ON THE TABLE

March 18, 2009

See a special live webcast event hosted by Autoline Detroit's John McElroy with The Autoextremist himself, Peter De Lorenzo, along with auto industry veteran Jason Vines this Thursday evening, March 26, at 6:30PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv. Tune in to see "the bare-knuckled, unvarnished, high-octane truth" and expect a no-holds-barred discussion about what's going on in the industry right now, along with anything else that pops up in our minds. You can chat with us "live" too. Again, that's Autoline Live this Thursday evening, March 26, at 6:30PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv. Click here for a preview! 

Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio. The Ohio congresswoman is proposing giving consumers vouchers worth $5,000 cash in exchange for turning in vehicles at least eight years old. Under the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save bill, or CARS Act, consumers would have to buy a more efficient vehicle than their current model to qualify. The vehicles would also have to have a price tag of $35,000 or less. The bill would also give higher-value vouchers for vehicles assembled in North America - up to $5,000 - versus up to $4,000 vouchers for vehicles assembled outside North America. Consumers could also turn in their vehicles in exchange for a mass transit voucher. This is better than our AE proposal of a week ago, and it needs to be enacted right now. Bravo, Betty.

AIG. Oh, why not? We can dust our pitchforks off just like everybody else. We've never said that the money the domestic automobile industry (the companies and the suppliers) needed was chump change, we know it's a lot of money to ask for. But at least the automobile industry is part of the industrial fabric of America and is in the business of actually making things, as opposed to spending $180 billion to cover the bad bets and abject stupidity of people engaged in selling air.

Auto Industry Suppliers. In absolute desperate need of financial assistance right now, auto industry suppliers are said to be getting some of that badly needed money next week. We can only hope so.

Chrysler. The Cerberus-owned car company out in Auburn Hills is employing a scorched earth policy in trying to move their new Dodge Ram truck, dumping as much as $8,000 or thereabouts on the hood. It's working - sort of - but for how long? And then when the people who just had to have a "deal" on a pickup stop showing up at Dodge showrooms, then what? And wait until those deal hunters find out that the resale of their shiny new Rams falls under the "nonexistent" category. Is it any way to run a car company? No, but then again we've known that about Cerberus since the day they bought the company.

Chevrolet. Okay, so it took them over three years to get it to the street after hyping it to death, but the new Camaro is finally here and for enthusiast drivers it looks to be worth the wait. Especially when considering how much you get with the standard car, including the Direct-Injected, all-aluminum V6 with dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, variable valve timing and 304HP (on regular gas), independent front and rear suspension, four-wheel-discs with standard ABS and GM’s StabiliTrak electronic stability control system. 29 mpg on the highway is another bonus that will come in handy when the price at the pump inevitably shoots up too. Will the Camaro save GM? No, but it definitely goes into GM's product "plus" column, and at least it will be nice to look at going down the road.

(GM)
The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro LT with the RS Appearance Package.

GM. GM's Board of Directors has scheduled its annual board meeting for stockholders on Tuesday, August 4th, in Detroit, instead of Delaware, where it has been for years to reduce costs. Good move. Let's hope there's still something to meet about by then. And rumors that it will be held at the Post Bar could not be confirmed at er, post time. But while everyone's here, let's see, our annual road re-construction season will still be going strong so there's that, the Tigers will be in the midst of a four game home stand against the Orioles, or maybe you'd want to hang for a couple of days and go to the Detroit Lions' first pre-season game against the NY Giants on the 7th? Then again, maybe not so much.

Jay Leno. He adds a second free show at the Palace in Auburn Hills and gets criticized (again) by the dimwits on the Detroit City Council. And then a new critic weighs in - economist Greg Mankiw - who questions his motives. The guy can't win, except with the people here who are dying to see him and are so grateful for the opportunity to be able to do so. And they're the only ones who truly matter in all of this. Thank you, Jay, the vast majority of people around here really appreciate what you're doing.

Buick, Jaguar. From the "Hell Freezes Over" File comes word that Buick and Jaguar are now tied at the top of the J.D. Power and Associates' Vehicle Dependability Study. Buick came from sixth place in the previous survey, while Jaguar came all the way up from the tenth position to share top honors, knocking Lexus off of the top perch for the first time in 14 years. They were followed by now third-place Lexus, Toyota and Mercury in the survey of owners of three-year-old vehicles, the most important of the Power studies. Toyota had ten segment-leading vehicles, the most of any automaker, followed by Ford with four. The bottom five? Land Rover, Isuzu, Mazda, Volkswagen and Suzuki.