Fiat SpA reported its first quarterly loss since the turnaround initiated by CEO Sergio Marchionne. The Italian automaker, which is just days away from taking a minority stake in Chrysler, said that auto sales plummeted due the global economic crisis. The company reported a drop of 410 million euros ($531 million) in the first quarter of 2009 – [...]
Mercedes-Benz is celebrating the 100th birthday of its three-pointed star emblem with a special edition of the Mercedes-Benz CL Coupe. Why pick the CL over the S-Class flagship sedan? Well Mercedes-Benz says that the “CL-Class has been acknowledged as a masterpiece of automobile engineering since its inception.” The exclusive anniversary edition features designo metallic graphite paint [...]
At the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, Ferrari unveiled the 599XX Concept – an extreme track version of the 599 GTB Fiorano. The 599XX Concept was modified to boost performance by increasing the maximum revs to 9,000 rpms, which helps get all the power from the 700-hp V12 engine under the hood. The engineers at Ferrari paid [...]
It’s not as if the proposed partnership between Fiat and Chrysler was already facing enough trouble, Fiat’s chairman of Opel’s works council Klaus Franz confirmed today that the Italian automaker has made a secret offer to purchase a majority stake in Opel. Franz said that Fiat has shown General Motors it’s interest in taking over [...]
Gemballa has taken Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo and turned into a Tornado 750 GTS – leaving it looking less like an SUV and more like a sports car. Along with very aggressive looking carbon-fiber body modifications, Gemballa focused on reducing the weight of the Tornado 750 GTS by 250 kg (550 lbs). The tuner also fitted [...]
While the fourth Mini model, the crossover, will be an exciting one for Mini brand lovers, but the BMW Group division has something more exciting in the works. Meet the Mini Speedster – a model that Mini has apparently been working on for years. It will rival the likes of the next-generation Mazda MX-5 and [...]
According to two anonymous people familiar with the matter, GM is planning on temporarily closing most of its U.S. plants for nine weeks due to low demand and increasing inventories of unsold vehicles. Exact dates of the closures are not known but insiders say that they will occur around the normal two-week shutdown in July when GM [...]
Britain is the latest European country to adopt a new incentive to entice consumers to scarp older vehicles in an effort to boost new vehicle sales. Meanwhile, on the stateside, the incentive is being stalled in Congress. Chancellor Alistair Darling announced that when a vehicle more than 10 years old is scrapped, the government will [...]
GM’s Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said today that the automaker does not expect to make a $1 billion debut payment by June 1 – the deadline that the Obama administration has imposed on the Detroit automaker to restructure or file for bankruptcy. Young said that GM will most likely miss the payment because the [...]
Bruno Vitali, head of the automotive sector of the Fim-Cisl Italian union, said that he met with UAW President Ron Gettlefinger today. A reported by Italian wire service ANSA quoted Vitali saying that the “Fiat-Chrysler deal is ready and could be signed as soon as this afternoon.” According to Automotive News, the publication said that Vitali [...]
