Really, Don Draper? You want the Vega account?

Jackson: Penske sets my retirement pace

AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson's employment contract with the country's largest dealership group is up in September. Jackson will turn 65 next February, but he has no intention of walking out the door any time soon.... Read More »

Coming soon: The spittoon that helped make GM

General Motors' roots can be traced to Durant-Dort Carriage Co., a long-shuttered 133-year-old factory in Flint, Mich., and the office building across the street. Now GM has acquired the buildings and plans to turn the site into a showcase for the company's history.... Read More »

Fisker's funk causes prices to plunge

This isn't just a tough time for Fisker Automotive (a Chapter 11 filing seems likely); it's also rough out there for anyone trying to sell a new or used Karma hybrid luxury sedan.... Read More »

Back from the grave

Frank Stranah, co-founder of Champion Spark Plugs, once owned this 1940 Packard Super 8 Formal sedan -- which spent 44 years welded inside an old gasoline storage tank before it was liberated in 2011.... Read More »

Ford scion was told Blue Oval needs no green

Bill Ford jokingly told an audience in Los Angeles last week that he was ordered "to stop associating with any known or suspected environmentalists" when he joined the family company in 1979 as a 22-year-old fresh out of Princeton.... Read More »

Mercedes' China dealers get a trip to the woodshed

Struggling to keep pace with BMW and Audi in China, Mercedes-Benz has taken dealers in that country to task. In a strongly worded letter, Daimler China sales chief Nicholas Speeks accused them of laziness and threatened consequences.... Read More »

In Lutz's view, Eaton did a bang-up job at Chrysler

Former Chrysler CEO Bob Eaton is commonly said to have finished his career in disgrace. But in his new book, Icons and Idiots: Straight Talk on Leadership, former Chrysler and General Motors exec Bob Lutz leaves Eaton out of the "idiot" category.... Read More »

Lexus goes hipster, parties with robots in the Big Apple

At the launch party for Lexus' global marketing campaign, the theme was definitely New York hipster.... Read More »

Here come the Chinese, again (maybe)

There has been talk for years about Chinese automakers selling cars in the United States, but Chinese companies' problems with quality and corporate know-how, plus the enormous cost of building a sales network, have made those prospects fizzle. But here's a new wannabe.... Read More »

Unveiled in China: The recall riot squad

China's automotive press corps can get pretty rowdy, apparently. Thus Volkswagen officials were taking no chances after a report on state-controlled TV about defective gearboxes that prompted VW to recall a record 384,181 vehicles in China.... Read More »