Ah, April Fools’ Day: Google is now Topeka, the excellent webcomic xkcd goes terminal, and my college announced that next year the campus will be dry (this was especially well-played because alcohol policy was in the process of being changed only yesterday). Among all these April 1st shenanigans, the 2010 New York International Auto Show pressed on, with its usual stock of interesting reveals (which I shall definitely be covering in the coming week). Toyota, however, decided that it would be the perfect day to launch two new video ad campaigns in order to increase attention for new models in its subsidiary brands. Oh, they got my attention alright…

BMW Lexus Films

Does anyone remember when BMW released that phenomenal set of eight short films in a series called The Hire from 2001 to 2002? If not, a brief synopsis is in order: Clive Owen played a wheelman known as “The Driver,” who takes on various risky driving-related missions. As well as being highly entertaining, these videos showcased BMW’s strong lineup at the time, including its M-model lineup. The series was an enormous viral success and helped boost BMW sales numbers that year. Today, nearly nine years later, Lexus announced a series of their own videos centered around the upcoming CT200h hatchback. And thus the first red flag was raised.

The CT200h?, I thought, That’s a luxo-economy car, isn’t it? It is. Powered by a 1.8L inline-4, the CT200h is expected to produce less than 200 horsepower. It’s also front wheel drive and has an eCVT transmission. What’s that you say? This powertrain configuration cannot possibly be fun? I agree, that’s what it sounds like to me, too. However, Lexus doesn’t think so. Watch this teaser to see what I mean:

Lexus’ new series, which apparently is set to launch on May 13th, 2010, is called Dark Ride. The name stinks of low-grade sci-fi, does it not? Anyway, this is what I’ve gathered from watching this: Lexus has made a BMW Films clone using a car that will be plagued by tremendous understeer and a 0-60 time that will be lucky if it sees the low 9-second range. As my friend accurately pointed out while watching this video, you never actually see the thing accelerate from a dig. I’m guessing that’s because no filmmaker could shoulder the impossible task of making Prius-like acceleration footage look action-packed. I don’t blame them.

Reinvent The Whiff

Swing and a massive miss, Toyota. In order to attempt to raise the hype of its new models, Scion’s advertising department has begun airing a series of episodes called Reinvent The Wheels on YouTube. A bastardly hybrid of MTV’s Pimp My Ride and the generic “contestant presents to a panel of judges” reality show model, Reinvent The Wheels pits a group of “design professionals” (the likes of which are pastry chefs, DJs, and special effect artists for independent films) against each other in a competition to see who can each best customize one car from Scion’s new, desperate line of vehicles. Of course, as you probably expected, the designs concepts shown in the first episode (all I needed to watch to get the point) are hilariously atrocious. Video literally speaks louder than text, though, so watch this:

It cannot possibly be anything but a lose-lose situation: either it’s acting so bad that it’s actually NOT funny, or these are real people. For the entire world’s sake, I’d really hope for the former.

The Real Joke

APRIL FOOLS! …I wish. But it’s no joke. There are no intentional lulz to be had here: Toyota’s marketing department is really, actually determined to use these campaigns to help their sales. In the case of the Lexus series, Dark Ride, it seems the goal is to capture a younger, more “sporty” demographic using some weird footage of a gilded economy car. With the Reinvent The Wheels campaign, Scion is trying to flout its apparent customizability to even more tasteless youths than before.

You know what the real joke is here? It’s probably going to work.

Storylines. If I had to pick one reason why I enjoy watching endurance races more than any other types, it’s the fact that there are so many different “stories” occurring at any given moment during the race. Such was the case at the 58th running of 12 Hours of Sebring, the grand opening to the 2010 American Le Mans Series.

Before I go into talking about this race, though, I have some definite explaining to do. No, your RSS reader is not broken, and no, I haven’t been posting to a secret part of this site: the date of the last post I made is indeed August 9, 2009. Sad thing, isn’t it? Well, I’m back now, and I have new plans and ideas for Ignition Unlimited. Believe it or not, I’ve even convinced a guest writer to occasionally drop some content on here! Amazing! I’ll go into detail about the future of IU later, because now, it’s time to talk about Sebring.

