 in 5.3 seconds, and 0-100-0 in 9.4. The Maxximus took more than twice the horsepower to do not that much better.

The complete GTR kit is around $89,000, plus drivetrain, so you could put one together for around $200,000. I don’t know if the factory is still offering pre-builts.

Have you ever built a kit car? How fast did it go?

—jgoods

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Like we didn’t know this already, but Europe is getting all the cool c ...

Like we didn’t know this already, but Europe is getting all the cool cars.

Here’s what surprised me though: They’re getting a lot of those cars from the Big 3 U.S. automakers.

Did they think we wouldn’t notice?

Well let me tell you, Big 3, the gig’s up!

Europe already has some pretty darn exclusive auto brands. Audi. Porsche. Mercedes. BMW. I took an odd pride in knowing we Americans had Ford, GM and Chrysler trying their hardest to provide us with top quality engineering and economy.

But no, friends, it’s not true. At least not anymore. Want a 63 MPG Ford economy car? Go to Europe. Want a 36 MPG Ford all-wheel-drive crossover? Go to Europe. How about a 32 MPG Chevy SUV? Yeah. Europe.

Umm… hello?  Anyone else find it horribly ironic and feel a bit deceived that our own automakers seem to be sending their cream of the crop across the pond, while we’re left with the 24 MPG Ford Flex?

It seems automakers are beginning to get the idea, evidenced by Ford’s plans to begin bringing popular European models to our side of the Atlantic. Even with those plans in place, we won’t have our first shot at them until at least 2010. 

Maybe it’s just time to hope that our Big 3 go belly-up, and make room for more of the world’s fun, economical automakers to enter America. Renault and Alfa Romeo, anyone?

As we wait to find out if and when that ever happens, here are some attempts to appease us Americans with a little taste of Europe:

The Saturn VUE is almost identical to an Opel Antara. Saturn’s Sky and Astra cars are also rebadged European Opels. 

Pontiac’s G3, essentially a Pontiac-badged Chevy Aveo, will be available in 2009 as either a 4-door sedan or a 5-door hatchback.

The European iteration of the Ford Fiesta is coming in 2010.

The Ford C-Max, a 5-seat Multi-Activity Vehicle based on the Focus, should arrive in 2011.

The Ford Kuga, likely to appear as a new Ford Escape, should be in showrooms in 2012.

Will these cars arrive in time? Or by the time they hit the market will we already have been introduced to more of Europe’s finest automobiles, following the path of the Mini Cooper and Smart Car?

No doubt the United States’ auto market is changing.

The question is, will our automakers respond fast enough to offer us their best?

Tell us: What European autos would you like to see available in the US?

- tgriffith

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