Eyebrows raised at reports that General Motors could hold on to its British subsidiary Vauxhall even if – or, more likely, when – its German counterpart Opel would leave the family. With the model ranges of the two European GM divisions intertwined, a Vauxhall without Opel would seem like an empty shell. New reports suggest, however, that instead of re-plastering Opels with the griffin badge, the British marque could instead continue operations under GM ownership by importing products made by GM Daewoo Auto & Technology.

The restructuring of Vauxhall would also likely call for greater cooperation with GM Daewoo's neighbor to the south, Holden, which otherwise stands to lose significant revenues from the disintegration of GM's global operations, with Vauxhall and Pontiac having accounted for nearly half the production of its VE Commodore, sold in the UK as the Vauxhall VXR8 and in the United States as the Pontiac G8. Holden, for its part, also recently replaced many of its Opel-based products with rebadged GM Daewoo models. In the likely absence of Opel, the General's assets in England, Australia and Korea would likely end up cooperating more closely. However with Daewoos already on the European market as Chevrolets, the realignment could effectively be the end of the bowtie in Europe.




[Source: Autocar]

In news that will doubtlessly result in a chorus of "We told you so" forehead-slaps from critics who noted the arrival of the Pontiac G3 with disdain, word is that General Motors has a bumper crop of the Korean-built subcompacts sitting on its lots.

How many? According to The Wall Street Journal, nearly a two-year supply at current sales rates. In the course of doing some research, writer Neal Boudette discovered that GM has 3,479 unsold G3 units clogging up its dealers and vacant lots. Combined with the knowledge that dealers sold just 141 units of the car in March (or one unit for every 19 of GM's 2,700 Pontiac stores), that means that GM has a supply of these Chevrolet Aveo5 twins that will last them 617 days, meaning that if the automaker stopped building new units, they would still have a supply that would last them until December 16, 2010.

In all fairness, the G3 just came to market in February, and it often takes some time for a new model to take hold. It could well be that GM is planning a big marketing push for the car, but we've seen no evidence of this thus far, and in these cash-strapped days, it would appear that the General probably has bigger-margin fish to fry.



[Source: The Wall Street Journal]

The folks over at Consumer Reports have ranked the Honda Fit Sport top among tested subcompact cars in their March 2009 issue. "We found the new Fit the most practical and enjoyable car in this month's group," says Consumers Union. The world's largest independent consumer product testing organization, who don't claim to be enthusiasts, ran the small Honda against the Suzuki SX4, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris, and Chevrolet Aveo.

Compared to the rest of the group, the Honda Fit Sport 5-speed was the quickest to 60 miles-per-hour (an asphalt-melting 9.2 seconds) and sipped the least amount of fuel during testing (a not too shabby 33 miles-per-gallon overall). The CU testers were pleased with the Honda's versatile and flexible interior, but not with its dismal headlights. Of the five, only the Fit and SX4 were recommended. The Yaris and Aveo scored too low in testing to make the cut, and the Renault-based Versa sedan has proven too unreliable. Better luck next year, guys. Official press release after the jump.


[Source: Consumer Reports via PR Newswire]

GM Daewoo has been forced to idle its plant in Bupyeong, South Korea due to strong-arm tactics by tire OEMs Hankook and Kumho. The Bupyeong plant produces the vehicle we know and ummm... tolerate as the Chevrolet Aveo, and possibly (unfortunately) soon as the Pontiac G3. Rather than pony up the 12% price increases that the tire suppliers want, GM wants a preliminary injunction to force them to end the supply cutoff. For their part, Hankook and Kumho cite higher raw materials costs for their increased monetary demands, even after ratcheting up prices by 5.5% in March. The work stoppage isn't expected to be protracted, so before long, we'll see these little carlets rolling off the line again. GM could always call the tiremakers' bluffs and switch suppliers. We're sure Goodyear or Bridgestone would be interested in talking.

[Source: The Car Blogger]

We might have suspected it'd eventually come to this. Chevy has started paying people to pay attention to its Aveo. Well, not exactly. In a unique piece of advertisement, Chevrolet erected a billboard in London with an image of an Aveo hatchback decorated in real one-pence pieces. It was certainly a clever ploy to grab the attention of the public and illustrate the 769,500 pence price of the car, but it didn't stand a chance against the prying fingers of passersby. In a mere 30 minutes, human vultures had picked the billboard clean of currency. Perhaps it's some kind of sad commentary on the nature of society, though it's kind of amusing to think that you could dig around for pocket change, and with a little determination, go buy an Aveo.

[Source: Carscoop]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Chevy Aveo

Consumer Reports isn't known for completely trashing cars in its reviews. In fact, the publication is more often criticized for going too easy on them and finding something to like in everything that passes through the CR garage. But dang if they didn't just tear apart the 2008 Chevy Aveo sedan, going so far as to say its big-bro Cobalt is an all-around better car and better deal for bargain shoppers. They cite Cobalt's comparable fuel economy, better handling, quieter more refined interior and, after discounts, better price.

The magazine calls the Aveo a "miserable little car" and, since they couldn't find the name "Aveo" anywhere in the car's interior, thinks GM might think so, too. CR says its readers certainly thought the Aveo was miserable, rating the hatchback and sedan variants at the very bottom of their classes.

Worse than the Cobalt? Ouch. We tested the 2007 model and gave it a resounding score of "eh." Any Aveo owners out there who want to defend their little Korean cars' reputation? Anyone?


