ON THE TABLE

December 14, 2011

  GM. Editor-in-Chief's Note: This week Automotive News blared the headline, "This isn't the same GM" on Page 1. In the story attached to it the point was made that because GM idled the Chevrolet Cruze plant to keep inventories down it signaled a seismic shift in GM's thinking. The point being that the "old" GM would have just kept cranking the vehicles out and then dealt with it at the dealer level with cash rebates and incentives. And to a certain degree that isolated incident does demonstrate a significant difference with the new company. Having said that, however, I still see much of the same "three steps forward, five back" GM that I have been railing against since Day One of this publication. Examples? 1. GM might have idled the Cruze plant to keep inventories in check, but they're still piling on huge incentives to move their trucks. So please tell me about the difference again? 2. And the "old" GM that made product pronouncements that they inevitably couldn't back up? It seems to be rearing its ugly head yet again, judging by the early chatter coming from within the "new" GM about the Cadillac ATS. It's fine that GM operatives wanted to put an internal stake in the ground and take aim at the BMW 3 Series, everyone needs a target to shoot for in this business. But it's quite another when they publicly state that's what they're going to do. Wouldn't it have been better to let the media and the public "discover" that the new ATS was quite good on its own, instead of dredging up the Holy Grail of premium performance-luxury sedans? Now, with a brand new 3 Series about to hit the market I can predict what will happen with the ATS, no matter how good it is. The media will get their hands on it and say something like this in summation - "Nice effort, but it's no BMW 3 Series." Just you wait. 3. And GM's consistent tendency to "insert foot in mouth" when it comes to their public pronouncements has not subsided one iota. I thought (in retrospect, naively) that GM CEO Dan Akerson learned his lesson about keeping his mouth shut or at least reining it in when he talked to the media. He embarrassed himself greatly early on in his tenure and I thought cooler heads might have finally gotten to Akerson and convinced him that maybe the first thought balloon hovering over his head wasn't necessarily the best comment to unleash to the media in an interview. Well all of that went right out the window during the crisis with the Chevrolet Volt. Akerson (aka Chief Blunderbuss) was in high dudgeon, spewing his boneheaded pronouncements at will, none of which necessarily jibed with the reality of the situation or with the perspectives of the people actually immersed in getting to the bottom of the fix. Not helpful. 4. Since Akerson has proved to be such a relentless train wreck when it comes to dealing with the media, where is the PR staff in all of this? More specifically, what exactly is GM's PR leader, Selim Bingol, doing to quell Akerson's natural idiotic tendencies? Not much, apparently. Shrugging one's shoulders and saying "that's just Dan" isn't a PR strategy, last time I checked. I will have plenty more to say about Akerson and GM and the entire industry in next week's year-end issue. As for the idea that "This isn't the same GM" - ? Although there are many definitive bright spots - especially when it comes to the True Believers in Design and Product Development - to me this new GM is too much the same as it ever was. Not Good doesn't even begin to cover it. - PMD

   Smart. The clown car car division of Daimler is unveiling a pickup concept at the Detroit Auto Show. Why?

(Smart)

China. The country will levy anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports from the U.S. of some vehicles with engine capacities above 2.5 liters, the Ministry of Commerce said. How long before China declares the joint ventures required for foreign auto companies to do business over there illegal in favor of their homegrown auto companies?

(GM)
The 270HP Ecotec 2.0L Turbo 4-cylinder engine that powers the all-new 2012 Buick Regal GS has the highest specific output of any production GM engine. And at 135 hp per liter, it is the most power-dense engine certified by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The ultra-sophisticated 4-cylinder engine is also one of Wards AutoWorld’s 2012 “10 Best Engines” for North America. With this engine the Regal GS delivers 0-60 mph in less than 6.7 seconds and runs the quarter-mile in 15.2 seconds at 98 mph.

(BMW Group)
Late to the Mercedes-Benz CLS/Audi A7 party, BMW has come up with their answer: something called the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe. A four-door sedan masquerading as a Coupe - although its design isn't nearly as successful as the Mercedes or Audi offerings - the BMW is a 6 Series Coupe all duded-up for what, exactly, we're not sure. We get the idea that BMW felt they just had to have an answer to Mercedes and Audi, but this ain't it. As a matter of fact it's the first entry into AE's 2012 Answer to the Question that Absolutely No One is Asking sweepstakes. The BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe will arrive late next summer, unless cooler heads prevail.

(Ford)
Ford's gasoline-free 2012 Focus Electric (available to order in California, New Jersey and New York since November with other markets to follow) is expected to be the first five-passenger electric vehicle with a 100 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) rating under new EPA calculations for electric vehicles. The Focus Electric is also the first all-electric vehicle to offer faster charging technology, allowing it to charge in half the time of a Nissan Leaf using 240-volt outlets.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: This week it was our turn with GM's Great Small Car Hope, the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic LTZ and I must say that I was very impressed. Quiet, composed and even more than a little bit fun to drive with its 1.4-liter Turbo and slick-shifting 6-speed, the Sonic is not just present and accounted for in this ultra-competitive segment, it's a serious player. I think the Ford Fiesta has more of a design presence, but the Sonic LTZ is no slouch in that department, and GM designers came through inside and out on the littlest Chevy. But the most impressive thing about the Sonic is how well it drives and how it goes about its business with a serenity that is so unexpected for this segment. Yes, serenity. Not a word you'd normally associate with this class of car, but the Sonic has a air of sophistication about it that can't be denied. We liked it. A lot. - PMD

2012 Chevrolet Sonic 5DR LTZ - $18,890 ($17,235 Base Price; Inferno Orange Metallic, $195; Jet Black with Dark Titanium interior; ECOTEC Turbocharged 1.4-liter engine includes 6-speed manual gearbox, $700; Destination charge, $760.00)