Plymouth: Barracuda Sew/iron On Patch Badge Emblem Embroidered Mopar Hemi Car V8 on 2040-parts.com

Chrysler to close Pacifica Advanced Design Studios

The 20 designers at Chrysler's Pacifica Advanced Design Studios in Carlsbad, California will soon be finding themselves out of a job. The struggling North American automaker announced the closure of the facility on Friday, stating that the company is ‘leveraging resources worldwide, forming new joint ventures and alliances and consolidating operations in order to better achieve global balance.' Responsible for many of the more successful designs hailing from Chrysler in recent times, including the Chrysler 300 sedan and the new Dodge Challenger musclecar, the Pacifica Advanced Product Design Center also yielded the Nassau concept car and the Pacifica crossover – bearing the same name as the west coast studios in which it was created. The work done at the Pacifica Advanced Design Center will be consolidated into the Advance Design function in Auburn Hills and continue to be led by Senior Vice President of Design, Trevor Creed.

Volkswagen mulls new Phaeton for the US market

Volkswagen is giving some serious thought to bringing back the Phaeton sedan to the U.S., Automotive News reports. We haven't seen the Phaeton since 2006, when it was withdrawn from the North American market after lackluster sales. Built at the same factory as the much more expensive Bentley Continental GT and sharing much of the underlying mechanicals, the Volkswagen Phaeton managed to be a slower seller in the U.S.

Ferrari 599 GTB 60F1 (2011) first official pictures

Ferrari is launching a special pack of paint and trim options on the 599, called the 599 GTB 60F1. It's designed to mark six decades of winning in Formula 1 (not something the scuderia has done much of in 2011). Froilan Gonzalez won Ferrari's first F1 race in the 375 F1 car back in July 1951; 60 years later, Fernando Alonso won Ferrari's first race of the current season in the 150° Italia.