Detroit Looks to Health Law to Ease Costs

Officials say the plan would be part of a broader effort to save Detroit tens of millions of dollars in health costs each year, a major element in a restructuring package that must be approved by a bankruptcy judge. It is being watched closely by municipal leaders around the nation, many of whom complain of mounting, unsustainable prices for the health care promised to retired city workers.

Similar proposals that could shift public sector retirees into the new insurance markets, called exchanges, are already being planned or contemplated in places like Chicago; Sheboygan County, Wis.; and Stockton, Calif. While large employers that eliminate health benefits for full-time workers can be penalized under the health care law, retirees are a different matter.

“There’s fear and panic about what this means,” said Michael Underwood, 62, who retired from the Chicago Police Department after 30 years and has diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Underwood, who says he began working for the city when employees did not pay into future Medicare coverage, is part of a group suing Chicago over its plan to phase many retirees out of city coverage during the next three and a half years. “I was promised health care for myself and my wife for life,” he said.

Unfunded retiree health care costs loom larger than ever for localities across the country, and the health law’s guarantee of federal subsidies to help people with modest incomes afford coverage has made the new insurance markets tantalizing for local governments. A study issued this year by the Pew Charitable Trusts found 61 of the nation’s major cities wrestling with $126 billion in retiree health costs, all but 6 percent of that unfunded.

“The Affordable Care Act does change the possibilities here dramatically,” said Neil Bomberg, a program director at the National League of Cities. “It offers a very high-quality, potentially very affordable way to get people into health care without the burden falling back onto the city and town.”

But if large numbers of localities follow that course, it could amount to a significant cost shift to the federal government. Authors of the health care law expected at least some shifting of retirees into the new insurance exchanges, said Timothy S. Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University who closely follows the law. “But if a lot of them do, especially big state and local programs,” he said, “that’s going to be a huge cost for the United States government, and it’s mandatory spending.”

Many cities are also wrestling with unfunded pension programs for retirees. But health care has become an easier target for cuts, in part because of generally stronger legal protections for pensions. Still, changes to retiree health care are playing out in courtrooms. The suit Mr. Underwood joined, filed last week in Chicago, claims that the health care benefits were also protected.

The Chicago plan, announced in May, would phase some of the city’s 11,800 retirees and their family members not eligible for Medicare out of city coverage by 2017. While some may seek insurance through new employers or through their spouses’ workplaces, others will probably be shifted to the insurance exchanges. Much of the plan for the next few years is in flux, but the changes are expected to contribute to a larger effort to save Chicago $155 million to $175 million a year in retiree health care costs by 2017.

“With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, our retirees will have more options to meet their health care needs,” said Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, adding that most of the city’s retirees over 65 were already covered by Medicare. “We will ensure that they have all the information needed to navigate the options available going forward, while saving vital taxpayer dollars.”

Under the health care law, starting in October every state will have an online insurance market where people can shop for private plans. These policies will have to include 10 broad categories of benefits, including emergency services, hospitalization and prescription drugs.

People earning up to 400 percent of the poverty level can get federal subsidies to help with the cost of premiums, but only for policies bought through the new markets. The premiums will vary, depending on how much coverage a plan offers.

This year, 400 percent of the poverty level is $45,960 for an individual and $62,040 for two-person households.

Cities may also provide moderate monthly stipends to help retirees with the cost of health insurance bought through an exchange. Detroit, for instance, has proposed doing that.

But retirees say they worry about what the costs would actually amount to and whether the coverage would be as generous as some have received through city plans.

Renault : la CGT déboutée dans sa contestation de l'accord de compétitivité

La f?d?ration syndicale avait assign? le groupe automobile ainsi que les f?d?rations de la m?tallurgie de la CFDT, FO et CFE-CGC, signataires du texte. La CGT estime que cet accord ne peut se substituer aux accords sur le temps de travail pr?c?demment n?goci?s et sign?s dans les diff?rentes entreprises et ?tablissements du groupe.

AUGMENTATION DE 6,5 % DU TEMPS DE TRAVAIL

La CGT voulait obtenir le retrait d'un paragraphe de l'accord du 13 mars, qui pr?cise que "les dispositions de l'accord" sont consid?r?es comme "globalement plus favorables ? l'ensemble des salari?s (... et) pr?vaudront sur celles, contraires ou diff?rentes, des accords d'entreprise et d'?tablissement conclus pr?c?demment".

Dans son d?lib?r?, le tribunal a not? que "la validit? de l'accord (...) n'a pas ?t? remise en cause ni dans sa totalit?, ni non plus dans la stipulation sp?cifique (...) dans les formes et conditions prescrites par le code du travail", rappelant que l'opposition ? un accord se fait dans un d?lai de huit jours ? compter de la date de notification de celui-ci.

L'accord de groupe du 13 mars pr?voit une augmentation de 6,5 % du temps de travail, une refonte des comptes ?pargne-temps, un gel des salaires en 2013 et, d'ici ? la fin de 2016, une baisse de plus de 15 % des effectifs. En contrepartie, la firme au losange avait promis d'augmenter les volumes r?alis?s dans ses cinq sites fran?ais et ? produire aussi pour des partenaires ? hauteur de 80 000 unit?s par an.

Lire : "Renault : ce que l'accord de comp?titivit? va changer"

Auctions: A Deco Confection, Flamboyant and French

The car, chassis No. 50023, had been acquired in 1963 by Henry Browne de Kilmaine, a pioneering car collector who helped start the Circuit de la Sarthe museum at the track where the 24 Hours of Le Mans is held. The C25, then black with a tan interior, was displayed at the museum in 1963-2008, according to Gooding.

“But before that, we really don’t know where the car was,” David Gooding, the auction house’s principal, said in an interview on Monday. “Mr. de Kilmaine, however, suggested he had information the car had originally been displayed by Voisin at the 1934 Paris auto show.”

This much, however, is certain: since the museum years it has undergone a makeover as complete as if it were entering a witness protection program.

The C25’s flashy coachwork, which included a novel retractable roof with four airliner-style portholes, was inspired by Gabriel Voisin’s background in aviation; he spent the early part of his career designing and building some of the world’s first airplanes. 

If this C25 is indeed the Paris car — and there seems to be no one claiming it is not — it at some point lost the two-tone paint scheme seen in period photographs. And incredibly, it survived World War II, when many luxury cars vanished — stolen, destroyed, vandalized or cannibalized.

“We have known of instances where cars were buried, hidden behind false walls, even disassembled and smuggled away in pieces,” Mr. Gooding said. “We have no idea how this car survived, or in whose possession it was during all of those years.”

But how did it come to be painted black? “We hope when we put these cars out there that we will hear from people who might know additional information and be able to help us fill in some of the blanks,” Mr. Gooding said. “It has happened before.”

After de Kilmaine died in 2008, his collection was sold off and the black Voisin ended up in England, according to the Le Mans museum. The new owner ordered a full restoration. It was painted midnight blue and gray, with a rococo blue interior using fabric from the mill that originally supplied Voisin. Mr. Gooding said the new motif was inspired by the Paris show car.

It now looks very much like the C25 that won Best of Show in 2011 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance. That car is owned by Peter Mullin, a noted collector of French cars.

“I am not personally familiar with this car, but I knew of its existence,” Mr. Mullin said in an e-mail. “These almost never come up for sale.”

Locating a Voisin like this is like finding a lost Rembrandt, he offered.

Mr. Mullin is credited in recent years with raising consciousness and appreciation within the collector car fraternity for not only forgotten Voisins, but also for other French Art Deco designs, including those from Delahaye and Talbot-Lago. His collection includes 16 other Voisin automobiles.

Voisin’s recognition as a featured marque at Pebble Beach in 2006 also helped to bring attention to the marque — and increased the prices they brought. Before 2006, no Voisin had ever sold for more than $1 million, Mr. Mullin told The Los Angeles Times. The C25 in his collection might be worth $5 million or more today, he estimated.

Gooding has placed a presale estimate of $2 million to $3 million on No. 50023.

The 1934 Paris show was a showcase for other groundbreaking French offerings, including the Citroën Traction Avant and the Renault Aeroprofil.

Voisin was known for his exotic creations, but the C25 Aérodyne was the topper; it suggested the limitless artistic possibilities of automotive design, even though the extreme costs associated with bringing it to life probably helped to doom the company.

By 1934, the handwriting was really already on the wall for Voisin’s somewhat quixotic dream of designing the world’s most perfect automobile. Chronically underfinanced — a condition worsened by the Depression — Gabriel Voisin had already let go many of his top people. He was unable to upgrade his smoky 6-cylinder sleeve-valve engines.

But there was no scrimping on the design.

Voisin’s cars employed construction methods, and lightweight materials like aluminum and magnesium, developed for use in aviation. The company used airplane-style fender struts to reduce body flex, aerodynamic wheel covers and a fastback profile with an integrated trunk.

Evolved from the C24, the new Voisin was brimming with revolutionary curiosities — a retracting sunroof, fold-down rear seats, a shortwave radio and even rudimentary turn signals.

According to Gooding, the C25’s price of 88,000 francs — as compared with 70,000 francs for a Bugatti Type 57 — marked the C25 as a car intended for an elite clientele. Movie stars, politicians, artists and architects ordered them. In total, just 28 examples were built in 1934-37, of which no more than eight were fashioned with the extreme Aérodyne coachwork.

That wasn’t enough production to sustain the company. Voisin tried to soldier on, despite the economic headwinds of the times.

Then, Voisin noted in his autobiography, “a certain Hitler unleashed the regrettable chain of events that French people are all too familiar with.”

And so, Avions Voisin passed into history; decades would pass until the survivors would be rediscovered.

Les salariés de Michelin crient leur colère dans les rues de Clermont-Ferrand

La manifestation a rassembl? environ 2 000 personnes, selon les syndicats, 750 selon la pr?fecture. Quelque 450 salari?s de l'usine de Jou?-les-Tours avaient fait le d?placement pour dire "non ? la fermeture de Tours" ? l'occasion de cette manifestation appel?e par la CGT et Sud, tandis qu'un mouvement de gr?ve ?tait observ? dans toutes les usines du groupe.

Lire (?dition abonn?s) : Michelin a pr?par? avec soin son plan de restructuration pour ?viter qu'il ne soit contest?

Des d?l?gations de Bourges, Troyes, Le Puy, Montlu?on, Cholet, Bourges ou encore Montceau-les Mines ?taient ?galement pr?sentes dans le cort?ge aux c?t?s de leurs coll?gues de Clermont. Elles manifestent contre contre l'annonce de Michelin d'arr?ter la production de pneus poids lourds dans l'usine de la banlieue tourangelle, pour la transf?rer en partie ? La Roche-sur-Yon, mais surtout dans d'autres usines europ?ennes.

