CN CONFIDENTIAL: Seeing stars in safety punch-up

Benz delivers broadside to road safety research organisation, Impreza concept hints at new global design direction for Subaru, GM CEO confuses 'tact' with 'attack'... and more

Whether it's from the www, the latest motor show or the back doors of a carmaker near you, Carsales Network Confidential features the good oil other sources either won't publish, don't care about or don't know. Heard an automotive rumour or new model tip? Then let us know - editor@carpoint.com.au

Safety stoush
Mercedes-Benz and the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) are on opposing sides of a heated debate concerning the merits of MUARC's crash safety data.

According to MUARC, the Benz Vito van is not as safe as Ford's Transit van. Benz executives have come out fighting in response. At least one media outlet and a motoring association have been caught up in the ensuing vortex of words.

Benz management types are fit to be tied, since the MUARC findings don't square with ANCAP test results that rate the Vito a five-star-safe commercial vehicle. It confuses the safety message from Mulgrave at a time when the importer is arguing that employers are putting their staff at risk in fleet vehicles that aren't safe enough -- and there are plainly occupational health and safety ramifications that could cost companies big time.

Benz's Senior Manager for Corporate Communications, David McCarthy, has been tirelessly defending the company and its products from what he questions as misleading information out there in the marketplace.

"[MUARC] rates vehicles in terms of the occupants' ability to survive a crash; the ability of cyclists, pedestrians and other road users [to survive] if hit by one of these vehicles. They rate the Ford Transit as safer than our Vito/Viano, but also safer than a VE Commodore," he told the Carsales Network.

"Whilst I accept that there can be differences in how you calculate data and how you gather it... I asked [MUARC] how they accounted for different road conditions, different times, different temperatures, different drivers, different vehicle condition -- all these factors. I was told they had a very calculated algorithm."

Plainly unimpressed by that answer, McCarthy told the Carsales Network that he is yet to see the road safety organisation's data in detail. In the absence of hard data from MUARC he backs comments from Benz safety expert, Ullrich Mellinghof, who has been in Australia recently to meet the local media and assess the Australian road safety environment for himself.

"When I discussed this with Mellinghof..." said McCarthy, "he said to me that he does not accept [MUARC's] data. He said that it is simply inconceivable... that this vehicle [the Transit] could rate higher than our Vito or Viano...

"Look, let's put aside Transit versus Vito/Viano, let's look at Transit versus VE Commodore..." he continued. Even if readers have never heard of the Vito or the Viano, says McCarthy, surely they would recognise the top-selling car in the nation -- and its safety credentials.

Where does that leave Benz, we asked? Would the importer seek legal redress through the courts if it came to that?

"I don't see any point in giving further validity to something that's discredited," McCarthy answered. "In all these things, the punter reads it and the punter will make his or her own assessment. In the example that a VE Commodore is less safe than a Transit, I can't accept that..."

Presumably punters familiar with the Commodore wouldn't either.

"Would we want to sue them?" he continued. "No, I think why give something more oxygen when it needs to be starved of it?"


Impreza concept heralds future design strategy?
Following the publication of our original story -- and out of curiosity -- we checked with Subaru Australia's National Corporate Affairs Manager, David Rowley, concerning the Impreza concept car the company introduced at the LA motor show. Rowley was under strict instructions not to discuss the new concept prior to its debut.

In the article published by the Carsales Network, we surmised that the concept may point to future design directions for Subaru. That has since been revealed to be the case.

On the basis of a 'smoke and fire' analogy, we subscribed to the view that where there are concepts, there is design disharmony. For a company such as Subaru to produce firstly the gullwing hybrid tourer design study for Tokyo last year and now the new concept for LA, the company seems to be casting around for a new corporate look.

Rowley isn't unduly concerned about reports in the media and feedback from the public concerning the current Impreza and Liberty/Outback models. As he said, both cars are selling better than the models they replaced -- and that's usually a sign of satisfaction that supersedes any other factors in the way a car is perceived by the market.

"Customer feedback and media perception is certainly something that we and Fuji [Heavy Industries] take on board," he replied. "Having said that, in terms of the current Liberty and Outback for example, the increases in the sales of those two models confirm that our customers are looking at the overall package -- in terms of Subaru traits... durability, safety, retained value, engineering. So they're looking at the holistic thing, they're not just looking at design when they go and buy their car."

But if Subaru does buy into the alleged public backlash to the styling of the volume-selling models -- and history suggests the company might -- that would certainly support the contention that the LA concept will pioneer a new styling theme for Subaru's entire product portfolio -- not just the Impreza -- just as the SLS Gullwing has done for Mercedes-Benz.

"I certainly wouldn't downplay the importance of styling in the purchase decision," Rowley responded. "I would underline that Fuji do take criticism -- both good and bad -- on board, over time. Some of the very recent concepts -- likely to include this latest one in LA -- no doubt provide some exciting clues as to the [company's] future design direction."


First Dan
Dan Akerson, the man who replaced Ed Whitacre at the very pinnacle of the General Motors management hierarchy, seems to be determined to make a name for himself. And his preferred name appears to be 'cockeyed optimist'.

As reported by the Detroit Free Press on October 28, Akerson was talking up a jobs boost for the Lansing Grand River plant in Michigan, shortly to forego production of the Cadillac STS, but then slated to start a second shift building the Cadillac ATS. The ATS is a car smaller than the Cadillac CTS model and is to be pitted against BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Reportedly built on GM's rear-drive Alpha platform (the 'A' in ATS), the new model is expected to be Cadillac's game-changer in Europe. The Cadillac brand has not made major inroads into European markets, with the CTS failing to make an impact there. Based on a Saab, the Cadillac BLS has been even more a flop.

The smaller ATS, when it arrives, is Cadillac's best chance of changing market perceptions outside North America, but it's going to be struggling in the face of Akerson's brash words quoted in the press.

"We've ceded this segment of the market to our foreign competitors for far too long," Akerson said.

And what words of high praise did he have for the segment leader, the car that is the benchmark by which any other car in the segment will be judged?

"They call it the C-Class because it's very average."

Now he might have been joking -- but what does that say of his own company's CTS?

Mondo Voodoo in Canberra
Word has reached us here in Schloss Carsales that the head honcho of a Japanese car importer has met with Sophie Mirabella, shadow industry minister. This particular meeting has sounded alarm bells in the precinct of a completely different car company.

A company insider there tells us that the said honcho, who has spoken candidly in the past about government assistance for local auto manufacturing, was warmly received by Ms Mirabella.

Our source expressed concern the opposition MP shares at least some of the views of the auto industry exec she met. Should the current Gillard government lose power -- and it wouldn't take much in a hung parliament -- the auto industry could be faced with an industry minister less amenable than the incumbent, Kim Carr (himself not entirely pin-up of the month material, as far as the industry's concerned). Although nothing has been said outright, the industry -- and especially the local manufacturers -- would be anxious about a new government's lack of support for the current New Car Plan and the Green Car Innovation Fund.

"Let's just say that voodoo economics did not die with Ronald Reagan," said our source, "it lives on in Sophie's office."

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