This past February, just when it appeared that Kia had found its advertising footing, marketing VP Ian Beavis cleaned out his desk and followed Kia Motors America CEO Len Hunt out the door. Post-exodus, Beavis has landed at Carat, an advertising concern that's part of the Aegis Group. The 54-year-old Beavis will fill the role of Executive Vice President for global client direction for Carat, and his past experience inside automakers such as Toyota, Ford, and Mitsubishi as well as time spent in high-powered agencies such as Foote, Cone & Belding, and Saatchi & Saatchi have led to glowing statements from higher-ups at the new digs. Carat does have some automotive clients among its customer ranks, and as marketing efforts continue to evolve, the firm's grasp of media's push beyond the traditional means of messaging should stand it in good stead. We hear Kia could use a witty campaign that gets people talking...
Everybody's favorite racing driver has been getting a lot of attention since claiming her "maiden" victory in the IRL race at Motegi in Japan two weeks ago. Now officials are considering giving Danica Patrick a shot at test driving a Formula One car.
Patrick has had a checkered past with F1 prospects. She was initially offered a chance to demonstrate an F1 car at Indy in 2005, but declined saying it was just for show. Around the same time, she was shocked by Bernie Ecclestone, who compared her to a kitchen appliance. Since her Motegi win, however, the international motorsport community has been abuzz about the prospect. Honda, which supplies the engine in Danica's IndyCar (and everyone else's, for that matter) says it will seriously consider giving Patrick a shot at testing for its F1 team. While some debate whether a woman has the physical strength to drive an F1 car, Patrick says she wants to focus on contending for the IRL championship before she considers a possible step up to Formula One.
[Source: Autosport, Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty]
General Motors is on a campaign to streamline and cut through red tape, and to that end is changing the management structure of its brands. As of June 1, GM is establishing four new "brand czars" who will have increased control over their products and be responsible for their divisions' successes and failures. Pontiac-Buick-GMC, Cadillac-HUMMER-Saab, Chevrolet and Saturn will each be accountable to a new brand chief, who in turn will report to the corporate VP of sales, service and marketing. The positions, which will all be vice-president-level appointments (except for Saturn, whose brand czar will coordinate with Opel), will have increased input into the overall process from product development through sales.
The new brand czars will replace the five regional general managers that have acted until now as an insulator between the brands and its dealers. Insiders are hailing the move as a positive step, helping General Motors to streamline its bureaucracy.
June 3 is still a long way off with something like this dangling overhead. That's the date for which Max Mosley, the embattled president of the FIA, has called an exceptional general assembly of the organization's constituents to discuss his future with the governing body. In addition to four of the world's largest automobile manufacturers – all of which participate actively in Formula One – several of the 222 member organizations that make up the FIA (including AAA) have called for his resignation. However Mosley, who was videotaped performing a Nazi-themed S&M orgy with five prostitutes, plans to fight for his job. He claims that for every letter of reprimand, he received another seven letters of support.
Whichever way the vote goes, however, Mosley says he'll retire at the end of his current term, which expires in October 2009. The vote will be taken via secret ballot from each of the 222 member organizations representing 130 countries.
Tom Purves, Chairman of BMW North America, is getting a new desk -- one that is adorned with a silver Flying Lady. As of July 1, Purves will take over as the CEO of BMW's Rolls-Royce brand in Goodwood, England. Replacing Tom Purves as the CEO of BMW's North American Unit will be Jim O'Donnell, who has occupied the No. 2 seat since the beginning of this month.
Purves is no stranger to Rolls-Royce. He spent the first 17 years of his career there occupying several different management positions. The timing for his departure from BMW is interesting, though. BMW has a mandatory retirement age of 60. Coincidentally, that just happens to be the age Purves will celebrate on his birthday this November. Rolls-Royce, one of the most prestigious automakers in the world, doesn't have a mandatory retirement age.
General Motors announced today that it has aligned the sales, service and marketing of its brands into four distinct channels. They include the Chevrolet Channel; Buick-Pontiac-GMC (BPG) Channel; the Premium Channel that encompasses Cadillac; Saab and HUMMER; and what's called the Channel Support Group (CSG). Other media outlets like Automotive News insist Saturn is one of the channels, so we assume it will fall under the CSG, though it will still be lead by its current General Manager, Jill Lajdziak.
One big score for the General was hiring on Mark McNabb, who comes to GM from his former position at Nissan where he was corporate vice-pres of Infiniti and the senior vice-pres of sales and marketing for Nissan North America. McNabb has been crowned the North American Vice President of the newly minted Premium Channel and will oversee sales, service and marketing for Cadillac, Saab and HUMMER. Otherwise, it seems GM has just switched around who reports to who and who is responsible for what when it comes to sales, service and marketing, hopefully in the interest of building a better automaker, but time will tell us that soon enough.