"C'EST LA CASSE SOCIALE"

"On ne peut plus faire confiance ? Michelin, car depuis des ann?es c'est la casse sociale", assurait Olivier Coutin, le secr?taire du CE (Sud) de l'usine de Jou?, r?sumant un sentiment largement r?pandu. "Depuis des ann?es, les salari?s de Michelin ne vivent que des plans sociaux ? r?p?tition", rench?rissait son coll?gue de la CGT Claude Guillon, rappelant que le site tourangeau a d?j? fait l'objet d'une restructuration en 2009.

Pour tous, le d?part de l'activit? poids lourds et le maintien de 200 emplois seulement contre 930 aujourd'hui signifie ? terme la mort programm?e de l'usine, qui ne b?n?ficiera pas, selon eux, des 800 millions d'euros d'investissements annonc?s par le groupe en France.

"Les gars sont en col?re. Michelin a fait 2,4 milliards de b?n?fices en 2012 et nous on n'a rien et on ferme des usines comme celle de Jou? qui est viable. Notre priorit? c'est de dire non ? la fermeture et oui au maintien des emplois", assurait Jean-Michel Denis, secr?taire du syndicat CGT de Michelin ? Clermont. Quant aux mesures de mobilit? envisag?es pour les salari?s de l'usine tourangelle, la plupart les refusent. "Hors de question qu'on quitte Tours", affirmait Mike, un trentenaire, qui comme beaucoup "a sa vie" dans la r?gion et "vient de faire construire".

DISCUSSIONS JUSQU'? LA MI-NOVEMBRE

Alors, arriv?s devant le si?ge social du g?ant du pneumatique, o? se d?roulait le Comit? central d'entreprise extraordinaire, une partie des manifestants, souvent des jeunes, a laiss? ?clater sa col?re. Apr?s quelques jets d'oeufs sur la fa?ade, ils ont tent? d'arracher le rideau m?tallique prot?geant l'entr?e. De brefs incidents les ont oppos?s au service de s?curit? de l'entreprise, qui a fait refluer les manifestants par des jets de gaz lacrymog?nes. Un manifestant, l?g?rement bless?, a d? ?tre pris en charge par les pompiers.

Le CCE extraordinaire, qui avait commenc? le matin, a ?t? interrompu durant la manifestation ? la demande des syndicats et devait reprendre dans l'apr?s-midi. Il est destin?, selon la direction de Michelin, ? pr?senter les raisons ?conomiques de la r?organisation de l'activit? poids-lourds, ainsi que les premi?res mesures d'accompagnement social, notamment en ce qui concerne les d?parts anticip?s.

Lire aussi : La direction de Michelin cherche ? rassurer

Selon un accord de m?thode ?labor? entre la direction et les organisations syndicales, les discussions doivent se poursuivre, ? Clermont-Ferrand et ? Jou?-l?s-Tours, jusqu'? la deuxi?me quinzaine de novembre.

U.S. Carmakers Post Strongest July Sales Since 2006

General Motors, the nation’s largest automaker, posted the largest overall increase, of 16 percent, with double-digit sales growth for all four of its brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, G.M.C. and Buick. The Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Group each said sales rose 11 percent last month on the strength of pickups and smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.

Over all, it was the strongest July since 2006 for the industry, with sales rising 14 percent, to 1.3 million vehicles. At that rate, 2013 sales for the industry would be 15.7 million vehicles, up from 14.1 million last year.

“For G.M., July was the most well-balanced month of the year from a retail sales standpoint; trucks were hot, but so were small cars and family vehicles,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president for G.M.’s United States sales operations. “Our experience shows that the difference between good sales and great sales in a slow-growth economy is how many new products you have to offer, and we are starting to hit our sweet spot.”

G.M. reported healthy sales of both 2013 models and 2014 models, especially of the newly redesigned Chevrolet Silverado pickup and the Impala midsize sedan.

With new styling and the chance to get a lower price on an older model, “you’re really attracting a broad range of customers into the showroom,” said Donald Johnson, G.M.’s vice president for Chevrolet sales and service.

Sales of the Impala rose 38 percent, helped by its No. 1 ranking last week in Consumer Reports. It was the first time in 20 years that the magazine had given an American sedan the top spot.

“This is the segment I love to watch,” said Michelle Krebs of Edmunds.com. “It is such a vicious battlefield, and an important one, as it is the biggest single segment in the business.”

Toyota said its sales rose 17 percent, while Honda reported an increase of 21 percent and Nissan 11 percent. Volkswagen was the only brand to report a drop in sales, of 3.3 percent.

As in recent months, pickups were especially popular in July as a recovery in housing and energy, coupled with pent-up demand, drew shoppers into dealerships, the automakers said.

Sales for G.M.’s trucks rose 44 percent. Ford said its F-Series sales rose 23 percent, and Chrysler’s Ram brand reported a 31 percent sales increase.

Shoppers also sought out small cars as they downsized and put more emphasis on fuel efficiency, said Erich Merkle, Ford’s United States sales analyst.

Sales of Ford’s small cars, including the Focus, the Fiesta and the C-Max, rose 32 percent for the best month since 2000. G.M. said that sales of the Cruze compact rose 70 percent, and Chrysler said that the Dodge Dart, with 6,064 sold, was a bright spot for the company.

“Baby boomers are becoming empty nesters and their need for size isn’t quite what it used to be,” Mr. Merkle said.

He added that younger customers who were looking to buy their first new car were opting for smaller models.

Ford would have sold more of its midsize Fusion sedan and Escape utility vehicle if not for an inventory shortage. The automaker is increasing capacity at its plants in the fall.

Though sales for the midsize segment were expected to be up over all for the year, the industry had some mixed results, said Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

“The Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry each enjoyed solid growth this month, while the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion and Chrysler 200 saw year-over-year declines,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “The Fusion has been limited by low inventory, while the Malibu and 200 are each awaiting updates that should help to drive additional demand.”

The Chrysler Group said that sales of its Fiat and Jeep brands held steady at 2 percent as it prepared to unveil the new Jeep Cherokee later this year. Dodge sales rose 18 percent, led by the Durango utility vehicle and the Dart, while sales for the Chrysler brand fell 4 percent last month.

PSA recrute 200 personnes sur son site de Mulhouse

Pour suivre la demande, le groupe va donc augmenter la production ? Mulhouse ? compter du 2 septembre "pour passer progressivement de 310 v?hicules par jour actuellement ? 520 v?hicules par jour ? compter de mi-septembre, puis ? 615 v?hicules par jour ? compter de mi-octobre".

DES CDI ET DES INT?RIMAIRES

PSA avait d?j? annonc? fin mai le recrutement d'une centaine d'int?rimaires, ce ? quoi va s'ajouter l'arriv?e d'environ 200 personnes suppl?mentaires afin de monter une ?quipe compl?te. Les nouveaux postes seront propos?s "en priorit?" ? des salari?s volontaires des usines d'Aulnay et Rennes, en contrat ? dur?e ind?termin?e (CDI) dans le cadre d'une mutation, Aulnay devant fermer l'an prochain et les effectifs de Rennes devant ?tre fortement r?duits.

En fonction du nombre de mutations, le reste des emplois sera pourvu en int?rim dans le bassin local mulhousien, a ajout? M. Biondo. et, "en fonction du volume de mutations, par le recours ? des int?rimaires sur le bassin d'emploi mulhousien", pr?cise le constructeur.

Lire (?dition abonn?s) : "Luciano Biondo, un technicien pour relancer le site PSA Peugeot Citro?n de Mulhouse"

Marisol Touraine exagère (à nouveau) sur la santé du marché automobile

Dimanche 14 juillet, le président de la République annonçait que la reprise économique était là. Lundi, sur le plateau d'iTélé, la ministre de la santé, Marisol Touraine, abondait en son sens, listant ce qu'elle estimait être les prémices d'une reprise économique. Et elle s'est un peu emballée en annonçant une embellie sur le front de l'industrie automobile, qui connaît pourtant d'importantes difficultés. Nous expliquions dans un précédent article des Décodeurs pourquoi et comment la ministre se trompait...

Dans l'édition de ce 17 juillet, le Canard enchaîné consacre son"Mur du çon" à la même erreur de la ministre de la santé, citant les mêmes données que nous, celles émanant du ministère de l'écologie, du développement durable et de l'énergie.

Mais la ministre a réagi, sur son blog, à la publication du palmipède, lui assénant un "pan sur le bec", du nom de la rubrique où le Canard fait ses mea culpa. Mais malgré ses explications,  la vision du marché automobile de Mme Touraine ne tient toujours pas la route.

Ce qu'elle a écrit :  "Si le Canard enchaîné raisonne en glissement annuel, ce qui peut s’entendre, je m’exprimais pour ma part en variation mensuelle. Et, petite confidence, je m’appuyais sur les chiffres du mois de juin, qui semblent lui avoir échappé !

Je peux donc le lui annoncer : en variation mensuelle, les immatriculations de véhicules neufs rebondissent de 6,6 % en juin 2013. Alors oui, elles demeurent encore éloignées de leur niveau moyen d’avant-crise, mais force est de constater qu’au deuxième trimestre 2013, elles rebondissent de 5,9 %, ce qui constitue la hausse la plus prononcée depuis début 2011."

Pourquoi c'est (toujours) faux : Mme Touraine a raison, nous avions comparé les chiffres d'un mois par rapport au même mois de l'année précédente. La ministre préfère raisonner en glissement mensuel, c'est à dire en étudiant les variations d'un mois sur l'autre. Ainsi, se réjouit-elle d'une hausse de 6,6 % en juin 2013 par rapport à mai 2013. Ce qui est parfaitement vrai.

En revanche, ce n'est pas "la hausse la plus prononcée" depuis début 2011 comme elle le prétend. On peut le voir sur le graphe ci-dessous, il n'y a pas besoin de remonter très loin pour trouver une hausse en glissement mensuel supérieure à 6 %. C'était le cas en février et en décembre – respectivement des hausses de 7,6 et 8,3 % par rapport aux mois de janvier et novembre.

Plus globalement, si l'on regarde les mêmes données d'évolution d'un mois sur l'autre sur une période plus longue, on observe que la courbe passe alternativement d'un côté ou de l'autre du zéro. Et ce quelle que fût la situation économique du marché de l'automobile ou celle du pays.

En revanche, le dernier argument avancé par Mme Touraine est exact.  "Force est de constater qu’au 2e trimestre 2013, [les immatriculations] rebondissent de 5,9 %, ce qui constitue la hausse la plus prononcée depuis début 2011". Ce qui est vrai, comme on peut le voir sur le graphique ci-dessous.

Pour Patrick Blain, président du Comité des constructeurs français d'automobiles, cité dans un article du Monde, "au mois de juin, le marché des commandes a l'air de se stabiliser, c'était la même chose en mai (...), donc on est probablement en train de toucher le fond". "Nos indicateurs nous permettent de conforter [la prévision d'une baisse de 8 % sur l'ensemble de l'année], qui suppose une stabilisation sur le deuxième semestre", conclut-il.

