When Cerberus Capital Management owned , it put former CEO Bob Nardelli in charge of The Pentastar. When Nardelli left, shortly after Chrysler came out of bankruptcy, he stepped across the corporate drawbridge and into , heading its . Now, Bloomberg reports that he’s leaving that role in order to focus on his own investment and consulting firm, XLR-8, although he’ll remain a senior advisor to Cerberus CEO Stephen Feinberg. Nardelli will also give up the , a position he’s held for two months at the Cerberus-owned firearms maker.
This is Nardelli’s third departure in five years, having left The Home Depot in 2007 and Chrysler in 2009, but this time it’s without any obvious controversy after a quiet tenure. His own firm, XLR-8, will keep him in the private equity ranks, as his company’s mission is “to raise money to acquire underperforming companies, and to help them operate more profitably and improve their enterprise value.” He will maintain a connection to Cerberus through his own company, with the private equite house expected to transactions.
The , the project of a series of university students in Delft, Holland, is so gloriously absurd it’s surreal. It’s a 49-foot-long public bus that’s 5.6 feet high, runs on electricity, seats 23 passengers in individual captain’s chairs, has 16 gullwing doors, is intended to go 155 miles per hour and, while it doesn’t follow routes, will receive smartphone texts and pick you up at your location.
Most important: it’s been in development for five years and, yes, it’s real. The student engineers took it out after a snowfall in the Netherlands for some ABS testing and not only did they get it up to a claimed 85 kilometers per hour (about 53 mph), it looks pretty composed. to watch how it handles emergency maneuvers.
Burton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports, may have his eye on an ambitious new project. According to reports swirling around the web, Smith (whose company owns and operates tracks like Infineon Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, among others) aims to create an accurate reproduction of the famous Nürburgring just outside of Las Vegas. While speaking during an interview on Sirius XM Sports, the executive mentioned he had already been in talks with the Governor of Nevada, the Nevada Bureau of Land Management and “some Germans” about the project. It’s estimated Smith will require some 8,000 acres to bring the track to reality. It’s a good thing Las Vegas is surrounded by an expanse of largely vacant desert.
The rumored plans call for the track to be constructed around 10 miles from the strip. Unfortunately, the facility probably wouldn’t play host to sanctioned races like the real McCoy. Instead, the reproduction would simply be for private individuals to have some fun and manufacturers to test their wares. Throwing an element of brutal desert heat onto an already challenging road course could certainly make for a useful development tool. Keep your ears pinned for more information.
According to Automotive News, is looking to expand its dealer network in a big way. The luxury Italian automaker intends to double its dealers by the end of next year in an attempt to take advantage of a rash of new models heading for production. All told, Maserati intends to have around 500 showrooms open by the time the new vehicles roll in, and CEO Harald Wester says that the majority of the growth will happen this year. While the automaker sold just under 6,200 units last year, Wester wants to see that number swell to 40,000 in 2014 and 60,000 by 2015.
That’s a substantial jump, but with an all-new on the way as well as a production version of the not-yet-named Kubang, Wester believes the numbers are attainable. Maserati has also made it clear the company will offer an entry level sedan positioned below the big Quattroporte, which will likely do a smart job of bringing in even more customers.
You can now build and price a little of your own, all of which can be done in a configurator that appears to have been designed by and Pixar. The latest and littlest memeber of the family comes in four stock grades, conveniently numbered One, Two, Three and Four. To get the game started you’ll need $19,710 in configurator money for the Prius C One – that’s an $18,950 base price and $760 for destination charges.
Even the least of the four comes with options like Bluetooth and remote keyless entry, the only conspicuous base-model giveaway being the 15-inch steel wheels. Head for the Prius C Four, as we did, and you’ll start at $23,990 and get all the trimmings. The single most substantive option at this height is a $1,150 set of premium, bladed alloy wheels to replace the standard alloys. They aren’t even an option on the One. The other exterior and interior options are mainly cosmetic, like protective film and side moldings, or convenience, like an ashtray cup and a cargo tray. Checking every box will set you back $26,287.
