An Ohio judge ordered Ford to pay $2 billion to thousands of its dealerships to settle a 2002 lawsuit. Dealers brought the class-action lawsuit after Ford overcharged them for over an 11-year period.
The cash reward breaks down like this: $781 million in damages and $1.2 billion in interest will be divided up among nearly 3,000 dealerships after being overcharged on nearly 475,000 trucks.
According to Ford, the lawsuit covered 600 Series and higher trucks built between 1987 and 1997. Dealers accused Ford of failing to let them know about price concessions given to some dealers. Ford says it will appeal the decision, so the $2B likely isn’t going anywhere just yet.
Thought your Panamera Turbo was pretty cool, huh? Wait ’til you get a load of the Turbo S… With its 543 horsepower and 3.6-second 0-60, you’re no longer the hottest sedan on the road.
The rear-wheel drive sportscar that may very well spawn Toyota, Scion and Subaru versions has popped up on the Nürburgring.
I see my BMW and I want it to be matte.
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Mazda BT-50 Freestyle – Click above for high-res image gallery
Another day, another heaping scoop of salt in our open mid-sized pickup wound. has released a few shots of the upcoming BT-50 Freestyle pickup. Essentially an extended-cab version of the standard BT-50, the Freestyle offers a slightly smaller cabin and a marginally larger bed than its brethren. Mazda says that the cargo box has grown in every direction, allowing for a total capacity of 51.3 cubic feet.
The cab features two reverse-hinge half-doors in addition to the two standard front doors. The pilarless design makes for easy ingress and egress to the rear seats.
Mazda’s corporate design language is still slathered all over the exterior of the BT-50, but the cab proportions help balance out the sweeping lines, at least in our book. Like its Ford Ranger chassis mate, the BT-50 was designed in Australia, which is expected to be the truck’s largest market. While the pickup will likely show its smiling face in numerous other countries, it isn’t destined for North America any time soon. Readers outside of the U.S. can expect to see the truck touch down on dealer lots later this year.
According to the rumors kicking around the web, the next-generation is going to look quite a bit different from the current model. Auto Express is reporting that when the 50th anniversary version of the pony touches down in 2014, it will arrive in unfamiliar markets, including the UK. That means that the muscle car will boast a right-hand drive interpretation for the first time in its history. The RHD Mustangs will supposedly be built right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. and be shipped around the world, including to Australia and Japan.
As interesting as that little tidbit is, AE reiterates that the model will bow with an EcoBoost four-cylinder under the hood. , but the interesting part here is that the engine will be a 2.5-liter four-pot instead of the 2.3-liter variant pointed to by other sources.
If that’s not enough to bulge your eyeballs, the report also says that the next-gen Mustang will be smaller and rock an independent rear suspension for the first time since the 1999-2003 Cobras prowled the streets. Stranger things have happened. Head over to Auto Express for a full look at the site’s rendering and a heaping scoop of speculation.
Good cars make you feel like a hero. Great cars compliment and connect with every fiber of your being. The Evora S falls into the latter camp. And it’s even better on the open road.
Turns out Americans won’t be getting another crack at a Euro-style mini minivan. Ford has officially canceled plans for its seven-passenger C-Max for the United States.
In 2008, a Corvette ZR1 ran around the ‘Ring in 7:26.4. The 2012 car blew that time away with a 7:19.63 blast.
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Drivers sometimes switch between motor racing disciplines, but their cars themselves seldom do. Take, for example, Dan Gurney. The all-American racing driver won races in F1, Indy, NASCAR and Le Mans, to name just a few. Of course, he did it all in completely different types of machinery, but the latest initiative to bear his name looks set to make history in another way.
You may recall the radical DeltaWing concept from last year, when it was proposed as a potential new chassis for the IndyCar Series. The sleek aerodynamic shape – which – looks something like a cross between a Le Mans Prototype and a Land Speed Record car, embracing lightweight construction and low drag to achieve a new level of efficient performance.
In the end, officials opted to go with a more conventional and adaptable proposal from Dallara – the same Italian chassis constructor that builds the current cars, along with various racers for numerous other series. But the brain trust behind the DeltaWing project haven’t given up. Far from it – they’re simply taking their design to the 24 Hours of Le Mans instead.
