Hey dude, mind if I smoke your car?

Green is the new, well, green. Automakers large and small have jumped on the (biofuel powered) bandwagon, hoping that way lies profit, or at least a government handout. Group Lotus didn't want to merely bask in the reflected green light from their customer Tesla, they've introduced the new Eco Elise concept to display their own corporate enviro bone fides.

You know we're in a new era when one of the world's great sports car companies starts using words like "holistic" and "progressive".

The Eco Elise may appear to be a normal Elise S with a different paint job and interior trim, but that similarity is only skin deep. Actually, it's not even skin deep. The Eco Elise has body panels made not of fiberglass or carbon fiber but rather uses hemp to reinforce the plastic composite. That's hemp, as in pot, reefer, weed, chronic etc. Okay, so this "sustainable" hemp, grown in nearby Anglia to keep carbon impact down, was crossbred to deliver strong fibers, not sticky colas, but like all hemp plants it still has some level of THC, marijuana's active ingredient, albeit miniscule.

Hemp is also used in the hardtop and in the construction of the lightweight seats. Other green features are sisal carpets, naturally colored wool upholstery, and an eco-friendly water based, low temperature curing paint process developed by DuPont. To highlight the hemp material, a racing stripe of the clear-coated composite runs the length of the Eco Elise. The shift indicator light has been reprogrammed to encourage better fuel efficiency. They even managed to trim 70 pounds of weight. Since the base Elise already reflects Colin Chapman's dicta: "add lightness", most of the weight reduction comes from using lightweight wheels and a lightweight audio system, I assume with smaller and lighter magnets in the speakers.

I wonder if the Eco Elise comes with an ashtray. Just don't try driving the Eco Elise through customs.

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The Jew Who Invented The Volkswagen& Other Jewish Automotive Pioneers

You know how you notice things and keep mental lists? You sort of store things away and then something notable happens and you make a connection. For a while now, I'd research this or that automotive subject and discover that someone who I was already familiar with in the automotive world turned out to be Jewish. Jewish scientists, entertainers and businessmen are pretty well known, but perhaps because of Henry Ford's infamous Jew hatred and the connection of the Volkswagen to the Third Reich, in the popular mind cars aren't something associated with Jewish success. Actually, as I have found out, at least two important pioneers in the history of the automobile were in fact written out of history by the Nazis. Still, a surprising number of true automotive pioneers were in fact Jews. Well, maybe not surprising in light of the success of Jews in other technical and scientific fields, but something not previously noticed. So I was keeping a mental list. Then I found out about Josef Ganz, thanks to a Dutch engineer and writer named Paul Schilperood. Schilperood is writing a book about Ganz titled The Prevented Volkswagen and its his life's mission to restore Ganz to his rightful role in automotive history. Ganz was a respected automotive engineer and technical writer in Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s. As a consultant he worked on both the BMW AM1, BMW's first in-house automobile, and the Mercedes-Benz 170, a landmark design that was in production for over 20 years, both before and after WWII. Schilperood makes a compelling case that the Nazis, Ferdinand Porsche and Tatra essentially stole the concept and design of the original Volkswagen from Ganz. In 1933 Standard Fahrzeugfabrik, a German automobile company, displayed the Standard Superior "volkswagen" based on Ganz' designs and patents at the Berlin auto show, attended by Adolph Hitler and Hermann Göring. A year later Ganz was in a Gestapo jail. Eventually he escaped to Switzerland and after the war emigrated to Australia where he worked for Holden.






When I found out about Ganz the mental list that had been percolating came to the surface and I decided to write a book about Jews and cars. The funny thing is that the list keeps getting longer. Just tonight I was starting to write about Siegfried Marcus, a Viennese Jew who in 1870 was the first person to power a four wheel vehicle with a gasoline powered internal combustion engine, and also invented the carburettor and magneto ignition. Marcus was once well known as a automotive pioneer. There were four memorials around Vienna to his technical accomplishments, including a plaque in front of the technical university, but after the 1938 union of Austria with Nazi Germany they were removed.


Siegfried Marcus' first vehicle - 1870


Marcus' second vehicle - late 1880s, around the same time that Daimler and Benz were making the first practical vehicles.

