MAX payload - news, rumors, trends, stuff

TopKick Gets the Boot
In a terse statement issued shortly after entering bankruptcy GM said, "After four years of working with multiple potential buyers, General Motors has decided to wind down its medium-duty truck operations. Production of the Chevy Kodiak and GMC TopKick medium duty trucks will cease by July 31, 2009." Immediately following was news of General Motors new battery lab, a 33,000-square-foot facility at GM's Tech Center designed to be the "most technologically advanced automotive battery lab in the United States" that's been operating since January (nine months ahead of schedule). The lab has 160 test channels, 42 thermal chambers, and maximum capacity of six megawatts; 90 percent of the power used for battery testing can be returned to the grid. We wonder how much construction material and lab equipment was delivered in Kodiak and TopKick trucks.

A Different IPO
The Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation has honored the inventors of the Ford-patented Plasma Transferred Wire Arc technology with the 2009 National Inventor of the Year Award. The thermal spray coating process for aluminum engine blocks replaces heavy cast iron liners, reducing engine weight and friction losses for improved efficiency. It will be introduced to North American Ford engines in the very near future.

No Rollers
Schaeffler has developed a twin-tandem ball-bearing system to replace tapered roller bearings used in wheel bearings and drive axle assemblies.
By reducing friction roughly 50 percent, Schaeffler claims that a 1.5-percent reduction in fuel consumption is possible. BMW uses this system on various models and has noted a 0.3-mpg improvement on a 20-mpg vehicle and lower operating temperatures, which allows BMW to remove the cooling fins from the differential.

Do the Math
Prior to bankruptcy, General Motors noted it had a vision of dealerships with the number of Chevrolet dealers in urban areas matching Toyota, Buick-Pontiac-GMC outlets level with Nissan store counts, and Cadillac the same as Mercedes-Benz dealers. Before mass closings, Chevrolet had more than 4000 dealers and Cadillac had about 1600, the latter more than Toyota's and Lexus' combined.

Best of the Best
Business Web site Portfolio.com has teamed up with business professors and authors to come up with the 20 best and worst CEOs, based on innovation, management skills (or lack of same), and record of creating or destroying value.
At the bottom, on the list dominated by contemporaries and headed by Dick Fuld, Countrywide's Mozilo, Enron's Ken Lay, and the man who approved post-bailout AGI bonuses, Bob Nardelli of Home Depot and later Chrysler was ranked 17th worst CEO, and GM's 1980s boss Roger Smith garnered 13th.  
Among the top 20 leaders, Lee Iacocca, who could be remembered as father of the Mustang or K-car depending on who you ask, is #18. Warren Buffett, who claims to know nothing about cars but may import them from China and consistently brings good shareholder returns, is #16. Sync co-developer Microsoft's founder Bill Gates is #10, while the iPod's parent-company honcho Steve Jobs is #7.  But you have to go back in time to find the best CEOs, with 1920s GM CEO Alfred Sloan ranked fourth-best, and Henry Ford named the best of all.

Dealers Keep Dealing
According to Automotive News, just more than half of Chrysler dealerships scheduled for termination planned to convert to used-car operations. Twenty-one percent said they would try to get another brand franchise, and 14 percent said they'd move an existing non-Chrysler franchise into their store or try to sell the real estate.

Insurance  Costs
A www.insure.com survey ranks the 20 most- and least-expensive vehicles to insure in the U.S., and trucks and SUVs appear on both lists. The first truck on the list is Mercedes' G-Class box ($2088) at number 5. (The GT-R was first, followed by the Viper.) Number 8 is Hummer's H2 ($1912) and the other big-buck trucks on the list go to the Range Rover ($1603, #16), Cadillac Escalade EXT ($1592, #17), and BMW X6 ($1584, #19). At the other end of the spectrum, the five least-expensive vehicles to insure all belong to Hyundai/Kia. Number 1 is Hyundai Santa Fe ($832), followed by a Sportage (#2, $840), #3 Entourage, #4 Sedona, #8 Saturn Vue ($911), #9 Mazda Tribute, and the #14 Wrangler ($939) ahead of the Lincoln Town Car and Chevrolet Impala.