Au mieux, donc, le marché enrayera sa chute fin 2013 après avoir "touché le fond". 

Jonathan Parienté

Le blog "Les décodeurs" est animé par la cellule "décryptages" du Monde.fr : Imaginé et créé par Nabil Wakim, différents membres de la rédaction y contribuent : Samuel Laurent, Jonathan Parienté, Alexandre Pouchard... Suivez les décodeurs sur Twitter sur twitter.com/decodeurs

Collecting: A Furor Over Sales by the Petersen Museum

A July 16 Los Angeles Times article exposing the Petersen’s “quiet” liquidation of 119 cars from its collection of around 400 vehicles has produced a furor in the local classic car scene and claims that the Petersen’s board of wealthy collectors are steering the museum toward exhibiting highbrow classics and motorcycles and away from its mission of being home to Southern California’s automotive history.

“There’s no denying the visual beauty of prewar French motor cars,” a Times opinion writer, Paul Whitefield, wrote in a blog post. “But to many SoCal car buffs, a Voisin might as well be a violin.”

The article provoked a strong rebuke from the museum’s directors, who say that “deaccessioning” pieces in a collection is normal and, in the case of the Petersen, a necessary part of a master plan expected to be unveiled on Aug. 18 to upgrade the facility and keep it a star attraction in a city crowded with tourist draws.

“We’re being accused of devastating our collection,” said Terry Karges, the museum’s executive director. “We’re collectors, not liquidators. We’re not going to stop telling the story of the car culture in Southern California.”

Situated on Wilshire Boulevard west of downtown in a museum-heavy stretch known as the Miracle Mile, the Petersen museum opened in 1994 under the patronage of the publishing magnate Robert E. Petersen, a founder of Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines, who died in 2007. The midcentury-modern building, a former department store erected in 1962, includes two floors of exhibits totaling about 150 cars, plus an underground vault of some 300 stored cars that only recently opened to public tours.

Mr. Karges says the museum’s exhibits as well as its building need renovation, while the vault, which is as long as a city block, has become overstuffed with cars unworthy of display. “They were given as donations,” he said, “but were never intended to be museum pieces.”

Among them are relatively common vintage models like a 1967 Camaro, unrestored oddballs like a 1976 A.M.C. Pacer and a wrecked 1968 Dodge Charger “General Lee” used in the 2005 film “The Dukes of Hazzard,” based on the 1980s TV show. Critics have cited such popular exotics as a Ferrari F40 and F50, as well as a famous pavement-hugging 1939 Lincoln Zephyr custom car called Scrape, as evidence that the museum is selling off some of its best attractions. The museum is even selling its Lamborghini Espada, which Mr. Petersen once described as his favorite car design.

“This is the first time in 20 years that we’ve culled the collection,” Mr. Karges said. “It’s part of the museum business. It’s the same at art museums.”

Mr. Karges said the museum spent a year developing its list of sale vehicles. The decisions often came down to museum relevance and whether a car could be reacquired if needed through a loan. One car already sold, a 2006 Bugatti Veyron that was auctioned for $924,000 in March, cost the museum $30,000 a year to maintain, he said. And, since one of the museum’s board members owns two Veyrons, “we know where to find one if we need it.”

Jackie Frady, president and executive director of the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nev., which has about 200 cars, described such sales as “a very traditional way of updating and modernizing your collection.” When the museum negotiates with a donor, she said, “we make it clear that the car is being accepted without any restrictions.”

But recent tax law changes have reduced donations of cars and complicated an already difficult financial picture for car museums, said Laura Brinkman, executive director and chief executive of the 130-car Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Ind. Her museum has 50,000 visitors a year, but the entry fee, at $12.50 for adults, amounts to only 5 percent of revenue. Events, memberships and gift shop sales bring in more, but she depends on donated cars to help fill a $500,000 annual gap in the museum’s $1 million budget.

Whereas donors were once able to write off the car’s appraised value, they can now write off only the sale price assuming the car is being donated expressly to be sold. It can take a museum more than a year to auction a car, and many donors don’t want to wait that long for a write-off, Ms. Brinkman said, adding: “We saw donations drop off in that category. That was a good source of revenue for us.”

Ken Gross, an auto writer who was the Petersen’s director in 1997-2000, thinks the sale and the museum’s plan to broaden its exhibits upholds Robert Petersen’s original vision. “If you look at his empire, he had car magazines, he had bike magazines, he had hot rod magazines,” Mr. Gross said. “Pete was always a promoter; he was always challenging you to come up with new things.”

Usine PSA de Rennes-La Janais : la direction annonce 759 solutions de reclassement

"Le bilan de fin juillet a marqu? une progression nette des adh?sions, compte tenu entre autres des d?parts en cong?s senior", pr?cise la direction, qui a ?galement fait ?tat de deux projets de r?industrialisation sur le site. Le premier permettrait le reclassement de 17 salari?s et le second de 23 "dans un premier temps".

Voir : "Le plan de restructuration de PSA, site par site"

D'AUTRES PROJETS DE R?INDUSTRIALISATION "EN COURS"

Ces deux projets viennent s'ajouter ? celui d?j? annonc? avec la SNCF et pour lequel un protocole PSA-SNCF a ?t? sign? pour la r?fection de rames TGV sur le site de La Janais. Ce projet devrait mobiliser 80 salari?s mis ? disposition par PSA, pour une dur?e de trois ? cinq ans, et qui seraient r?int?gr?s sur Rennes ? la fin de leur d?tachement. "D'autres projets de r?industrialisation sont encore en cours qui devraient permettre de reclasser d'autres salari?s de l'usine PSA de Rennes", indique le communiqu?.

La direction avait annonc? d?but juillet que 322 salari?s s'?taient engag?s ? un d?part volontaire dans le cadre du plan de sauvegarde de l'emploi lanc? le 2 mai. Si le nombre escompt? de d?parts volontaires (5 500) n'est pas atteint ? la date butoir de fin d?cembre, les d?parts devraient se traduire ensuite par des licenciements ?conomiques.

Lire : "Ces plans sociaux qui pourraient plomber le quinquennat"

PSA remonte la pente et se lance dans un "nouveau contrat social"

Si le r?sultat op?rationnel du groupe reste n?gatif (– 65 millions d'euros), celui de la division automobile s'est am?lior? sur un an, passant de – 657 millions d'euros ? – 510 millions d'euros. Mieux, le flux de tr?sorerie libre, hors restructuration, est positif, ? 203 millions d'euros.

Lire aussi?: PSA engage la r?flexion strat?gique sur l'apr?s-2015

"Malgr? la crise, nous avons tenu nos objectifs, estime Philippe Varin, le pr?sident du directoire de PSA. Notre strat?gie commence ? donner des r?sultats." En Europe, la restructuration, qui pr?voit le d?part de 11 000 personnes et la fermeture de l'usine d'Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) est bien engag?e.

Voir la carte : "Le plan de restructuration de PSA, site par site"

M. Varin a ajout? que dans le cadre des n?gociations avec les syndicats, la direction envisage une mod?ration des salaires et une "adaptation de la dur?e de travail hebdomadaire". Des mesures visant ? "accro?tre la comp?tivit? future du groupe" afin de soutenir son "redressement".

Il a notamment mentionn? le renforcement de la mobilit? et du travail ? temps partiel, par l'extension ? de nouveaux sites des accords de flexibilit? sign?s en juillet 2012 ? l'usine Sevelnord d'Hordain. Cette "am?lioration des co?ts salariaux" doit permettre de d?gager 81 millions d'euros d'?conomies en ann?e pleine, et 50 millions d'euros d?s 2013.

La n?gociation sur le nouveau contrat social s'est ouverte le 29 mai et doit se poursuivre ? l'automne. Ce dernier vise, selon la direction, ? "un partage de la strat?gie" avec les organisations syndicales afin de mieux anticiper les mesures n?cessaires ? son redressement tout en s?curisant l'emploi.?Jusqu'? maintenant, les discussions ont port? sur des sujets assez consensuels, comme le traitement de fin de carri?re des seniors.

Tata est le "bienvenu" en France, assure Montebourg

Le ministre du redressement productif s'est d?clar? "fier de l'alliance" qui a permis au groupe de services informatiques Tata Consultancy Services d'acqu?rir pour 75 millions d'euros Alti, une soci?t? fran?aise de service en ing?nierie de l'informatique, qui emploie 1 200 personnes et a r?alis? un chiffre d'affaires de 126 millions d'euros en 2012.

"C'est le choix de la France, celui de la cr?ation d'emplois en France, celui de la croissance en France", s'est r?jouit M. Montebourg lors d'une c?r?monie de signature de l'accord ? Bercy, ? laquelle participaient le PDG de TCS, Natarajan Chandrasekaran et l'ambassadeur d'Inde en France, Arun Kumar Singh.

"Nous vous disons que vous ?tes les bienvenus sur le sol fran?ais", a ajout? le ministre, qui avait dit exactement le contraire ? l'automne ? un autre industriel indien, Lashkmi Mittal, quand il avait assur? qu'il "ne voulait plus de Mittal en France".

LA FRANCE, "UNE DESTINATION NATURELLE"

Comme pour bien marquer la diff?rence entre les deux groupes, sans jamais mentionner le g?ant de l'acier, M. Montebourg a soulign? "la relation de confiance" ?tablie avec Tata, dont il a rappel? qu'il ?tait ?galement pr?sent dans l'Hexagone par sa fili?re sid?rurgique Tata Steel, qui dispose d'une usine en Lorraine, ? deux pas de Florange, o? ArcelorMittal a ferm? ses hauts-fourneaux au printemps.

Lire : "Tata, le sid?rurgiste indien qui r?ussit en Lorraine"

En tout, "entre TCS et Tata Steel, ce sont d?sormais 3 000 personnes employ?es par Tata en France", s'est f?licit? le ministre, qui a garanti au PDG de TCS que "la France veillerait" ? ce que le groupe soit "au mieux" et qu'il puisse "mener une strat?gie mondiale" ? partir de la France. M. Montebourg a saisi l'occasion pour vanter "l'hospitalit? industrielle et ?conomique" de la France et soulign? que les investissements indiens ont quadrupl? de 2005 ? 2011.

De son c?t?, M. Chandrasekaran s'est r?joui du "renforcement" de son groupe sur le march? fran?ais et n'a pas h?sit? ? pr?senter l'acquisition d'Alti comme "l'av?nement de la plateforme de notre future croissance dans la r?gion", ajoutant que?"la France est une destination naturelle pour l'investissement et la croissance future de notre soci?t?".

