Jalopnik: 2006

What car would you purchase if it wasn't so expensive to maintain?

Tom Joslin — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 17:00:00 EDT

As many luxury and performance cars get older their prices drop as their warranties disappear and they become increasingly expensive to maintain. Many times these vehicles seem like unbelievable deals until you begin to take into account how much money you will end up paying for the parts and labor to maintain and repair it. More »

2009 Barrett-Jackson Auction Scottsdale: Eight Highest-Priced Cars Through Day Three

Ray Wert — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST

The big Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottsdale's going on right now and we're already into the fourth day of hot gavel action. Here's the eight top cars that have found new owners through day three. More »

Nissan Recalling 243,000 Xterras, Pathfinders and Frontiers

The Auto Insider — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:30:00 EST

Nissan will be recalling 242,720 2005-2009 Xterras, Pathfinders and Frontiers due to a faulty airbag sensor. More »

Maybe Same-Sex Couples Won't Notice The Subaru Tribeca's Face!

Murilee Martin — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Back before Subaru revised the Tribeca's grille for the '08 model year, but after their marketers realized that American car shoppers were backing away in horror from the crypto-SUV's face, they had what seemed like a great idea: see if they could convince urban gay Americans that the Tribeca would make them look hip! Edgy! Well, it didn't quite work out that way. Still, it's clear that Subaru blew off the focus groups' advice with the first-gen Tribeca's styling, and maybe we need more of that. More »

Report: Imperial to Be New Chrysler Flagship, For Real

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:57:24 EDT

A couple of months ago, we heard from Wards that the Imperial was to be the bellwether in Chrysler's dramatic march upmarket. All seemed lost when the company split from the Daimler bunch. But now, according to Autocar, the project is still a go, despite that Chrysler will soon be of the three-headed devil dog Cerberus. Word is the production Imperial will launch in 2010, with production slated for the Brampton Assembly Plant, Brampton, Ontario, where the Chrysler 300C and Dodge Magnum and Charger are screwed together. The rear-drive luxo-sedan will give the company the flagship it's been lacking for nigh on three decades, despite a shape that's guaranteed to cause fighting in the streets. No word on price yet, but you can expect they'll want to impress the new bosses with a nice fat margin. – Mike Spinelli More »

Oh, What A Feeling — Of Toyota Making Almost $14 Billion In 2006!

Ray Wert — Wed, 09 May 2007 09:36:14 EDT

Just to give you an idea of how much money we're talking about here (in case you can't wrap your mind around ¥1.64 trillion — $13.7 billion — in profits off of ¥23.94 trillion — $199.5 billion — in net revenues ) when I used to work for the State of Michigan, I remember the state's general fund operating budget was like around $8 billion. That means Toyota made almost twice as much money this past year as the State of Michigan spent on the courts, the legislature, all of the offices of the statewide elected officials, the prisons — plus overages in programs like schools and health care coverage. Oh yes, plus all the money spent on public universities by the State, the department of human services...I think you get my drift here. Full press release from ToMoCo after the jump. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking! GM Finally Releases 2006 Financial Results Showing Profits And Not-So-Much Profits

Ray Wert — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:10:13 EDT

Oooh, look, the General's finally decided to tell us whether they made any money last year, dropping their restated earnings out in the wee light of this March morning. Let's find out if they...hmm...ok...looks like they made $2.2 billion in 2006 on revenues of $207 billion. Good for them. It's not what I'd call the best return on revenue — but whatevs, who are we to argue, we're not stockholders. But oh wait, that's net income excluding special items, and although that's the number the traders are going to be happy to see, what about the real number — the number that includes the "special items?" Special items are of course the one-time costs like employee buyouts, restructuring costs, etc. That number's not as good — in fact, when you drop the "special items" into the equation, the General ends up showing a $2.0 billion loss. Well, at least they've still got a year-end cash balance of $26.4 billion. At this rate they can have 12 years of "special items." Full details in the press release below the jump. – Ray Wert More »

FoMoCo FUBAR! Ford Earnings Call Live-Blog!