It’s pretty straightforward – for instance, there are nine exterior colors, one is black, then there are two variations on white, red and blue. But head on over to and see what you can make because after all, you can never run out of configurator money.
is turning to prime-time TV to introduce the . The vehicle will be front and center in “Escape Routes,” a new NBC reality show that pits six teams of two against one another in a road-trip competition with layovers in Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami and San Francisco. Viewers, meanwhile, can interact with the show’s contestants and participate via EscapeRoutes.com. Ford says the online community will even have a chance to impact the final outcome of the game, though it’s unclear exactly how.
Currently, NBC and Ford have chosen five teams for the competition, and four more duos are currently duking it out for the last spot. According to the automaker, the team that takes home the gold in the final competition will win $100,000 and two Ford Escape models. “Escape Routes” is set to air for six episodes on Saturday nights at 8 pm EST, starting on March 31. for the full press release.
What’s better than supercars? Supercars getting together for charity. To raise money for the Red Cross after Typhoon Sendong hit the Philippines, a group of enthusiasts who dub themselves “Track Hos” rented an airstrip at Subic Bay, where they assembled a large collection of supercars and got down to the business making smoke and high-speed runs.
The action was captured by Sid Maderazo and cut into four minutes of exotic sights and sounds called The Mile. If we ever make it to the Philippines we know whose car club we’re asking to join. for the video.
The (Jazz in most other markets) has been a decent success here in the States. It’s economical, somewhat fun to drive and not painful to look at. But it just seems to lack something. Oh, right, sportiness and a bright red Si badge!
To earn the Si designation, the versatile econocar was given new dampers, a larger front anti-roll bar, and modifications to the electric power steering system. Then Honda went nuts and dropped in the 3.0 liter V6 from the Accord… No, not really. In fact, the Jazz Si retains the Eurospec 1.4-liter four-cylinder with 98 hp. Seems hardly worthy of an anti-roll bar of any size.
Helping auto enthusiasts distinguish the Jazz Si is a new body kit, 16-inch wheels with low profile “tyres” and various upgrade interior trim pieces.
If Honda intends to sell a Fit Si here, they better have some plans for a jazzed-up engine to go with those “stylish” side skirts and LED reading lights.
The buzz around the 2013 has centered around two questions: what will it look like and what will its retractable roof look like. Even though its expected unveiling at the is a few weeks away, we still have little info on its looks, although the Detroit concept clearly telegraphed what we should expect. We have got our first impression of how the sliding roof looks in action, though.
It’s been compared to the sliding roof on the Targa (and we hear that Lincoln is using the same supplier, Webasto), but whereas the Porsche’s roof panel slides underneath the rear glass, the MKZ has external tracks along the roofline that enable its glass toupee to rise and slide aft.
Our spy photogs say that although this roof is only retracted to a halfway position (probably due to the opaque camo that would eliminate all rear vision on the prototype), the real deal will slide all the way back.
Another rumor suggests there may be a system to create engine sounds through the car’s speakers for a livelier cabin atmosphere.
Dodge has officially unveiled the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Charger, and as you can see in the image above, tweeted by at the ceremony, it follows in the footsteps of the , with styling and detailing that’s more true to the street car than the generic silhouettes being run by all teams this season.
that at the ceremony, SRT CEO Ralph Gilles was upbeat about the new race car’s prospects for next season, saying that there’s already a lot of interest from different Cup outfits, and that he expects to announce which team or teams will be running the car in 2013 by mid-summer.
The new car’s unveiling puts a more upbeat spin on an otherwise down week for Doge and SRT’s motorsports arm, which absorbed a punch to the gut when after this season to campaign the new NASCAR Ford Fusion in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
After all the pre-race ceremonies concluded, the new racer hit the track to for today’s Kobalt 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Halfway down a press release announcing that Shigeki Terashi was named president and COO of Motor North America, Inc. (TMA) was this: Jim Lentz is named CEO of Toyota Motor Sales, effective April 1. Lentz is the first American to take that position in the company.
TMA is the holding company under which all of Toyota’s North American operations are grouped. Terashi will fulfill two roles when his new appointment is official on April 1, the new one and his current one as president of Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing, NA.
