Tuning Truck

Hyper-luxury European car brands like Rolls-Royce are seeing steady sales, but their more attainable counterparts - BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz - are still riding a downward slope through May. But all is not yet lost, as there may be an end in sight.

BMW's Ian Robertson, the company's board member in charge of sales and marketing, says that May's sales drop of 18% is a good sign. "Sales decreased much more slowly in May than

General Motors says Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., will be its new chairman.

The former AT&T chief and ExxonMobil board member will lead newly downsized automaker as it seeks a way out of the government fold when the company is launched later this summer, a GM press release says. Interim chairman Kent Kresa will give up his seat when Whitacre takes over, likely to oversee the sell-off of "old" General Motors assets that remain.

The new General Motors

Yesterday, we brought you a story about a webcast that would air this morning at 7 am.  The webcast, provided by Daimler, was a press conference in which they would announce their electro mobility plans for the future and reveal a strategic partnership.  We had hinted at the partner being Tesla, and our guess turned out to be spot on.

During the webcast this morning, Daimler announced a partnership with Tesla Motors.  According to Daimler, the deal is a double digit

Good news for Bentley fans: the British automaker is so jazzed about the economy that it's rolling out a new model of the Continental GT Coupe in 2010, not 2011 as previously announced. Also coming in 2010: replacements for the Flying Spur sedan and Continental GTC convertible. Also: no, we're not kidding.

The news was sparked by Stuart McCullough, Bentley's board member for sales and marketing, who feels very "in touch" with his target demographic and wants to

Tesla Roadster From the first to the 100th and now to the 500th, the story of Tesla Motors and their first offering, the Roadster, has been pretty heavily documented. The trend is unlikely to stop any time soon and, in that vein, Tesla is making sure to note its latest milestone, the delivery of the 500th Roadster.

The lucky recipient is New Jersey's Martin Tuchman, who Tesla describes as chairman of The Tuchman Foundation and a board member of The Parkinson's Alliance and Parkinson's Disease

Next up to announce a miniature MPV is Volkswagen, said to be eying its Polo for conversion to a (little) people hauler. In Europe such a car would go against competition like the Opel Meriva and Fiat Qubo. A VW board member suggested that such a car would be about adding to the company's small car variety, and it wants to have the right mix of offerings when the recovery comes.

On a side note, VW is also planning a "less effeminate, more assertive and masculine" Beetle that they want more men to buy. Because who

Next up to announce a miniature MPV is Volkswagen, said to be eying its Polo for conversion to a (little) people hauler. In Europe such a car would go against competition like the Opel Meriva and Fiat Qubo. A VW board member suggested that such a car would be about adding to the company's small car variety, and it wants to have the right mix of offerings when the recovery comes.

On a side note, VW is also planning a "less effeminate, more assertive and masculine" Beetle that they want more men to buy. Because who knew button-cute car with a flower