(Source: LA Times)

At a recycling plant in San Pedro and five other similar operations around California, giant shredding machines annually reduce 1.3 million junk cars, refrigerators and other appliances into fist-sized chunks of metal.

(Source: BBC & CNN Money)

Germany has agreed a deal with Magna International, a Canadian-Austrian car parts maker, to take over Opel, part of the European wing of US carmaker GM.

Talks in Berlin continued into early Saturday before Germany’s finance minister announced a deal.

The German government is expected to provide an immediate loan facility of 1.5bn euros ($2.1bn, £1.3bn).

But 2,500 jobs in Germany could be lost and a UK minister has accepted “there is excess capacity” in GM’s operations.

Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told journalists outside the chancellery shortly after 0200 local time on Saturday that a deal had been agreed.  Earlier on Friday, Opel and Magna’s reached a preliminary agreement with GM.

“We have an agreement,” said Mr Steinbrueck, the AFP news agency quoted him as saying, following six hours of talks between German politicians, US government officials and executives from GM and Magna.

Magna, teamed with Russian auto maker OAO GAZ Group (GAZA.RS) and state- controlled OAO Sberbank (SBER.RS), has said it will put more than 500m euros ($700m; £435m) into Opel.

Steinbrueck said the parties involved also agreed on the model of a trusteeship for Opel for the interim period.

Speaking after the marathon talks that started Friday afternoon in Berlin, Magna co-Chief Executive Siegfried Wolf said he expects the deal with General Motors to be signed in five weeks.

Wolf confirmed that Magna will provide the short-term cash demand of EUR300 million to Opel, which was one of the key reasons for the German government to delay the decision on state aid earlier this week. He said the funds would be available Tuesday.

(Source: Wired)

As the world watched the Spelling Bee competition, I was reading up on the eye candy parked above.  Upon reading, I went searching the dictionary to find the meaning for the word insane, which is listed as follows: In·sane [in-seyn ] – adj. [Latin: insanus] – Not sane, mentally ill or deranged; demented; mad.  But British automaker, Ariel, is trying to change this meaning by doing something that’s much more crazy.  With the wisdom achieved during the development Atom 300, of one of the fastest cars on Earth, which is already achieving sub 3 second times to 60mph and sub 7 second times to 100mph, the folks at Ariel went to work on  the Ariel 500. 

The limited-edition Ariel Atom 500 is  a 500-kilo (1,100-lbs) smartlooking “bomb”, sporting a 500-horsepower 3.0-liter V8 engine capable of hurling the occupants down the highway at an astoninshing speed (0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds).  Simon Saunders, Director of Ariel,  has this much to say about the Atom 500: “For a few customers the Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car. ”   It is reported that only 25 copies of this vehicle will be offered in the United States at a date and price to be determined.

The only question that comes to mind is what is the purpose of a passenger seat in this vehicle? No way in hell can the driver or the passenger have a conversation traveling at such a neck-breaking speed.   So, I am convinced the sole purpose of having this passenger seat is to pass the eligibility criteria for a “street car”.   A quick check on Google for the 0-60mph speed table shows that a standard Formula One car would clock that at 2.8secs, which is definitely slower than the Atom 500 fitted with a passenger seat.   If that passenger seat is removed, the reduction in weight might make the vehicle even lighter, contributing to a further increment in speed.   Now, imagine showing up at work in one of these!

(Source: Autoweek)

Bob Lutz, General Motors’ soon-to-retire product czar, said Thursday that not only does he support and endorse the work of President Barack Obama’s automotive task force, but he’d also like to see the government-industry entity become a permanent fixture.

 “Benevolent oversight and two-way communication between Washington and the auto industry” would be a good thing, Lutz told members of the Automotive Press Association at a luncheon Thursday in Detroit.

“Jeez, it only took 30 years for somebody to finally figure it out,” he said.

Lutz cited–and praised–the new federal fuel-economy regulations as an example of what industry and government can do when they work together. Though the new CAFE requirements mandate 35.5 mpg by 2016, Lutz said many parts of the new rules reflect industry positions on the particulars of the law.

The positions voiced by Lutz seem at odds with the suggestion that the GM product vice chairman is leaving GM at year’s end in part because he doesn’t want to deal with life at “Government Motors,” which GM has been called since taking government loans and accepting task-force oversight.

On the contrary, Lutz said, he began to warm to the task-force members when they visited Detroit and seemed more interested in the 560-hp Cadillac CTS coupe than in GM’s more economical offerings.

“That was sort of the moment that I began to take heart,” Lutz said.

(FYI -You can also listen to an audio commentary by folks @ Autoweek on Mr. Lutz words about GM’s future.)

(Source: Bloomberg & Wall Street Journal)

India may lift a 5 1/2-year cap on pump prices of gasoline and diesel, the first market-opening move by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since his election victory this month. Shares of refiners surged.

Oil Minister Murli Deora said he plans to seek cabinet approval within six weeks to free up fuel prices from state control. “The government has taken notice and is working on” a proposal, he told reporters in New Delhi.“We will ensure that fuels reach people at the right time and at the right price,” Deora said today.

Indian state-owned refiners used to set retail fuel prices twice a month after the government ended controls on oil products in April 2002. That stopped in December 2003 after the then Bharatiya Janata Party-led government barred them from raising rates before the May 2004 elections.

Mr. Deora said the government would consider deregulating prices of natural gas only after a decision on deregulating oil prices is taken.

