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Chevrolet-volt

Today's column is brought to you by the letter "V." Consider it my ode to the whole Sesame Street 40th anniversary thing.

We'll start with the world's new No. 1 automaker: Volkswagen. Even though the company sold just 17,037 vehicles in the U.S. in October — compared to 150,000+ for Toyota — VW actually manufactured more vehicles, globally, than the Japanese OEM through the first 10 months of 2009.

Sure, there are a few caveats one can toss around, like the fact we're talking units built, not sold, or that the VW numbers were certainly boosted — at least a little — by the company's recent purchase of Porsche. But the bottom line is that Volkswagen must be doing something right to get to this point. The only hiccup is that what's right for the rest of the world doesn't seem to be right for the American market. And that would be a focus on smaller, more fuel-efficient diesel products, the kind that U.S. customers will continue to ignore until gasoline prices begin their inevitable march upward.

On the other hand, Volkswagen is working hard to change that. Witness the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI. VW has returned to using the "Golf" name in the U.S. for the sixth-generation of its popular hatchback, and this clean-diesel version will be an integral part of the lineup, boasting EPA ratings of 30 mpg city/42 highway. That kind of mileage, along with a host of improvements over the last-generation model, should speed the trickle of diesel converts at least somewhat.

And so should the VW Jetta TDI Cup "Street" Edition. The story here is that VW runs an SCCA-sanctioned spec racing series based on the Jetta TDI — the aforementioned Jetta TDI Cup — and is working the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" angle. The "Street" Edition adds a bodykit and improved suspension, along with some motorsports mojo, in the hopes of upping the coolness factor of the standard Jetta TDI.

The other automaker that fits into our theme today is also making news with a new product. That would would be the next Volvo S60. The car is scheduled to debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, but Ford has just released a batch of photos to get the buzz machine warmed up.

The last remaining piece of the Blue Oval's Premier Automotive Group (remember that?), Volvo has been having a decent-ish year in the U.S. Sales are off 19.7 percent through October, but the brand saw a 19.4 percent jump for the month. Of course, that jump represents an increase from only 3,717 units to 4,437. And the tally for the previous generation S60 was just, uh, 26 cars.

The redesigned S60 should certainly do better than that, as Volvo once again tries to parlay the purported U.S. customer interest in safety to higher sales. One reason to think the S60 will hit the sweet spot here: The Volvo XC60, a compact crossover built on the same platform as the new S60 and launched earlier this year, was Volvo's second-best seller in October.

"V" also stands for "Volt," and Chevrolet's extended-range electric vehicle makes today's column courtesy of GM's Bob Lutz. In a semi-recent interview on FOX, Lutz said he would "not discount the possibility" of a semi-high-performance version of the Chevrolet Volt. Now, this could be another "let's rebadge the Pontiac G8 as a Chevy Caprice police car" situation, i.e., much Lutzian sound and fury, signifying nothing.

But given today's industry, in which even OEMs like Porsche and Ferrari are working on hybrid systems, it's obvious that there's an interest in using alternative powertrain technologies to do more than just save fuel. A Chevrolet Volt SS might not find a lot of buyers, but I wonder how an electric Chevrolet Corvette would do?

And as long as we're rocking down to electric avenue, let's finish up with our final V-inspired news: Chrysler's decision to cut its ENVI ("En-Vee," get it?) electric vehicle program. While Fiat is spinning this as an organizational move, in which Fiat's and Chrysler's separate electric programs are integrated into one department, Fiat head Sergio Marchionne is on the record as doubting whether current EV technology is ready for prime time.

This might be more of an admission that it's Chrysler's EV technology that isn't ready for prime time, but, regardless, it makes sense that a company in Chrysler's condition should first focus on ye olde core competencies before spending the billions of dollars it would take to develop a cutting-edge electric vehicle program.

After all, to paraphrase Kermit the Frog, it isn't easy — or necessarily profitable — being green.

Word is starting to spread from various sources in the automotive industry from advertising and marketing executives, to competitors to dealers and consumer loyalists that GM might have blown its only chance for some semblance of reasonable survival.

We all knew that General Motors would never recover as the major player it once was. That was a given. We can see that the current battle between Toyota and Volkswagen will determine who will emerge as the top selling brand. Additionally, Ford is creating a dynamic future for itself. This is the current automotive climate. With Subaru, Kia and the like growing, GM’s future looks further tarnished. It is hard to believe that GM, under today’s conditions, will find any kind of acceptable niche to settle into among its competitors. It is a floating canoe with no paddle.

GM, after its major cash infusion via a public bailout, had a chance to clean house from the top down with the opportunity to start with a fresh slate and hire visionaries in the design, engineering, sales and marketing area’s of the company. Instead, most key positions at GM are still held by highly-paid company management lifers. Moving current employees, who failed at their positions and helped create this debacle, to other key roles will only spell more disaster.

I have the utmost respect for Bob Lutz, one of the automotive industry’s true greats. He has done some good in the marketing efforts he is currently spearheading, but his knowledge of how and who to reach out to in the new world of social media and electronics is greatly lacking and suppressing GM’s ability to distinguish its brand and sell new cars.

Instead of segmenting advertising to pinpoint target consumers, GM continues to act like it is 1960 by putting most of its resources into television. Hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds has gone to support adverting in the past 6 months and has fallen totally flat and produced no discernible gains in cars sold. GM lagged behind the competitions in Clunker August and continue to languish in poor sales numbers.

Other than the Chevrolet Volt and possibly the Cruze, the company has little in the pipeline that will stimulate any future excitement. This mess will take years to “mop up” under its current leadership. Cash infusions and time are just about up. Without the right key players in place to formulate an aggressive product rich future, GM will fail, and fail big time, taking all of us hard working taxpayers down with the ship.