The door was opened last year when the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO – the body that sanctions Le Mans) created a new category for experimental prototypes of another sort. The ACO wanted to foster innovation, so they created a 56th slot on the grid for a single entry that didn’t comply to any of the existing LMP or GT regulations. That’s the spot from which the DeltaWing hopes to start the race in 2012, and its designers have recruited a top team of talent to make it happen.
In addition to its own people, Dan Gurney’s All American Racers has been brought on board, along with Panoz and Highcroft Racing, under the Project 56 banner. Discussions are reportedly underway to use or power – fortunately the team has a year to get it all together. And when it does, it promises to be a sight to behold. Follow for the full press release and to watch the video of the project underway.
General Motors has announced that it plans to invest $49 million in the company’s Bedford, Indiana manufacturing facility. The cash will go towards purchasing the tooling and equipment necessary to build a new eight-speed automatic transmission as well as a range of small-displacement engines. GM isn’t saying exactly where we can expect to see the new eight-speed auto, but we do know that the engine program will turn out four-cylinder mills from 1.0 to 1.5 liters. You can probably bet that forced induction will be part of that party, too.
The move is part of a greater $2 billion investment program currently underway, with funds headed to a number of plants, including Bowling Green, Arlington, Toledo, Bay City, Flint, Lansing and Warren.
GM says that the Bedford funds will create or retain a total of 91 jobs at the plant, which currently has 405 salaried workers. for the full press release.
2012 Ford C-Max – Click above for high-res image gallery
Turns out Americans won’t be getting another crack at a Euro-style mini minivan. has officially canceled for its for the United States. Fans of small-in-stature MPVs may still be able to find what they are looking for in the , but definitely not in Ford dealerships.
The retraction of the seven-seater means the U.S. market will be left with the . These vehicles eschew the minivan-spec sliding side doors in favor of four regularly hinged portals and a rear hatchback. The Hybrid is expected to boast better than 41 miles per gallon on the highway, while the plug-in Energi promises to boast 500 miles of driving range from its battery and gasoline engine combined, along with better fuel efficiency than the . We look forward to verifying those claims.
Ford is keen to point out that the C-Max Hybrid and C-Max Energi (yep, spelled with an ‘i’) models will be built alongside its and at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich. Why is that important? Assuming all goes to plan, Wayne will be the first plant in the world to produce gasoline-powered vehicles, full-electric vehicles, hybrid and plug-in hybrids under the same roof.
If you’d like, you’re free to peruse the official press release , which is not surprisingly focused much more on the two promised green-mobile five-seaters than on the death of the seven-seater. Now, if you’ll excuse us for a moment, we’re going to don our solid-black Sunday Bests and mourn the passing of Ford’s planned seven-seater. Poor thing never even had a chance…
We’ve got some sour news for you if you’ve got a , , Nissan 350Z or in your driveway. According to a new study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, owners of those particular vehicles are more likely to die in an auto accident than those who own other vehicles. That’s thanks in part to the fact that those models aren’t equipped with traction control. Automotive News reports that the IIHS study found that of the 26 lowest-rated vehicles in the study, none had the technology.
In the past, SUV drivers were the ones most likely to die due to the threat of rollovers, but new safety systems have changed that trend. The IIHS report now says that SUV drivers are among those who are most likely to survive an accident.
So, which vehicles came out on top? The , , , , and Land Rover Range Rover Sport and LR3 were among the winners of the survey. That settles it, Aveo owners; time to trade it in for Range Rover.
Ford Shelby GT500 Spy Shots – Click above for high-res image gallery
Our army of spy photographers managed to snap a few photos of a strutting a new intercooler. If you take a close look, you can see piping through the upper and lower grille as well as the vehicle’s mocked-up fog light openings. Chances are the new equipment is merely part of a scheme to make the vehicle’s supercharger a little more efficient, though it’s entirely possible that the big bad snake is rocking something exciting under its hood. Something like a twin turbocharged V8.
Though we’ve been more than a little skeptical about notions of a forced-induction V6 or four-cylinder Ford Mustang model, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the GT500 grow a turbo or two. There’s no telling exactly what the engineers at Dearborn could come up with if they scrapped the old supercharger in place of a pair of turbos. Modern variable vane units have all but eliminated lag, and ditching the blower would simultaneously do away with heaps of parasitic drag on the engine. We’ll keep our ears to the ground for more on this one.