While reading about Marcus I found out that in the 1850s Abraham Schreiner, a Jew in Galicia, was the first person to successfully "crack" petroleum to extract naptha, first used as a lighting fuel, later used in the formulation of gasoline. Twenty years after Schreiner "invented" gasoline, Marcus figured out how to harness it's tremendous energy density to move a vehicle. The internal combustion engine has reigned ever since. At the time of this writing, though, gasoline/electric hybrids and battery electric vehicles are now becoming a practical alternative to the ICE. It turns out that before gasoline, there was a Jew working on electric vehicles. Researching Schreiner, I found a reference to a M. Davidsohn of Darmstadt, who around the same time, in 1854, created an electric powered vehicle. The problem with Davidsohn's electric car was the same as current EVs face, batteries with enough energy density. Davidsohn faced much more serious challenges as battery chemistry was pretty primitive in 1854. Forget lithium ion, lead acid batteries weren't even invented yet.

I hope to devote a chapter to each notable Jew important to the auto industry. Fortunately for my research the National Automotive History Collection of the Detroit Public Library is one of the largest of its kind in the world. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the DPL now charges non-residents a $100/yr or $10/day fee for using their collections.

Anyway, here's a list that I have so far:

Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
Gerald Greenwald, vice chairman of the Chrysler Corporation
Adolf Rosenberger - German businessman and racing car driver. Helped finance Porsche's engineering firm in 1931, and was instrumental in the famous Auto-Union racing cars from the 1930s
Malcolm Bricklin - first importer of Subarus to the US, later produced Bricklin sports/safety car, and founded Yugo enterprise.
André Citroën - engineer and industrialist, founder of the Citroen car company
Emil Jellinek - entrepreneur and Daimler board member who had a seminal role in the development of the Mercedes 35hp, considered by many to be the first "modern" car. The "Mercedes" Benz was named after his daughter.

Engineers & Designers
Josef Ganz - automotive pioneer, developer of BMW's first car, the AM1, consultant on the landmark Mercedes-Benz 170, and probably originator of the Volkswagen Beetle.
Siegfried Marcus - in the 1870s designed the first gasoline powered car, invented the carburetor and was an early developer of magneto ignition.
Albert Kahn - architect, developer of the modern automobile assembly plant, designed Henry Ford's Highland Park Model T plant and Rouge Complex, as well as the giant Packard plant.
Zora Arkus Duntov - engineer, 'father' of the Corvette and force behind Corvette racing.
Jerry Hirshberg - Designer, artist, founder of Nissan Design International
Abraham Schreiner - Inventor of naptha/gasoline - first successful cracker of petroleum
M. Davidson - early electric car darmstadt 1850s
Victor Houk - hybrid car inventor

Race Car Drivers
René Dreyfus - racer, restauranteur & raconteur
Peter Revson - racer
Mauri Rose - winner of the Indy 500
Kenny Bernstein - champion drag racer
Jody Sheckter - Formula One champion
François Cevert - racer

Journalists
L.K.J. Setright

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Sen. Bingaman: Taxpayers should own Chrysler, not Fiat

The American taxpayers already loaned Chrysler $4 billion. The Auburn Hills automaker has their hand out for $3 billion more and what do the taxpayers get? A full page ad thanking them and a bunch of IOUs. Meanwhile Fiat picks up a third of Chrysler from Cerberus for little more than blue sky and a business plan. Political and economic ideologies aside, it doesn't seem fair.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, agrees.

During the confirmation hearings for President Obama's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, Sen. Bingaman asked him about Fiat's acquisition of 35% of Chrysler for no cash while the government has already loaned Chrysler $4 billion and is being asked for another $3 billion. Bingaman raised a question many people have asked about the automaker loans, "It's hard to explain why the American taxpayer shouldn't own Chrysler." He has a point. I'm certainly not in favor of nationalizing businesses, but if the equity value of Chrysler is so low that they can trade away a third of it for a strategic partnership and no cash, the taxpayers should be getting something more than just an IOU. At least when Daimler bought Chrysler, they didn't ask US taxpayers to finance the deal.

On paper, it makes sense for all parties involved. Chrysler gets new product and stays in business. Cerberus offloads 35% of a headache. Fiat gets access to the US market.

Fiat will back out of the deal if the additional $3 billion isn't forthcoming, and if Fiat isn't anteing up any cash, somebody's got to pay for adapting the Fiat platforms etc for the US and retooling the plants. That's where Uncle Sugar comes in. Cerberus, Chrysler and Fiat are hoping that the business sense of the deal is compelling enough to obscure what is happening here - that US taxpayers are financing the deal. From Sen. Bingaman's comments that hope might have been misplaced.

