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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.

Top Gear brings together LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918

Earlier this month, Top Gear released a brief video of the comparison test between three hybrid hypercars we'd all been waiting for: the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder. The story was done by the print magazine and not by the television show, and the video they released was barely over half a minute long, reserving the full version for subscribers of the iPad edition. Now the British mag has put the full video on YouTube, and while it's still only a minute and a half long – three times the length of the previous teaser – it's packed with electrified exotic goodness. The test surely took some serious wrangling to put together, and though the metal (or carbon fiber, as the case may be) was apparently furnished mostly by private owners, to hear Top Gear tell it, the manufacturers – Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche – were eager and helpful in putting the showdown together. For the final conclusions, we're afraid you'll still have to buy the magazine, but for a rare chance to watch all these three world-beaters on the same road at the same time, you'll want to scope out this latest video clip. Related Video: News Source: Top Gear via YouTube Ferrari McLaren Porsche Hybrid Supercars Videos porsche 918 spyder mclaren p1 ferrari laferrari

Ferrari to offer 458 examples of new Speciale Spider

Talk about first-world, one-percenter problems: you want to get a new Ferrari, you've even settled on the 458, but you can't decide between the Spider and the Speciale. It's a tough call, we know. But your pain will be over soon, if the latest rumors are to be believed.
Those rumors have it that, at an exclusive preview event for select customers at Pebble Beach this past weekend, Ferrari showed off a new 458 variant that combines the best attributes of the 458 Spider (namely its folding hardtop) with those of the 458 Speciale (those being its 600-horsepower engine and other go-fast bits).
Succeeding the similarly exclusive, best-of-both-worlds, F430-based 16M Scuderia Spider, the new 458 Speciale Spider (or whatever it's ultimately called) is said to be limited to 458 examples worldwide, and is expected to be unveiled to the public at the Paris Motor Show this coming October.