Changes

Going into my second year of following this race, I knew what to expect but I didn’t know exactly how the 2010 12 Hours would differ from the 2009 race. My first answer came from glancing at the entry list every once in a while starting months before this race: it became clear that the Peugeot vs. Audi fight was over for this year, at least at Sebring, as Audi was nowhere to be found. Although Peugeot was to be the only diesel running there, new regulations put higher limitations on diesels in order to make the competition between them and petrol-powered prototypes more fair. This was evident, to a degree, as I’ll discuss later. Another change was Highcroft Racing: last year’s favorite for the whole ALMS Season, Patrón-Highcroft Racing ditched their P1 Acura ARX-02a for a modified P2 ARX-01c, a change that surprised me until I found out that the Prototype classes were to be merged for the 2010 ALMS Season. Like Corvette Racing (who transferred last season from GT1 to GT2), it seems Highcroft is in search of a greater degree of competition. Speaking of classes, there were five at this race: Prototype 1 (where you have your diesel Peugeots, a Lola run by Aston Martin, and others), Prototype 2 (the class of the aforementioned Patrón-Highcroft Acura team, a Porsche RS Spyder and one other), LMP Challenge (a new class of single-make/model racing using Chevy-powered Oreca FLM09 cars), GT2 (the biggest factory-backed class, featuring BMWs, Ferraris, Porsches, Fords, and more) and GT Challenge (the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup class).

The Storylines Of Sebring

Unlike last year, when the main event was an epic Audi-Peugeot face-off, this year’s Sebring 12 Hours was characterized by many little events that led to a fairly unsurprising end result. Since there were so many, it’s time for–yep, you guessed it–IU Bulletpoints… with video!*

• First Few Hours
  The beginning of this race was amazing, and I’m not sugar coating that at all. Really. Tons of passing action from all classes, coupled with the great fighting from LMP1 (yeah, believe it or not, the non-diesel P1 cars could stand a chance against the Peugeots) and GT2. Video speaks louder than words, though, so check this out. And don’t act like you’re not impressed. I couldn’t imagine why any woman in the world could resist Emanuele Pirro (green Lola-Judd with the British flag on the rear) after that insane pass, not to mention he also had a better single-best-lap time than the winning Peugeot.

• The Harsh Reality
  Sometimes things just go wrong. If your race comes to an end three-quarters of a lap in, and it’s the car’s fault, well, that’s what you call a bad day. Unfortunately, such was the case for Autocon Racing, Jaguar Racing, and Drayson Racing. All of these teams had catastrophic mechanical issues either at or very close to the beginning of the race. Although Drayson partially recovered after their Lola-Judd’s alternator decided to take a permanent vacation, both Autocon and Jaguar were both out for good. The real heartbreaker was Jaguar, though: on only the first lap, a cylinder head cracked and ended their day. It’s really too bad to see that happen to a fledgling team, but the reality is harsh: shit happens.
• There’s A Reason Why It’s Called “Endurance Racing” – Part 1: Cars
  Think about it: you have a piece of expensive, well designed machinery running at maximum capacity for 12 hours straight. You’d figure something always has to wrong, right? Well, miraculously, some cars never do run into problems, but all the others… yeah. A few instances of this notably stood out in this year’s Sebring 12 Hours. One of my favorite teams, Patrón-Highcroft Racing, had a little electrical problem in the cockpit of their Acura ARX-01c that turned into an issue that cost them 24 minutes of driving time (they were penalized for having too many crew members working on it over the pit wall) and therefore a first-place finish. Patrón Racing’s Ferrari F430 GT also suffered a slight issue while in the hands of its owner, Scott Sharp. It sort of lit on fire. See for yourself in the video below.