Ray Wert — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:52:57 EST

Well, the gang's all here for a FoMoCo earnings conference call this morning that I expect to be lossgastic. We're expecting to hear from Alan "New Guy" Mulally, the man-with-a-plan hired in September to captain this plane with an engine fire. We'll also here from Don "What Me Worry?" LeClair, the Chief ~~French Puff Pastry~~ Financial Officer for FoMoCo. And then there's us — standing at the ready to live-blog the Dearborn-based automaker's 2006 earnings call. So refresh this page like mad kiddies 'cause it's going to be one FoMoCo ~~FUBAR~~ fun-ass morning. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking The Bank! Ford Leaks Money Like A Sieve In 2006, Reports Net Loss Of $12.7 Billion

Ray Wert — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 07:54:47 EST

The big press conference call isn't until 9:00 AM, so you're just going to have to suck it up and take what we know from the press release we've got in hand straight out of the glass house in Dearborn. What we know is FoMoCo is reporting a fourth-quarter loss of $5.8 billion dollars, pegging the 2006 full-year net loss at a much greater than expected $12.7 billion. That's a net loss of $6.79 per share for the full year. But hey, not everything's doom and gloom over at the glass house. For instance FoMoCo PR's pointing out that in the fourth quarter, $3.7 billion of the loss relates to special charges, but oh wait — they're also pointing out that revenues in the fourth quarter were down to $40.3 billion compared to $46.3 billion during the same quarter last year. Come on, there's got to be something good here in the release. Oh wait, here — they've put together a list of highlights for folks to report on. Topping the list:

"Alan Mulally joining Ford as president and CEO in September."

Looks like they're doing everything possible to remind the media that this was all Bill Ford, Jr.'s fault. Not the world's worst idea — here in Metro Detroit we've been told to "think Ford first" for years now. Full press release after the jump — we're going to go and get ready for the conference call, so remember to check back here for the live-blog. – Ray Wert More »

American Suzuki is 23% More Better in 2006

Jonny Lieberman — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:04:13 EST

We see a lot of press releases around here saying Company X's sales are up or down 3% this past year. But rarely do we read about double digit jumps. And even when we do, they are not this high. ASMC (American Suzuki Motors Corporation) just announced that they sold 23% more rides in 2006 than they did in 2005. In fact, they cracked the 100,000 unit barrier for the first time in their 21-year history. How'd they do it? Lots of people got Forenza's as X-mas gifts, ~~sadly~~ apparently. Also their "100,000-mile, seven-year, fully-transferable, zero-deductible powertrain limited warranty" couldn't have hurt. Most importantly, we just stepped out of their hoony new SX4 and were quite impressed. We're currently chasing down rumors that a WRC turbo version is coming in 2008. – Jonny Lieberman More »

German Godzilla: Volkswagen Auto Group Sales Up 9.3% in 2006

Jonny Lieberman — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 10:27:32 EST

First, the news. VAG sold 5.73 million vehicles last year, solidifying its position as the world's number four automaker. Second, a bit of analysis. A guy named Erich Merkle is claiming that VeeDub's sales were temporarily boosted this year because of new model drops like the Jetta and Passat. He says, "I don't know if it is really sustainable." Jalopnik says, "The Jetta is unbuttered white toast on wheels, but that R36 Passat is indeed the hotness." Most remarkable though, once puny Audi managed to sell 950,000 vehicles last year, which is a truly staggering number for (yet another) German luxury make. That is until you realize that a lot of those sales were crap 1.9L diesel 3-door A3s, which are nothing more than Golfs. We mean Rabbits. We mean Porsche's scheme to spin Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti off into their own uber-luxo group isn't such an indefensible, PAG-like idea. We mean congratulations guys! Way to be precise and cast a wide-ass net. – Jonny Lieberman More »

Breaking! Chrysler Group Gets Aggressive On Incentives Sales Gains, Up One Whole Percent In December

