Autoblog

Bill Vlasic, the man who was kind enough to drop the GM/Chrysler pseudo-bombshell on us late Friday night, posted a follow-up to his remarkably unremarkable story claiming that General Motors originally had talks with Ford about a possible merger before approaching the Pentastar people.

Again, the New York Times' scribe cites two unnamed sources about the merger discussions, reporting that GM approached Ford with the proposal, only to have FoMoCo execs shoot down the idea after several meetings. The talks included GM CEO Rick Wagoner, president Frederick Henderson, Ford's executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. and chief exec Alan Mulally.

According to the NYT's shy sources, the Blue Oval boys broke off talks in September when Ford and Mulally came to the conclusion that Ford would be better off reorganizing on its own rather than being tied to another automaker.

The Detroit News got in on the action yesterday, citing another anonymous source that said, "There were never in-depth, substantive discussions that went on. It was more an expression of interest [on GM's part], as in, 'Do you want to talk?'" Ford declined.

While all these reports are great at selling dead trees (and generating page-views), it deserves noting that high-level discussions between automakers are nothing new and hardly uncommon. Recent discussions – particularly those in the cited time-frame of three or four months, when federal loans to Detroit's Big Three were on everyone's lips – are surely newsworthy, let's not forget that parts sharing, from transmissions to hybrid drivetrains, have been happening routinely over the last few years. All this leads us to believe that business between Motown's finest will continue unchanged (for better and worse) and that unbelievable headlines are exactly that.

[Sources: NYT, Detroit News]

The financial peril that currently faces the U.S. domestic automakers is no secret, and according to Wall Street Journal report published yesterday, Ford is mulling over the possibility of unloading at least part of its controlling stake in Mazda to raise cash. Japanese media, via the AP, said that Ford would likely keep some interests in the Japanese automaker after such a move -- no surprise when you consider how closely tied Ford and Madza are right now in terms of shared technology. The Oval's third-quarter numbers are expected to be pretty ugly, and the Journal's source said that the potential sale of its Mazda holdings is one of many moves reportedly under consideration as Dearborn looks for ways to add to its cash on hand. For its part, Mazda denies that any decision has been made (a non-denial, really -- no outlets reported that a deal had yet been completed) and Ford weighed in with a to-be-expected "no comment." As they say, to be continued...

[Sources: The Wall Street Journal, AP]

This could be Japanese-only news, or just a case of bad translation, but Toyota Managing Officer Toshio Furutani has apparently told Japan's Nikkei Business News that Toyota wants every vehicle in the Lexus product line to offer a hybrid option, and that "in the medium to long term, Toyota was considering making the Lexus lineup hybrid-only."

That sounds like he could mean Lexus, period, all over the world. But our questions come from the fact that the same report said that the Nikkei listed only the LS and GS models as currently available with a hybrid option, neglecting to mention the RX. And the fact that for Lexus to offer only hybrids in the U.S. would be an eyebrow-arching brand decision. Not that there isn't anyone out there in the market for a hybrid IS-F, but would you really risk it? We'll wait for a follow-up from someone at Toyota, or we'll just assume Furutani's comments were meant for other ears than ours.

[Source: Reuters]

Regardless of what you think of Porsche's upcoming Panamera (we're currently on the fence), it is going to be an extremely important launch for the company. Despite the fact that purists panned the Cayenne, it has sold like hotcakes and has made an extremely tidy profit for the German automaker, now in the midst of a major takeover of Volkswagen, the most valuable automaker in the world. Obviously, Porsche is hoping for similar successes from its very expensive four door. As we've heard countless times, a hybrid option is currently in the works and a diesel engine is also on the drawing board. We're not entirely sure how the crazy German engineers will do it, but a targa-style top is also being developed. No matter, we'll have all the details soon enough as Porsche brings its production Panamera to the 2009 Geneva Motor Show in March.


