I Visit The 2006 Detroit Auto Show

Ticket

I went to the 2006 NAIAS for the industry pre-view, also known as "engineers day", because of all of the engineers, designers, and executives checking out the competition's stuff before the public floods in. This is a quick (not really) photoblog of my trip, with a few comments. I didn't have time to see everything, here is what I found interesting.

Geely was set up in the lobby area of Cobo, and was mobbed. There was a lot of interest, but that was partly because Geely was giving away large logo bags, pens, and other goodies. The Geely vehicle was a small sedan, about the size of an early 1990's Corolla.

The established automakers don't have to worry much about Geely--yet. The car was, by our standards, junk. Think 2006 Yugo. Huge panel gaps. Rattley doors, and cheap materials really put the car on a lower level than even the cheapest small car sold here today. When I slammed the rear door, the whole rear door frame vibrated. I was surprised to see the engine has variable valve timing, however. Apparently, it is a Toyota designed motor. The Geely also won't meet US crash or emissions standards. However, I am sure that Geely and other Chinese companies can buy components and design engineering from eager suppliers, and they will show up here eventually with something better.


Geely engine bay

I wandered into the main hall, and wandered over to Nissan. I wanted to see the Versa, which is Nissan's entry into the apparently resurgent small car segment.

The Versa has a neat door handle design, with the locking lever located in the center hub of the door lever.

Nissan Versa door handle detail

I sat in the Versa, and it seemed nicely done. There was quite a bit of rear passenger room, and I was able to sit behind myself without problems. The seats were a bit on the squishy side for my taste.


Nissan Versa

The new Sentra looks good, with a somewhat nicer interior than Nissan has been known for lately.


Nissan Sentra


Nissan coupe concept

Nissan coupe concept, rear

I noticed the Infinity M45's engine bay. Apparently, Nissan is ashamed that the M45 has an engine, because they attempted to hide everything under the hood under ugly black cladding. I say, if you have a good engine, flaunt it.


Infiniti M45 "engine"

The M45 interior was a thing of beauty.


Infiniti M45 interior

VW was displaying their DARPA autonomous vehicle challenge winner, along with a short video showing it in action. The truck didn't drive very fast, apparently, but it did finish first.


VW robot Touareg

On the lower level of Cobo, VW hid its new Eos hard-top convertible. The car looks good, but it would make more sense as an Audi than a VW--it looks like it will be expensive.


VW Eos

Also in the Cobo basement, Allstate had set up a small bumpercar ride, as an advertisement for how forgiving they are going to be if you get in an accident. Seemed like an odd idea to me.


Allstate bumpercars ?!?

Michelin was displaying the winners of its Design Challenge. I found the Toyota electric supercar quite striking.


Michelin Design Challenge Toyota


Michelin Design Challenge Toyota

Heading back up stairs, I stopped by the Dodge Challenger concept turntable. I am personally not that hot on the retro musclecar theme, and the Challenger left me cold. It doesn't look fast, it looks kind of bloated to me.


Dodge Challenger concept

The Dodge Caliber was a puzzle. I couldn't decide if I liked it or not--it looks better in person than in photos, I think, but it seems too trucky and garish. It is sharp, but maybe over-styled, with a bit too much flash. There is chrome on the door-handles, which seems silly for an inexpensive car.


Dodge Caliber

The interior of the Caliber is plasticky and feels low-rent. But, remember this is the replacement for the Neon, which was the very definition of plasticky and low rent.


Dodge Caliber interior

The Jeep Compass, like the Caliber, was hard for me to figure out. From some angles (rear) it was attractive.


Jeep Compass rear


Jeep Compass

I didn't like the front view of the Compass much. I didn't like the flared fenders, either.


Jeep Wrangler interior

I climbed up (illegally) on a fiberglass rock and took a quick snap of the interior of the new Wrangler. Chrysler has rounded off the edges of the Wrangler a bit, on the outside, and has updated the interior.

Next I wandered into Honda's display. I really like Honda's concept car, which was long and low, and looked like it would be comfortable, quick, and efficient.


Honda concept


Honda concept

Honda concept

Honda's new entry into the small car segment is the Fit. It looked very much like the Nissan Versa, with lots of rear room for its size.


