Talk about an offbeat linkup on the links: Lee Iacocca and Snoop Dogg. In the latest Chrysler spot, the former chairman and the hip-hop superstar will pitch the auto company's employee-pricing program from a golf course. The spot is to debut Saturday. Snoop, 33, is a dedicated Chrysler fan. He called Chrysler Group President Dieter Zetsche last year asking for a Chrysler 300C sedan. Iacocca has filmed three other ads as part of the $75-million advertising campaign. The other two featured actor Jason Alexander and a child playing Iacocca's granddaughter. Iacocca is donating his fee to the Iacocca Foundation, which fights diabetes. Chrysler also agreed to become a sponsor of JoinLeeNow, a diabetes fund-raising effort. Snoop also has a charity, the Snoop Youth Football League, but DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman Suraya DaSante said she didn't know if he was donating his fee....FREEP

A San Francisco-area UAW local is preparing for a possible strike against the auto plant owned by Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. over proposed concessions. Management at the Toyota-dominated joint venture called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI, has proposed a 5-year contract with no wage increases and with union members and retirees paying 30% of their monthly medical and dental premiums, according to a UAW bargaining committee report obtained by the Free Press. These negotiations come at a time when GM is trying to extract concessions on health care costs from the UAW on a nationwide basis. NUMMI management says it is simply trying to keep up with the high cost of doing business in California. Such an agreement would effectively cut members' pay, as workers absorb more than $2,000 a year in annual health care costs. Under the previous 4-year contract, UAW members paid no monthly health insurance premiums, NUMMI spokeswoman Rhonda Rigenhagen said. The UAW report said that the bargaining committee planned a meeting with a "strike assistance representative" July 20. Union officials could not be reached to say whether the meeting took place. In Detroit, UAW spokesman Paul Krell, who is not familiar with the NUMMI talks, said it is standard practice to explain strike benefits and related obligations. Rigenhagen said she is not familiar with specific proposals, but added that some elements of the UAW report "are absolutely not accurate." The flyer, for example, referred to a Toyota announcement to invest $140 million in renovating the plant. Rigenhagen said that a Japanese news report misrepresented investments that the UAW already knew about, such as an expansion of the car-paint area. She also pointed out that the investment comes from NUMMI's profits, before paying dividends to the owning automakers, not from Toyota. The plant has 4,400 active UAW members and 800 salaried employees. Rigenhagen said the company has cut its salaried work force about 25% over the last four years, by streamlining some work processes and sending some work back to the companies that own it. On Wednesday, NUMMI announced that purchasing would be handled by the Japanese automaker's office in Erlanger, Ky., near Cincinnati. The NUMMI negotiations and any concessions granted -- particularly on health care for active and retired UAW members -- could be viewed as a precursor to GM's current talks with the UAW. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Brian Johnson said in a report this week that he is optimistic that GM will extract significant concessions despite -- actually because of -- the union's recent hiring of high-powered Wall Street advisers. He notes that some of the same advisers worked with the United Steelworkers of America in negotiations with Goodyear in 2003. In those talks, the union ended up taking less attractive wages and benefits, but won better job security. Officially, the NUMMI talks have nothing to do with GM or its ongoing discussions with the UAW about trying to save money on health care within the bounds of the 4-year contract ratified in 2003. "We're really not involved in it at all," GM spokesman Stefan Weinmann said of the NUMMI negotiations. UAW officials in California did not respond to the Free Press' calls this week. Local 2244 President George Nano's voice mail message says that he is in negotiations until Aug. 6. But a deal that preserves jobs -- with lower wages and benefits -- would presumably be just fine with NUMMI. "Our goal is to work with the union to secure both NUMMI's long-term viability and the job security of our team members," Rigenhagen said. She referred to a study by the Milken Institute that shows the cost of doing business in southern states -- or even in Michigan -- is significantly lower than in California. Nearby San Francisco saw the 6th-highest health care inflation in the country -- 15.9% last year -- according to Hewitt Associates, a global human-resources outsourcing firm. But the plant can't charge more for its Toyota Tacoma pickups, Corolla sedans or Pontiac Vibe wagons, so NUMMI needs "to find ways to close that gap," Rigenhagen said....FREEP

This weekend's third annual Cranbrook Concours d'Elegance car show in Bloomfield Hills opens with some slick driving Friday night. Only 200 patrons, at $100 each -- and tickets are scarce -- will squeeze in to watch what a bevy of Detroit-area auto writers -- including Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan -- have voted is the best car movie of all time. No, it's not "Bullitt" (1968), despite that movie's renowned cops-and-crooks chase scene with Steve McQueen; nor is it McQueen's other high-speed classic, "Le Mans" (1971). Instead, the votes went to "Grand Prix" (1966), three hours of Formula One racing careening around love triangles, starring James Garner and Yves Montand. That choice surely inspires debate, but organizers say the main stars of the weekend are the cars, to be shown Sunday on the lush grounds of the Cranbrook Educational Community. Among them is a 1907 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost AX-201, billed as the world's most valuable car with some estimates in the tens of millions of dollars. Precursor to the cars of royalty, the Silver Ghost was flown to Michigan from England by its owner, Bentley Motors Ltd. "We understand the entire car was silver plated," said Rex Greenslade, a former race-car driver in Britain, former General Motors Corp. engineer and now volunteer head of one of three charities benefiting from the Cranbrook Concours. The show has other remarkable cars from the usual Concours era -- before World War II -- including wood-bodied cars, early Ferraris and antique fire engines. But auto buffs will find newer novelties, too, such as a 1953 GM concept car dubbed the first Corvette; a historic 1955 Chevrolet NASCAR racer, and a batch of 1960s muscle cars. The show's main sponsor is General Motors. Since the founding of Cranbrook's show in 2003, GM has adopted it and backed away from the older Meadow Brook Concours in Rochester Hills, where Ford and DaimlerChrysler will be key sponsors next month. Much of GM's backing for the Cranbrook event apparently stems from strong support by General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who from the start has been Cranbrook's chief judge. Most cars displayed at a Concours vie for awards, based on a car's rarity and quality of restoration. The Cranbrook show and related events will raise money for the Birmingham-based Variety FAR Conservatory of Therapeutic and Performing Arts; the Michigan Humane Society, and the Women's Survival Center of Oakland County....FREEP

