Yup, I’m practicing my Italiano with some Roseta Stone and getting ready to leave next week.  Check out the website, that’s AutoStream in the list of media Baby, yea!

1° rally colline molisane – Ronde del Molise 2009.

YouTube – New Focus RS 2009 on 5th Gear!!.

Japanese Kings- Video.

LeftLaneNews just posted pictures of the new Corvette Stingray concept which will have a staring roll in the upcoming Transformers movie.  I’m really digging the badge design of a stylized stingray.  It really grabs some of the “streamlining” romance of a past era, but with a modern edge….much like the Corvette itself.

Corvette Stingray Concept (aka Sideswipe from Transformers 2) Revealed

Porsche releases first footage of the 911 GT3- Video.

YouTube – Next generation Porsche 911 spied.

YouTube – Fifth Gear – Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Snow.

Nissan Spec-v Release video

GTRCenter :: Uncategorized :: Spec-v Official Shots from Nissan.

For the record I really love Porsche, even the Boxster and Caymen.  You would be forgiven for thinking otherwise given how found I am for Porsche competitors like the Aston Martin Vantage or Nissan GT-R, but I think that just further proves how good they are…. Except their stylist keep trying to make non sports cars look like sports cars.  They somewhat redeemed themselves with the faclifted Cayenne, but this new Panamera really is a buzz kill for me.  I can sum up the car saying it’s a really cool trick spoiler wrapped in a tragically unatractive body.

So that’s my opinion take it or leave it, but sitting in my inbox today was some Panamera news that they’ll debut the car in China.

Full press release after the Jump

Press-Information    05/01/2009

New Panamera: World Debut in China

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, will be presenting the new Panamera to the public for the first time at Auto Shanghai 2009 in China from 20 – 28 April. Porsche’s unique, four-door Gran Turismo will be making its world debut at a press conference on 19 April and will be entering the market in late summer 2009.

The four-door Panamera combines a wide range of features seemingly contradictory at first sight, and offering a unique synthesis quite unparalleled in the premium segment: The Panamera comes with all the sporting and dynamic characteristics of a genuine Porsche combined with a very high standard of motoring comfort. Despite its extra-low and sleek coupé silhouette, in turn, the Panamera offers more than ample space and roominess inside for four passengers and variable loading space for a substantial amount of luggage. And last but not least, the Panamera proudly boasts power units offering a high standard of fuel efficiency despite the car’s outstanding performance.

All power units featured in the Panamera are modern V-engines with either six or eight cylinders covering a power range from 300 – 500 bhp and featuring Direct Fuel Injection. This makes all engines quite superior in their power and torque, together with superior fuel economy and exhaust emissions reduced to a minimum.

The Panamera is making its debut with a V8 normal-aspiration power unit and a V8 featuring bi-turbocharger technology.

Depending on the model, power is transmitted by a six-speed manual gearbox or Porsche’s new seven-speed Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) (Double-Clutch Gearbox) available as an option on all models within the range not fitted with PDK as standard from the start. This gives the Panamera both a particularly sporting and an extra-comfortable character on the road.

As an option the Panamera Gran Turismo will be available with Porsche’s Sports Chrono Package giving the car even more sporting and dynamic engine and gearshift characteristics and enhancing the dynamic performance of the Panamera to an even higher level of perfection.

The V6 and V8 normal-aspiration versions of the Panamera come as standard with rear-wheel drive. The top model in the range with its turbocharged power unit, in turn, features PTM (Porsche Traction Management) with extra-light, active all-wheel drive. PTM is also available on the other models.

In addition to the regular steel suspension featuring variable dampers for a sporting but comfortable driving experience, the Panamera is also available as an option with brand-new, adaptive air suspension offering additional air volume. This ensures a particularly wide range of suspension characteristics with an even higher standard of motoring comfort on the one hand and extremely sporting driving dynamics on the other.

In the Sport Plus Mode the air suspension lowers the entire car even further down to the road, giving the Panamera an even higher standard of aerodynamic efficiency and improving its centre of gravity, enhancing driving safety and reducing fuel consumption. As an option the Panamera is furthermore available with PDCC Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control actively compensating body roll in bends and at the same time improving the car’s response and smoothness on bumpy roads when driving in a straight line.
Intelligent lightweight technology making appropriate use of high-strength steel, light alloys such as aluminium and magnesium, as well as high-tech plastic materials serves to reduce the weight of the car to an appropriately low level in its class, benefiting not only fuel economy, but also driving dynamics.

