Jil McIntosh

In the news: Viper lives

Chrysler has announced a change of plans for the Viper. The brand was for sale, its sole Conner Avenue assembly location destined to be shuttered this coming December. Today, the company has announced that production will continue and that it's no longer wooing suitors to buy the marque.

I'll stand off to the side, so I don't get hit by the debris. Come Monday morning, every environmentalist in North America will be flinging mud.

My take on it? Chrysler's done the right thing.

Here's a fact: North Americans think the Detroit Three (and more specifically, the two that got government funding) should solely build small, fuel-efficient cars and hybrids. The problem is that they want someone else to buy them. Go look at the top ten best-selling cars in the U.S. Only one is a compact (the Prius, which really doesn't count), and none are subcompacts. President Obama and the EPA can force GM and Chrysler to build the cars that look good on recycled paper, but they can't force people to buy them.

No matter how much an automaker tries to break the mold, people have perceptions of companies that are very hard to break. In the public's eye, Volvo is the (only) safety car; Toyota is the hybrid maker; Saturn's the feel-good-hug (and still has plastic panels, according to many); Chev and Ford are truck builders; and only yuppies buy BMWs. And that really means that, no matter how many hybrids or small reliable cars the American manufacturers produce, they're never going to catch the Japanese in sales with those vehicles. So they've got to make their money where they can.

Fact: when people complain about inefficient gas guzzlers, they point to vehicles like the Suburban and Expedition. They never mention Ferrari or Lamborghini, and there's a reason for that. Those models aren't even on the environmental map. They're rare and they don't get driven much. I'm guessing the average Prius drinks more fuel in a year than the average Gallardo. And that's the type of company the Viper keeps. Sure, it gets 17 miles to the gallon. And how many times have you seen one idling in commuter traffic, six days a week, taking one person to the office?

On the other hand, how many do you see unsold on dealer lots? Dodge has built about 25,000 of them in 17 years, and has sold every one of them. And each one of the approximately 1,500 units it turns out each year probably earns the automaker as much profit as a week's production of minivans. It's profit that helps keep an auto company afloat, and will help guarantee that it will be able to meet its government obligations.

Chrysler made a decision that's going to be unpopular with the letter-writers and the opinion columnists. But it's made the decision that's going to ultimately be the correct one. You can build all the cars you want. The smart money's on building the cars people want to buy.

In review: 2010 Mazda3

In today's Toronto Star, I have a review of the 2.0-litre Mazda3, which you can find by clicking here.

More Little Red Flyer Wagon!

My husband is at it again -- he had a chance to drive his Honda-powered Radio Flyer wagon on the track at Shannonville.

Toyota Canada Motor Skills Clinic

I have a story on the Toyota Canada Motor Skills Clinic on Canadian Driver, which you can find by clicking here.

Nothing gets by you, does it?

I was at a car show today, driving an old car that doesn't have a working gas gauge. Car refused to start. So I got out, opened the trunk, and took out a can of gasoline.

I was standing beside the car, with a container of gas, feeding it into the fuel filler. And sure enough, someone came up to me, right on schedule, and said:

"Ran out of gas, huh?"

In review: 2009 Porsche Cayenne V6

On today's Canadian Driver, I have a review of the V6-powered 2009 Porsche Cayenne. You can get to it by clicking here.

Every woman wants a tractor ...

Well, I sure do. That's why I entered The Great Bobcat Tractor Pull Contest, which gives folks a chance to explain why they want a new Bobcat compact tractor. And didn't I end up winning one of the monthly prizes, which was a beautiful (and unbelievably heavy) limited-edition book of the company's first 50 years.

And now I'm in the running for the tractor itself. I don't have a direct link to my entry, but if you go to Bobcat Tractor Pull, you can click on "Past Winners" at the bottom, and then scroll across until you get to my name. Click on it, and there's the entry.

This is an Aston Martin?

This is an Aston Martin. Well, it might be soon, if all goes according to plan.

The car shown here is actually the Toyota iQ, a subcompact the company sells in Japan and Europe. But Aston Martin -- and this is not a joke -- has produced a concept vehicle from it, which it calls the Cygnet.

According to the company, should the project go ahead, Aston Martin will sell a luxury version of this little machine, "akin to an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht," according to the CEO.

If ever you needed proof that the auto world's been turned on its head, I don't think you can do any better than this.

Oh, the irony ...

I was writing up some specs for a buyer's guide yesterday, and noticed that General Motors has discontinued an exterior paint color called Blue Chip ...

Confused about hybrids? Here's some help ...

Last week I was in Vancouver with Toyota, where part of the event involved a comparison of the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Fusion Hybrid. My Toronto Star story, which dealt with the confusion buyers have about hybrids, can be found by clicking here.

Now it's special glass for California ...

I never thought I'd say this, but from an environmental standpoint, I feel a bit sorry for the automakers.

The state of California has become the environmental hotbed, setting mandates that have required companies to produce vehicles that meet specifications unique to the state. I'm sure every car company breathed a long sigh of relief when the U.S. federal government finally agreed that California's fuel and emissions standards would apply everywhere. As one automaker told me, "We'll meet whatever you want -- just give us one number for everybody."

