Autoextremist.com ~ the bare-knuckled, unvarnished, high-electron truth...

March 9, 2011

Editor-in-Chief's Note: It was announced today (3/10) that General Motors Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell will leave the company April 1, 2011, "having completed the largest public offering in history and stabilizing the company’s financial operations," according to GM. Liddell, 52, joined GM in January 2010 and led the company’s financial and accounting operations on a global basis. “Chris was a major contributor during a pivotal time in the company’s history,” said Dan Akerson, GM chairman and CEO. “He guided the company’s IPO process and established a good financial foundation for the future.” Dan Ammann will succeed Liddell as General Motors chief financial officer, effective April 1, 2011. Ammann, 38, is currently GM vice president, finance and treasurer, and is actually a genuine car guy, according to an impeccable inside GM source. I thought Liddell's statement to the media was interesting, to say the least: “I came to General Motors to be part of something great,” Liddell said. “My objective was to help rebuild this iconic company and I am particularly pleased that through this process, we have also developed a strong successor in Dan Ammann.” Wait a minute, wasn't this the same guy who came from Microsoft with designs on the Chairman's job? Isn't this the same guy that former GM CEO "Big Ed" Whitacre said would be a candidate for Chairman back in January 2010??? Yes, that's the same guy. Something doesn't smell right here. Either Liddell clashed with "Lt. Dan" or with Steve Girsky, or both. The result? He's gone. Needless to say, we will delve into finding out the rest of the story, you can count on it. - PMD

Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr., CEO Alan Mulally. Editor-in-Chief's Note: Memo to all the hand wringers and whiners out there who are somehow offended by the big stock payouts to these guys: They didn't take the money, they made the tough decisions, and they pressed the re-set button and re-focused the company on designing, engineering and building the best cars and trucks they can possibly build. And guess what? Ford cars and trucks are ultra-competitive and in some cases class leading. And American consumers are taking notice and buying more and more of 'em every day. That's called success in this business and when you're successful, you get rewarded. Period. The last time I checked, nobody gets a cut for just showing up. That's that way it works here in America and that's the way it should be. - PMD

Audi. The luxury Juggernaut's upward trajectory continues, delivering record profits and sales in fiscal year 2010. Audi plans more models, more sales in expanding markets (and here in the U.S. too), and they have one goal in mind: To unseat BMW as the world's largest premium automaker. Will they succeed? Book it.

Volvo. From the "Shoving 50 lbs. In A 25 lb. Bag" File comes word that Stefan Jacoby, newly ensconced as Volvo's CEO after his stint at VW, is predicting 120,000 sales in the U.S. by 2020. Volvo sold just under 54,000 units here in 2010 and just over 373,000 worldwide. Will Volvo succeed? With everyone else declaring that they will double and triple sales in this market by the 2018-2020 time frame (including VW predicting 800,000 units by 2018), the available slices of the sales pie will be nonexistent. The short answer? Notgonnahappen.com.

Tesla Model S Buyers. Attention all of you "first-on-the-block-gotta-get-me-one" types, be prepared to pay through the nose to get your green on. In the immortal words of my colleague John McElroy, "Saving the environment ain’t cheap." And Tesla is out to prove that by charging $77,400 for the first 1,000 units of its top line Model S electric car when it goes on sale. These will be special 300-mile range versions of the Model S known as the “Signature Series” that will come loaded to the frickin' gills. Tesla will also introduce cheaper Model S versions with shorter ranges, selling a total of 5,000 the first year (uh, we'll see about that). Tesla says that by 2013 it will be building 20,000 vehicles a year. Really? Don't count on it.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: We're always glad to share Casey Shain's talent with our readers. This week, Casey ("artandcolour") delves into the topic of the Lost Art of the Coupe, as in we need more of 'em. Take a look at Casey's re-imagination of the VW Jetta, Audi A8, Saab 9-5, Buick Verano and Chevrolet Cruze as new wave Coupes and check out his commentary that goes along with them. Great stuff from Casey, as always. You can also check out Casey's blog just for his digital illustrations here. Enjoy! - PMD

Buick Verano GS 3-door. We really need more choices than 4-door sedans! Perhaps a hatchback wouldn't be the obvious choice, but the sleekness would really offset the other sedans in Buick's showrooms. The chrome "eyebrows" over the taillights have grown into full-fledged chrome side moldings in the classic tradition. Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?

Saab 9-5 coupe. Halo car for the new company. Could have been a Saab-Spyker until they sold off the sports cars a couple of weeks ago. The chopped top really sets this coupe off—shades of its old competitor, the original '70s Volvo Bertone coupe. Could introduce a Hybrid to their lineup as well.

Audi A8 coupe. Really, as great as Audi is doing these days, they really could use a 2-door competitor for the CL Class, and I don't mean the A7 hatchback. This pillar-less Audi would feature a V8, Hybrid and W12 versions.

VW Jetta coupe. I shortened the rear overhang and made the roof more of a fastback for this now-hatchback. Though still seating 4, it just might take up the slack from the dearly-departed (From the USA) Scirocco/Corrado without the expense of an additional platform. Would have to step up the interior and the rear suspension from the base sedan. I'm thinking four black-and-white leather buckets and aluminum trim might work.

Chevrolet Cruze 3-door. Based on the new 5-door hatch concept, does away with Chevy's now-ubiquitous over/under twin grilles for a lower, cleaner look. Passenger door would be 4 inches longer (AMC Pacer-like!) than the driver's, to help compete with the Veloster's twin passenger doors. The Z11 name is a take-off on the old Citation X11 and their current fascination with Zs.