What we're reading this morning about BMW's new bahnstormer, Fiat's Italian jobs and Danica Patrick's crushing introduction to Nascar:
BMW unveils concept M135i [BMW] With last year's BMW 1 Series M Coupe out of production, BMW has another idea for a small stormer — this hatchback, the M135i, powered by a twin-turbo straight six engine good for at least 300 hp. Bet on BMW building these in small numbers at a high price (some dealers attempted a $20,000 markup on the $50,000 M Coupe) with a few reaching America.
Volkswagen profit more than doubles [Associated Press] Germany's national automaker and home to ten brands if you include Porsche says profit for all of 2011 rose to $20.5 billion, thanks mostly to some financial gains on investments. Excluding those, operating profits hit $15.1 billion on sales of 8.27 million vehicles.
Marchionne: Fate of Fiat plants hinges on exports to U.S. [Reuters] Fiat-Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne says in order to meet surging demand for Chryslers in the United States, Fiat needs to export from Mexico, Canada or Europe — and if Fiat's Italian plants don't step up, two of the five would have to be closed. The linchpin appears to be getting Alfa Romeo back into the United States, something that Fiat's delayed for years.
GM plant resumes rollout of Volts [Detroit News] After halting production for a recall to add fire-preventing re-enforcements to its battery pack, GM has resumed building Volts in Hamtramck, Mich., along with shipping the first HOV-lane qualified models to California.
Danica Patrick endures a heavy crash at Daytona, proving her toughness in the process [Yahoo] Near the end of yesterday's Budweiser Shootout, racer Danica Patrick took a hard bump into an inside wall, destroying her car and forcing her to run a backup machine from the back of Sunday's Daytona 500. The thing to notice in this video: How Danica takes her hands off the wheels in the seconds before the crash — a move long practiced by open-wheel racers to keep their wrists from being snapped in an accident. Patrick wasn't hurt, and says she's ready for Sunday.
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