Are Ferrari and most other supercar makers immune to economic recession? That was the question that everyone wanted an answer to because the “just how bad is it?” gets answered when we financial figures.

Ferrari released this press statement verbatim on October 27:

“Maranello, October 27th, 2008 - The Board of Directors of Ferrari SpA met today under the chairmanship of Luca di Montezemolo, to examine the third quarter results. Ferrari recorded 450 million in revenues (up 22.3 percent year-over-year), and a trading profit of 79 million (17.6 percent of revenues), up 41.1 percent from the 56 million figure (15.2 percent of revenues) for Q3 2007.
Read the rest of this entry »

For some, the 2CV is an eyesore, a step back to a lesser time in motoring. But for others, the CV represents a bygone era of pure motoring. This week’s link guides us on a journey to Moscow in a 2CV - and you thought you had a hard time making it to Phoenix without air conditioning!

BBC - To Moscow and back by Deux Chevaux - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7665349.stm

Yup, there’s a new 911 in town. We publish a new clip about the 2009 997. Of note are the PDK gearbox and the Direct Fuel Injected engine. But rest easy, it doesn’t look radically different!

We’ve discovered a great new site that can help budget your costs for the next cross-country road trip.

http://costtodrive.com

To review the site, it’s a little slow at times, but if you have a 2000 or new car and have your itinerary planned out for your great drive across America, Cost2Drive can calculate, pretty accurately, the cost of driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles in a 2001 Honda Civic. The answer is of course: $35. The price for driving a $1.5mm Bugatti Veyron with more than 4 times the horsepower? $135. But guess what, you won’t get there any faster…at least not legally!

Try being married to an ex-Formula One driver…

See the following link for a map of the vehicular demographics of the USA, courtesy of Jalopnik:

http://jalopnik.com/5043427/the-official-jalopnik-map-of-united-states-vehicular-douchebaggery

Notice, too, the minutiae of European cars across the country. Com’mon Europe, sell sell sell!

If you head down to your local Department of Economic Security, High School, or even Barnes & Noble bookseller, you will find a great many references to career descriptions ranging from fire fighter to nurse practitioner. But for a lucky few people in the world, with incredible drive and passion, there exists no article in those books. I’m talking about the career of race car driver. 

One might imagine the life of a racing driver to be one of great excitement, riches, and even sex appeal. But that is not the case for everyone who enters the field of auto racing.

Enter James Hunt. Read the rest of this entry »

How pleased Lamborghini must be that it’s latest supercar, the Murciélago LP640 has just co-starred with Cristian Bale in the latest Batman flick, the Dark Knight. Who knows if Lambo paid dearly for the product placement, but a 155+ million dollar opening weekend is sure to get them a ton of free advertising.

Auto companies are masters at product placement.

A few examples:

• Ferrari - Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Matthew Broderick steals his friend’s father’s 250 GT California.
• Porsche - Tom Cruise drives a 928 into Lake Michigan (oops!)
• Dodge Challenger - Vanishing Point’s star car gets driven into 2 bulldozers at high speed. Big crash!

Tons of other examples exist, I am sure someone will point out the cars from Bullitt and Miami Vice, too…

Look for the ultra-exclusive Lamborghini Reventón to appear in a yet-to-be-determined film sometime soon!

Last week, Porsche and Boris Johnson’s London government announced that the £25/per day congestion charge that the the previous London government, headed by Ken Livingstone, has sought to impose would be overturned. A judicial review concluded that critical evidence suggested that the enormous charges, more than three times what is currently in place, would actually do more environmental damage, rather than less.
Read the rest of this entry »

There are three reasons that Porsche is concerned about London’s impending congestion charge. First the people don’t want it, second it affects the sales of Porsches, and because it unfairly punishes the people by raising money for the city of London through a sort of taxation without direct representation, and is therefore unlawful.

Another observation: Porsche is by no means the carmaker in European Union with the lower overall emissions, but let’s look at the numbers…

The 911 has a 3.6 liter H-6 engine this base Carrera has a combined cycle of 25.7 mpg, with CO2 emissions of 266g/km. The car also costs $73,000 US, or £61,620.

