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Chrysler May Reduce Brands to Just Dodge and Jeep
Chrysler, the brand that carries the name of the corporation behind it, may not do so for long. According to a report on AdAge.com, Fiat executives are looking at if they should keep all three Chrysler brands (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep) and the most likely candidate to get axed is Chrysler itself. A spokesperson for…
General Motors to Cut Number of Cadillac Dealers
The long list of General Motors dealerships got a lot shorter recently, but it will get shorter still as the company has made known plans to reduce the number of Cadillac dealerships in its network. “Our current footprint of 1,400 Cadillac dealers, most of which are dualed, is out of sync with modern luxury automotive…
Hummer H4 And Alternative Energy Hummers Coming
In an interview with Hummer CEO Jim Taylor, The Detroit Bureau found out plenty about the company’s future plans under it’s new owner, Chinese heavy machinery maker Tengzhong. In the short term Taylor says that the Hummer H3S will be built in a GM facility in Shreveport alongside the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. Looking…
General Motors Agrees to Sell Saturn Brand to Penske
General Motors has reached an agreement with the Penske Automotive Group on the sale of its Saturn brand. An official announcement is expected to be made by both parties later today. The Penske Automotive Group was thought to be one of the front-runners in the bidding war, which also reportedly included Nissan/Renault, Mitsubishi and investment…
Galpin Auto Sports Teams Up With U.S. Air Force to Build Fighter-Jet Inspired Mustang and Challenger
The U.S. Air Force has teamed up with Galpin Auto Sports to create two fighter-jet inspired pieces of American muscle. Based in Van Nuys, California, Galpin is best known for taking horrible cars and turning them into abominations on MTV’s Pimp My Ride. The group at Galpin also built the KITT Mustang for the widely…
Terminated Chrysler Dealers Must Sell Inventory by June 9th
Those 789 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealers that were cut loose by Chrysler as a part of its bankruptcy and restructuring plan have until June 9th (next Tuesday) to part with their remaining inventory. Because of the dealership contract that they signed, dealers aren’t allowed to sell off the cars once the contract expires. And…
Magna Deal Prohibits Sale of Opels In The U.S., But Not In Canada
Magna International will not be selling Opel cars in the United States or China, says company CEO Frank Stronach. The head of the Canadian auto parts supplier said that this was part of the deal he worked out with GM when purchasing its European Opel brand. Interestingly, however, there is no indication that the agreement…
GM Says It Has 16 Different Buyers For Saturn, Three for Saab
With news of a tentative deal to sell off Hummer coming yesterday, GM still hasn’t made any decisions about its Saturn or Saab brands – but apparently it has plenty of offers to entertain. GM CFO Ray Young said that Saturn has as many as 16 suitors, while the Swedish Saab brand has three. The…
May Car Sales Show Ford and GM Recovering While Honda and Toyota Slump
Car sales for the month of May appear to show a certain level of recovery – at least for U.S. automakers Ford and General Motors. Ford posted a loss of 28.5 percent, its best result since July of 2008. As for GM, it declined “just” 29 percent marking its best monthly performance since September. In…
Hummer Buyer Identified as Chinese Heavy Machinery Maker Tengzhong
Earlier today we reported that GM had reached a tentative deal to sell off the Hummer brand to an unnamed party. That company has now been identified as Chinese heavy machinery maker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd. – or just Tengzhong for short. Tengzhong will take control of the Hummer brand including the…
Ford Fiesta Spy Photos Reveal Sedan Model Coming
We’ve known for quite some time that Ford was planning on bringing its Fiesta model to North America, but as these most recent spy photos show, the U.S. automaker will launch more than just a hatchback. Photos of this Ford Fiesta Sedan show a European-inspired sedan, with a long wheelbase and very short front and…
GM Finds Buyer For Hummer, But Who Is It?