[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

BMW has been aggressively expanding its vehicle offerings, and like most other automakers, crossovers make up the majority of additions. Earlier this year, team Bimmer added the X6, and with the X1 concept unveiled in Paris, mild-to-wild CUVs seem to be the focus for the boys in Bavaria. Automotive News is reporting that the SAV love will continue next year when BMW unleashes the X4. Design elements are said to come from the larger X6, which is to say that it'll probably look like a really tall hatchback. The X1 concept and the production X3 are based off of the excellent 3-Series platform, and we're guessing the X4 will also don the sharp-handling underpinnings.

If this is what BMW needs to do in order to remain the world's top-selling luxury automaker, we're not so sure it's worth the trouble. The X1 will probably sell relatively well, but it will do so with underwhelming sheet metal. An X4 based off the X6 sounds like an even worse proposition, but then again, we didn't think the X6 was a bright idea either.

UPDATE: A BMW spokesperson told 4Car that the automaker has no plans to produce an X4.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

The whisperers have it that Bugatti may be borrowing from Bentley for a new sedan. What they can't seem to pinpoint is exactly what kind of sharing the two marques will be doing, and whether or not the resulting super Bug will be a supremely high-powered four-door to compete with the Rolls-Royce Phantom. If the two brands do indeed share something, like the next Arnage's platform, for instance, that might make sense. But just a few months ago, Bugatti said that its next product would be even more expensive than the Veyron, and lead man Josef Paefgen has also said that there will be no inexpensive Bugatti.

A $400,000 sedan wouldn't be inexpensive, true, but compared to $1.6 million for a Veyron, it's a flat-out bargain. Besides, the $242,000 Arnage T, after all the bespoke options, would come perilously close to a $400K Bugatti in price, and the next Bentley Arnage is growing in order to fight the Phantom. So if a Bugatti sedan with Bentley underpinnings were that close in price to a Rolls Phantom... then who's Bentley meant to get in the ring with?

[Source: TopSpeed via German Car Blog]

In a recent post about the 2009 Dodge Challenger SE, KickingTires quotes director of Dodge brand marketing, Mike Accavitti, saying that there will be no convertible version of the reborn muscle car in Dodge showrooms. Apparently the platform would require too much additional hardware to handle the extra flex from cutting the roof off, and the added weight would push the car too far into the Sumo class. And that would be with just a simple manual soft-top, not one of them there new-fangled retractable hardtops that are the top du jour for convertible buyers. There's also the issue of cost and the fact that Dodge's market analysis seems to indicate there isn't a huge market for them. We understand the reasoning and know that even the coupes are going to be low-volume, but we would humbly like to suggest a limited run of SRT-8 convertibles at double the coupe's asking price. Say 20 or so. Buyers will pay twice the sticker price at least and mothball them immediately so they can be exhumed in 2050 and be the '71 Hemi 'Cuda convertible equivalents of their day.


[Source: KickingTires]

Just a few days ago, we got to see Chevy unveil the Orlando concept at the Paris Motor Show. We surmised at the time that this seven-seat multi-purpose vehicle seems like the logical next step for the idea that General Motors started with the Chevy HHR. Perhaps it won't be. Motor Authority is claiming that the production version of the Orlando won't be assembled in the U.S. and we may get passed over entirely due to the expected cost of the vehicle, which is based on the same Delta platform as the upcoming Cruze compact car and Volt series hybrid. Additionally, GM has stated that it has no plans to end production of the HHR anytime soon. But this is all speculation for now. As for whether it's much ado about nothing, we'll see.


[Source: Motor Authority]

The rumormill is a funny thing, and sometimes it can run amok. This appears to be one of those times. The DigitalCorvettes.com forum posted a note earlier this evening saying that Corvette ZR1 production has been halted (Bowling Green is shut down this week, so no Vettes are being built at the moment) and suggesting that the ZR1 may be cancelled. A post on dealer Rick "Corvette" Conti's blog, linked in the referenced DigitalCorvettes thread, added to the intrigue.

Autoblog has contacted GM's Terry Rhadigan, who handles global communications for the Chevrolet brand. We presented the DigitalCorvettes link and asked for an official response. His was very clear:

"Not true."