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Autoblog Minute: Ferrari F12 TdF, Tesla Autopilot, Fiat brand leadership change

Ferrari unleashes the F12 TdF, Model S owners get an exciting announcement from Tesla, and Fiat North America undergoes a leadership change. Senior editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Ferrari unleashes the F12 TdF, Model S owners get an exciting announcement from Tesla, and Fiat North America undergoes a leadership change. I'm Senior editor Greg Migliore, this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Ferrari's new F12 TdF gets its name from the legendary Tour de France race that Ferrari dominated back in the 50s and 60s. [00:00:30] This new Ferrari is derived from the naturally aspirated F12 Berlinetta's engine. There are styling and performance upgrades, and the company highlights changes in aerodynamics, weight reduction, and faster shifts. The result, Ferrari says, is a blistering zero to sixty-two time of, 2.9 seconds. It's pretty fast. Tesla released software version 7.0 for Model S owners. The big takeaway from this update is the much anticipated Autopilot mode. Tesla says Autopilot [00:01:00] allows Model S to steer within a lane, change lanes, and manage speed. Software version 7.0 will also allow for digital control of the motors, brakes, and steering for collision prevention. Now do you hate parallel parking? Tesla's got you covered. The Model S can park on command, right after it scans for a spot and alerts you when one becomes available. Jason Stoicevich resigns shortly after losing control of the Fiat brand. Automotive News reported that Stoicevich's leadership role at Fiat was handed over to the company's [00:01:30] head of the Dodge brand. That's Tim Kuniskis. The report cites diminished sales figures as a key reason for the personnel change at Fiat. This change resulted in Stoicevich leaving FCA altogether. Those are the highlights from the week that was. Be sure to check out my full recap this Saturday. Plus I'll have some added insight into BMW's M2. For Autoblog, I'm Greg Migliore. Autoblog Minute is a short-form video news series reporting on all things automotive. Each segment offers a quick and clear picture of what's happening in the automotive industry from the perspective of Autoblog's expert editorial staff, auto executives, and industry professionals.

Tesla poaches Renault-Nissan communications boss Sproule

Need another sign that Tesla is growing into a force to be reckoned with? Bloomberg reports it has just snagged high-profile communications boss Simon Sproule from Renault-Nissan to become the EV maker's vice president of communications and marketing.
Sproule is an industry veteran, having spent 20 years at Nissan (where he grew to become CEO Carlos Ghosn's right-hand man). In addition, he logged stints at Ford, Jaguar (when it was still a Blue Oval-owned brand) and Microsoft. Despite all that experience, Sproule is still young, at just 45 years of age, as Bloomberg points out, yet he's held positions in the US, Japan and France over the years.
This is all good news for Tesla, which is in need of a strong spokesman outside of company CEO Elon Musk. It's been battling with the state of New Jersey and its governor, Chris Christie, over direct sales in the Garden State.

Even hardcore Tesla fans can get stranded sometimes

Driving a few laps around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a Tesla Model S can be quite a treat. Driving between Los Angeles and Las Vegas? Sometimes, not so much. The fine folks at Teslarati had the good fortune of taking the all-electric luxury sedan for a few spins around the racetrack near Sin City, and found that the Tesla handled "quite well" and was able to reach a top speed of 110 miles per hour on one of the straightaways. And the car turned in a best time of two minutes and 17 seconds around the 2.4-mile circuit. Still, the car started limiting its own power as early as its second lap, and by the seventh lap or so, the car brought down its power capacity to about 25 percent in order to conserve juice. The drivers were able to make do because a Tesla Supercharger fast-charging station was 11 miles away and they could get a good charge in about an hour. Less of a treat was the car's performance between Vegas and Southern California. Despite being big Tesla fans (the driver writes for Teslarati, after all), the unexpected appearance of 35-mile-per-hour headwinds and the totally expected elevation changes between Las Vegas and Barstow, CA proved particularly problematic. The driver slowed down to 40 mph and dropped the Model S' power consumption to something in the 400-500 wh/m range, but still, our intrepid explorers ran out of juice and were stranded beside the road until Tesla kindly arranged for a tow. D'oh!