HPP's showstopping Daytona conversion

HPP Daytona - Click above for high-res image gallery

When we saw the HPP Daytona at this year's SEMA show, two things became very apparent. One, we'd really like to drive it. Two, we need better pictures of it. See, the poor thing got itself shoved into a tight booth at SEMA and we just couldn't get too many decent shots. So, being the enterprising lads that we are, we wrote HPP and asked if they had some better pictures. Guess what? You're looking at 'em.

One thing we really dig about these studio shots is the detailing. Just check out the custom exhaust tips – the square suckers sticking out of the Daytona's side behind the rear wheel. Nifty, no? Great hood latches, great front splitter, good looking (and apparently functional) hood scoops and really nice hood pins. And just look at that wing – fabulous. Really, the more we look, the more we like this 600-horsepower supercharged bad boy. Which leaves us with one big question: who is HPP?

Well now, included with the purty pictures was a very interesting explanation to that very question. Gordon M. Heidacker is the president of Heide Performance Products (HPP). He's been in the car business for 23 years, working for AMC and Chrysler while getting his hands dirty with cars like Plymouth Prowler and Dodge Viper. After the Cerberus debacle, Heidacker decided to go it on his own, and set up HPP to fill, "a general hole in the market for accessories and upscale vehicles that could be converted into passionate expressions of metal, glass, plastic to become rolling art." Sounds good by us.

As far as this here Daytona goes, Heidacker had a conversation with Chrysler explaining what he and his team wanted to do. And if Chrysler liked it, they'd fund it. But, as Heidacker points out, they "Delivered that proposal to Mopar exactly 1.5 hours before they declared bankruptcy. So we decided to internally fund the project." Timing, as it's said, is everything. What's next for HPP? Next up is another Challenger, but for next year's SEMA show, they'll be bringing a Chevrolet Camaro. We, for one, will be there. For a partial list of the 50 individual changes HPP made to the Challenger when turning it into the Daytona, make the jump.

HPP Daytona Studio Shots

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HPP Daytona Challenger

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Mercedes Grand Prix searches for drivers

The new Mercedes GP car rendered – Click above to view in high-resolution

With two manufacturers leaving the series, four new teams joining the grid and a giant game of musical chairs amongst the drivers ensuing, the off-season between the 2009 and 2010 Formula One World Championships is packing in as much action as the racing itself. But few developments have garnered as much attention as the coup orchestrated by Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, withdrawing from McLaren after fifteen years as its active partner in favor of a more conventional engine supplier role, while buying over 75% of the Brawn GP outfit to enter the sport as a full manufacturer team under the Mercedes Grand Prix banner.

The acquisition has drawn public criticism from Erich Klemm, employee representative on the Daimler board and chairman of its Corporate Works Council, who decried the move as an unnecessary cost when money is tight and other automakers are withdrawing from the series. Chairman Dieter Zetsche responded that the acquisition of the Brawn team will give the company more exposure for less cash: The deal reportedly cost the German automaker some $336 million, but its operating costs are expected to drop to about $74 million annually by 2011, analyzed as far less than what Mercedes was contributing annually to the McLaren budget.

Zetsche might have more trouble, however, explaining to the board how their star driver slipped through their fingers and defected to the team they just ditched. McLaren just announced the recruitment of Jenson Button to team up with Lewis Hamilton for a twin-champ "super team," and Rubens Barrichello is off to Williams next season, leaving the new Mercedes GP team looking for new drivers. Considering they're the reigning champions suddenly flush with cash, they shouldn't have much trouble, though.

Zetsche and Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug are reportedly keen to capitalize with an all-German line-up, fueling speculation that Michael Schumacher could rejoin Mercedes (whose junior driving program gave him his start) and Brawn (who orchestrated all seven of his world championships). Nico Rosberg is thought to already have signed on to switch places with Barrichello, while Nick Heidfeld has been linked with a switch from the departing BMW to its arch-rival Mercedes. Toyota's Timo Glock was also reportedly in the running, but the young German driver signed with newcomer Manor GP instead. Haug has indicated an announcement will come within the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.

Nissan GT-R or Ford Mustang GT500?

Click above to read the rest of the post and vote in our poll

A few months back we were lucky enough to roll around in a 2010 Nissan GT-R. On our way up to a pre-burnt Angeles Crest Highway for the now infamous flip-flop-gate photoshoot, yours truly began explaining to our intrepid photographer Drew Phillips just exactly how Nissan's latest and greatest is faster than a speeding Gallardo, more powerful than a F430 and able to leap tall canyon roads without breaking a sweat. And on and on and on. When I finally shut up, Drew asked me, "Would you take a GT-R over a GT500?" Whoa...

