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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.

China's rise, global restructuring wither GM's Korea division

An article in the Daily Kanban suggests the sun is setting on GM Korea, and it could already be well into dusk. GM Korea came about when General Motors, along with co-investors SAIC and Suzuki, bought Daewoo Motors from parent company Daewoo Group in 2001; it had a previous tie-up with GM, a joint venture that ended in 1992, although Daewoo cars were based on GM cars until 1996. Over the decade following the purchase, it became such an important part of operations that it was renamed GM Korea in 2011, "to reflect its heightened status in [the] global operations of GM." Just two years later, the printed rumors were that the subsidiary responsible for a fifth of Chevrolet's global production could be shutting down. The division's sales were down almost 21 percent through November of last year, counting domestic South Korean sales, exports, and CKD – Complete Knock Down – products. That makes the labor strife, already an issue for four years, even more acute, reports say the subsidiary will lose $36 million a year if it can't get the job and wage cuts it wants, and government concessions can't make up for the losses. And it gets worse, so head over to Daily Kanban to read the rest of the story.

2016 Chevy Camaro coming on May 16

We officially have a date for the arrival of the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro. Fans of Chevy's Mustang fighter should look forward to May 16, and if they're in the Detroit area, they'll want to make their way down to Belle Isle, home of the Chevy Indy Dual in Detroit. We still don't have a great deal of information on the new Camaro, aside from what's been gleaned in spy shots and the like, although Chevy's press release was accompanied by the image shown above. That, friends, looks a lot like the Camaro's badge of old. Its presence here could be an indication that an old logo is set to return to production. That's because what Chevy is planning could best be described as a jamboree, or Camaro-palooza, if you prefer, rather than a typical unveiling. Chevy is inviting up to 1,000 Camaro fans to descend on Belle Isle for a day-long event that will offer up a lot more than their first look at the sixth-generation muscle car. Fans can hot lap the Belle Isle circuit from the passenger's seat of a new Z/28, check out a Camaro "museum," featuring "the most significant vehicles from the brand's history," and chat with some of the Camaro's designers and engineers. "This will be an event Camaro fans will not want to miss," Camaro marketing manager Todd Christensen said in a statement. "This is only the sixth time we have introduced an all-new Camaro. We wanted to share the moment with the customers and fans who have helped make Camaro both America's favorite performance car for the past five years, and a cultural icon since 1967." We'll almost certainly be on hand for the debut (and you'll absolutely be able to get all the details here). And as we said, if you happen to be in the Detroit area in mid May, you can register to attend the unveiling. All you need to do is head over to Chevy's dedicated website for the sixth-generation Camaro and sign up for the big event, on Saturday, May 16. Scroll down for the full press release. 2016 Camaro Drops Cover on May 16 in Detroit DETROIT – Chevrolet is inviting fans to see the all-new 2016 Camaro on Saturday, May 16, in Detroit. The sixth-generation Camaro will cap a day-long celebration on Belle Isle, the 982-acre island park that is home to the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix May 29-31. "This will be an event Camaro fans will not want to miss," said Todd Christensen, Camaro marketing manager. "This is only the sixth time we have introduced an all-new Camaro.