I Love A Parade

This morning I went down and saw the annual Celebrate Birmingham parade. This is an annual affair with a small-town feel, where two marching bands, the shriners, local politicians, and lots of interesting cars make a slow circuit around downtown Birmingham before retiring to the central park for a day of kiddie fun. Here is a selection of the more interesting vehicles from the parade.

A classic Ford

The Oakland Country DARE Truck (our tax dollars at work...)

Oakland County dive rescue

A cool antique fire engine

A Chrysler wagon


Eastern Bloc army truck?

Ford convertible

Another classif Ford

The Celtic Pipes and Drums


The Shriner's wheelie wagon, based on an old Ford truck I think

Shriners on little scooters

Now come the old-west Shriners


Not very P.C. but he was funny.

Another old car converted for clown duty


This tree service truck looks like a recycled old ladder fire truck.

The Falun Gong were out in force. No one felt threatened. The state was not destabilized.

Interesting taste in women.

Cool spring-stilt walkers


The tail end of the parade was a huge mass of bassett hounds.

Chrysler's Dealer Destruction Hits Home

One of the Chrysler dealers on the dealer closing list that Chrysler filed with the bankruptcy court today is Birmingham Chrysler Jeep, known for its odd jingle, "Birmingham's In Troy!". This dealership is not far from my house. It is a corner store in the sprawling Troy Motor Mall, a huge collection of different car dealerships.

Sunset In Troy

BCJ was, according to this news article, in the top 20 dealerships in the country. It has been owned by the Mealey family since 1966, and employs 90 people. BCJ is known in the area for its fun, corny advertising, such as this spot where the owner snow blows his lot and rides around on a lawn tractor.

I wasn't expecting Birmingham Chrysler Jeep to close. I thought Chrysler/Fiat would want a slot in the Troy Motor Mall, where they could compete directly against the other brands, just yards away. But the massive Golling dealership in nearby Bloomfield Hills, which was chosen to stay open, sells all three Chrysler brands from one huge lot.

I know people who work at this dealership. This morning, when they got the news that they were expected to close, 40 employees were laid off all at once. All around the country, the same scene was repeated today. All around the country, people are tasting the salty, metallic flavor of failure.

GM Plans To Import Chinese Cars

According to the Automotive News, which obtained a copy of a product plan document which GM submitted to Obama's auto task force, GM is planning to ramp up production of cars in China for importation to the U.S.  Starting with about 17,000 cars in 2011, the number would increase to about 51,000 by 2014.  

GM already imports Chinese made engines (the 3.4L pushrod iron block V6 in the Equinox/Torrent), and I won't buy one.

If GM imports Chinese cars, I won't even consider one of those, either.

The UAW and the Democrats are going to tear GM a new one for this.  If you are relying on a UAW-friendly Democrat-controlled congress to save you, maybe plans for Chinese importation aren't smart, when Ford is re-tooling Michigan Truck to use UAW labor to build small cars.  

More here.

Here Piggy

Heh.

(Encyclopedia Dramatica)

Bottomfishing The Best Of The Dying Brands

It isn't quite time for bottom fishing, but it is getting close. Depending on what your needs are, you should soon be able to pick up a decent car from a dying brand at a very good price.

If I was in the market, here are some cars I would consider:

GM:

• Pontiac Vibe -- Decent small hatch, though a rental fleet favorite. Nice, practical package. Weird rear window.
• Pontiac G8 -- Probably the best car Pontiac is selling now. I'm not a fan of the nostrils, but otherwise a very sharp car. Good engines.
• Pontiac G6 -- Decent midsize sedan/coupe. Also a rental fleet favorite.
• Pontiac G5 -- Great if you wanted a Cobalt to begin with, or a functional compact car.
• Pontiac Torrent -- Decent, practical small SUV, saddled with a crummy Chinese built engine.
• Saturn Aura -- Won the 2007 Car Of The Year award. The precurser to the new Malibu. Sharp looking.
• Saturn Astra -- Great small car, if a little underpowered. Tight European style and handling.
• Saturn Vue -- Decent small SUV, if a bit heavy.

Chrysler:

• Chrysler 300C -- Long in the tooth but still a nice design. If you don't mind gun-slit windows and so-so fuel economy, this is a nice rear wheel drive choice.
• Chrysler Town & Country -- Competent. If you need a minivan, you may be willing to trade Honda dynamics and residual values for the discount on one of these.
• Dodge Ram -- Newly refreshed, the Ram is hlghly rated and is winning comparisons against other full sized pickups in the press.
• Dodge Journey -- New crossover SUV from Dodge. Looks like a decent package, reviews are mixed.
• Dodge Challenger -- Chrysler's Mustang fighter.
• Dodge Charger -- Sportier, meaner version of the 300c. Rear wheel drive, aggressive styling.

In my opinion, these vehicles are good enough that someone could buy one without massive compromises, and reap the benefits of the desperate pricing environment. I think it is unlikely that you would be stuck with an unfixable car if something did break, even if GM and Chrysler are broken up in bankrupcy court. Even if the companies collapse, the market for replacement parts and service will ensure that someone will be able to repair them. With the government warranty backing there isn't much warranty cost risk, either.

DOE Cutting Hydrodgen Car Funding

Obama's Department Of Energy Secretray Stephen Chu announced that the DOE is cutting funds for research into hydrogen powered cars.  From the budget rollout presentatio (here)

FY 2010 budget cuts less effective programs so we can invest in our economic future.  For example:

Cutting funding for deep-water and unconventional oil and gas research that industry can and does fund on its own. 

Moving away from funding vehicular hydrogen fuel cells to technologies with more immediate promise

I think, on this one, Chu (and Obama) are correct.  H2 is very far away from being practical, mostly because of the massive task that a hydrogen fuelling infrastructure would be.  There would be much greater short term benefits from research into better batteries.

Republicans and Hybrids

Over at the WSJ, the question is asked, "Where are the Republican hybrid buyers?".

The answer, is that most people (not just Republicans) won't buy a hybrid until the economics work out, and until the cars available will be a minimal sacrifice in handling, room, and performance.

For example, the closest to a no-compromises mid-size hybrid that I have seen to date from a Detroit automaker is a Ford Fusion hybrid. But it costs around $30,000! An I4 Fusion can be bought for much closer to $20,000.

The author makes the argument that some conservatives will be attracted to the national security aspects of hybrids. I agree with this personally, and if hybrids become affordable, I would consider one even at a modest premium to a gasoline vehicle.

Without a clear cost advantage, hybrid sales have to rely primarily on the segment willing to pay more for green -- a segment that has been hard-hit by the financial crisis yet still seems to be growing. But if we really want to expand the number of buyers, we should develop new arguments that appeal to the Republicans who have been holding back. To look at it another way, every hybrid car reduces not just greenhouse gases but reduces our dependence on foreign oil -- especially the new plug-in hybrids under development. And that means that buying a hybrid is not just good for the environment, but good for our energy independence and national security.

Obama is doing his part to promote hybrids in many ways. One way that isn't as frequently mentioned is that his administration is not as friendly to oil drilling as Bush's was. Obama's policy will restrict the supply of new oil, which will drive the price up (and, of course profits to OPEC). This will cause people to consider hybrids, as gas goes back to $3/gal over the long term.

Even Republicans understand $3 gas.