ON THE TABLE

June 2, 2010

Lincoln. With the official fade-out of the Mercury brand, watch Ford go "all-in" to jump-start Lincoln with a series of exciting new products that will bristle with leading-edge design, engineering and technology.

A Decline in U.S. Car Culture Brought on by the Digital Revolution. Editor-in-Chief's Note: A lengthy article in this week's AdAge insists that America's love affair with the automobile is not only undergoing a "transformational shift," but is rapidly drawing to a close, and that the "millennials" generation is supplanting interest in cars with interest in digital media and social networking technology. The end result? An increase in public transportation and a permanent, irrevocable shift away from personal transportation, "car culture" and anything and everything to do with the automobile as we know it today. But no worries yet, because we're basically going to be the same country 20 years from now, according to the article. But this transformation is coming - allegedly - and we'll all be riding in shiny, happy, smiley pod cars in no time. Paraphrasing Samuel L. Goldwyn: Include us out. - PMD

Ford. The Dearborn Bunch is being "probed" by U.S. regulators (what part of that sounds good?) for "unsecured" floor mats bunching up and interfering with the accelerator pedals on 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan models. At this point we'll have to ask what we asked when Toyota was involved in the same situation: Really? Are there drivers out there who are that unconscious when they operate their vehicles that an out-of-position floor mat wouldn't bother them and they wouldn't re-adjust it immediately? Oh wait, never mind. We already know the answer to that question. Ugh. Maybe those guilty of being incapable of even performing the most menial tasks while owning/operating their vehicles should be permanently banned to public transportation.

GM Suppliers. There's a move afoot by GM to have suppliers signing new contracts with the automaker to share in 50 percent of any recall costs. Uh, 50 percent of what, exactly? And why would these suppliers want to do business with these guys again? Just off the tops of our heads, this will not stand, man, as The Dude would say.

Chinese Auto Workers. Honda is giving striking auto workers a 24 percent raise at its plants in southern China. The "tipping point" for the end of super-cheap auto labor in China? Eventually, yes.

(BMW Group)
Jeff Koons unveiled the 17th BMW Art Car and signed it in front of 300 international VIP guests yesterday in the Centre Pompidou, in Paris, France, one of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions for modern and contemporary art. It is the same place where Roy Lichtenstein first presented and signed his Art Car back in 1977. As part of his creative process, Koons collected images of race cars, related graphics, vibrant colors, speed and explosions. Under Koons’ direct guidance and supervision, his BMW Art Car was produced in assistance with a team of BMW engineers and designers at Schmid Design, (ORT), Bavaria. There was only a two month window between the first design sketches and the Paris world premiere. Digital print on car-wrapping vinyl was used covered by a double clear-coating to bring out the color. To apply hundreds of dynamic lines of Koons' design onto the car, CAD designs were translated from 3D into 2D for the printing process and then painstakingly applied to the entire car as well as onto individual spare parts. Koons design incorporates many bright contrasting colors to communicate the aesthetics of power. The concept design was transformed into hard eged lines of color. Graphics of debris were added to the rear sides and back of the car to similute the power of the car. Furthermore, two graphic rings on the rear of the car represent supersonic acceleration. The resulting artwork of bright colors conceived by the artist is evocative of power, motion and bursting energy. “These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy,” said Koons. “You can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to connect with that power”. And in the spirit of Calder, Stella, Lichtenstein and Warhol, BMW announced this year that the Jeff Koons Art Car will race where the first rolling pieces of art by the other legendary artists raced – at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France on June 12-13, 2010. Koons’ canvas is a BMW M3 GT2, which was homologated to compete at this year’s running of the world’s most famous endurance race.

Autoextremist.com. Editor-in-Chief's Note: Eleven years of the High-Octane Truth? It can't be...uh, then again, some days we can feel every single hour of it, to be honest, but here we are. I'd like to thank WG for hanging in and keeping me - and this publication - together, and thanks to Dr. Bud for occasionally - and hilariously - showing up. And thanks to all of our loyal readers out there who put up with us every week. Onward. - PMD

WE'RE OPENING THE VAULT!

The AE wearables are back - and only in extremely limited quantities and sizes, we might add - and once they're gone, they're gone! We're starting with our most popular items, the classic AE Sweatshirt and AE Hat. Click on a PayPal button below to order yours now! (If you prefer to pay by check, please send us an email with AE STORE in the subject line, and we'll reserve your item.)

AE Sweatshirt - Crewneck, sturdy 80/20 cotton/poly, in black with throwback lettering - the original AE logo in our Chiller typeface shown above. Size XL only. 40 bucks, including shipping. US orders only.

AE Hat - Black with throwback lettering - the original AE logo in our Chiller typeface shown above. 25 bucks, including shipping. US orders only.

Publisher's Note: Check-out John McElroy's daily news show covering everything about the auto biz by clicking on the graphic below. Good stuff guaranteed. - PMD

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" hosted by Autoline Detroit's John McElroy, with Peter De Lorenzo and friends this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

 

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