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Geithner: Comprehensive Restructuring, Substantial Change in DetroitGettlefinger: Define Restructuring

UAW president Ron Gettlefinger was "out of pocket" yesterday. He flew back to Detroit yesterday from President Obama's inauguration, and when he got home he did what most Detroiters have been doing for the past month. No, he didn't check the Internet or cable news for the latest bad tidings about the auto industry. He shoveled some snow. This winter of discontent in Detroit has been a very snowy one. After clearing out his driveway the head of the UAW drove downtown to speak to the Automotive News World Congress at the RenCen Marriott. So when Mr. Gettlefinger addressed the AN shindig last night, he hadn't heard Treasury Secretary designate Timothy Geithner remarks in his confirmation hearings in the Senate yesterday afternoon.

Geithner said that any further financial aid to the domestic automakers is contingent on major changes.

"Any assistance the government provides is assistance in support of a comprehensive restructuring that will leave the industry in a stronger financial position where they can be profitable and healthy without government support… That's going to require very, very substantial changes by all stakeholders."

"Comprehensive restructuring", and "very, very substantial changes" might scare a union official of fainter heart but regardless of what Geithner said, Gettlefinger is hoping that with Democrats in control of Washington, the "stakeholders" that he represents won't have to take "too big of a hit."

In his remarks to the AN world congress, Gettlefinger said, "We know that additional sacrifices may be required to get these companies back on track. But all stakeholders will have to participate. Any attempt to single out one group to bear the brunt of the changes needed within our industry will fail, because no one group can solve the problem alone."

One of the things that hurt the Detroit automakers during the congressional hearings in November and December was the fact that the UAW gives millions of dollars in campaign funding and political assistance to Democrats. The UAW's chickens came home to roost when the Senate Republicans had the power to kill the congressional loan package. Gettlefinger didn't get to be president of the UAW by being a bad negotiator. Now he's expecting that the UAW's money was well spent and business as usual in Washington will spare his members from major concessions, no matter what Geithner said on Capital Hill.

During his address Gettlefinger said that "UAW members are optimistic about working with the new congress." I don't want to say that the fix is in, and I'm not sure if the Vegas books will take any action on legislative activity, but if I was a betting man…

After the speech, a reporter from Detroit's WDIV TV news asked the UAW chief about Geithner's remarks calling for change and restructuring. The Obama nominee has worked for Treasury or the Fed for most of his adult life, so he's no naif in the ways of Washington, but Gettlefinger is going to school him on the way things really work in the nation's capital.

Regarding "restructuring", Gettlefinger said, "I'm not sure exactly what that means at this point in time, and I didn't hear it… I missed out on the hearings today but again a lot of times people make statements and then when they look at the facts it's a lot different."

Gettlefinger no doubt figures that Obama is in charge, not his Treasury secretary, and that the newly sworn in president and a Democratic Congress will by sympathetic to the UAW. Concerning Obama, the UAW president said, "He knows and we know that a strong manufacturing base, including a strong domestic auto industry, are vital to the future of the U.S. economy."

From what chairman of the House finance committee Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, said, Gettlefinger is right. Frank, who has been a vocal critic of the concessions demanded of the UAW in the Bush administration's loan package, was speaking on the occasion of a largely symbolic House vote reaffirming the loan conditions. Frank said, "I'm sure Obama will change those."

Regarding those conditions, the deadline for GM, Chrysler, their creditors and the UAW to come up with a plan that Congress will consider viable is February 17th. Theoretically, if the benchmarks aren't met the government will pull the loans already granted, which would mean immediate bankruptcy.

When asked if the details can be hammered out in less than a month, Gettlefinger said, "I think we can be ready… it's going to be a push on the time." Like I said, Ron's a great negotiator. He had a failsafe loan from President Bush in his back pocket when playing hardball with Senators Corker and Shelby. He now knows that he can dig his heels in negotiating with GM & Chrysler between now and Feb. 17th and a Democratic congress and President Obama will back him up.

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Something Detroit Does Well

With all that the domestic automakers have done wrong, one thing they've always done well is heating, ventilation and cooling, HVAC. In a post at The Truth About Cars about dumb moves behind the wheel, Jonny Lieberman mentioned how even when Detroit was making malaise era cars that barely ran, their HVAC systems were the "envy of the world" and more or less continue to be. Sure, Volvos and Saabs had good interior heating and defrosting systems, not to mention heated seats, but Detroit gave the world automotive air conditioning. Detroit also pretty much invented functioning ventilation systems.

