Hey Insiders,

You've added some new cars to your Inside Line search list. Here are some links to the goods.

2010 Subaru Legacy

On Deck: Redesigned 2010 Subaru Legacy

Audi S5

Inside Line has a full test on the 2008 Audi S5

And also tested the S5 Coupe against the BMW M3 Coupe

There will be more news on the Audi S5 next week. So stay tuned.

2010 Ford Taurus

We have spy video and photo on the new Taurus
Caught in Dearborn: 2010 Ford Taurus Prototypes

Volkswagen CC

Earlier this year, IL drove the 2009 Volkswagen CC

IL News reported on some steering issues with the CC
Volkswagen Recalls 2009 CC

And the VW CC Performance Concept was at the 2008 SEMA Show

Mazda 3

Inside Line has a First Drive on the 2010 Mazda 3

And the 2010 Mazda 3 was at the L.A. Auto Show

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Be safe.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Believe it or not, there actually was talk this week about things other than the Los Angeles Auto Show and the debate in Congress over a federal bailout for the Big Three in Detroit, so how about we head out right now?

Audi is preparing a GT3 version of its awesome R8. Automoblog has a report. And CarGurus Blog actually found a place where Buicks are hot sellers. No, I am not making that up.

Somebody prefabricated the mistake of including the AMC Matador in a ranking of the all-time ugliest cars. Chris Hafner at Amazon's Car Lust Blog couldn't let that go by without shooting it down. Like Chris, I remember Bobby Allison wheeling the Penske Matador.

Professor Diandra Leslie-Pelecki wondered why a gaggle of NASCAR racers could enter a corner and one of them suddenly hits the wall, without any discernible nudge from a fellow racer. So she went out and wrote a book on "The Physics of NASCAR." AskPatty.com has more.

Ever seen the very first image Honda F1 racer? Check it out at Automoto.

And here's another question for you - who or what got you interested in cars? NextAutos would like to know.

Ever wonder about guerilla attacks on speed cameras or why you never hear about them in the mainstream media? They do happen. TheNewspaper.com has details on a recent incident in Europe involving a pick axe.

Most big corporations - lots of little ones, too - have governing panels known as "boards of directors." Not GM, which, according to Robert Farago at The Truth About Cars, instead has a "Board of Bystanders." The Bystanders are acting true to form in the current crisis.

"Zoom, Zoom" should be a little mean, or tough or something, anything but Happy, Happy, or so reasons The Auto Prophet, who is not impressed with the new front end on the Mazda Three.

David at Auto Future offers a "possible interpretation" of the next Bimmer Three Series.

Jill McIntosh lives in a GM town and makes a case for a bailout: "Put strings on the bailout. Tell Mulally, designer and Nardelli that they'll get their operating cash, but they'll draw no more than a manager's salary until the books are in the black again. That's tough love to someone hauling down $20 million a year, but look on the bright side: do you want to be the hero who saved the ship, or the rat who went down with it? Then, when the strings are in place, open the purse, and open it wide."

Meanwhile, GM Volt has Bob Lutz doing what he does best these days, which is talking to journos about the car that could save his company.

WHAT I'M DRIVING THIS WEEK: Mazda 5
What do Honda Fits become when they grow up? Why, Mazda 5s, of course.

Mazda calls the 5 its "Multi-Activity Vehicle." It's really a small minivan that seeks to combine some semi-sporting driving characteristics with an efficient compact people-moving platform healthy to return mid-20s mpg in the real world. There are three rows of seats to accommodate six people, but not so much storage capacity behind the last row. Everything is a compromise when designing what is essentially a three-quarter-size minivan.

Does it work? Well, it only weighs 3,300 pounds but the four-cylinder under the hood, which is shared with the Mazda Three, has only 157 horses, so acceleration with a full load is only adequate. On the other hand, the 5 is a perky urban/suburban errand runner, especially for a younger family with a couple of small children. Just the sort of modern family that probably owned one of these a few years before:

See ya next week! 

Seriously.