Now on the down side, I know that my blog has gotten a lot more popular in the last month or so, and I think I may be up to 3 people that check it daily….. I truely have to wonder about your browsing habbits if my ramblings are a daily digest for you.  I hate to say I may dissapoint a bit this week as I’m going to be working my ass off and will be very lucky if this isn’t the last post you see from me until I drag back into LAX on Sunday.  So please consider any postings you see between now and Sunday “extras”…..who knows, maybe this year will be different and I’ll actually have time to do more than run around like a mad man.

PS  I will be speaking at the Web 2.0 Panel Thursday at 2:00 PM at room N255-257

PPS On Wednesday at 1:30 I’ll be on Car and Driver radio, so set your dials to however you recieve that. Here is a link to their info page.

VIDEO: Ford SmartGauge with EcoGuide in action – Autoblog.

Ferrari California- Video.

Funny, and an unique take as always.

364 Fifth Gear – Lexus IS-F BMW M3 Girls Test- Video.

You want 118mpg?  Get something with two wheels.  Want to stay out of the rain and not have to put a foot down when you come to the stop?  Check out this lane splitter from the congested streets of Paris.

While us Americans think that high gas prices and traffic are some new American invention, the Europeans have been dealing with this as a matter of course for the last few decades.  Their pumped is already primed with out of the box thinking that I guarantee is more fun to drive than a Prius.

Follow the link below to one of my favorite blogs for all things with less than two wheels, to see more photos and details.

Peugeot HYmotion3 Compressor Concept combines C1, MP3 and Prius tech to create most advanced scooter ever – Hell For Leather

Looks like Honda has been spending too much time cruising West Hollywood.  I’m sure Karan will love it though…. looks like one of his T-Shirts

2009 Honda CBR600RR gets even uglier graphics for USA, ABS too – Hell For Leather

The Impossible Dream- Video.

Sort of a neat video, but what stood out immediately is that they have an electric Lotus Europa. Tesla anyone?  Is this the first shot over the bow of someone buying Tesla?  Surely it would be cheaper for Chrysler to just buy Tesla, than the reinvent the wheel (Electric powered Lotus).

On the surface of it, Tesla is just getting started, but they need a dealer network, and they need a finance agency and staff training to grow beyond just a boutique manufacturer. Sure it’s all the rage here in California, but what happens if your Tesla breaks down in Vegas?

These are all problems that large manufacturers have already solved. But what they haven’t solved is branding.  Chevrolet is a great brand that doesn’t mean “Electric” to me at all. Toyota is considering a “Prius” brand for future alternative fuel cars, and I have to say that could be a smart move.

Tesla would be a great brand name for this sort of strategy, lord knows Chrysler could use an injection of fun while selling off the Viper.

Electric Vehicles from Chrysler coming soon- Video.

Deborah Meyer Vice President and CMO Chrysler

One of this year’s most anticipated speakers at The Mixx Conference in New York was Deborah Meyer, the newly appointed Vice President and first ever Chief Marketing Officer of Chrysler….well most anticipated by myself and the small StreetFire team that was attending.

2008 has been a horrible year for auto, and I wanted to hear how Chrysler was going to react to it given the Cerebus buy out. I’m beating a dead horse to talk about the themes in America’s auto industry…… High gas prices leading customers away from domestic products combined with a financial crisis creating the perfect storm of the worst year in auto in a long time. Deborah opened with how Chrysler is addressing it, by walking away from typical brand building and going where the users are. Bravo.

As a 14 year web geek and founder of an automotive web site it’s music to my weary ears to hear an Automotive executive climbing out of the primordial ooze and finally “getting it.”

First, 80% of all car buying, regardless of vehicle segment or niche, begins online according to Meyer. I’m happy to hear an automotive executive realize that not only are their products being chosen online, but that online buyers need a different format of marketing based on engagement and influencing opinion. Authenticity, deep information and taking a message to a pre-existing community. Agree on all points, and something echoed not just by me, but others as well.

What worries me is the execution of the vision. For example the upcoming RamChallenge.com minisite designed to create authenticity with the real America that will buy it….okay, sounds good.

“We need to be authentic here, no actors, real America and what they think of the 2009 Dodge Ram,” Meyer stated and I nodded in agreement, but the execution looked like a Jerry Bruckheimer Blockbuster with helicopters, explosions and a Rock and Roll Sound track.

Dodge to debut the RamChallenge.com

Is this going to work? I don’t think so, I thought this was supposed to be Joe Average?…..unless Joe Average is hauling lumber through an obstacle course of trunk conkers while being chased by a helicopter through explosions… I think they missed something when they sent it off to creative. What I do think is going to work is their other initiative at Jeep.

