Daniel Patrascu
18,662 ARTICLES
Personal motto:
"I truly believe men and fish can coexist peacefully" – George W. Bush
Following several years off the grid, Daniel is back at autoevolution, and seeing how the great crisis of the past decade made the auto industry boring, he grew bored with it too, so he slowly shifted his focus to custom cars, custom motorcycles, and other weird stuff. He also loves ranting about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
During his time at autoevolution, Daniel put his name on more news articles, coverstories, auto guides, reviews, and editorials than we care count. To slow him down a bit, he was given more responsibilities not long ago, so he is now also in charge with coordinating the editorial team on autoevolution.com.
Long time ago, Daniel also translated Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “The Fountains of Paradise” to Romanian for Paladin Publishing.
European Car Market Shows No Sign of Recovery
17 Feb 2009, 17:25 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Year-on-year sales reports show that Europe's automotive industry followed the trend set by the US crisis driven market and sinked by 26 percent last month. Although not as battered as its American counterpart, Europe's market is starting...
Skoda Increases Salaries
17 Feb 2009, 17:19 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / As the economic crisis keeps on taking its toll on the entire world and more and more people see their jobs cut, slashed, thrown away, Skoda representatives, together with Metalworkers' Federation KOVO and Independent labor unions Škoda...
2010 Hyundai Equus Official Photos Leaked
17 Feb 2009, 15:59 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The new luxury limousine Hyundai has prepared for us showed its shapes for the first time, as the car was officially unveiled for journalists in Korea, before the 2009 Geneva Show, ohmynews.com. The New Equus is the first incursion of the Korean ma...
GM Will Get $4 Billion Aid...
17 Feb 2009, 15:05 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / ...or at least this is what a White House aide said today, as reported by Reuters. The news, or should we say pat on the back, comes only hours away from the deadline set for the company to present its case. As for Chrysler, the same undisclosed so...
Renault's Powertrain Range to Lower CO2 Emissions
17 Feb 2009, 14:12 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Renault has set its sights on further reducing CO2 emissions by working on the development of low and even zero emissions vehicles. The quest is not only to achieve this objective, but also to do so within an affordable price range for the average ...
Lamborghini Takes Two Week Break
17 Feb 2009, 13:43 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The decreasing demand for top-end cars will force Lamborghini to stop production for two weeks, between February and March. The measure will affect some 300 workers out of the 1,000 employed by the manufacturer. “We have established a dec...
Carmakers Hope to Cut Cost with Fewer Trims
17 Feb 2009, 12:03 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The effects of the economic crisis could be felt for quite some time from now on, as automakers will try to soften the blow by cutting corners wherever possible. Car manufacturers will find it handy to save some more cash by offering fewer options...
Criminals and How They Choose Their Cars
17 Feb 2009, 11:05 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / We, not being criminals and all, have no idea what drives a person who commits a crime to choose a car over another. Whatever those reasons may be, the fact remains that since it became available for the masses, the automobile has become as indispe...
Daimler Aims to Cut Costs by 1.6 Billion Euros
17 Feb 2009, 11:02 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / One of the few to have coped well with the crisis until now, Daimler is expected to announce today its financial performance for 2008. Maybe as a result of this, the company plans to cut 1.6 billion euros in order to counter a downfall in cars sale...
Lamborghini Murcielago LP650-4 Roadster Detailed
17 Feb 2009, 10:14 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Although a little sketchy and with only few details leaked, the information about the Murcielago LP650-4 Roadster, the offspring of the LP640, is in fact everything you need to know to get you interested. That is if you are wealthy enough to afford...
2009 Chicago Auto Show Does Well Despite Crisis
17 Feb 2009, 09:09 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The Chicago Auto Show debuted on Friday, February 13, and despite what you might think, that did not jinx the overall performance of the show. So far, that is. Set to last until February 22, it would seem that the event is to have some degree of su...
Chinese Chery Wants Volvo
16 Feb 2009, 12:00 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Ford's decision to sell its Volvo brand has stirred things quite a bit in communist-capitalist mixed China. If the beginning of the month brought rumors about Geely Automobile Holdings' interest in taking over the business, today's n...
Three GM Europe Plants Risk Closure
16 Feb 2009, 11:32 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The rush for cash the American company is involved in could result in the closing of three or more plants in Europe. The measure could be taken as part of the company's goal to reach 1.6 billion dollars cost cuts in order to avoid collapse. ...
Ferrari F450 Goes to Frankfurt
16 Feb 2009, 10:45 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Ferrari will present its Ferrari F430 replacement, coded named Ferrari F142, at the Frankfurt Auto Show in October. The soon to be renamed F450 will be the first Ferrari machine to showcase the green materials and weight reduction first introduced ...
Fiat 500C Photos and Specs Before the 2009 Geneva Show
16 Feb 2009, 10:02 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / After releasing a teaser photo of the Fiat 500 convertible last Friday, Fiat kept its promise and released today official photos of the new “kid-on-the-block.” As you can see, the transformation to a ‘cabriolet’ that pays ho...
VW's Union Boss Bernd Osterloh Gets Seat on Porsche Council
16 Feb 2009, 09:07 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The most outspoken critic of Volkswagen's (VW) takeover by Porsche, Bernd Osterloh, has managed to get a seat on the four person council of Porsche Automobil Holding, the overseer of Porsche's 51 percent hold on VW, Autonews reports. The ...
Mini's 850 Job Cuts to Hit Cowley Factory
16 Feb 2009, 08:32 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / BMW will scrap 850 agency workers' jobs at its Mini plant in Cowley, Oxford. In addition, the company has decided it will end weekend working, and announced it has also identified another 150 “surplus” workers at the Swindon facili...
Bangle to Open Own Design Studio
13 Feb 2009, 17:19 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / All automotive fans know by now that BMW lost its chief designer at the beginning of the month. For some, the news came as a relief, for others as a low blow. But both sides must have wondered what is to become of the man that stirred all that cont...
Porsche Mandatory Offer for Scania Complete
13 Feb 2009, 16:58 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Porsche's mandatory takeover offer for Scania, made on February 3rd, was completed today, as the German automaker announced it acquired 7.9 percent of the Swedish truck manufacturer. At that time, Scania board advised its shareholders to rejec...
BMW 5 Series GT Official Photos, Videos and Details
13 Feb 2009, 15:28 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / As we reported earlier today, BMW showcased the new BMW 5 series GT at an event in Munich last night. They also promised to release official photos of their newest conception, along with details about its characteristics. And so they did. Although ...