Autoblog

General Motors has reintroduced the position of President and Chief Operating Officer with the naming of Fritz Henderson to the post by Rick Wagoner. Henderson's move up from Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer sees Ray Young moving from group VP of finance to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, filling the vacuum left by Henderson's departure. Group Vice President of Global Powertrain and Global Quality, Thomas G. Stephens, also makes the move to Executive Vice President. The new appointees will work closely with Rick Wagoner and product guy Bob Lutz to keep the GM ship on course.

Henderson will be drawing on his past experience in a variety of roles at GM. Regional presidents will report to Henderson, who will confer with Rick Wagoner. For now, it's about as exciting as watching a chess match, but GM's moving these people into their new roles with an eye on the company's trajectory out of the doldrums. The newly reinstated President and COO will be looked to as an integral part of the machinery that keeps pushing GM back from the brink.

[Source: Auto News - sub req]

This morning President Bush put pen to paper (no doubt one of those really cool American President pens) and signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, all 822 pages of it. As we all know by now, the pillar of the law is an increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to 35 mpg by 2020. The increases will be built up over time beginning with the 2011 model year, which really isn't that far away. The measures regarding CAFE also don't apply fleetwide as one single standard, but will be adjusted based on the type of car or truck being measured. Nevertheless, after decades of nary a budge in this country's CAFE standards, an increase of some 40% is monumental and will likely begin immediately affecting the cars and trucks we buy.

We mustn't forget the path fraught with peril that this bill took to reach the President's desk. After being passed by the House of Representatives thanks to a compromise between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the bill moved to the Senate where it was voted on twice and failed before a large $21.8 billion tax provision was removed. Until that point, the President had promised to veto the bill. Without the tax provision, however, the bill was finally passed by the Senate, and then reapproved by the House just yesterday.

In order to meet the standards, we expect automakers to begin producing more mild hybrids in the near future, with full-on parallel hybrids being at least an option on most vehicles after that. The use of modern clean-diesel engines will also proliferate, especially in light-duty half-ton trucks like the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado that would have trouble meeting their own CAFE targets with traditional V8 engines. Then there's more exotic technology, like the series hybrid system being developed by GM for the Chevy Volt. If successful, expect other automakers to very quickly follow suit with their own series hybrid drivetrains. There's lots of simple and more complex technologies on the table that automakers will utilize to increase their CAFE rating, and no doubt the cost of developing these systems will be passed on to the consumer to some degree, as well. Supporters of the bill, however, remind us that reducing our dependance on foreign oil is a very good thing, and in the end, we only get one Earth on which to live.

[Source: The Detroit News, Photo by Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty]

Wow, we're still reeling a bit from this morning's news that Chrysler hired off Toyota North America's top executive, Jim Press. He now shares the title of Vice Chairman and President with Tom LaSorda, and the two will report directly to Chrysler's new CEO, Bob Nardelli. While LaSorda will handle the "Supply" side of things (Manufacturing, Procurement and Supply, Employee Relations and Global Business Development and Alliances), Press will handle "Demand" (North American Sales, International Sales, Global Marketing, Product Strategy, and Service).

Press spent the last 37 years of his professional career at Toyota. What makes a man leave a company with that type of history? What makes a man leave a company like Toyota at the height of its success, and join an automaker that's about to begin yet another turnaround? We don't know, but we bet it's more than just the allure of a good challenge.

The real question is how the addition of Jim Press will affect Chrysler. Will his hire be an instant positive for the company, or will his presence be a distraction for the management team. Then there's the conspiracist theory angle. Perhaps Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe sent Press to Chrysler as a mole to learn why the Jeep Wrangler is so popular.