Indian Oil gained 6.8 percent to 609 rupees in Mumbai trading, the highest level since Jan. 17, 2008. Bharat Petroleum Corp., the second-biggest state-run refiner, climbed 3.7 percent to 464.70 rupees, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp. added 8.4 percent to 362.95 rupees.

Indian Oil shares have climbed 42 percent since Prime Minister Singh’s government was re-elected on May 16 without the support of communist lawmakers who oppose fuel-price increases. That led to speculation that the government will relax the pricing curbs. The benchmark Sensitive Index has gained 20 percent in the same period and advanced 52 percent this year.

State refiners sell automobile and cooking fuels below cost, at prices fixed by the government, to curb inflation which has held below 1 percent for 11 straight weeks. Retail fuel prices haven’t been changed since January, when they were cut for the second time in two months.

(Source: Automobile Magazine & Autoblog & CNN Money)

(Source: Times Online, UK)

Fiat has pulled out of talks with the German Government about Opel, blaming “unreasonable” funding demands, but emphasised that it was not withdrawing its bid for General Motors’ European unit, which owns Opel and Vauxhall.

Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s chief executive, said that Germany had asked his car group to provide emergency funds for Opel, which would expose it to “extravagant risks”.

Mr Marchionne said “The last round of requests which would require Fiat, among other things, to fund Opel on an emergency basis while the German Government determines the exact timing and conditions of interim financing, would expose Fiat to unnecessary and unwarranted risks.”

Mr Marchionne said that he had not been granted full access to Opel’s financial records and so it was unreasonable to ask Fiat to provide emergency funds. Because today’s meeting will focus specifically on Opel, Fiat would not be attending, he said. However, he said that Fiat remained interested in a potential deal with GM.

“We remain committed to finding ways to bridge the expectations of both General Motors and the German Government, but the emergency nature of the situation cannot put Fiat in a position to take extravagant risks,” he said.

Gareth Thomas, the Trade Minister, will attend the emergency talks in Brussels today. A Commission spokeswoman said: “The aim of the meeting is to exchange information and ensure a level playing field for co-ordination.”

(Source: Financial Times)

Reducing America’s reliance on oil by raising petrol prices to European levels through increased taxes or regulation is not politically feasible, says Steven Chu, US secretary of energy.

The admission comes as Congress considers a cap- and-trade system that opponents say will substantially increase petrol prices just as oil prices soar to their highest level in six months.

In the past Mr Chu, a Nobel laureate, has argued that, if the US wanted to reduce its carbon emissions, policymakers would have to find a way to increase petrol prices to levels in Europe. But in an interview on Wednesday with the Financial Times, Mr Chu said: “At this moment, let me be frank, it is not politically feasible.”

(Source: Autobloggreen & Royal Automobile Club Foundation)

A new study by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation found that as many as 6.75 million British drivers are thinking about or could consider buying an electric vehicle – once they become available, of course. RAC surveyed 1,000 motorists over two weekends this month and asked the question: “Would you consider or are you planning on purchasing an electric car within the next five years?” Twenty percent picked either “Yes, would consider” or “Yes, planning on purchasing an electric car.” We’re right there with you, says the UK government, which will offer incentives worth up to £5,000 for EVs starting in 2011.

Also, the RAC points out that 20 percent of 33.8 million drivers means there could be a lot of people who want but can’t buy an EV. They say, “The RAC Foundation has discovered that by the Government’s own reckoning electric vehicles won’t be available on the mass market until at least 2017, leaving millions of potential buyers frustrated.”

Commenting on the findings, the director of the RAC Foundation Professor Stephen Glaister had the following words:

• “What the Government is in danger of doing is putting the cart before the horse. It is actively promoting the purchase of electric vehicles long before there is any chance of manufacturers making them widely available.”
• “It has gone out of its way to encourage people to make green choices, yet these choices are not yet realistic.”
• “Ministers’ thinking on green technology is all over the place. They talk of incentives of up to £5,000 for prospective buyers of electric cars from 2011. Yet at that stage there will be almost nothing in the showroom for people to purchase.”
• “The RAC Foundation fully supports the introduction of green vehicles. But electric cars are not the short-term solution. What the Government should be doing is improving the road network and encouraging manufacturers to refine existing technology. That means increasing road capacity to cut congestion and CO2 emissions; focussing on producing leaner petrol and diesel engines; and making smaller and lighter cars.”

(Source: TreeHugger; HuffingtonPost & Bike Europe)

While news of the four-wheel variety remains bleak with news that GM is on the brinkof bankruptcy, news for the two wheel set is mostly good. In fact, more bicycles were bought in the first quarter of 2009 than cars and trucks. Dennis Markatos @ HuffingtonPost points out, the news isn’t all good. Overall, bicycle sales are down 30 percent for the year, but the good news is that bikes are outperforming cars. In total, around 2.6 million bicycles were sold, compared to less than 2.5 million cars and trucks.  That doesn’t mean all is well for the American bicycle market and it is hard to say that bicycle sales are unfazed by the recession.  In units the Americans imported 1.1 million bicycles less this year. Remarkably the average value increased by 37.2% in the same period. The average FOB value now stands at US$ 96.60 against US$ 70.41 in 2008.

But that percentage drop is slower than the35+% drop in sales for cars and trucks. Since nationwide gasoline prices are now rising above $2.40 per gallon at the pump, we may see another wave of US residents shifting to bicycles for their everyday trips. The large savings from riding a bike over short distances rather than driving can help consumer confidence and support economic recovery.