And just when the playing field was equal again, California looked at glass. So starting in 2012, all new vehicles sold in the state must have window glass that reflects at least 45% of the sun's energy. And by 2016, the glass must reflect 60% of heat-producing rays. The theory is that cars will be cooler, air conditioning won't have to work as hard, and fuel use and emissions will benefit.

Which means that, once again, automakers will have to outfit vehicles specifically for California. And the state estimates that the cost for the windows will average $70 for the 2012 standard, and $250 for the 2016 standard. It's expected that the annual gasoline savings will be $16 and $20 a year respectively.

That's a lot of money to add to the price of a car, and I wonder where it's all going to stop. In the U.S., cars will now have to have airbags, vehicle stability control, anti-lock brakes and tire pressure monitoring systems by law. And yet, buyers still flock to vehicles that start around $10,000, because that's all they have to spend.

It's not going to be California's mandates that help clean the air; it's going to be the fact that no one will be able to afford to drive. And in a state that was developed primarily around single-occupancy vehicles, how will the less-well-off ever get around?

In review: the Volkswagen Eos

On today's Canadian Driver, I have a review of the 2009 Volkswagen Eos. You can find it by clicking here.

Toyota Motor Skills Clinic: Helping patients relearn the road

In today's Toronto Star, I have a story on the Toyota Motor Skills Clinic, which is used to help rehabilitation patients relearn how to get in and out of a vehicle, and navigate different road and sidewalk surfaces. You can read it by clicking here.

Never mind war bonds -- buy a car!

In the news today: a controversial "Cash for Clunkers" bill is heading closer to becoming law in the United States. Under the program, drivers who trade in an older vehicle to be recycled will receive a voucher worth up to $4,500 to buy a new vehicle.

The plan is intended to be twofold: first, it gets people buying new cars, and second, it's meant to retire higher-polluting vehicles and replace them with cleaner, more fuel-efficient ones.

Fine and good. But what tickled my funny bone is that the bill is part of a larger $106 billion wartime spending bill. Ah, how times have changed. In World War II, car factories were shut down, tires and gasoline were rationed, and almost no one could buy a new car for the duration. In these New War Times, the government's not only encouraging you to spend for a new one, it'll help share the cost!

After the rebound: who's left to buy anything?

In the news today, a new report suggestions that Canada's auto parts manufacturers will lose money in 2009, but will start to turn a profit in 2010, and should be back up to full speed, money-wise, by 2013. This will all come about due to some major structural changes, including shedding 36,000 jobs in 2009.

Read that slowly. Thirty-six thousand jobs.

Along with making more profit because they don't have to pay so many of those pesky wages, Canada's auto parts manufacturers will come back to the brink due to the anticipated rebound in car sales, according to the report.

But every time I turn around, there's a press release telling me how many jobs are being shed in the name of returning to viability. A few hundred here, a couple of thousand there, 36,000 in this particular release.

There's no question that many -- perhaps most -- companies in the auto industry have been overstaffed for many years, back when no one thought the gravy boat would ever run dry. But when your profitability depends on massive numbers of people buying items that can cost a year's salary or more, and you've taken away their jobs, well, just who is left to buy your product?

Fossil Fuels Are Yummy!

I got these in the mail yesterday. Politically incorrect, and hell yes, they're going on the hot rods. You can get yours at House O' Speed. Nice folks, great service, and all sorts of fun stuff in the catalogue.

In review: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro

On today's Canadian Driver, I have a review of the V6 Camaro, which you can find by clicking here.

General Motors: the new McDonald's of the car world?

I was out for a walk with my Other Half today, and we got to discussing the future of the car industry. (Well, what do other couples talk about?) And when it came to what might happen to General Motors, the company that came to mind was McDonald's.

Okay, some background. Much of the bailout money is dependent on General Motors (and Chrysler) concentrating on hybrids and small, fuel-efficient cars. And I don't think that's necessarily very smart. Letter-writers and "green" politicians want auto companies to build mostly hybrids and tiny cars. The problem is that the public isn't all that keen on buying them, especially in the U.S., where the sales numbers really matter. Hybrid vehicles have never held more than 4% of the American new-vehicle market. And subcompact cars don't come anywhere near the top ten in the U.S.; even luxury cars outsell them. It's great to look green, but not if it puts you in the red.

Many of the major automakers are famous for something, even if it's not exclusive to that brand. Most buyers equate Volvo with safety, even though other companies now make vehicles that are just as safe. Toyota's all about hybrids, in spite of the Tundra and Sequoia. And General Motors, no matter what its woes, makes some vehicles that people still buy in droves and which return a decent profit: pickup trucks, Suburbans, and other assorted SUVs.

Hence the McDonald's analogy. Sure, in an effort to put on a "healthy" face, McDonald's plays up its salads and wraps. And what do most people do? Look right past them, and continue to order the Big Mac, large fries and keg-o-cola.

And maybe that's what will happen with General Motors. It'll make hybrids and small cars, and it will sell some of them and put on the green face, while it stays afloat with the pickup trucks and SUVs that Americans are buying. And maybe it isn't the best thing for the planet right now, but a country full of idled plants, closed dealerships and people with no jobs isn't such a grand idea, either.