Ray Wert — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:17:30 EST

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The 'merican side of the German-American hybrid continues to steam past silly numbers of things like dealer inventory sitting at 538,438 units ( a 74-day supply) and terms like Eberhardt-ian "sales banks." That's because hey, the Chrysler Group saw a second month of sales increases, this time a 1% year-to-year December bump. True, that still means they've seen a 39% drop in sales of Grand Cherokees, a 7% drop in Jeep Commander sales, and a 39% drop in Jeep Liberty sales (people just don't know what they're missing). But Dodge's Ram pickup's seen a 10% jump skyward in sales and let's not forget that 46% jump overall in car sales. Now, if only they didn't have to practically give away those pickups and SUV's and we'd really be talking about a company that could make some money. Full release after the jump. – Ray Wert More »

Super Sales Potential! Toyota's Godzilla-Like Streak Continues With A 16.6% Larger December To Remember

Ray Wert — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 15:22:01 EST

I almost feel like ToMoCo's the Juggernaut, bitch. Seriously — number one super best automaker from the land of the rising sun's got like a destiny to just roll on into the US, turning everything into vanilla. With 20%-plus increases in passenger car sales coming out of both the Toyota and Lexus brands — the automaker with 'merican-claiming ads continues to suck up more converts to the Toyota Way. But it would appear the big gains aren't going to be coming from ToMoCo car divisions. Instead, the boost seems to be coming from the 116.3% increase in sales of the not-so-fuel-efficient RAV4, bringing SUV sales up 32.5% year-to-year. But hey, at least they've now adopted the convention of a sales call — unfortunately they've done kind of a piss-poor job at providing the requisite hour between conference calls as is normally the case, causing a bit of a scheduling conflict with another automaker. But hey, the other guy's the Chrysler Group — so whatevs, ToMoCo's already laid waste to them. For the time being, the full press release touting 11 years of dominant sales gains is below the jump — we're going to keep listening to USA Today provide an intellectual reach-around on the Prius, and ToMoCo sales folks explaining how the Prius is only owned by rich folks with high tax burdens. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking! GM Sales Drop 9.6%, Lower Than Everyone But GM Expected

Ray Wert — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:30:31 EST

Paul Ballew, GM's sales stud, gave us a sales call quote of "Despite the top-line loss of around 9.5%, we're pretty pleased with the result..." — despite that cherry-sounding verbiage, the tone seemed more like one's got to think the General's probably really not too pleased with that big number drop. We're thinking the world's biggest automaker was hoping for more of a December to Remember on the positive side in the US market. But despite some pretty much terrible numbers from every single type of truck they make — they're pleased that hey, they still beat the crap out of FoMoCo. Because you know, beating the crap outta someone already down on their luck is generally considered the best way to boost yourself up. But yeah, there were a couple of positive numbers, and almost all of them came from Cadillac, but even a selling day adjusted 2.2% increase doesn't mean a whole lot when you're facing a 30,000+ unit drop in a unit like Chevy. But whatevs — full press release below the jump — we're going to keep listening to the altogether non-positive tones of Paul. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking And Falling! Ford December Sales Down 13%

Ray Wert — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 13:18:38 EST

FoMoCo starts off what we've heard will be one helluva lot of red ink on the sales side for 2006's farewell month. The boys n' girls in the glass house in Dearborn saw a sales decline of 13% for the month on year-to-year numbers of 233,621. That means full year sales hit a mere 2.9 million, down 8% from 2005's employee discounted numbers. The big killer's got to be the truck and SUV sales, with trucks sliding 14% and Explorer sales down 29.5% — but those numbers aren't helped by the cut n' run of the Taurus which saw a loss of 14,500 units that just aren't yet being fully replaced by the positive upswings in the Fusion threesome and the 22% jump in Crown Vic sales. Not to mention the Freestar minivan, which also saw a drop in line with the cut n' run from the segment. And seriously, don't even get me started on the But — George Pipas, FoMoCo's US Sales main man claims the company's actually beating internal goals for monthly sales. All I've got to say is wow, how low must that bar have been in comparison to last month's disappointment? Full release after the jump. – Ray Wert More »