Lentz will rise from his current position as COO. He became one of the prominent faces of Toyota during the company’s recent recall issues, publicly making the interview rounds and testifying before Congress to address the situation.
for Toyota’s press release on the management shuffle.
For the first time in the life of the , the company is offering a two-tone color scheme as a “bespoke” factory option. This comes as a surprise to us because we didn’t know there was something you couldn’t get on a Ghost.
The company’s stand at the Show was used to display the first two examples: one with Infinity Black topped by Cassiopeia Silver and another in Baynunah Brown capped by Arizona Sun, with a gold-plated hood ornament and a gold double coach-line (read: pinstripes). The Infinity Black model carries the contrast to the interior, with black leather offset by a seashell headliner and steel pinstripes set into black ash veneer.
If this is why you’ve been holding back on a Ghost purchase, first admire the handiwork in the photo gallery, and then pick up your phone: your local dealer is waiting on line two.
That isn’t double vision you’re experiencing, it’s the Gigahorse. Said to be the “hero car” in Mad Max: Fury Road, the ride, , is a double-bodied ‘59 Cadillac with two supercharged V8s connected by a planetary gear, sitting on a monster-truck chassis and sporting a four-bladed cow catcher. With Charlize Theron as Furiosa alongside Tom Hardy as Mad Max, it’s unknown which hero the Gigahorse might serve but it’s certainly bat**** crazy enough for The Mad One.
Production is setting up in Namibia (because the Aussie outback has gotten too green, according the director), and peeks at have shown at least one other car as big as a semi, a couple of buggies and, of course, enough tractor-trailers to remake Convoy. A stuntman said the movie would have “.”
Speaking of Theron, last November George Miller said he’d (Mad Maxes 4 and 5, essentially) back-to-back and that production could take 2.5 years, so it might be some time before we see the Gigahorse in the local multiplex.
In a lineup packed with new and/or freshly styled vehicles, Hyundai’s two larger crossovers, the and its all-but-forgotten three-row counterpart, the , still wear the automaker’s last-generation styling language. That will be addressed (in part, at least) at next month’s New York Auto Show when Hyundai unveils the 2013 Santa Fe.
To get people talking, Hyundai published of its new CUV this evening via its Twitter feed. Predictably, the 2013 Santa Fe gets sharper lines that are much more in keeping with the rest of the model lineup, and the new face .
Hyundai calls the crossover’s fresh styling language “Storm Edge,” saying it’s an evolution of the “Fluidic Sculpture” theme it’s been using the last few years.
Based on the the , which shows a very small window aft of the rear doors, it appears that the Santa Fe will, for the time being, continue to be a two-row crossover (its optional third row was canned after the 2009 model year) that’s designed to battle the likes of the , , and .
Whether Hyundai will also use the occasion to formally confirm the to replace the Veracruz remains to be seen. It’s clear the automaker knows that it’s .
As shows off the new , it’s proving that history can be fun. In a new video, the automaker traces the origins of its 2012 Le Mans entrant back to the original Quattro that abused the space-time continuum in Group B rallying.
This isn’t exactly the true return of Quattro, however, since four-wheel drive isn’t allowed in LMP1. However, according to Le Mans rules you can have “500kJ (approximately 70bhp) to the wheels between two braking ‘events at speeds above 120km/h (75mph).”
That’s where the R18 e-tron’s regenerative braking steps up, its flywheel unleashing stored energy at the front axle. Check it out in the video .
celebrates return of Quattro to motorsports with another video
We’re excited about the , and why not? It’s the first legitimate compact sedan offered by since the Neon.
We’re thinking Chyrsler CEO Sergio Marchionne is excited too, but perhaps not psyched enough to launch the Dart on April 1. USA Today reports that the outspoken chief executive mentioned that he wasn’t too keen on launching on April Fools’ Day, adding that he may want to change the launch date “to avoid being jinxed.”
