Cardone Industries 54-74829 on 2040-parts.com

Alfa's U.S. return likely for 2012, Marchionne says

Fiat's on-again, off-again plan to return Alfa Romeo to the United States is on again, this time with a target date of 2012. A Chrysler Group spokesman has confirmed remarks made by CEO Sergio Marchionne in Toronto. “I'm a lot more confident now that Alfa Romeo will reconstitute a product offering that is acceptable globally, and more in particular in the United States and Canada,” Marchionne was quoted as saying Friday.

Ex Ford, Mazda designer to head styling at Renault

Former Ford Motor and Mazda designer Laurens van den Acker will succeed Patrick le Quement as head of design at French automaker Renault. Van den Acker, 43, quit as head of design at Mazda earlier this month. He will join Renault on May 15 and assume le Quement's full responsibilities starting on Nov.

Selling in the Motor City: RM Auctions hawks muscle cars, classic sheetmetal and even a boat at Detroit event

The steering wheel in a 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible is surprisingly thin. It's oversized and humongously circular, but still startlingly narrow considering it directs a very bargelike Caddy. Oh, and the seats are fairly comfortable.