Lire aussi : "Tata en Inde : un si?cle d'intuitions"

Around the Block: The Problem Child of a Multinational Shotgun Union

TESTED 2014 Fiat 500L

WHAT IS IT? A fattened-up take on the tiny Fiat 500.

HOW MUCH? Base price of Pop model, $19,900; Lounge version $24,995; as tested, $27,445.

WHAT MAKES IT RUN? A 1.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder.

HOW QUICK IS IT? With its slow-footed 6-speed automated transmission, the Fiat runs from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in about 9 seconds.

IS IT THIRSTY? Federal mileage estimates are 24 m.p.g. in town and 33 on the highway.

ALTERNATIVES Kia Soul, Mini Countryman and Nissan Juke.

American car enthusiasts often cast an envious eye at Europe, where they see desirable models that never make it to our shores. But we rarely consider that America is often spared from second-rate small cars that, once you drive them, remind you of how good we actually have it.

A case in point is Fiat’s 500L. Having established a toehold in America with its 500 microcar, the Italian automaker has taken another page from the Mini playbook by introducing a bigger four-door model, the 500L, which is roughly 27 inches longer, 6 inches wider and 6 inches taller than its supercute predecessor.

Fiat hopes you’ll see the 500L as a roomier urban runabout, a charming oddball in the mold of the Countryman and Juke. But they may hope you don’t notice that the 500L is built in Serbia, at the site of the factory that once produced the Yugo.

The 500L’s Eastern European provenance could easily be overlooked if the car delivered in style and substance. It does not.

Rampantly uncomfortable, dubiously assembled and devoid of fun, the 500L is the kind of car that Europeans drive because they have to, while secretly wishing for a Range Rover.

In this class of car, beauty is certainly up to the beholder. But while I’ve been won over by the Juke’s bulldog strangeness and the Soul’s smart, expressive details, the Fiat seems clumsy and derivative. It comes across as the Mini’s poor, homely cousin, fresh off the boat.

With 42 percent more interior room than the standard 500, the L’s cargo-hauling ability is about its only winning feature. The losing side includes the driving experience; the expanses of rock-hard, gap-ridden plastic; and the long list of ergonomic and engineering goofs. 

Every person who sat in the front seats — that noun seems too kind to describe the rubbery-upholstered back-breakers — complained within minutes about the lack of comfort. The top of the short backrest ended between my shoulder blades. The bottom cushions are ridiculously short and are rounded off rather than square. The effect is like balancing on a barstool.

As in the 500, you sit on the Fiat, not in it, in an awkwardly high, buslike position that also exposes an unsightly mess of metal seat rails and hardware.

The mini-Greyhound theme continues with a steering wheel that, if you don’t tilt it up into Ralph Kramden position, blocks the driver’s view of the gauges.

The Fiat adopts Chrysler’s useful UConnect infotainment screen, although this lesser version has a small display and eye-straining map graphics. 

With 160 horses and 184 pound-feet of torque, the MultiAir turbo 4 — a power plant also found in the Dodge Dart — should be up to the task. But the engine’s force is sapped by turbo lag and a deal-killing dual-clutch automated transmission.

I began to suspect that the gearbox had no corporal connection to the car at all, but was controlled by some spooky outside force — a Ouija board, perhaps.

The Fiat’s tardy responses repeatedly left it victimized in impatient New York traffic. I was left red-faced at one stoplight as a U.P.S. truck beat the Fiat off the line and cut me off for good measure.

As for driving fun, the car’s utilitarian heart makes the hot-handling Juke and Countryman feel like Formula One racers by comparison. Even the Korean Soul is bursting with sass compared with this Italian design.

The steering is slacker than a Coachella stoner, and attempts to make the Fiat corner are met with copious body roll and tire squeal. Brakes are simultaneously spongy and grabby.

In fact, in virtually every category — from assembly quality to interior design to performance — the Mini, Nissan and Kia leave the Fiat outgunned.

Like the guests at most shotgun weddings, many people murmured good wishes at the Chrysler-Fiat nuptials a few years back, all the while whispering doubts about the newlyweds’ long-term prospects.

But if the couple hopes to convince American guests that Fiats deserve their R.S.V.P., it will need to serve up better than stale cannoli. LAWRENCE ULRICH 

Timide reprise des immatriculations de voitures neuves

"C'est le premier chiffre positif depuis octobre 2011", s'est r?joui le porte-parole du comit? des constructeurs fran?ais d'automobiles, qui a reconnu que le mois avait compt? un jour ouvr? de plus que l'ann?e pr?c?dente. On est toujours dans un sch?ma de stabilisation, on sent bien que la chute vertigineuse prend fin. Les nouveaut?s ont beaucoup aid?, tout ce qui a ?t? lanc? r?cemment marche tr?s bien".

A nombre de jours ouvrables comparables, les immatriculations reculent de 3,5 %, ? 150 248 voitures. Les ventes sont traditionnellement assez bonnes en juillet, a expliqu? le porte-parole, car les automobilistes s'?quipent avant de partir en vacances.

"IL FAUT RESTER PRUDENT"

Les groupes fran?ais ont plus profit? de cette embellie que les concurrents ?trangers dans leur ensemble. PSA Peugeot Citro?n a pris 0,9 % et le groupe Renault 4,7 %, selon le CCFA. Ils profitent des lancements de leurs derniers mod?les, comme le mod?le 2008 de Peugeot et le C4 Picasso ou encore le Renault Captur.

Sur sept mois, les immatriculations chutent de 9,7 % en donn?es brutes, apr?s un repli de 11,3 % au premier semestre. "Il faut rester prudent, mais on se rapproche de notre pr?vision de – 8 % pour l'ann?e", a relev? le CCFA.

Interrog? sur un effet ?ventuel de la mesure gouvernementale qui permet depuis le 1er juillet de d?bloquer jusqu'? 20 000 euros de participation salariale pour l'acquisition d'une voiture neuve notamment, le CCFA a indiqu? qu'il ?tait encore trop t?t pour en mesurer l'impact ?ventuel dans les statistiques.

PSA envisagerait d'ouvrir le capital de sa banque de financement automobile

Selon The Wall Street Journal de lundi 22 juillet, le constructeur serait en discussion avec la Banque Santander pour lui c?der une participation minoritaire ou pour fusionner sa filiale de financement automobile avec des actifs du groupe espagnol. D'autres banques auraient ?galement ?t? approch?es. PSA, interrog?, ne veut pas faire de commentaire.

Selon nos informations, l'objectif n'est pas pour le constructeur, qui perd toujours plus de 100 millions d'euros par mois, en ligne avec son plan de retour ? l'?quilibre fin 2014, de r?cup?rer dans l'imm?diat du "cash", mais bien d'assurer l'avenir d'une banque particuli?rement rentable.

En 2012, PSA Finance a affich? un r?sultat op?rationnel courant de 391 millions d'euros pour un chiffre d'affaires de 1,9 milliard d'euros (et 23 milliards d'encours). En 2011, la banque, qui pr?te aussi bien aux particuliers qu'aux concessionnaires, avait d?gag? 532 millions d'euros de profits pour un chiffre d'affaires identique. D?but 2013, elle a diversifi? ses sources de financement avec le lancement d'un livret d'?pargne.

Depuis la d?gradation de la note du groupe PSA par les agences financi?res en 2012, la captive doit se refinancer ? des taux prohibitifs. Afin de faciliter ces refinancements, le groupe a fait appel en urgence fin octobre ? l'Etat.

PSA a obtenu une garantie ?tatique de 5 ? 7 milliards d'euros pour sa filiale de financement pour une p?riode de trois ans. En contrepartie, le gouvernement avait notamment obtenu la nomination d'un administrateur ind?pendant proche de ses vues, Louis Gallois, et d'un administrateur salari?, Jean-Fran?ois Kondratiuk, ?lu FO, au sein du conseil de surveillance de PSA.

"LARGE RESTRUCTURATION"

En f?vrier, la Commission europ?enne a valid? une premi?re tranche temporaire de 1,2 milliard d'euros de cette garantie. Dans les prochains jours, l'ex?cutif europ?en doit se prononcer sur le reste de la garantie ?tatique. Mardi 16 juillet, Jean-Baptiste de Ch?tillon, le directeur financier de PSA, se disait serein sur la reconduction de l'autorisation de Bruxelles.

"D'ici 2015, le groupe ne devrait pas avoir de probl?me avec sa filiale bancaire, juge un observateur. Mais la r?flexion est lanc?e pour l'apr?s 2015. Le groupe ?chafaude tous les sc?narios possibles."

De m?me, l'hypoth?se apparue fin juin dans les m?dias d'une recapitalisation du groupe, via l'entr?e de Dongfeng Motor, le partenaire chinois de PSA, ou le renforcement de General Motors dans le capital du groupe fran?ais, fait partie d'une r?flexion g?n?rale en cours pour le plan strat?gique du groupe automobile ? horizon 2018.

"D'ici 2015, PSA s'est engag? dans une large restructuration pour ?liminer les pertes, rappelait r?cemment Philippe Varin, le pr?sident du directoire de PSA. D?sormais, le groupe doit d?velopper une strat?gie pour renouer avec des b?n?fices durables." C'est tout l'enjeu des r?flexions et des sc?narios actuellement d?velopp?s par le groupe, qui fuitent par bribes dans la presse.

French Vogue

The 1935 Avions Voisin C25 Aérodyne. The car, chassis No. 50023, had been acquired in 1963 by Henry Browne de Kilmaine, a pioneering car collector who helped start the Circuit de la Sarthe museum at the track where the 24 Hours of Le Mans is held.

Milestone Claimed in Creating Fuel From Waste

WASHINGTON — After months of frustrating delays, a chemical company announced Wednesday that it had produced commercial quantities of ethanol from wood waste and other nonfood vegetative matter, a long-sought goal that, if it can be expanded economically, has major implications for providing vehicle fuel and limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

The company, INEOS Bio, a subsidiary of the European oil and chemical company INEOS, said it had produced the fuel at its $130 million Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Fla., which it had hoped to open by the end of last year. The company said it was the first commercial-scale production of ethanol from cellulosic feedstock, but it did not say how much it had produced. Shipments will begin in August, the company said.

The process begins with wastes — wood and vegetative matter for now, municipal garbage later — and cooks it into a gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Bacteria eat the gas and excrete alcohol, which is then distilled. Successful production would eliminate some of the “food versus fuel” debate in the manufacturing of ethanol, which comes from corn.

“Biomass gasification has not been done like this before, nor has the fermentation,” said Peter Williams, chief executive of INEOS Bio.

The plant, which uses methane gas from a nearby landfill, has faced a variety of problems. One was getting the methane, which is a greenhouse gas if released unburned, to the plant’s boilers. (The plan is to eventually run the plant on garbage that now goes to landfills.) Another problem was its reliance on the electrical grid.

