January 26, 2011
Editor-in-Chief's Note: The battle for the Hearts and Minds of the media - automotive and otherwise - as well as consumers who bother to pay attention, has well and truly begun. On the one side you have GM's PR troops, who are primed, ready and already going full-bore spinning the story that it's Morning Again at General Motors, and that Dan Akerson is the visionary who will lead the company back to the promised land through a laser-like focus on the customer. On the other side you have me - soon to be joined by others (as soon as they get their heads out of their asses and start burrowing through the fog of war laid down by GM's PR troops) - who see a different Dan Akerson, one who is an egomaniacal corporate opportunist with an overwrought sense of himself who has been handed the keys to an American icon simply because he was the best alternative that the board of directors had at the moment. And who will now put his new found - and instantly accrued - "wisdom" about the car business to work in remaking the company, even though that wisdom is more knee-jerk reactionary pronouncements than earned understanding of what's really going on. It's going to be delicious to see how all of this plays out but one thing is certain, traditional PR tactics are not going to work this time. This is a different time and a different era and there isn't enough "spin" at the disposal of GM PR's troops to present "Lt. Dan" as the next auto industry Messiah. He is woefully miscast in that role, and there isn't enough "there" there. - PMD
The GM Board. Editor-in-Chief's Note, Part II: So what could have GM's not-so-illustrious Board of Directors have done differently? First of all, a board of directors is a complicated entity to begin with, and just because a group of individuals with widely varying degrees of success are brought together to function as an overriding body of governance it doesn't mean that it works, or that these individuals develop the positive chemistry necessary to lead a corporation. And this is certainly the case with the GM board. Akerson claims the GM board was "blindsided" by Ed Whitacre's sudden departure, and as I've said before I find this to be completely absurd. You mean to tell me that no one on that board knew that it might be a possibility that "Big Ed" would take his leave early given the demands of the IPO? When Wall Streeters, politicians and bankers alike are looking for a picture of long-term stability, and Whitacre made it clear from the get-go that he wasn't willing to stick around for that long? Uh-uh, I'm not buying it. What I am buying is that the GM board got caught flat-footed by Whitacre's departure due to the collective head-in-sand mentality that seems to linger over it like a shroud of ineptitude. "Lt. Dan" was a safe choice by the board for shepherding the IPO through the maize of acceptability needed to please all of the various interested parties, but it should have been made clear to the investors that Akerson would be an interim, transitional executive - even though some of the investors would have chafed at the idea - and that a successor would be named as soon as possible to lead the company forward. That didn't happen. What did happen is that "Lt. Dan" was given the keys to the candy store and he now realizes that it's a pretty damn good gig, and so now he has puffed his chest up, stuck his jaw out, and he's hell-bent on bringing his "instant" auto industry expertise to bear on GM, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. It's a heaping, steaming bowl of Not Good. And it's not only going to get ugly for the True Believers at GM, the company's competitiveness could be severely and negatively affected by mid-decade by the time "Lt. Dan" is through. - PMD
Michigan Drivers. From the "Just Shoot Us" File comes word that bad roads in this state may double by 2015 due to the drop in gas tax revenue, according to the Detroit Free Press. And that's just on the state-maintained main roads and freeways. City and country roads will get even worse due to the lack of funding. ugh.
Ferrari. Editor-in-Chief's Note: From the "Hell Freezes Over" File comes word that Ferrari has finally and officially lost it. The Italian car company with the impeccable heritage that's so famously and heroically intertwined with one of the greatest historical legacies in this business has succumbed to the siren song of profit over integrity. The result? The disaster you see below. The new Ferrari FF (for Ferrari Four: four seats and four-wheel-drive) - which the company refers to it as being the most powerful and versatile four-seater ever - will replace the 612 Scaglietti in their lineup. Ferrari also insists it will be the most usable Ferrari and that it will be a formidable competitor for GT machines from Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc. Huh? "Versatile?" "Usable?" Are you kidding me? As if those words have any business being associated with the Ferrari name, mission and purpose. Using its much-lauded Formula 1 team as its beacon of technological might, Ferrari has stayed on message for a solid ten years now delivering one breathtaking street machine after another and it appeared that this company would never dumb-down its mission for anyone, adhering to it unfailingly and religiously. If you wanted a Ferrari, and were privileged enough to own one, then you became part of that single-minded mission to build the fastest, sexiest cars on the planet. Now? With this atrocity called the Ferrari FF, Ferrari has signaled that it wants to become more "approachable" and more "versatile" - two words that should never be associated with Ferrari under any circumstances or scenario. I don't care how fast the FF is - and no doubt it will be plenty fast with its 660HP V12 - mark my words, this car is the first crack in Ferrari's heretofore impenetrable focus and overriding mission. Next up? I don't doubt for a minute that Ferrari will build a four-door, four seater with generous amounts of "versatility" and "usable" cargo space. And the stop after that? Ferrari becomes just another car company in the swirling maelstrom of car companies jockeying for attention in the luxury-performance market. I have two more words for Ferrari to contemplate: Disgusting. And pathetic. - PMD
(Ferrari)
(Photos courtesy VW AG)
VW introduced the XL1 future mobility concept at the Qatar Motor Show this week and claims no other hybrid car powered by an electric motor/internal combustion engine combination is more fuel efficient. Conceptually the XL1 represents the third evolutionary stage of Volkswagen’s 1-liter car strategy, with the stated goal of bringing to market a production car that is practical for everyday use with a fuel consumption of 1.0 liter per 100 km. Featuring a combination of lightweight construction with monocoque and add-on parts made of carbon fiber (it weighs just 1,753 pounds), very low aerodynamic drag (Cd 0.186) and a plug-in hybrid system - consisting of a two cylinder TDI engine (35 kW / 48 PS), E-motor (20 kW / 27 PS), 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (DSG) and lithium-ion battery, the XL1 achieves fuel consumption of 0.9 l/100 km and emits only 24 g/km CO2, according to VW. Since it is designed as a plug-in hybrid, the XL1 prototype can also be driven for up to 35 kilometers in pure electric mode. The battery can be charged from a conventional household electric outlet and battery regeneration is also employed to recover energy while slowing down to store as much of it as possible in the battery for re-use. To travel at a constant speed of 100 km/h, VW claims that the prototype only needs 6.2 kW / 8.4 PS. In electric mode, the XL1 needs less than 0.1 kWh (82 Wh/km) to complete a one kilometer driving course. With full power of the hybrid system engaged, the Volkswagen prototype accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 11.9 seconds; with a top speed of 160 km/h (electronically limited). The XL1 is 3,888 mm long, 1,665 mm wide and just 1,156 mm tall. The height of the new XL1 is about the same as that of a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (1,184 mm).
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE AE STORE
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" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv. By the way, if you'd like to subscribe to the Autoline After Hours podcasts, click on the following links: Subscribe via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=311421319 http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/podcasts/feeds/afterhours-audio.xml If you would like to read previous Autoextremist issues, click on "Next Entry" below.
Subscribe via RSS: