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.
Here’s something that might be worth picking up at an auction – that is if you have at least £5.5 million in your pockets.
This Auto Union D-Type racer is a prized commodity – it’s actually one of the rarest vintage cars in the world - in its own right, but does it justify the £5.5million tag it’s expected to command?
Let’s just say that the previous owner of this car is someone our history books are all familiar with: Adolf Hitler.
As a fanatic of motor racing, the Führer spared no expense in building a team that could dominate all the races it ran back then. The German technological superiority wasn’t any more evident when you look back and see how Mercedes and Auto Union – known as Silver Arrows back then – completely wiped out all other competitors that came their way.
The D-Type racer that will be auctioned off was actually driven by one of Hitler’s BFF’s, Hans Stuck during the 1939 Grand Prix season. What makes this car all the more valuable is due to the unfortunate fate its brethren suffered after the fall of the Third Reich.
Ever gone on one of those joyrides with your bicycle and happen to end up at a town that seems completely desolate of any form of four-wheeled vehicles?
If you have, don’t worry, you haven’t gone back in time. You probably just stumbled into Vauban, Germany – a town that has banned cars on its streets.
The truth is stranger than fiction doesn’t it? Apparently, in the case of this town, it’s not.
For those who don’t know, Vauban is a small and quaint little town in the south-west of Germany, bordering Switzerland and France. While the town is far from being a Stepford suburbia, it still prefers the laid-back life of listening to the melancholy chirping of birds and enjoying the cool autumn breeze without having cars making unnecessary contributions to the town’s pollution index.
It’s ironic to think that a country that gave the world a smorgasbord of supercars can have a town that shuns anything that has four wheels, but the truth is, you can still live in town with a vehicle, provided you pay a lofty sum of €20,000 for a space in one of the garages on the outskirts of the town.
It would take a really impressive supercar to make the Ferrari F430 Scuderia look infantile, but German carmaker Veritas – lost in obscurity for so long – has returned with a car that may have accomplished just that.
The legendary car manufacturer, responsible for some of the fastest racing cars back in the 40’s and 50’s has risen from the ashes to return with a vengeance.
Their latest supercar, Veritas RS III, which they produced under the Volkswagen flagship and in partnership with manufacturer Vermont, is, by all accounts, a machine unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
Most people would be ecstatic over the prospect of owning one BMW. Then again, Klaus Hammerschmidt isn’t most people.
The 73-year old German has been known as one of the most foremost collectors of BMW in the world and he’s garage is living proof of his undying love for his favorite car brand. What started with one car back in 50’s has grown to in number each passing year.
It seems hard-pressed to believe that recently, Hammerschimdt picked up his 135th BMW at the brand-new BMW delivery facility called the Welt.
MINI has been one of those rare manufacturers that never seem to go out of its comfort zone. Part of it, we can say, is by design. After all, with one of the most recognizable cars in history (the Cooper), MINI could thrive under the Cooper banner just fine. So when word came out that MINI was coming out with a Roadster – predictably called the MINI Roadster – then you could say that it turned a few heads.
Word is being spread that MINI is close to releasing the MINI Roadster, possibly just in time for the Frankfurt Motor Show. The news was first reported by the French car magazine, L’Automobile and was likewise confirmed by the UK’s Autocar magazine.
From the few snapshots we’ve seen of the MINI Roadster, it looks quite like a loaded version of the MINI Cooper, complete with raked windshield and a retractable soft top – giving it a uniquely bad ass look that’s far removed from the conservative style of the Cabriolet. More so, the MINI Roadster has been reported to feature a low center of gravity, giving it superior driving performance than the Cooper.
As far as the engine is concerned, the Roadster is set to come with the same 1.6 L twin scroll-turbocharged engine, capable of exhausting up to 211 horsepower and up to 280 Nm peak torque with Overboost deployed.
It doesn’t strike us as coincidence that MINI is releasing the Roadster – along with the much talked about MINI Crossman SUV - on the very same year they’re celebrating 50 years of the Cooper’s existence. There have been no confirmed dates as to when the Roadster, and the Crossman for that matter, will be released for production.
What we all know is that barring the unforeseen, both vehicles will be on-hand for the Frankfurt Motor Show, making it a must-attend occasion for all MINI aficionados from all over the world.
The impossible has happened, only years ago the top brass at BMW said that they would never do it, there is a BMW X5 on the streets of Germany wearing an M badge. Top Speed showed you the automaker’s factory driver Nick Heidfeld putting the factory tuned BMW through its paces, so you have seen what it can do. This Blue Watter Metallic X5 M shows off the vehicles aggressively styled front bumper and headlights borrowed from the X6. We are not sure if it has something to do with the timing, but we’re pretty sure that when you go the dealership there will be flying propellers on those beautiful split spoke rim’s center caps.
When it goes on this side of the Atlantic, the X5 will carry an $86,225 price tag. The high-powered sport utility that started the craze will be powered by a 4.4 Liter twin turbocharged V8 that will put out 555 HP and 500 lb-ft of torque. Enough to make 0 to 60 MPH runs to soccer practice in just 4.5 seconds, while the 155 MPH speed limiter is saved for out of town trips.
Check out the link to see the rest of the photographs.
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