The city of Detroit has always affected the nature of the cars that the domestic automakers produce. In European cities streets are narrow and go in all directions, so small cars, handling and cornering were important. Detroit's streets are broad and for the most part on a 90 degree grid, so suspensions were calibrated more for comfort than precision handling and the cars were large boulevard cruisers.

Likewise with HVAC. Every year when the NAIAS rolls around people question the wisdom of holding a big auto show in Detroit in January. It gets cold in Detroit. Real cold. Maybe not Fargo or International Falls cold, but cold enough to evoke mention of brass monkeys' balls, witches' tits and well diggers' asses. Single digit Fahrenheit temperatures are not uncommon and subzero temps can happen any winter. The coldest it's ever been that I recall is 20 below and in the 1990s, there was a four day period when the air temperature never got above zero.

From the perspective of a Detroit automobile executive in the 1960s, it's understandable how the Volkswagen Beetle could have been dismissed. Even a pristine Beetle back then had inadequate heat. There was no electric blower on the heating system, just the engine cooling fan. Pressurized air was ducted off of the cooling shroud into the headers/heat exchangers. Heat, then, was speed sensitive under the best of circumstances. After a Michigan winter or two, with the salt on the roads, the heat exchangers and heat ducts were perforated with rust. Small wonder that VW offered a gas heater, a self contained 18,000 btu gasoline fired furnace.

Those same Detroit auto execs and their contemporary counterparts may have had access to company motor pool cars so they never experienced the joy of dealer service managers and warranty work, but they still had to deal with Michigan weather on the way to and from work. Like I said, it gets cold in Detroit and the auto execs don't like to be cold. Neither do engineers. At the same time while Detroit's not in the desert, in the summer it gets real hot, with temps sometimes reaching the high 90s, now and then up to 100 degrees. There are places in the United States that get colder than Detroit, there are places that get hotter, but there are few places outside of the Great Lakes region that have as wide a temperature swing. Staying comfortable was a Detroit imperative. It was also a way to make more money on a car. Heaters were extra cost optional equipment into the 1960s.

Also by the 1960s the domestic automakers were improving the ventilation systems. Cars had air vents in the fender wells, with cable actuators on the kick panel. Flow through ventilation integrated into the heating system followed. In the 1960s, air conditioning became a factory option on popularly priced cars, though some folks went with aftermarket units that hung under the dash. What was introduced by Packard in 1939 as an ultimate luxury item ultimately became standard equipment.

My dad, may he rest in peace, loved air conditioning. In the summer he'd keep the house at 68 degrees. American Motors used to label the maximum A/C setting as "Desert Cool". They must have had my dad in mind. Though he liked his options, as far as A/C was concerned, they could have had a single setting: max cool, max fan. In the 1970s he switched from Oldsmobiles to Mercurys and you could have cooled your drink on the dashboard of his 1974 Grand Marquis.

As Jonny pointed out, Detroit still is pretty much the standard when it comes to keep you comfortable in an automobile, temperature wise. I've never driven a Detroit product that couldn't blast full heat in subzero weather, or that couldn't keep you comfortable on a blistering hot summer day. Just about every automaker in the world now makes fairly sophisticated climate control systems but I think that's a case of meeting a high standard that Detroit has set.

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Longtime Michigan Automaker Files For Bankruptcy

The Detroit critics and bashers have finally gotten their wish, the bankruptcy of a legendary domestic auto nameplate. The UAW doesn't get much lovin', so no doubt there will be some schadenfreude over obstinate union members refusing to negotiate concessions, driving their employer into filing for bankruptcy protection from their creditors. Okay, so maybe the automaker in question is based in Kalamazoo, not Detroit, Auburn Hills or Dearborn, and to be precise it hasn't built any cars for at least 25 years. However Checker Motors Corp. still exists as a corporate entity and last week that corporation filed for Ch. 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Grand Rapids.

Checker Motors Corp., started making cabs in Kalamazoo in 1922. Though it stopped production on its iconic Checker sedan and cab in 1982 rather than give in to labor demands at the time, it has continued on as a vendor to the Detroit automakers, supplying them with body and chassis components. The 87-year-old company has 246 employees with assets of $24.5 million and liabilities of $21.8 million. Checker posted net sales of $63.4 million in 2007.

