2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS

I was feeling kind of guilty about referring to the Chevrolet Cobalt and the Pontiac G5 as the "dogs of Lordstown" in the blog last week. So in an act of penance, I thought I'd post a blog entry about a positive road test on the Cobalt SS by Autoweek magazine, posted at autoweek.com. It's a positive, almost glowing, review. This is an under $25,000 compact car with 260 horsepower, that will do 0-60 in 5.8 seconds. It also delivered 25 MPG in the Autoweek test. Finally, it's built in Lordstown, Ohio, so we can drive it to work.

At least we can this year. The 2009 Cobalt was recently unveiled, with its first comprehensive restyling since the car debuted in 2004, but according to Wikipedia, production of the Cobalt will be moved to Mexico for model year 2009, so it will almost certainly fall off the UAW-approved list, leaving us with even less choice when it comes to cars that we can drive to work.

Congratulations Purdue SPE Rube Goldberg Winners

Congratulations to the Society of Professional Engineers Team from Purdue University for winning the 2008 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest National Championship. The championship match was held this weekend, and the Purdue SPE team won for the third time in the past 4 years. This year's task was to make a hamburger in no less than 20 steps. I'm embedding a link to a video of the winning machine.

Delphi Needs a ReFi
Appaloosa says Nay Nay (Neigh Neigh, never mind)

Appaloosa Management LP, the lead invester in Delphi's bankruptcy reoganization, has pulled out of Delphi's bankruptcy exit financing plan. By doing so, Appaloosa not only yanked its $2.5 billion in exit capital, it completely killed Delphi's current plan of reorganization. Things get complicated, but as I understand it, Appaloosa didn't like General Motor's extra clout because GM increased its participation covering the lion's share of Delphi's bankruptcy debts. Also, there was supposed to be $6 billion in additional financing that didn't exist to Appaloosa's satisfaction.

In parting, Appaloosa asked for $62.5 million in breakup fees from Delphi. So, in other words, it looks like the Delphi bankruptcy is the song that never ends. Hence the tenuously linked video of the day.

UAW Membership down 14%
Gettelfinger's Pay up 4%

From the Detroit News: the UAW disclosed that its membership is now below 500,000 for the first time since World War II, now at 464,910, down almost 14% from last year. The union has lost 237,000 members since 2001.

Nevertheless, UAW financial coffers are doing quite well. The union earned $75.2 million in interest last year. UAW president, Ron Gettelfinger received a 4% raise. I have to admit though, that Ron did an excellent job in navigating the recent contract negotiations. He was probably underpaid at his 2005 salary of $150,763. Hmmm, that figure is awfully close to the salary of HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED.

I don't think I need to tell you what these trend lines tell you for UAW-LSP attorney employment. It is therefore crucial that we hold out for severence pay in our next contract. We can't rely on transfers and attrition.

American Axle Strike Starting to Hurt GM
Lines to Screech to a Halt for the "Dogs of Lordstown"

Word came yesterday that the ongoing strike at American Axle threatens to shutdown its first GM car assembly factory. Up till now, the idled facilities built trucks and suvs, models that had excess inventory anyway. Now it's GM's small car factory that is facing the hurt.

The Lordstown, Ohio factory that builds the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 may soon shut down due to lack of brake parts. Apparently American Axle supplies a key part to a subcontractor that provides brake assemblies to the Lordstown plant.

The Cobalt and the G5 are not superstars. They are competent if unspectacular performers, but they are among GM's largest selling auto models, always in the top 10 in Canada. Demand for fuel-efficient models is increasing, and GM can ill-afford to lose the CAFE credits that the Cobalt/G5 provide.

Primary Source:thetruthaboutcars.com

Holy Obradma Batman

Yesterday, the news story was that Hillary and Barack are related through Brad Pitt. Also, Hillary and Angelina are related. It had to happen, the composite pictures. Here's the Brad and Barack composite from the Prettyontheoutside blog. What, me worry?

Ford Completes Deal with Tata

Ford Motor Company (finally) announced that it has come to terms with Tata Motors on the sale of the Jaguar and Land Rover divisions. Ford will net about $1.7 Billion from the transaction. That's a small fraction of what Ford paid for these companies, and an even smaller fraction of the cash and development resources that Ford invested after purchase. Consider that it takes about $5 billion to develop one new model, it's clear that the $2.3 billion gross price was a fire sale.

Sirius and XM Merger Approved

The Department of Justice finally approved the Sirius and XM satellite radio merger. It may be years before the channel lineups are fully integrated. Current hardware is not compatible between the two services. I'm hoping for NFL Network access on XM next year though.

Chris Elliot's Rocketman

Last Month, I posted a link to William Shatner's Rocketman. Here's Chris Elliot's cover of William Shatner's cover. As obscure as the Shatner
version is now, it was probably even more obscure in the early 90's
when Chris did this version on the David Letterman Show. Needless to
say, back in the early nineties, you had to work a lot harder to find
your clips ofShatner singing.

Tribute Band of the Day: The ZOMBEATLES
Hard Day's Night Of The Living Dead