Automotive News

Filed under: GM

Prior to General Motors buying a controlling interest in South Korea’s Daewoo Motors in 2002, negotiations dragged on forever as GM apparently wanted to wait until the last possible moment to get the best price while still having something worth rescuing. Since then, GM Daewoo has made a pretty decent recovery, with sales on the rise in many markets around the world, including the US.

GM Daewoo announced today that it will invest another $3.2 billion over the next few years in updated products and possibly expanding production capacity. Daewoo sales are projected to increase by about 20 percent this year, thanks to increased sales in Europe and North America with models like the Chevy Aveo and its many global variants. Outside of South Korea, most Daewoos are branded as Chevrolets, as well as Pontiacs, Suzukis and Holdens.

[Source: Automotive News]

 

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Though Hyundai has surprised many over the last few years with its aggressive pricing, warranty, and competitive features, it has not yet ventured into the sacrosanct territory that puts everyone on notice that you’ve “arrived” as an automaker and a brand. That’s right, a full-fledged luxury car. Granted, Hyundai has had the home-market Equus sedan, and offers the competitively-equipped and priced Azera sedan, but neither have stared Lexus, BMW, or Infiniti in the face and said, “It’s on!”

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Filed under: Car Buying, Ford

Ford CEO Alan Mulally continues to lay on the charm, this time popping up at Village Ford in Dearborn, Michigan last Monday to do a trial run on the sales floor of a dealership. We reported in early February that Mulally was planning on spending one or two days at a dealership selling cars, and this appears to be an experiment to make sure his sales skills don’t send customers running to the nearest Toyota dealership. It turns out, however, that Mulally is a natural salesman, as he sold three cars in just 40 minutes on the floor, with a fourth sale that’s still pending. In one case, he talked Nancy Miner from Liverpool, NY into a Fusion that she was cross-shopping with a Camry. If you remember, Mulally’s own garage was filled with all manner of Toyota and Lexus cars before he came to Ford, so the CEO was well situated to present the case for his own Fusion to Ms. Miner. She ended up buying the Fusion and driving it back to New York.

It’s just cool a CEO would get down in the trenches and actually engage consumers on a showroom floor. There’s no wall of PR behind which he can hide when the tough questions start flying, and apparently he handled whatever came his way with aplomb. Credit goes to Mulally for doing this first, as well. If Rick Wagoner, Tom LaSorda or Jim Press show up to move some product at their respective dealerships, it will smack of a PR stunt and likely backfire. Unfortunately, charm can only take Mulally and his company so far on its path to recovery, so we hope he doesn’t get enamored with a life of retail and gets back to doing CEO-type things quickly.

[Source: Automotive News]

 

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Filed under: Car Buying, Sports/GTs, Supercars, Aston Martin, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Driving

The East Coast premium rental car company, Gotham Dream Cars, has just launched its own “Exotic Car Club” program called DreamShare. The program is offered through the firm’s NY and Miami locations, and offers drivers a chance to sample supercars and exotics without the hassles of ownership like depreciation, storage concerns, maintenance costs and the like. And really, for $300-$450 a day, who wouldn’t love to have a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin or Bentley available for a weekend trip to the Vineyard? Feeling a bit more patriotic? You can choose the Ford GT or Corvette Z06 then.

Like other programs of its type, members pay a membership fee and get a certain number of points they can use to rent vehicles in the rotation. They’ll even deliver the car to you. DreamShare has three tiers of service: Platinum, Titanium and Elite. Each gives you more days of rentals (20, 45, 90 days) for a higher price tag ($9,000, $18,000, $27,000). It’s actually quite reasonable when you break it down, especially for cars of this level. The current active fleet consists of a pair of Aston Martin Vanquishes, a brace of Murcielagos, a couple of Gallardo Spyders, a 360 Spider duo, an F430, Bentley GTC, Ford GT, and Chevy Corvette Z06, among others. The cars generally move to NY in Summer and Florida in Winter, but they promise cars in each city year-round. More details about the plans and Gotham’s regular rental program are available by following the read link. Sadly we didn’t see a gift registry anywhere on the site.

[Source: Gotham Dream Cars]

 

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Filed under: Gadgets, Safety, Tech

When most people shop for a car, they may be aware of the brand of tires or the kind of stereo, but few people think about who manufactured the seats. One exception to that is Recaro. The German company has long made seats for carmakers like Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, as well as for the aftermarket. In the late ’70s, Recaros became very popular with the introduction of their multi-articulated seats.

More recently, Recaro has applied some of its expertise to the world of child safety seats. They offer a line of products ranging from rear-facing infant seats to boosters for older children. Styled in the fashion of their full-sized driver seats with adjustable bolsters and removable liners, the child seats’ can be tweaked to keep your kids safe and secure as they grow. They aren’t cheap, but they are Recaros.