During the debate over federal loans to the domestic automakers, a number of analysts predicted that if any one of the three automakers declared bankruptcy, the other two would have to follow suit. Bankruptcy allows the abrogation of labor contracts and an automaker in Ch. 11 proceedings would be able to lower labor costs significantly, putting the other car makers at a competitive disadvantage. If GM filed for Ch. 11, Ford would almost be forced to do so just to stay competitive.

That's exactly what has happened to Checker. Checker is the eighth major US auto supplier that has filed for bankruptcy in the past year. One reason Checker cited in their bankruptcy filing is a need to have wages that are competitive with other suppliers already in bankruptcy proceedings. The company tried to negotiate wage concessions from its employees' labor union but even with bankruptcy hanging over their heads, the union wouldn't make the needed concessions.

The bankruptcy filing also cited the decreased market shares of its customers. Checker sells stampings and welded assemblies to all three of the domestic automakers and the domestics have lost about 5% market share from 2007 to 2008. I suspect that the 35% decline in overall sales is a great factor than decreased market share.

Supporters of government assistance to the domestic automakers were called Cassandras for predicting a cascade of supplier bankruptcies should any of the domestics be forced into Chapter 11 or 7. With at least 1/3rd of domestic auto suppliers already financially distressed, it may not even take a failure of one of the large automakers to start that cascade. The same day that Checker filed, Lansing based automotive electronics supplier May & Scofield closed its doors after Bank of America foreclosed on its U.S. assets.

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Scottsdale Auctions - Detroit Once Had Mojo And Made Cars That Are Still DesirableCan Detroit Get Its Mojo Back

The last hammer has fallen at the mid-winter Scottsdale, Arizona collector car auctions. I'm no expert about the collector car market but it seems to me that while prices are down from their high marks during the cheap credit bubble, they aren't cratering. What I find fascinating is that while the domestic automakers struggle to stay alive today, their products from the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s continue to draw interest from collectors. Detroit had some serious mojo going on back then. It wasn't, as some Detroit bashers would have us believe, that Detroit was just feeding us crappy cars because we had no choice. There was a time when Detroit made products that were so desirable then that they continue to be desirable today.



When I was in high school in the early 1970s and got my driver's license, I drove a hand-me-down 1966 Impala SS. Like many cars Chevy has badged with the SS designation over the years, it had all the look fast parts, bucket seats, console shifter, SS badges etc. but had none of the go fast parts, just a two barrel 283 V8 and a two-speed Powerglide. It had a MSRP of $2,789 in 1965-66.

You're not likely to find many "2 barrel 2 speed" combinations at Barrett-Jackson or the other Scottsdale car auctions, but the mid 60s full size Chevys are still popular. Indeed this year's B-J auction saw six 1966 Impalas go on the block, with prices ranging from $14,300 for a non SS Impala with the small block 283/Powerglide setup to $39,600 for an Impala SS equipped with a 427cid/425hp big block V8 and a four speed Muncie transmission. Like I said above, their appeal endures.

In 1966, GM delivered about half the new cars sold in the US. Chevrolet was its best selling brand. The full size Chevy, the Impala, Caprice and the less costly Biscayne and Bel Air, was arguably the best selling car in America. It sold well because it satisfied customers' needs. Available with everything from an inline six to a big block V8, the Chevy was comfortable, fast (well, depending on what was under the hood), stylish and big. Maybe not as big as a Cadillac, but certainly big enough to pile in two adults, three or four kids, and a trunk full of luggage, and it was fast enough to cruise on the Interstate at 80mph all day long. They were competitively reliable and when they did need repairs, they were simple enough that just about any service station mechanic could get it back on the road. In a nutshell it was a good value, a family car with some power and style.

In 1966, Chevy used four different nameplates for its fullsize cars. The more expensive models gave customers the options and stylish trim they wanted without getting too far away from the value of the base Biscayne. They were, after all, buying a Chevy, not an Oldsmobile or Buick.

