January 29 is a big date in the history of Daimler. On that fateful day back in 1886, Carl Benz filed his patent for the world’s first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine. Thus, January 29 a date worth celebrating, and Daimler management seems to agree.
The Detroit News reports that Daimler will pay out 125 million euros ($170 million in United States currency) in bonus money to the company’s 260,000 employees. Split evenly, our math tells us that workers stand to gain about €480 (about $659) each, provided that the employee has been with the company for at least one year. Other reports, however, have stated that each person’s bonus could be as high as €1,000, or about $1,360 based on current exchange rates.
Regardless of the exact dollar figure, Daimler workers will indeed be happy to receive an extra bonus this year. What’s more, Daimler has reportedly worked out a deal with its employee council to shell out 3,125 euros ($4,315 USD) in bonus money for a successful 2010, so this year’s bonus earnings could be even higher.
The MkVI (sixth-generation) has been around since 2009, and according to a report from Reuters, the next all-new Golf may be approaching sooner than we thought. According to a spokesperson for , the automaker will have the MkVII Golf ready for public consumption by either the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013.
Golf generational changes typically occur in much larger intervals, but this rapid introduction for the MkVII is a result of the Volkswagen Group’s new cost-savings model architecture called MQB. Different makes and models that share the same underpinnings will be built in a similar manner to save large percentages of money.
2011 Mini Cooper – Click above for high-res image gallery
Think about the craziest thing you would do to win a free car. Andreas Muller of Germany has you beat. Muller really – really – wanted to win the being given away by his local radio station, and in order to do so, he had the word “MINI” tattoed on his mini, err… penis.
Organizers of the stunt received a long list of crazy ideas, yet Muller’s stood out for the sheer ballsiness (pun intended). His screams of pain were broadcast over the air as the tattoo was applied to his now-sponsored manhood.
There’s plenty that we’d do to win a free Mini, but this one reaches far beyond the realm of consideration. Thanks for the tip, Steve!
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Photos copyright (C)2011 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL
2012 Fiat 500 – Click above for high-res image gallery
2011 marks the official return of here in the United States, with the adorable little hitting dealerships in the coming weeks. With Fiat’s MultiAir 1.4-liter engine under the hood, you’d be right to expect top-notch fuel economy numbers. And while the 500’s EPA ratings of 30 miles per gallon in the city and 38 mpg on the highway aren’t bad, it’s not exactly what we were hoping for.
For comparison, consider the fact that much larger C-segment entries like the , and are all capable of achieving 40 mpg or higher (granted, you have to spec certain transmissions and option packages on the latter two in order to achieve it). What’s more, the 30/38 mpg rating on the Fiat 500 is only with the five-speed manual transmission. Cars equipped with the six-speed self-shifter will only achieve 27/34 mpg. Ouch.
Still, with prices starting at $15,995 for the entry-level Pop model, we don’t think Fiat will have too much trouble moving 500s out of showrooms. Besides, the majority of people purchasing the Fiat 500 will be doing so because of its style rather than its frugality.
Chevrolet Caprice police car gets flogged – Click above to watch the video
With the Ford Crown Victoria on the outs, the competition to be the “cop car of the future” is intense. Ford has both the Taurus- and Explorer-based Police Interceptors, Dodge is prepping a copped-up and Chevrolet has the Holden Statesman-based . As you can imagine, all three companies are working hard to woo local police departments into ordering large fleets, and here we see the General Motors folks showing off its new Caprice to officers in Arizona.
The officers seem impressed with the 355-horsepower 6.0-liter V8 and tight suspension, and the added interior space appears to be winning over the boys and girls in blue brown, as well. Interestingly, the folks at GM’s Holden division ran this event instead of team Chevy. Makes sense, especially since the event enabled Holden engineers can get feedback from straight from the customer. to watch the video for yourself.