Read the rest of the post and vote in our poll after the jump.

2010 Nissan GT-R

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Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang

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Hyundai, Kia and Subaru all report +40% increase in sales

Hyundai, Kia and Subaru all report +40% increase in sales

If you've been paying attention to recent editions of By the Numbers, you'll have noticed that the amount of green on our chart below is growing. Month after month, more and more brands and manufacturers are managing to produce sales numbers that exceed the same month last year.

For October 2009, the list is topped by three familiar players: Hyundai (+49%), Kia (+45%) and Subaru (+41%). The South Koreans and this lone Japanese brand have bucked the trend all year, and now that other brands are beginning to sell relatively well, they are distancing themselves from the pack even further.

Their success shouldn't overshadow the rest of the industry, though, which includes many players surprisingly high on our chart. All four "Core" brands of General Motors (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC) posted positive numbers, and GM as a whole, which still counts sales from "non-Core" brands like Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn, managed to post a 4.1% gain in sales. Likewise, the Ford brand (+3.6%) and Ford Motor Company (+3%) both reported sales gains versus October of last year. The rest of the big Japanese manufacturers, meanwhile, were close behind but didn't quite manage to earn a green cell this month, while the Chrysler Group LLC landed farthest off the mark with a drop of 30.4%.

Have industry sales turned the corner? Are we headed into a bright future of 14+ million sales per year and green cells for every automaker? Hardly, though it's increasingly clear that new product, being competitive in key segments, and creative marketing and incentives are the best recipe for climbing out of the red.

*Brands and companies are both displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 28 selling days in October 2009 and 27 selling days in October 2008, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in the average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company.

Brand	Volume %	10/09	10/08	DSR*%	DSR 10/09	DSR 10/08
Hyundai	48.92	31,005	20,820	43.60	1,107	771
Kia	45.26	22,490	15,483	40.07	803	573
Subaru	40.66	18,169	12,917	35.64	649	478
Cadillac	21.60	11,602	9,541	17.26	414	353
Mercedes-Benz	21.32	18,193	14,996	16.99	650	555
GMC	20.44	25,423	21,109	16.14	908	782
Lexus	19.77	19,502	16,283	15.49	697	603
Volvo	19.37	4,437	3,717	15.11	158	138
Buick	18.46	9,053	7,642	14.23	323	283
Porsche	15.07	1,642	1,427	10.96	59	53
Chevrolet	8.50	116,436	107,313	4.63	4,158	3,975
Nissan	7.69	53,664	49,833	3.84	1,917	1,846
Volkswagen	7.23	17,037	15,889	3.40	608	588
Ford	3.57	119,072	114,969	-0.13	4,253	4,258
Honda	-0.01	75,751	75,756	-3.58	2,705	2,806
Mercury	-1.14	6,676	6,753	-4.67	238	250
Audi	-1.14	7,358	7,443	-4.67	263	276
Toyota	-2.32	132,663	135,818	-5.81	4,738	5,030
Acura	-3.53	9,751	10,108	-6.98	348	374
Lincoln	-8.97	6,735	7,399	-12.23	241	274
Infiniti	-9.29	6,451	7,112	-12.53	230	263
Pontiac	-18.45	10,646	13,054	-21.36	380	483
BMW	-18.61	16,443	20,203	-21.52	587	748
Mini	-20.79	4,176	5,272	-23.62	149	195
Dodge	-22.21	26,265	33,763	-24.99	938	1250
Chrysler	-35.61	12,815	19,903	-37.91	458	737
Jeep	-36.80	13,500	21,360	-39.05	482	791
Mitsubishi	-48.34	3,867	7,486	-50.19	138	277
Suzuki	-49.89	1,745	3,482	-51.67	62	129
Saturn	-57.79	3,623	8,583	-59.30	129	318
Smart	-70.44	661	2,236	-71.49	24	83
Saab	-74.03	513	1,975	-74.95	18	73
Hummer	-77.56	307	1,368	-78.36	11	51
Mazda	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
COMPANIES
General Motors	4.11	177,603	170,585	0.40	6,343	6,318
Ford Motor Company	3.07	136,920	132,838	-0.61	4,890	4,920
Nissan NA	0.28	60,115	59,945	-3.30	2,147	2,220
Toyota Mo Co	0.04	152,165	152,101	-3.53	5,434	5,633
American Honda	-0.42	85,502	85,864	-3.98	3,054	3,180
BMW Group	-19.06	20,619	25,475	-21.95	736	944

in our quaint little hemisphere is likely the North American COTY award

Guess what boys and girls, the auto show season is ramping up and that means the constant flow of Car of the Year awards is upon us. The biggest auto show award in our quaint little hemisphere is likely the North American COTY award, which, we would have thought included Canada, Mexico and our United States. Well, not so much. The Canadians have their own international show and their own COTY, complete with car and utility honors from among 12 categories and 52 award-eligible vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

After pouring over vehicles ranging from the Mazda3 to the Porsche Panamera and everything in between, the Canadians have narrowed their focus to one vehicle in each of the 12 categories. Volkswagen is the best-represented automaker in the final 12, with three VW models, two Audis and the Panamera. The Mazda3 wins in two different categories and the Ford Taurus is the only finalist among Detroit automakers.

