Daniel Patrascu
18,682 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.
GM Truck Production Pumped Up to Save the Day
3 Feb 2009, 09:30 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Spring is fastly approaching and with it comes hope of renewal, wormer days and money for GM. Following one of the worst winters in economic history, GM is looking forward with great expectation to the upcoming selling session. "As f...
Seoul Motor Show Loses GM, Chrysler, BMW
3 Feb 2009, 08:15 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The restless race for money, initiated by the economic crisis, makes car manufacturers fire workers, close down factories, scrap new models and sell assets. Undoubtedly, marketing budgets are also cut down to a minimum, as all struggle to cope with...
2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportsback in Showrooms in Summer
3 Feb 2009, 07:11 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Mitsubishi Motor North America announced the 2010 Lancer Sportsback will become available for the US market in summer. The award wining Lancer's newest addition has a dynamic new shape, while keeping its distinctive look. The defining fea...
Ford's French Plant Bought by German Industrial Group
2 Feb 2009, 16:57 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Ford's financial problems have forced the company's leaders to start contemplating selling assets in order to survive the crisis. And this exactly what they've done as it was announced that Ford's Motors Co. plant in Blacquefort...
Audi R8 5.2 FSI V10 Quattro Detailed
2 Feb 2009, 15:58 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Audi released today new information and multimedia content of the Audi R8 V10, first shown at the 2009 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). The power plant for the car is the 5.2l naturally aspired engine that puts out 525 horsepower ...
Matiz 550 HP V8...
2 Feb 2009, 14:55 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / ...or what people do when they have nothing to do. Yes, you read the title correctly. And I did not misspell it. This is what a Chevrolet Matiz, a 3 cylinder in-line 65 horsepower engine powered city car was turned into by Yves Fourdin, founder of ...
New Info on the Rolls Royce RR4 Silver Ghost
2 Feb 2009, 14:33 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Set to make its public debut sometimes in 2010, the RR4, as is it's currently named, is hoped by company officials to be a significant milestone in the manufacturers history. Autotelegraaf.nl reported that the soon to be called Silver Ghost...
New Dinan Signature Package for BMW
2 Feb 2009, 11:15 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The California based BMW tuner, Dinan, is bringing a new addition to its Signature Series Program. The BMW M5, M6, 135i and 335i will benefit from the newest Signature Packages developed by Dinan. For the M5 and M6 models, the new line includ...
Dacia Goes Eco with New Engine Versions
2 Feb 2009, 10:23 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Joining the race for a better, cleaner environment, and after doing so with its Renault brand, the French manufacturer will introduce three eco-friendly engines for its Dacia brand. The alternative energy sources it proposes are LPG, E85 bioethano...
First Skoda Yeti Assembled
2 Feb 2009, 08:25 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The first VW Tiguan based Skoda Yeti is said to have been assembled at the Kvasiny plant, in the Czech Republic, ekonom.ihned.cz reported. The new 4x4 is a small SUV designed to compete with the Suzuki Jimny and Nissan Qashqai rather than the Toyot...
BMW 3 Series M Sport Package Out for Grabs in the US
30 Jan 2009, 16:15 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The M Sport Package for the BMW 3 Series facelift is now available for order. Even if the waiting period could extend up to one month, at least for orders placed until March. We are sure all you Bimmer fanatics outhere can't wait to get you ha...
Volkswagen Cuts 400 Jobs in South Africa
30 Jan 2009, 15:57 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The economic instability seems to be a never ending pool of stories, whether they are good or bad. But, mostly, bad. As is the news for 400 South African Volkswagen workers, who will soon join thousand of other people gathering outside unemployment...
The First Mercedes Showroom Turns 100
30 Jan 2009, 15:12 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / January 1, 1909 is considered the official founding day of the Berlin sales and service outlet of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG). The same year, four other company-owned sales and service outlets were born, in Frankfurt, Dresden, Dusseldorf and...
Honda Profits Drop 90% in Q3
30 Jan 2009, 14:28 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Honda has posted its Q3 financial report and things are looking really scary. The company's operating profit dropped 63 percent in 2008's last quarter and the net profit in practically non-existent, as numbers indicate a 90 percent crash....
Daimler AG-Beiqi Foton Motor Joint Venture
30 Jan 2009, 13:17 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Daimler AG and Beiqi Foton Motor signed a letter of intent to form an equal share joint venture to produce medium and heavy-duty trucks in China. The joint venture will benefit from Daimler’s technology leadership, especially in the area of d...
Volvo Announced Pricing for 2010 XC60
30 Jan 2009, 11:43 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The new Volvo XC60 will be up for sale in the U.S. this March, for a starting price of $37,200. For the United States, only gasoline engines will be available. The standard options for all versions have power driver’s seat, SIRIUS satellite r...
Corvette ZR700 and ZR750 Unleashed by Hennessey Performance
30 Jan 2009, 10:55 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Hennessey Performance announced they are ready to upgrade the Corvette ZR1, the most powerful and most expensive Corvette model ever. Starting from the baseline LS9 620 horsepower engine, Hennessey engineers developed two types of boost packages ...
No 2009 Saturn Astra for the US Market
30 Jan 2009, 10:30 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Launched in January 2008 for the U.S market, the Opel-Vauxhall Astra based car will be discontinued for sale this year in the United States. At the beginning of the month, 139 days worth of Astra were in stock. Production of the model will continue...
Ford Fusion Hybrid Better Than Camry Hybrid. Toyota: Is Not!
30 Jan 2009, 09:44 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided that the Ford Fusion Hybrid is more fuel efficient than the Toyota Camry Hybrid. The two cars were compared as being part of the same class of vehicles. The ratings showed a 33/34 efficiency ...
Limited Edition Clio, Clio Estate and Twingo
29 Jan 2009, 17:22 UTC · By: Daniel Patrascu / Renault has announced its decision of marking the start of the 2009 RBS 6 Nations tournament by introducing the “XV de France” limited edition versions on its Twingo, Clio Estate and Clio models. These three limited editions feature �...