Kristian van Hornsleth “Kill Me Fast” Ducati collection – Click above for high-res image gallery
Ask anyone with a set of functional optic nerves and they’ll tell you that Ducati is responsible for crafting some of the most gorgeous two-wheeled machines on the planet. It’s something that the bike manufacturer just can’t seem to help. Danish artist Kristian van Hornsleth has responded to the lines of the company’s 1098 and 1198 bruisers by slathering 10 of the machines in a special paint scheme. Hornsleth calls the series “Kill Me Fast,” which seems darkly appropriate for bikes that can rip off the 0-60 mph dash in less than three seconds.
Hornsleth said he was drawn to the Ducs when he asked a salesman if it were dangerous to ride such a fast bike. The guy responded that you don’t feel anything when you hit a wall going 320 kph. That’s 198.8 mph for those of us with an aversion to the metric system. We can’t say with any authority whether or not that’s true, but chances are your friends and family will feel the loss long after the EMTs finish plucking your molars from the mortar.
If you like what Hornsleth has done with the bikes and can’t afford a real one yourself, you can snap up a poster over on the .
, Japan’s second-largest automaker, apparently believes it has a more talented executive staff than or . According to company CEO Carlos Ghosn, Nissan delivers its shareholders “the best performance possible with the best talent.”
Talent like that deserves to be rewarded, and Nissan is happy to put its money where its mouth is. According to Bloomberg, Nissan, the second-largest automaker in Japan, pays its executive staff at least double that of Japanese rivals Toyota and Honda.
Here are the numbers: Toyota paid an average of 41 million yen ($513,279) per executive, plus bonuses of 13 million each. Honda paid an average of 31 million yen ($388,089) per executive, plus bonuses of 15 million yen each. Nissan paid an average of 186.4 million yen ($2.3 million) per executive, which doesn’t include a total of 194 million yen of share appreciation rights divided up amongst the top seven execs.
Ghosn earned more money than any other Japanese CEO (at least among companies that report such figures) with a total of 891 million yen, which translates at current exchange rates to a $11.1 million. A heap of cash to be sure, but still shy of the , America’s top-paid auto executive, made last year, .
While it could be argued that Nissan’s execs deserve such compensation – the company posted a net income of 31 billion yen for the first three months of the year while Toyota posted a loss – the pay scale actually appears to follow a .
Alan Mulally has done a lot of good for the Blue Oval brand, but the CEO still has big plans for the automaker. In fact, Mulally’s goal is to see a 50 percent increase in global sales by the year 2015. An ambitious target, which would see Ford selling nearly eight million vehicles around the world.
How does Mulally expect to achieve this substantial growth? According to USA Today, Ford plans to increase its footprint in the growing markets in Africa and Asia, with a specific focus on the Chinese car-buying public. Small cars will be the key to increased sales in those markets. Ford hopes to make make money on these lower-margin vehicles through sheer volume thanks to the growth potential of these still-emerging markets.
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Our first is in the books, and we thank our fantastic listeners for participating with us as we tried something new. Chris, Zach and Dan covered the Ecoboost three cylinder and eight-speed transmission, the F20 , five-star crash ratings for both the and and Ford’s tech glitches before moving on to a full-on interactive podcast with listener feedback in real time.
Check it out to hear how it went down live, and you can catch it as it happens next week at our , as well as the traditional ways we’ve always offered. Our Q&A module switched to live mode during the recording as well, and we’ve embedded that for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #233:
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Mazda6 s Grand Touring – Click above for high-res image gallery
and have long participated in a joint-venture at the Auto Alliance International facility located in Flat Rock, Michigan. Mazda presently uses the facility to produce the , while Ford pumps out the . , and now those rumors have a bit more teeth. Mazda has announced that its next mid-size sedan will be produced at the Hofu plant in Japan.
Currently, the Mazda6 (also known as the Atenza) is built at AAI, Hofu and at China’s FAW Car Co. Mazda is going to continue to build the current Mazda6 at those three locations. Production of the next-generation car will be transferred from AAI to Hofu.
Importantly, Mazda they are examining other opportunities with Ford, so as to continue participating in the joint venture at AAI.
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“They are trying like hell to resurrect . Well, I might as well tell you, you might as well sprinkle holy water. It’s over.”
So says CEO Dan Akerson, speaking to reporters from The Detroit News. Fightin’ words to be sure, though it seems the suits at Lincoln, Ford’s luxury brand that competes with here in the United States, have declined to comment on Akerson’s statement.
