Quotables from notables

"I need some time to drive cars so I can get my adrenaline flowing. ... Sometimes I have to be go-go Akio. Otherwise, I won't be able to make the right decisions."

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda

"They are trying like hell to resurrect Lincoln. Well, I might as well tell you, you might as well sprinkle holy water. It's over."

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson in an interview with The Detroit News in June

"In college I would talk to my dates about electric cars. It's not the best way to, umm, get chicks."

Elon Musk, CEO of EV maker Tesla Motors, at Tesla's shareholder meeting

"The entire team was put together with government bailout money."

David Letterman, joking about the success of the Detroit Tigers in 2011

"F*** GM. I hate them and their company and what they stand for. And I hate the way they're succeeding."

Ford Motor Co. marketing boss Jim Farley quoted in the book Once Upon a Car by Bill Vlasic

"In 2011, the biggest problem we face is not the tsunami. It is the strengthening of the yen."

Nissan/Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, speaking at an October press conference

"Alan Mulally is a good CEO. He's done a lot of good. But he has a blind spot. He does not see the harm he's doing to his own cachet with both the hourly and salaried at Ford."

UAW President Bob King on the Ford CEO's $26.5 million compensation for 2010 and the $56.5 million stock award Ford gave him in 2011.

"I jumped on that sucker and laid rubber. A great feeling. That thing could probably beat my Corvette."

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, to Car and Driver, about his brother's new Cadillac CTS-V.

"The hog days are over. If you're assuming that … once we're out of jail we're going to start distributing cash indiscriminately and return to the old ways of sin … we're not going to do that."

Chrysler/Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne

"A recall issue like what happened last year will never happen again at Toyota."

Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota Motor Corp.'s top engineer and global r&d chief