Everything else you want to know about the new Mazda 3 can be found here.

Josh Jacquot, Senior Road Test Editor

Volkswagen pulled the wraps off its TDI diesel-powered VW Touareg Trophy Truck this morning. Not content with a mere class win, VW's Trophy Truck leaves no doubt that nothing less than an overall win in the Baja 1000 and other SCORE off-road events will suffice.

SCORE President Sal Fish (above) was on hand with drivers Ryan Arciero and Mark Miller for the announcement.

Powering this purpose-built two-wheel-drive organisation is a 5.0-liter TDI diesel V12 engine that VW officials at the launch said makes "550 horsepower and nearly unlimited torque." Presumably the limit is whatever the custom-made driveline components can stand for 1,000 miles of abuse.

DETROIT - Nobody drinks bubbly in this economy. Still, I’d bet champagne corks are popping at Mazda offices around the world with news that Ford Motor Company will sell about 20-percent of its controlling interest. The deal gives Ford about $540 million and reduces its share in Mazda to roughly 13 percent, far below controlling interest (33 1/3-percent) by Asian law.

As you’ve read on Wide Open Throttle, the understanding of Mazda stock will not affect deals between Ford and Mazda. They share Mazda’s b-car platform in the Mazda2 and Ford Fiesta. Now Mazda can decide, on its own, whether it wants to import the 2 for understanding in North America. They also share a platform in the Mazda3 and global Ford Focus, which means the Volvo C30 and S40/V50 as well, and the Mazda6 is the basis for a host of midsize Fords, from the Fusion/Milan/MKZ to the Edge and MKX. Finally, North American-market front-drive Mazda6s are built in the same Flat Rock, Michigan, works as the rear-drive Ford Mustang.

Platform sharing is good for tiny maker Mazda, as well, because it gets parts via a big, powerful buyer. Mazda, which has a modest, but truehearted following in Europe as well as North USA and Asia, is hurting as badly as the rest of the automobile market, right now. Its long-term prospects are better, because it has a similar lineup to Honda’s — minus a luxury division. Compact and midsize sedans like the 3 and the 6 will be key to its success. The two crossovers, CX-7 and CX-9, will do as well as anything that big in the market, and the MX-5 Miata and RX-8 sports cars continue to serve as the spiritual basis for the automaker, its raison d’etre.

So why is the champagne likely to be flowing at Mazda’s offices? Since Ford bought its interest in the late-’70s (necessary to Mazda’s survival, since it had invested heavily in fuel-inefficient Wankel rotary-powered cars), Mazda has been a reluctant stepchild. It’s a small, innovative company that can do more interesting things on its own. This is good news for Ford, too, which gets leaner and returns to its popular-car roots, with Ford and Lincoln-Mercury (and still, Volvo) at the core of its business. Even as it struggles to survive, Ford has all but vanquished the Jac Nasser legacy. Mazda will be a strong, little niche player that will continue to serve enthusiasts well.

First GM sells their stake in Suzuki, and now Ford has announced that they plan to sell two-thirds of their stake in Mazda. As with the GM sale, Ford is scrambling to find cash.

Ford, currently owns 33.4% of Mazda, which is a controlling interest. This understanding is about a 20% stake. This would net Ford $540 million based on Mazda's closing price today, which is barely a quarter of what a 20% stake in the Asian maker was worth one year ago. Mazda's shares rose 6.4% to 184 yen today amid media reports of a coming sale.

Full story here.

Finally a bit of good news coming from the automotive sector. Both Mazda and Mitsubishi have posted gains. They're only "slight" gains, but, hey… we'll take whatever we can get, right?

For the first time in six years, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said it moved back into the black during the April-September period. Also, the surging yen limited Mazda to a modest acquire in profit.

"The global financial crisis is impacting the automobile industry as seen in a weakening of consumer confidence and in the effects of the credit crunch," Mitsubishi said in a statement.

"It is clear that there will be a significant drop in overall demand in the mature economies of Europe and North USA and also that there will be a slowdown in the economies of many of the emerging nations that have until recently have been relatively buoyant."