The dismissal of the Lincoln brand seems especially interesting given Akerson’s reported take on the current state of Cadillac. Akerson is said to believe that Cadillac isn’t yet where it needs to be, saying the brand needs another 12 to 24 months of gestation. By that time, there ought to be bookends to the current in place in the form of the (smaller) and (larger, replacing the and ).
Still, Akerson doesn’t expect to “blow the doors off” Cadillac’s competition, saying instead that “they will be very competitive.” We’d think Caddy would be aiming squarely at something more like “class leading,” but what do we know?
The GM CEO also weighed in on alternative powertrains, suggesting that the plug-in extended-range electric will be “old, old technology and old news” five years from now. “In the next 10 years,” he said, “this company has to break the code on advanced propulsion and that’s going to be a multifaceted solution.”
That multifaceted solution will apparently include dual-fuel engines that run on either compressed natural gas or gasoline along with various hybrids and electric drivetrains. What we won’t see, though, are a ton of vehicles running on ethanol or hydrogen. Interesting sentiments (though we don’t necessarily disagree), considering that GM currently has scads of machinery that’s E85-capable and has made it through its fourth generation of hydrogen fuel cell technology.
For the rest of the tidbits uttered by Akerson, check out on The Detroit News.
Talk to most car fans about V8 supercars and they’ll probably start talking and . But to Australians, V8 Supercars is a racing series – one of the most popular touring car series in the world, and one that is only gaining popularity.
The championship pits race-spec Falcons and Holden Commodores against each other on road courses around Australia and New Zealand, but has been known to travel abroad as well. This year’s calendar kicked off in Abu Dhabi, after previous seasons included trips to Bahrain and China. But coming years could see the Aussie series making the trans-Pacific voyage to North America.
Recent developments have given the predominantly Australian championship a more international profile. For one, the FIA has promoted it to international status, as opposed to a national series. For another, a steady stream of world-renowned racing drivers (like multiple Indy 500 winners Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves, four-time Champ Car champ Sebastien Bourdais, multiple touring car champions Andy Priaulx and Yvan Muller, and former F1 world champ Jacques Villeneuve) have been flying Down Under to take a crack at it. Speed’s coverage of some of the series’ marquee events hasn’t hurt either, and the series’ – a private equity firm who bought it from a consortium of promoters and teams – may be eager to capitalize on their investment.
While the series’ organizers have previously rejected the notion of coming to North America, with all these factors aligned, they’re suddenly singing a different tune. is apparently keen on the idea, which could come to fruition as early as the 2013 season if all the stars line up just right. Just where such a race might take place remains to be seen, but a West Coast venue would be the smart bet. Organizers could, meanwhile, opt to hold a race as part of a stand-alone three-day weekend event like its home races in Australia, or pair it with an existing spectacle such as an IndyCar or ALMS race.
Lamborghini Murciélago SV fords Greek border crossing – Click above to watch video
Jon Olsson is a Swedish skier with a passion for X-Games medals, double flips and exotic automobiles. He’s owned racers, an Ultima GTR, a , a and a , among other bits of precious metal.
Olsson and his Murci SV recently took part in the latest Gumball 3000 Rally, where the Italian supercar was made to do things other Lamborghini owners would never do to their prized possessions.
As part of the Gumball, Olsson and other competitors needed to go from Turkey into Greece, and the border crossing was a bit flooded with no way around it. Apparently, the front end of the Murciélago SV is perfect for fording shallow bodies of water, because Olsson entered the water and the nose of the big bull pushed a safe path back to dry land. Don’t try this at home.
to watch the wince-worthy quick clip of the fording Lambo, and be sure to click through the gallery below for more shots of the mighty Murci.
has no plans to retire just yet. The 65-year-old CEO is still going strong at the helm in Dearborn, and is working to get his company back up to an investment-grade credit rating. Still, Bill Ford, Jr. explained to reporters last week that the former Boeing CEO’s replacement will probably come from within the company.
According to The Detroit News, Ford went as far as to say it would be “very unusual” if Mulally’s replacement came from outside. The executive chairman elaborated, explaining that Mulally holds “Business Performance Review” meetings every Thursday, encouraging execs from different wings of the company to participate and learn as much as they can about the business as a whole. In part, the meetings are designed to help “train the next generation” of leadership for the company.