• There’s A Reason Why It’s Called “Endurance Racing” – Part 2: People
  If something doesn’t go wrong with the car, something can definitely go wrong with that fire-retardant-nylon-wearing mush of organic material that plops into the carbon fiber bucket seat for each stint. Yeah, you read that right, ladies and gentlemen: humans make mistakes while racing! It’s understandable, however: the cars are hard to drive (even for one lap, let alone all 12 hours), it’s physically uncomfortable (a driver had to receive medical attention for overheating while in a closed-cockpit car), and it’s tiring. The biggest failure of the day, though, was obvious: Corvette Racing’s pit crew. I’ll let the video do the talking; it was a mistake that cost them the race, needless to say. And, oh yeah, Team Falken Tire’s pit crew should probably make sure all the center-locking lugs on all four wheels are completely tight before letting their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR leave the pits (yeah, yeah, I know the axle end was broken, but they shouldn’t just be sticking a rim on there and praying that it’ll stay).

• The Results
  I’ll be bold with this: compared to last year, the end of the 2010 Sebring 12 Hours was boring. The P1 class was won undisputedly by Peugeot’s 908 HDI. P2 was slightly more interesting, with a 1st place finish from the independent Team Cytosport running a Porsche RS Spyder. Risi Competizione’s Ferrari F430 GT won GT2, and, oh, Level 5 Motorsports won LMPC and an Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup won GTC (for some reason I can’t seem to get excited about the Challenge classes).

• Odds And Ends
  There were a few other events of note on Sebring day. The two best came afterwards. Firstly, one of the winning Peugeot drivers, Alex Wurz, dropped a sweet F-Bomb during a live interview on Speed TV’s post-race coverage. Secondly, Radio Le Mans announced that Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi Team Joest’s head honcho, had been spotted multiple time throughout the day, in the stands and in the pits, observing the competition carefully. This is because, for the past week, Audi’s new car (the R15 Plus; don’t worry, I’m covering that soon), its crew and its drivers were at Homestead Speedway doing high-speed testing, and starting today, Audi was at Sebring attempting to beat the P1 lap times set during the Sebring 12 Hours. After a disappointing loss last year, Audi’s sights are now set firmly on the top of the podium at Le Mans.

The End Of The Beginning

Thus ends the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring. This exciting prologue is making it look like the beginnings of an excellent American Le Mans Series Season. I will again follow all 24 of the Hours of Le Mans on June 12th, and I will also be returning to the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on July 25th. It’s race time.

* Videos courtesy of MT89Motorsport’s Youtube Channel. These are awesome, thanks!

Alright, so I’ve looked at the SUVs shown at the 2009 New York International Auto Show, and now it’s time for… everything else. Represented here are examples of speed, sluggishness, beauty, and monstrosity. Lots on the menu here (almost too much?), so shall we begin?

So, What Do We Have Here?

I’m going straight into it with the little footnotes about each… there are quite a few as you will see…

	Hyundai Equus I don’t think there’s anything I’d like to see more than Hyundai unseating Lexus at the head of the flagship sedan table. The Equus is truly a fine piece of work. I hope it comes Stateside!
Bentley Continental Supersports You can run the Bentley W12 off of E85 Ethanol (read: corn) and hit 204 miles per hour? No more rear seating and more carbon fiber instead in the name of saving weight? Yes please.
	Porsche 911 GT3 Doesn’t look to interesting. Looks just like the old one to me. Good thing they bumped up the horses to 435 and the top speed to 194, then. It’s a real sleeper, this one.
Merecedes-Benz E63 AMG A new face, new horsepower figures, and a new top speed of 186 seem to be telling RS6 and M5 drivers to look cautiously into their rear-view mirrors… but by the time they do, this will already be ahead. Nice work, Mercedes.
	Nissan NISMO 370Z I love the 370Z’s design for being closer to the old 280Z than any other more modern Z yet, and this NISMO version keeps that beauty while adding necessary aerodynamic upgrades. Indeed one of my favorites at NYAIS.
Nissan 370Z Roadster Let’s just say I was liking the pictures of the NISMO far, far, far more. The convertible conversion destroys the 370′s beautiful curves and adds weight. Oh, and that color. Bleh.
	Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk VI While it should be called the Mk V.5 because it rides the same chassis and utilizes many of the same underpinnings as the previous GTI, the redesigned interior is cool and I’m curious to see whatever R-Line variant they’re cooking up.
Subaru Legacy One of the world’s most underrated sleepers gets slightly more aggressive. Still keeping with the Subaru tradition of AWD and the famous Boxer-4, this is sure to be a winner.
	Subaru Outback Well, at least we know the Subaru designers were working double-time on the new Legacy.
Mazdaspeed3 I’m beating a dead horse, but it’s still too happy, and the American version seems to get braces of some sort in that big ol’ mouth.
	Scion iQ As usual, Scion takes something (usually neutral or poor in my tastes because it comes from Toyota), and makes it astronomically worse. The paint color is named “radioactive,” which is funny, because when I saw this I realized I’d rather absorb a large quantity of radiation than be caught in the driver’s seat.
Kia Forte Koup Eh, a Kia, it’s going to be bor- wait… what’s this? An attractive design paired with a fun powertrain and a bang-to-buck ratio that outdoes its competition? Wow. Never saw that one coming. Very cool.

