Autoblog

Volvo hasn't been doing too hot lately, posting a $1.73 billion loss over the past five years as it flails to find its niche. Sales of almost every Volvo product have declined in 2007, with the S60 falling by 28.1 percent, the XC90 dropping 5.6 percent and the V70 station wagon losing 7.7 percent. For June of 2008, Volvo only moved 7,001 vehicles, down 14.2 percent compared to last year. Something has to be done on the retail side, and according to Automotive News, dealers are on their way out.

The automaker is looking to cut out approximately 30 percent of its U.S. dealer network by the close of next year, however, Volvo retailers won't be cut in Europe, nor Russia, where Volvo is a leader in premium vehicle sales.

Volvo recognizes that part of its problem is fuel efficiency, so it's focusing on producing smaller vehicles and pushing its C30 hatch hard in the States. A hybrid version of the XC60 is in the works, but that won't be out for at least another three years... in Germany, and as a stopgap, Volvo plans to implement start-stop technology on its smaller engines.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

With Project Genesis in full swing, new revelations from Steven Landry, Chrysler executive vice president for North American Sales, have shed some more light on the corporate strategy to trim waste and turn the company around. As of now, dealers are under the belief that the automaker intends to cut its lineup by one-third to one-half. Supporting that assumption, Landry told a crowd at Northwood University that "twins" -- vehicles built on the same platform yet are sold under different brand names -- are out (think Jeep Liberty / Dodge Nitro). As Chrysler has more than a handful of twins, sold under several different brands, their dilemma will be in choosing which twin gets the axe, and which gets to survive.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

The FIA and the teams participating in F1 have agreed to shorten the ban on engine development to five years. The FIA, which forms the rules for Formula One, had previously instituted a freeze on the development of every team's engine program for a staggering ten years in an effort to reduce the rapidly escalating costs involved with running an F1 team.

At a meeting called by the FIA in Paris, the principals of each team agreed that a ten year ban was too long, but begun discussions on how costs could be curbed in the sport. Rather than continue imposing half-measures aimed at reducing costs, most of the teams agreed that the FIA should actually reduce costs by instituting an overall budget cap, as many had suggested... Autoblog included. Although Ferrari remains opposed to a budget cap, its former technical chief and now head honcho at Honda, Ross Brawn, has been a vocal proponent of the idea.

With the freeze now cut down to half, the FIA announced it would begin working on a new engine formula for the series. F1 has gone in the past couple of decades from turbo eights to V12s and then to V10s before arriving at the 2.4-liter V8s currently used. Insiders expect the next formula to be unveiled within two years' time and to be both more environmentally-friendly and more cost effective.

[Source: Autosport]

click above image to view more angles of this cut-in-half Eagle Premier

We admitted our affection for the underappreciated Eagle Premier a while back, but seeing one irreparably sawed in half still makes us grin. This car was given its unorthodox chop job by California's Premiere Studio Rentals as preparation for a starring role in a TV commercial. The spot, called "In Half", promotes Dunkin Donuts new frozen confection disguised as an "energy drink," as if that softens the massive caloric blow to your system. You'd need a large living room to house this conversation piece, and TV props are never as pretty in person as they are on screen, so we'd expect a level of undesireable rattiness to this piece, especially after shooting. It would be a cool attention-getter for a body shop or something, though an even better demonstration of their skills would be stitching the sedan back together so the julienne slice was invisible. Somehow, we don't see reassembly happening. Get your bids in, though - currently, it's at $50 with 6 days left.

Check out the commercial in which this half off Eagle Premier stars after the jump.

Thanks for the tip, Mike!

[Souce: eBay]