Automakers bribe writers with yet another play date at a private race track in Catskills

ONLY EV AT TEST DAYS: GM improved the Chevy Bolt EV for the 2019 model year, but sent a 2018 model to Test Days, the year's premier event for auto writers and publicists who belong to the International Motor Press Association. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Scotty Reiss, president emeritus of the International Motor Press Association, reacted strongly to this post, claiming "your story was negative, biased and factually incorrect." Her complete email appears in the comments section at the end of the post.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

MONTICELLO, N.Y. -- If you doubt traditional carmakers like Nissan are trying to slow the transition to electric cars, consider the vehicles the Japanese company brought to the year's premier event for the automotive press.

Most prominent was a monstrous, gas-guzzling SUV from Nissan's luxury division, Infiniti, with a sticker price north of $91,000.

The owner of this ungainly Infiniti QX80 Limited would spend $8,000 more on gasoline over 5 years than someone who drives the average new vehicle, according to the government-mandated sticker.

Not to mention all of the extra tailpipe emissions, said to cause a total of 58,000 premature deaths in the United States every year.

QX80 Limited

The word "Limited" in the model number is undoubtedly a reference to the intelligence of anyone who would spend so much on such a wasteful vehicle, which appears to seat only 6.

If that vehicle wasn't bad enough -- representing as it does Nissan's royal F.U. to the environment -- the company's Northeast Region public relations chief didn't bother to provide the vastly improved second-generation Nissan Leaf or the longer-range version of the EV with active battery cooling.

"Just didn't bring it," shrugged Steven Oldham, when asked why he wasn't providing an all-electric Leaf for members of the International Motor Press Association to drive silently over beautiful two-lane country roads around the Monticello Motor Club, the private race track for the wealthy that was one of the sponsors.

TRICK OR TREAT: Total MSRP for the Infiniti QX80 Limited is $91,450, including an all-season package for $355 and destination charges of $1,295.

Sponsors cut back

In response to an email, Dan Bedore, director of Nissan Division Communications in Franklin, Tenn., said:

"We generally bring our newest in-launch products to these events as well as crowd pleasers like GT-R [a high-performance sports car with 565 horsepower to 600 horsepower that starts at $99,990].

"Placing vehicles [at events like IMPA's Test Days] includes a per-vehicle cost from the organizers and a shipping cost and we have budgets to operate within."

If Nissan withheld the Leaf for budgetary reasons, that was only one of the cutbacks evident this week to IMPA members like me who have attended Test Days stretching back decades, when they were held at two other tracks, Pocono Raceway and Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

Fewer food choices

At lunch on Tuesday at the Monticello Motor Club, I asked a server if there were veggie burgers available like the ones I enjoyed last year.

"Not today," he said, so as a non-meat eater I had a choice of three salads -- tuna, edamame and couscous.

The main items on the buffet were hamburgers and chicken with pesto.

Pastas and salads -- but no fish -- were available to non-meat eaters at Tuesday night's banquet in the Resorts World Casino.

Test Days coordinator Paul Licata said in response to an email that cost doesn't allow "us to have every option for everyone."

Track time

This year, in another cost-cutting move, the Monticello Motor Club also declined to provide the race instructors who were available on the first morning of the two-day event.

An instructor would sit in the front passenger seat, and give IMPA members like me tips as they drove the 469-horsepower Mercedes-Benz AMG C 63 and other performance cars around the challenging 3.5-mile track.

On Wednesday, IMPA members had a wide choice of vehicles from among the 70-plus in the paddock to drive unaccompanied on the track, and pretend they are Lewis Hamilton, who is on the cusp of his 5th Formula 1 World Championship.  

Test Days sponsors included Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota/Lexus, Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz and Subaru, among other automakers; American Ethanol, a tire company and a public relations firm.

No ethics policy

IMPA is the nation's oldest organization of automotive journalists and public relations professionals, but the group is only now starting to discuss adopting an ethics policy to govern members' relationship with automakers and dealers.