The plant usually generates more power than it needs — selling the surplus to the local utility — and is supposed to be able to operate independently. But when thunderstorms knocked out the power grid, the plant unexpectedly shut down and it took weeks to get it running again, said Mark Niederschulte, the chief operating officer of INEOS Bio.

“We’ve had some painful do/undo loops,” he said.

The plant has produced “truckloads” of ethanol, said Mr. Williams, but still has work to do to improve its yield. Mr. Niederschulte said, “Now we want to produce more ethanol from a ton of wood, rather than just making ethanol from a ton of wood.”

The Department of Energy hailed the development as the first of a kind, and said it was made possible by research work the department had sponsored in recent years. The energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, said in a statement, “Unlocking the potential for the responsible development of all of America’s rich energy resources is a critical part of our all-of-the-above energy strategy.”

The Environmental Protection Agency, which grants valuable credits to companies that produce fuel from wastes, confirmed that only a very small volume has been produced so far. Another company, KiOR, has produced some diesel fuel from wood waste at a plant in Columbus, Miss.

Congress laid out a quota for production of biofuels from nonfood sources, but the agency has had to cut it back every year because of lack of production.

INEOS has a goal of eight million gallons a year.

If ethanol can be produced at reasonable cost from abundant nonfood sources, like yard trimmings or household trash, it could displace fuel made from oil, and that oil, and its carbon, could stay in the ground, reducing the amount greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, experts say. Carbon from wood scraps or garbage would enter the atmosphere via cellulosic ethanol, but cutting down a tree or trimming a garden creates space for new growth, which absorbs carbon dioxide from the air.

Ferrari Rebuke Alonso on His Birthday

"All the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own," the team website (www.ferrari.com) quoted president Luca di Montezemolo as telling the Spaniard in a telephone conversation to wish him a happy 32nd birthday.

"This is the moment to stay calm, avoid polemics and show humility and determination in making one's own contribution, standing alongside the team and its people both at the track and outside it," he added.

Alonso finished fifth at the Hungaroring and slipped to third in the championship, 39 points adrift of Red Bull's triple champion Sebastian Vettel with nine races left.

Asked afterwards what kind of car he wanted for his birthday, the double world champion told Italian reporters: "The one the others have".

Asked also what he planned to do over the August break, with the season now at its midpoint, the Spaniard had retorted: "I will pray".

In a blunt assessment, the Ferrari website said Alonso's comments "did not go down well with Montezemolo, nor with anyone in the team" and said the president had "tweaked" the driver's ear in their conversation.

The polemic came after Alonso's manager was seen entering the Red Bull motorhome in Hungary, triggering paddock speculation that the champions could be considering the Ferrari driver as a possible team mate for Vettel.

Alonso has a contract with Ferrari to the end of 2016 and is the team's undisputed number one driver, with Montezemolo usually unstinting in his praise.

Ferrari had earlier announced a reshuffle in their engineering department with James Allison arriving from Lotus as technical director from September 1.

Pat Fry will assume a new position as director of engineering and both men will report to team principal Stefano Domenicali.

Allison, who worked closely with German driver Michael Schumacher in a previous stint with Ferrari, left his last job as Lotus technical director in May.

Ferrari said Allison's arrival was proof of Montezemolo's determination to ensure the team had all the support and resources it needed.

"There is a need to close ranks, without giving in to rash outbursts that, while understandable in the immediate aftermath of a bad result, are no use to anyone," the website said.

It added that the president had made his displeasure with the team's current performance clear.

"Montezemolo did not mince his words when it came to asking the team to step up a gear," the website declared.

"Each one of the engineers present received a 'gift' of a knife, along with an invitation - metaphorical up to a point - to put it between their teeth when thinking how to tackle the second half of the season."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin and Ed Osmond; Editing by Justin Palmer and John Mehaffey)

Baisse des immatriculations de voitures neuves en Europe

Dans les 27 pays de l'Union europ?enne (hors Malte dont les donn?es n'?taient pas disponibles), 1,3 million de voitures ont ?t? vendues le mois dernier. C'est le niveau de vente le plus bas depuis 1996, selon des donn?es publi?es mardi par l'Association des constructeurs europ?ens d'automobiles (ACEA).

Les groupes fran?ais ont connu des trajectoires oppos?es, PSA Peugeot Citro?n perdant 10,8 % quand Renault gagnait 1,3 %. L'allemand Volkswagen, num?ro un europ?en, affiche, lui, un repli de 3,4 %.

Sur le premier semestre, la tendance est la m?me, avec une baisse de 6,6 % des immatriculations sur le continent. Le constructeur ayant le plus souffert est PSA, en repli de 13,3 %.

Strong Sales Push Chrysler’s 2nd-Quarter Net Up 16%

Chrysler, the third-largest American automaker behind General Motors and the Ford Motor Company, also reported quarterly revenue of $18 billion, a 7 percent improvement from the period a year earlier.

Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of both Chrysler and its Italian parent, Fiat, said the American automaker benefited from increased shipments of models like the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

“Chrysler Group is poised for a very strong performance in the second half of the year,” he said.

The company said it sold 643,000 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter, up 10 percent from the second quarter of 2012.

In the United States, Chrysler reported an 11.4 percent market share, up slightly from 11.2 percent in the period a year earlier.

Mr. Marchionne said that new products, including the introduction of a smaller Jeep model, would help sustain Chrysler’s momentum in the American market.

“The timing of product launches and capacity increases causes this year’s performance to be biased in the second half,” he said.

For the full year, Chrysler reiterated earlier forecasts of at least $72 billion in revenue, and net income of $1.7 billion to $2.2 billion.

The positive performance comes as Fiat and Chrysler move closer to completing a full merger of the two companies. While Fiat owns 58.5 percent of the American company, it is hoping to acquire the remaining shares later this year from a retiree health care trust.

A full merger of the companies would allow for more integration of their operations and finances. Mr. Marchionne has said it could be accompanied by a new stock offering to help finance global growth plans.

Chrysler’s results helped Fiat post a net profit of 435 million euros ($578 million) in the second quarter, up from 239 million euros in the period a year earlier.

Fiat said its revenue for the quarter was 22.3 billion euros ($29.6 billion), a 4 percent increase from the second quarter of 2012.

Without Chrysler’s contribution, Fiat said it would have lost 247 million euros in the quarter, about the same as in the period a year earlier.

Mr. Marchionne said that no agreement had yet been reached between Fiat and the health care trust on a price for the 41.5 percent stake the trust holds in Chrysler.

Although Fiat can apply Chrysler’s profits to its financial results, the Italian automaker cannot access the American company’s cash reserves.

At the end of the quarter, Chrysler said it had $11.9 billion in cash, a slight decrease from the $12.1 billion it reported a year ago.

Chrysler’s turnaround has accelerated since it paid off the last of its government loans two years ago.

The second-quarter results were the company’s eighth consecutive profitable quarter.

The profits were depressed slightly by a $151 million charge related to Chrysler’s recall and customer service action on 2.7 million older-model Jeeps. Last month, the company said it would add trailer hitches to some older Jeeps to help protect against fires caused by rear-end collisions.

La famille Peugeot pourrait abandonner le contrôle de PSA

Selon ces derni?res, PSA et la famille fondatrice du groupe automobile fran?ais, qui en contr?le toujours le capital, se sont de nouveau tourn?s vers GM, deuxi?me actionnaire ? hauteur de 7 %, apr?s avoir examin? en vain d'autres partenariats possibles, notamment avec le constructeur chinois Dongfeng, alli? de PSA via une coentreprise en Chine.

Les discussions exploratoires ont port? sur une vente de 30 % du groupe ? un consortium conduit par le groupe chinois, mais n'ont pas abouti, toujours selon les m?mes sources.

General Motors a d?menti ces informations et fait savoir jeudi qu'il n'avait pas l'intention d'investir davantage dans PSA Peugeot Citro?n : "Notre position est inchang?e : nous n'avons pas l'intention d'investir des fonds suppl?mentaires dans PSA en ce moment."

?"PROBL?ME DE SURCAPACIT?"

"GM est confront? au m?me probl?me de surcapacit? avec [sa filiale europ?enne] Opel, et c'est pour cette raison que PSA essaie de le convaincre de fusionner les deux", a indiqu? l'une des sources, sous couvert d'anonymat.

Les Peugeot sont le premier actionnaire de PSA, dont ils d?tiennent actuellement 25,2 % du capital et 37,9 % des droits de vote. La famille a d?j? laiss? diluer sa participation lors de l'augmentation de capital d'un milliard d'euros organis?e en mars 2012 dans le cadre de l'alliance avec General Motors.

Lire : PSA, la tentation General Motors

La famille serait d?sormais pr?te ? tomber sous la barre des 33 % des droits de vote. Une affirmation que GM, PSA et la famille Peugeot ont tous trois refus? de commenter. Fin mai, un proche de la direction de PSA avait toutefois d?clar? que le groupe envisageait s?rieusement une augmentation de capital.

Lire : PSA ?tudie une augmentation de capital pour survivre ? la chute de ses ventes

Marisol Touraine invente une embellie du marché automobile

C'est le président de la République qui l'a dit devant des millions de Français, dimanche 14 juillet,  "la reprise économique, elle est là". Lundi 15 juillet, nombreux ont été ceux qui ont été invités à commenter ces propos. C'est notamment le cas d'Henri Guaino et de Luc Chatel, qui s'exprimaient sur RMC et sur RTL. Ils ont tous deux jugés les propos du chef de l'Etat exagérément optimistes en ces temps de crise.

Les données économiques avancées par le président de la République, dimanche, étaient parfaitement exactes ; c'est l'interprétation qu'il en a fait qui est plus problématique. Pour abonder dans le sens présidentiel, Marisol Tourraine la ministre de la santé, a en revanche inventé de bons chiffres pour le marché de l'automobile :

Ce qu'elle a dit  :"Il n'y a jamais eu autant d'immatriculations de voitures neuves qu'au cours de ces trois derniers mois depuis un certain nombre d'années."

Pourquoi c'est faux ? Si l'on regarde les immatriculations mois par mois ces dernières années (corrigées des variations saisonnières et du nombre de jours ouvrables), on observe une forte chute des immatriculations depuis le maximum atteint en novembre 2009.

Si l'évolution mensuelle est positive en février par rapport à janvier, en avril par rapport à mars et en juin par rapport à mai, toutes les évolutions d'une année sur l'autre montre un recul. En mai, la baisse était de 10,3 % par rapport au même mois de 2012 ; en avril elle n'était que de 5,2 %.

Marisol Touraine a pêché par enthousiasme en défendant le bilan de François Hollande en citant des données dont il s'était bien gardé de parler lors de son intervention télévisée.