We not sure if Sergio was joking, but March 31 isn’t jinxed as far as we can tell.
has assembled its talent roster for this year’s Pro/Celebrity Race. Names from all corners of entertainment will go head to head against pro drivers in identically-prepared racers during a 10-lap battle over a 1.97-mile course on the streets of Long Beach, California. 2012 marks the 36th running of the event, which will feature comedian and podcast personality , Top Gear USA host and friend of Autoblog Rutledge Wood, and former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. Pros like Frederic Aasbo and Bryan Clauson will also go fender to fender with the amateurs on track.
While we love to watch celebrities bash into each other, the real point of the event is to raise money for charity. Toyota donates $5,000 per entry to the winner’s charity of choice, and kids from various children’s hospitals all around the country get a chance to hang out with their favorite celebrities before the race kicks off on April 13. Check out the press release .
Along with its Jaguar’s done a number on its logo: both the Leaper and the typeface have been reworked. The icon gets a metallic fill and shadow, the type gets wider and shorter, while its metallic look mimics the jewelry on vehicles like the .
said that “[the] dramatic alteration, including significant changes to the brand symbols of the ‘leaper’ and ‘growler,’ is the most extensive change Jaguar has made to its visual identification in 40 years.”
But to us, one of the most interesting things about the the new logo is that it isn’t exactly new: Jaguar had the practically the applied in 2002. to compare the differences and have a look at some of the print ad examples in the high-res gallery.
Odyne Systems is known for making big honking hybrid vehicles, things like the we first saw in 2008. At the 2012 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis this week, is showcasing the biggest plug-in hybrid vehicle with a J1772 connector that we know of: a PHEV F-750. Yes, that’s a big one.
Odyne adds its plug-in architecture to work vehicles after the fact. The liquid-cooled 346V lithium-ion battery from Johnson Controls that’s used in the system isn’t that outrageous – only 14.2 kWh – but a converted truck can get two packs installed for extra energy at the work site. Aside from 120- or 240-volt exportable AC power, the plug-in hybrid powertrain provides launch assist and recaptures energy through regenerative braking. The battery packs can also power the truck’s electronics to reduce idling.
With 28 kWh worth of batteries and a Level 2 charger, Odyne says a full charge takes just five hours. The hybrid system adds about 1,600 pounds, which we think is for a two-pack set-up. Johnson Controls has invested in Odyne, and the company works with Remy Motors on its powertrains.
Ford says the PHEV F-750 can save up to 1,750 gallons of fuel a year compared to a non-plug-in version, which adds up quickly when you’ve got $4 gallons of diesel. Odyne’s Louise Hermsen told AutoblogGreen that the cost for the PHEV conversion can be up to $100,000 depending on options, and it is available now. In fact, she said 15 plug-in hybrid F-750s have been delivered already because, even though $100,000 is not cheap, “the whole equation hinges on what kind of fuel use reduction they’re going to achieve. Making the decision to go with a hybrid takes a lot of data collection.”
Odyne has been selling hybrid truck conversion kits for years, but most of them on the road are the older, lead-acid models. The company introduced the advanced li-ion system last June and has been working with customers to make them operate best for each individual situation. Odyne can modify the truck’s software remotely as data comes in on how the trucks are being used, too (for example, how much time they spend at the job vs. on the road). Even with a vehicle this big, you want to keep track of every little thing.
The blokes at “Top Gear” love their Facebook friends so much, that when they got 10 million fans, Jeremy Clarkson . Well, as personal as Clarkson can get anyway. And the Stig showed his appreciation by exploding a caravan (video ).
But the batty Brits are now challenged with celebrating their next Facebook milestone of achieving 15 million fans. They’re hoping those very fans can help them with a stunt that tops caravan carnage. The “Top Gear” team is willing to do anything, no matter how crazy, to say thanks.
Suggestions so far include drifting 15 $1 million cars in sync, a trip from Scotland to London on lawnmowers, fabricate a V8-powered Robin, and a road trip across Germany in VW Beetles.
The AB team brainstormed a bit and came up with the idea of rewarding a fan (hopefully one of us) with a brand new ! But for only 24 hours. After which the “lucky” guy (or gal, of course) would be obligated to obliterate the supercar in a depressing display of overwhelming pyrotechnics.
So what would you do to mark the occasion of gaining 15 million Facebook fans? Share them with “Top Gear” and with us in the comments.
Along with its 
