Ford Racing is continuing to launch its assault on all forms of motorsport with the upcoming launch of the 2010 Boss 302R Mustang to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original Boss 302's 1970 Trans-Am championship. No photos of the car have been released quite yet, but we do have plenty of information thanks to a leaked letter to Ford dealers. Like the FR500S, FR500C, FR500CJ and other Mustangs available from the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog, the Boss 302R is for off-road use only and will be built in very limited quantities. Just 50 are planned for production at a starting cost of $79,000.
Two versions of the 302R will be available, with the base package designed to compete in various SCCA and NASA classes and the upgraded version built to Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series specifications. The base Boss 302R includes a 5.0-liter four-valve V8 pushing out an estimated 400 horsepower as well as a six-speed transmission, race-spec suspension, brakes and tires, and safety equipment including a roll cage and race seats with safety harnesses. The Grand-Am spec version also gets a sealed high-output race engine, seam-welded body, racing fuel cell, a data acquisition system and more for a cost of $129,000.
Ford Racing is currently taking orders, and judging by sales of their other competition Mustangs you will need to order immediately if you want to get your hands on one. Follow the jump for more information and detailed specifications of the 2010 Ford Racing Boss 302R.
Some loyalties run deep in Detroit, take Chevrolet's relationship with its advertising agency. Campbell-Ewald has been urging people to buy bowties since 1922, when a single magazine ad contained more words than a BMW press release. Chevrolet's account is huge, and the automaker is not looking to make a clean break from its long-time agency, the layer-cake of ongoing efforts is far too tall for that. What's most likely to happen is that Chevrolet will accept outside pitches from hungry, creative operations.
The acceptance of outside solicitation will help keep C-E on its toes, as well. Names of well known agencies have been tossed about as supplemental providers, but with so many other auto brands reviewing their contracts with their respective agencies, including Cadillac, some of the best companies might have a problem pitching yet another player at this point. Since these tertiary players aren't expected to take on full agency roles, it bodes well for small shops worldwide. Time to head to your basement and get storyboarding; it could be you doing the next viral campaign for the Malibu. Just don't create fake stalkers or anything.
When General Motors and Chrysler took money from the U.S. government to prevent being consigned to history, the two storied domestic automakers had no choice but to put their fates in Uncle Sam's hands. After two very brief bankruptcies and billions in bailout cash, America's favorite bearded relative is looking to take its own pound of flesh.
Automotive News is reporting that the Obama administration and the Treasury Department are planning to announce pay cuts of up to 90% for the top 25 earners at GM, Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial. U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg reportedly negotiated the pay arrangements with the companies during four months of negotiations.
The reported cuts will put a deep gash into the pay of executives like Fritz Henderson, who reportedly earned $1.3 million last year. There is no word at this time whether the bonuses of top auto execs will also be trimmed. GM and Chrysler aren't the only TARP recipients to get a big-time pay cut either, as top execs from AIG, Bank of America and Citigroup are also going to experience the economic downturn in a very real way. According to AN sources, pay cuts will average around 50% between the seven companies. The AN source claims that AIG execs, for example, will not receive compensation that surpasses $200,000. Companies that have already paid back TARP money, however, will not be affected by the government-mandated pay cuts.
Like Great Britain, Sweden never switched over to the Euro – they still deal in kroners. Therefor, In order to keep Saab afloat after being jettisoned by General Motors, new owner Koenigsegg Group has determined that it needs a loan of about 415 billion kroners to keep the flood waters back. That's about €400 million Euros, or $599 million good old US Ameripesos. A little while back we reported that the country of Sweden had agreed to guarantee any such loan to sinking Saab, should a bank offer to do so. Well guess what?
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to lend the €400 million to Koenigsegg Group vis-a-vis Saab. The money is supposedly earmarked for "research and development activities for the improvement of fuel efficiency and safety including new tooling for the production of cleaner and safer cars." At least that's according to EIB. However, there's a very good chance that the loan will be used to finish closing Koenigsegg's deal with GM. Either way, looks like Saab might now have a fighting chance at not sinking into the North Atlantic.
Remember the Standard Taxi from the Vehicle Production Group? It's now called the MV-1, and production is slated to begin next year at the AM General plant in Mishawaka, Indiana. That's the same assembly location where the Hummer H2 is built, which makes sense since the MV-1 is based on the same GM underpinnings as the behemoth SUV.
According to its makers, the MV-1 is the first purpose-built wheelchair-accessible vehicle in America, and it's able to accommodate up to six adults or two full-size wheelchairs. An ADA-approved ramp that stows under the vehicle's floor and a 36-inch wide side opening are designed to make entry and exit a simple affair.
With its body-on-frame construction made with fully boxed rails, the MV-1 should prove to be a durable people mover and its well-known GM drivetrain components should also be easily serviceable. Further, VPG has teamed up with Clean Energy to develop a dedicated compressed natural gas powertrain option that will provide a 250-mile range with significantly reduced emissions.
We were wondering how long it would take before OnStar's Stolen Vehicle Slowdown service was used to prevent a high speed chase. Though announced nearly two years ago, the service that allows OnStar to remotely disable a vehicle's gas pedal is still not yet available on all GM models – for 2010, about 18 of 30 vehicles in the lineup have the capability. Early Sunday morning, however, police in Visalia, California were the first to work with OnStar to remotely disable the engine of a stolen 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe and prevent what would have certainly been a high-speed chase. The vehicle in question was allegedly carjacked by a 21-year-old armed with a sawed off shotgun.
