| Porsche Tightens Grip on VW's Wheel
Since the surprise resignation of Volkswagen CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder Nov. 7, Supervisory Board Chairman Ferdinand Piech has tightened his control over VW almost daily. Porsche, which is controlled by Piech and his family, increased its stake in VW duing the past week from 21% to 27.45%. Today Porsche announced it aims to boost its holding to 29.9%. Call it the "going private" of Volkswagen. For the past year, Piech has been engaged in a pitched battle to wrest control of the company from state hands — namely the State of Lower Saxony, which owns 20% and has long reigned as VW's largest shareholder. And Piech, the wily engineer and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, is now close to winning. For those not up to speed on Germany's most riveting industrial drama, Piech launched his attack a year ago, using his family's control over Porsche to nab a controlling 21.3% share in Volkswagen for some $4 billion.
Alternative-Energy Vehicles Added Spark To Detroit Auto Show
When the North American International Auto Show opened in January 2000, a dozen alternative fuel cars were on display. This year, the big Detroit show featured some 75 such cars and trucks. And dozens more are close to being road ready, says the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group whose members include BMW Group, Chrysler, Ford Motor, (F) General Motors, (GM) Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen. Still, cars that run on something other than gasoline remain a small portion of the market. While consumer research firm J.D. Power estimates that 77% of car shoppers ask about alternative fuel vehicles, fewer than 2% of them actually buy one. Fewer than 400,000 alternative vehicles are on the road, about the same number of cars that cross New York's Brooklyn Bridge every day.
Little Fiat sexiest car ever
Top Gear magazine has voted the humble Fiat 500, which looks like a cross between a Mini and a VW Beetle, No 1 for setting pulses racing. It tops a list of 100 sexiest cars because the mag claims anyone behind the wheel looks sexually charged ? even a nun. Contributing editor James May defended the bizarre choice yesterday, saying: The Fiat 500 advertises nothing about its owner, except that its someone who doesnt need to try. Top Gears top ten sexiest cars: 1. Fiat 500; 2. Aston Martin DBS; 3. Maserati Quattroporte; 4. Chevrolet Camaro; 5. Citroen C6; 6. Lincoln Continental; 7. Bentley Continental S1 Fastback; 8. BMW M1; 9. Rolls-Royce Phantom; 10. Sally the Porsche 911 Carrera (from the animated film Cars). .
Dr Ing W Wiedeking
Wendelin Wiedeking was elected as a member of the Board of Directors in 2003. He qualifies as an independent Non-Executive Director. Wendelin Wiedeking is Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE and of Dr.-Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Germany. Born in Ahlen, Germany, Wendelin Wiedeking studied mechanical engineering and worked as a scientific assistant in the Machine Tool Laboratory of the Rhine-Westphalian College of Advanced Technology in Aachen. His professional career began in 1983 as Director's Assistant in the Production and Materials Management area of Dr.-Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. In 1988, he moved to the Glyco Metall-Werke KG in Wiesbaden as Division Manager, where he advanced by 1990 to the position of Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board of Management of Glyco AG.
Porsche's legal threat over sports car charge
Sometimes, a fiery rebuttal is enough to tell you that you're on the right track.Yesterday, Porsche threatened to take London's mayor Ken Livingstone to court over his proposal to charge certain cars £25 a day to enter the city.Livingstone, one of the 40 mayors involved in the Cities Climate Leadership Group, introduced the congestion charge in central London in 2003. Under this scheme, cars entering the centre of the city pay £8 ($15) per day. It has had mixed reviews. (Personally I have no problem with it, but then I wouldn't: I don't own a car.)Livingstone now wants to increase the penalty to £25 ($49) for gas-guzzlers (defined as cars emitting more than 225 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre travelled). This includes 4x4s and sports cars.Porsche claims the fee is unfair. In a press release, they say they intend to write to Livingstone this week.
Man who organised theft of own Porsche exposed
A judge has rejected a Christchurch man's story that he got back his Porsche 911 after it was car-napped and sold to him on a riverbank for $2000. Instead, Judge David Saunders has found police had proved a charge that Carl Edwin Loader was a party to the burglary, where his Porsche was taken from a garage where it was being repaired and payment for the work was in dispute. But he has not convicted Mr Loader for taking his own car. In the Christchurch District Court today he discharged the 43-year-old car salesman without conviction on condition that he pay $9508 for the work done on the Porsche, and another $500 for the cost of the prosecution. The case had a hearing before Judge Saunders on Monday and he gave his reserved decision today. He ordered that Mr Loader pay $2000 of the outstanding bill within a month, and have the rest paid by January 31.
German Auto Industry Calls EU's CO2 Diet Unworkable
When it comes to consumer loyalty in choosing a car brand, national passions run deep in Europe. All of the top 10 best-selling cars in Germany are produced by Volkswagen, Opel, BMW or Audi. The French also vastly prefer cars in their home market, and the Italians are loyal to their Fiats and Maseratis. So last week when Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking argued before the EU Commission that the new C02 emission target of 120 grams per kilometer (g/km) pitted beefy German cars against smaller French and Italian producers, Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for a compromise. The new EU-wide target for 2012 is now 130 g/km with the shortfall of 10 grams to be made up with the use of bio-fuels and other measures, but the EU has yet to spell out how such a target is to be achieved.
Le Mans comes to Levens
The Gulf Porsche 917 sportscar, famous for race victories at circuits across Europe, is certainly not the car you would expect to see when stopping for a quick fill-up at your local petrol station. But that's exactly what visitors to Levens forecourt and car dealership, P.V. Dobson & Sons, are being treated to this week. "It's certainly turning a lot of heads," says General Manager Chris Hammond. "The Porsche is in the showroom which is directly in view of the forecourt pumps, so you can't miss it. The timing is great as we're also launching the new Jaguar XF on Thursday 7th February, and with our other display cars and smart new Gulf branding people will have a lot to look at if they come down in the next few days." P.V. Dobson & Sons have owned the site since 1979, which includes dealerships for Jaguar, Volvo and Mazda.
Jaguar XK wins 'Car of the Year' and 'Best Coupe' awards
The XK Coupe also topped all cars in its category as the 'Best Coupe', out-beating competitors in the BMW 6 Series and the Porsche 911. The launch of the new XK earlier this year marked the beginning of an exciting era for Jaguar in terms of design and engineering which further extenuates the brand's reputation for building beautiful, fast cars that are thrilling to drive and gorgeous to look at. This award is yet another feather in Jaguar's cap as the new XK was awarded the 'Most exciting car to be launched in 2006' awarded by What Car? Magazine, the 'Engineering and Technology Award' at the prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards and the 'World Traffic Safety Symposium's Traffic Safety Achievement' Award in the Automaker category. It has been recognized for an all-new industry-leading feature - the pedestrian deployable bonnet which is designed to help mitigate the severity of injuries to pedestrians in the event of a collision with a car.
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