2011Chrysler 300 – Click above for high-res image gallery
“We basically blew the old car up. The number of parts we carried over from the last car you can just about hold in your hands,” said Mitch Clauw, Chief Engineer on the .
He was responding to repeated questions about the new sedan. Was it all-new, or just a heavy refresh like the ? You can’t blame journalists for being confused. Chrysler’s product onslaught is putting 16 all-new and significantly improved models on the road this year. But all-new is a very different thing from significantly improved.
Clauw supported his answer, “Every exterior panel is new. Every piece in the interior is new. With the underbody, just a few pieces of the front floor pan are carry over. The front and rear aluminum suspension pieces and geometry are different. So is the steering. The V6 is all new. While the internals of the Hemi are carryover, the intake, exhaust and accessories are not.” Okay, we believe him now, but you’d need really big hands to hold the carried-over five-speed automatic transmission.
We won’t necessarily argue with an automaker (especially ) unwrapping its new hotness from the inside out. Recently, we received a photo of the Murciélago replacement’s – something we were first discovered with the Lamborghini’s CEO, Stephan Winkelmann, at the . Now, our intrepid spy photographers have snapped Lamborghni’s new flagship, tentatively dubbed , wearing nothing but swirly camouflage over its newly redesigned body.
The new Lamborghini’s gorgeous bodywork takes many of its cues from the concept that debuted at the Paris Motor Show last year. Underneath the sexy exterior is the automaker’s new , and we should see the finished product in the flesh at this year’s in March. In the meantime, continue the striptease for yourself in our high-res gallery below.
2011 Dodge Charger – Click above for high-res image gallery
It’s no secret that the and are more attractive and are substantially more refined than the models they replace. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the new LX-platform twins are also incredibly safe, too – earning the company’s prestigious Top Safety Pick designation for the first time ever.
To note, the last-generation Charger and 300 earned the second-lowest rating available in side impact protection, even when equipped with side-curtain airbags. Yikes. On the other hand, the 2011 Charger withstood a force equal to 5.37 times the car’s weight during the roof strength test (for rollover protection). The current federal standard for this test is 1.5 times the car’s weight.
has now earned seven Top Safety Pick ratings for its latest crop of 2011 vehicles. To read the press release about the Charger and 300’s earnings, .
announced this morning that the company earned net income of $190 million in the fourth quarter of last year, which is actually down sharply from the $886 million earned in the same quarter a year ago. The reason for the dip, however, is a good one, as Ford took on $960 million in debt reduction charges during the quarter, which ultimately reduced the company’s debt by $1.9 billion.
It’s a different story for last year as a whole, as Ford is reporting a $6.6 billion, that’s with a ‘b’, profit for all of 2010 – Ford’s best fiscal performance in over a decade. This means the Blue Oval has $20.5 billion in gross cash on hand, while it’s debt has been reduced to $19.1 billion. Over the course of last year, Ford reduced its debt by a total of $14.5 billion or 43 percent, all of which was taken on before the financial crisis and used to weather the storm of uncertainty.
Ford’s full-time work force will also be happy to hear that the company’s financial performance last year means healthy profit sharing in the form of approximately $5,000 for each employee. Ford also announced that it’s raising its first-quarter production plan in North America by 15,000 units to 650,000, which means even more job security for those on the assembly room floor.
Ayrton Senna biopic trailer – Click above for to watch video
When Ayrton Senna died at 34, he left a gaping hole in a sport that’s cherished by tens of millions around the world. Seventeen years later, the documentary about his life entitled Senna has finally been shown to crowds at the Sundance Film Festival after a long gestation period, and the early reviews are glowing.
Screenwriter and Executive Producer Manish Pandey shared with the Sundance audience that he already showed the film to Ron Dennis, current chairman of McLaren Automotive and former boss of the successful McLaren Formula One racing team. Dennis is a tough man, known for being emotionless and extremely efficient with his time. However, after watching Senna, Dennis reportedly cried for 10 minutes and then spent the next two hour discussing the most un-tamed racing driver the world has ever known.
to watch a trailer for the film. With any luck, this documentary’s showing at Sundance has already bagged it a distributor for wider release in the U.S.