And there it is. As usual, some good, some bad, some… interesting.

Recently I started following the American Le Mans Series. As I wrote in my post about the 12 Hours of Sebring, I was amazed by the vigor and skill required in this sort of racing… but I had no idea what really goes into this, until now. Originally aired during prime time on ESPN a day before Sebring, Audi’s documentary Truth In 24 highlights the legendary victory of Audi over Peugeot in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans in a seemingly impossible battle. This film, narrated by Jason Statham, is truly an epic and definitely the most engaging documentary I’ve ever seen. For more of my thoughts on it, continue on into the post.

My Thoughts

Audi’s story is a truly remarkable one: the rise of a true competitor for their aging R10 TDI provided an intense challenge that, throughout most of the 2008 season, got the best of them, leaving Peugeot in the lead. Le Mans proved to be race that required every single member of Team Joest to be on its toes for the entirety of the full-day-long test. The documentary captures this in complete brilliance. As said early in the movie, it’s no easy task to translate the feel of Le Mans onto a screen, but somehow they’ve done it. I felt all the disappointment, the joy, the adrenaline, and the chills of this race. The best part, or at least my favorite, is when Allan McNish gives his accelerated walkthrough of the Circuit De La Sarthe, naming the gears and corner cambers from memory. When he’s done, he just sits there for a moment, reminiscing. It’s truly moving.

All in all, I’ll give this an Ignition Unlimited Media Rating of 10 out of 10. There is truly not a single undesirable thing about it: from the action, to the interviews, to Jason Statham’s gruff narration, and to the story itself, Truth In 24 is a gem unlike any other I’ve seen.

Truth In 24 is available for download for free from the iTunes Store. You can get it from here.

Ending late last night, the 2009 12 Hours Of Sebring endurance race was won by Audi’s new R15 TDI with a slight 22-second margin over Peugot’s 908 HDI FAP. This was the first endurance race that I have ever followed (at least in periods), and I couldn’t have asked for a better one to watch. I have to concede, I was only really paying attention to the LMP1 and LMP2 classes, as this is where the clear competition was. Some of my observed highlights and more photos of the cars come after the jump, but, wow, what a race this was. I can’t stress that enough.

Truth In Truth In Engineering

True to their engineering excellence, Audi’s two R15 cars did not suffer any mechanical or electrical issues throughout the course of the entire race, and only made routine fueling and tire pit stops. If I had to state reasons why I think #2 R15 TDI won this, I’d have to go with a) this brilliant reliability and b) some of the various pitting strategies used in the last hour of the race, especially that quick, ten-second stop for a shot of fuel… oh, and also Allan McNish. Pulling out the fastest R15 lap of the race of during his last period in the car, and at night? Wow. One of #2 R15′s other drivers, Tom Kristensen, has the honor of calling this victory his fifth at Sebring, making him the winningest driver ever at Sebring. Amazing driving.