Jonathan Parienté

Le blog "Les décodeurs" est animé par la cellule "décryptages" du Monde.fr : Imaginé et créé par Nabil Wakim, différents membres de la rédaction y contribuent : Samuel Laurent, Jonathan Parienté, Alexandre Pouchard... Suivez les décodeurs sur Twitter sur twitter.com/decodeurs

Renault a souffert au 1er semestre en raison de l'arrêt de ses activités iraniennes

Ce chiffre s'explique en grande partie par des charges exceptionnelles de 832 millions d'euros, qui ont fait plonger dans le rouge son r?sultat d'exploitation, avec une perte de 249 millions d'euros sur les six premiers mois de l'ann?e, contre un b?n?fice de 519 millions il y a un an et qui ont ?t? retrait?s entre-temps.

Lire aussi : "Renault : la CGT d?bout?e dans sa contestation de l'accord de comp?titivit?"

Renault a en effet d? passer cette ann?e une provision de 512 millions d'euros li?e ? ses activit?s en Iran. Il ne poss?de pas d'usine dans ce pays, qui faisait partie de ses quinze plus gros march?s au premier semestre, mais y envoyait des pi?ces d?tach?es qui sont assembl?es par des partenaires locaux. Ces envois, faits principalement depuis la Roumanie, ont pris fin au d?but du mois ? cause du durcissement des sanctions internationales contre T?h?ran, qui incluent ? pr?sent le secteur automobile.

"Il y a une situation de fait d'interruption de l'activit?" dans ce pays, a expliqu? le directeur financier, Dominique Thormann. La provision pass?e correspond aux avoirs financiers de Renault bloqu?s en Iran et le groupe ne pr?voit pas d'en passer d'autre au deuxi?me semestre. Renault conna?t ainsi le m?me sort que le num?ro un automobile fran?ais, PSA Peugeot Citro?n, qui avait d? interrompre d?s le printemps 2012 ses activit?s iraniennes.

OBJECTIFS ANNUELS CONFIRM?S

La perte d'exploitation subie sur la premi?re partie de l'ann?e par Renault est aussi due ? 227 millions d'euros de d?pr?ciations li?es notamment ? la faillite de son partenaire isra?lien dans le v?hicule ?lectrique Better Place, ainsi qu'? 173 millions "de charge de restructuration li?e notamment ? l'accord de comp?titivit? sign? en France" en mars.

Le constructeur, qui poss?de les marques Renault, Dacia et Renault Samsung Motors, a b?n?fici? en revanche de 749 millions de contribution de ses partenaires, essentiellement du japonais Nissan. Le chiffre d'affaires des six premiers mois de l'ann?e a baiss? de 2,4 % ? 20,4 milliards d'euros alors que les ventes en volume ont recul? de 1,9 % ? 1,3 million de v?hicules ? cause de la morosit? des march?s europ?ens et notamment fran?ais.

Malgr? un "environnement plus difficile que pr?vu, particuli?rement en France", Renault confirme ses objectifs annuels, c'est-?-dire une hausse de ses ventes mondiales, une marge op?rationnelle et un flux de tr?sorerie op?rationnel positifs pour sa branche automobile, "sous r?serve qu'il n'y ait pas de nouvelle d?t?rioration des conditions de march?". Aucun rebond marqu? des ventes n'est attendu en Europe cette ann?e et certains march?s en d?veloppement, comme l'Inde ou la Russie, marquent le pas.

Lire (?dition abonn?s) : "Renault face au ralentissement des pays ?mergents"

Au premier semestre, le flux de tr?sorerie op?rationnel de l'auto est n?gatif de 31 millions (contre - 200 millions). La marge op?rationnelle de cette activit? a fortement progress? pour atteindre 211 millions, contre 87 millions gr?ce ? la "politique de prix et de ma?trise des co?ts". Le constructeur va poursuivre ses efforts d'?conomie au deuxi?me semestre, a promis son num?ro deux, Carlos Tavares, lors d'une conf?rence d'analystes.

Les effets positifs de l'accord conclu pour r?duire les co?ts dans les usines fran?aises devraient "se renforcer au deuxi?me semestre" et il esp?re "augmenter la part de march?" en Europe gr?ce ? ses nouveaux mod?les Renault et Dacia. Il vend aussi plus de v?hicules ? forte valeur ajout?e. Il pr?voit un march? automobile mondial en hausse de 2 % cette ann?e, avec une baisse de 5 % pour l'Europe et de 8 % pour la France.

G.M. Dismisses Executives as India Begins Investigating Recall of Vehicles

G.M. said on Friday that it had dismissed the employees for violating unspecified company policies. One of the executives was Sam Winegarden, a vice president in charge of engine programs, who retired this week after 44 years with G.M., the nation’s largest automaker.

The management shake-up came after the Indian government began an investigation into the recall this week of 114,000 Chevrolet Tavera utility vehicles sold by G.M. in India.

Indian news reports said the government was investigating whether G.M. had improperly manipulated the weight and engine performance in the Tavera during emissions testing and certification.

A G.M. spokesman, Greg Martin, declined to say whether the employees had been forced to leave because of the government investigation.

“General Motors’ investigation into our recall of the Chevrolet Tavera, which is built and sold exclusively in India, identified violations of company policy,” G.M. said in a statement. “G.M. subsequently dismissed several employees.”

One person briefed on the dismissals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said at least 10 employees, mostly in India, were involved. The highest-ranking employee was Mr. Winegarden, who is based in the United States and is the top engineer for the company’s engine operations worldwide.

The company, which said it was voluntarily recalling the vehicles, acknowledged that the Indian government was aware of “an emissions issue” with the Tavera, one of G.M.’s mainstream models in the country.

“G.M. India informed Indian government authorities of an emissions issue involving the Tavera BS3 meeting certain specifications on July 19,” the company said.

The company stopped production of the Tavera in India this month. It said it would make changes to vehicles built as far back as 2005 and perform the required engineering validation. It gave no timetable for notifying customers and doing the work.

The recall is a setback for G.M.’s growth plans in India, particularly if it damages the reputation of the American automaker.

“Our customers are at the center of everything we do,” said Lowell Paddock, head of G.M. India, when he announced the recall.

On Thursday, G.M. reported that its net income in the second quarter dropped 19 percent, partly because of smaller-than-expected profits in Asia.

G.M.’s chief financial officer, Daniel Ammann, said on Thursday that India was among the international markets where G.M. struggled during the quarter.

The decision to oust executives is in keeping with a zero-tolerance policy about violation of corporate ethics led by G.M.’s chief executive, Daniel F. Akerson.

“We take these matters very seriously and hold our leaders and employees to high standards,” the company said. “When those standards are not met, we will take the appropriate action to hold employees accountable.”

Last year, Joel Ewanick, G.M.’s chief marketing officer, was forced to resign after questions were raised inside the company about his handling of a sponsorship deal with a British soccer team.

BMW se convertit à la propulsion électrique

Le Monde | 18.07.2013 à 13h58 • Mis ? jour le 25.07.2013 à 17h35 | Jean-Michel Normand

Bien qu'elle ait construit sa renomm?e sur le brio de ses moteurs thermiques et sur une vision plut?t classique de l'automobile, celle-ci dit croire dur comme fer ? un avenir ?lectrique et consid?re qu'il vaut mieux ?tre pionnier que suiveur. La i3, qui vient d'?tre d?voil?e en partie pr?s de Munich, collectionne des caract?ristiques in?dites pour une BMW.

Longue de 3,99 m?tres, son ch?ssis est en aluminium et sa coque en mati?re plastique renforc?e par des fibres de carbone. Cette quatre-places ? hayon, qui d?passe ? peine les 1 100 kg et installe ses occupants en position l?g?rement sur?lev?e en raison de l'espace occup? dans le plancher par les 230 kg de batteries, offre une autonomie d'environ 150 km. Celle-ci pourra, en option, ?tre doubl?e en installant un petit bicylindre de 650 cm3 (fourni par la division moto de BMW) qui fera office de groupe ?lectrog?ne. Le prix de vente devrait se situer, aides publiques d?duites, autour de 35 000 euros, soit le tarif moyen d'une BMW S?rie3.

Pour concevoir ce mod?le qui s'autoproclame "premi?re voiture ?lectrique premium au monde", la firme bavaroise a d? penser contre elle-m?me. Certes, les fondamentaux ont ?t? respect?s. Le logo, toujours bleu, n'a pas vir? au vert et la (fausse) calandre est scind?e comme il se doit en deux haricots. D?veloppant 125 kW (170 ch), le moteur, install? sous le coffre - ce qui r?duit l'espace d?volu aux bagages -, entra?ne les roues arri?re et, comme pour toute BMW qui se respecte, d?livre des acc?l?rations vigoureuses : le passage de 0 ? 60 km/h est ex?cut? en 3,7 secondes. Lorsque l'on rel?che la p?dale d'acc?l?rateur ? haute vitesse, la voiture glisse en roue libre mais, ? basse vitesse, l'effet frein moteur est maximal, ce qui rend la voiture tr?s agr?able ? conduire.

"HOFMEISTER KNICK"

Les concepteurs de la i3 ont pourtant renvers? plusieurs tabous, et non des moindres. Compte tenu de sa conception, le "toucher de route" est moins sophistiqu? que sur les autres BMW. Cette voiture ?lectrique se passe d'un capot interminable, de grosses roues (ce qui contribue ? r?duire son rayon de braquage), de phares surdimensionn?s ou de flancs creus?s.

Comble de l'audace : on recherchera en vain le fameux "Hofmeister knick", ce dessin des custodes en forme d'ellipse quasiment consubstantiel ? la marque.

Plut?t que de chercher la fluidit? ? tout prix, cette voiture, qui se veut zen, adopte des formes douces pour pr?server l'habitabilit? et, ? contre-courant des grandes tendances du design automobile actuel, se dote de larges surfaces vitr?es. Autres partis pris : les portes lat?rales s'ouvrent en vis-?-vis et, ? l'int?rieur, l'imposante console centrale a disparu, de m?me que les habituels doubles cadrans rapproch?s. L'acier bross?, le cuir et le chrome s'effacent au profit de mat?riaux de qualit? plus "naturels", dont un joli rev?tement en bois d'eucalyptus.

Tous ces d?tails accumul?s signent une prise de distance avec l'esth?tique et les priorit?s de la maison bavaroise. En interne, ces marques d'autonomie n'ont, dit-on, pas fait l'unanimit?. "Nous nous sommes permis certains ?carts, admet Beno?t Jacob, en charge du style de la gamme BMWi. Il fallait sortir d'un dogme qui nous aurait emp?ch?s d'aller assez loin", estime cet atypique designer autodidacte, ancien de Renault, qui revendique une qu?te "d'authenticit?" dans la conception de la i3. Et se f?licite d'avoir "pu r?interpr?ter" les fondamentaux de la marque en fonction d'un cahier des charges d?finissant un v?hicule "z?ro ?mission" ? vocation essentiellement p?riurbaine.

