Let Detroit Drop Dead!

Not a good idea, in my view, but one that's being put forward by Cliff Mason in a recent blog post at CNBC. He thinks we could take Detroit's potential bailout money and use it to improve public transportation. On its face, better public transportation sounds great, but we're not in a position to trade better subways and buses for a decimated Detroit. In fact, we need not just to save Detroit but to manage its future growth and development through an industrial policy. So we're not just talking about a public bailout of the Big Three Two, we're talking about a need to continue to provide Detroit with taxpayer support. Concessions, of course, should be exacted.

Can Tata Motors Be the Detroit That Wasn't?

Even though official launch of Tats Motor's $2,500 "People's Car" has been delayed by some local issues with the initial plant site, I'm still fascinated by the car--and also with Tata as a corporation that both represents what Detroit should have become in the 1970s and symbolizes the way forward for genuinely sustainable mobility. Here's my take, from the Huffington Post, where I'm now blogging for their Green site about Sus Mo.

Debating the Electric Car

Increasingly, I've come to think that electric cars are a bad idea. At least for right now. I have some backup on this, from actual scientists, which I will be getting into in future posts. But for the moment, here's my Huffington Post take on Tesla Motors, which has garnered more attention than anyone in the electric car game.

A good report from AP on what's happing with the GM-Chryslerberus-Renault merger dance. Note that it details the numbers: GM has a minimum operating cash requirement of $14 billion and would get something like $11 billion if it merges with Chrysler. Presumably, this would buy it another year of burn (it's currently going through $1 billion a month in cash reserves to stay in business). Of course, under this scenario Chrysler is effectively gone for good.

Speed Channel Preview of China GP Track

Getting revved up for the China GP this weekend. Here's a terrific breakdown of the track, which has some unique features, as well as some technical talk about car setups. Lewis Hamilton has a lot to lose if he doesn't have a good race, so the moves that McLaren makes will be important.

Kinky Linky

This isn't exactly a new spot, but I hadn't caught sight of it until I noticed a Lincoln banner ad on my Yahoo! mail page. "Leather wrapped cyberspace!" Sounds like a tagline from Neuromancer, or some kind of techno-S/M cult. Really, what's wrong with Young & Rubicam, Lincoln's ad agency? I don't buy a Linc so I can be surrounded by screens. I buy a Linc so I can feel like Jack Kennedy on the way to the Sands to make time with the Rat Pack. At that point, we can get into all the leather wrapped cyber-whatever we want...

Top Gear with My Son, James

Like any good father, I hope to inspire my young son to take up a suitable trade. Medicine, law--or perhaps Formula 1 racing?!?! We'll see. I've already had him out to the track once (to watch), and he proved he could drive (sort of) last weekend, when he took the wheel of a kiddie tractor at Underwood Family Farms in the Simi Valley (before it became part of the fire zone). Can Karts be far off? Anyhow, at night while his sister is reading about fairy princesses and magical sprites, we fire up YouTube and watch Top Gear. Last night, we stumbled across this 2007 interview with F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who I blogged about yesterday. Watch until the end and see Hamilton nearly outdo the best time ever in the Reasonably Priced car lap. And pay attention to Jeremy Clarkson's quip about Hamilton's secondary sex characteristics. (James, by the way, knows Clarkson as "that funny guy.")

Also, as Top Gear's YouTube channel disables HTML code, I posted what looks like old spy video of Hamilton filming the Reasonably Priced segment.

James and I will be tuning into the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend, for some exciting down-the-stretch racing action.