There Can Only Be One

Where there are winners, there must be losers. Unfortunately for Peugeot and Acura, things didn’t work out well enough to let them come out on top. Peugeot’s #08 908 HDi FAP, while in the hands of Stephane Sarrazin was shockingly close, but not close enough to the winning Audi, despite being ahead for the majority of the 12 hours. Peugeot’s other 908 had air conditioning problems near the beginning of the race, almost immediately putting it out of the running for the LMP1 class. Later, a slow puncture further hampered Peugeot’s efforts, yet they still managed to stay less than one lap behind or in front of Audi for the entire race. Acura did do well in the LMP2 class by default, winning because there were no other finishers; however, LMP1 for Acura didn’t go as planned. The full 12-hour debut of the Acura ARX-02a was cut short due to a suspension issue, and even if the car had been in for the entire time, it never could have kept up with the diesels.

Diesel Reigns Supreme

It’s clear that in the LMP1 class, fielding a diesel car is the only way to win. If less pit stops and more torque aren’t reason enough to do so, maybe the fact that development of the technology can be further applied in the consumer market is. For the rest of the American Le Mans Series, I have a feeling that this will become more and more painstakingly obvious to Acura. There really is something to be said about diesels, though: the slow, smokey, noisy diesels of the past are no more. Too bad the United States is just starting to figure that out, if at all. Expect another diesel-related post in a short time.

I love auto shows. Unfortunately, living in the Northeast means I only get out to one a year: the New England International Auto Show in Boston, which occurs each December. When I’m there, I get to praise some things, ridicule others, and just stand completely baffled by yet more. This is what I enjoy most about going to auto shows: the wide and crazy spectrum of desirability that presents itself on the show floor. Luckily, and although it’s not as great as being next to the machines in person, this same spectrum is easily identifiable when reading about and viewing photos from other shows online.

That’s why I’m going to take this opportunity to share my opinions of a couple of the key showings from the 2009 International Geneva Motor Show… because there’s a lot to share. Europe’s biggest show, which is currently open, has some of the best variation, between the awesomely beautiful and the horrifyingly ugly. Here we go.

Aston Martin

After the initial jaw-dropping, drool-inducing splendor of the DB9 wore off for me, no other Aston Martin has stood out in the same way as the DB9 did when I saw it for the first time. I realized that this is because literally everything Aston Martin has produced or even conceptualized in the past 10 or so years has looked shockingly similar… until now. Stepping outside their safe zone of designing swooping, handsome coupes (and a similar looking sedan, which is still in the works) has proved itself to be a Sisyphean task for the designers at Aston Martin.

Stare in horror at this repulsive failure of design. It’s called the Lagonda Concept, and it’s a step further in the direction of ugly than the previous user of the same namesake, the boxy Lagonda Sedan. It seats four and has got a V12 engine, four-wheel-drive, and loads of LED lighting, but none of that matters, because it’s easily one of the ugliest SUVs since the Pontiac Aztek. Chubby DB9 at the front and bloated Bentley at the back? No thanks. That’s just revolting.

Infiniti

I used to love Infiniti. I really liked the G (both the sedan and coupe), and at one time, thought I really wanted a G35x sedan. However, I began to notice that guidos, posers, and more advanced ricers seem to be the primary owners, and that there’s an ugly analog clock on the dashboard of each. Then Infiniti brought their Geneva showing to the table.

This is the Infiniti Essence. Few cars immediately seize me as beautiful, but this is just amazing. The styling reminds me of the Maserati GranTurismo, but for some reason this is far more appealing to me. The lines have an attractive flow that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else. The only stylistic complaint I have about the car are the sizes of the front and rear badges. Yes, Infiniti, we know you made it. Tone it down just a notch, please. With its 3.7L twin-turbo V6 and attached electric, this 592-bhp hybrid-drive touring car would make a supreme luxury counterpart to the Nissan GT-R. Let’s see it produced, Infiniti!

Quick Opinions

Seeing as everything else I’m going to talk about in this article only requires one or two sentences of commentary, I’ve assembled a little table.