Si cette voiture ?lectrique ose prendre la tradition ? rebrousse-poil, ce n'est pas pour chercher ? convertir ? la propulsion ?lectrique les fid?les de BMW, mais pour ?largir – et surtout rajeunir – la client?le de la marque. Prudents, ses dirigeants se gardent toutefois d'avancer des objectifs de production chiffr?s pour la nouvelle i3.

Op-Ed Columnist: Detroit, a Love Song

Tell them that you lived in Detroit, and they ask, “Why?”

They offer condolences. They wonder how quickly you fled. Maybe that’s especially true in my case, because Detroit stands out among the cities I’ve called home over my post-college years: New York, Rome, Detroit, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. One of these things is not like the others. One isn’t a beacon and magnet, a synonym for exciting, lucrative or at least balmy times.

That’s exactly what I loved about Detroit. And I did love Detroit, not in an electric way but in the way you love something honest and unforced, the way you love someone who doesn’t wear any masks or makeup and doesn’t insist that you do.

I was there in the early 1990s, and Detroit wasn’t in straits quite as dire as it entered earlier this month, when it became the most populous American city ever to declare bankruptcy. But it was pocked with abandoned houses, riddled with crime, rife with trouble. There was no longer a proper department store within the city limits. There were only a handful of first-run movie theaters.

The city’s plight was best summarized by a pitiful slogan that its boosters put on bumper stickers and the like: “Say Nice Things About Detroit.” As if positive thinking — and positive talking — could save the day.

There is one nice thing in particular I want to say about Detroit, by which I mean not just the city but the broader metropolitan area, including Dearborn to the west, Oakland County to the north and, to the east, the Grosse Pointes, where I lived for two years after three in downtown Detroit. Bereft of vanity, Detroit is bereft, too, of pose and pretense. The people there don’t tether their identities to the luster or mythology of their surroundings. Their self-image isn’t tied to their ZIP codes.

That’s undoubtedly true of many, if not most, American cities, of Cleveland and St. Louis and probably Omaha and maybe Houston.

But if you inhabit the gilded precincts favored by those of us who fancy ourselves power brokers or opinion makers or players of one kind or another, it’s a remarkable thing — and a welcome one.

The political operative in Washington, the financial whiz or magazine editor in New York, the studio executive in Los Angeles, the Internet impresario in Seattle or San Francisco: all are creatures not just of a profession but of a profession that blooms and struts in a given self-regarding place. Many have egos nourished by that terrain, which feeds a hyperawareness of status, a persistent jockeying for position.

And the denizens of cities with inimitable landscapes, nonpareil party scenes or idiosyncratic political sensibilities often bask in that geographic glow, the pride of the Miamian or the Portlander sometimes bleeding into smugness.

I encountered little smugness in Detroit. Sure, there were people who talked boastfully about buying a house in Grosse Pointe Farms rather than Grosse Pointe Park. There were people invested in the cars they drove. This was the Motor City, after all.

But Detroiters didn’t dash as madly to the hot new restaurant. They didn’t chatter as preciously about their preferred summer weekend destination. And that wasn’t just about limited means. It was about different, more down-to-earth priorities.

They lived in the Detroit area not because it puffed them up but because it made sense. Maybe they had family there. Maybe they had other deep roots.

Maybe the Detroit area was where they’d found the best career opportunity at a key moment, and then they went on to build a life around it. That’s what drew me to Detroit: a better job than the one I had in New York.

An even better one than that lured me back east, and I returned with mixed feelings, because while Detroit doesn’t have mountains or an ocean or streets with much of a pulse, it has a terrific farmers’ market in the city center. My friends and I bought our basil there and made fresh pesto for backyard barbecues.

Detroit has an arts institute with a first-rate film series that residents, not taking art-house fare for granted, relish. It has a 985-acre public park that, while needing more faithful upkeep, is situated majestically in the middle of a blue river. When I’d run there, I’d sometimes have the path to myself.

And the Detroit area has no paucity of smart, decent people. Most of the ones I was lucky enough to befriend remain there. They’d like better restaurants and music and theater and all of it, and they root for the city’s resurrection.

But that’s not because they want bragging rights. They long ago made peace with Detroit’s absence of flamboyant beauty, its shortfall of romance. Home isn’t about such shimmer. Their home, at least.

Philip Caldwell Is Dead at 93; First Nonfamily Member to Head Ford

The cause was complications of a stroke, his family said.

Mr. Caldwell was known as a prodigious worker with a knack for restoring floundering divisions of Ford to financial health. He guided the company through some of its most difficult years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when all of Detroit struggled to cope with a sour economy, high gas prices and the first sustained onslaught by Japanese automakers.

He left his mark more on the company’s bottom line than its product line, turning the record losses of more than $1.5 billion that Ford recorded in 1980, his first full year as chief executive, into record profits of $2.9 billion in 1984. At the same time his management team — including his labor chief, Peter J. Pestillo — greatly improved Ford’s strained relations with its unions. And he laid the groundwork for the company’s biggest success in a generation: the Taurus, the top-selling car of the late ’80s and ’90s.

Mr. Caldwell, who spent a total of 37 years at Ford, never developed a reputation as a “car guy,” someone motivated by a passion for automotive design and engineering or the thrill of driving. Nor was he a salesman at heart, as many auto executives are.

Rather, he rose to the top as a manager who could handle tough assignments, overhauling one struggling business unit after another by cutting costs and ratcheting up productivity and profits, most notably in the truck division, the Philco electronics subsidiary and Ford’s overseas operations.

By the 1970s, Mr. Caldwell was one of Henry Ford II’s most loyal and trusted lieutenants. But he was almost unknown outside the company — in stark contrast to the larger-than-life Mr. Iacocca, who famously rode the success of the Mustang in the 1960s to the presidency of Ford, the No. 2 post, but who came to be seen by Mr. Ford as more rival than colleague.

Outsiders were stunned when Mr. Ford dismissed Mr. Iacocca in 1977 and elevated Mr. Caldwell instead, first to vice chairman and later to chief executive and chairman.

Mr. Ford, grandson of the company’s founder, kept an important role on the board throughout Mr. Caldwell’s tenure, leading some observers to wonder how much freedom of action Mr. Caldwell really had, despite his titles. But in interviews around the time of his retirement as chief executive in February 1985, Mr. Caldwell insisted that Mr. Ford had never tried to interfere or tell him how to run the company.

Born in the tiny farming town of Bourneville, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 1920, Mr. Caldwell studied economics 80 miles away at Muskingum College (now Muskingum University) and graduated in 1940, three years ahead of John Glenn, the astronaut and politician.

He was completing an M.B.A. at Harvard when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, prompting him to enlist in the Navy and serve as a lieutenant in the Pacific.

When the war ended in 1945, he stayed with the Navy in a civilian job as a procurement manager and married Betsey Chinn Clark. She and their three children, Lawrence, Lucy H. Caldwell-Stair and Désirée C. Armitage, survive him, as do six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Mr. Caldwell left the Navy after the Korean War in 1953 to join Ford. He often said afterward that his Navy experience had shaped his approach to business, in which he emphasized discipline and efficiency.

It also shaped his approach to life in general. He seemed most comfortable in formal settings and was rarely seen in public out of his uniform of conservative business attire. He did not smoke or drink and exhibited none of the flamboyance of other leading Detroit figures of his time, like Mr. Ford, Mr. Iacocca and John Z. DeLorean, the protean “car guy” then cutting a swath at General Motors.

About as wild and crazy as Mr. Caldwell was ever said to get was an occasional recreational spin around the Ford test track at the wheel of a tractor-trailer. He filled his home and his office at Ford with 18th-century American antiques, and his civic and cultural activities included serving as a trustee of his alma mater and of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

His retirement was an active one. He remained on Ford’s board for five more years after stepping down as chief executive a few days past his 65th birthday. He also worked in investment banking as a managing director at Shearson Lehman Brothers, joined the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the boards of a number of public companies as well as the executive recruitment firm Russell Reynolds Associates.

In 1990, the Harvard Business School named a chair in business administration in his honor.

Renault explore de possibles coopérations avec Mitsubishi Motors

Renault et Daimler partagent d?j? le d?veloppement des mod?les qui viendront remplacer la Twingo, c?t? fran?ais, et la Smart, c?t? allemand. Ils coop?rent ?galement dans le domaine des v?hicules utilitaires et dans les moteurs.

UNE TRENTAINE DE PROJETS SERAIENT ? L'?TUDE

Avec des ventes de l'ordre de 987 000 v?hicules l'an dernier, Mitsubishi, qui avait tent? il y a trois ans une alliance ambitieuse avec PSA Peugeot Citro?n, se retrouve de plus en plus isol? dans le paysage automobile mondial. Le constructeur japonais entretient toutefois quelques liens avec son compatriote Nissan, dont Renault est l'actionnaire de r?f?rence. Les deux groupes poss?dent notamment une coentreprise sp?cialis?e dans les voitures de tr?s petites cylindr?es, tr?s populaires dans l'archipel nippon. Les deux groupes ont aussi des accords crois?s de fourniture de v?hicules, rappelle le quotidien.

Selon Le Figaro, une trentaine de projets impliquant Mitsubishi, Renault ou Nissan sont ? l'?tude. Certaines de ces collaborations "vont commencer", ajoute un dirigeant de Renault, sans plus de pr?cisions.

Renault : la vision ne fait pas le business model

Qu'une start-up tombe, c'est la loi du genre. Mais il se trouve que celle-ci avait capt? une partie de l'attention de Renault. En 2008, alors que le constructeur automobile prenait conscience qu'il avait rat? le virage de l'hybride, Carlos Ghosn a d?cid? de jouer le coup d'apr?s. A savoir le tout- ?lectrique.

La vision strat?gique du patron de l'alliance Renault Nissan ?tait que l'arriv?e in?luctable du v?hicule ?lectrique se doublerait d'un changement de mode de consommation. A la fa?on des forfaits de t?l?phonie mobile, les automobilistes souscriraient un abonnement qui garantirait l'?change gratuit de leurs batteries, autant de fois que n?cessaire, en fonction d'un certain kilom?trage.

L'id?e paraissait g?niale. Renault signait en 2008 un partenariat avec Better Place, n?e moins d'un an avant, pour commencer en Isra?l et au Danemark. Renault pr?voyait de commercialiser, avant 2016, 100 000 Fluence ZE, sp?cialement con?ues pour ce dispositif.

Evaluation de l'ardoise

Carlos Ghosn n'est pas le seul ? y avoir cru. Better Place a r?ussi ? lever 850 millions de dollars (660 millions d'euros) aupr?s d'investisseurs... et ? tout perdre en quelques ann?es. Seulement 38 stations Better Place sont install?es en Isra?l et 17 au Danemark, o? Renault a vendu respectivement 1 000 et 240 Fluence.

