The Auto Sleuth: GM, VW & Daimler

• GM stresses over self-imposed Volt timeline but remains committed to it: General Motors plans to launch its plug-in hybrid gas/electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, by the end of 2010 despite skepticism at GM about that target. As the race to bring a mass-market, rechargeable electric vehicle to the market heats up, GM Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz said employees working on the Volt are becoming nervous. “There is a lot of skepticism within the company about the timeline,” Lutz said at the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit. “People are biting their nails, but those of us in a leadership position have said it has to be done.” Lutz said the Volt plug-in hybrid — which GM plans to road-test early next year and produce by late 2010 — is crucial to GM’s efforts to snag the environmental technology crown from Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. The Volt is designed to run for about 40 miles on nothing but electricity. Owners can either plug it in at night to recharge or rely on a small gas motor to do the work while driving the Volt. GM is the only automaker to have provided a timeline on production even though other companies such as Ford Motor Co and Toyota are working on similar technology.

• VW’s hot-ride Scirocco bypasses North America so as not to hurt Rabbit sales: Spy photographers have spotted a number of Volkswagen Scirocco prototypes, some even in the southwest United States on testing missions. But the Sleuth hears that the Scirocco will not be sold in North America. It’s slated to go on sale in Europe in mid 2008, but Stefan Jacoby, president and chief executive officer of Volkswagen of America, broke the news in an interview with Car and Driver magazine recently. Jacoby apparently said that the automaker didn’t want to cannibalize North American sales of the Rabbit. “The [2009 Scirocco] is lovely, but we can’t have everything,” he said. VW of America executives have long stated their opposition to bringing the Scirocco to America. The final decision will come out of Germany, but the Sleuth hears the news is not going to be good.

• Emission bugs at the heart of VW’s Jetta TDI delay: The Sleuth reported to you some months ago that a turbo-diesel version of the 2009 Jetta was going to be delayed in getting to North America and now that has been confirmed by VW’s Stefan Jacoby. Look for it late next summer. The delay is due to — no surprise — problems with the emissions system, which is the whole reason why there has been no TDI here for a while now. “We have a solution and are working on it,” Jacoby said. Despite the delay, VW is already conducting dealer training for the new vehicle. “We need to launch with proper emissions and quality,” Jacoby said.

n Chinese cars en route . . . via Mexico?: We all knew it would eventually happen . . just not this way. The Sleuth hears that a Mexican business conglomerate plans to import cars from China next year and then send them to Central America and maybe North America by 2010. The long-term plan is to build cars in Mexico with a Chinese partner by 2010. Salinas Group, a Mexican financial services, communications and retailing giant, says it will begin producing Chinese-designed automobiles at an assembly plant to be built in western Mexico in collaboration with China’s First Automobile Works Group, or FAW. Salinas unit Grupo Elektra will own a majority stake in the plant, which is expected to cost about $150 million, take three years to build and have an initial production capacity of 100,000 vehicles a year, Salinas spokesman Daniel McCosh told industry publication Automotive News.

• “Hybrid” Fortwo for you: Smart USA, the distributor of Daimler’s Smart Fortwo microcar in the United States expects to have a gas/electric hybrid variant available in two years with a rechargeable electric version to follow for all of North America, the Sleuth hears. “A micro-hybrid is a derivative that you could see here in the next two years,” David Schembri, president of Smart USA said at a recent press event. A micro-hybrid Fortwo would boost fuel efficiency since the gas engine would be shut down when the vehicle is stopped. Smart has taken in more than 30,000 Internet reservations for its Fortwo at $99 each. The first cars are due to be shipped early next year.

Market indicators

Open season on pricing for hot cars: It’s a given that popular new models will often fetch more than the sticker price when they eventually go on sale. It’s a case of supply and demand and a situation that many manufacturers actually don’t like. With the long-awaited Nissan GT-R finally making it to our shores next June, it’s a sure bet that initial demand will far outweigh supply. So what will Nissan do to prevent the vehicles from being sold at more than sticker price? Nothing yet, actually. Nissan was considering voiding the warranty of any GT-R resold in its first 12 months (which would discourage speculators from buying the vehicles and reselling them to the highest bidder) but has since abandoned that idea. Markups are expected to be at least $15,000 over sticker. Only 1,500 GT-Rs have been allotted for North America during the first year. Hey, if Nissan doesn’t want price gouging, the Sleuth things the company should make more GT-Rs available.

Start/stop technology: Why use gas when you’re stopped? It seems Chrysler will offer start/stop engine technology (which Chrysler will call a “micro hybrid” system since it’s derived from technology used in gas/electric hybrid vehicles). The system will automatically turn off a car’s gas engine when stopped (at a red light for example) and then start up again when the brake pedal is released. This is technology that General Motors was using a few years ago in its full-size trucks. Expect to see widespread use within the next next two years and expect a boost in fuel economy by as much as five percent.