	Toyota Verso Wait, Toyota, you’re supposed to be making ugly and boring cars that appear aerodynamically challenged! This Verso, the new Prius, and the Venza all seem to be steps in the right direction, at least stylistically. Kudos.
Masonry Linea Vincero Veyron Take the world’s pinnacle of automotive engineering. Reveal carbon fiber. Add a more pronounced aero kit and raise the horsepower from 1001 to 1109. Paint it black. Instant bad-ass.
	BMW Alpina B6 GT3 I never really liked the 6-Series that much. However, in racing trim, this car is nothing short of stunning. I can’t wait to see it during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Renault Megane RS I hate to admit it, but this is one of the only hatchbacks that I consider better looking than the R32 Mk V, just… not in this color. Also, it’s a good application of FWD, but FWD it is nonetheless. Nissan should bring this to the states.
	Ferrari 599xx I don’t care how fast it is, or how much downforce those little winglets on the C-pillars add. That thing is hideous. They might as well have called it the “Ferrari SuperDrift 599999xx Edition.” Track star or not, this seems too much like Ferrari rice.
Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV Same idea as the Ferrari above: a road card tuned for the track, though infinitely less ugly. It doesn’t really do for me what the Gallardo LP560-4 does, but I think it’s very worthy of the rebirth of the SuperVeloce badge.
	Koenigsegg NLV Quant Very weird, and seemingly even more pointless. A solar car that can’t use the sun’s energy to help it go, has gullwing doors, seats four, and doesn’t even look like a car? Stick to working on variations of the CC, Koenigsegg… Do what you’re good at.
Audi TT-RS Attractive TT form factor, insane power to weight ratio from a turbocharged, direct-injected inline five, R8-like handling, and Alacantra bucket seats? I’m sold.
	MazdaSpeed3 Stop smiling. Seriously, that grin is making you look stupid. No, I don’t care that you have 250 horsepower now. It’s still going to the front wheels, and you look ridiculous. What are you so jolly about?

And there, ladies and gentlemen, is what I see at Geneva, in a nutshell. I’m not sure how much more is coming out of there in the next eight days, but if there’s anything even remotely interesting, I’ll have something to write about it. Credits and thanks go out to Autoblog for being my source of seeing what’s going on in Geneva and also for automotive news in general.

Back in August, before I took my ridiculously long hiatus from blogging on this site (due to academia), I wrote an article about why I wanted GM to survive. Unfortunately, due to some news late last night, it looks like it’s going to be much harder for my favorite three brands, not to mention the entirety of GM and the other two of the Big Three, to survive. It saddens me, too: just last Friday I was walking the floor of the New England International Auto Show in Boston, looking at the newest of what every automaker had to offer. All I could think while walking through Cadillac, Pontiac, and Saturn (among other American brands) was “there’s too much potential for them to go down.” Due to a certain UAW (that’s United Auto Workers union), the age of the American automaker may be coming to an end as we know it. Why am I so ready to point a finger at the UAW? Read on.

Outdatedness Requires Amends

I don’t like the UAW. I think they’re a fairly gigantic reason for the majority of the Big Three’s current issues. Before I go into why, however, I’d like to give a brief history on Unions as a lead into why they should no longer exist in the automotive industry. Wikipedia defines a union as “an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages, hours, and working conditions.” This definition happens to fit the current status of the UAW perfectly. Some of the first trade unions in the United States battled harsh or unsafe working conditions, work days that lasted far too long, and child labor. As the government did not enforce laws regulating any of those issues back then, the unions were necessary. Today however, it’s a different story.

Until the bill failed last night, the UAW was lobbying for the “bailout package” for the Big Three. Without the bailout, the workers associated with the UAW would no longer have work to do at all: if GM, Ford, and Chrysler file for bankruptcy, job cutting will come as standard; this is a given. Why, then, would the UAW not sacrifice some of their “rights” to try to save their jobs? It baffles me.

When “Right” Becomes “Ridiculous”

An interesting post from an engineer who has had experience working in union appeared on the internet not long ago. His whole writing and other opinions can be found here, but here’s an important excerpt of what he’s seen of the UAW:

Oh and a bit about working with the union in factories. You can’t touch anything. For example if you’re a process improvement engineer and you need to figure out how to improve a process. You need to stand and watch some guy with only a high school diploma do it. You can’t touch anything. See a piece of trash on the ground. Leave it (even if it’s a safety hazard) if the floor sweeper sees you, you’ll have another grievance because you’re “Taking his job away”.