We're shooting from the hip this week for Podcast #71. Rather than prepare, we're going with gut reactions. Starting it off, we mull over the loss of the USGP from Indianapolis, and postulate on where else F1 may pop up in the US. An F1 race on the Vegas strip would be the bomb. Staying with motorsports, we marvel at how Team SARD spanked everyone extremely hard at Tokachi with a hybridized Supra GT. We're sure that racing will improve the hybrid breed at a much steeper pace than conventional powerplants. In other racing news, Dale Junior has split from Budweiser, so he'll have new livery to plaster all over his left-turn machine.

Moving on from racing, we ponder the leakage and eventual announcement of the Porsche 911 GT2. It's as unassuming as a Porsche can get, but it packs 530 horsepower and uses the rear wheels to push top speed to the 200 MPH realm, while being a docile everyday car. While Porsches always make us giddy little schoolboys, Subaru's recent model line revisions have us alternating between cheers and jeers. The good: the Legacy SUS, or whatever the heck they call their Outback sedan is kaput. The bad: so is the straight Legacy wagon. We devolve into a styling review of Subaru's new corporate language for a while before surfacing again to discuss the inanity surrounding presidential candidates and hybrid vehicles. Idiocy, 'nuff said.

On a lighter note, we discuss the rumored sequel to Disney/Pixar's "Cars." Not surprising when you consider how lucrative the tie-ins usually are. Off entertainment and on to entertaining cars, we ogle the leaked pictures of the FPV Falcon, and discuss the future plans of that platform here in the US. It does look mean, so thanks to that janitor who picked these renderings out of the trash. Our pithy cavalcade keeps rolling along, and we chew over Bob Lutz's latest comments about the future of diesel powerplants in the US. It's odd that Bob is cool on diesel just as GM is poised to roll out new oil-burners. Wrapping up, we put out the call to action again for the Reader Ride - add your pix to the Flickr pool and include details! The hour duration of Podcast #71 will give you enjoyment to and from work, enjoy!

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The JFK assassination was one of the most memorable moments in American history, and as of yesterday, a very large part of that history will be up for grabs on eBay. The 1964 Cadillac Miller & Meteor Hearse that carried President Kennedy's body was seen by of millions of people when JFK was driven to Love field, and now your neighbors can see it in your front yard. Included in the eBay auction is what is said to be the last known remaining original death certificate, which had errors that were later corrected and resulted in another certificate being issued. The hearse failed to sell in a May 5th auction, but bidding did go as high as $900,000.

We could see why an item like this would be a big draw at a museum or car show, but why an individual would want a hearse is beyond us. What's the selling point? "Hey, check out my hearse. Do you want to lay in the same spot as JFK's dead body?" Maybe we'd think differently if we had $1,000,000 to throw at a piece of Americana, but we don't.

[Source: eBay Motors via Sports Car Market]

Suzuki is on a roll, setting sales records, enjoying three years of double-digit sales growth, introducing the new SX4, and working on a larger and better model mix. Getting people in place before for the next phase really takes off, the company has announced that Masafumi (Mark) Harano will become president of automotive operations of American Suzuki Motor Corporation as of May 1, 2007.

Currently the president of Suzuki Canada, Inc., he has previously held positions in marketing and product planning in 19 years with the company. His task will be to ensure Suzuki's profitable growth continues as the company introduces five more models over the next four years, some of them in segments they haven't been in before. He replaces Koichi Suzuki, who will return to headquarters in Japan to run Suzuki North America's marketing department.

[Source: The Auto Channel]

It's nice to be back in the swing of things. We're once again cranking out weekly podcasts, and #63 is a compact one. We start off salivating over the news that the next generation Suzuki Swift will be headed for US shores. We devolve from discussing an unsubstantiated rumor into wistful praise for the current can't have it Swift, and even make mention of Swifts from nigh on twenty years ago. The dustup over Alan Mulally's work of fiction at the New York Auto Show keynote draws our ire next. This one has it all, lies, grandstanding media with agendas, attacks, grandstanding media with agendas, misinformation, grandstanding media with agendas, disinformation, and finally, grandstanding media with agendas. Speaking of grandstanding, we nearly go as far as calling Lutz's bluff on the announcement that the hotly anticipated RWD cars from GM are on hold 'till regulators get their shizzle together. Whatevs. The entire GM turnaround is on hold? Not bloody likely. The consensus we come to is: Bad Lutz. So, turn on, tune in and peel out for our latest slice of podcast goodness.

