autoevolution
 

Dan Mihalascu

302  ARTICLES

Personal motto:

"When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting." (Steve McQueen's character from the Le Mans movie, 1971)

editor photo
Fascinated by automobiles since he could barely walk, Dan quickly started dismantling toy cars only to reassemble them (eventually), much to his mother’s despair. After learning how to read, he began collecting piles of car magazines, again driving his mom mad.

Finally, something good came out of his passion as he decided to turn it into a career. Since he was better at writing than changing spark plugs, he chose to study journalism instead of becoming a mechanic - thank God for that! And while most of his college colleagues fantasized about winning the Pulitzer prize, all he wanted was to drive cars and write about them. He started doing that right after graduation when he landed his first job as a car magazine writer.

When his mom thought he finally got settled, Dan started racing and entered his first hill climb event at 26 in a Peugeot 205 GTi. The debut went pretty good but the second race ended with a totaled car. Of course, he blamed that on the poor choice of tires in the wet. Being too fired up and inexperienced to keep a cool head on a damp course never crossed his mind as actually being the problem. While the racing bug never really went out of his system, Dan ended his racing career after two seasons amid financial difficulties and his family’s persistence that motorsport was not worth the risk of dying. Tragically, two of his colleagues lost their lives in crashes during that period.

He never really stopped writing, though. After a long hiatus that saw him work as a writer and editor for several international car news websites, Dan has returned to autoevolution, the place that kick-started his writing career for a global audience more than a decade ago. He has taken up a new role as a coordinating editor, and his obsessive attention to detail and quest for factual accuracy should serve him well in his daily tasks. Unless he spends too much time to find the perfect choice of words, that is.
Fiat Relies on Chrysler to Revive the Alfa Romeo Brand
Fiat Relies on Chrysler to Revive the Alfa Romeo Brand

22 Apr 2010, 07:49 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Chrysler Group will play a decisive role in Fiat’s plans to revive the Alfa Romeo brand, Automotive News announces. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne made a strong commitment to the group’s troubled sporty brand during a presentation of Fiat&#...

 
Volkswagen Phaeton Facelift Breaks Cover
Volkswagen Phaeton Facelift Breaks Cover

22 Apr 2010, 07:06 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Volkswagen has taken the wraps of its facelifted Phaeton luxury sedan, which will be unveiled next week at the Beijing Auto Show (27th April to 2nd May). Volkswagen relies on the Chinese market to sell most of the production, since the largest auto...

 
Ferrari to Launch Six New Models Until 2013
Ferrari to Launch Six New Models Until 2013

21 Apr 2010, 14:34 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Ferrari has revealed it will produce six new models before 2013 as part of Fiat's restructuring plans that were announced today. The six new models include a successor for the Ferrari Enzo hypercar and a hardcore version of the 458, like the 4...

 
Spyshots: 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 Facelift
Spyshots: 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 Facelift

21 Apr 2010, 13:56 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Like the 911 GT3, which received a facelift last year, its "crazier" sister, the GT2, is about to be redesigned too. The car that Jeremy Clarkson described as “terrifying” will be officially introduced at the Paris Motor Show ...

 
Spyshots: 2011 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster Facelift
Spyshots: 2011 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster Facelift

21 Apr 2010, 12:57 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Aston Martin is preparing the facelift of its smallest model, the V8 Vantage, and we now have some spy photos showing the new model during testing - thankfully, the car wore very little disguise. The car photographed is the roadster version and ...

 
Sales Increase for Mazda in 14 European Markets
Sales Increase for Mazda in 14 European Markets

21 Apr 2010, 11:02 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Mazda Motor Europe ended a challenging fiscal year last month (April 2009 through March 2010), 14 countries achieving year-on-year growth in difficult market conditions. The company published the sales results for March 2010 and the prospects are p...

 
Audi RS5 Confirmed for the USA, Sales Start in Summer 2011
Audi RS5 Confirmed for the USA, Sales Start in Summer 2011

21 Apr 2010, 10:22 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Audi has decided to bring the RS5 coupe to the United States as well, according to Inside Line. A product marketing contact from Quattro GmbH, the high performance division that builds the RS models, confirmed the decision. "We have voted o...

 
Kia Magentis Wagon to Be Built for Europe
Kia Magentis Wagon to Be Built for Europe

21 Apr 2010, 09:13 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Launched at this year’s New York International Auto Show, the Magentis mid-size saloon will spawn wagon and coupe versions as well, Autocar reveals. The Korean automaker plans to bring the car to Europe, where it would compete with establishe...

