The testimony from Daun Winslow, a performance division manager on the rig at the time of the disaster, furthered concerns that financial pressure might have trumped safety on the rig.
"The question (is) whether you can be a serious global luxury brand without a performance division," said Mr de Nysschen, quickly offering the one-word answer, "No," during a media preview.The emphasis on performance can be found just about everywhere at Detroit's Cobo Centre this year.
In January 2007, Lexus announced a new F marque performance division, which would produce racing-inspired versions of its performance models.
AUDI TT RS Audi's performance division conjured a 360-horsepower turbocharged 5-cylinder engine and a sweet-shifting 6-speed manual to create the RS.
Mr. Bernhard, 43, is an engineer and former Mercedes executive with a zest for fast cars; he previously ran Mercedes' performance division, AMG, and at a recent press event the company played a lighthearted videotape of Mr. Bernhard drag racing against a top Nascar driver and always winning.
"There are AMG fans for whom our V-12 engine is the measure of all things," Tobias Moers, chief executive of Mercedes' AMG performance division, said in a statement.
Enthusiasts may wonder why a Cadillac comes without an automatic while the GTO, from G.M.'s traditional performance division, has one as standard equipment.
Mrs. Yurasek, 27, is a senior consultant in New York with the organizational performance division of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the consulting and accounting firm.
She is a communications associate for the state policy and performance division of the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, where she promotes public safety and elections initiatives.
As the first car created entirely by the company's AMG performance division (rather than adapted from a civilian Mercedes), the SLS can't match the visual fantasia of the scissor-doored SLR, or that car's terminal speed of 207 miles per hour.
According to the end-of-season benchmarks from Compuware's web performance division, Apple.com was among the top three best-performing retail websites during the 2011 holiday season.