L'ardoise est en cours d'?valuation pour le fran?ais, qui r?clame d?j? 65 millions d'euros au tribunal de commerce, pour des impay?s sur les batteries, tandis qu'il est "en train de chiffrer" ses autres cr?ances. La facture en termes de recherche et d?veloppement, de mise en oeuvre de la production de la Fluence ZE ou de mise ? disposition du r?seau des concessionnaires est sans doute bien sup?rieure.

L'erreur aura ?t? double : se lancer seul dans l'aventure (aucun autre constructeur ne propose de v?hicule compatible avec Better Place), et miser sur l'?mergence d'une demande avant m?me que le maillage du pays en stations ne permette d'y circuler partout. C'?tait un pari, pas un mod?le ?conomique.

Mais Renault a d?j? chang? son fusil d'?paule. Hasard du calendrier, Arnaud Montebourg ?tait, mardi 28 mai, ? l'usine de Flins, o? est construite la voiture ?lectrique Zo?. Le ministre a martel? sa volont? d'acc?l?rer le d?ploiement de bornes ?lectriques de recharge, pour atteindre les 8 000 bornes sur le territoire ? la fin de l'ann?e.

Les objectifs de vente de la Renault Zo? sont certes beaucoup plus modestes, mais le march? r?pond et les ventes progressent. La vision est plus r?aliste.

jacquin@lemonde.fr

Le marché automobile français en recul

Les immatriculations de voitures neuves dans l'Hexagone se sont ?lev?es ? 190 199 unit?s le mois dernier, soit le niveau le plus bas depuis 1997, la baisse en donn?es corrig?es des jours ouvrables (CJO) se limitant ? 4,4 % en juin et ? 9,9 % sur six mois.

"Au mois de juin, le march? des commandes a l'air de se stabiliser, c'?tait la m?me chose en mai (...), donc on est probablement en train de toucher le fond, a d?clar? Patrick Blain, pr?sident du CCFA. Nos indicateurs nous permettent de conforter cette pr?vision (d'une baisse de 8 % sur l'ensemble de l'ann?e), qui suppose une stabilisation sur le deuxi?me semestre."

PSA PERD 14,3 % AU PREMIER SEMESTRE, RENAULT, 8,1 %

En donn?es brutes, les immatriculations de voitures neuves avaient recul? de 5,2 % en avril et de 10,3 % en mai. En donn?es CJO, les reculs avaient ?t? de 9,7 % et 10,3 % respectivement. Le CCFA estime que la mesure de d?blocage anticip? de la participation salariale, effectif ? compter du 1er juillet, joue un r?le dans la stabilisation du march? automobile attendue apr?s l'?t?. "C'est une mesure qui va dans le bon sens, m?me si elle ne fera pas non plus exploser les compteurs", d?clare Patrick Blain.

Toujours selon les chiffres du CCFA, les immatriculations de PSA Peugeot-Citro?n se sont repli?es de 9,5 % le mois dernier et celles de Renault ont recul? de 3,6 %.

Sur les six premiers mois de 2013, avec 930 320 immatriculations, le march? fran?ais des voitures particuli?res neuves est en baisse de 11,3 % en donn?es brutes et de 9,9 % ? nombre de jours ouvrables comparable par rapport ? la m?me p?riode de 2012 (123 jours de janvier ? juin 2013 et 125 jours de janvier ? juin 2012).?PSA perd 14,3 % au premier semestre, Renault, 8,1 %.

Lire en ?dition abonn?s : Le march? automobile europ?en poursuit sa d?gringolade

La famille Peugeot pourrait abandonner le contrôle de PSA

Selon ces derni?res, PSA et la famille fondatrice du groupe automobile fran?ais, qui en contr?le toujours le capital, se sont de nouveau tourn?s vers GM, deuxi?me actionnaire ? hauteur de 7 %, apr?s avoir examin? en vain d'autres partenariats possibles, notamment avec le constructeur chinois Dongfeng, alli? de PSA via une coentreprise en Chine.

Les discussions exploratoires ont port? sur une vente de 30 % du groupe ? un consortium conduit par le groupe chinois, mais n'ont pas abouti, toujours selon les m?mes sources.

General Motors a d?menti ces informations et fait savoir jeudi qu'il n'avait pas l'intention d'investir davantage dans PSA Peugeot Citro?n : "Notre position est inchang?e : nous n'avons pas l'intention d'investir des fonds suppl?mentaires dans PSA en ce moment."

?"PROBL?ME DE SURCAPACIT?"

"GM est confront? au m?me probl?me de surcapacit? avec [sa filiale europ?enne] Opel, et c'est pour cette raison que PSA essaie de le convaincre de fusionner les deux", a indiqu? l'une des sources, sous couvert d'anonymat.

Les Peugeot sont le premier actionnaire de PSA, dont ils d?tiennent actuellement 25,2 % du capital et 37,9 % des droits de vote. La famille a d?j? laiss? diluer sa participation lors de l'augmentation de capital d'un milliard d'euros organis?e en mars 2012 dans le cadre de l'alliance avec General Motors.

Lire : PSA, la tentation General Motors

La famille serait d?sormais pr?te ? tomber sous la barre des 33 % des droits de vote. Une affirmation que GM, PSA et la famille Peugeot ont tous trois refus? de commenter. Fin mai, un proche de la direction de PSA avait toutefois d?clar? que le groupe envisageait s?rieusement une augmentation de capital.

Lire : PSA ?tudie une augmentation de capital pour survivre ? la chute de ses ventes

Financial Crisis Just a Symptom of Detroit’s Woes

Many people here say the answer is no. Some laugh at the odds of an ambulance appearing promptly, if ever. In Detroit, people map out alternative plans instead, enlisting a relative or a friend.

As officials negotiate urgently with creditors and unions in a last-ditch effort to spare Detroit from plunging into the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation’s history, residents say the city has worse problems than its estimated $18 billion debt.

“The city is past being a city now; it’s gone,” said Kendrick Benguche, whose family lives on a block with a single streetlight, just down from a vacant firehouse that sits beside a burned-out home. The Detroit police’s average response time to calls for the highest-priority crimes this year was 58 minutes, officials now overseeing the city say. The department’s recent rate of solving cases was 8.7 percent, far lower, the officials acknowledge, than clearance rates in cities like Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and St. Louis.

“I guess I’ll be glad if someone else takes over and other people run this thing,” Mr. Benguche said. “The way I look at it, the city is already bankrupt.”

Kevyn D. Orr, the state-appointed emergency financial manager for Detroit, has said that the chances of filing for bankruptcy, a possibility that could be decided as early as this month, stand at 50-50. On Wednesday, Mr. Orr is expected to lead 40 representatives of Detroit’s creditors on a bus tour of the city and its blight to let the bleak images of empty lots and shuttered firehouses make the argument that creditors should accept pennies on the dollars owed.

The prospect of a bankruptcy filing — a move that is extremely rare for cities and one that has never happened to an American city as populous as Detroit, with about 700,000 people — worries some residents. They say they fear that bankruptcy would add more stigma to a city that has contracted alarmingly in the decades since it was the nation’s fourth largest, starting in the 1920s, and that it might worsen already bare-bones services.

The notion that assets like Coleman A. Young International Airport, Belle Isle Park and the collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts might be sold — either in a formal bankruptcy proceeding or in a huge city reorganization outside of the court system — has fueled outrage.

“Bankruptcy scares me,” said LaTanya Boyce, a nurse practitioner. She urges her patients to treat health concerns before they become acute because, she said, “if they find themselves calling 911, it’s probably too late.”

But as with many here who have wrestled with the practical realities of living in this city, Ms. Boyce said she would not mind if some entity other than the city took over the management of Belle Isle, a park whose plan was conceived in the early 1880s by Frederick Law Olmsted. Ms. Boyce goes to the park for exercise, wearing a fanny pack that at times contains a gun — “Do you see any city police here?” — and bemoaning several locked restrooms that have portable toilets planted in front of them.

“I would love to see it leased to the state,” she said of the park. “They’d take better care.”

Recent developments among Detroit’s elected leaders have only added to the sense that significant changes in the city are perhaps even preferable. Two of the nine City Council members have resigned. (One said he was leaving to work for the emergency manager’s office.) Then, Charles Pugh, the Council president, had his salary stopped and power stripped by Mr. Orr after the councilman abruptly stopped showing up for meetings and disappeared from public view.

“Where Is Charles Pugh?” a headline at the top of the front page of The Detroit Free Press asked.

“For a lot of people, I think city government has become a nonentity here,” said Kurt Metzger, the director of Data Driven Detroit, which tracks demographic, economic and housing trends in the region. “People almost feel like the city goes on in spite of city government — that city government in this case certainly doesn’t define the city — and that affects how they’re feeling about what comes next.”

Recently, Mr. Orr indicated that Detroit was getting out of the business of electricity distribution. An independent authority is already planning to take control of the city’s streetlights, 40 percent of which, Mr. Orr’s office said, were not working in recent months. Similar handoffs are being weighed for the water and sewer services, and possibly more.

While many who have been through municipal bankruptcies say such moves often mean more budget cuts to city services, Mr. Orr has called for spending about $1.25 billion over the next 10 years on improving city infrastructure and services, including the police. Last week, James Craig, Mr. Orr’s choice for police chief, arrived to face a city that had seen five chiefs in as many years and had the highest rate of violent crime in 2012 of any city with more than 200,000 residents, according to a report by Mr. Orr.

“Whatever the solution is — a negotiated plan or a bankruptcy proceeding — the end result is going to be better services,” Bill Nowling, Mr. Orr’s spokesman, said. “This is all about getting Detroit strong, viable and solvent.”

Frank Ponder, 45, who works at a hospital here, said major changes in the city, even bankruptcy, now seem all but certain. “Everybody had all these ideas about saving Detroit, and nobody’s ideas actually worked,” he said. “At a certain point, you have to stop fooling yourself.”

The East Side house in which Mr. Ponder lives, once owned by his grandmother, is the only one on his block that appears to be occupied. He has been saving money for years in hopes of moving this fall to a suburb, Warren — and he expects to just walk away.

“What can you do?” he said. “Sell it? On that block?”

While corporations announced this year that they would donate money to the city in part to lease new emergency vehicles, there have been times in 2013, the authorities acknowledge, when only 10 to 14 of Detroit’s 36 ambulances have actually been in service. Some of the city’s emergency medical service vehicles have as many as 300,000 miles on them, so they tend to break down.

All this helps explain why Mr. Ponder said he, as so many here, would try to get himself to a hospital before seeking help from Detroit.

“If you have a heart attack, you’re dead,” he said. “There is no such thing around here as ‘in case of emergency.’ ”