2007 Ferrari F430 F1 -- Red W/tan Interior on 2040-cars

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Weekly Recap: FCA hit with record fine as NHTSA crackdown continues

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration slapped Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with a record fine this week that could reach $105 million. The punishment comes after NHTSA found problems with the automaker's execution of 23 recalls that affect more than 11 million vehicles. The consent agreement, announced Sunday, calls for FCA to pay a $70-million cash fine and requires the company to spend at least $20 million over a three-year period on industry outreach programs and to beef up old recall campaigns. Failure to comply will result in another $15-million fine. FCA also agreed to federal oversight, which includes an independent monitor to oversee the company's recalls. The $70-million cash fine equals a penalty NHTSA levied on Honda in January. "Fiat Chrysler's pattern of poor performance put millions of its customers and the driving public at risk," NHTSA administrator Mark Rosekind said in a statement. "This action will provide relief to owners of defective vehicles, will help improve recall performance throughout the auto industry, and gives Fiat Chrysler the opportunity to embrace a proactive safety culture." FCA called the deal a "consensual resolution," but admitted that it "failed to timely provide an effective remedy" during certain recalls. "We are intent on rebuilding our relationship with NHTSA and we embrace the role of public safety advocate," the company said in a statement. The announcement kicked off a busy week for the automaker. NHTSA agreed FCA did not need to recall 4.7 million vehicles after an investigation failed to find defects with a power module used in some Jeep, Dodge, and Ram vehicles. A Georgia judge also reduced a civil verdict involving a death in a Jeep Grand Cherokee crash. Amid all of that, the company reported net profit of about 333 million euros, or $364 million in the second quarter on Thursday. OTHER NEWS & NOTES FCA ramps up Hellcat production Despite a decidedly legal and financial week for FCA, there was still time for the performance side of the business to briefly grab the spotlight. The automaker is more than doubling its production of the Dodge Challenger and Charger SRT Hellcats in response to strong demand. The order bank opens the second week of August and production begins in September. FCA will finish up its scheduled 2015 model-year Hellcat builds, and cancel any "unscheduled" versions, though customers will get discounted pricing for 2016.

Race Recap: Canadian F1 Grand Prix is one story with a thousand dramas

There were rain and wind and sun, sometimes all at once. There was the Wall of Champions. There was nothing happening in first place and nothing happening back in sixth during the race, but everywhere else - from the time the weekend began - it was surprises, passes, spins, more passing, flying carbon fiber and finally a couple more last-minute surprises. The Canadian Formula One Grand Prix was a proper race for all the right reasons... well, except for the part where the crowd booed the winner.

Are you the Enzo-succeeding Ferrari F150?

We've brought you no end of spy shots and rumors surrounding the new Ferrari hypercar, often referred to as F150, that is destined to succeed the Enzo as the Italian maker's top offering. Now, one new and highly speculative rendering has come to light whose origins are interesting, even if the final product is still pretty much a stab in the dark.
The rendering you see here was created by an organization called goldRush Rally, which published the image on its Facebook page. The claim is that this rendering was based on a "snapshot of a plaque with a sketch of the new supercar." We certainly won't speculate as to what kind of "presentation" a luxury-rally throwing company like gRR would be invited to - to say nothing of why there was a plaque bearing the image of a supercar that has been so well cordoned off from public eyes - but we'll roll with it because we love the internet.
Even if the story is completely true (big if), we're fairly certain the details of the rendering miss in some places relative to the real deal car. The front wheel wells, for instance, seem comically thin around the top, and hold wheels that are way out of proportion with the spy shots and videos we've seen so far. More promising, however, is the detailing of the door and sill of the F150 - portions of the car that have consistently been covered in spy shots.