Look, it’s even more good news out of Detroit. What with Ford actually making a profit, it looks like all the doom and gloom about the number of dealers set to be shuttered might have been estimated on the high side.

At least that’s the case if you believe David Cole, who is Chairman of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research. Cole told federal investigators that he thought General Motor’s and Chrysler’s projected dealership cuts will reduce market share in small to mid-sized markets. Cole summed it up by saying, “These cuts didn’t make any sense to me.”

David Cole cautioned the investigators that he has no research expertise or experience working directly with dealerships, and that he was asked to come speak only after he sent a letter to the Obama administration’s auto task force earlier this month stating his case for fewer dealership terminations. Although Chairman Cole did agree that terminations in larger metropolitan areas were in fact justified, he made the case that the automakers would be harming their historical stronghold in rural areas as well as modest-sized markets with many of the planned dealership terminations.

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Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, a name that should really need no introduction to serious American hot rod enthusiasts out there, will be bringing a version of the latest Trans Am to this year’s upcoming SEMA show. It’s got all of the Trans Am goodies you remember:

Duck-tail spoiler, fender vents, twin-port front grille, raised white-letter tires, a 445 cubic inch V8, honeycomb wheels and that hideous screaming chicken hood decal.

Wait a second, the Trans Am was a Pontiac, and Pontiac is now, officially, sadly, dead, you say. Indeed you are right, but that’s didn’t stop Lingenfelter, now did it?

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Car sales are up (thanks to cash for clunkers) and green initiatives from hybrids to solar panels on auto factory roofs seem to be everywhere these days. And now, more, green, good news comes from General Motors that a new, large battery plant will be built in Detroit, Michigan.

General Motors plans to invest $43 million in the new battery factory near Detroit. The new plant will build batteries for the upcoming and much anticipated Chevrolet Volt, although curiously, the cells themselves will come from Korea.

News of GM’s new batter facility comes hot on the heals of the $25 million battery R&D laboratory they opened last month and their promise to spend upwards of $800 million in retooling another plant in Orion Township to build another new small car.

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President Barack Obama defended his bailout of General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, citing their speedy exit from bankruptcy and saying the consequences of doing nothing would have been catastrophic.

“I agreed that they should be held accountable. But I also recognized the historic significance and economic prominence of these companies in communities all across Michigan and all across the country.”

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When General Motors Corp.’s top executives were choosing this year which brands to keep and which to ditch, Cadillac was unquestionably deemed to be a valuable asset that should be part of a new GM.

The most iconic of GM’s brands, Cadillac is known worldwide. In its heyday, it rolled out some of the most beautiful cars ever built, the fin-tailed sedans of the ’50s and ’60s that symbolized American optimism across the globe.

“We all use the expression ‘the Cadillac of toasters’ or ‘the Cadillac of something else.’ It still means ‘the best of’ to a lot of people,” said Csaba Csere, a contributing editor to Car and Driver magazine.

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Dave Bing began his first full day as mayor earlier this week addressing immediate crises and ongoing ones. Maybe the most important thing he has done so far involves wooing General Motors Corp. to stay in the Renaissance Center and persuading the company to remain in Detroit for the long-term.

Bing was a great NBA basketball player—so good he’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame. But, if he can keep GM in Detroit, it will be the greatest achievement of his life. The clock is running down, his team is down by three points and he has the ball. It’s a classic “do or die” situation, and if Bing succeeds, he can run for Governor of Michigan and win. Detroit is an embattled city right now, and if Bing can make it here, he can win the game for America’s Team. Detroit losing GM would be like the city losing either the basketball Pistons, the baseball Tigers, the hockey Red Wings or the football Lions.

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Finally some good news (sort of) from General Motors. It looks like Saturn, one of the GM divisions most often mentioned to be on the chopping block, might actually be spun off into its own independent company.

Last week General Motors said that Black Oak Partners along with other investors and a group of Saturn’s dealers are interested in buying the firm’s Saturn division. Black Oak Partners is a private equity firm, but GM has remained silent on who the other investors might be.

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Instead of constructing a whole new factory to make engines for its new Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle, General Motors has decided to build them in an existing facility located in Flint, Michigan.

The Chevy Volt is one of the most anticipated American-made vehicles that has come along in quite some time. You might even say that it’s a make-or-break car for GM. The carmaker is going all out to make the Volt a success and a household name.

People like the general idea of this car, because it’s economical, sporty and green. The Volt will rely on a lithium-ion battery pack that will let commuters travel up to 40 miles on electric power alone. The Volt’s engine kicks in after its battery is drained by about 70 percent to sustain the battery’s remaining charge to keep the car running for several hundred miles.

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Saab, acquired by GM a while back, and pretty much steadily underperforming since has been hanging by a thread for at least 9 months, and now things have gotten even worse. The Swedish automaker was forced to halt all production on Wednesday (the 25th), reportedly due to owing the Swedish Customs Agency a “considerable” sum of money for back duties. The upshot being the Swedish Customs Agency is blocking all Saab shipments originating from outside the European Union. If Saab wants to resume production, they must either come up with the money or receive financing from another source. “Saab is not getting a penny of credit from us,” a Customs agent added

Saab production manager Gunnar Brunius, had this to say, “The Customs Agency is holding onto our goods. I have received no indications about us being unable to pay.”