Toyota Wants To Take It In The Ear Just Like US Automakers

Ray Wert — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 16:01:52 EST

ToMoCo's finally bowing down and taking it just like the domestics, by instituting the MoCo's first ever monthly sales call — just like the ~~rest of the schmucks~~ US automakers. The domestics have doled out quotes and spin by way of Ma Bell since she first invented the party line and conference call. It's high time Toyota left the ranks of the too-high-n-mighty and take lumps like the rest of them from the business ~~geniuses~~ ~~hacks~~ writers populating the pundit class. Now we'll finally get a chance to hear ToMoCo PR folks respond to insightful questions like "Is Toyota looking to sell off Lexus?" the next time the luxe brand has a down month in sales or "Will Ken Watanabe play himself in the 'Ask Chairman' Ken ads?" Yup, ToMoCo's sitting at the big kid's table now, ain't they — although they may want to have that conference call at a more Eastern-Standard-Time friendly hour, don't they know journalists hate being inconvenienced? Full detail-less media advisory after the jump. – Ray Wert More »

Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Bob Lutz Eats "Hamburgers" At The GM Holiday Party, We Eat It Up

Ray Wert — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:11:33 EST

That's right, kids — we snuck into the General's holiday party over at the world's biggest automaker's world's biggest Heritage Center, located deep in the heart of Reagan Democratic politics — Sterling Heights, MI. Although we made it in a bit late, we still found ourselves in range to fire a few questions at Chief Exec "Slick" Rick Wagoner, who wore a smile that told the story of the night — "What? We're an auto company in trouble? Wait, phew — I'm not Ford!" But while other — more real — journalists went after C-levels like the FO, Fritz "Earn This" Henderson, we knew we wanted to spend a few brief moments with "Maximum" Bob Lutz. Unfortunately, the only words Bob said to us were "Oh, Hi" and "I need to get one of those hamburgers" as he moved past us towards a food station serving sliced tenderloin and dinner rolls, Road & Track editor Matt DeLorenzo following along behind toe-to-heel — but whatevs, we could almost smell fuel trucks in the jetwash left in his wake. Although intoxicating as the kerosene and paraffin scent may have been, we needed to press on, next meeting up with some of the other younger auto journos from both the interwebs as well as from the ink and paper outlets, where we were provided with some supercilious attention from an overzelous Chevy PR staffer. And as I looked over at the mainstream media young'ns who were now tasting the same not-at-all-condescending reaction us web outlets normally receive, I felt a sense that all was right in the world. Then I remembered I was at the GM Holiday Party and immediately left to go home and spent an hour in the shower with lava soap and a scrub brush. Feel free to check out the gallery of the evening below, starting from bottom to top if you're reading the narrative going along with the pictures. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking Records! Toyota Likes To Be On Top Of Ford, Sales Up A Super Best-Ever 15.9%

Ray Wert — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:06:38 EST

ToMoCo continued it's dominatrix-like smacking of FoMoCo, as the automaker from the land of the rising sun reported sales of 196,695 vehicles during the month of November. That's a 15.9% increase in month-to-month sales from 2005. That broke down to an increase of 18% in the Toyota Division, and what would appear to be a November to remember for the Lexus Division, with an increase in sales of 4.2%. Not too shabby, and enough to best FoMoCo this month — but who knows what'll happen in what may be an incentive-filled December. Will it be one to remember for Toyota, or will Ford be talking about what they'll be feeling. Stay tuned. Full release after the jump. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking! Whoa, Joe Shows Chrysler Group Sales That Don't Blow — DCX Up 4.7%, Beats Ford

Ray Wert — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:31:00 EST

The German-American hybrid saw US sales increase this month by 4.7%, selling 186,635 vehicles, which represents a 21% jump from the Mercedes unit and — Holy Joe! — a jump of 2.9% at the 'merican side of the company, the Chrysler Group. Whoa! Joe Eberhardt, the sales and marketing chief in Auburn Hills totally knows Chrysler Group sales in November. But the real big news is that the big cross-Atlantic merger of equals beat cross-town rivals FoMoCo to jump from 4th biggest automaker in sales for November to 3rd. True, we hear that they both got spanked by ToMoCo — but whatevs — it must have been all ~~those incentives~~ that direct mail they've been doing. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking! GM Releases Sales Without A Release, Sales Up 6%