The 2.7 liter H-6 Boxster engine costs $46,000 US or £33,375. It however with it’s smaller engine gets a very reasonable 29.7 mpg on the combined cycle with 227 g/km of CO2 emissions. The 3.4 liter version of that engine produces just 254 g/km. These three models are sports cars. Competitor Ferrari on the other hand produces a V8 engine in the F430, which has output of 420 g/km - quite a lot- and gets only 15.4 miles per gallon. The V12 599 GTB that Ferrari makes produces 490 g/km and drinks a gallon in 13.2 miles.
Read the rest of this entry »

From the folks at Volvo - the same people who have promised to eliminate car injuries and deaths in the next 12 years, come some safe driving tips for the summer. Though some analysts have predicted record low numbers of summer travelers, the following tips might even be useful in taking the kids to daycare in the morning. Some are just a little humorous.

On the other hand, all drivers could start with a refresher course of the rules of the road. A pamphlet you can pick up at your local DMV when they tell you to get your car smog checked this summer! Start with this one: unless you are passing someone stay to the right lane of the road - a great tip for all Buick drivers! 

Limit the noisemakers. Parents are more and more turning to “road trip babysitters” such as GameBoy’s, portable DVD players and iPods to keep their kids happy and busy on long trips and when traffic gets bad. Practice moderation with this in your car. Set rules around wearing head phones or only having one thing playing at a time. The beeps and tones that these machines make can be block out the sounds of a beeping horn or even an oncoming emergency vehicle’s siren.
 

Pack low. See more. When the trunk or hatch gets full with bags and coolers, kids tend to squeeze stuff on to the back shelf of the car or pile their hatch area right up to the ceiling of the car. This can take away some key sight lines. At every stop, take an inventory of what has crept into these sight lines and take 30 seconds to repack your stuff before you get back on the road.
 

Stick together. Sometimes on road trips, it can be as dangerous out of the car as it is in the car. Rest stops, restaurants and gas stations that your family has never been to before pose risks such as not knowing when and where to look for oncoming cars. Unfortunately, public places on the open road can also be hangouts for people preying on young kids. Never send a child under 18 to a rest room by him or herself. Form teams of at least two to head inside. As alert as you are on the road, be equally as alert when you make stops.  
 

Avoid rival sibling arguments. Let’s face it, kids that have to sit in cars for a longer time than they are used to alongside their brother or sister may pick a fight with their sibling. These family moments can be dangerous to parents behind the wheel because their instincts tell them to break up the fight just as they would if they were in their living room. Stern warnings to riders about fighting in the car need to be made crystal clear before you put the car in drive. If things get really out of hand, pull over and deal with the situation on the side of the road or at a gas station.  
 

Keep the car seat safe for your youngest passengers. The best car seat is the one that fits your child properly, is easy to use and fits in your vehicle correctly. Install the car seat in the vehicle’s backseat. Infants under 20 pounds or younger than one year old, should ride in a rear facing car seat. Check to see that the safety belt holds the seat tightly in place and make sure the harness is buckled snugly around your child. Some new cars, including Volvo’s, now offer integrated car seats. Visit www.volvocars.com/us/experience/Pages/safety.aspx to learn more about child safety in cars. At http://www.nhtsa.gov/ you can find ease of use ratings for child seats on the market today.  
 

Never leave your child alone in car. Young children can overheat quickly in a warm car. Older children can loosen their seat belt, climb into the driver’s seat, figure out how to undo the parking brake and potentially cause an accident.  
 

Keep small toys in check. Children may get upset and throw their small toys at you, potentially causing you to lose control of the car and cause an accident.  
 

Engage kids in ride safe ideas. Kids have great ideas and they are more likely to own them if they come up with them. Ask each kid rider to come up with their idea to keep their family safe on their road trip.

Source: Volvo

This week’s link come to us from the LA Times’ Dan Neil.

The article discusses
LA Times Article

Lamborghini last year launched the ad personum program to provide individually tailored options to their cars. In January 2008, then went a step further by releasing the following:

LAMBORGHINI UNVEILS FASHION INSPIRED TRENDS FOR THEIR
GALLARDO AND MURCIÉLAGO MODELS AT THE DETROIT AUTO SHOW

“Lamborghini is strongly focusing on the Ad Personam personalization program due to the importance of offering customers the widest range of possibilities for individualizing their cars. This allows them the ability to reflect their own personality and style,” states Stephan Winkelmann, president and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. “Many of our customers take advantage of this program as a tool for owning an even more exclusive Lamborghini.”