In a report to appear Monday, the German magazine Der Spiegel will write that “several law firms are compiling material for lawsuits to hold Porsche liable. They are working for hedge funds which had lost billions of Euros.” That’s news to Porsche CFO Holger Härter. He says he hasn’t heard of anybody who wants revenge or restitution. “I don’t even know who might have been hurt.” On Sunday, FAZ will publish an interview with Härter. First question: “When will the hedge fund called Porsche close its sheet metal factory?” Härter’s answer: “Our core business is and remains the automobile.” Everybody knows: not true. Porsche made more profits than sales in the last fiscal year. Of €8.6b in profits, only €1b were generated in that sheet metal factory. €7.6b were generated with derivatives. That was in the last fiscal year, which ended July 31. God, Härter and Wiedeking only know how much the Porsche hedge fund generated in the months thereafter, when the VW stock went wilder than girls at Mardi Gras. Härter now says they didn’t really mean it. Here is Härter’s version:

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There’s a new series of Top Gear going on now. We in the States don’t know much about what’s going on (we’re too proud to download it off the web, right?) We’ve already seen the TG team finally get their hands on the Bugatti Veyron and let it go around the test track. Now from some more perspective, see what it can do when pared directly against the ulta-quick Pagani Zonda F.

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A veteran network TV business reporter from New York put it to me like this the other day: “America is at a transformational point in its history right now.” A buddy of mine in the auto industry supplier business was much more succinct: “America has to decide whether it’s going to be a country of bankers and burger flippers, or a country that makes something.”

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Overwhelming response by Chrysler LLC salaried workers taking buyout packages may be enough to avoid further layoffs.

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Here’s a look at the key players in the Porsche-Volkswagen merger:

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One of the major drawbacks of electric cars is the lack of national recharging networks. Run out of juice on a journey and most locals will be loathe to let you plug into their mains – especially with energy prices so high. But now Renault and Nissan have announced that Portugal will have a nationwide electric car recharging network built in the next three years.

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Mini - The Italian Job (1969)

By
Tim Pollard

20 October 2008 14:21

Ranking: 3       

Year of release: 1969

The car: Mini Cooper S

Why it’s special: It’s the best loved screen moment for the original Issigonis Mini. And films don’t come with better – or more literal – cliff-hangers…

Best bit: All of it, basically. The Italian Job has one of the epic car chases in British cinema history. It’s hard to argue with a long sequence that takes in the crowded streets of Turin (they created unauthorised traffic jams for cinematic effect during filming), churches, a weir, those underground sewers, the roof of Turin’s Fiat building and enthralling stunt driving into a moving lorry. The Italian Job has it all.

Pub fact: One eye-catching out-take for the Mini chase scenes was filmed at an ice rink. You can see the synchronised Coopers dancing on ice to Strauss’s The Blue Danube in most DVD editions’ extra features. Oh, and Michael Caine couldn’t actually drive when the film was shot. You never see him driving.

Plot overview: A gang of cockney villains, led by small-time thief Charlie Croker (Michael Caine), undertake a daring gold bullion robbery in the heart of Turin dressed as England footie supporters and driving a trio of Union Jack colour-coded Minis.

For: Cheeky Mini chase scenes; that Miura moment at the start; ‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!’

Against: It’s not all authentic. That tunnel scene was filmed in Coventry

CAR verdict: Cool Britannia at its best

Is this really the best car in film history? Click ‘Add your comment’ and have your say

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In one year’s time Bentley top brass will tug the covers off the replacement to the Arnage limo – but our spies have been beavering away and have caught sight of the new saloon on test in Britain. This grainy photograph was taken with the mother of all telephoto lenses near a test track, but it reveals the big new Bentley for the first time.

The new Arnage will be even bigger and posher than today’s model, but will it also signal the end of the old Rolls-era character of its predecessor? This scoop photo suggests it will keep the ocean liner presence of today’s car and sources in Crewe say there is plenty of old-school charm in the 2010 limo.

Crewe is desperate to put clear water between the Arnage and the smaller, VW-related Continental family, so the Arnage successor will be targeted very closely at Rolls-Royce’s Phantom range.

So the next Arnage will be an uber-expensive saloon?

Spot on. Bentley will unveil the car at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show, and it’s likely to cost upwards of £250,000-£300,000 when it hits dealerships in early 2010. Everyone at the VW Group is desperately hoping the looming global recession will have receded by then…

Will the new Arnage just be a big VW then?

Get real – VW has done a brilliant job of bringing Bentley into the 21st century with the Conti family. Now the challenge is to preserve the hand-crafted charm of its biggest model, yet subtly updated with the latest tech and eco brains.

The platform of the old Arnage is in fact due to be carried over, albeit in heavily modified form. The wheelbase is stretched by 150mm, extending the car to around 5500mm long. Extensive use of aluminium should stop the scales protesting too much, but it would have been lighter still if Wolfsburg had successfully pushed through its aluminium A8 engineering package. That plan was rejected at an early stage, as too unbecoming for a proper Bentley.

>> Click ‘Next’ to read the full engineering story of the new Bentley Arnage (2010)

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