Honda Fit

Next I went to Ford's (huge) exhibit area, which was pulsing with music and wallpapered with video screens. I quickly got a headache.

Ford's concept truck, the F250 Super Chief, leads me to "what the hell are they thinking?". The thing is a huge, tall silver beast, with short windows. It has rounded corners and a pronounced shoulder line. It looks like a mutant Honda Ridgeline, not like a proper masculine Ford truck.

The front end is massive, and silly; the Ford emblem is ~9" wide.


Ford Superchief concept

The interior is also silly. It is something like a country club, with wood floors and trim and brown leather all around. The rear console holds decanters, and a leather trimmed footrest comes out of the rear floor.

Does the world really need a luxury truck the size of an F250 crewcab?


Ford Superchief interior

The Ford Edge looked nice, but not stunning. Too jellybean.


Ford Edge

The Mazda CX7 was nearby, which may have not been a smart move on Ford's part, because the two vehicles look very similar. Unlike the Edge, the CX7 does have some character.


Mazda CX7

I liked the Reflex concept much better than the Super Chief. It has a much more organic form than the current Ford styling.


Ford Reflex concept


Ford Reflex Concept

I also like Mazda's Kabura concept, on the outside. The car has an offset seating arrangement, where the passenger seat is forward of the driver, so that the single rear passenger has lots of leg room. This is a bad idea, I think, because having a passenger sitting forward of the driver will block his sight lines, and will probably be distracting.


Mazda Kabura concept interior


Mazda Kabura concept, and girl

The Volvo C30 (3-door) looked good in front, but the strange shape of the rear window reminded me of the Suzuki Aerio wagon, or maybe the current Subaru Forester rear.


Volvo C30


Volvo C30

The Aston Martin Rapide concept gets my vote for "best of show". The rear passengers probably can't be more than 5'6" tall to ride in this thing, but it looks fantastic--long, low, wide. It looks like a missile, fueled and ready.


Aston Martin Rapide concept

I walked through Jaguar's area, not much new is going on there. The current star of the show is the new XK coupe, which looks like it is part Taurus (oval grille) and part Aston martin (the rest).

Why do they put little vestigial seats in expensive convertibles? Is there really a point? Only double amputees could sit back there.


Jaguar XK rear "seat"

The light blue XK appeared to have large gaps between the hood (sorry, "bonnet") and the nose, fenders. I hope it was a trick of the color, or maybe it was a prototype that was being shown.


Jaguar XK

Next, to Lincoln. The Mark S, (not just MKS, apparently) looked decent, somewhere between conservative and exciting. I am confused why the MKS has the waterfall grille, but the MKX has the chrome eggcrate design--which will it be?

The interior looked quite good, from a distance, competitive with other luxury cars in the $40,000 price range.


Lincoln Mark S interior


Lincoln Mark S

The Mark X left me cold. The grille isn't interesting, and the overall shape is very rounded and bland, nearly identical to the Edge until you see the rear view. I don't see this one selling well.


Lincoln Mark X

The spokesmodel was boasting about the Mustang GT500's big horsepower and torque. She was annoying me. The GT500 has a very nice bulge in the hood, hinting at the monster supercharged V8 that sleeps underneath. 475HP and 475FT-Lbs, she said, and that was "a conservative number".


Mustang GT500

I passed by the new Acura RDX. It looked angry to me, and I got frightened and walked away quickly. Thought it was going to eat me.


Acura RDX

GM had a neat hybrid powertrain cut-away display. Can you spot the Tin Man?


GM hybrid cut-away.

Not to be out-done by the likes of the Super Chief, GM displayed a huge Chevy truck. I think this is a Kodiak with a bed and a leather interior treatment.


Chevy "BFT". Silly.

The new GMC Yukon. Not my thing, but a huge improvement on the outgoing model, especially on the inside. GM needs to hurry and refresh its entire line of trucks and SUVs with up-to-date interiors.


GMC Yukon

Unlike Chrysler and Ford, GM is making an effort to market conversion vans to consumers. I think this is smart, because vans are much more convenient for most things than large SUVs. This display could start a fight, however, as GM has put UofM and MSU parephernalia together at one tailgate party.