Ray Wert — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:10:27 EST

At first my big question for General Motors — are y'all planning on issuing a press release at some point to provide your numbers? Usually the sales numbers are posted online about 15 minutes before the start of the conference call — and well, the conference call's started and narry a number to be found. But here's what we know from Paul Ballew on the call — sales are up 6%, with retail sales up 11% and fleet sales down 7%. He's also telling us truck sales are up 15% and up 17% in retail sales. All of these are good numbers, but we'll wait for the full release whenever the hell the General decides to release it. – Ray Wert More »

Breaking! Ford Announces The Sharp Sting Of November's Unrealistic Expectations, Sales Down 10%

Ray Wert — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:47:41 EST

You know, we understand it's important to reach for the moon, but it's probably best to have realistic expectations when you're still working on that whole turnaround plan thing. Like for example, take FoMoCo, who just released their November sales, down a whopping 10% from month-to-month levels a year ago. It's probably not a good idea to have your senior sales analyst, George Pipas, saying things on your sales call like

"were our sales expectations [for the month of November] realistic? Frankly, no..."

That's normally a bad thing. What else is a bad thing? How about truck sales down 12.9% for the month, hitting a year-to-date drop of 14.4%. Luckily, their car sales were down too — 2.6%. The folks from Dearborn are calling that a disappointment. I'd have to agree. Somehow I think that maybe if they'd had the Edge this month maybe they could find a way to have held on to the #2 spot in US sales — frankly, I don't think they've done that. – Ray Wert More »

Fine China: FAW Shows Coupe Concept in Beijing

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 10:35:21 EST

Chinese automaker FAW worked up this little coupe concept with joint venture partner Mazda for Beijing's Auto China 2006. While close inspection reveals a mishmash of Mazda, Nissan and Mitsubishi product influences (plus de rigeur gilded sport-compact wheels, natch), a surprising gestalt makes it all work. If this is the net effect of China owning all our T-bills, we say bring on the National Monument Fire Sale. – Mike Spinelli More »

Breaking! Will DaimlerChrysler Spin Off Mercedes Group After October Sales Drop?

Ray Wert — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 10:12:22 EST

Why was it that after the American side of the German-American hybrid merger of equals saw lower auto sales last month combined with quarterly losses, Euro business reporters were clamoring for answers to the question "Will DaimlerChrysler spin off the Chrysler Group?" Yet, when Mercedes saw a 3.5% drop in October sales, due to a dip in demand for the two-seat Smart car, where were those journos asking a similar question of the German side of Dr. Z's bi-continental alliance? So, just to make sure the game's even — we're asking the question for them:

"Hey, Dr. Z — will DaimlerChrysler spin off the Mercedes Group?"

There, that's only fair. We feel much better now. – Ray Wert More »

SEMA Show: Kids Love The AutoLoc Flamethrower

Ray Wert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:21:19 EST

After watching this video of the AutoLoc exhaust-mounted flamethrower gleaned from our gadget-obsessed brother-site's co-coverage of some of SEMA's techie goodness, the only thing we're able to think of was this monologue from the Mel Brooks classic, Spaceballs: More »

SEMA Show: How Can You Sell Tires If You Don't Have Any Booth Babes?

Ray Wert — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 13:00:00 EST

As Jalopnik photographer-of-the-star-cars Curtis Walker was want to tell us — there are rules for booth babes at SEMA. Apparently, this stuff doesn't just happen by chance — and here's his explanation of where you'll find the booth babes, what they'll be wearing and why — and all with a helpful reference gallery below:
More »

SEMA Show: The GMC Sierra NFL Pickup — For The NFL Fan With Everything But A Girlfriend

Ray Wert — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 09:09:49 EST

Really, the NFL-logo grill is what does it for us. And no, we're not spelling that wrong — we meant grill. Full gallery below. Brats and Hebrew Nat's not included. – Ray Wert More »

