OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) There's finally an end in sight to this layoff.
05/11/2012
Digging Deeper: April 2012 sales figures
Filed under: Car Buying, Earnings/Financials
April showers may result in May's flowers, but it didn't result in great car sales numbers.
Overall, sales in April only climbed 2.3 percent compared to April 2011, leaving some carmakers and observers scratching their head. Of course, the raw numbers, as provided by AutoData Corp., also note that there were three fewer selling days due to that occasional month with five Sundays in it. Imagine the pain people paid on the 1st and 15th had to endure?
So the numbers may not be as bad as a first glance might suggest, and in my opinion, the slow pace of growth is better for automakers. Rather than big ups and downs that leave dealerships empty of popular vehicles and overstocked with others, a steady mild increase means it's easier to match production to demand.
But there are plenty of outliers in the pages of spreadsheets when you look inside the numbers. So here are the 10 things I think I know about the auto industry based on April's sales.
Continue reading Digging Deeper: April 2012 sales figures
Digging Deeper: April 2012 sales figures originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 May 2012 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Official: Novitec Rosso has its way with the Ferrari 458 Spider
Filed under: Aftermarket, Convertible, Performance, Ferrari
With its screaming 4.5-liter V8 and its clever flip-top roof mechanism, we'd venture to say that the Ferrari 458 Spider is pretty damn close to automotive perfection incarnate. But some owners - even Ferrari owners - will never be satisfied with stock. And that's where Novitec Rosso comes in.
The Dutch tuning house specializes in Italian exotica, and for the 458 Spider have just announced a series of upgrades that aims to make their take on the flip-top prancing horse stand out that much more on the streets of Monaco or Abu Dhabi where they're most likely to encounter others of the same.
Novitec knew better than to mess with the engine too much, so it forwent the addition of supercharger or turbo spools. Instead it limited itself to fitting the high-revving eight-banger with new breathing apparati and ECU that boost output up to 600 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque - a boost of about 40 hp and 20 lb-ft, respectively.
The engine mods have been supplemented by an upgraded, adjustable suspension with 22-inch wheels wearing ultra-low-profile Pirelli P-Zero rubber. And the entire package is rounded out by an aerodynamic body kit crafted from carbon fiber - a treatment that continues to the interior where customers can also find a special button on the steering wheel to open the exhaust flaps for a little moor burble. You know, just in case the 458's steering wheel weren't packed with enough buttons already.
Continue reading Novitec Rosso has its way with the Ferrari 458 Spider
Novitec Rosso has its way with the Ferrari 458 Spider originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 May 2012 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Top 10 Thursday: Assistants 40 and under
Let me start by saying this is not a definitive list. There are hundreds of talented assistant coaches around the country. The following, however, is a list of coaches 40 years old and under who have put themselves in a position to earn a head-coaching job in the future. Orlando Antigua (Kentucky): The former Pitt standout helped John Calipari sign another top-ranked recruiting class. He’s also assisted Calipari in developing the young prodigies who have come to Lexington.US ARMY Chevrolet Elliott William Ron Artest Sam Hornish Jr Roger Laurent Los Angeles Lakers
Report: Michael Schumacher ranked second wealthiest sportsman in the world
Filed under: Motorsports, Earnings/Financials, Celebrities
Sportsmen - whether you'd classify them all as athletes or not - are some of the wealthiest people in the world. And every year, The Sunday Times puts out a list of the richest among them. The list takes all their assets into account - including salaries past and present, endorsements and other investments - and ranks them by their net worth. So who comes out on top?
Golfers, if you can believe it. Tiger Woods tops the Top 20 list worldwide at £538 million (~$870M), joined by Arnold Palmer at No. 4 with £230M ($370M), Greg Norman at No. 9 with £174M ($280M) and Jack Niclaus at No. 11 with £158M ($255M). But just behind them are the racing drivers.
Michael Schumacher just trails Tiger with £510 million ($824M), making him the second richest sportsman in the world, by far the wealthiest racer, and within reach of becoming the first billionaire driver in the world. Little wonder, as he's the most decorated driver the world has ever known.
Also on theist are Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, who tie for eighteenth place (together with baseball's CC Sabathia) at £100 million ($160M) apiece. But in between these Formula One drivers sits one Dale Earnhardt, arguably the biggest name in NASCAR, who ties basketball star Kobe Bryant at sixth place with £185 million ($300M) in assets.
Now if only someone paid us that much to drive around in circles, well...we'd still probably be blogging about cars, only we'd be doing it from onboard our own mega-yachts somewhere a lot more glamorous.
Michael Schumacher ranked second wealthiest sportsman in the world originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 May 2012 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Heat apologize to Stoudemire over comment (Yahoo! Sports)
MIAMI (AP) The Miami Heat and public-address announcer Michael Baiamonte are apologizing to Amare Stoudemire and the New York Knicks for a comment about how the forward was ''extinguished from the game'' when he fouled out of Game 5 of the teams' Eastern Conference first-round series.
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05/10/2012
Report: Porsche plans E-Class competitor, codename Pajun
Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Porsche, Rumormill, Luxury
German car magazine Auto Bild reports Porsche is planning build a sedan that will slot below the Panamera and compete directly with the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Citing no sources (so a grain of salt is recommended), the magazine claims the four-door, codenamed Pajun, will cost no less than $84,000 and be ready for production no later than 2017.
In September 2011, Car claimed the Pajun could spawn coupe, convertible and even a shooting brake variant. Back then, rumors swirled about powertrain options that included a 550-horsepower V6, 600-hp V8, plug-in hybrid and an Audi-sourced diesel.
Hopefully, Porsche is also working expeditiously to find a better name than Pajun, which in Korea is a seafood pancake, in Finnish it means willow, and, according to Google's translation, in Welsh it means - wait for it - Cajun. That's the name Porsche was using to refer to its smaller-than-Cayenne SUV before changing it to Macan in February. Clever coincidence.
Porsche plans E-Class competitor, codename Pajun originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 May 2012 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Official: Volkswagen gives the R-Line treatment to European-model Passat
Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Wagon, Europe, Volkswagen
Few automakers can produce the kind of sports sedans that the Germans do. And for most of the country's automakers, those performance vehicles can be recognized by one letter (or a combination of a few): M for BMW, RS for Audi, AMG for Mercedes-Benz... and R for Volkswagen. The relatively new performance division at Wolfsburg has now gotten its hands on the Passat, and these are the results.
Well, almost, but not quite. You see, this isn't a full-on R performance variant, but an R-Line model that gives the midsize sedan (and wagon) a sportier look and an upgraded suspension, but without the engine mods you'd expect to come with it.
It also isn't the same Passat as the one we get here. Ours is made in America (Chatanooga, Tennessee, to be specific). This is based on the European model, and as such is available (in Europe, anyway) in both sedan and wagon form. In either body-style, the Passat R-Line includes a new aero kit (complete with sportier bumpers front and rear, side skirts, rear diffuser and deck-lid spoiler), 17-inch alloys, a sport-tuned suspension and a cabin decked out with sports seats, stainless steel trim and a flat-bottomed steering wheel.
The R-Line model stands as a separate trim level atop the Passat range - selling for €30,225 in Germany (equivalent to about $39k) - but buyers of the Comfortline and Highline trim levels can also specify the aero kit for an extra €990 (~$1,300). Check it out in the high-res image gallery for a closer look.
Volkswagen gives the R-Line treatment to European-model Passat originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 10 May 2012 18:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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