Over the last few years, huge numbers of union workers have accepted buyout packages to leave their high-paying jobs at automotive factories and office buildings. Many of those retired workers will be replaced by new hires at much lower salaries in the coming years. In fact, there could be as many as 46,000 new workers hired in Michigan alone, according to a recent 95-page report (PDF link here) released by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR). This report could mean good things for the troubled economy surrounding Detroit -- but it's not all roses, as the report indicates that more workers will leave through attrition than the estimated 46,000 that could be hired. Also, all of those new workers will require lots of training before they can be counted on as worthy replacements. Still, as Kristin Dziczek, an analyst from CAR says, "The bleeding will stop."
Imagine getting a contract with a major F1 team before you're even out of high school. That's what Lewis Hamilton got with McLaren when he was young(er), and what karting protégé Will Stevens has achieved with the Honda Racing F1 Team, reflecting a growing trend in motorsport recruitment. While team leaders have always kept an eye on feeder series like Formula 3 and, more recently, GP2, to scout up-and-coming talent, the rising level of competition has driven the teams to start earlier and earlier with their recruitment programs.
At 16 years old, Stevens has the FIA-CIK KF2 European and Asia-Pacific, International Open Masters KF2, WSK Junior ICA and MSA British Junior titles to his name, along with five national championships. He met over the weekend with Honda's Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to sign a long-term driver support agreement that will help him develop and advance through the ranks until he's ready to race in Formula One, giving David Coulthard a heads-up on the next little pischer to complain about. Details are in the press release after the jump.
NBC is inching closer to finalizing the cast for the American version of the hit BBC series Top Gear, but it looks more and more like Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen won't be part of the program. Reportedly to be called just "Gear", the show is anticipated to include four presenters instead of the BBC's three – although one could be assuming the role of The Stig as the show's test driver. Adam Carolla announced on his radio show that he'd be taking part in the program. Formula D driftmaster Tanner Faust is also tipped to be on the show (possibly in the aforementioned test driver role). However Dan Neil, the Pulitzer Prize-winning automotive journalist for the Los Angeles Times, revealed that despite having a signed contract with NBC, he would not be part of the line-up. Neil was suitably disappointed, but attributed the change of heart to a lack of on-air personality on his part, although last year he was part of the 10-episode WIRED Science show on PBS.
In a more discouraging sign, meanwhile, indications are that the scathing rhetoric that makes the BBC show such a hit will be severely curtailed by NBC, who fear a backlash from sponsors. According to Carolla, the program was set to begin filming at the El Toro Marine Air Base in California on March 20.
Alfa Romeo has announced Christopher Reitz as its new head of design, succeeding Frank Stephenson who announced his departure last week. Reportedly a relative of the Porsche family, Reitz started his career at Volkswagen after graduating from the Art Center Europe in Switzerland. From there, he moved on to head Audi's Advance Design department before defecting to Nissan and then on to the Fiat Group.
The big question, however, remains over where the multi-talented Frank Stephenson will head next. Among his other creations, Stephenson is known as the father of the retro hatch, having designed both the MINI and the Fiat 500.
FIA president Max Mosley, seen above at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix, had a whole pack of nails hammered further into his career's coffin as the Kingdom of Bahrain asked the embattled FIA president not to come to the race in the gulf state. The letter, sent by the country's ruler Crown Prince Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, said it would be "inappropriate" for Mosley to show up in Bahrain and hit the news around the same time as the FIA announced that Mosley – who redefined the term "auto erotic" with the revelation of his disturbing sex life – would stay in London during the race to deal with "legal matters".
As if that weren't enough to end Mosley's career, several major automakers participating in Formula One have lined up to express their dismay at Mosley's behavior. BMW and Mercedes-Benz issued a joint statement calling Mosley's actions "disgraceful" and calling on the FIA to take action against its president. The statement from the rival German automakers was followed by similar declarations from Honda and from Toyota, urging the FIA to impeach Mosley in light of his "behaviour which could be understood to be racist or anti-Semitic". Don't be surprised to see other teams and manufacturers issuing similar statements as the heat continues to rise for Mosley.
[Source: Autosport, Photo by DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty]
Remember Scott Speed? Despite having the best name in racing, the American driver is easy to forget. While drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve found great success in Formula One, Speed just dropped out of the bottom of the pinnacle racing series, and has continued to fall since. The former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver has finally landed at the bottom rungs of the American stock-car racing ladder, but he's preparing to race his way back up to the top.
