Automotive News - March 9, 2009 - (Page 30) 30 • FEBRUARY 9, 2009 final assembly comment CHICAGO >> Get complete coverage of the Chicago Auto Show this week at autonews.com/chicago China tops U.S.? False alarm Don’t pitch that polyester — the 1970s are back I’m having this weird flashback that it’s the late 1970s again. A self-proclaimed populist president with an aggressive, liberal social agenda is in the White House. America is trying to shake off the effects of an unpopular war. An energy crisis has turned the light-vehicle market upside down. Iran’s leader is on the muscle. Automakers and suppliers are in Washington looking for help. And the EDWARD LAPHAM drumbeats of protectionism IS EXECUTIVE can be heard EDITOR OF AUTOMOTIVE along the banks NEWS. of the Potomac. Far out. Gradually, over the past three decades, it seemed as if protectionism and trade wars, like leisure suits and C.B. radios, were relics of that bygone era. In this century of global trade and economic interdependency, surely wise men and women would see the folly of building walls instead of partnerships, especially when it comes to automobiles. Dream on, dude. Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Tom Harkin of Iowa sure made me feel like a chump. Their proposed cash-for-clunkers amendment to the stimulus package would have given a $10,000 rebate to certain buyers who trade in a vehicle at least 10 years old for a new fuel efficient car or truck assembled in the United States. The proposal died, but not the sentiment. The whole tone of the so-called stimulus package, after all, has been “buy American,” right down to the steel that will be used in public works projects. Predictably, the associations that represent overseas manufacturers and their dealers have freaked out. The associations say the buy-American language is unfair and could prompt retaliation abroad. They’re probably right. But my hang-up is the potential for bad blood among Americans. When times get nasty, so do some people. You already can see bumper stickers taunting people who buy foreign cars. If people in the Midwest start crushing imports with tanks again and people on the two coasts start burning big SUVs, we’ll know we’re in a time warp. What a bummer. Edward Lapham writes commentaries each week for autonews.com. Read them at autonews.com/edwardlapham. G eneral Motors’ chief sales analyst made a big splash last week when he said the U.S. auto market is such a mess that — for the first time ever — China is leading the United States in sales. “We are estimating that China is going to come in at a 10.7 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in January, about 790,000 units,” Mike DiGiovanni told reporters during a sales briefing. “The U.S. industry we estimate at about 668,000 units, or about 9.8 million” at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. But things aren’t quite that grim. DiGiovanni has an apples-andoranges problem. Seasoned China watchers noted that the China total, unlike the U.S. figure, includes commercial vehicles, not just cars and light trucks. Although the 790,000 estimate for China in January sounds plausible — hard numbers aren’t yet available — commercial vehicles generally account for about one-third of China’s total. So, on a light-vehicle basis, the United States remains ahead — even though the actual U.S. total for January was just 656,881. Asked to clarify DiGiovanni’s numbers, GM spokesman John McDonald said: “Everyone figures these numbers differently.” So the “lags-behind-China” headlines remain on news Web sites across the nation — not such a bad thing for automakers, perhaps, as the Obama administration and Congress prepare to deliberate on whether the U.S. industry needs help. The Fisker Karma: Powell approves An ex-general salutes the Fisker Bangle departs, no longer the butt of jokes uring his 16 years as BMW’s design boss, Chris Bangle supervised the styling of several striking Bimmers, not to mention the group’s Rolls-Royce Phantom and Mini reincarnation. But mark our words, the blond, boyish Bangle, now 52, will best be remembered for a little something called the “Bangle butt.” Last week, BMW said Bangle is leaving “to pursue his own designrelated endeavors beyond the auto industry.” His replacement: Adrian van Hooydonk, head of design for the BMW brand. Critics swarmed when BMW unveiled the 2002 7 series, with its unconventional treatment of the rear deck lid. Not since Ford unveiled the doomed Scorpio at the Paris auto show in 1994 had a car created such a stir. “I could not believe my eyes,” Tom Tjaarda, the independent Chris Bangle: “You have to be a little different sometimes.” Italian designer, said at the Frankfurt show that year. “It is lumpy, with confusing lines, and it looks as if the boot is open.” Bangle calmly defended the 7 series. “You have to be a little different sometimes,” he said at the time. The rear design was softened a bit on the face-lifted 7 series that followed, but it was Bangle who got the last laugh. Not only was the car a smash hit; the backsides of the succeeding Lexus