GMC conversion van.

Buick's new large crossover, the Enclave, is clearly close to production--it has weatherstripping, door latches, and snapped on door panels. The interior is quite nice.


Buick Enclave interior

The Enclave is very cat-like, with many sensuous curves and sharp creases. Is Buick going for an American homage to Jaguar?


Buick Enclave

Proof that GM isn't dead yet--the Saturn Sky.

Saturn Sky

The Saturn Aura also suggests to me that GM is not going to go quietly, if at all.


Saturn Aura

The big event at GM was the Chevrolet Camaro concept. The second "me too" to the Mustang, after the Challenger, this retro muscle car looks much better to me than the bland looking Dodge. The Camaro looks mean and fast, with a sharp crease at its wasp waist, glowering tail lamps, and wide toothless grin up front.

You can just imagine all the Mustang vs. Camaro drag races that the paunchy, graying baby boomers are going to have, once they raid their fatted 401(k)s. The teenage punk drag racers will be pissed, because no one will be able to buy high octane fuel or cigarettes for year to come, with all the old fogeys hanging around reliving their youth.


Chevy Camaro concept


Chevy Camaro concept

Subaru's display was a lonely place. Maybe it was the depressing, dim blue lighting. Or maybe it was the ugly cars. Between the Tribeca and this concept, I found little to look at. Subaru did have a few young ladies in close fitting jeans handing out brochures.


Subaru concept

Speaking of young ladies, there were very few blatant appeals to male hormones at the show, until you get to the Italian section. This should be no surprise, as Italians have long used sensual design to sell their cars, since they could not always sell them on the merits of their mechanical durability, from what I have heard. Maserati, Ferrari, and Lamborghini all had suggestively dressed young women on their stands.

Maserati doesn't make much of an impression on me. Yes, it is a fast, exclusive, hand-built car... but with the portholes and rounded features, they look a little too much like Buicks and Jaguars to me. What does it matter, what I think, I won't ever be able to buy one!


Maserati Quattroporte and girl


Maserati girl #1, "I wish I was blogging"


Maserati and 2 girls

Unlike Maserati, who had 3 girls in elegant black dresses, all brunettes, Ferrari goes for diversity, and has its girls wearing tight red dresses. That is probably why they are hiding behind the counter, so they aren't ogled as much. (There was a moat of drool flowing around this area).


Ferrari, and girls


Ferrari FXX

Lamborghini chose a more minimal approach--one tall blonde Amazon dressed as you would expect a high-class European hooker or rich playboy toy to be dressed. The Lamborghini girl wasn't shy, she posed at all comers.

The Lamborghini concept was nice, but it seems old after the recent success of the Ford GT. I like Lamborghini's modern evil-wedge designs much better. So do most Euro-hookers.


Lamborghini and girl

Lexus' big deal was the LS460. I was not overcome with awe. It is a nice car, but it suffers from a little bit of Bangle-butt. It does pack an almost 400HP 4.6L V8, as well as a very comfortable looking rear seat.


Lexus LS460


Lexus LS460 rear, hint of Bangle.

Toyota's mainstay, the Camry, has been restyled. I heard that Toyota wanted to add some excitement to the Camry, but I don't think they even came close. Look at the nose profile of the Camry--instead of something with some personality, or a suggestion of speed, it is very rounded. Maybe they were going for a bullet-shape?


Toyota Camry nose profile


Toyota Camry

The interior of the Camry was well done, but the clear aqua plastic accents seemed odd to me.


Toyota Camry interior


Toyota Camry center stack, with clear colored plastic inlays.

Toyota had two concept vehicles, a small van and a larger one. Both were an exercise in the strange Japanese idea that a vehicle should transform into some kind of lounge/disco/massage studio. The smaller concept vehicle had some of the usual concept bling that never seems to get built--gull wing doors and 4 wheel steering.


Toyota concept

The larger Toyota concept was downright ugly, with a high belt line, and a grille that appears to have been stolen from Ford's Fusion design reject pile.


Toyota concept van thing


Toyota concept interior

Bucking its environmentally friendly, high tech hybrid tree hugging image, Toyota has gone and built a body on frame, rear wheel drive, solid axle 4x4 SUV, the FJ. I wonder if they will build separate showrooms, to keep the spotted owl eating off-roaders separate from the vegetarian Prius fondlers? A real brawl could break out.