Chrysler Group completed an agreement for former chairman Lee Iacocca to appear in commercials for the carmaker's offer of an employee discount to buyers as it competes with similar deals from General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. The accord reached Thursday calls for all payments to go to Iacocca's diabetes foundation, which he formed after the 1983 death of his wife Mary due to complications of the disease. Actor Jason Alexander, who appeared in the television show "Seinfeld," will also appear in the commercials, Chrysler spokesman Mike Aberlich said. Chrysler is using Iacocca to draw attention to a discount that matches a 5-week-old program from General Motors. GM's program boosted the automaker's June U.S. sales by 47%. Chrysler first said Wednesday it was negotiating with the 80-year-old Iacocca, who was Chrysler chairman from 1979 to 1992. Iacocca appeared in television commercials in 1980 that helped Chrysler recover from near bankruptcy. The commercials begin Saturday in some regions and will air nationally from Sunday, Aberlich said. The GM program hurt Chrysler's June sales, Chrysler sales chief Gary Dilts has said. Sales of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles rose 5%, less than the 16% industry average for the month. On July 1, Dilts announced Chrysler would match the GM program from July 6 through Aug. 1....FREEP

Not content with a me-too effort to promote its offer of employee prices plus rebates, the Chrysler Group plans to roll out a new series of ads featuring former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lee Iacocca, once the nation's most revered businessman, one of the most famous executives in the history of the industry and a man who at one time seemed banished from the Auburn Hills automaker he helped save a quarter century ago. The new TV ads -- one features former "Seinfeld" costar Jason Alexander -- even bring back Iacocca's signature tag-line: "If you can find a better car, buy it." General Motors Corp. scored a hit last month with its Employee Discount for Everyone campaign, which Ford Motor Co. matched Tuesday with its Ford Family Plan. Chrysler aimed to roll out its version on Wednesday at a 3 p.m. news conference at the Detroit Athletic Club, including an airing of one of three Iacocca TV spots. But the event was delayed to 4 p.m., then 5 p.m. By then, the parties had still not concluded a deal, and Chrysler spokespeople simply announced their intent to air the Iacocca spots, which were shot over recent days in California. They could begin airing as early as today. Assuming a deal is consummated with the 80-year-old self-made legend, it will be welcomed enthusiastically by dealers who fondly remember the cigar-puffing, flag-waving master of moving the metal. "He was a great manager, he saved the company," said Alan Helfman, general manager of River Oaks Chrysler Jeep in Houston. "But as a salesman, he was the best."...FREEP

Ford Motor Co. and oil giant BP are trying to get their marketing message under your skin -- or at least under the skin of your car. Gas caps on almost all Ford brand vehicles sold in the United States, starting with the 2006 model year, will bear the message "Ford recommends BP," the companies said Friday. It has been standard since the days of Standard Oil (before it became Amoco and was acquired by BP in 1998) for automakers to recommend specific weights of oil and levels of octane in the gasoline, or petrol, as it had been peddled by British Petroleum. But Ford and BP say this is the first time an automaker has touted a particular energy company or brand of fuel in the United States. This could be because all gasoline is pretty much the same and car companies didn't want to confuse or mislead their customers. Or perhaps the automakers didn't want to risk turning off consumers who live in areas where other oil companies are popular. (In some cases, cars and trucks will be available without the BP caps, said spokeswoman Lydia Cisaruk.) But Ford is willing to take its chances with green partner BP, which plans to build hydrogen filling stations in Ann Arbor and two other cities for Ford's fuel-cell vehicle pilot project that is partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Spokespeople would not say whether BP is paying cash for the message placement or whether it is a form of payment for the hydrogen stations. A similar program started last year in Europe, where motor oil is often promoted with cap messages, apparently without disturbance. (BP says the success of that program sparked the U.S. effort, though it would provide no supporting data.) The caps are made by Stant Manufacturing, which made the ornamental radiator cap for Henry Ford's 1928 Model A. But with such a subtle marketing effort, one risk is that the message stays out of sight, out of mind. Ford dealer Ken Blanton in Ashland, Ky., near a Marathon Ashland Petroleum refinery, said he doubts the special caps would make much of a difference for either company....FREEP

Honda Motor Co. won first prize at the advertising industry's version of the Oscars for an animated commercial promoting its first diesel engine with the phrase "Can Hate Be Good?" The British advertisement, made by independent agency Wieden & Kennedy, beat those entered by companies such as Omnicom Group Inc. and WPP Group Plc to win the Grand Prix at the International Advertising Festival over the weekend. The commercial, called "Grrr," features rabbits, flowers and rainbows destroying dirty diesel engines to create something new. An analysis of Honda's campaign over the past three years showed ads boosted sales in Britain by $707 million American, Wieden & Kennedy's London planning director Stuart Smith said in an interview at Cannes, France, where the festival is being staged. "Over the campaign, there have been about 10 commercials. Sales are up 35%." Honda, which uses the slogan "The Power of Dreams" to promote its cars, is expanding overseas production after posting its fourth straight year of earnings in the year ended March 31. The ad hasn't been shown in the United States, where Honda gets more than two-thirds of its operating income....FREEP