NASCAR is a simple sport to follow. The guy who finishes first wins and everyone else loses. The points competition that is used to determine the Sprint Cup champion is another matter altogether. We won’t even bother explaining how the old system worked (because we have no idea), but The Detroit Free Press reports that the new points system for 2011 will be a whole lot easier to comprehend.
The new points system goes like this: If you win the race you receive 43 points. If you finish in 43rd place you receive one point. Every driver in between receives points based on their order of finish. The system will still allow for bonuses, with the winner of the race receiving three points and any driver who leads an entire lap receives a point for each lap they’re out in front. A point will also be given to the driver who leads the most laps in any given race.
To keep race winners from walking away with massive point totals for one good race, NASCAR is capping points at 48 for any given race. Sounds easy enough to us, though it won’t necessarily make us any more likely to watch.
Adrian Hallmark, , has already said the British-bred, Indian-owned luxury brand . While some may rightly argue that point, the fact of the matter is that a -based ‘ute wearing the classic Leaping Cat seems like a foregone conclusion at this point.
And that means it’s time for some Rendered Speculation. Photo-manipulator extraordinaire Jon Sibal was commissioned by the boys from AutoGuide.com to combine the recently unveiled with the current fascia and styling details exemplified most recently by the sedan… and the result is, well, pretty much exactly what you’d expect.
As for us? We’re casting a great big ‘No’ in the general direction a Jaguar crossover, not that our vote counts for anything. As we see it, utility belongs in the Land Rover showroom and classic British luxury with a sporty bent operates from the corner…
The road of the future may be covered with solar-powered glass – Click above to watch video
Is a solar-powered glass road in our driving future? Scott Brusaw, an engineer from Idaho, believes so. With aid and interest from the federal government and General Electric, Brusaw has been refining his concept of the road of the future. Super-strong glass and solar cells embedded below the top layers could serve as both a nexus of travel and energy.
As the sun energizes the solar cells, energy can be transferred to power street signs, nearby homes and roadside businesses. In snowy climates, the collected energy could heat the roadway and melt snow and ice, eliminating the need for large fleets of plows.
Brusaw insists that glass developers can create a strong enough material that traction and durability would not be an issue. A few problems do stand in the way of course, as is typically the case with new ideas and technology. Most notable of these problems is the issue of cost. Brusaw estimates that it would costs about $4.4 million per mile to lay down this super-glass roadway. Of course, the road would eventually recoup that money and even generate a greater return, but the initial cost is a daunting one.
Brusaw hopes to begin proving the effectiveness of the technology and he is going to do so by starting smaller by teaming up with a nationwide chain to revamp existing parking lots. The lots could be heated and also over a recharging station for electric vehicles.
It’s a tough business, being an F1 driver. It’s one of the most coveted, competitive jobs in the world. Every year there’s a crop of new youngsters vying for race seats, and there’s only so many to go around. Nico Hulkenberg found that out the hard way when he to newcomer . Vitantonio Liuzzi is no stranger to the phenomenon either.
Tonio lost his seat at Red Bull to Christian Klein in 2006, bumped down to the b-squad at Scuderia Toro Rosso only to be replaced two years later by multiple Champ Car champ Sebastien Bourdais. After settling for a test role with Force India in 2008, he was promoted to the race seat for the subsequent two seasons, and has now been replaced by another young gun.
For the 2011 Formula One season, Force India has confirmed Paul di Resta as its race driver alongside returning pilot Adrian Sutil. Di Resta spent last season in F1 as a test driver himself for Force India, all the while locking up the DTM championship in Germany to add to his pair of Formula 3 series titles.
