(1) http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2009/02/bmw-group-global-january-sales-down-242.html

(2) http://layofftracker.blogspot.com/2009/02/bmw-cuts-850-jobs-at-mini-car-plant-in.html

At the beginning of the year, BMW reported that not only had their global sales been down, but that their MINI division was suffering the hardest, selling 34% less vehicles than the year before(1). In February, MINI eliminated 850 jobs at its Cowley plant in Oxfordshire(2). If the case for the MiTo, then, is Alfa to sell "loads of $30K hatches in America" just like MINI, then expect Alfa to never make a profit on it.

Times have changed following the events of last year, and if you expect sales in a luxury-compact hatch segment to be the same as they were before, I highly doubt it given the amount of trouble MINI is currently facing. Not all people buy cars because they have an emotional attachment to it. This is not a sports car. It does not do 0-60 in less than five seconds. It's a compact hatch, designed as a city car and it carries people. It has a very utilitarian focus. But for Alfa, it makes sense not to drop a premium hatch in America in their launch line-up, people need to warm up to Alfa. How long has Alfa been off the scene? They need to come back, and soon.

SuperSkyline, that concept has been around for ages. Back in the 90s, Mazda (the only Japanese manufacturer thus far) won the 24 hr Le Mans, and guess what happened... The FIA bans Mazda's amazing Wankel rotary engine. A good thing comes along, and just as the sun rises in the morning, the FIA will most certainly ban it.

I don't understand why Mazda can't man up and make a twin-turbocharged version of the RX-8 like they did to the RX-7. I understand the RX-7 sold poorly in its later years, but the RX-8 has certainly earned its place in the sports car segment and its only right that Mazda do what's necessary and revive the spirit of the twin-turbo RX-7.

You guys keep reposting the same story with no major updates. We are still SPECULATING about the arrival of this model, and until Mercedes officially announces it, we have NOTHING to hope for. Stop blowing smoke on this story.

Further proof that the pack-mentality of those who comment on BMW vehicles as awkward-looking, unstylish, or undesirable carry no substance in the real world. You mock their designs and, yet, when a truly tumultuous recession hits, who emerges as the one to suffer less? BMW.

How truly ironic it is. I've stood by their products and I will always stand by their products. The proof is as clear as day, and yet so many of you fail to understand or embrace their long-enduring brand equity.

And to all those Congressmen and legislators who feel that GM is going about this wrong way, bringing a car to market that is not in line with their green agenda and pro-environmental attitudes... Go and stick it up your tailpipe. For so long, GM has been accused of creating cars that were unpopular and unprofitable, and for once, GM cannot keep up with demand on a truly successful vehicle. Comes to show where American's attitudes lie, and this is certainly something I'm proud of, that the spirit of the American sports car still very well lives on. May it never die, even in the face of our changing times.

He does have a pattern for not saying anything positive, doesn't he?

A recent poll concluded that most Americans would rather have a full frontal lobotomy than operate a motor vehicle anywhere near New York City.

All they said was "We might think about it," and you guys get all giddy inside. Sheesh, you're all so easy to excite.