Also shut out – somewhat surprisingly we may add – are the Honda and Toyota brands, although the Lexus Lexus RX450h was voted the top crossover/SUV over $60,000. The 2010 Canadian International Auto Show begins February 12. Hit the jump to view the rest of the winners.

[Source: AJAC via Auto North]

SMALL CAR (under $21k)
Mazda3

SMALL CAR (over $21k)l
Mazda3 Sport

FAMILY CAR (under $30k)
Volkswagen Golf Wagon

FAMILY CAR (over $30k)
Ford Taurus

LUXURY CAR (over $50k)
BMW 335d Sedan

PRESTIGE (over $75k)
Porsche Panamera

SPORTS / PERFORMANCE (under $50k)
Volkswagen Golf GTI

SPORTS / PERFORMANCE (over $50k)
Audi S4

CONVERTIBLES
Audi A5 Cabriolet

SUV / CUV (under $35k)
Subaru Outback

SUV / CUV ($35k-$60k)
Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel

SUV / CUV (over $60k)
Lexus RX450h

Germany not happy with GM abandoning Opel sale 2009

It was an exhausting 7-month process that finally winnowed down a pool of suitors for Opel, General Motors' European subsidiary, to Canadian parts maker Magna and Russian bank Sberbank. The deal was all set to go through, but GM pulled the plug yesterday at the 11th hour, claiming that because of Europe's improving markets and its own better-than-expected financial footing, the automaker could do better for Opel and employees than any of its proposed buyers.

Not so says government officials in Germany, who are reportedly crying in their steins and cursing the day Fritz Henderson was born (we're guessing). Of course, there's money involved, but GM has vowed to pay back the €1.5 billion bridge loan it received from the German government to keep Opel afloat during the selling process. It reportedly only borrowed €1.1 billion and has already paid back €200 million, so Germany is still owed about €900 million.

Aside from the money, German officials and Opel employees in the country are concerned that there will be more job cuts and plant closings by GM than there would have been if the company had been sold to Magna. As such, some of the unions in Germany that had agreed to concessions in order to woo Magna into ownership have vowed not to extend those same concessions to GM.

Outside of Germany, however, GM Europe workers are reportedly happy with the decision to keep Opel in the family fold. Their jubilation stems from fear that had Germany succeeded in brokering the sale of Opel to Magna, other countries like the UK, Spain and Belgium would bear the brunt of restructuring instead of Deutschland. This way, GM is more likely to evenly spread out the costs of restructuring, including job loss, without one region being able to exert too much influence.

Hennessey HPE700 Camaro

Hennessey HPE700 Camaro - Click above for high-res image gallery

We like subtle and we like power. But at SEMA the two are usually mutually exclusive. Usually. After laying eyes and hands all over the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro HPE700 LS9 and talking at length with John Hennessey, we think we've found our favorite Chevy of the show.

We've been covering its development from the beginning, so just a quick recap: After moving a few vacuum lines, fabricating a custom header and spending three months working out the wiring, Hennessey and his crew shoehorned the Corvette ZR1's supercharged LS9 into the engine bay, fitted a new intercooler and pulleys and tuned the Camaro to 725 hp (at 6,400 RPM) and 741 lb-ft of torque (at 3,200 RPM).

According to the man behind the machine, the HEP700 is putting out 651 hp and around 650 lb-ft of torque to the wheels on a Dynojet, good for a 0-60 MPH time of 3.5 seconds and a quarter mile sprint of 11.3 seconds at 126 MPH. And the mods didn't end with the engine. A set of KW V3s are fitted at all four corners and coupled with the 20-inch wheels with 275/35 (front) and 305/35 (rear) rubber, contributes to a claimed skid pad of 1.01g. Six-pot Brembos clamp onto 15.1-inch discs in front, while 14.1-inch rear rotors are squeezed by four-piston calipers, helping the HPE700 stop from 60 in 104 feet.

If you're aching to get your hands on one of the 24 ZR1-powered Camaros, you'd better drop a dime post haste -- there are only five remaining, each carrying a price tag of $119,500.

Hennessey HPE700 Camaro

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