 
Hamann Upgrades the BMW Z4 sDrive35i
Hamann Upgrades the BMW Z4 sDrive35i

21 Apr 2010, 08:19 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / German tuning specialist Hamann Motorsport has released its new design and performance kit for the BMW Z4. Internally known as “E89”, the complete treatment for the German roadster touches both aesthetics and performance. The aerodyn...

 
Magna to Invest $50 Million in Four Michigan Projects
Magna to Invest $50 Million in Four Michigan Projects

21 Apr 2010, 07:14 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Auto supplier Magna International Inc. plans to invest nearly $50 million in four projects in Michigan, which will create approximately 508 jobs within five years, according to Automotive News. The Canadian company, the largest automotive supplier ...

 
GM Out of Fortune 500's Top 10 for the First Time
GM Out of Fortune 500's Top 10 for the First Time

20 Apr 2010, 15:06 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Fortune Magazine released its annual Fortune 500 list of top-grossing companies in the U.S., and Wal-Mart reigns supreme after coming in second place last year. But what interests auto enthusiasts is to see how the U.S. most important carmakers ran...

 
Luca di Montezemolo Officially Resigns as Fiat Chairman
Luca di Montezemolo Officially Resigns as Fiat Chairman

20 Apr 2010, 14:19 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Fiat issued a press release today announcing that Luca Cordero di Montezemolo will resign from his position of Fiat group chairman. He will announce the resignation personally, during a press conference that will be held later this afternoon. The p...

 
Montezemolo to Step Down as Fiat Chairman, Elkann to Succeed Him
Montezemolo to Step Down as Fiat Chairman, Elkann to Succeed Him

20 Apr 2010, 13:09 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is expected to quit the Italian automaker’s top management position to go into politics, three sources close to the company disclosed to the Automotive News Europe. Montezemolo is allegedly quitting t...

 
Subaru to Increase Indiana Plant's Production by 40 Percent
Subaru to Increase Indiana Plant's Production by 40 Percent

20 Apr 2010, 10:51 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Subaru plans to boost production capacity at its Indiana-based assembly plant by 40 percent this year, due to booming demand for the Outback wagon and the Legacy sedan. Fuji Heavy Industries, owner of the Subaru brand, targets U.S. sales of 230,...

 
GM and Unions Reach Agreement to Close Belgium Plant
GM and Unions Reach Agreement to Close Belgium Plant

20 Apr 2010, 09:55 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / GM’s Opel/Vauxhall unit has agreed a deal with unions to shut down the company’s plant from Antwerp, Belgium, according to the Automotive News. GM had announced since January that it would close the factory as part of a restructuring pl...

 
Ford Fiesta Outpaced VW Golf to Become Europe's Best Sold Car in Q1
Ford Fiesta Outpaced VW Golf to Become Europe's Best Sold Car in Q1

20 Apr 2010, 09:12 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Volkswagen Golf has been dethroned from the top spot of Europe’s best sold car by the Ford Fiesta in the first three months of this year, according to JATO Dynamics, world leader in automotive industry data. In March 2010, Ford sold 68,630...

 
Mercedes Will Showcase CLS Shooting Break at Beijing Auto Show
Mercedes Will Showcase CLS Shooting Break at Beijing Auto Show

20 Apr 2010, 08:00 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / The upcoming Beijing Auto Show will host the world premiere of the Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Break Concept, as the German company has revealed. Although it is labelled as a concept car, the CLS Shooting Break previews in many ways the second-ge...

 
Volcano Slows BMW U.S. Plant Production
Volcano Slows BMW U.S. Plant Production

20 Apr 2010, 07:06 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / BMW has slowed production at its U.S. plant in South Carolina because of the flight restrictions in Europe due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland. The ash spread over Europe's skies interrupted BMW's air deliveries of transmissions, anno...

 
Honda to Stop Production of the Civic Type R Sedan
Honda to Stop Production of the Civic Type R Sedan

19 Apr 2010, 15:28 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / After three years of production, Honda has announced it would stop selling the third-generation Civic Type R sedan at the end of August 2010. The car was being manufactured at the company’s Suzuka factory in Japan, exclusively for the local m...

 
Volkswagen Presents All-Electric Taxi in Hannover
Volkswagen Presents All-Electric Taxi in Hannover

19 Apr 2010, 14:17 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Volkswagen has announced it will launch its first production electric vehicles in 2013. Until then, the German automaker showed today, at the debut of the Hannover Trade Show (April 19-23), its idea of an emissions-free taxi. The world premiere ...

 

Stories by Dan Mihalascu