Today only the Impala name survives. An SS package is still available, giving customers the option of a 303 hp 5.3 liter V8, a better handling suspension package along with the de rigeur 18" chrome wheels and SS trim. With fuel injection and electronic ignition it starts more reliably than the 1960s car, gets comparatively outstanding gas mileage, and even with that V8 sitting over and powering the front wheels it is a much better handling car than the '66. The '66 barely had seatbelts. The '09 comes with a plethora of air bags, air curtains, collapsible steering columns and crush zones. Instead of an AM-FM 8-Track stereo, the '09 Impala has surround sound, satellite radio and On-Star. By any measurable standard except for 0-60 time, the 2009 Impala SS is a superior automobile to it's 1966 antecedent.

So why does a 1966 Impala SS fetch strong auction money while the 2009 Impala is relegated to rental fleet duty? Because the current Impala is a boring car. I often find myself defending the Impala or Chevy Cobalt since they are perfectly adequate cars, if not class leaders. Still, they are boring cars with little about them that evokes any passion. Adequacy rarely evokes passion.

While a car buff in 1966 could have distinguished an Impala from a Bel Air just by the trim, today's fullsize Chevy has such nondescript styling that even a car guy like me sometimes confuses the Impala with its midsize stablemate, the Malibu. All of the big Chevys were and are instantly identifiable as Chevys. Fords, Chevys and MOPAR products had styling that was hard linked to their brand. That link between brand and styling is no longer. If you took the badges off, could anyone not a car buff be able to tell an Impala from a Sonata?

Who's to blame? Toyota. Well, more accurately, Detroit trying to imitate Toyota. The Camry is a very competent transportation appliance but nothing about it is exciting. Even the tuner rice rocket boys turn their noses up at the maytagmobile. There are probably more than 20 tuned and winged Tercels for every Camry that's been hopped up. Detroit sees people buying Camrys and Accords by the half milion and rather than going with their strengths, the domestic automakers say, "yeah, I can hit that" and end up making another boring car. Under "what's new for 2009" for the Impala, bullet listed along with the 18" wheels and standard 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS, is "revised cup holder design". Call me crazy but I don't think anyone ever got excited about a cup holder.

Detroit forgot what its mojo was and then tried getting it back by imitating the competition. The question then is does Toyondissandai have mojo? Yes, but it's not the same. Detroit's mojo was once an amalgam of style, size, speed and value. Toyota's mojo is reliability, boring reliability. While the Asian manufacturers are capable of making a Civic Si or a Sentra SER, you'll never see a Camry get the Biscayne>Impala SS treatment. Toyota thinks the market wants a boring maytagmobile and everyone else, chasing the Camry, queues up in the same line. Cars that evoke passion are the opposite of appliances. To inspire passion, positive or negative, you have to take a stand, take a chance. Toyota doesn't take chances.

As long as the domestic automakers see the Camry and the Accord as their benchmark for what consumers want, Detroit will never get its mojo back. There are, however, hopeful signs. It's been slow in coming, but the domestic automakers, or at least GM and Ford, have recognized that a "me too" copy of the Camry or Accord isn't going to win back market share. They have to somehow leapfrog the competition. Since technology is pretty much the same from automaker to automaker, and since they all know how to implement statistical quality control, quality is less and less of a distinguishing characteristic, so it gets harder and harder to make your product different and better in the eyes of buyers.

So what's Detroit to do? Go back to its strengths. Euro design houses like Pininfarina and Italdesign notwithstanding, automotive styling was pretty much invented in Detroit by Harley Earl and Edsel Ford. There's nothing wrong with a maytagmobile, but giving an appliance some style is one way to make it stand out in a crowd of white enamel. As long as the substance is there, there's nothing wrong with a little style.

There's no question that there are talented designers in Detroit. GM particularly has raised the bar on exterior and interior design. Cadillac's "art & science" design language has been very successful and its no coincidence that the Cadillac CTS is regarded by Detroit boosters and critics alike as proof that Detroit is capable of building desirable cars. The CTS is instantly recognizable as a Cadillac, a very good looking Cadillac. If GM decides to make an upmarket version of the Chevy Volt, it could do much worse than the Cadillac Converj concept, a very pure distillation of Cadillac's styling cues.

Ford also seems to have some focus on style. While its critical to their survival to federalize some of their small Euro cars, the heart of the sedan market will remain midsize and fullsize cars. Even before hybrid sales collapsed with the financial crisis and cheaper oil, Toyota sold more than twice as many Camrys as Priuses. Ford's decision to restyle the 2010 Taurus, taking it from a boring albeit competent sedan, to a distinctive upmarket look, will set it apart from the bland competition that includes, yes, the Impala.

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