That has allowed carmakers to essentially bribe members with all-expenses-paid travel to see the unveiling of new models; free loans of new vehicles for up to a week to write road-test reports or just to provide them with a ride during their vacations; and free trips to the big auto shows in New York, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

Revenue from dealer advertising, meanwhile, keeps many of the writers' publications, websites, blogs and YouTube channels afloat. 

Thank sponsors

In an email, IMPA President Bill Howard reminded members:

"Sponsors make the event affordable: $100 for the ticket, not $400. Say thank you as you relieve them of their coffee, bottled water, doughnuts and candy in the paddock."

Tesla doesn't advertise or provide cars for IMPA events, and that may be one factor behind all of the negative stories about the world's premier maker of all-electric cars.

And in recent years, traditional automakers like the ones that sponsor IMPA events have restricted loans of new vehicles to writers whose reports have such a large exposure that there is a good likelihood they will translate into sales.

That prompted one long-time IMPA member to say he'd like to see a return to "equal opportunity bribery." 

MSRP of $166,795: The 2019 BMW i8 Roadster is a plug-in hybrid with a total of 369 horsepower from a turbo 3-cylinder gasoline engine and an electric motor. The easiest way to get into the low-slung sports car is to plant your tush on the wide sill and swing your legs in, below.

EVs, hybrids

As the owner of a Tesla Model S, I tried to drive only EVs and hybrids on Tuesday.

I had a lot of fun in a 2018 Chevy Bolt EV, which is everything you'd want in a small car and more. 

By shifting the transmission into "L," you can operate the all-electric hatchback with one pedal: 

When you take your foot off of the accelerator, the Bolt EV will come to a stop at a light or stop sign, and lifting off partially slows the car for corners.

That same one-pedal operation is available in another all-electric car, the BMW i3, which wasn't brought to the event.

Instead, BMW provided a 2019 i8 Roadster, a low-slung gas-electric hybrid that is the open-top version of the 2018 BMW i8.

The sports car was fast and fun to drive, but noisy and impractical. Total suggested retail price is $166,795.

Toyota and Lexus brought no gas-electric hybrids to the event, and Jaguar's first all-electric car, the 2019 I-Pace, also was missing.

Read: When writers get a free ride,

 can they be objective?

Read: Feds may question cozy relationship among writers, automakers and dealers

ONE OF FORD'S LAST SEDANS: The 2018 Fusion Platinum Energi is a 5-passenger gas-electric hybrid, one of only 3 sedans the company still sells.

DESTINATION CHARGER: I was able to plug in my Model S at a Tesla Destination Charger in front of the clubhouse at the Monticello Motor Club in Monticello, N.Y.

Mother Nature is taking revenge for moves by oil industry to destroy our environment

Cartoons lampooning President Trump's half-hearted efforts on behalf of victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas from Jimmy Margulies, above, and Monte Wolverton, below. Margulies, the former editorial cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park, has Trump referring to his election as "history making," and conceding "the storm was pretty strong, too."

Here, cartoonist Wolverton shows Trump dismantling Obama-era flood protection regulations just weeks before Harvey hit Texas in a bid to get infrastructure projects approved more quickly.

TRUMP'S BUDGET SLASHES

COASTAL PROTECTIONS

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Houston and New Orleans are major centers of the oil, gas and chemical industries, and both have been hit with superstorms that exposed massive failures by government officials to protect their citizens.

In fact, Mother Nature seems to be taking revenge for all of the environmental damage caused by those industries in their reckless pursuit of hundreds of billions of dollars in profit.

Refineries and chemical plants aggravate climate change, and cause widespread air and water pollution.

Meanwhile, auto emissions are linked to 53,000 premature deaths every year in the United States.

Equally as troubling is that most of the victims I've seen interviewed in Texas shelters were black and Hispanic.

On visits to Texas and Louisiana, President Trump's words of comfort ring hollow: 

He is loosening environmental regulations instead of enforcing them and cutting budgets, ensuring a repeat of the devastation all over the country.