News of the production shut down follows closely on the heels of the bankruptcy filing by Saab. No dollar figure was mentioned in news from Scandinavia, but most likely it is far more than Saab has in cash reserves.

Source: LeftLaneNews

Uh-oh, this is bad, and looks like terminal news for what once was General Motor’s supposed harbinger of the way it world work in the future. GM product kingpin Bob Lutz intimates that Saturn is on its way to meet up with Ford’s Edsel and Kaiser’s Henry J in the great auto graveyard in the sky.

Says Maximum Bob, “We spent a huge bundle of money in giving Saturn an absolutely no-excuses product lineup, top to bottom. They had a better and fresher lineup than any GM division, and the sales just never materialized. So we have to act on that. It’s our duty.”

Which is another way to say, “it’s over”.

Which is sad, because initially, Saturn DID look like a good way to future success for GM. Everyone, it seemed, had great things to say about Saturn dealerships, and the whole experience of buying one of their cars, but in between there and now, something happened. For whatever reason, Saturn sales dropped, and dropped more than other GM divisions. And what was called “the Saturn dealer experience” turned sour for some. A lot of people went in to Saturn expecting not only the car-buying event to be different, but the car to work better than it actually did. It wasn’t, and so, we find ourselves where we are: looking at another funeral invite.

Source: Edmunds

The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit is the big stage, where carmakers get to strut their stuff, thump their chests and tout their newest vehicles. It’s a great time for manufacturers to garner praise, but it can also be an opportunity for the automotive press to thrash the powers-that-be.

Many thought that the Big 3 would come out of the show with egg on their faces. But, from what I’m hearing, exactly the opposite was true. By unveiling their newest vehicles and winning some awards, Ford, GM and Chrysler wrapped up the show with hope for the future.

“We’re not dead yet!” the Big 3 exclaimed. “Sales are sluggish right now, but you can’t keep American Ingenuity down for long.”

Don’t count out the Big 3 just yet. What some people have been calling the “Downturn of the Century” may just turn out be the “Greatest Comeback of Our Generation.” It’s a scary time, but it’s also potentially a very exciting period for the U.S. automotive industry. And with the presidential inauguration less than 24 hours away, this could be some great timing for the Big 3.

Photos from NAIAS and more after the jump.

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It gets crazier and crazier. What the hell is GM trying to hide? General Motors has asked the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to prevent public tracking of their corporate private jet. GM spokesman Greg Martin declined to comment on why GM made the request to the FAA, though what better way to reload Congress’s guns.

This comes on the heels of GM’s CEO, Rick Wagoner, being lambasted by U.S. lawmakers for flying the jet to Washington in order to ask for public funds of $25 billion in aid from the federal government. After lawmakers took the luxury-jet-setting-exec to task, the critical-quips flew through the air. “Couldn’t you have downgraded to first class or something, or jet-pooled?” Rep. Gary Ackerman asked at the hearing held by the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. It’s still up in the air (no pun intended) if Ford and Chrysler made a similar request to the FAA to keep their luxury jet where-a-bouts a secret.

It’s so easy to look at the GM corporate web site with ironic detachment. The sad jokes write themselves. Where to start? Why first there’s the tab that says Life at GM, which you click and in large fonts trumpets, Life @ GM…More For You to Love. It then states, “This is one of the most exciting times in our company history.”

SAD JOKE #1: I guess begging for a $25 billion bailout equals “exciting” in the eyes of GM executives.

At the bottom of the page it relays Our GM Vision: We earn our customers’ trust and enthusiasm through continuous improvement driven by integrity, teamwork and the innovation of GM people.

SAD JOKE #2: Nothing earns customers’ trust and enthusiasm more than begging for a $25 million bailout with the prospect of declaring bankruptcy and collapsing the auto industry.

The site actually as a link for career opportunities at GM. Yes, this is for those who might potentially be thinking of taking on a career with GM despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of autoworkers might be losing their jobs. You follow the link to a page showing roughly 7 well-groomed smiley people looking like you just told them they won the lottery, with the words, “Careers at GM…Love What You Do.”

If out-of-the-ordinary is your inspiration, you’ll have plenty of company at General Motors. We encourage our automotive professionals to breakaway from the mainstream and explore the unimagined.

SAD JOKE #3: Out-of-the-ordinary must be a euphemism for soon-to-be laid off and out-of-a-job.

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore spoke out last night about the auto industry on CNN’s Larry King Live.

“I’m of mixed mind with this bail out,” Moore said, who doesn’t want to see hundreds of thousands of autoworkers suffer at the hands of these auto makers, but at the same time,“I don’t think that these companies, with these management people, should be given a dime because that’s just money going up in smoke or off to other country.”

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By Alex Kramer

With the economy souring and auto sales plummeting, the possibility of one or more of the Big Three (GM, Chrysler, Ford) going bankrupt is becoming very real. Although an argument can be easily made that they dug their own grave through bad strategic decisions, inept management, and less than competitive products, there remains the question of whether the domestic car industry is too significant to fail.

Lining up on the pro side of a bailout are the Democrats in Congress, who are trying to push through an additional $50 billion in cash for the carmakers. Following the same logic that led the Fed to bailout the banks, the argument is that any bankruptcy in Detroit would have a devastating ripple effect on the economy.

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