General Motors isn’t happy that it’s five-percent operating margin is less than the predicted seven-percent at Ford or the 10 percent at Hyundai. To boost its number, Bloomberg reports that GM has hired consulting firm Hackett Group to identify areas in which it can save on white-collar costs, either through job cuts or efficiencies. Unlike in 2009, however, buyouts and tranches of layoffs aren’t on the table. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: DOT to push for new bus driver sleep regulations?
How safe are busses? It’s a good question, and one that the United States Department of Transportation is mulling over after revising work hour regulations for truckers and airline pilots earlier this month. Bus drivers are next on the list, as the USDOT is seeking public comment on allowable on-duty time, according to Bloomberg. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: BMW M5 quicker than 1 M Coupe quicker than M3
Autobild recently set out to settle the question of which M vehicle is the fastest in the BMW stable at the moment. Not surprisingly, the German enthusiast publication found the BMW M3 CRT to be the quickest around the Sachsenring, setting the magazine’s fastest time around the track with a 1:38.37 minute lap time. That’s impressive, but not nearly as astounding as the time drummed up by the new BMW M5. The portly sedan did the same deed in 1:38.90, or just three hundredths of a second slower than the special-edition M3. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: How Germany builds 2x as many cars as U.S. while paying 2x the salaries
First, let’s put some salient numbers on the table: 5.5 million versus 2.7 million and $67.14 per hour versus $33.77 per hour. Funk Flex
Auto Talk: Chevy Sonic Boom concept headed for production?
Chevrolet took a brace of Sonic concepts to the 2011 SEMA show, among them four variations on themes from the Z-Spec parts bin, the Super 4 Racer for the track, and a brazen red hatch called the Sonic Boom. Based entirely around a 4,000-watt Kicker sound system, the Sonic Boom contains a high-tech head unit controlling components designed with a jet theme, and a report on the Chevrolet Sonic forum indicates it’s headed for production. Funk Flex
