Hirings/Firings/Layoffs


REPORT: Opel President Carl-Peter Forster quits after sale collapse

German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting this morning that Opel President Carl-Peter Forster has resigned from General Motors following the board's decision to kill the sale of a majority stake to Magna International. Apparently, Forster was disgusted at the way that GM officials handled the whole process. Over the past several months, GM went back-and-forth, first agreeing to sell to Magna, then opting for another bid before returning to Magna, only to finally kill the deal altogether and keep the brand for itself. A statement issued by ... Read more →

Bruno Senna to race in F1 next season with Campos Meta 1 Noah Joseph

The past few years in Formula One have seen an unprecedented return of legendary family names to the sport: names like Villeneuve, Piquet and Rosberg. But the most hyped scion of racing fame has ...

Williams F1 signs Barrichello and Hulkenberg for 2010 Noah Joseph

The latest piece of the intricate puzzle that is the shake-up in drivers for the 2010 Formula One World Championship has come into play as Williams has confirmed its line-up for next season: ...

REPORT: Chrysler again offering early retirement to 23k hourly workers Chris Shunk

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Chrysler is again offering early retirement packages in an effort to entice some of its 23,000 hourly employees to hit the road. The buyout packages are the ...

Lotus hires former Ferrari/Fiat racing chief Claudio Berro as new motorsport director Noah Joseph

Do you remember back in 1996 when Michael Schumacher left Benetton for Ferrari? They didn't just get Schumi; along with him came master strategist Ross Brawn and designer extraordinaire Rory Byrne. ...

Next Stop, Le Mans: FIA reportedly puts the brakes on Sebastien Loeb's grand prix debut 10 days ago on Autoblog

What do you do after making it to the pinnacle of rallying and winning a record-shattering six consecutive world championships? Anything you want – or so you'd think – but Sebastien Loeb is running into some roadblocks that appear to have derailed his plans to try his hand at Formula ...

Officially Official: Fisker buys GM's Wilmington Delaware plant 11 days ago on Autoblog

In Wilmington, Delaware this morning, Governor Jack Markell was joined by Vice President Joe Biden and Henrik Fisker (seen at right) for the official announcement about the purchase of General Motors' closed plant there. Fisker will re-tool the plant to build a new, more affordable plug-in hybrid ...

Rattner recounts auto bailout, was "shocked" and "stunned" at condition of GM, Chrysler 16 days ago on Autoblog

Steve Rattner is a man we admire but do not envy. Rattner, a former Wall Street banking type with zero experience in the automotive or manufacturing world, was tasked by President Obama with guiding General Motors and Chrysler through their restructuring efforts. Not a small job, by any means. ...

Buell will be back? County officials throwing axed HD brand a life line 17 days ago on Autoblog

Could Buell be saved from the brink of disaster by officials from Walworth County in Wisconsin? It seems awfully unlikely, but stranger things have happened, right? Apparently, the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance sent a letter last Friday to Erik Buell in an attempt to put together a ...

Wolfgang Reitzle back in the auto industry as chairman of Continental 18 days ago on Autoblog

The last time we saw Wolfgang Reitzle involved directly in the auto industry, he was working out of an office in London running Ford's then newly formed Premier Automotive Group. We all know how Jac Nasser's attempt to expand Ford's reach into premium cars worked out and Reitzle moved on to other ...

Trouble in U.K. TelevisionLand: Has Fifth Gear been canceled? 18 days ago on Autoblog

News coming out of the U.K. today suggests that everybody's second-favorite British motoring television show may be facing the axe. According to the Daily Mail, Fifth Gear, which has never quite mustered the following of rival Top Gear, has been put on ice. Or has it? A quick check on ...

REPORT: Ken Block heading to WRC with new Monster Ford team 22 days ago on Autoblog

One of the most significant deals in rally history. That's how news of Ken Block's imminent move to the World Rally Championship is being touted in the motorsport press. And we couldn't agree more. Now don't get us wrong. We enjoy watching Block's famous antics behind the wheel of his ...

Harley-Davidson kills off Buell, will sell stake in MV Agusta [w/VIDEO] 23 days ago on Autoblog

Harley-Davidson has just announced its third-quarter results, and things aren't quite as bad as they could have been... but we'll get to that in a moment. The big bombshell is that the Buell brand is being discontinued and the American motorcycle manufacturer will sell off its share in MV ...