Union rules and regulations seem to only slow down and hinder practical labor… and then it gets worse. In the following quote, it’s nearly clear as day why certain automotive products from American companies are unreliable:

We have a project going on “Why is this bolt failing” on a certain product of ours. Turns out that it is over torqued at the factory. So management and the powers that be put out an official decree: No air wrenches on X bolt. The union continues to use them. Legally we can’t ‘take them away’ or go into their tool boxes after they leave. So our bolt continues to fail because Joe Blow is too damn lazy to use a proper torque wrench.

It’s clearly one thing to slow production, but it’s another thing entirely to damage it. No wonder Americans turn to imports in the face of such poor construction at the hands of the unionized worker. Speaking of imports:

It’s great hearing UAW employees try and spread rumors and stupid falsities about Toyota’s non-union plants. I work in a UAW shop and most of what they say sounds like the Red Scare. “But I hear that Toyota requires you to sign over your first born” “I hear that Toyota only pays them $1.24 an hour”. I have friends that work in the Evansville plant. Everyone loves the place. On site pharmacy and health clinic (100% Free), among other things.

Is it just me, or is that absolutely ridiculous?

Concessions And Demands

A word of advice to the UAW: when your jobs are at stake, don’t make ridiculous demands. Make offers of concessions instead. When the UAW finally offered to end their long-used “job banks,” which requires the Big Three to pay workers who are currently not working. It is undoubtedly true that such a practice puts major financial strain on the companies and probably should never have existed in the first place, but what I find outrageous is that a certain UAW Local (that of Charlotte apparently had the nerve to consider asking for a seat on the GM Board as a trade for cutting the “job banks.” They must not get it: it’s their miscellaneous rights or their careers. Make a choice. It isn’t hard.

So What Do I Think?

I think the gravest mistake that GM, Ford, and Chrysler all made was to let the UAW destroy them slowly through demanding rights, compensations, and other ridiculous conquests. Unions were created to protect workers from the company, and yet, in the most ironic way, the company now needs to be protected from its workers. If the Big Three are to live on, the unions must fall. Do you see Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, Mercedes, or Nissan having major problems right now? No. Why? Because even though some of these may have unions, the companies are not hampered by insane restrictions somehow elicited by those unions. The American auto industry’s survival depends on at least the reigning-in of the UAW, and if that’s not enough to save them, the UAW should be disbanded entirely. Without the Big Three, our economy will suffer. Without the Big Three, American automakers will never get a chance to right themselves and finally move in a better direction. Without the Big Three, I will never get to drive that gorgeous Pontiac Solstice Coupe I saw at the Auto Show last week.

With all the recent announcements of how American car companies are in danger of bankruptcy in coming years, I’ve been thinking more about what the automotive world will lose if that occurs. Specifically, I’ve been considering the cars, and more specifically than that, the cars GM is currently (or will soon be) giving us. At the beginning of July, there was a particularly drastic piece of news concerning GM and the project cost estimates of keeping the automotive giant alive.

My first thought was, “good, finally Buick and Hummer will get what they deserve,” but then I remembered things like these…

Cadillac

It’s obvious that Cadillac has made a huge improvement in terms of almost their entire lineup since the break of the new millennium. The reason I say “almost” is that I still greatly dislike the Escalade and both of its ridiculous variants (ESV and the EXT), as well as Cadillac’s laughable attempt at dethroning the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class Roadster with its XLR and XLR-V. However, bloated SUV and failed roadster attempt aside, I really like what Cadillac has done over the past eight years. Even more, I like where Cadillac is now going.

