BMW hires former Chevy Volt lead engineer

the Chevrolet Volt, has taken a position with BMW. Weber was serving as the head of product planning for the General Motors Opel and Vauxhall units, but will now field a variety of duties with his new Bavarian employer. Officially, Weber has taken up the head of vehicle architecture and integration mantle with BMW, though he's also expected to work heavily with the company's EfficientDynamics program. We'd be awfully surprised if his experience with plug-in hybrid technology didn't come into play as well.BMW hasn't officially announced Weber's start date as of yet, thanks in part to the fact that negotiations are still on-going with Opel. We do know that the engineer will report to Klaus Draeger, head of research and development for BMW, when he does finally get started with his new employer.

Chrysler Limited Convertible

You know you can't think of Chrysler these days without thinking it. Imported From Detroit is the tagline for, believe it or not, the 2011 Chrysler 200. At least, that's where it started. Sure, Chrysler probably would have loved to tag the more popular, fully revised 300, but alas, that car's made in Canada while the Chrysler 200 nee Sebring is bolted together by red-blooded Americans in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

But we're not here to talk about manufacturing processes or debate what is/is not an American car. We're here to talk track numbers, specifically those for the refreshed 2011 Chrysler 200 Convertible.

Follow the jump to see what this 4,022-pound (with 57% up front), 283-horsepower convertible can do on an empty testing facility.

Suzuki readying Swift S-Concept

With the Geneva Motor Show coming up in a matter of weeks, a whole mess of new debuts and concept cars are rolling in. The latest comes courtesy of Suzuki and its European operations.

Called the Swift S-Concept, the show car looks like it could be a pretty mean interpretation of the latest Swift hatchback in a higher-performance guise with a healthy dose of rally-inspired action. The Japanese automaker has released very little in the way of details, essentially announcing the debut accompanied by the preview rendering you see above.

We'll have to wait as the expo approaches for more, but for now you can check out the press release after the jump and click on the image above to view in high-resolution.