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President Bush will be addressing his first State of the Union to a Democratic-controlled Congress in about a half hour. At that time, many people in the country will be in a bad mood because their favorite TV show on Tuesday night was just preempted. Many will change the channel to watch something on cable, but some will stay to watch the president speak, and energy is one topic that will surely be discussed.

We already know what he's going to talk about because Joel Kaplan, the White House deputy chief of staff (that would be Josh Lyman's position) told us today. The big, bold move Bush will make on energy tonight will be to call for Americans to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent by 2017. A fine idea for sure, though the new Congress will disagree with President Bush on how to achieve the goal.

The administration basically has a two-pronged strategy. The first is a new mandate proposing we increase the amount of alternative fuels blended into the national fuel supply to 35 billion gallons by 2017. These fuels would now also include biodiesel, methanol, butanol and hydrogen, in addition the politically popular ethanol. The second strategy is to further revise Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards by applying the same revisions to mileage standards used recently on trucks to passenger vehicles. This is where the President and the new Democratic-controlled congress will likely butt heads the most. The Dems simply want to raise CAFE standards for passenger vehicles from the current 27.5 miles per gallon, while the administration's sliding scale applies different standards based on a vehicle's footprint or size. It's all very technical and boring, which is what we imagine the SOTU address will be tonight, but we'll watch anyways 'cause the Commander in Chief's gonna talk about cars, and we're always up for some car talk.

Feel free to post your thoughts on the SOTU in the comments, but keep it civil or we'll have to turn the comments off on this post. Thanks.

[Source: AP]

President Clinton will be the first U.S. president ever to use a hybrid outfitted for presidential service thanks to Ford, who will be presenting our 42nd president with a Mercury Mariner Hybrid "Presidential Edition" at the Clinton Global Initiative conference later this month in New York City. The Mariner Hybrid has been modified to include LED interior lighting, a 110-volt outlet and a writing table. Everything else on the vehicle, including the hybrid powertrain that delivers 32 mpg in the city, is supposedly stock.

We say supposedly because most presidential vehicles are heavily modified with armor and other technologies to thwart assassination attempts. The LED interior lighting installed in Clinton's Mariner Hybrid suggests the window glass is either heavily tinted for privacy or has been replaced with a transparent armor similar to the kind used on President Bush's armored Cadillac DTS limo that's so thick it blocks natural sunlight.

Speaking of presidential vehicles, did you know that the presidential motorcade is typically 35 cars long? A lot of gas could be saved by switching that fleet over to a next generation powertrain. Follow the jump to see what vehicles follow the president when he's out on the town and in what order.

[Source: Ford]

The political alliances in the Motor City have historically been rather black-and-white, with the UAW lining up alongside Democrats and management favoring the Republicans. Yes, one can find exception to these stereotypes, but the above comes as close as one can to describing 40-some years of voting behavior in one sentence. But the times are changing, and traditional alliances between the political parties and their supporters in the auto industry are increasingly stressed.

Most recently, the heads of the Big Three are said to be getting a bit miffed with the White House after receiving a third postponement of a scheduled meeting with President Bush. Additionally, we've heard recent requests from Ford's Mark Fields for "cooperation" between the automakers and government on health care, which can been seen as a position contrary to that of most conservatives. Bob Lutz has gone so far as to claim that he may vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008 as a means to protest the lack of support from Bush.

Keep in mind that the union isn't exactly getting a lot of support from those who have traditionally been in its corner, either. Dick Gephardt was said to be labor's favorite candidate in 2004, and we all know how far his campaign went.

It would seem as if the auto industry is no longer a priority for most politicians from both parties.

[Source: BusinessWeek]