SEMA Show: Damn Those Yankees And Their OC Chopper

Ray Wert — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:34:40 EST

Well, I know that choppers are totally not my bag, but when I saw this little OC Chopper-created cycle for purposes of auctioning off to charity at the General's Silverado silliness last night, I knew I had to show it off — if only because my beloved Detroit Tigers gave them an impressive smack-down during the American League Divisional Series. Full gallery below. – Ray Wert More »

Whistlin' Wynn-Dixie: Chevy Shows Off It's Threesome Of Silverado Customs

Ray Wert — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:33:44 EST

We're over at the Wynn hotel, Steve's golden child who isn't one of his potentially tattlin' children, in order to check out the threesome of Silverado customs the General's got on display. We've shown them to you in sketch form, and now we've got them live and in color. And yes, the Dale Jr. truck is still hideous. But, the other two, the OC Chopper Silverado and the 427 Silverado (powered by the 7.0-liter LS7 from the Z06 Corvette) still look as pretty as the drawings. We'll get more to you on Chevy's show n' tell tomorrow — but for now, feast your eyes on the gallery below, culled from our live action shots and the not-so-live PR ones. You'll get all sorts of Teutful family love, some Dale Jr. love, and hell, even some Ed Peper love — if you know, that's how you roll. – Ray Wert More »

SEMAture Ejaculation: Foose's CNN Hummer

Ray Wert — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:25:21 EST

Chip Foose must have lost a bar bet he made with Boyd Coddington and got stuck building a Hummer for CNN. The "Warrior One" appears to be a salute to the reporters covering the Iraq war, though it may alternatively refer to Wolf Blitzer's "blitzkrieg" career path during which he stuck a butter knife into Bernard Shaw's epiglottis. The real question is this: Even if it's for charity — why does every entity in the world need a custom car created in their honor? The end of days is just a "Yes, Dear"-themed Volkswagen away. Full gallery of the nausea-inducing Hummer below and the full press release after the jump.– Ray Wert More »

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Audi RS4 - He Said Supercar, He Said 'Meh' Edition - Part 1

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:00:00 EST

After the enthusiastic embrace of the initial, "He Drove/He Drove" Ford Edge review, Mr. Michael Spinelli did what any good editor would do — call the boys and yell, "Again! Again! Do it again!" Reality being what it is (poor, impoverished auto-journos living thousands of miles apart) Mike "Likes to Pray" Austin was not available to fracture speed limits with the Loverman. But Davey G. sure was. The boys set off from Pedro in the beyond-hoontastic Audi RS4 in search of celebrity Malibu crash sites, the most dangerous road in California and drunken cheerleaders/supermodels. As of right now, we only know that the Loverman has made it back alive. Click through for the debauchery. And we do mean debauchery. The photographic, gallery-type evidence is here. More »

SEMAture Ejaculation: The Gravitational Pull Of Ford's F-650 Is Beautifully Disgusting

Ray Wert — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:30:00 EST

There's nothing like taking a Class 6 or 7 commercial vehicle with non-commercial refinement and making it even more non-commercial than ever before. So, as we continue our wholly unsupervised preview of the 2006 SEMA show, we had to show you this behemoth of an F-650 pickup put together by the folks over at "Truck Customs by Chris" for FoMoCo to display this year. Yes, we know we've seen these things from afar, but never this close up, and never with both scissor and gullwing doors. Yes, it's horrifying in its beauty — but much like a train wreck, you just have to stop and stare. Stare away at the full gallery below the jump and then check out the rest of our coverage at our SEMA mini-site or via the feed. – Ray Wert More »

SEMAture Ejaculation: The Mopar-Enhanced Dodge Challenger Super Stock

Ray Wert — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 08:05:00 EST

I did my best teamster impression, slipping in unnoticed among the union worker bees into the cavernous Las Vegas Conference Center last night, looking to snag a sneak peek of whatever SEMA sexiness I could find. And I hit the bonus multiplier: shots (albeit a bit herky-jerky — a flash would have drawn too much attention) of Dodge's Challenger Super Stock show car, cast in an amerigasm of red white and blue (gallery, sans tarp, via the link below). We'll be at SEMA all week, so don't forget to visit our SEMA mini-site or drop the feed into your favorite RSS reader. – Ray Wert More »