The announcement confirms two of the last race seats that were up for grabs for the upcoming season, leaving only one position open at the upstart Hispania Racing Team alongside Narain Karthikeyan (who in turn Bruno Senna). So did Liuzzi get relegated back to the test driver job for the upcoming season? Not even: that job went to the aforementioned Nico Hulkenberg. It’s a cutthroat business, Formula 1 racing. for the official announcement.
Ferrari Four testing at Bolocco – Click above to watch the
You can bet dollars to donuts that when brings a new car to market, it’s undergone a ridiculously thorough testing regimen. That applies whether it’s developing a coupe, a convertible or even a station wagonshooting brake, as we saw with the release of the new FF.
Especially the FF, as it turns out, as the new four-seater from Maranello represented a number of firsts for Ferrari. It has an all-new engine, incorporating the HELE system for the first time, coupled with a completely new kind of all-wheel drive system, and mounted into a body-style that was previously the exclusive purview of custom coachbuilders.
In short, the Ferrari Four is nothing like they’ve ever made before, and so – as you can see from the – thorough testing was required. Which is exactly what was carried out at a number of race tracks, test tracks and proving grounds. In this case, it’s the Centro Sperimentale Bolocco in Italy. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.
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: Ferrari Four put through the paces at Bolocco in the dark
It’s no secret that we love ourselves some wagons, and it goes without saying that we like our wagons with more than a little dose of performance baked inside. And so it’s with bated breath that we tell you the latest tantalizing tidbit swirling aorund the internet rumormill: may be considering an Sportswagon.
If the BMW-obsessive folks from Bimmerfile are to be believed, such a machine was considered at the outset of the E9X car’s development, and at least one test machine was built. So why wasn’t it offered from the beginning? Naturally, an M3 wagon would be a small-volume proposition, which means it would likely carry a fairly large sticker price and would be tough for the automaker to justify. Bimmerfile estimates a base price of around $65,000.
Then again, , and, more recently, have all put performance-minded wagons on the market, so who knows?
Following in the footsteps of its parent’s at , has made all-wheel drive something of a battle cry. What was introduced as an option on the Diablo VT has now proliferated across every model Lamborghini has made since its introduction. Well… until the Balboni edition came along.
To honor the career of the company’s long-serving test driver Valentino Balboni, Lamborghini rolled out a purist’s version of the that did away with the all-wheel drive system in favor of rear-drive only, dropped 10 horsepower and was available with a classic gated manual in the place of the e-gear sequential gearbox.
The – carrying the LP 550-2 designation to mark its metric horsepower output and traction configuration – was set to be the only rear-drive Gallardo available, until Lamborghini announced the just the other day. Although sold overseas with all-wheel drive, the American version was announced as the first rear-drive LP 550-2 to follow the Balboni.
According to reports coming in from Italy, Lamborghini is now preparing to offer the LP 550-2 as a sort of “entry-level” Gallardo, undercutting the price of other versions while offering the more direct drivetrain set-up. Apparently Lamborghini already sold a number of these LP 550-2s to Asian customers who missed out on the Balboni’s limited production run, and will now offer the bare-bones Gallardo as a regular member of the family.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new testing methodology has proven to be remarkably tougher than its old tests. In the past NHTSA gave out five-star ratings like they were “massage” pamphlets on the Vegas strip, but the new regulations have led to only 11 five-star Overall Vehicle Scores out of 50 vehicles. So with that in mind it’s big news for that the all-new has earned an overall five-star rating for all three crash tests, test category and overall. In fact, the Odyssey’s only four-star score came in rollover testing. Honda points to its new Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure as a reason the Odyssey fared so well in NHTSA testing. ACE evenly distributes crash energy throughout the front end of the vehicle, making front-end collisions less dangerous for passengers.
The Odyssey’s big win from NHTSA comes after the popular minivan managed the top score of “Good” from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Odyssey isn’t yet eligible for the Top Safety Pick designation since it hasn’t been tested for roof strength. to read over the Honda press release.
