The German Sports car maker Porsche has announced that the highly anticipated four door sports saloon, the Panamera, will be made available for public purchase in its home market starting this Saturday, September 12th. When it is launched the all new Porsche Panamera will retail for 94,575 Euros for the base model that will be offered with the fuel saving Porsche PDK seven speed double clutch transmission. The PDK gearbox will come standard on the next level Panamera 4S that combines the automaker’s PTM all wheel drive system with a 400 HP V8 at a cost of 102,251 Euros.
The top of the line Panamera Turbo with be boosted all the way up to a tire shredding 500 HP and make the most of both the PDK and PTM systems for only 135,154 Euros. Although it may seem like quite a bit of money, you have to remember that there is no other car in the world like the Porsche Panamera, and aside from purchasing a piece of Porsche’s racing heritage you are also buying into a very exclusive club of automobile owners.
For owners looking to hold onto a little bit more of their pocket change, Porsche is also planning to offer a V6 powered Panamera as well as a hybrid version. The automaker is planning to release those two models at an undetermined later date. As for those customers in North America looking to get their hands on a piece of the Panamera, Porsceh isn’t going to bring the four door sports car stateside until early next year, along with Australia and China. However if you can’t wait until 2010 to get your hands on a Panamera, there is always the possibility of purchasing a black market model from South America because it will go on sale in the Southern Hemisphere later on this month.
Back on August 20th, Top Speed reported that the headquarters of the sports car manufacturer Porschewere raided by German officials in search of specific documents that would lead to prosecution of the Stuttgart based car maker’s former Chief Executive Officer, Wendelin Wiedeking, as well as the former Chief Financial Officer, Holger Haerter, regarding possible violations of the German securities laws and manipulation of the market with regard to the recent financial dealings with the automotive conglomerate Volkswagen.
The German manufacturer has now confirmed that subsequent searches have been carried out at private residences of select lower level Porsche employees. While the automaker has not revelaed the identity of the individual, an unnamed source informed Automotive News, "The investigators found what they were looking for." Just as we previously reported, Porsche is denying any allegations of bad conduct and continues to cooperate fully with the German government’s investigation.
The German regulatory body BaFin, which is similar to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is mounting the investigation against the former Porsche CEO and CFO for alleged market manipulation and insider trading. While the investigation focuses on individuals who no longer work with company, the proceedings should not have an adverse affect on the sports car maker’s day to ay activities, however this wave of suspicion could do a number on the much larger Volkswagen AG, who just acquired a 42% share of the sports car maker from Stuttgart.
The crew from Car and Driver spotted the real live BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept car in front of the BMW Welt Delivery Center in Munich just outside the German based car company’s headquarters a short while ago. Up until now we have only been privy to teasers, renderings and factory stills; but this photo gives the vehicle the sense of being a real car, and that is because it is.
The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics is a 2+2-seater plug-in hybrid model powered by a 1.5 Liter three cylinder turbo diesel engine that produces 163 HP and 214 lb-ft of torque that is combined with two electric motors mated to a DTC gearbox to produce a very efficient sports car. All three power generators work together to deliver a maximum output of 356 HP and a peak 590 lb-ft of torque while fuel consumption is reduced to a very impressive 75.1 MPG. That much economical power allows the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics to sprint from 0 to 60 MPH in just 4.8 seconds and reach top speed of 155 MPH.
There has been a lot of hype and speculation surrounding the upcoming Ferrari 458 Italia well at least the dream makers from Maranello have put one of those rest by confirming that the F-430’s replacement will make its international auto show debut this September at the Frankfurt Motor Show. However the Italia’s official unveiling won’t be limited to the German auto show because on September 15th, the first press day of the festivities in Frankfurt, the 458 Italia will also be on display at the Galleria Ferrari.
The Galleria Ferrari is a museum dedicated to the Italian sports car builder and is located only about 1000 feet from the factory floor in Maranello. We are pretty sure that if good old Enzo were still around, the 15th would be declared a national holiday so that the craftsmen and women who are responsible for the new 458 can enjoy a little automotive art as well.
After yesterday’s Ferrari 458 feature entitled Stile with Paolo Pininfarina, the automaker has announced that the next video installment will be released on September 2nd and it titled Performance with Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, perhaps this video will answer a few more of our questions about what will make the Italia so great.
There is one group of automotive surgeons in Germany that specialize in transplanting the hearts out of the most powerful of BMW models and then inserting them into much smaller, lightweight and nimble chassis. So we weren’t too surprised when we came across the Manhart Racing M3TV10up for sale on the internet. At the time we were curious as to why the tuning specialist was getting rid of their utilitarian powerhouse, but now we know that it was just o make room and free up a little cash for their latest creation, the Manhart Racing BMW Z4 V10.
Following the same formula as most of their creations, the process started by removing the 5.0 Liter 550 HP engine and all the parts that make it work from a BMW M5 before they can squeeze it into the nose of the German automaker’s latest hard top roadster. Along with the engine transplant, the 6 speed manual transmission and rear differential are also incorporated into the build for their strength and proven ability to take the V10’s power. Finishing off the hardware is a Fichtel & Sachs clutch, an AC Schnitzer stainless steel exhaust and a pair of HJS racing catalytic converters to reduce the roadster’s emissions.
