MotorTrend March 2010

“THANKS TO THE MAGIC OF CREATIVE ACCOUNTING, BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF GM DEBT AND COSTS HAD BEEN MADE TO SIMPLY DISAPPEAR.” SOMETIME in October 2008, Ray Young realized GM wasn’t going to make it. Young, then GM’s chief financial officer, had been closely monitoring the corporation’s cash flow for months. The world’s largest automaker had lost a staggering $70 billion since 2004, and Young knew that if everything went exactly to plan, it would probably continue to lose about $1 billion a month until 2010. That was bad, but according to the plan it was survivable. GM had sufficient cash reserves to see it through to a year when a bunch of hot new models were scheduled to hit the showrooms, and it would be freed of crippling retirement and…

IT WAS GM from the 1930s to the 1970s. Then BMW and, it seemed, for a fleeting moment, Toyota. We’re talking about car companies that can pretty much do what they want while defying the cost-control measures that restrict mere mortal automakers. Volkswagen AG and especially its premium subsidiary, Audi AG, are in the catbird seat today. And so Audi’s new 2011 flagship, the third-generation A8 on sale by December in North America, launches with two rooflines. The short-wheelbase model unveiled at Miami’s Art Basel show late last year comes with the rather conservative but rakish A4-like roofline you see here. The long-wheelbase model will have a more formal roofline, with a distinct crease at the top of the C-pillar. This leaves the A7 “four-door coupe,” to be shown later…

GM CHAIRMAN and interim CEO Ed Whitacre Jr. has aggressively been cleaning house, leading some to wonder if he’ll go too far. The General’s middle-to-upper-management bench is very deep, though. And so far, Whitacre seems to like managers in their early to mid-40s, men and women barely associated with the Roger Smith years. His best promotion thus far has been to name Mark Reuss North American president. That makes three car guys close to Whitacre, along with vice chairman Bob Lutz and board member Steve Girsky. Lutz’s role still hasn’t been formally described…Fast-rising star Susan Docherty, GM sales, service, and marketing veep, has named Brian Sweeney as Buick-GMC general manager. Sweeney, 42, replaced Michael Richards, a Ford veteran who left as general manager of Lincoln-Mercury in 2008, reportedly over arguments…

MINI is going to the Detroit auto show with a doorless, roofless concept car, the Beachcomber, that previews its all-new fourth model line. This will be a compact crossover available with FWD and AWD. It is to be launched at the Geneva show in March and on sale as a 2011 model. Obviously the real car will have doors and a roof. Unlike the existing Clubman, all four side doors will be conventionally front-hinged, and the car is symmetrical left to right. The B-pillars have been removed only for the concept. At 160 inches, this is the longest Mini ever but will still be one of the smallest crossovers on sale. It is also wider than a hatchback or Clubman and will be available as a five-seater with a rear…

MERCEDES-BENZ in-house hot-shop AMG is considering creating a high-performance small car off the forthcoming MFA platform. But here’s the twist: While the MFA, which will underpin the next-generation A-Class, B-Class, and three new small Mercedes models by 2012, is a front-drive platform, the AMG car will be rear drive. A decision on the project was due in early January. The smallest car in the current AMG lineup is the 6.3-liter V-8-powered C63. Mercedes has offered an AMG-modified A-Class in the past, but AMG boss Volker Mornhinweg says a front-drive performance car is incompatible with the performance company’s core values. He says AMG has looked at the MFA platform and believes it can engineer a rear-drive version. “We have the capability to do it,” he says. Rear drive would give the…

FORD will adapt its EcoBoost concept to three-cylinder engines with 0.9- and 1.2-liter displacements for the upcoming Fiesta and Focus. At 1.2 liters, the engine will be capable of about 135 horsepower and 135 pound-feet of torque from about 1500 rpm. The engine will be available in the Fiesta from its mid-cycle face lift about three years from now. In Europe, it will eventually go into the Focus too, replacing the current 1.6- and 1.8-liter four-cylinder gas engines. It will probably be considered too small for a U.S. Focus. EcoBoost works by combining three critical technologies: dual variable valve timing for the twin-cam head, gasoline direct injection, and a turbo. The direct injection means a higher compression ratio of 10:1 can be used for much greater efficiency than regular turbo…