The UK is planning to track every movement of every car on the road.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.

Now like myself you may be gagging with rage at this point, so let me skip the part where attempt to voice just how stupid and dangerous this is, and skip straight to the conclusion.  The only way the planners of this system could have the slightest regard for liberty is if they open it to everyone.  Create a website, vehiclejourneys.gov.uk, and let everyone see everyone else, police vehicles included.  That would be a changed world, and maybe not a better one, but it wouldn't be a unilateral handing of power to the state.

Business Magazine suggests that General Motors may have too many brands. There are currently Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, GMC, and Hummer in the US market. The magazine suggests that the American car manufacturers pare back their brands significantly. From the article:

G.M.'s biggest problem, however, is its unwieldy collection of eight brands--Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, Saab, G.M.C., and Hummer. Each product line has its own dealers, its own development costs, and its own marketing budget, meaning that all those resources are diluted to the point of impotence. If you're shopping for a midpriced sedan, for example, G.M. has six. Buick by itself has two. Toyota, by comparison, has just one--the Camry, which sells nearly as many vehicles each year as all six of G.M.'s offerings combined.

and;

Some executives privately concede that G.M. needs only three or four U.S. brands: Cadillac, Chevrolet, G.M.C., and perhaps Saturn.

Chevrolet and Cadillac would make the most sense. Toyota has three brands in the US; Toyota, Lexus and Scion, the latter is suffering from poor sales. By the same token I would not be surprised to see Holden become Chevrolet one day as car manufacturing and brands become more and more global and the local oddities and markets cease to become as important.

It is interesting to see the reaction on car forums devoted to discussing General Motors' fortunes. I suspect most of these type of generalist forums are young kids, but even so, rather than car lovers forums, they are really marketing forums. All they want to discuss is what brand, what colour, what the car should be named. There isn't much on the 'car' itself.

Quite amusing.

All car sales are down though. Inflation doesn't bite necessarily, but a rapid change in the rate of inflation does - and gas fits that profile. Fords big seller, the F-150, got outsold by Japanese passenger cars for the first time i na long while.

There is also news that GM is considering closing four truck plants in North America. The problem for the automotive industry is that it cannot respond to fast market fluctuations. The lead time for any platform of factory is often ten years. Even integrating a new part into a car can take three years.

Rapid changes in consumer buying patterns can leave car manufacturers with a lot of wasted capital expense which is no longer making money or bringing in revenue. The situation car manufacturers are in now are the perils of a capital intensive and heavily regulated industry.

The 2009 Chevrolet Corvette has a new color and the Z06 has new wheels. The colors for the Corvette are pretty limited, sticking mainly with primary and conservative colors. I like this middle gray though.

My first Corvette was silver, not quite as dark as this, but pretty close. My last two have been black which is not very suitable for the Arizona climate. No color is really suitable for Phoenix.

The demographic for the Corvette is aging despite it being a steal of a sport cars on the market. A new Corvette starts at around $45,000 USD and the fully optioned LT4 is approximately $ 55,000. Cheap in comparison to other 430hp sports cars but still pretty expensive. The performance models, such as the Z06, go for much more - starting at approximately $ 70,000 - while the ZR1 which is a short run has apparently been marked up to $ 170,000 by some dealerships.

While there is plenty of horsepower out of the LS series of small block engines, the aging demographic has meant that compromises in seating position have been made. The C6 Corvette is more muscle car than sports car, the previous model, the C5, which sold from 1997 to 2004 was much lower in seating position, and harder to get in and out of. The current model is taller and with more headroom. The downside of this is that you feel like you are in a car, not a sports car. But 50 years old don't fold up as easily as 35 year olds do. The market is forcing that direction and compromise.

Corvette in AZ

I am a fan of the Corvette and consider it one of the great American cars. I will probably have one in some form or another now for as long as I can. I use my current one as a daily commuter car, as I did with the one previous. Mine are not treated as precious toys, but everyday tools.

Autoblog has an article about Azentek adding a navigation system to the rear view mirror. My car has a factory navigation system in the center console which I never use. It is too complicated, and to be truthful, the $80 GPS/Nav system that sit on top of the dashboard are better than the factory one.

Additionally, I am more likely to use maps.google on my iPhone for last minute refined directions than anything else these days. When-ever I rent a car I always get the dashboard nav-system for the extra $9 a day.

The most useful visual system on my car is the Heads Up Display [HUD] which sits perfectly in my field of view. I don't look at the dials in the dashboard any longer. If any system should be expanded it is probably the HUD.

Shots of this concept have been seen as it is being used in the Transformers movie. The Chicago Motor Show was its first proper unveiling. I doubt the C7 in 2011 will look like this; hopefully it doesn't anyway, not sure I like the design lines on this concept.

The truth about cars has an interesting break down of last months sales amongst the luxury car brands:

22,216 Lexus
18,992 Mercedes
17,859 BMW
12,582 Buick
12,328 Cadillac
11,766 Acura
9,205 Audi
9,128 Mercury
8,091 Infiniti
7,755 Lincoln
4,559 Volvo
4,233 Mini
2,700 Land Rover
960 Jaguar
174 Saab

Some interesting things from that list. No wonder Ford dumped Jaguar and Volvo. Also no suprise that GM dumped Saab; however they held on to both Buick and Cadillac. Supposedly they held on to Buick because of booming sales in China. It looks like Buick and Cadillac are competing for the same buyers in the luxury market in the US though.

It is interesting to see that Ford is killing Mercury and adopting the two brand strategy of Toyota/Lexus in the US market with Lincoln being the upscale brand. Not sure how well that will work as Lincolns are no names really. Ford can probably survive as just Ford and make more expensive cars within its line up.

The truth about cars has US car sales for the last month broken down by brand;

175,129 Ford
167,023 Chevrolet
136,485 Toyota
105,407 Honda
75,673 Nissan
61,172 Dodge
49,045 Hyundai
31,431 Kia
29,960 GMC
23,667 Suburu
23,543 Volkswagon
22,948 Jeep
22,605 Mazda
22,216 Lexus
20,699 Chrysler
19,876 Mercedes
17,859 BMW
12,582 Buick
12,328 Cadillac
11,766 Acura
9,205 Audi
9,128 Mercury
8,091 Infiniti
7,755 Lincoln
4,737 Mitsubishi
4,659 Volvo
4,233 Mini
4,112 Scion
2,700 Land Rover
1,903 Suzuki
1,873 Porsche
174 Saab

Ford and Chevrolet are way ahead of everyone else, only Toyota comes close. Ford is probably in the best position as they have been dumping brands while everyone else is picking them up. Scion which is part of Toyota for instance doesn't sell much. It is still a perplexing decision as to why GM kept GMC, Buick and maybe even Cadillac around.