What?: A race between a MINI Cooper S and a Porsche 911.
Where?: Facebook, and presumably an extremely twisty track.
Why?: Brand equity. Publicity. Mid-life crisis sales. Making sure nobody knows the Cayman exists.
Categories:
It has been almost three years since a young Saint Louis, Missouri motorist drew national attention by videotaping an out-of-control police officer’s profanity-laced tirade during a traffic stop (view video). St. George Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein was fired because of the bad publicity generated by the incident captured by the taping system that Brett Darrow, 23, installed in his 1997 Nissan Maxima. On Saturday, St. Louis County Police stopped Darrow once again.
Want to fly somewhere, but don’t want to set foot in an airplane? The Dallas-Fort Worth airport has you covered. Just remember, even if you don’t get your car airborne, it’s still probably more dangerous than flying… thanks in no small part to drivers like this one. [Hat Tip: William C. Montgomery]
This video is the kind of thing that a pretentious grad student would call “an artifact.” For one thing, it proves that Germans do have a sense of humor… they just need Porsche to add enough consonants to the end of its racing models to be activated. This, in turn, gives a keen insight into the reason nobody mentions Germany when it comes to identifying nations that build the “coolest” cars. The Germans, and I say this as an often-overly-serious person of Germanic descent, are just too damn serious. In fact, the satire here is so seriously deadpan as to be almost un-funny. If the humor isn’t obvious enough for you, go ahead and start calculating how much Porsche charges for each “G,” “T,” “R,” and “S.” You’ll be laughing in no time.
Ford learns once again that partners can hurt as much as they help. Hat Tip: Twitter’s @SexCigarsBooze [via TTAC’s own @DYCWTC]
As the Dodge brand redefines itself with new lifestyle packages, new ads, events and sponsorships, and a slew of upcoming new products, it’s using its brand name to send a clear message that its “forever young” attitude and performance-driven history will drive the brand into the future.
The new Dodge brand logo features the DODGE name with a pair of red racing stripes relative to the “E,” suggesting speed and agility. Dodge designers sketched the new logo after Dodge and Ram Truck were clearly defined as separate brands with their own identities and consumers, each needing a logo that represents the character of the brand.
The twin red graphic stripes will be used in communications, advertising, internet and merchandising. They will not appear on Dodge products or on the dealership signage.
From a recent Chrysler Group press release. Confused? Yeah, us too.
To be perfectly honest, we weren’t familiar with the work of Weinsberg, Germany-based Xenatec group before hearing that the custom bodywork shop would be building a Maybach Coupe. Thanks to a tip from Auto Motor und Sport, we headed over to Xenatec’s website, and found that the firm offers a wide variety of custom bodywork ranging from the absurd to the sublime. Some of Xenatec’s customs, like the stretched Audi R8 shown above, show just how pointlessly nuts things can get when money is not a factor. Others, like the four-door BMW 6-Series and the Mercedes CLS Wagon actually represent pre-emptive swipes at forthcoming niche models. A four-door Porsche 911 even gives sufficiently well-heeled buyers the option of buying a “real” Porsche four-door as an alternative to the front-engine Panamera. You know the industry is passing through strange days when OEMs and tuning houses start meeting in the middle…
As I noted in my most recent review, TTAC’s coverage of cars and the companies that create them are based largely on the power of the internet to deliver the latest news on which to base our breaking analysis. And though a constant stream of news-based analysis will continue to define TTAC’s content, it’s also become clear to me that we (myself, in particular) need to spend more time behind the wheel even if that means a little less time behind the keyboard.
What is it about former (or ostensible) communist leaders and retro limousines? China’s Hu Jintao got a tip of the hat from us last October for stepping out in style at the country’s National Day celebrations in a retro-fabulous Hongqi HQE. Now, The Guardian reports that
President Dmitry Medvedev has decided to trade in his Mercedes and bring back the ZiL, in what appears to be the latest attempt by Russia’s nostalgic leadership to turn the country into a Soviet theme park. Medvedev has asked aides to examine whether the austere and enduringly sinister limousine can be brought back into production.
And why not? After all, what’s more authentically Russian than being ferried through Red Square in an “enduringly sinister” vehicle made by a company that was at one time known as “Stalin’s Factory”? Is it too soon to ask about American-market availability?
It was just this guy that thought that this was how you got something to Toyota’s research and develop office
Sgt. K.S. Dickson of the Winfield (West Virginia) State Police detachment had wvgazette.com by way of explaining the recent bomb scares at four of Toyota’s US facilities. Apparently the suspicious packages were sent by a Nigerian inventor trying to sell his turn signal design to Toyota. After one package was “disrupted” by a police bomb squad, it was discovered that
There were no explosives in the box, just relay switches, wiring and film canisters, in addition to a letter from the Nigerian man claiming to be an engineer
Workers in an Indiana post office were forced to evacuate their workplace yesterday, when the fourth “hoax bomb” targeting Toyota’s US facilities in the last week was discovered there. The AP [via Google] reports that the latest package was addressed to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Princeton, IN and according to Toyota spokesfolks, it is
similar to other suspicious packages mailed to our corporate office in Erlanger, Kentucky, on Friday and our West Virginia and Texas plants on Monday. All of these packages were found to be non-threatening
All four packages bore handwritten originating addresses in Nigeria, and contained devices described in the latest instance as a cardboard tube containing electronic components. Auto industry PR guys, you have a new worst-case scenario…
About a half-hour after TTAC’s 15 Years of Compact Car Sales graph went up today, the normally enthusiast-oriented car blog Jalopnik gave the internet its own take on compact-car segment analysis with a post titled The Ford Fiesta Will Dominate The Small Car Segment. Some might question how this is supposed to jive with Jalopnik’s alleged commitment to “awesomeness,” but our concerns are far more prosaic. Examples: the absence of the Fiesta’s actual competitors like the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris, and the absence of interior volume comparisons which would expose this “comparison” for the fraud it is. And that’s just for starters…
You stay hoony, Stanford University [via Twitter Auto123/Leviathan101]
Automotive News [sub] highlights a new trend in the car sales game: the luxury dealership destination. This picture was taken at Lexus of North Miami, which its owner describes thusly:
The new state-of-the-art dealership not only provides the ultimate in automotive service but also provides unrivaled personalized service, catering to all of your needs with luxury amenities via the Club Lexus Lifestyle and Fitness Center. The innovative, resort-like center is designed to accommodate and enhance your everyday lifestyle by allowing access to the finest facilities for consultation and first class amenities.
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