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.
McLaren Boss Describes the Bugatti Veyron as "Pig Ugly"
McLaren Boss Describes the Bugatti Veyron as "Pig Ugly"

13 Apr 2010, 07:34 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / McLaren Automotive CEO, Ron Dennis, had some interesting words about the Bugatti Veyron when interviewed by the Arabian Business magazine. The legendary F1 supercar maker's boss let the world know his opinion about the most expensive car on sa...

 
Russian Flavored MINI Cooper S Hits the News
Russian Flavored MINI Cooper S Hits the News

13 Apr 2010, 07:03 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Russian artist Denis Simachev and a team of engineers from Russian tuning company Topcar have tackled the MINI Cooper S and have created two different spicy versions of the car. The two vehicles are equipped with a new "Bully" aerokit fro...

 
Audi's Car Supply Shortage Hurting U.S. Sales
Audi's Car Supply Shortage Hurting U.S. Sales

12 Apr 2010, 14:49 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Audi's sales in the United States are affected by shortage of cars in stock after the company recorded a strong first quarter, says the president of Audi of America, Johan de Nysschen. "We are short of everything," said the Audi ...

 
1,000,000th BMW 1 Series Produced
1,000,000th BMW 1 Series Produced

12 Apr 2010, 13:36 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / After five years of production, the smallest BMW on offer, the 1 Series, has reached its first million units mark. Available in four body variants, the 1 Series has achieved the production milestone in its first model generation. The anniversary...

 
Spyshots: 2011 Opel Astra GSI
Spyshots: 2011 Opel Astra GSI

12 Apr 2010, 13:04 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Opel is working hard to finalize the sporty variant of the Astra, the GSI, which will be available with both gasoline and diesel engines. While the gasoline GSI will fight the Volkswagen Golf GTI, the diesel Astra GSI will take on the Golf GTD. ...

 
Geely Shares Drop after Profit Announcement
Geely Shares Drop after Profit Announcement

12 Apr 2010, 12:06 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Shares in Geely Automobile Holdings, the listed arm of China's largest private carmaker Geely, fell over 5 percent after the company posted an 8 percent fall in earnings in the second half of 2009. Geely's parent company signed last month...

 
Grand Theft Auto at the 2010 NYIAS
Grand Theft Auto at the 2010 NYIAS

12 Apr 2010, 10:36 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / The world's most important motor shows take place in Europe (Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris), but when the New York International Auto Shows opens each year in April, European manufacturers make a logistic effort and send their new additions over th...

 
Tesla Roadster Honours Nikola Tesla in Budapest
Tesla Roadster Honours Nikola Tesla in Budapest

12 Apr 2010, 09:35 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Tesla Roadster will tour southeastern Europe this week in what will be the most significant leg of the 37,000-kilometer world tour that the electric car is currently undertaking. On April 13, the car will arrive in Budapest, the place where Nikola ...

 
Chevrolet Cruze Irmscher Edition Packs 186 Horsepower
Chevrolet Cruze Irmscher Edition Packs 186 Horsepower

12 Apr 2010, 08:03 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / The popular compact sedan made by Chevrolet has received an Irmscher treatment, meaning that the European tuning partner of the bow tie brand made a few cosmetic and performance upgrades to the budget car. The modifications were showcased at th...

 
World Premiere of the BMW X5 xDrive40d in Leipzig
World Premiere of the BMW X5 xDrive40d in Leipzig

12 Apr 2010, 07:07 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / The most powerful diesel BMW X5, the xDrive40d, was shown off at the Leipzig Auto Show for the first time. The facelifted X5 xDrive40d comes with BMW TwinPower Turbo Technology following the Variable Twin Turbo principle, where the small turbocharg...

 
Renault, Nissan Sign Agreement with Enel and Endesa
Renault, Nissan Sign Agreement with Enel and Endesa

9 Apr 2010, 14:53 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Renault and Nissan have signed an agreement to develop electric vehicle mobility with energy giants Enel and Endesa. The deal has been put in place yesterday in Paris in the presence of Fulvio Conti, CEO Enel, Patrick Pelata, Chief Operating Office...

 
Passenger Car Sales Up 63 Percent in China in March
Passenger Car Sales Up 63 Percent in China in March

9 Apr 2010, 13:43 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / China's passenger car sales rose 63 percent in March 2010, a growth fueled by strong demand as a consequence of tax cuts and government subsidies, reports the Associated Press. 1.26 million automobiles were sold on the Chinese market last mont...

 
Citroen C5 Receives Carlsson Style Treatment
Citroen C5 Receives Carlsson Style Treatment

9 Apr 2010, 12:58 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / German tuning company Carlsson, specialized in Mercedes-Benz, has surprised the aftermarket community by announcing it will premiere a French model at the Auto Mobil International Auto Show in Leipzig. The car chosen for the upgrade is the family s...

 
Peugeot UK Sales Rise 22.3 Percent in March
Peugeot UK Sales Rise 22.3 Percent in March

9 Apr 2010, 10:57 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Peugeot started strong this year in the United Kingdom, the French automaker reporting sales up 22.3 percent in March as compared to the same month last year and a 31.5 percent rise year-to-date. Peugeot's results came in a market that went up...

 
6.2 Million GM Pickup Trucks and SUVs under Investigation for Faulty Brakes
6.2 Million GM Pickup Trucks and SUVs under Investigation for Faulty Brakes

9 Apr 2010, 09:30 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / More than 6 million pickup trucks and SUVs produced by General Motors are under federal scrutiny for possible failures in the braking department caused by corrosion, reports the Automotive News. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration...

 
Infiniti G Will Get a 4-Cylinder Engine from Mercedes-Benz
Infiniti G Will Get a 4-Cylinder Engine from Mercedes-Benz

9 Apr 2010, 08:34 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Infiniti G series will receive a Mercedes-Benz engine following the agreement between Daimler AG and Renault-Nissan. The Automotive News reported the CEO of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, said the Infiniti G will use a Mercedes-Benz inline four-cyli...

 
Most Expensive MINI Ever to Hit U.S. Shores
Most Expensive MINI Ever to Hit U.S. Shores

9 Apr 2010, 07:33 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Introduced last year, the MINI WC50, short for World Championship 50, is a limited edition model built by the official MINI powerhouse, John Cooper Works. The car features a unique Connaught green paint job and is fitted with exclusive equipment. ...

 
BMW 550i Gran Turismo Gets xDrive Version
BMW 550i Gran Turismo Gets xDrive Version

9 Apr 2010, 06:46 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / BMW announced the introduction of all-wheel drive system xDrive on its 7-Series based crossover, the 5 Series GranTurismo. The premiere of this new version will take place at the Beijing Auto Show, which will open its doors in a few days. The BM...

 
Tata Confirms Nano Fire, Denies Any Design Flaw
Tata Confirms Nano Fire, Denies Any Design Flaw

9 Apr 2010, 05:52 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Less than a month's time after a Tata Nano caught fire in Mumbai, another model was caught up in flames today. The car was part of 11 Tata Nanos being driven to a dealer in Makarpura, making it this year's second incident of this kind inv...

 
Hyundai Breaks Record in the UK: Sells More than 15,000 Cars in March
Hyundai Breaks Record in the UK: Sells More than 15,000 Cars in March

8 Apr 2010, 14:01 UTC · By: Dan Mihalascu / Hyundai announced today that it had broken a commercial record in March 2010, selling 15,241 cars in the UK and setting the company's best monthly result ever. The previous best month was September 2009, when the Korean carmaker sold 11,031 un...

 

Stories by Dan Mihalascu