[Source: Recaro via The Driving Woman]

 

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Sports/GTs, Etc., Ford

High-res gallery of ten Drew Phillips pics available by clicking image above

What would you drive if you were Steve Saleen’s daughter? A Mustang, right? Probably a customized one at that. Well, Steve Saleen’s daughter, Molly, does indeed drive a custom Mustang. One with a special paint job custom-blended for her and named in her honor, too. This isn’t unprecedented actually. Steve’s wife, Liz, also has a paint color named after her, Lizstick red, that is available as an optional Saleen factory paint color. Daughter Molly is actually more than just Steve and Liz’s daughter. She is also an active part of the company, running the Saleen retail store in Irvine, CA.

But the car is what we’re focused on here. The Saleen Molly Pop Mustang features the previously mentioned one-off Molly Pop paint job that in itself would make this Mustang stand out, but there’s so much more. Her S281 Mustang also features the Saleen supercharger with the 475-hp upgrade (new air box cover with 98mm MAF sensor, 39lb fuel injectors, smaller pulley, and modified Saleen programming). Although it doesn’t have the full Extreme 550 hp rating, her car does have the Extreme package that includes the lighter 20″ forged 5-spoke rims, carbon fiber front splitter and rear diffuser, and shorter gearing. The Molly Pop also features the watts-link suspension in the rear and the scenic roof option. As is corporate custom, this first car’s fender number reads “01″ - and this will probably be the only one built. Of course, Saleen is quick to note that they have always painted customer cars in whatever color the customer requests.

[Source: Mustang Life Online]

 

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Filed under: Auction Action, MINI

The world’s most expensive original Mini, which has only 4,825 miles on the odometer, has been sold at auction for an amazing $197,000. The original Mini had great fuel economy and classy styling, but this one of a kind Mini is a bit of a racing legend. In 1965 this exact Mini won Britain’s RAC rally. A year later, the little Mini that could topped all comers in the Scottish Rally.

After 30 years of being left alone, the vehicle was extensively restored, with great care taken to nail every original detail. The Mini, which has been on the show circuit for the past 10 years, can still sing a beautiful song at 8,000 RPM. We’ve seen some crazy things sold for a lot more than $197,000, so a racing legend Mini with 4,825 miles of rally heritage doesn’t seem like such a nutty thing.

[Source: The Car Connection]

 

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Filed under: Euro, Plants/Manufacturing, Ford

The first Mondeo has made its way down the production line at Ford’s production line in Genk, Belgium. The Genk plant has undergone a big upgrade and is one of the most flexible in Ford’s production arsenal. The plant was already building S-Max and Galaxy vehicles, and now with the Mondeo added to the mix, there are five different body styles being turned out at a maximum rate of 1,200 cars per day. Keeping it interesting for the workers, the different body styles can come down the line in any order, as well. It looks like Ford’s investment of over 700 million Euro will be paying off as they ramp up full production on their lauded European offerings. While 98 percent of the Genk plant’s output will be for export, the United States is not one of the 60 countries these cars are headed. A shame, as we really dig the Euro Fords.

Press release after the jump

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading First Ford Mondeo rolls off the line

 

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Filed under: Sports/GTs, Auction Action, Ford

Barrett-Jackson and Mustangs seem to go hand-in-hand, especially special edition Mustangs. We just told you about the one-off Roush BlackJack Mustang convertible that will be going across the block, and there was the pair of bitchin’ OCC Eleanor GT500 E Mustangs that set Westworld rockin’ in January, only to be topped by the pair of black Bosses a little while later. And who can forget the other Shelby specials that have brought outrageous amounts for the right to get car number one? The first GT500 went for $600,000 last year. The first Shelby GT matched it. In all fairness, those bids were more about giving to Carroll’s charity than getting the car itself, as good as those ‘Stangs might be.

And now we get word that Ford is going to do it again. It plans to debut a new Mustang special edition at the upcoming Barrett-Jackson Auction in Palm Beach this weekend. The only details we have right now are that the car will be limited to just 500 copies and that the rights to car number one will likely bring a huge number for the Carroll Shelby Children’s Foundation. We’re guessing it will be a Shelby GT convertible, but wouldn’t be surprised to see a Boss 302, Mach 1, Bullitt or even a GT350 roll across the stage on Saturday. Any predictions?

[Source: Mustang Evolution]

 

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Filed under: Safety, Videos, Supercars, Ferrari

Looks like Eddie Griffin hasn’t been coached well enough by the PR people for his film Redline. Griffin missed an obvious opportunity to use the movie’s tagline, “Fear Nothing. Risk Everything” to explain why he crashed a Ferrari Enzo during a charity event to promote the movie. Instead, he answers inquiries as to what happened with, “The brother can’t drive.” Nice. See the interview in its entirety here.

We brought you info about the crash last night, but now we have a link to video interview of Eddie talking about the incident. Click the read link or the image above and then find the VIDEO link in the box at the lower right of the page. For review, check out the original crash video after the jump. There are also photos of the car before the incident in our Redline gallery from the L.A. Auto Show if you want to remember the Enzo in better days. Be forewarned, however, that the Porsche Carrera GT crashed ON PURPOSE for the movie is featured in that gallery, as well.

Thanks for the tip, D Love!

[Source: Fox LA]

Continue reading VIDEO: Eddie Griffin interviewed after Enzo-icide

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

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