The Good Oil: Growing the Fiat 500

The Fiat 500 is expanding. Photo / File

The diminutive Fiat 500 is expanding. The larger 500L was unveiled at the Geneva motor show and an even larger crossover is expected in 2014. The so-called 500X will use a wider version of Fiat's small car architecture that underpins the Punto. It gets all-wheel-drive and will replace the current Sedici (a rebadged version of the Suzuki SX4) in Europe. A US report says it will be built alongside a new Jeep crossover, set to launch Stateside in 2014. It will be smaller than the current Patriot and Compass.

Saab fights bankruptcy filing

Saab Cars North America (SCNA) continues to fight the involuntary bankruptcy filed by its dealers in case, miracle of miracles, a buyer turns up to kick-start the comatose Swedish carmaker. Meantime, sitting on a dock in New Jersey for the past few months are 9-3 and 9-5 sedans - 900 of them - awaiting the company's North American fate.

Ford boss rakes in $35.8m a year

No sooner had Ford CEO Alan Mulally pocketed US$58.3 million in stock than his 2011 salary package was made public. He picked up US$29.5 million ($35.8 million) in 2011, says The Detroit News, an 11 per cent pay hike more than twice that of executive chairman Bill Ford jnr's US$14.46 million. Mulally's annual salary is US$2 million. The rest was made up of a US$5.46 million bonus, "stock and option awards as well as personal expenses, which can entail use of private aircraft, cellphone use, security, and fuel and car washes", said the story. Doing the sums, Mulally (above) earned US$5.17 for each of the 5.7 million vehicles Ford sold worldwide in 2011.

Copycat van up for sale - may have been around awhile

It looks to be a spot-on knock-off of B.A. Baracus' bad attitude GMC van, the perfect midlife-crisis toy for those who grew up watching The A-Team. But train-spotters say it's a near-identical 1983 Chevrolet G10. Whatever, the replica is for sale for US$20,000 in the US, where the seller claims he built it for Mike Myers, of Wayne's World and Austin Powers fame. The last line of the ad is just as dodgy: "Movie coming out in June!" The copycat van has obviously been around for a while - the A-Team feature film premiered in the US in June 2010.

Obama pushes alternative fuels

US President Barack Obama has been pitching advanced powertrains to the American Automobile Association, the biggest car club in America. Obama said alternative-fuelled vehicles may save a typical family US$8000 in fuel costs during the life of a car. He said his first car was his grandfather's Ford Granada. "It rattled and shook but it moved, and so I have fond memories of the fact that it got me to where I needed to go."

Finnish honour

Mini has honoured Finnish rally legend Rauno Aaltonen with a special edition bearing his name. Aaltonen was the man at the wheel of the Mini that won the 1967 Monte Carlo rally, perhaps Mini's most famous victory. The car, likely to be a left-hooker and only available in Europe, comes as a classic three-door hatchback with either the Cooper or Cooper S engine. Aaltonen's signature graces the speedo. Buyers of the Cooper S Rauno Aaltonen get a day of instruction at the ice-driving school run by his son Tino Aaltonen.

Classic job

Volkswagen has appointed Franz-Josef Paefgen - former chief executive of Audi, Bentley and Bugatti - to head its classics programme, overseeing the heritage departments of each of the group's brands. One of these is the "oldtimers" division of VW commercial vehicles. It has moved into a new 7000sq m facility in Hannover where its staff of 13 restores old VW Kombis. For years the garage worked on VW's own vehicles, but now private owners can bring in their vehicles for service.

GM persuaded stop funding climate-change deniers

More than 20,000 petitioners have persuaded General Motors to stop funding the Heartland Institute, a climate-change-denying group in the United States.

GM's support came to light when leaked documents showed Heartland's plan to insert climate change denial material into US public education. A lobby group called Forecast the Facts buttonholed GM chief Dan Akerson, who then reviewed the funding. Forecast's director, Daniel Souweine, said: "We applaud GM's decision and the message it sends: that it is no longer acceptable for corporations to promote the denial of climate change, and that support for an organisation like Heartland is not in line with GM's values."