The latest development sees Speed getting behind the wheel of a Toyota racing pick-up in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Thanks in (large) part to Speed's benefactor, Red Bull, he'll be joining the Bill Davis Racing line-up, making his debut with the team in Kansas later this month before moving on to ten more races this season in addition to a full calendar of ARCA races in the No.2 Toyota that's sponsored by...you guessed it, Red Bull. Speed will also have an experienced coach in his corner: Richard "Slugger" Labbe, whose previous pupils include the likes of Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip and Speed's fellow F1-NASCAR migrant Jacques Villeneuve. Even with all the support, we'll have to wait and see how Speed fares on the lower rungs of the American oval racing ladder.
Iconic automobile designer Frank Stephenson is on the move again. After six years in the Fiat Auto Group, Stephenson is stepping down from his position as head of design for Alfa Romeo. Stephenson denies the conclusion that he's leaving Fiat because of Lorenzo Ramaciotti, the former Pininfarina design chief sho Fiat coaxed out of retirement to head its group design.
Stephenson is widely known as the father of the retro-hatch, having designed the MINI while at BMW before designing the Fiat 500, Alfa Mi.To and, it's speculated, the upcoming Lancia Ypsilon. Stephenson also had a hand in designing cars as diverse as the original BMW X5, Maserati MC12 and Quattroporte, and Ferrari F430 and 612 Scaglietti. With a portfolio like his, the big question is where he will turn up next, a subject on which the American-educated designer remains mum.
Suzuki's sales in the United States have been at historically high levels the last two years. Both 2006 and 2007 saw American Suzuki Motor Corporation move more than 100,000 units – a big feat for a little brand in the U.S during these tough economic times. Despite that seemingly good news, Rick Suzuki, president of ASMC, has called the performance dismal and is stepping down in an act of seppuku. The record performance is looked upon so unfavorably because it falls far short of goals laid out by Suzuki in 2003 as part of a five-year plan to eventually sell 200,000 automobiles. Financially, ASMC is taking losses, so Suzuki has put into place a buyout plan that is expected to aid in trimming 55 jobs out of its 674-strong U.S. workforce. Employees who do stay on can expect no bonus or raise this year.
Perhaps Suzuki was caught up in irrational exuberance back in 2003 and set some overly-ambitious targets. Its automotive product line has a certain appeal, and the unveiling of the Kizashi 3 at the New York Auto Show has us excited for what's soon to come from Suzuki. Here's hoping the brand doesn't go the way of Isuzu in the U.S.
'You don't get the money, but you do get to decide where it goes.' That's pretty much the gist of the statement which the FIA, Formula One's governing body, made to Ferrari regarding the funds accrued from the penalty imposed on rival team McLaren last year when it was deemed guilty of espionage.
Although Ferrari got a mysteriously identical $100m payment last year, those funds came from Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management and not from Max Mosley's FIA, which imposed the fine. That cash was never meant for Ferrari to receive, but it is now being reported that two leading Ferrari figureheads will form part of the ad-hoc committee responsible for allocating $30 million of the funds. Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt, who despite having both left their positions at Ferrari remain inexorably connected to the team, will join McLaren-Mercedes' Norbert Haug, Automobile Competition Committee president Nick Craw and FIA president Max "J-Edgar-ain't-got-nothin'-on-me" Mosley on the committee that will allocate the funds towards a variety of causes to support motorsport development programs worldwide.
This past February, just when it appeared that Kia had found its advertising footing, marketing VP Ian Beavis cleaned out his desk and followed Kia Motors America CEO Len Hunt out the door. Post-exodus, Beavis has landed at Carat, an advertising concern that's part of the Aegis Group. The 54-year-old Beavis will fill the role of Executive Vice President for global client direction for Carat, and his past experience inside automakers such as Toyota, Ford, and Mitsubishi as well as time spent in high-powered agencies such as Foote, Cone & Belding, and Saatchi & Saatchi have led to glowing statements from higher-ups at the new digs. Carat does have some automotive clients among its customer ranks, and as marketing efforts continue to evolve, the firm's grasp of media's push beyond the traditional means of messaging should stand it in good stead. We hear Kia could use a witty campaign that gets people talking...
General Motors announced today that it has aligned the sales, service and marketing of its brands into four distinct channels. They include the Chevrolet Channel; Buick-Pontiac-GMC (BPG) Channel; the Premium Channel that encompasses Cadillac; Saab and HUMMER; and what's called the Channel Support Group (CSG). Other media outlets like Automotive News insist Saturn is one of the channels, so we assume it will fall under the CSG, though it will still be lead by its current General Manager, Jill Lajdziak. 
'You don't get the money, but you do get to decide where it goes.' That's pretty much the gist of the statement which the FIA, Formula One's governing body, made to Ferrari regarding the funds accrued from the penalty imposed on rival team McLaren last year when it was 
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_thumbnail.jpg "Lamborghini Reventon unboxed in Las Vegas")