Very recently, at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Cadillac announced something I (as a big wagon fan) am particularly excited about: the CTS Sport Wagon. Slated for a Spring 2009 release, the Sport Wagon will feature the same 3.6L V6 and 6-speed automatic combination which has already proven itself in the standard CTS. The Sport Wagon also has available AWD and a very large panoramic sunroof. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the best looking wagons I’ve seen in a very long time. I’ll take mine in Thunder Gray with the AWD, the 40GB Navigation System, and that sunroof. A V-Series version would make the CTS the coolest wagon ever, perhaps even better than the Audi RS6.

Pontiac

I haven’t always known how I’ve felt about Pontiac… until now. I still don’t like plenty of the vehicles in their lineup, such as the Vibe, Torrent or G5, but there actually is so much good in their current and upcoming lineup. Take the G8, for example. With the modern GTO gone in 2006, Pontiac was left without a serious flagship vehicle, a spot the 2008+ G8 fills nicely. An upcoming GXP version features the LS3 engine which is currently found in the Chevrolet Corvette, tuned to 402 horsepower and mated to a six-speed manual. Performance-wise, then, the G8 runs with the best European sports sedans in its class without fault. The G8, though, isn’t my favorite car in Pontiac’s lineup. My favorite isn’t available yet.

The Pontiac Solstice (or at least the platform it shares with its Saturn counterpart) has always been my favorite American roadster, and it’s about to become my favorite Targa. At the 2008 New York Auto Show last March, Pontiac announced that the older Solstice Coupe concept will be put into production for early 2009 release as a 2009 model. Although details surrounding powertrain choices are unconfirmed at this point, rumors speculate that a new turbocharged inline-4 producing 300 horsepower should not be ruled out as a possibility. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the same setup that’s currently at work in the Solstice GXP model: GM’s Ecotec 2.0L Turbocharged Inline-4 with a 5-speed manual. The current GXP is already known to be absolutely awesome to drive with its well-balanced rear wheel drive; give the roof the beautiful curves the body already has and you can’t end up with anything but a winner.

Saturn

Saturn. They don’t have a fancy new-for-200x model like my other two GM favorites do, and they don’t sell high-horsepower sedans either. So what do I like about them? I can’t really explain it. I just really like what they’ve done as of late. One of the best moves they’ve ever made wasn’t designing something new but instead pulling from GM’s immense international pool: the Astra. Originally designed by Opel for the European market, the Astra’s addition to Saturn was announced at the 2007 Chicago Auto show. I really liked the thing from my the time I first sat in it at the Boston Auto Show. If I were told to choose an economy car for myself, I’d skip past rivals such as the Nissan Sentra and Ford Focus and go straight for the Astra. Only 138 horsepower, you say? It doesn’t matter. The Astra will easily out-handle anything in its class, making it a better drive overall, because face it, you don’t buy an $18,000 car for its 0-60 time (which on the Astra XR happens to be an unremarkable 8.6 seconds).

Saturn’s appeal does not end with Astra, by any means. The Sky and Sky Red Line are roadsters built on the same, well-designed platform as the Pontiac Solstice. As I stated earlier, it’s my favorite roadster “template,” and if I were to choose between the Pontiac Solstice Roadster (not the coupe) and the Saturn Sky, I’d go with the Sky, simply based on the originality of the design. Like the Astra, the Sky is an Opel converted for the U.S. market, and like it’s Pontiac cousin, the Sky is a great-to-drive, well-balanced roadster.

I’ll ask myself again. What do I like about Saturn? It’s clear now: Saturn is naturally cool because it’s become the U.S. gateway to GM’s European cars. Recently, even Ford has followed in Saturn’s tracks by announcing the importation of the Euro-spec Focus in the coming years. Finally, the American economy car market is getting the attention it deserves, rather than the old “Honda Civic will do, and leave it at that.” Thanks, Saturn.

Conclusion

Notice that the title of this post is “Three Reasons…,” not “The Only Three Reasons…” These companies happen to be my current American favorites, but it doesn’t mean they’re the only ones that are essential. Buick is the GM’s bestseller in China and makes a damn good crossover, the Enclave, for domestic consumption. Chevrolet has the Corvette; enough said. And HUMMER? Well, they’ll be gone soon, hopefully. But I’d actually be sad to see the better part of GM go.