Toyota FJ underside


Toyota FJ interior

The FJ looks like a fun vehicle, if you actually go off-road, but the styling is very toy-like. It is like a butch Honda Element.


Toyota FJ

Toyota's small car entry is the Yaris, which comes in a sedan and 3-door arrangement.


Toyota Yaris


Toyota Yaris 3-door

Outside the main hall, near Geely, Giugiaro and Saleen had small displays. Giugiaro was showing the very sensuous GG50.


Ferrari GG50

Saleen had an S7, in a striking metallic copper color.


Saleen S7

Saleen was also showing this Ford GT. There wasn't any signage, but the banner says "650 HP", which I suppose means that Saleen monkeyed with the GT. 500HP isn't enough for some people?


Saleen Ford GT

The Detroit Auto show always under-over-whelms me. The newest stuff is sometimes neat, but there is so much to see, it is exhausting. After a while, you just get car-ed out. Because it is a show intended to sell the glamour of the new models, very little detailed information about actual vehicle specs and new technologies is available. The spokes-models who attend each new vehicle have memorized a short script, and can't really tell you anything about the vehicles.

Hyundai Engine Cover Silliness

I saw this over on Autoblog. This is a photo of the engine compartment of the 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe.

I found it amusing that the engine cover is made to look as if the engine points North-South (rear wheel drive), when in fact this is a transverse East-West (front wheel drive) mounting. Also notice that if this was a North-South engine, it would be off-center!

So show do these things happen? Some Hyundai marketing guy said, "our target customer has no clue which way the engine points, so make it look sexy".

While they were at it, they should have molded in 8 "runners" instead of 6, maybe Soccer-Mom would have thought that she was driving a V8!

Image courtesy of Autoblog.

Lincoln Dropping Names

Apparently, Ford's marketing folks thought that the non-named Lincoln LS was such a hit that they should drop names from all Lincoln products in the future, and instead go with alphanumeric gobbledygook* such as Jaguar's XKR. For example, according to Automotive News (HT: AutoBlog), the new Aviator crossover will in fact be named "MKX", which stands for nothing in particular. This will no doubt backfire, and some of Lincoln's older customers (like, most of them) will think this is meant to be the "Mark 10", a distant relative of the Mark IIX. Aviator was a good name, I don't understand the need to screw it up.

Now, there's a way to set the brand apart! Hard to remember three letter names. Hello? Mr. Fields? What happened to "Red, White, and Bold"? Can you name the parent company of the following models? CTX, CXT, SRX, XJ8, SC, CLK, SLK, QX, MX5? At least, make the naming system logical, like Volvo: V for Vagen, S for Sedan/Saloon, XC for crossover, number for size.

*A word I almost never get to use!

Leaked Lincoln D3 Photos

LeftLane News has some leaked photos of Lincoln's latest concept car. This car is probably based on the Volvo S80/Ford 500/Freestyle "D3" platform, and is expected to ship with the new 3.5L V6 and probably AWD. It also may get the Yamaha/Volvo 60 degree 4.4L V8.

(image courtesy of LeftLaneNews.com)











What jumped out at me was the grille design--notice that it is the vertical slat design of the current Lincolns, not the chromed grate of the Aviator concept. I personally like the current design much better than the retro Aviator face, which I find too bland and too "old-timer". Maybe Ford's new North American VP, Mark Fields, has shaken some sense into the Lincoln stylists?

Also note the Buick-like porthole and rear quarter line (in this photo, anyway).

Four Point Belt Test Drive

I recently had the opportunity to try out a prototype 4-point seatbelt system intended for street vehicles. I was invited to try the system out on a short test drive, and take a survey afterwards. I won't divulge the company developing the system, I am sure they will come out when they are ready. The system was installed in a Ford Mustang GT, and was intended to be sold to the sports/enthusiast consumer.

