Smart uses hot dog costumes, street gamblers to lure customers
Filed under: MPG, SMART
Why not spend your time at the computer pretending to be maneuvering around a city? That seems to be the question Smart’s latest advertising campaign is asking. But Daimler is actually interested in a different question. For some reason, Daimler thinks men dressed in hot dog suits and street gamblers are enough to make people click around their interactive site and find the answer to, “the question that everyone asks: ‘What happened?’”
When we spoke to new Smart USA president Jill Lajdziak last month, she said that the Fortwo’s “lifestyle message” would be emphasized going forward and that, “We need to make sure the marketing is as innovative as the car.” Even though the new microsite is not just a project of Smart USA, we’re not sure if it meets Lajdziak’s stated goals. For our money, flash-intensive websites are annoying and slow to navigate, so we’re pretty much not interested in “What happened?” Check it out for yourself here. The full campaign officially kicks off February 16.
[Source: Daimler]
Continue reading Smart uses hot dog costumes, street gamblers to lure customers
Smart uses hot dog costumes, street gamblers to lure customers originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Next generation Fiat Panda due in 2011
Fiat will launch a redesigned Panda in 2011, after CEO Sergio Marchionne lifted a 15 month spending freeze. Marchionne’s spending freeze ran from October 2008 to December 2009 and saw the delay of the new Panda, Alfa Romeo Giulietta and a replacement for the Lancia Ypsilon.
In a telephone conference with financial analysts, Marchionne said launching any major new models last year in the middle of the global financial downturn would have been a “waste”.
“That’s the reason why I think we intelligently postponed a number of our programs to make sure that it coincided with what I consider to be a structural recovery in demand in 2011 and later years,” he said. Fiat’s investment in 2009 was 32% lower than 2008’s. In 2008, it stood at €4.97bn (£4.34bn) and will be €4.5bn (£3.93bn) this year.
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta will be launched in Geneva next month – a year later than originally planned. The Panda will be launched in 2011 – two years later than originally planned.
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Ouch, that Hearse! Maserati Quattroporte works the graveyard shift
Filed under: Sedan, Wagon, Maserati, Specialty
Some of us – okay, one of us – here at Autoblog may disagree, but there’s no shortage of people who think the Maserati Quattroporte is one of the most beautiful four-door works of automotive art this side of a Toyota Prius. All the more so after having driven it in Austria. So why, then, do so many coachbuilders seem bent on ruining it?
We’ve seen Quattroportes covered in shattered glass, dipped in 24-karat gold, and wrapped in Burberry tartan. We’ve seen ‘em stretched beyond recognition, tweaked into touring cars, turned into station wagons – twice, actually – even an old one transformed into a fire truck. Yes, a fire truck. And now this: A Maserati hearse.
Modified by Intercar Modena – a company that offers funerial conversions of everything from Ssanyong Rextons to BMW sidecar motorcycles – the Quattroporte hearse is, well… there’s really not much to say about it other than it’s a hearse. Based on a Quattroporte. And while there aren’t many worse things you could do with a Maserati, there are worse ways to go.
[Source: Maserati-Alfieri.co.uk via autoblog.nl]
Ouch, that Hearse! Maserati Quattroporte works the graveyard shift originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
BMW announces start-stop system and Competition package for M3, M Sport for X5
Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Sedan, Performance, SUV, Geneva Motor Show, Europe, Crossover, BMW
BMW M3 Competition Package – Click above for high-res image gallery
BMW is hell-bent on incorporating its EfficientDynamics systems into every model in its line-up, and the latest recipient is the M3, which will come equipped with Auto Start Stop this spring. According to BMW, the system, which cuts the engine when the M3 comes to a stop, reduces emissions and fuel consumption by up to eight percent.
BMW will also begin offering a Competition Package for the M3 coupe and sedan in Europe, which includes 19×9-inch wheels, a suspension lowered by 10mm and a revised Sport traction control setting. A carbon fiber rear spoiler and front apron flaps are included in the package, and can be ordered separately for older M3s.
A new M Sport package for the X5 will debut alongside the Competition M3 at the Geneva Motor Show, comprised of a 19- or 20-inch wheels wrapped in specially developed tires, a new front fascia with larger air intakes, “satinized aluminum” window surrounds, M leather steering wheel, footrest and a few interior tweaks. All the details, along with new Individual packages for the X5 M, X6 M, 5 and 7 Series sedans, are available in the press release below the fold.
Lutz: Auto execs are underpaid
Filed under: Government/Legal, GM, Earnings/Financials
To clarify, Bob Lutz is specifically talking about General Motors’ top 25 execs. They are the ones who have seen their salaries decline by 31%, and their total remuneration packages go down by more than 20%. Said Lutz, “given the rigors of the job and demands and the accountability, I would say we are being paid way, way, way below market.”
Some would say that the company Lutz works for is lucky to be around at all. Still, he’s got a bit of a point – the “market” decides who gets paid what, and then decides who’s going to go where. If GM’s salaries can’t keep up with their rivals’, then GM knows it’s going to have to make do with what it can get. Or, heaven forbid, get really creative with the massive talent and resources it does have…
To be fair, Lutz knows the score and is only looking for the end of the tunnel, acknowledging, “You can’t go through Chapter 11 and come out the other side and expect to have all of the same perks and comps as you did before. We just hope it doesn’t stay this way too long.” We say that it’s only fitting that how long the situation lasts – until GM repays its loans – will be decided entirely by Mr. Lutz and those 25 pay-restricted executives.
[Source: The Detroit News | Source Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]
Lutz: Auto execs are underpaid originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Graceful Hyundai i-Flow rendered ahead of Geneva sheet-pulling
Filed under: Concept Cars, Sedan, Geneva Motor Show, Hyundai
Hyundai i-Flow rendering – Click above to enlarge
Hyundai has decided to release a single rendering of its i-Flow concept ahead of its big reveal at next month’s Geneva Motor Show. To our eyes, the i-Flow looks to be the logical evolution of the Korean automaker’s recent “fluidic sculpture” design philosophy, as seen on the new 2011 Sonata and sister-company Kia’s Ray concept, which is currently being shown off at the Chicago Auto Show.
Actual details on the i-Flow are still pretty hard to come by, but Hyundai says this concept will preview its new D-segment car that will go up against the likes of the Ford Mondeo in Europe. As such, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of diesel powertrain, or possibly even a hybrid system assisted by the i-Flow’s BASF-supplied solar cells.
We’ll have live photos of the new Hyundai i-Flow concept come March 2nd, but in the meantime, click on the image above to see it in high resolution and click past the break to read the official press release.
[Source: Hyundai]
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