We’ve featured this awesome ’71 Riviera in the blog before. Now how about this cool Abarth clone Buickman is building?

While I might be using the term sport compact a little loosely here, I thought all these cars were wicked, so I was able justify shoehorning them into this category. Sue me. Anyway, I’m a sucker for an old-school VW, so I loved Paul Newman’s 351-powered Beetle, and I was really impressed with Rhys Millen Racing’s mid-engine Genesis Coupe, the Fiesta—stock, but awesome—in the Ford booth, the ferocious Fiat 500 and the Scion xB that won the Tuner Challenge. Vote for your favorite below!

One of the big concerns for those of us observing the automotive market and community is the fate of Chrysler. Rob and I as well as many others have written on the subject of their potential impending doom, merge with Fiat, and resulting product line.

Sergio Marchionne finally revealed the product lines we can expect in the coming years, and in doing so confirmed some rumors, clarified others, and dispelled others. For those of you that didn’t catch the news, I will provide the highlights, from a smattering of news sources that I caught.

Marchionne has a lot to wrestle into submission at Chrysler, including ailing sales, debt to the government and others, a poor reputation for quality and fuel mileage, and an uninspiring product line. Since few of you have business degrees, and even fewer give a lug nut about the entire financial climate, I am going to provide a car guy’s lens on the new product overview.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Word on Chrysler" »

There were some great comments in my blog about Fiat’s plan for Chrysler. Apparently, the Sebring is getting the axe. Well, what about the 200C concept that was shown at NAIAS? Remember that? This is truly what the Sebring could/should be. I sure hope it doesn’t end up in the dustbin.

There was a fair amount of noise generated by yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article on Fiat’s plans for Chrysler. Ray Wert at Jalopnik has the Cliff notes. Ok, here’s my take:

Chrysler

Yes, redesign the 300C, yes keep the Town and Country, sure go ahead and kill the PT Cruiser. But keep the Sebring. Only, it needs to be a mid-sized RWD sedan (see my notes on the Dodge Avenger below).

Dodge

Go ahead and kill the Caliber and the Nitro. Not sure about the Grand Caravan, and I have no opinion on the Journey. But let’s keep the Avenger. Like I said the with Sebring above, this car needs to be a mid-size RWD sedan. Think of it as a modern day Dodge Dart. Heck, maybe just call it a Dart. It should be available as a two and four door, maybe as wagon and convertible as well. Power should come from efficient four and six bangers. AWD should be an option. Now, I think the next generation Challenger should be based on this new mid-sized RWD platform as well. The Challenger needs to shrink a bit if it’s gonna stay competitive. Redesign the Charger as a big TWO DOOR muscle car. Call the four door version of the Charger a Magnum or Coronet.

Ram Trucks

Seriously? Is this for real? Just keep ‘em Dodges.

Jeep

Go ahead and kill the Commander and the Compass. Of course keep the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee. But I think they should keep the Patriot. Jeep needs a car-based Subaru Outback fighter and the Patriot is a half-decent offering, though it needs some love. They also need an affordable Cherokee-type vehicle. The Liberty never really did it for me. So why not just bring back the Cherokee? Oh yeah, Jeep needs a small pickup, too. Bring back the Comanche.

Fiat and Alfa Romeo

I’m very happy to see Fiat and Alfa come back to the US. The Fiat 500 is very cool and should do well. And I’m stoked about the Mito and Milano. But where the heck is the Alfa Spider?

So what do you think of my plan? Totally unrealistic? Not possible with the new CAFE standards? Probably. But it’s nice to dream…

The American auto manufacturing companies have continued to stand under the scrutinizing spotlight of media attention since the government issued the bailout “loans.” Government Motors is scrambling to shave some weight from their oppressive cost structure and prove their sustainability. All the while, the media all but deifies Ford for their pass on free taxpayer money. Despite all this attention on Ford and GM, Chrysler just drifts in and out of the headlines. As many of you are aware, Fiat bargained for a portion of Chrysler, rescuing them from bankruptcy and hopefully breathing some new life into both companies.

With all this impending change, I thought it appropriate to expose some of the background on this Italian auto manufacturer and venture to guess what we might expect to see coming from both Chrysler and the family of Fiat brands.

Continue reading after the jump!

Thanks to Fiat.Com and Alfa Romeo.Com for the Photos!