Coastal flooding

In New Jersey, shore towns are struggling "to find ways to prepare for an increase in flooding and severe storm events," according to the American Littoral Society, a coastal-conservation nonprofit.

Many coastal communities have turned to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for expertise, coordination and funding to make the coast "safer and more resilient," said Helen Henderson, the society's Mid-Atlantic Ocean Planning manager.

But President Trump's spending plan would cripple NOAA and eliminate thousands of jobs by cutting funding by nearly $1 billion.

That's in addition to proposed cuts to the Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce (where NOAA operates).

"Those cutbacks could be disastrous for the U.S. coast, both environmentally and economically," Henderson says.

Cartoonist Dave Granlund on the dark side of the recovery from Hurricane Harvey.

This cartoon from Steve Greenberg speaks for itself.

The Record

Hurricane Harvey was on the front page of my local daily newspaper, The Record of Woodland Park, for seven days, but the cleanup was demoted to 3A today.

On Aug. 26, a Saturday, readers were greeted with a banner headline on the front page below a story about NJ Transit, the state's beleaguered mass-transit agency:

"HARVEY SLAMS TEXAS"

That day's paper also ran a story on A-3 reporting two former associates of Governor Christie filed appeals of their November convictions and subsequent prison sentences for plotting the 2012 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee.

The "Harvey slams Texas" phrase appeared two days later in a sub-headline on Page 1.

EDWIN JOSEPH REITER

Ed Reiter

For decades, Ed Reiter was one of the faceless workers on The Record's copy desk in Hackensack (where the paper was headquartered before moving to Woodland Park in 2009).

That's where copy editors worked late into the night fact-checking news stories and columns; correcting spelling and grammatical errors, and trying to improve syntax and eliminate wordiness.

Reiter died on Aug. 24 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He was 79. His wife, Patricia, said the cause was multiple organ failure.

Coin writing

Between 1998 and 2002, he won four First Place awards from the New Jersey Press Association for Best Headline Writing, "reflecting his penchant for wordplay and puns," as one obituary put it.

Reiter left The Record in 2008, and at the time of his death was senior editor of COINage magazine.  

He also wrote a numismatics column for nearly a decade (1979-89) for The New York Times.

The Borg family and Gannett Co., the new owners, have virtually eliminated copy editors and the work they did at The Record, resulting in the low-quality print edition you've been reading for far too many years.

Overshadowed by an evil Trump, Christie is getting away with murder in New Jersey

In view of President Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants, cartoonist Dave Granlund suggests first lady Melania Trump, a native of Slovenia, would be arrested for working illegally as a model in the United States.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today, Editor Richard A. Green plays a story on possible prison terms for two former allies of Governor Christie above the GOP thug's approval of spending $400 million on transportation projects.

If that was deliberate, it amounts to a royal F.U. to The Record's readers (1A).

In the court of public opinion, Christie long ago was found guilty of masterminding the George Washington Bridge lane closings in 2013 as political payback after the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee refused to endorse his re-election.

But in recent months, coverage of Christie has been flattering, focusing mostly on his initiatives to fight drug overdoses in suburban towns.

Lousy credit

In fact, why did Green run the upbeat transportation funding story on Page 1 and bury another alarming story about the state's lousy credit rating on 6A?

"Wall Street has downgraded New Jersey's credit rating once again, renewing warnings about the state's poorly managed budget and ailing pension system for state workers," reporter Salvador Rizzo says.

Former Christie allies Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly have maintained their innocence and pleaded for leniency, but federal prosecutors are asking a federal judge to sentence each of them to three years in prison on Wednesday (1A).

Just hot air?

Environmental reporter Scott Fallon is one of the few veteran staffers to have escaped last week's layoffs at the Gannett-owned daily.

Today, Green devotes most of the front page to Fallon's tongue-in-cheek report on a so-called statewide battle over the release of helium balloons (1A). 