LS and MercedesBenz S class appeared to borrow heavily from the 2002 7 series. Bangle, a graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., spent most of his career in Europe. He began at Opel in Germany, then joined Fiat in 1985. In 1992, he moved to Munich as BMW’s design chief, the first American to hold that job. “Christopher Bangle has had a lasting impact on the identity of BMW Group’s brands,” Klaus Draeger, BMW’s development chief, said in a statement. “His contribution to the company’s success has been decisive.” Bangle butt on BMW’s 2002 7 series olin Powell, retired Army general, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state, also found time to become a car buff. At one point he was hooked on old Volvos. “I’ve kind of moved on from there,” he told Automotive News last week at the Washington Auto Show. Powell lingered at the small display by Fisker Automotive, which plans to begin deliveries late this year of a high-end plug-in hybrid sports sedan called the Karma. Prices start at $87,900. The reasons for his interest? “I just find this technology fascinating,” he said, adding that he may get one. “It’s a beautiful thing, don’t you think?” But he was mixing business with pleasure. He’s a limited partner in the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has put money into Fisker. So, he added, “I wanted to see the product we’re investing in.” No partying going on here, congressman Is the annual Harbour Report headed into hiding? O T he Harbour Report is getting bigger — which, ironically, might make it harder to see. The auto industry’s closely watched annual report card is expanding its scrutiny this year, grading automakers on factory safety and environmental practices. Ron Harbour, a partner at Oliver Wyman, the Detroit consulting firm that publishes the report, says automakers might not want to share the data. He thinks some might fear consumer backlash from news reports that some companies are less environmentally progressive than competitors, or more dangerous places to work. The report, issued every summer, has become a public review of the industry, ranking the productivity of plants. Results are shared with the news media and sold to anyone who’s interested. But this year the report might be private, released only to the automakers who are graded. Harbour told Automotive News: “We will be making a decision on that a little later in the year.” THE FINAL SAY Ford alums in high-voltage competition We are not asking for anything from Chrysler. We’re not going to take any of its money. We’re offering platforms, engines and a distribution network outside of North America, in exchange for an equity position. Really, the risk is all on us. — Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, speaking to The New York Times “ T ” wo ex-Ford execs who ran the hybrid vehicle program now head rival battery companies and are battling for business. From 1998 to 2003, Prabhakar Patil led the team that began work on the Ford Escape Hybrid. It was tough getting suppliers on different continents to work together, and the program was behind schedule when Mary Ann Wright took over and got the vehicle launched in late 2004. Wright left Ford in 2005 for Collins & Aikman. Now she heads hybrid operations for Johnson Controls and runs the its battery joint venture with Saft, of France. Patil resurfaced in 2005 at Compact Power, a unit of South Korea’s LG Chem. Last month Patil’s company scored a coup by winning the contract to provide lithium ion batteries for the Chevrolet Volt. Last week Wright’s company won a big Patil: Compact Power Wright: Johnson Controls contract from Ford to make battery packs for plug-in hybrids starting in 2012. Johnson Controls-Saft has contracts with Mercedes-Benz, BMW and two Chinese automakers. Look for electrifying news from both battery makers soon. It’s not official, but Patil’s company is the likely choice to provide batteries for Hyundai’s upcoming hybrid, and Wright’s company probably will sell batteries to Peugeot and perhaps other European automakers. ne tidbit of Super Bowl tradition — awarding a Cadillac to the game’s MVP — took place this year, although you probably didn’t hear about it. General Motors kept a low profile. Unlike previous years, it ran no ads, had no vehicles on the field, hosted no parties and didn’t shell out for tickets for execs or dealers. But GM has a contract with the NFL that calls for the MVP — this year, Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes — to pick out the Cadillac of his choice. (Holmes chose an $84,000 Escalade Platinum edition.) So why tamp down the publicity — which, aside from a little football, is what the Super Bowl is all about? “Given the current business environment, it was much more appropriate we not do that,” GM spokeswoman Joanne Krell told the New York Daily News. In the current political climate, that probably was a good plan. Better to miss a headline or http://www.autonews.com/chicago http://www.autonews.com http://www.autonews.com/edwardlapham
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