Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we have reports from Automobile, BBC News, and Petrolicious.
Q and A: Mark Reuss, General Motors' Product Chief — Automobile
Travis liked the 2014 Chevrolet SS just fine, but Mark Reuss says GM doesn't know what the hell to do with it. More news about big Cadillacs, trucks, hydrogen, and why he thinks the ELR is a better buy than the Tesla Model S.
JK: Australia's Holden is being closed as a manufacturing base. What does that portend for the Holden Commodore-based Chevrolet SS? It seems to fill a need.
MR: It does fill a need. I don't know how we're going to sell it. What's going to happen with it now that we've announced [Holden manufacturing is] gone? It's either going to be hot or it's not.
Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road — BBC News
How exactly did the automobile take precedence over human beings in our streets? It's kind of weird when you think about it. This is a fascinating read on how that transition went down.
A key moment, says Norton, was a petition signed by 42,000 people in Cincinnati in 1923 to limit the speed of cars mechanically to 25mph (40kph). Though the petition failed, an alarmed auto industry scrambled to shift the blame for pedestrian casualties from drivers to walkers.
Snowy Italian Winter Marathon Makes For Great Rallying — Petrolicious
Not a ton of words here, just a ton of first rate car porn. Drool.
This was an especially good year. The snow fell heavily and racers enjoyed drifting through curves all the way up the mountain. A snowstorm hit the majestic Dolomites a few days before the rally and organizers tried to get the roads cleared but it was pointless, above 2300m (about 7500ft) there was only snow and ice. The truth is though, it wouldn't be the Winter Marathon without snow.