When you are asked by someone that owns part of your company to help with his or her hobby, you probably don’t feel inclined to say no.
That’s the position of Daimler, AG in dealing with Aston Martin, which is owned in substantial part by the investment arm of Kuwait. Kuwait also happens to own seven percent of the stock of Daimler, AG.
The hot rumor circulating this week-end has Mercedes-Benz – that would actually be Daimler – buying Aston-Martin, or at least a big stake in it. AutoBlog even purports to specify particulars of the deal: in exchange for Daimler buying a stake in Aston, the Kuwaiti Investment Authority would receive a seven percent interest in Daimler. (So, would that be another “seven percent”? Or is it possible that the AutoBlog j is confusing this with the seven percent in Daimler that Kuwait already owns?)
Aston is the manufacturer of 7,000 cars a year. If it reaches its goal, it’s going to build 9,000 per year.
Daimler built 39,000 buses last year. In other words, just counting buses, Daimler’s production was four times that of Aston. Daimler sold 1.28 million automobiles last year.
Aston isn’t worth seven percent of Daimler. Not even close.
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The hot question is what’s going on with “Project D?”
The man who was heading Chrysler’s most important product development project has quit the company – only two months after getting promoted to the job.
Chrysler claims there’s no acrimony, but that’s neither the version reported by the Wall Street Journal nor what the circumstantial evidence suggests:
The Journal says that the departure of Michael Donoughe, who held the position of vice-president and was in charge of Project D, which is the development of a new mid-size platform to replace the current Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring, was the result of conflicts with top-level Chrysler management.
At Chrysler, that phrase is a euphemism for Bob Nardelli.
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General Motors apparently is struggling with ways to increase the fuel economy of its Zeta platform, the rwd basis for the upcoming Camaro and rumored new cars from Cadillac and Buick, and appears to regret having decided to proceed with that program. At the North American International Auto Show, GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz told TopSpeed.com that GM sees rwd as creating a 2 mpg penalty over front wheel drive.
But, the folks at Ford appear unfazed by the idea that rwd has no future. According to the Detroit News, they’re proceeding with plans to develop a new rear wheel drive platform, one that will be the basis for the next generation Mustang and for new sedan models for both Ford and Lincoln.
Estimated time to the showrooms is four years, and the same platform will underlie the next generation Falcon in Australia.
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Amid the hoopla of the New York Auto Show and GM’s preview of the upcoming Pontiac version of the Holden ute produced in Australia – what we’d call the El Camino of today – comes a dissenting opinion, presented by one Peter M. DeLorenzo, the voice of AutoExtremist.com.
DeLorenzo thinks the things going to bomb.
DeLorenzo’s opinions are never equivocal, though his crystal ball sometimes needs Windex. After all, it was Lorenzo who said that the next Corvette was a sure thing for 2012 and would be mid-engine.
On the ute, his point is that the sport truck doesn’t fit into either the Pontiac line-up or the professed image of Pontiac for, as Bob Lutz put it in New York, “seductive performance.”
In fact, DeLorenzo doesn’t believe there’s any market for such a truck, under any nameplate. And then he asks why Pontiac doesn’t, instead, seek to exploit those of its model names that still have meaning, such as GTO and Trans-Am.
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Jean Todt has officially left Ferrari, where he served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, having been promoted to that position after being head of the Formula One race team. Todt’s resignation was officially announced at a Ferrari shareholder meeting in Italy yesterday. Todt remains on the Ferrari board of directors.
Speculation is now circulating that Todt’s next stop may be as head of the FIA, the international sanctioning body for Formula One and other classes of racing. Todt ran the Ferrari racing operation for over a decade and a half and is a close friend of FIA president Max Moseley. Moseley’s term as FIA president expires in 2009 and he is not expected to seek another term in that position.
It is not clear how such a move would be received in other quarters, but it is believed by some observers that Todt would have Moseley’s backing, were Todt to seek the office.
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To commemorate its sixtieth anniversary, Holden is showing off a two-door concept car that’s getting rave reviews. The Detroit Free Press was so impressed, it led the story by saying, “Where do they find the time? General Motors Australian unit just revealed yet another eye-catching vehicle from the global family of rear-wheel-drive cars developed in the automaker’s Melbourne engineering center.”
Well, maybe.
But, then again, maybe not.
The sharp-eyed, which includes the observant folks at Motor Authority and Motor Trend, have noted that the new Holden Coupe 60 looks remarkably like a Zeta platform based Pontiac GTO proposal originally floated in drawing form several years ago.
The Holden concept features the same roofline, same side coves and the same wheel placement as the GTO drawings.
It is, in short, the same design.
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Rumors abound on the internet these days that General Motors has given the green light to a Zeta platform based replacement for the Cadillac DTS and STS and for the Buick Lucerne. The platform, which is first to be used for the upcoming Chevrolet Camaro and is the basis for the current Pontiac G8 produced in Australia, will be rear wheel drive. A single car will replace both of the current Cadillac models.
That’s the story, anyway. GM, of course, does not comment on future product plans.
But, let’s assume the rumor to be true, partly because it makes sense and partly because it is pleasant to assume to be true that which one wishes to be true.<
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At least that’s what one Pontiac dealer’s employee is claiming, based on what he saw on the GM dealer website, under information about available options on the 2009 G8 GXP. He posted it on G8GT.com, with a request that the word be spread.
So, we’re obliging.
That’s a reference to the LS3 as an available option on next year’s G8 GXP. The LS3 is the base engine in the Corvette, an engine that produces, in the ‘Vette, 430 hp.
What was that about Pontiac building excitement?
According to MotorTrend, Nissan might start working on a four-door sedan based on the GT-R platform. If build, it will be sold under the Infiniti badge.
The four-door sedan will share the same hardware as the Gt-R, including the 480-horsepower twin-turbo 3.8-liter VR38 V-6 engine, all wheel drive, and the rear-mounted six-speed DSG-style auto-clutch transmission.
But even so, a sedan version will require a new bodyside, plus expensive revisions to the carbon fiber intensive front structure. Thi will mean an extra $3000 to $5000.
Also the magazine reports that Americans and European customers will never pay $85,000 for a sedan with Nissan badges. This is why they believe it will come under the Infiniti badge.
Even more this kind of sedan would help Infiniti to compete in the performance sedans market.
Dodge just revealed the 2008 Challenger SRT8 at the Chicago Auto Show and plans for the future have already started: the company expects to sell 20,000 to 30,000 of its retro-styled Challenger sport coupes a year once the full model line goes on sale; the Challenger family will probably grow next year to include lower-priced models with less-powerful engines. A convertible is also possible.
The company has also announced that the whole production run of 6,400 cars is sold out and will appear at dealers in the spring.
The Challenger will come with standard antilock brakes, electronic stability control, curtain air bags, six-speed automatic transmission and keyless ignition.
With a top speed of 170 mph and a price of only $37,995, the SRT8 is faster than the $82,900 500-horsepower BMW M5 super sedan and that the 6.1-liter Hemi V8 produces more torque than a $126,200 Porsche 911 turbo.
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