The system consists of two shoulder belts, which you slip each arm through, and buckle together centered at your waist. The lower straps form a lap belt, with a slight arch upwards towards the buckle. The lower straps are attached to automatic tensioners, which prevent the buckle from riding up on your belly. This is key, because if the buckle is too high, you could slide under the belt ("submarine") in a severe accident. The upper straps have traditional springy tensioners, which allow you to twist left and right, or lean forward as needed.

The system was a little more work to get into, since you have to thread each arm through a loop, but once buckled in, it was quite comfortable. Having both shoulders covered gave a very secure feeling, and having the buckle centered at the waist made it very easy to find and release the belt. Driving did not require any significant amount of additional effort, even in a manual transmission car. I would buy a 4-point system if it was offered, without hesitation.

The engineer running the survey told me that NHTSA is very interested in 4-point belts, because they spread the deceleration loads more evenly and symmetrically over a person's torso. In order for any car maker to offer 4-point belts, the regulations of FMVSS 208 would have to be amended to allow the design.

A major concern is how consumers would perceive the 4-point belts. Some people would prefer them, because of the added safety and "racecar" image, but some people would be annoyed by the extra work in putting on the belt. Another question is how very large, or pregnant passengers would wear the belts.

Several automakers and suppliers are working on improved seat belt designs. Volvo has been experimenting with 4-point safety belt designs, including a crossover type which forms an X over an occupant's chest. Nissan has revealed a 4-point system in its Sport concept car. Ford recently announced an inflatable seatbelt concept, which would spread forces out over a wider area by inflating an airbag built into a 3-point belt.

Deutschland Geht Zur Holle [Politics]

That means, "Germany go to hell".

In 1985, Hezoballah terrorists hijacked TWA flight 847. On board was an American navy diver named Robert Dean Stethem. They held the passengers hostage for 16 days, and they murdered Stethem. According to eyewitnesses, they tied Stethem's hands and feet, and beat him, kicking him until they had broken many of his bones. Then they beat him with the butt of a pistol, and finally shot him dumping his body onto the tarmac. The U.S. Navy honored later Stethem by naming an Aegis guided missile boat after him.

One of the terrorists was later caught in Germany. Mohammad Ali Hamadi was caught in Frankfurt with explosives in his luggage. Germany denied the U.S. request for extradition, on the usual grounds that Hamadi may be executed by us barbarous, backwards Yankees. Instead, Hamadi was tried in Germany and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Europeans have a history of refusing to execute men who have fully earned it. Three of the most famous examples are Napoleon, Hitler, and Lenin. What troubles could have been avoided if they had been hanged? How many lives saved?

Following this historic pattern, Germany has released Hamadi from prison, after serving 19 years of his life sentence. I suppose he helped out in the kitchen, or something, and was pronounced reformed.

President Bush, please close all U.S. military bases in Germany. Move our troops to locations where our allies treat us with respect. Poland, for example. Let the Germans defend their own country. Amerikaner heraus!

Ford Flushes More Money

I hope Ford knows what it is doing with Jaguar. Reuters reports that they are sending another $2 billion to Jag, which has not ever, as far as I know, actually made money for Ford. Jaguar has turned out to be quite an albatross.

As I have written before, I think that Ford made a big mistake buying Jaguar (and Land Rover). Jaguar has a distinct style and heritage, so brand identity is not really a problem, except for the disastrous down-market X-Type. The big question is, do consumers really want "British luxury", in the form of softly sprung powerful cars? The competition in the sport/luxury market is very tough, with Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, and Audi on the German front; Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura on the Japanese front; and Cadillac at home. Lincoln, unfortunately, is not much of a player.

What kind of great stuff could Ford have done with Lincoln, if it had invested the billions of dollars it used to buy and then (repeatedly) bail out Jaguar? Could Ford have done a Cadillac style transformation with Lincoln, moving it credibly up-market, and into a fuller line of vehicles?

Ford should sell Jaguar and Land Rover to the highest bidder, or spin them off as an independent company (how about "BMC"?).

Merry Christmas!

To all of the Christians who read this blog, I wish you a Merry Christmas. May God bless you and yours.

2007 Escalade Spotted

I saw a 2007 Cadillac Escalade driving northbound on Woodward today. It looked good, overall; it was nicely understated, and was free of the tacky fender flares of the previous model. But it did not have much of Cadillac's "Arts and Sciences" theme in it, which is a mistake. I think the Cadillac may look too much like the Chevrolet and GMC versions.