That's rich, considering The Record's environmental and transportation reporters continue to ignore the role auto emissions play in climate change and the premature death of 53,000 people a year -- apparently out of respect for car dealers, who are among the paper's biggest advertisers. 

Death pays

Talking about revenue, The Record's editors appear to have monetized the obituary pages in the Local news section (4L to 6L).

Starting today, paid obituaries are set in wider type, and In Memoriam notices carry larger photos than before. 

They also look like they cost survivors a lot more money to insert in the paper.

Food criticism dies

I am one of the biggest fans of Jerry's Gourmet & More, the Italian-American specialty food shop in Englewood.

But Food Editor Esther Davidowitz's puff piece on the Better Living cover is exaggerated, not to mention inaccurate.

More troubling, food criticism at The Record appears to have died.

Yes. There are great buys at Jerry's, but you can do better than his so-called discounts on whole-wheat pasta, coffee beans, extra-virgin olive oil and so many other products.

For example, Jerry's sells only conventional whole-wheat pasta from Italy, but he charges more than ShopRite, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's do for their imported organic whole wheat pasta

Costco Wholesale beats Jerry's on Lavazza Coffee Beans for espresso machines, as well as on such Italian cheeses as Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano.  

Gannett: My bad

On Monday, NorthJersey.com posted a report on an Edible Books Festival at the Rutherford Public Library, but a headline said the event took place in East Rutherford.

On Facebook, John Hughes commented:

"This is a wonderful event that Rutherford residents, their library and the boro are very proud of. 

"More than 'several people' attended and the event was not in East Rutherford. 

"I thought this paper was bad when we were forced to read about the editor's church & friends every week -- now look at this mess of a newspaper!

"Shameful."

On Saturday, I couldn't find The Record in my driveway, but I did find it the next day in the large plastic bag holding the Sunday edition, as if the news in the print edition isn't outdated enough on the day it is delivered.

When writers get a free ride, can they be objective about sad state of auto industry?

On an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital to cover The Washington Auto Show, I couldn't have been happier with my lavish seafood dinner at Cedar Restaurant, including this appetizer of Pan Roasted Diver Scallops prepared without butter or cream -- or what the kitchen called "kosher."

The auto writer on my left, a freelancer for The New York Times, tucked into Texas Wild Boar Loin Chops with sweet potato duchesse, stewed cherries, seasonal vegetables and bacon vinaigrette.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- I started covering Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other auto importers nearly 30 years ago as a business reporter for a respected daily newspaper in northern New Jersey.

The paper had strict rules against taking anything of value from news sources -- you were not even allowed to accept a free cup of coffee.

But covering cars presented special challenges, because automakers routinely took writers on junkets to unveil new models, and wined and dined them at lunches in the private dining rooms of expensive restaurants in Manhattan.

Now that's Italian

I recall reading about a trip to Sicily for writers from Car & Driver and other publications to drive cars shod with a new Pirelli tire, and how one of them described a beautiful robe in the gift bag they found in their hotel room.

Media preview days at the dealer-sponsored auto show in New York were -- and are -- a heady mix of press conferences and parties, some with restricted invitation lists.

And when my paper decided to publish monthly road tests of new models, I was able to borrow cars for a weekend or week at no charge -- delivered to my home or office, and then picked up.

I could even arrange to drive a so-called press car on vacations in California, and two years after I retired, I had a blast in Italy driving an Alfa Romeo turbo-diesel sedan from Milan to Venice and back.

The question I've been asking since I retired is how do auto writers remain objective?

Most of the major foreign and domestic automakers are climate-change deniers who spend millions of dollars in lobbying and legal fees fighting higher fuel-mileage standards.

Plus, they continue to drag their feet on marketing zero-emissions vehicles while ramping up production of bigger gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks.

None of this fazes the vast majority of auto writers, who still judge gasoline cars by how fast they accelerate from zero to 60 mph, and get off on loud mufflers.

