Tesla Model S Sells Out, Veloster Gets A Turbo, And BMW Recruits Fat People
This is the Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parcel it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?
1st Gear: Elon Musk Says Tesla Model Vaporware Is Sold Out for 2012
Tesla's CEO and resident Bond villain tells Businessweek there are 6500 orders for the Model S. Apparently he's confused "orders" with "sales."
2nd Gear: Hyundai Veloster Goes Turbo
Car and Driver, this writer's old haunt, says Hyundai's CEO John Krafcik has finally said outright that a turbocharged Veloster is coming. More power is always welcome, but can weird looks and lousy steering also be sorted with some kind of bolt-on kit?
3rd Gear: Volkswagen XL1 Approved for Production
You remember VW's "urban city commuter modern hybrid suppository future-of-transportation" show car? Automotive News Europe reports that VW is going to build it. It's easy to green light cars when you're swimming in cash.
4th Gear: BMW Recruited Fat Volunteers to Help Develop Vehicles
The UK's Telegraph quotes BMW engineer Ralf Kaiser: "People are getting more obese and we want to find out how that limits their range of motion and how our vehicles can adapt to the changing needs of our customers." One thought is to lose some weight.
5th Gear: Ferrari Chair Montezemolo Tells Italian PM Berlusconi to Resign
The only exec in the Fiat group with a clue is telling Berlusconi that it's time to abdicate, as reported by Reuters. Respect for Montezemolo and all, but haven't the Italians learned their lesson about Corporatism?
6th Gear: Former Delphi CEO Gets Slap on Wrist
Bloomberg reports that a U.S. judge has ruled that former Delphi CEO J. T. Battenberg III must pay a $215,000 fine for violating U.S. securities laws by misrepresenting a $237 million payment to General Motors. U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn in Detroit today entered that judgment against Battenberg and a $118,500 sanction against former top Delphi accountant Paul Free. A Detroit jury in January found them men misrepresented the GM payment and found Free committed wrong-doing in three other transactions in 2000 and 2001.
Reverse:
⏎ Chevy's Hot Wheels Camaro concept heads to SEMA [GM]
⏎ 74-year-old Craig Breedlove says he's shooting to break 800 mph ... on land [Hemmings]
⏎ Auto dealers take over Obama fuel rules fight [Automotive News]
⏎ Preview of Los Angeles auto show design challenge [Motor Authority]
⏎ The British government has loaned 10.4 million pounds to Lotus [TopGear]
⏎ Skoda is going to introduce a bunch more models. You care because the three-row crossover is coming here as a VW [InAutoNews]
Today in Automotive History:
On this day in 1930, President Herbert Hoover turns a telegraphic "golden key" in the White House to mark the opening of the 5,160-foot-long Detroit-Windsor Tunnel between the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. The tunnel opened to regular traffic on November 3. The first passenger car it carried was a 1929 Studebaker.
[History]
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