MotorTrend February 2011

Let’s face it. When it comes to scaling icy 45-degree slopes and escorting you to the deep stuff in the backcountry, the snowcat has a clear and decisive advantage over the Suzuki Kizashi and its available intelligent All-Wheel-Drive® system. But before you let your snowboard-loving heart overcome your better financial judgment (a new snowcat runs around $285,000) and you choose a snowcat as your everyday commuter vehicle, we suggest you consider other factors like total performance, comfort and value. Look at these things, and we think you’ll find the Kizashi beats the snowcat by an avalanche. TOTAL PERFORMANCE. While it performs exceptionally on the mountain, driving a snowcat to the mountain could add hours, if not days, to your commute. Most snowcats provide a top speed of 14 mph and…

■ MT Top 10 Online Vid Ads For the first time since Visible Measures began tracking automotive video advertisement traffic, Ford takes the number one spot with its Fiesta Movement campaign—only to have the limelight stolen by upstart Skoda. The Czech manufacturer (and Volkswagen partner) has long been an entry-level player in Europe, but is seeking to reinforce its performance cred with a “Made of Meaner Stuff” campaign. * First appearance on chart Source: Visible Measures (www.visiblemeasures.com) The Motor Trend Top 10 Online Video Auto Ads Chart focuses on brand-driven viral video ads that appear on online video sharing destinations. Each campaign is measured on a True Reach basis, which includes viewership of brand-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements.…

“THERE’S AN ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM ABOUT THESE YOUNG CHRYSLER EXECS THAT’S VERY EXCITING, AND CLEARLY DRIVEN BY THE OPPORTUNITY GIVEN TO THEM BY FIAT.” I FEEL OLD. There was a time when the automaker CEOs I interviewed had maybe 10 or 15 years on me. But I’ve just spent a day talking to the execs running Chrysler Group’s key brands, and every damned one of them is younger than me. By traditional Detroit management standards, they’re still in nursery school. But they’re emblematic of an amazing transformation happening at Chrysler under hard-charging Canadian-Italian Sergio Marchionne. Ralph Gilles is articulate, energetic, and a passionate car guy. He’s also only just turned 40, heads Chrysler Design, and is now CEO of Dodge as well. His vision for Dodge will warm the heart…

WITH REAR DRIVE and a punchy V-8 under the hood, the Pontiac G8 was the first real sport sedan from GM in decades, and we mourned its demise when GM killed off the Excitement Division as part of its post-bankruptcy rationalization. But it appears the G8 will make a comback—this time wearing Chevy badges. Three GM sources have confirmed to Motor Trend the Australian-built sedan will reappear on the U.S. market as a Chevy in the coming year. And it won’t be called Impala. “We have a good name for it,” said one of the sources with a smile. Bringing back the G8 as a Chevy seemed such a no-brainer—all the certification and engineering work required to transform the Holden Commodore into a Pontiac was paid for by the Old…

NEW GM is happening fast. General Motors launched its initial public offering in November with a $33/share price. The U.S. Treasury sold 359 million of the 487 million shares issued, which brought in $13.5 billion for the government while reducing its ownership in the company from the post-bankruptcy 60.8 percent to 33. If U.S. auto sales, and GM, can continue to grow even at the current slow rate, the U.S. Treasury should be able to sell the rest of its GM stock and recoup most of the remaining $36 billion. The IPO came 16 months after GM emerged from its U.S. Treasury-coerced Section 363 bankruptcy, which wiped out billions of dollars in debt and stock value of the old GM. If U.S. auto sales, and GM, can continue to grow…

AS GENERAL MOTORS returned to Wall Street, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo began his attempt to keep GM’s lead reorganization architect, Steven Rattner, from ever trading there again. The afternoon of General Motors’ historic initial public offering, Cuomo, then still state attorney general, filed suit against Rattner, who served as Automotive Task Force chief, or “car czar,” until Chrysler and GM completed their summer 2009 Section 363 bankruptcies. The suit was the latest legal salvo in the case against Rattner and his former equity firm in New York’s “pay to play” state pension plan kickback scandal. Cuomo filed two suits against Rattner. He wants at least $26 million in fines and a lifetime ban preventing Rattner from practicing in the securities industry in New York… The same day, the Securities…