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Star Wars Car Drives To The Dark Side Of Comic Con

When it comes to designing coveted collectible toys for sale at Comic-Con, the annual celebration of pop culture lifting off Thursday in San Diego, the sky's the limit for the designers at Mattel. Fittingly, the building where Mattel's dreamers conceive of their limited-edition playthings is just down the street from the Los Angeles International Airport. Inside the colorful design center - a Hot Wheels-themed shuttle bus transports employees from Mattel's parking garage - the designers have spent the past year working on 10 toys created especially for the Comic-Con crowd, including a replica of the Batmobile from the upcoming game "Batman: Arkham Knight" and a 9-inch-tall action figure of Superman killer Doomsday. "We don't have to worry about retail. We don't have to worry about margins," said Doug Wadleigh, Mattel's senior vice president of global brand marketing for boys and entertainment. "We don't have to worry about operational efficiencies. We only have to worry about creating the coolest toys for our fans. Period." It also offers some escape from Mattel's reality these days. Like other toy makers struggling in this digital, video-centric age, the company is trying to remain relevant in the retail world. Core brands like Barbie have seen less of a demand, with a 14 percent drop in sales in the first quarter of this year. Mattel had a net loss for the first three months ending March 31 that totaled $11.2 million. But things will at least seem rosier at Comic-Con, where eager buyers for the toys await (the only other place they will be sold is on the Mattel collector's site). Mattel's exclusives this year run between $20 and $85, but elite toys can fetch much more when they're put up for auction. The crown jewel for Wadleigh and his team this year is a Darth Vader die-cast car, the first official collaboration from Hot Wheels and the "Star Wars" franchise. The car - imagine if a Chevrolet Corvette C5 and the villainous Sith lord's helmet had a baby - comes in a sleek black box and encased in a replica of Vader's lightsaber, complete with a swooshing sound effect. "We've been trying to partner with Lucasfilm and Disney on this property for a long time," said Wadleigh. A full-size working replica of the Vadermobile will be on display at Mattel's booth at the massive San Diego Convention Center.

Fernando Alonso fails to qualify as Pagenaud takes Indy pole

Former Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso narrowly failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday as France's Simon Pagenaud took pole position for the May 26 race. Kyle Kaiser beat out Alonso for the final spot in the 33-car field when he finished third, one spot ahead of the Spaniard, in a six-car shootout that determined the Indy 500's last row. The 23-year-old Kaiser, the last driver to take the track, averaged 227.372 mph for his four laps, a mere 0.019 mph ahead of Alonso's 227.353 mph average in the McLaren-prepared Chevrolet. "We never surrendered. We kept trying," Alonso, 37, told reporters after a tough week at the famed speedway. The Spaniard crashed his Chevrolet in practice on Wednesday and missed nearly two full days of practice while a back-up car was prepared. Then he tried five times on Saturday to qualify, puncturing a tire on the first attempt. Alonso had a completely new set up for Sunday's shootout but could not get the speed he needed to qualify. "I think the car felt better today than what we had yesterday. (So I am) happy with things we tried," he told reporters before learning he had not qualified. Pagenaud had a four-lap average speed of 229.992 mph to become the first Frenchman to take the pole since Rene Thomas in 1919. "It's just amazing," Pagenaud, who last week won the IndyCar Grand Prix on the track's road course, told NBC Sports. "Obviously last week was amazing, but this is even more special." He will be joined by Ed Carpenter (229.889) and Spencer Pigot (229.826) on the front row. But the Cinderella story belonged to Kaiser, the 33rd qualifier. "I don't think I can wrap my mind around what we just did," he said after bumping Alonso from the field. "This is all the credit to the team. They've been working non-stop trying to get this car ready for us and they did everything that we needed to get into this field." (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ken Ferris)Related Video: Motorsports Chevrolet McLaren Racing Vehicles F1 IndyCar

2013 Chevy COPO Camaro announced with two new engines and manual option

Chevrolet is following up the 2012 COPO Camaro with another limited run of the drag-strip-ready production car for 2013. Ditching the superchargers, the 2013 COPO Camaro can only be equipped with one of three naturally aspirated V8 engines, and other new features include the option of a manual transmission, new front springs, some minor styling changes and a lower starting price of $86,000. All cars are designed to abide by the rules of the NHRA's Stock Eliminator or Super Stock classifications, depending on in which series buyers wish to enter their Chevrolet Camaro.
Returning for 2013 is the 427-cubic-inch V8 producing 425 horsepower, but the new engines include a 325-hp 350-CID V8 and a 375-hp 396-CID V8. Buyers can select to purchase all three engines, and each will be matched with the sequence number of that car; the track-only COPO cars will not have vehicle identification numbers and can't be registered for street use.
Chevrolet is also offering unique enthusiast-specific options such as a COPO Build Book and the opportunity for owners to help assemble their car's engine at the Chevrolet Performance Build Center in Wixom, MI.