This just in: Margie Petersen & the Margie & Robert E. Petersen Foundation have gifted the Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation approximately $100,000,000. Click here for detals.
The race is over but the face is fresh. General Tire crowned Keli Snyder, a University of Southern California journalism student and a television host for Lucas Oil, as this year’s Miss Mint 400 – after a national internet competition, the press release said.
The Nissan Leaf was bestowed the “World Car of The Year Award” at the New York Auto Show. Other winners of World awards selected by 66 jurors from six continents were: Chevrolet Volt, Green Car of The Year, Aston Martin Rapide, World Car Design of the Year and Ferrari 458 Italia, World Performance Car of The Year.
Ford Motor Company won Polk’s Automotive Loyalty Award which is based on numbers of households returning to market to purchase or lease a new vehicle of the same model or make as the one they are replacing. Ford boosted loyalty rates by 4.5 percentage points and led all brands with an owner loyalty rate of 60.3% for the full year. General Motors was second. Toyota, third.
July 8 has been declared by the U.S. Senate as “Car Collector Appreciation Day,” thanks to the efforts of SEMA, its Automotive Restoration Market Organization (ARMO) and the Hot Road Industry Alliance (HRIA). Begun last year, the day celebrates the nation’s automotive heritage and the sponsoring organizations will gladly partner with individuals, businesses and organizations to sponsor car cruises, club gatherings or other related activities.
The Detroit Bureau’s Paul Eisenstein says Kia’s “ham-stars” put the soul in the Kia Soul to win Nielsen Automotive Advertising’s 2011 Ad of the Year as selected by a panel of industry pros. Other winners were Ford (2): Best Sales Event Campaign and Best Green Ad; Toyota: Best Spanish language TV ads; and Mercedes: Best Luxury auto ads.
Edmunds.com is hosting a one-day conference on the future of car safety on May 24. in Washington, DC It is titled: “Truly Safe? Debunking Myths and Crafting Policies for Car Safety.” Authorities from various disciplines will speak, debate and interact with the audience. More information is available at http://www.autoobserver.com/2011-car-safety-conference. Registration is accessible directly at www.edmundsregistration.com.
Bill Hensyl of Timonium, Maryland won “The People’s Choice Award” at this year’s Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. For what wasn’t in the announcement but scale-model enthusiast Bill Warner, impresario of the event, was happy to report that the award itself was a Bobby Rahal-autographed 1/18 scale model of the colorful Apple-sponsored Porsche 935 that Rahal drove in the IMSA series and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year’s Concours may become an historic moment in the annals of the event for having both the recently deceased David E. Davis, Jr. and Brock Yates on the judges panel.