I rode in a special Amtrak rail car with about 30 other auto writers from Newark to the nation's capital on the morning of Jan. 25 and returned the following night. Describing some of the writers as "journalists" is a stretch. IMPA is the New York-based International Motor Press Association, and WAPA is the Washington Automotive Press Association.

We had beautiful weather, with temperatures in the 50s and plenty of sunshine. On Jan. 26, the highlight of my trip was driving the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt for a few miles through the streets, but the new all-electric car was just about the only good news for the environment presented at the auto show.

Fast train to D.C.

After I bought a 2015 Tesla Model S and started an EV blog called Shocking Car News, I rejoined the International Motor Press Association, and started attending monthly lunches, paid for by automakers; a media preview day at the auto show in New York, and ride-and-drive events.

Last week, as a member of IMPA, I was invited to attend media preview days at The Washington Auto Show, and rode a special Amtrak rail car to the nation's capital along with about 30 other auto writers.

The auto dealers who sponsor the show paid for everything -- transportation, a night in a hotel near the convention center, two parties, a lavish dinner with wine; and even two $25 gift cards, one of them for rides with Lyft.

But for an EV owner and green-car enthusiast like me, the only good news at the show was my being able to drive a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt, the first long-range all-electric car from GM.

The convention center floor was filled with far too many gas-guzzling pickup trucks and hulking SUVs as manufacturers rush new models of these high-profit vehicles to market to exploit low fuel prices. 

As if the streets and highways of northern New Jersey, where I live, aren't already clogged with far too many over-sized Nissan Armadas (14 mpg city) and Land Rover Range Rovers (17 mpg city).

Just looking at one of these monstrosities reminds me of what Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the unveiling of Model 3 last March:

Auto emissions are killing 53,000 people a year.

Dizzying schedule

During the media dinner at the award-winning Cedar Restaurant, a writer for a men's lifestyle blog, who sat on my right, ordered the Ribeye Steak with roasted purple potatoes and onions, red-wine reduction and seasonal vegetables.

He cut into the large steak, ate only a few pieces and wearily put down his fork and knife, noting he's gained 30 pounds going on media trips.

As I enjoyed plump sea scallops, seared red snapper and a few spoonfuls of passion-fruit sorbet, he described a dizzying schedule of six upcoming junkets, including a flight to Hawaii, to see new and slightly revised car models.

He recalled one trip to Italy, where he and other writers were given rides around a racetrack in a Ferrari supercar.

He said he was floored when he climbed into the car and the driver turned out to be none other than four-time Formula 1 World Drivers Champion Sebastian Vettel, who was paid $50 million plus bonuses last year.

See earlier coverage of the auto show:

Green awards go to gasoline cars

First drive in Chevrolet Bolt EV

The food served at the Global Automakers Reception included a terrific version of Shrimp & Grits, above.

Global Automakers, the lobbying group for foreign car makers in the nation's capital, laid out a terrific spread for members of the media and other guests, but the noise level drove me to eat and run to the next party, below.

Guests entering the Automotive Rhythms Cadillac Reception at an art gallery, where auto writers received a gift bag.

Courvoisier VSOP Cognac and other premium liquor flowed freely at the Cadillac reception.

A Cadillac sedan was parked in the art gallery, above and below.

The interior of the Cadillac presented a confusing array of switches, dials, steering-wheel and touch-screen controls, as if the American automaker is vying with German performance sedans to be crowned most difficult to operate.

Earlier in the day, a bus took me and other auto writers directly from Union Station to lunch and a Capitol Hill panel discussion on self-driving cars. One of the participant was Rep. Debbie Dingell, second from right, a Democrat from the 12th Congressional District of Michigan.

The next morning at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the so-called Newsmaker Breakfast for the media, sponsored by IMPA and WAPA, was missing eggs, yogurt and fruit. 

Yogurt and snack bars showed up later in the press room.

The architecture in the nation's capital is a fascinating mixture of classic and modern buildings, above and below.

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is the venue for the 2017 Washington Auto Show, which closes on Sunday.