Exclusive 2006 SEMA Preview: Four-Door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited — Like A Hummer, Only Good

Ray Wert — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:16:50 EDT

While at the Paris Auto Show at the beginning of the month, Spinn and I walked past the Chrysler Group display and as we passed the four-door Wrangler Unlimited, we both made a startling realization — the 4x4 with more off-road lineage than a Hummer could ever have totally has the potential to be a Hummer killer. We even remarked as much to an auto writer with one of the local Detroit dailies later that evening, and we received the same agreement. Now what you have before you is obvs not the standard, it's actually a Rubicon model featuring some editions by the Jeep/Truck engineering-design build shops, a team run by 300C/Charger/Magnum design chief and all-around good sport Ralph Gilles. His team put together a 4-door 4x4 with an interior featuring custom Katzkin leather seating and powered it with a 3.0L CRD diesel with some Tru-Lok-equipped Dana 44 axles supporting the weight. A performance suspension lift gives it the clearance to take on a set of 35-inch BFG (why yes, there're all sorts of acronym-busters for that one) Mud Terrain tires mounted on Custom 18-inch aluminum wheels supplied by Taneisya. The external toys also include a Warn 9.5ti winch mounted on American Expedition Vehicles (Who woulda thunk there'd be an AEV connection here, right?) new front bumper. And yes, it does look like a billion and a half bucks sprayed in that Rolex Silver paint — and you probably will only feel for maybe a split second like you're driving in a G500 look-alike. – Ray Wert More »

Exclusive 2006 SEMA Preview: Dodge Nitro's Bringing The Paneling To Carry The Shingles, Tools And Nails

Ray Wert — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:21:23 EDT

We'd seen one early sketch last month — the same time we saw the early sketch on the big HEMI Nitro purple people eater we've already thrown to you power-hungry wolves out there — and now we've got more pics and more deets for this SEMA SkunkWerks surprise from the boys n' girls at the Chrysler Group. It's got a 3.7-liter, 12-valve, SOHC V6 pushing out 210 hp and 235 lb-ft of torque (not quite the HEMI Nitro's 360 hp, but enough for a bit of go). It's definitely got a bit of "hot rod" flavor — or maybe a bit of surf wagon style. Either way, it's got modern flair due to the hand-fabrication and modifications made to the bodyside aperture, and it's got a very clear Mopar theme going on with the unique rear compartment with custom storage bins and a sliding load floor beefier than the normal "load-n-go" found on the average Nitro. Strap on some one-off Alcoa-forged 20" wheels wrapped in big ol' BF Goodrich g-Force 265/50VR20's and you'll make any delivery person's day. Full gallery via the link below. – Ray Wert More »

Exclusive 2006 SEMA Preview: Yeah, This Dodge Nitro's Got A HEMI

Ray Wert — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 18:10:45 EDT

Remember that HEMI-powered Dodge Nitro we showed a quick sketch of last month — the one Edmunds told us was going to be ready to show as a one-off at SEMA? We told you the vitals last time:

The modified 5.7-liter V8 [HEMI] will be paired with a Tremec five-speed, Brembo brakes and 22-inch Alcoa wheels (can't wait). The paint job will be a black-purple metallic (also known as blackberry), with a two-tone interior in black and slate gray, with four bucket seats lifted from the its Viper sibling.

Well, we can now confirm all of that's correct — and on top of the gallery we've linked to below from our secret undercover mission into the heart of Auburn Hills, we can add to that the following additional details — it's also got Yokohama tires (285/35R22) and Kicker subs in the trunk. Also, it's really pucking furple. – Ray Wert More »