Ex-Tesla/Harley-Davidson exec Michael van der Sande resurfaces at Aston Martin 23 days ago on Autoblog

It didn't take Michael van der Sande long to land a new gig after leaving his last posting at Tesla Motors. In August, van der Sande left Tesla after only nine months as senior vice-president of sales and marketing for the electric car maker. The sales executive who spent 12 years at Harley-Davidson ...

Jean Alesi returns to racing Ferraris 23 days ago on Autoblog

If you checked out the images we posted of Felipe Massa's return to Maranello, you may have spotted the returning Brazilian driver chatting with one Jean Alesi and wondered what he was doing there. The French driver raced for the Scuderia from 1991 through 1995, scoring a handful of podiums ...

REPORT: One week after announcing GM departure, Mark LaNeve surfaces at Allstate 25 days ago on Autoblog

When word got out that Mark LaNeve (right) was leaving General Motors effective October 15, we weren't at all sure where the soon-to-be-former exec was heading. The Wall Street Journal has finally let the cat out of the bag, reporting that LaNeve is leaving the auto business for a marketing gig ...

Kamui Kobayashi to fill in for injured Timo Glock at Brazilian Grand Prix 25 days ago on Autoblog

As the Formula One championship winds to a close, the series is on track for a big change-up in drivers. But not before one last in-season switch. Earlier this season, Toro Rosso replaced Sebastien Bourdais with Jaime Alguersuai. Ferrari called up Luca Badoer to fill in for an injured Felipe ...

F1 veterans Jarno Trulli and Mika Salo to test Waltrip Toyota NASCAR in Florida 26 days ago on Autoblog

Up until a few years ago, seeing a driver switch from one motorsport discipline to another was practically unheard of. A Formula One driver might compete at Le Mans, sure, but with few exceptions, that was about the extent of it. Now we've got drivers interested in switching between F1, rallying ...

End of Year Shuffle: 14 Formula One teams swap drivers for 2010 1 month ago on Autoblog

If you thought the series of driver changes in the middle of this ongoing Formula One season was something, it's nothing compared to the grand game of musical chairs expected to ensue as the season draws to a close. With BMW closing up shop, several new teams joining the grid and at least a ...

Fritz picks Susan Docherty to replace LaNeve 1 month ago on Autoblog

Just last week we were chatting with Buick GMC General Manager Susan Docherty on the GM Fastlane Blog about our lack of confidence in the 2010 GMC Terrain, and now she's moved up to GM's Vice President of US sales. Docherty will replace the soon to be departed Mark LeNeve as sales VP and one of ...

Robert Kubica jumps sinking BMW ship to fill Alonso's seat at Renault 1 month ago on Autoblog

Everything's changing for the Renault F1 team. The team principal has been barred from the sport indefinitely and the technical director has been mercifully banned for five years. They've already booted out their car-crashing, whistle-blowing driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and replaced him with rookie ...

BREAKING: Mark LaNeve leaving GM effective October 15 1 month ago on Autoblog

Mark LaNeve, General Motors' head of U.S. sales, is reportedly set to leave the company on October 15th. LaNeve had been appointed GM North America vice president of marketing and advertising back in September of 2004 after starting his career as the brand manager for the now-defunct Pontiac ...

Francois appointment points to more cooperation between Chrysler and Lancia 1 month ago on Autoblog

Amidst the confirmation that chief executive Sergio Marchionne was splitting off the Dodge Ram truck unit into its own division of the Chrysler Group came the announcement of some executive re-shuffles in Auburn Hills. Among them, Lancia CEO Olivier Francois was appointed head of the Chrysler brand. ...

Officially Official: Dodge splits off Ram brand with new exec appointments 1 month ago on Autoblog

Rumors floating around since mid-summer that Chrysler would split the Dodge car and truck businesses into two separate units are now a reality. Chrysler Group LLC now consists of four brands: Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Car and Dodge Ram. In early July after the latest iteration of Chrysler emerged ...