The Associated Press reports that the armed assailant pointed a sawed off shotgun at vehicle owner Jose Ruiz and his cousin and demanded their money. After robbing the men, the unwitting thief made off with the Tahoe. Ruiz then found a police officer who called OnStar and had the vehicle tracked, but only after Ruiz gave his permission to do so. OnStar then worked with police to ensure officers were in place to make an arrest, and when the robber made a turn the massive SUV harmlessly came to a stop. OnStar President Walt Dorfstatter told the AP it only took 16 minutes to disable the vehicle. The arrested suspect in the case has been charged with carjacking, robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest.
Visalia police told the AP that OnStar likely averted a high speed chase, potentially saving lives since most chases end in a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says there were 334 fatalities stemming from high speed chases, with 77 of those deaths of people not directly involved in the chase and five officer fatalities.
No one is allowed to escape the grinding maw of Detroit's woes -- not even Detroit Piston extraordinaire and hometown mayor Dave Bing. The mayor owns an automotive supplier called The Bing Group that provides stamped parts for carmakers. The recession has put the company on such slippery footing that it told GM it couldn't provide any more parts, and it's looking to sell itself.
As part of assuming the position of mayor, Bing stepped away from the day-to-day operations of the company by creating a blind trust. Or at least, he was supposed to -- Bing remains the registered agent for the company, and that makes him the first person the state would go to for information on the firm, which suggests that he should know something about how its currently run.
Regardless, Bing is still considering whether to sell and will decide early next year. GM has told the company that as a condition of GM's bankruptcy its suppliers are compelled to keep sending parts even if GM didn't pay them, but that didn't appear to take into account the supplier nearly going bankrupt without that money. In the interim, GM is moving toward paying its suppliers on a weekly basis, which should help The Bing Group (and others). Yet in spite of the talked-about economic rebound, Detroit still hurts
Coskata's newly-opened semi-commercial flex ethanol facility in Madison, Pennsylvania is as small as it can possibly be. Co-located at a Westinghouse facility that also in some fashion uses nuclear energy, the Lighthouse project, as it's called, is running 247 to turn wood chips into ethanol. It's also intended to show off just how far Coskata has come since emerging from stealth mode almost two years ago. Oh, and the plant can also be scaled up to fit the needs of cellulosic ethanol producers from coast to coast.
The Lighthouse plant follows the Horizon integrated processing plant that started in 2008 in Warrenville, Illinois and precedes the Flagship plant that is due for 2012 at a location somewhere in the Southeast U.S. that will be announced later. The location for the Flagship plant has been selected, but Coskata will not specify where it will be until it can talk more specifically about the financing arrangements involved for the 55-million-gallon-per-year plant that will use forest residue and other woody biomass.
Coskata says the Flagship will be "the first commercially-viable, feedstock-flexible ethanol facility." The company has not taken any government money to date, but they may apply for DOE loan guarantees for the Flagship plant. Coskata will also not expand this Madison Lighthouse facility. In fact, they're only located there as a guest and will leave when the contract is up. The facility is modular and will actually be dismantled and trucked to the Flagship location in the future.
According to the number-crunchers over at Edmunds.com, things are looking up for General Motors in the month of October. If preliminary figures hold up, The General's market share should come in at 22.4 percent, a notable gain from the 19.1 percent share the automaker averaged throughout the third quarter of 2009.
Driving this newfound marketplace success is thought to be GM's recent abundance of new product launches, which include important models like the Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac SRX along with the Equinox and Camaro from Chevrolet. GM has received mostly favorable reviews on each of these vehicles and has invested money into advertising and media campaigns.
Still, maintaining the measure of success seen over the last month and continuing to grow that momentum in the long term won't be easy, and GM isn't likely to recapture its position as the dominant player in America that it once was any time soon. Of course, we'll be watching.
This post represents something of a dilemma for us. On the one hand, we could tell you about General Marketing Capital Incorporated (GMCI) owner Jeff Leonard and how he's just taken control of the Yenko name and brand. But on the other, we could ask only that you stare at the above image (and those in the gallery) for five minutes in absolute reverential silence. Do you really care that Leonard will more likely than not be bringing new Yenko products to market? Sure, a 2010 Yenko Super Camaro would be sweeter than cookie dough ice cream, but hey... look up.
Additionally, we could explain how almost forty-five years ago Don Yenko gamed GM's COPO (Central Office Production Order) program to build his first factory hot rod, the Yenko Stinger Corvair, but we just cannot take our eyes off of the gorgeous blue 1968 Yenko Camaro with the 427 motor and M-21 four-speed manual. Because really, besides the Stinger Corvair, have you ever seen anything hotter? Really? What?
And what would a 2010 Yenko consist of anyhow? Well, the Yenko formula was simply to put the best performance parts possible under the skin of a given car. Meaning we're talking about a LS9 powered Camaro with carbon ceramic brakes and magnetic-rheological shocks. Actually, that sounds pretty good. The question, then, really is whether or not Mr. Leonard will be able to make new Yenkos as blisteringly desirable to people in 2055 as Don Yenko's products are to us today at the end of 2009. Any bets?