One of the first companies offering the American pony car to the European market was the German based Geiger Cars back in June, and while Chevrolet is currently only producing the 2010 Camaro in two different output levels, Geiger is offering them in three. General Motors makes a very fuel efficient 3.6 Liter V6 that makes 308 HP and will get as much as 29 MPH on the highway while still cranking out almost 275 lb-ft of torque. The high end SS Camaro is being offered with a rather impressive 432 HP 6.2 Liter LS3 V8, the same unit found in the Chevrolet Corvette C6, that makes a ground pounding 420 lb-ft of torque.
However Geiger is offering the 21st century pony car with the addition of a supercharger under the hood that increases the V8 powered Camaro’s output up to a roaring 568 HP and 589 lb-ft of torque. Allowing the newfound compressed air to escape from the piston pumper are a set of high flowing sport catalytic converters that feed into a stainless steel Geiger manufactured high performance sport tuned exhaust. Charged with clamping duties and getting almost 600 lb-ft of torque to the ground is a specialy designed twin plate sport clutch. Even with the Geiger Camaro’s shorter rear end the blown American muscle car can still reach a top speed of 195 MPH, quite a feat for any American production car.
Since power is nothing without control, Geiger has also found time to fit the Camaro SS wit a fully adjustable coil over suspension as well as a set of sport tuned anti-roll bars to keep all four wheels flat on the pavement and the Camaro tracking in a straight line when it gets close to that top speed. It takes a lot of braking power to bring a couple thousand pounds from early 200 MPH to a dead stop, so that is why Geiger fitted a paor of six piston brake callipers up front over a set of grooved 380 mm disks and a pair of four piston stoppers out back with some more grooved dinner plates measuring 355 mm in diameter. Housing all of that very important stopping technology are a set of 22 inch rims wrapped in a set of 265/30 tires up front and some 295/25 rubber donuts out back. All we want to know is where can we sign up.
Early this morning in the sleepy town of Stuttgart, a group of German police inspectors arrived at the Porsche headquarters in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen complete with search warrants in hand in an attempt to uncover some evidence of suspicious activity. The search order was handed down by their local public prosecutor’s office and dealt with the suspicion of breaching a publication duty as prescribed by the German Stock Corporation Act which means that they could have been manipulating the German market. The boys in blue who were on the scene were said to have seized numerous business documents by the end of their exploration.
Of course the German sports car manufacturer denies any allegations and are cooperating fully with the German officials in the hopes for a speedy resolution. Off the news that Porsche is making major moves on the financial market, recently selling 10% of their stock to a state run Quatar based investement group and only a short period of time after the Porsche/VW merger was completed, the perfect time for a world wide corporation to fudge some paperwork, not that this is the case. However now that the authorities are involved, this incident can’t help but make you think back to this past January when one of the richest men in the world, Adolf Merckle, took his own life after betting wrong in a big way on the German automotive conglomerate VW, which is now quite entangled with the sports car maker Porsche.
Airports are hardly the place you’d find a car being on display but that’s exactly the case at the Munich Airport where the new BMW 5 Series GT is proudly displayed for those taking flights at the German airport.
The method behind BMW’s madness comes on the heels of its new campaign of promoting its vehicles in a number of seemingly oddball locations with the intention of piquing the interest and curiosity of those present in the location.
Talking about terms, there aren’t that many places in the world that generates as much people traffic as one of the largest and busiest airports in Europe: the Munich Airport. The number of passengers – and that’s not even counting the employees and family members that drop off and/or pick up their kins – that walked through the airport in 2008 was a staggering 34.73 million, so you know that this airport is no slouch when it comes to human traffic.
Audi has spared no expense in commemorating its 100th year anniversary. One monument after another, the German-based company has not wasted any time letting the whole world know of their remarkable achievement.
The latest Audi sculpture to make headlines measures 33.5 tons and weighs close to 10 tons. Exactly what kind of behemoth monument is it?
Apparently, the latest model of the Focus franchise will not be produced on its home continent and instead, will be manufactured exclusively at Ford’s Saarlouis production plant in plant in Germany.
While it may seem strange to produce the Focus from across the pond that is the Atlantic, Ford justifies their reason by saying that the move will allow its European division to get back on its feet. According to John Fleming, the Chairman and CEO of Ford Europe, “Our objective is to return to sustainable profitability as soon as we can.” He also added: "We’ve already shown that we will make the necessary decisions and do whatever is required to ensure that Ford of Europe emerges from the downturn as a leaner and stronger company, ready to take on the opportunities presented once the economic situation finally improves."
The Focus is not the only Ford vehicle that will be produced exclusively in Europe. One of its variants, the Focus C-Max MPV will be produced in Valencia, Spain. Incidentally, the same plant in Valencia that produces the C-Max will distribute the vehicle to all the European markets and if plans push through, all the markets outside of Europe, including the US.
With the industry taking a massive hit in America and in Europe, it figures that Ford is putting all its resource into making sure that all of its plants have an opportunity to keep their heads above water.
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