A day after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, General Motors has announced it has found a buyer for its Hummer brand of SUVs. GM has not, however, named the party. Earlier reports indicated that of the short-list of three potential buyers none of the companies were automakers. One is apparently a U.S. company and…
Magna Wins Opel Bid, Wants to Build Cars in Canada
By solidifying a deal to take control of GM’s European operations, Canada’s Magna International Inc. is eager to start producing Opel cars in Canada. “We want to build Opel cars in Canada,” said company founder and CEO Frank Stronach. “Canada should have its own Canadian company … a truly Canadian automobile industry.” The third largest…
General Motors Bankruptcy Official
While President Obama and General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson are both expected to hold press conferences today, officially GM has already filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. Once the world’s largest automaker and a symbol of the success of free market economics, GM is now a symbol of failure. In the 1950s it employed over…
Ford Focus RS Not Coming to North America
Several weeks ago we ran a few photos of a Ford Focus RS that was spotted in a suburb of Detroit. This of course led to speculation that FoMoCo was planning to bring its amazing hot hatch to the U.S. Sadly, a Ford exec has confirmed that the RS will not make its way stateside….
800 Horsepower Ford Fiesta to Take On Pikes Peak
In an attempt to drum-up interest in the launch of the Fiesta in North America, Ford is putting on a serious publicity stunt by running two 800 horsepower versions of the economy car in the legendary Pikes Peak race. Ford is eager to appeal not just to econonomically-minded individuals with the Fiesta sub-compact, but also…
Mitsubishi Latest Candidate to Buy Saturn
Oddly, it seems as though Saturn is far more interesting and far more loved as the up-for auction arm of a doomed for bankruptcy company than it ever was as regular old car brand. To date the Penske Automotive Group, automaker Nissan/Renault and investment firm Telesto Ventures have all been cited as potential buyers. Now…
General Motors Delays Aveo Replacement
Due to the overall turmoil at General Motors these days a lot of projects have been put on hold. Included in that list is the replacement for the current Aveo. A new Aveo, code named the T300, was due out in April of 2010, but now that product has been delayed until January of 2011….
Ford Tests New Ecoboost Engine at the Drag Strip
With increasingly stringent fuel economy regulations and in an effort to delivery maximum power for minimal gas, many automakers are switching to smaller displacement engines and forced induction. BMW and Audi are two examples, but U.S. automaker Ford is also making strides in this area with its new line of EcoBoost engines. The current EcoBoost…
Mercedes Parent Company Daimler Buys 10% Stake in Tesla
Daimler has just announced that it has reached an agreement with Tesla Motors Inc., that will see the German automaker gain a 10 percent stake in the California-based electric car maker. Along with an undisclosed amount of money the agreement will help forge a partnership between the two companies as they work to bring electric…
Former Chrysler President Tom LaSorda to Advise Penske on Saturn Purchase
The possibility that Penske Automotive Group may in fact purchase the Saturn brand from General Motors has just increased significantly. Penske has acquired the services of former Chrysler President Tom LaSorda as an adviser on the bid. Penske is the second largest dealership group in the U.S. and also distributes the SMART brand of cars…
General Motors to Reduce Dealership Network by 1,124
General Motors will cut 1,124 dealerships loose by October of 2010. The struggling automaker on the verge of bankruptcy sent letters out to the dealerships last week as it searches for ways to reduce it’s current dealer network of 5,969 to just 3,600. GM says it will not renew dealership agreements with the 1,124 companies…
General Motors Canada to Close 42% of Dealerships
Days after General Motors announced it would cut it’s number of dealerships in the U.S. by 1,124, GM Canada is following suit. The number of Canadian GM dealerships being closed may sound much smaller at 292, however, with roughly 700 dealerships nationwide, the cuts represent a 42 percent dealership reduction. GM Canada says the Sales…
Ford Planning Return of the 5.0
Few engines have received the iconic status of the Ford Mustang’s 5.0. The motor disappeared in 1996 but now appears to be ready to make a comeback. News of the return comes out of Australia where Ford Australia product development boss Russell Christophers has confirmed a new 5.0-liter V8 is currently undergoing development in the…