Continue reading "Coming to the USA" »

We’ve had mega coverage of the Pacific Northwest’s incredible drift scene lately, so how ’bout a stroll down the path less traveled with some Olde World European classics? These are cars you won’t see hanging their tails out in a wall-scraping slide, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less fascinating. To find them, we had to hop onto one of Washington’s many state ferry boats and hitch a ride to Whidbey Island, about an hour north of Seattle and home of Simpson Design. Continue reading and view more photos on MotorMavens

Welcome to the CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot, a regular feature which aims to expand the notion of what a muscle car is, and to see if something Italian can be classified as one. It’s time for something a little different, and in honor of the merger between Chrysler and Fiat, we are going to highlight the “Italianate Chryslers” of the past. Can these Designer Italian bodied beauties be classified as true Muscle? Let’s take a look at the svelte, yet powerful Dual Ghia, and it’s successor, the Ghia L6.4.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "CarDomain Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot: the Dual Ghia & Ghia L6.4" »

Many have heard of the Sports Illustrated Jinx: An athlete or team is pictured on the cover of the magazine, then proceeds to lose an important game, match, or competition. Is there an automotive counterpart?

First let me say that I am a Jeep owner, a Jeep historian, and a Jeep enthusiast. I own a 1969 Jeep Super Wagoneer, I’ve published more than a dozen Jeep articles, and I’ve attended many Jeep Jamborees, Camp Jeep events, and have twice driven the Rubicon Trail from start to finish in a Jeep, so it pains me to write about something that can be considered a coincidence or superstition: the Jeep Jinx. But the facts are inarguable; virtually every one of the corporate entities that has owned the Jeep brand has fallen on hard times and most are no longer with us.

Continue reading over at Automotive Traveler.

By a general consensus, most gearheads feel that the Chrysler takeover by Fiat will end in some sort of disaster. The question is only if it will be long-term disaster, short-term disaster, or the latest option, an explosion on the launch pad.

Several pension funds in Indiana have filed court paperwork that if recognized would delay the merger/sale/government takeover of Chrysler to the point that it would not longer be feasible and the company would be liquidated and essentially dissolve in front of our very eyes. The documents have been filed because those pension funds are not being paid their outstanding debts while other debtors with less debt and less tenure are being paid first.

Interestingly enough, the papers filed by the funds are asking the court to check the constitutionality of what is happening and state their concern that the government does not have the authority to do what they are doing.

This has much larger implications that Chrysler. If the case is taken up and makes its way up the food chain we could literally be seeing a scenario with the Supreme Court ruling on this. If that happened, Chrysler would be dead and buried, but the legal precedent would be huge.

Click here to see the whole Reuters story and join us in counting down until Fiat jumps ship.

In some ways the concept is so audacious that it could not have been imagined just a few months ago. Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne is well on his way to positioning Fiat as an auto producer on the same scale of Toyota and Volkswagen. In a February interview that appeared in the April 2009 issue of UK’s Car magazine, Marchionne said that there will only be six major auto makers standing when the current round of consolidation concludes in the next 24 months. With these aggressive steps, first with Chrysler and now with Opel, Marchionne is trying to insure that Fiat is among the survivors. The near-doubling of Fiat’s stock in the last 12 month is clear evidence that Marchionne is a force to be reckoned with. Continue reading at Automotive Traveler

Being a Mopar nut it has been very disheartening for me to watch Chrysler implode recently. If things proceed as planned, and Chrysler does wind up in the hands of Fiat, what will the result be? Although it is funny, hopefully its nothing like this cartoon that was in the Herald Sun today.

Coming of age in the Pacific Northwest during the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations, exposure to Italian cars came in small and sporadic doses. Sure, there were the less-than-rare sightings of Fiats and Alfas, but the only Lancia I remember was my third grade teacher’s blue Beta Coupe, there was a kid at school whose father had a grey Ferrari 308 GTS, and I once – just once, I saw a white Lamborghini Countach driving up Clyde Hill driving home from high school.

This makes the phenomenal turnout at the Fiat Enthusiasts Northwest club’s annual All-Italian show at the XXX Rootbeer in Issaquah, WA more amazing. With 100 beautiful Italian machines congregating in one Seattle-area suburb, it’s proof that world has changed drastically in just a few decades.

Fiat, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, De Tomaso, and Lamborghini were all well-represented. Ferrari had the best showing with nearly a third of the total field wearing a prancing horse badge.

And, of course, the color of the day was Rossa Corsa. Between the cars and clothes, there was more red at the show than in all the Tarantino movies combined. Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Speed and Beauty on Display at the 2009 All-Italian Show" »

That’s Fabricci Italiano Automobili Detroit, and it’s what Chysler might become if the bosses at FIAT have their way. It sounds like the UAW and CAW will get behind the talks leading to a joint Chrysler-FIAT agreement, and today we heard that the head of FIAT is willing to purchase Chrylser’s assets if required! Say what? More to follow when I hear it….

Sends a pretty strong message, huh? Check out the video!