I don't understand the portholes. They are popping up on all kinds of cars (Buick, Land Rover), but they are non-functional and therefore silly.

Another styling element that I don't agree with on the new GM large SUVs is the line of the D pillar. Notice that the A, B, and C pillars all have round corners, but the D pillar has sharp angular corners.



Image courtesy of Edmunds.com

Caliber CVT Stupidity, Diesel Tease

I was reading over the Dodge Caliber press release, and playing with Chrysler's vehicle configurator, when I saw this, and had to stop myself from slapping my forehead:

Chrysler Group's CVT has been calibrated to delight customers with pleasing engine response, precise ratio control and an AutoStick® feature that allows
for manual control and the simulation of six stepped gears, said Ridenour.

The whole point of a CVT is to optimize engine performance, smooth out torque delivery, and save gas by removing discrete gear ratios.

If people really want to shift their own gears, they will buy the Caliber withavailablee manual transmission. Manu-matic type shifting makes a little bit of sense (not much) on a traditional geared automatic transmission, because you are just taking over the job of the ECU. On a CVT, it is just silly.

The Caliber Configurator seemed to be offering a 2.0L Turbodiesel engine option for the Caliber, at an eye-popping $5400 premium, but the press release makes it clear that this engine is only going to be offered (initially) outside of the U.S. Chrysler may have been fishing to see how many people would bite on the diesel option, and the large price may include the estimated cost of Tier II emissions control equipment.

At the moment, diesel fuel costs about 30% more than gasoline, so the economics of the diesel option for an American consumer would not work out. 229FT-LBs of torque does sound like it might be fun, though.

Rethinking "Buy American"

I have always been a "buy American" advocate. But I am seriously beginning to rethink this position. It is becoming hard to defend simply, and I hate convoluted explanations.

"Buy American" is a difficult position to explain nowadays, because there is no such thing as a purely American made car. Our "domestic" automotive companies are all multinational behemoths, with divisions, plants, suppliers, customers and shareholders scattered over the globe. For example...

• Is a Chevrolet Equinox an "American" car? The engine is made in China, and final assembly is in Canada by CAW organized labor.
• Is a Ford Fusion "American"? It is assembled in Mexico by non-UAW workers, and because it is a platform-mate of the Mazda6, probably has significant Asian parts content.
• Is a Mazda6 "American"? It is assembled in Flat Rock, MI alongside the Mustang from a mix if domestic and Asian parts. Since it is built by the UAW, UAW members are allowed to buy them. But 2/3 of the profit goes to Japan.
• A Saab is built from European sourced parts by Swedish unionized labor. Profit goes to GM. OK to buy, and still feel patriotic?
• Chrysler is now owned by Daimler, if you take home a 300, are you buying American or German?

How about a Honda Civic? Assembled in the U.S., with 70% domestic parts content, but the company is headquartered in Japan, and the workers are non-Union. (Dennis Kucinich says "not American").

I had convinced myself that the key was to follow the profits. For example, since GM is headquartered in Detroit, has (mostly) American shareholders, and pays taxes in the U.S., buying GM was the patriotic choice. The American companies support our communities directly. But then again, where does Honda buy all those domestically sourced parts from?

The domestic carmakers want the benefits of my patriotism without any sort of return commitment. A company can't wrap itself in the flag and shout "Buy American!", while at the same time offshoring as much business as possible, laying off blue and white collar workers. Ford closes plants in the U.S., while increasing capacity in Mexico. All of the big three lean on their suppliers to move production to China, to cut costs, or risk losing business. Or they refuse to pay fair prices, and drive their American suppliers into bankruptcy.

Who do they expect to buy their products if they help to decimate their customer base, the lower middle and middle middle class? Who will remain committed to their product?

As the global trend continues, the picture will get even more fuzzy. You will walk into your Chevy dealership, and be offered a compact car designed in Korea by GM Daewoo, built in Canada, from mostly Korean and Chinese parts. Or you may walk into a Lincoln dealership and buy a luxury car based on a Volvo platform, with a Japanese sourced engine, assembled in the US. Eventually, the new Chrysler you are interested in may be assembled in China from German and Chinese parts.