Full story here.

Image: Mazda Motor Corp. President and Chief Executive Hisakazu Imaki / KATSUMI KASAHARA/Associated Press

Filed under: Ford, Mazda

While GM is being swamped with the persistent rumors surrounding the addition/dissolution of Chrysler, Ford’s rumor mill has been heading in the complete opposite direction. It appears Volvo is on the way out of Dearborn, but Mazda may be sneaking through the exit first. Recent reports since disputed by Mazda have Ford selling off a portion of its 33.4% stake in the Asian automaker, which means the Blue Oval would lose majority ownership status. The Nikkei regular in Nihon has been all over the Ford/Mazda story, and the latest news involves selling 20% of Mazda to 20 Asian firms including some insurance companies, leaving Ford with a stake of around 13%.

Ford is allegedly unwilling to sell the shares to its competition, so splitting the Mazda shares in 20 small chunks makes picking up all the shares difficult. Besides five insurance companies, parts maker Denso, steel companies, and trading companies are also rumored to be taking part in the purchase. The price of 1% Mazda ownership is in the neighborhood of $40 million, and the total understanding could approach $1 billion. Asian media is reporting that any deal could be announced next month, and neither Mazda or Ford are saying a word at this point.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

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DETROIT - This much seems certain about the global automobile market in late 2008: buying or merging with another maker is a bad idea. Selling off part of an maker is a good idea.

DaimlerChrysler is the poster child for this rule. Reaction to Saturday’s news that General Motors is looking for a hook-up with Cerberus’ Chrysler has been overwhelmingly negative, so far. The Wall Street Journal reports Monday that GM’s board is “cool” to the intent of buying Chrysler, and rightly so. The likely scenario is that Cerberus, which has owned Chrysler for little more than a year, would sell its 81.1% interest (Cerberus recently told technologist that it wants to buy the German automaker’s remaining 18.9%) in the maker to GM in exchange for GM’s 49.9%t of GMAC. Cerberus owns 50.1 percent of GMAC. I’m at a loss to explain why anyone would want to buy more interest in a mortgage/loan company right now.

Who’d want to buy a car company, for that matter, at a time when liquidity for car loans has almost completely dried up? The Journal reports elsewhere that Ford Motor Company — which early this year rejected GM’s advances — may try to sell its 33.4% controlling interest in Mazda.

Selling Mazda would seem to be easier than, say, GM’s attempts to unload Hummer. Mazda builds mostly fuel-efficient small and medium-size cars with EPA numbers in the 20s and 30s, like the Mazda3, Mazda6, and MX-5 Miata. And that controlling interest in Mazda is one of the few assets that FoMoCo didn’t take to the pawnshop in its $24 billion fundraiser of 2006.

Downside is that Ford and Mazda do a lot of platform-sharing, including Fiesta/Mazda2, Edge/CX-7 and Fusion/Mazda6. And Ford/Mazda’s joint venture Flat Rock, Michigan, works is flexible enough to build front-drive Mazda6s alongside rear-drive Mustangs.

Selling Mazda would raise much-needed cash for Ford. Similarly, if GM can find a buyer for its minority share of GMAC, it would wage a bit more operating capital. Analysts say, though, that its share of GMAC is worth about $6- to $7-billion, which would maybe buy it an extra fiscal quarter. And in light of how bad the financial crisis got last week, it’s hard to think of anyone GM or Ford could find who is willing or healthy to buy up such assets these days.

- Todd Lassa, Detroit Editor

Hot on the heels of the doable GM-Chrysler tie-up is a story that Ford might sell Mazda. Desperate times, desperate actions indeed…

“We’re looking at a lot of different things with liquidity in mind,” said one mortal close to the situation. “But things are changing week to week, and I don’t know if anything is going to happen or not. Nothing is imminent or definitive.”

Ford spokesman Mark Truby states the following: “Our relationship with Mazda remains unchanged.” No surprise there. Until something is definite, don’t expect anything of any substance to come from either party.

Full story here.