[Source: Consumer Reports]

Click above for more high-res shots of the Chevy Aveo5

While the outward appearance of the Chevy Aveo5 could charitably be described as "polarizing", its recently announced pricing will likely polarize a few people, as well. Currently, the Aveo sedan and Aveo5 hatchback boast the lowest average transaction price in the United States of $12,258 according to J.D. Power and Associates, but the 2009 model might end that trend with a big price bump for the redesigned 2009 Aveo5. The new five-door Aveo5 hatchback comes in with a starting price of $12,120, which is $1,125 more than the 2008 Aveo5 that starts at just $10,895. This increase is partly due to the fact that the Special Value edition has been dropped. We should also note that the Aveo5 is redesigned for 2009 and features a number of upgrades, but the price bump will still be felt hard by those looking for the cheapest Point A-to-Point B transportation. The sedan version, meanwhile, now has the same $12,120 starting price as the Aveo5, which means its MSRP has actually been lowered compared to the 2008 model that starts at $12,830. Stepping up a notch to the LT model, meanwhile, will get you standard air conditioning and a $14,255 starting point.

Desirable safety features such as dual frontal and side-impact air bags, front safety belt pretensioners, a tire pressure monitoring system, oil life monitoring system and OnStar come standard on all Aveo models. Available on the up-market LT models are XM Radio, leatherette seating trim, steering wheel audio controls, a power-operated sunroof and power-adjustable and heated outside mirrors. Regardless of what you think of the Aveo's styling (we're not fans), its still relatively low price and decent fuel mileage of 27 mpg city and 34 mpg highway should yield a good chunk of buyers for GM's entry-level model.


[Source: Chevrolet]

UPDATE: Back by popular demand, direct download of the podcast has been added as a link below.

The biggest news of the past week: the suckfest that was the Knight Rider movie. Alex liveblogged it so that we didn't have to watch. Sure it was crap, but was it really that bad? The original was a clunker, too, remember. There's car stuff going on, too, and we move on to covering what's in our respective Autoblog Garages. Keep an eye out for some new reviews, and John has a podcast-exclusive announcement, too.

We spin off into a small car smackdown, postulate on who should buy Jaguar if Tata flips them, and boomerang back to our MINI vs. Aveo sales number deathmatch. In this week's installment of "Fords We Don't Get," there's a new Austrailian Falcon that is available in full-on sinister. It's badass in FPV trim, not available here, and Alan Mullaly wants one, too. One Ford we are getting is the Fiesta (Verve) and that's something to actually be excited about. That's about it, thanks to Adam Curry for the plug, it's 52 minutes of fun this week.

SUBSCRIBE to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes
ADD the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
DOWNLOAD to the show now

What a difference a day makes, or a few years at least. While many automakers were rushing to add premium models to their lineups just a few years ago, today the buzzword is affordability. Perhaps a ripple effect of high gas prices, or the green movement, or even the emerging third-world automotive markets, everybody seems to be thinking cheap. In response, BusinessWeek has compiled a list of super affordable vehicles that will be available over the next couple of years. The common factor here is that all will have an MSRP of less than $10,000. Some as low as $3,000!

Don't expect supercars or luxury rides at these bargain basement prices, but you might actually get more than you realize for your money. These are reasonable alternatives to eight-year-old Civics and Corollas, rather than the equivalent of modern-day Yugos. And the list isn't filled with just microcars, either. Sure, there are small cars aplenty, but the list includes sedans, SUVs and even a minivan.

BusinessWeek credits Renault with launching this new wave of cheap cars with its Logan sedan back in 2004. That initial sedan has proven popular and spawned a range of six different models. The cheap-car list includes names like GM, Hyundai, Chery, Dacia, Suzuki, Geely, Fiat and Tata. But new entries from Nissan, Fiat, VW, and Toyota are in the works, showing the increasing importance of this segment. Renault-Nissan has even announced it is planning to build a car for under $3,000, perhaps as low as $2,500 according to Chief Executive, Carlos Ghosn. He made the announcement at a plant-opening ceremony on April 4.

A brief description of each car follows the jump, but click the Read link to see a slideshow of the world's cheapest cars at BusinessWeek.

[Source: BusinessWeek]

Due to the popularity of small, fuel-sipping cars, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has smashed up some of the newest offerings. And, as if you needed further proof to get optional side air bags on your next car, the minimally-bagged Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, Scion xB and Toyota Yaris all got poor ratings while the Nissan Versa and Honda Fit, both with standard side airbags, and the Yaris with optional side bags, got top ratings in side crash testing

The Accent and Rio both come with standard air bags, but the tests showed significant driver injury was possible. Pity the xB owners who don't even have a choice of side air bags. The IIHS said that during testing, the xB's dummy's head actually struck the crash barrier. That's gotta hurt.

The IIHS also mangled a 2006 MINI Cooper and a Chevy Aveo with standard side bags. The MINI got an acceptable rating, while the Aveo scraped by with a marginal, just above poor.

Despite the Fit's remarkable side crash results, the Honda's front airbag didn't perform properly during the frontal crash. Honda says Fit owners can expect a recall to address the airbag's early-deployment.

For an IIHS summary of all the small cars tested, click here. For an IIHS summary video, go here.

[Source: The New York Times, The Associated Press via wcnc.com]