I am still rooting for Ford and GM over the foreign-headquartered competition. So much of Michigan's economy relies on their success, it is suicidal for me not to. But "Buy American" is becoming a harder case to make to anyone who lives outside the industrial midwest.

Kucinich: Non Union = Not American

Dennis Kucinich, Ohio's resident vegan leftie nut-job, who once drove Cleveland into bankruptcy when he refused to privatize the city owned power company, has defined what it is to be an American. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Kucinich said he would be meeting with union leaders and other officials to develop plans aimed at saving manufacturing jobs and letting Congress know about the need to do something.

"This is about our children and grandchildren," he said. "We have to get the word out - 'Buy American.' This is a matter of our allegiance to our own communities, our belief in each other, our commitment to each other."

While Ohio has about 16,000 workers building Honda automobiles, engines and transmissions, Kucinich later said he defined "American" as being made by a union. The UAW has failed in its effort to organize the Honda plants.

So all you "working people" who have chosen not to join a labor union, you're un-American. And you silly consumers, you may think that the 70% domestic parts content on that Honda Civic means you are supporting American jobs, but you aren't.

This is nothing new. Liberal black "leaders" don't consider people like Colin Powell, Condi Rice, or Clarence Thomas to be black because they don't toe the lefty political line.

Cheesy Thug Wanna-Be [Culture]

In Memphis Tennessee, an 18 year old wanna-be gangsta girl tried to arrange a hit on a house because she thought she saw a huge pile of cocaine. Turns out, she was about to steal cheese.

Jessica Sandy Booth, 18, was arrested over the weekend and remains in jail with bond set at $1 million on four charges of attempted murder and four counts of soliciting a murder.

According to police, Booth was in the Memphis home of the four intended victims last week when she mistook a block of queso fresco cheese for cocaine — inspiring the idea to hire someone to break into the home, take the drugs, and kill the men.

Read the story here.

Tookie Today, Mumia Tomorrow [Politics]

(Via Michelle Malkin)

The California supreme court has refused to block the execution of Crips founder Tookie Williams. Nice. Now can we move on to Mumia?

(Yeah, yeah, I know... they're all really innocent, or they've reformed, or it is cheaper to keep them alive, etc.)

Who Would You Join?

Suppose you were an automotive engineer, in Detroit, with a set of skills that was moderately in demand. Suppose that you were not sure if you wanted to stay at your current employer, who has not been treating its employees much better than cattle. You could jump ship and maybe work at one of these companies, who are hiring:

Suppliers:

• Bosch
• Siemens
• TRW

OEMs:

• DaimlerChrysler
• Ford
• GM
• Mitsubishi
• Hyundai/Kia
• Nissan

Who would you work for, and why?

On one hand, working for a supplier gives you a certain amount of security, in that your customer base is diversified, and you have a better chance of surviving a big industry shake-out. According to surveys I have seen in trade journals, suppliers actually pay better than OEMs on average. But suppliers can be harder to advance in, and often do not have as wide a range of projects to work on.

GM and Ford are shaky. Ford is known for treating its engineers poorly, while GM is known for a plodding, indecisive corporate culture. But you can advance quickly at Ford, which values gunslingers; GM values engineering and supports engineers to do good work. DCX is the strongest of the Americans, but isn't that much better off, really. Chrysler was not (in the past) known for excellence in engineering--more "get it done quick and cheap". Now they are known for repackaging old Mercedes designs.

These reputations may no longer be accurate. If any of my few readers are in the business, let me know in the comments what your experience is.

Mitsubishi is on its way out, it seems, like Isuzu, and would be a very risky choice. Nissan is owned by the French, ugh. Hyundai/Kia is up and coming, but much of its engineering is done in Korea by Koreans, I suspect. And the cars, zzzzzzz.

In general, the idea of working for a foreign run company leaves me cold, as if I am switching sides in a cold war. Even though the "American" companies are all global behemoths, which crap on their workers and suppliers to save a nickel, all the while wrapping themselves in the American flag.

Or would you try to get out of the automotive industry all together? You like the work, but the constant contraction and endless stream of bad news doesn't bode well for your future.