Exclusive 2006 SEMA Preview: Chrysler's SEMA Sebring's Sexier Than The Original

Ray Wert — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:16:56 EDT

Now this is what the Chrysler Sebring should have been — long lines on the front — but none on the hood, toss in those working air scoops, a 4.0-liter V6 pushing out what has to be more than 250 hp, and — pardon my domestic hard-on here — but dammit if I ain't in love. This is Chrysler's official SEMA concept Sebring — and I had the opportunity to get a first-hand look at it today as I travelled over to the inner design sanctum of the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid — the DaimlerChrysler Tech and Design Center. Here's the first of six custom "SkunkWerks" vehicles put together by the design and engineering team for this year's SEMA show — you know, for fun. We'll get you more information as we know it — but for now, feast your eyes on the prettiness that could have been — if only Chrysler had the requisite-sized testes to do it. Full gallery below. – Ray Wert More »

ExxonMobil Releases Third Quarter Earnings, Down To Second-Largest Profit Ever

Ray Wert — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:29:56 EDT

The titan that is the world's largest publicly traded oil corporation on revenue, spoke from high atop an oil well this morning, delivering their quarterly earnings for the third quarter of 2006. And oh what a profit ExxonMobil had — the company reported the second largest profit by a publicly-traded corporation ever — $10.5 billion ($1.77 per share). That's down from the last quarter of 2005, when the company reported the largest profit by a publicly-traded corporation ever — $10.7 billion ($1.79 per share). Well, gas prices were down a bit this past month, weren't they? [Hat tip to Bob!] – Ray Wert More »

What Happened To Step Two? DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group Posts Quarterly Operating Loss Of $1.4 Billion

Ray Wert — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 09:41:53 EDT

Wow. There's no getting around it — this is a really big loss for the 'merican side of the German American hybrid. The automaker saw a hit to the bottom operating line of $1.4 billion during the third quarter of this year — that's over a $1.8 billion 180 degree turn from the same quarter's $393 million operating profit last year. The folks over in Auburn Hills provide two clear reasons for why they hit such a large loss in a post on its media-only site, the Firehouse:

"The operating loss was primarily due to decreased shipments (158,937 units to 504,426 units in the third quarter of 2006 compared to the third quarter of 2005), an unfavorable shift in product and market mix and negative net pricing. Third-quarter revenues decreased by 23% to $12.1 billion."

Double Wow! The 'merican side of the merger of equals saw how much of a sales drop? It's no wonder the automaker has been adding some new steel bars on the upper floor windows in the Michigan HQ tower. – Ray Wert More »

Exclusive 2006 SEMA Preview! Ford Encases The Fusion In A Darth Vader-esque 3dCarbon-ite Body Kit

Ray Wert — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:01:00 EDT

You'll forgive the pun, but as I sit here in a Dearborn Starbucks, I'm listening to two fan-boys spout off on whether Episode III was better than Episode V — which as everyone knows, isn't even a contest. Which brings me full-vicious-circle to the last of FoMoCo's immortal trilogy that is the automaker's preview of SEMA offerings (sans one toy you'll be seeing tomorrow). This third one is straight out of the body kit shop of 3dCarbon. We'll let 3dCarbon take it from here and tell you a bit about the product, a six-piece kit including a front air dam, side skirts, a rear lower skirt, an upper deck spoiler and a rear deck spoiler: More »

Exclusive 2006 SEMA Preview! Ford Gives The Mustang A Perfomance Treatment

Ray Wert — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:12:36 EDT

I had the opportunity to accept an invite from FoMoCo to catch a little preview of the SEMA show this morning at the automaker's Dearborn Development Center. The boys n' girls from Dearborn gave us a quick sneak peek at three of the special edition vehicles they'll be showing at the end of the month in Las Vegas, baby, Vegas. The first of the three was this sweet number you've got in front of you. It's the SEMA edition Mustang — and atop the already slick performing GT — Ford's kiddies strapped a Lycoming supercharger, some new headers and exhaust tips pulled right from Ford's Racing Performance Parts (NAMBLA) catalog — all of which give this California special body kit-wearing, 18-inch black Bullit wheeled, Shelby rear-spoiler-sporting muscle car an extra few horses over the standard GT (FoMoCo folks on the scene were hesitant to give the exact number, but guesstimated it to be around 435). Pretty snazzy if you ask us — and take a look yourself at the gallery via the link below. – Ray Wert More »