Sorry I should have grabbed a snap of the new site, but Jeep is going to celebrate the photos and communities that have cropped up around Jeep with Yahoo Groups and Flickr communities….now we’re almost talking…. I say almost because I really don’t know any serious enthusiast that spends a lot of time on Yahoo groups. The real enthusiasts go to destination sites, like JeepForum.com with over a 160,000 Jeep Enthusiasts.

Okay, so the reality is that Chrysler spends a ton of money with Yahoo, and the tie into Flickr (owned by Yahoo) and Yahoo groups, is probably part of some larger Yahoo buy, but still I think Deborah could have built a massive amount of community credibility by giving a mothership endorsement to one of their largest fan sites. But credit where credit is due this is a step in the right direction and I’m sure Deborah had a board room full of people to please on both the Jeep site and RamChallenge.com, I hope a few more iterations will lead us closer to what really makes sense. Something they’re actually already doing…..

Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR Sets Nurburgring Record

You see, there are already groups inside of Chrysler, GM, BMW and others that get it, and that are moving in this direction. I believe the piece missing for Deborah Meyer, and other CMO executives is how do you makes enthusiast communities accountable to actual leads, which is why she has to try out things that directly lead to lead-gen like RamChallenge.com, rather than just directly tap the large Dodge truck communities already around. To her credit, given the economics of the day, Deborah is acting as a good steward of the marketing budget and making sure that every dollar is accountable. This is the lead gen flow chart for a typical initiative. I dare say it’s more complicated than the entire StreetFire video sharing service!

This is how a CMO thinks

In summary I am optimistic that Chrysler is getting smart about how to create online marketing. They’ll need to iterate a few times to take out some obvious big-budget Hollywood agency pieces and create an authentic message. The fact that they sent a team to the Nurburgring to take the record in a Viper ACR shows they get online marketing and are trying to put it into practice. Deborah Meyer’s focus on accountable spending and funnel analytic analysis is right for this space, making her the right executive for the job. I just hope that Chrysler and the other manufacturers finally have the needed epiphany that enthusiast communities are their biggest untapped asset and that is the secret puzzle that needs to be figured out.

Then I read this press release about a California Nisssan dealer being fined $34,750 for “illegally modifying cars”….are you kidding me?  Modified cars and custom bikes are as American as Apple Pie…..but I guess that explains why I was told that California is a fascist state?

2009 Nissan GT-R: Car dealership to pay ARB $34,750 for installing unapproved retrofits.

Autoblog has a video walk through of the new Chevy Volt interior.  I have to say that Chevy is playing up to the fact that many Prius drivers appreciate and want to revel in the technology of the car, and it looks like the Volt will carry this forward.  I can see that GM views this as a game changer for their business, but I have to wonder why they didn’t sell the car through Saturn as a followup to the (more revolutionary) EV1, that was sadly killed before it’s prime.

VIDEO: Walkthrough of 2011 Chevy Volt interior – Autoblog.

» Post Topic » [Video]BMW M3 vs Lexus IS-F face-off.

I am relly looking forward to the new Camaro, it’s such a great looking car.  Here is a small take of it on the track,

Video – 2010 Camaro SS and ZR1 playing on the road course.

high speed smart car crash- Video.

Good thread going on NAGTROC about the recent Fifth Gear shoot out.  Here is a video that gives a behind scenes color on what Senna really thought about the two cars.  Sounds like he preffers the Porsche for street driving regardless of track results.

Fifth Gear: GT-R vs 997 Turbo – NAGTROC – The Nissan GT-R Owners Club.

Fifth Gear puts it to the test to see which one is faster around the track on a proper British day with proper British weather.

Fifth Gear: Nissan GT-R vs 997 Turbo- Video.

The Aussies sure know how to make a car!  I know Pontiac has a lot of heritage in their styling, heck I’ve owned three, but when it comes to Holden they should just import them as is.  (I’m almost tempted to say leave them right hand drive even…almost).  Maybe  Pontiac will wise up on a super high performance G8 and bring it over with the full Holden Kit.

Holden’s Z06 Powered LS7 HSV- Video.

Those crazy brits are at it again showing us how much better their car shows are than ours.  The highlight of course, the Ariel Atom.

Fifth Gear Season 14, Episode 3 – Video.

Ferrari is stepping up to support the new A1GP Racing series with engines and chassis development.  This is a nice introductory video to the testing that is being done at Imola in preperation for the next season.

A1GP Ferrari- Video.

America’s Best Handling Car – Track Testing – Comparison – Motor Trend.