"Victimized" F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. reportedly headed to NASCAR truck series 1 month ago on Autoblog

Crashing in Formula One is taken pretty seriously. Especially if you did it on purpose. Which goes a long way towards explaining why the motorsport community is calling for the blood of Nelson Piquet Jr. The disgraced Renault driver was, in the end, the perpetrator of the so-called Crashgate ...

REPORT: Bob Kruse, GM's top electric car exec and Chevy Volt pointman, steps down 1 month ago on Autoblog

Just a few months before the Chevrolet Volt is finally set to debut in production trim, one of the guys who spearheaded the whole project has reportedly left his post at General Motors. Bob Kruse (at right), who also helped plan the whole long-term strategy for GM's electric vehicle program, has ...

REPORT: Rejected GM, Chrysler dealers telling their story on YouTube [w/VIDEO] 1 month ago on Autoblog

Since government money washed in to pump out General Motors' and Chrysler's swamped and nearly sunken businesses, there's been little mention of the cuts to the dealer base that both automakers have made as part of their rebirth. Tammy Darvish, whose DarCars Automotive Group lost two Chrysler ...

MP4-12C - Coming to America: McLaren Automotive sets up North American distribution 1 month ago on Autoblog

How many low-production exotic supercars have we had to gaze at longingly from across the ocean? The prohibitively high cost of homologation for the U.S. market has kept more than a few niche automakers away. Even the mighty McLaren F1 had to be brought in through loopholes, with considerable ...

REPORT: Ferrari poaches new design director from Volkswagen 1 month ago on Autoblog

Few lines are as fluid as those between the Italian and German automobile industries. Executives seem to move back and forth between the two faster than the exotic supercars for which they're responsible, and all the more so when it comes to designers. Frank Stephenson moved to Ferrari and on ...

Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne steps down from UBS bank board 1 month ago on Autoblog

Sergio Marchionne is one of the busiest people in the business. Or any business, for that matter. After comprehensively restructuring his empire – what amounts to nearly the entire Italian automobile industry and then some – he lost his right-hand man to Volkswagen. But that didn't ...

REPORT: Ferrari F1 set to announce Alonso acquisition 1 month ago on Autoblog

Apparently, the long-rumored Fernando Alonso to Ferrari announcement is now all but official. According to a report from the BBC, the 28-year-old driver has signed a two-year contract with options to extend that will earn the Spaniard a tidy salary of roughly 19 to 25 million euros ($27 to $36 ...

Tata confirms closing of Jaguar or Land Rover plant 1 month ago on Autoblog

When the economy gets dinged, luxury vehicles gets massive dents. Jaguar and Land Rover haven't been the most profitable aut for a while, and parent company Tata is studying which of two plants it would shut to try and stem some of the losses; Solihull or Castle Bromwich. It sounds drastic, ...

REPORT: Chinese-owned Hummer to keep headquarters in southeast Michigan 1 month ago on Autoblog

With General Motors selling its Hummer operations to China's Tengzhong, there had been some concern that the embattled state of Michigan would lose even more jobs if the SUV brand's home base would move either overseas or out of state. But according to Reuters, that doesn't look like it's going ...

Force India confirms Tonio Liuzzi for Fisichella's seat 1 month ago on Autoblog

Italian race fans are in for a big treat at their upcoming home grand prix at Monza this weekend. Not only will their homegrown hero Giancarlo Fisichella, fresh from his command performance at Spa, be driving for their nation's pride-and-joy team Ferrari, but there'll be another Italian driver ...

REPORT: Danica Patrick to drive NASCAR in 2010, remain with IndyCar Series 1 month ago on Autoblog

The rumors were apparently true. According to ESPN, IndyCar driver – and, without a doubt our favorite Go Daddy spokesmodel – Danica Patrick will "all but certainly" take part in NASCAR racing next year. It seems Patrick will be limiting her exposure to the Nationwide Series and ...

Bourdais gets his groove back in Superleague Formula 2 months ago on Autoblog

Sebastien Bourdais may not have made a go of it in Formula One, but after winning the Champ Car World Series four years in a row and coming in second at Le Mans two years running, the Le Mans native clearly has plenty to offer. Between the lower formulas, touring cars, sports car racing and ...

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Autoblog Podcast #151: With Car and Driver's Eddie Alterman

Eddie Alterman wades in with Sam, Chris, Dan, and Jonny to talk about SEMA and other recent events.

 
 

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