Porsche Boxster

Porsche Boxster information: everything you need to know if you own a Porsche Boxster, are thinking of buying one or just want to find out more about the Boxster. Click on the links below for all of CAR Magazine’s news, reviews, videos, scoops and spy photos of the Boxster car range. We list the top 10 stories for each model – and where appropriate you can click on ‘More’ to browse even more of our archive content.
The Boxster is the bread-and-butter Porsche – a classic two-seater, mid-engined roadster with a soft top and various states of tune depending on your hunger for performance. It’s also the cheapest Porsche on sale. For more information on the Porsche Boxster, click on the links below.

 

sale. For more information on the Porsche Boxster, click on the links below.

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Porsche Boxster news

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  Porsche Boxster Spyder (2010) first pictures
• Porsche Boxster RS 60 Spyder
• Power hike for Porsche Boxster

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Porsche Boxster CAR reviews

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  Porsche Boxster Spyder (2010) CAR review
• Porsche Boxster S (2009) CAR review
• Porsche Boxster RS 60 Spyder (2008) CAR review

Porsche 911 Carrera GTS (2010) CAR review

By Ben Pulman

First Drives

19 November 2010 17:30

This is the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, and it has the potential to be the best all-round 911 yet. An engine upgrade boosts power and torque; it uses the more seductive wide body from the four-wheel drive models; and features a whole host of other options for not much more cash than a standard Carrera S.
Yes, we know the GT3 and GT3 RS are more usable than ever thanks to PASM adaptive dampers, but Cup-type tyres mean they can be a handful in the wet, and the big wings are a bit OTT too. This 400bhp-plus 911 might be brilliant. Read on for CAR’s first drive of the new Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, in both coupe and cabriolet forms.

So just what is the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS?

It’s a Porsche 911 Carrera S, turned up a notch or two. Tweak number one is to the engine, and the GTS uses the Powerkit pack that’s an option on the Carrera S and standard on the Speedster and Sport Classic. A special intake manifold, with six rather than one single flap, switches between power and torque-optimised maps. Result? The output of the 3.8-litre flat six is up from 380bhp at 6500rpm to 402bhp at 7300rpm, and although the torque figure remains at 310lb ft, it’s produced 200rpm lower and plumps up the rest of the mid-range too.
The 62mph time drops a tenth on both the coupe and cabriolet, to 4.6 and 4.7 seconds respectively. And you can shave another 0.2 seconds if you opt for PDK, and a further two-tenths if you spec the Sport Chrono Plus pack with launch control. And the fuel consumption and emission figures remain unchanged, regardless of what body or gearbox you go for.
There is also the SportDesign nose with a little black spoiler, black sills from the GT2 RS, and the 44mm wider rear body from the Carrera 4 – the GTS is rear-drive – which hides a 32mm wider rear track. There are fatter rear tyres too, revised springs and anti-roll bars, plus black-painted 19in RS Spyder wheels, that would otherwise set you back £3329.
Other additions include Carrera GTS logos (in black or silver depending on your choice of paint), a black diffuser, and Alcantara trimming on the three-spoke steering wheel, handbrake and gearlever. The coupe doesn’t have any back seats either, but you can have the two tiny rear pews if you want as a no-cost option; it’s the lack of rear seats that helps make the coupe GTS 5kg lighter than the equivalent Carrera S. Porsche’s adaptive PASM suspension is thrown in too, along with a sports exhaust, and a bigger fuel tank (up from 67 to 90 litres) is a free option too.
The Powerkit is a £8241 option on a normal £74,606 Carrera S, so with the engine tweaks, the wider body, the exhaust, and the interior extras, the £76,758 that Porsche wants for the GTS seems like an absolute bargain. A GTS Cabriolet is £83,493, just £1359 more than a boggo Carrera S drop-top, and an even better deal.

How does the Power 911 Carrera GTS drive?

We tried two different versions of the GTS, a strange cabriolet combination of steel brakes, a manual gearbox and carbonfibre bucket seats, and a coupe with the optional ceramic brakes.
And the former disappointed. As with a Powerkit-equipped 911, the extra mid-range oomph means the more powerful engine is more linear and less exciting, without the crescendo of the standard 3.8-litre lump. And the differences in acceleration are fairly marginal when you’re in the heavier cabriolet. Even with the roof down you can’t really detect much difference when you switch between the exhaust’s two modes either: there’s maybe a bit of extra bass at low revs, and some more wail at high rpm, but it’s negligible.
The more I drove the cabriolet, the more I wondered if there really was any difference between it and a normal open-top Carrera S. How minute were the changes? Without a back-to-back, same day, same stretch of road comparison, I really couldn’t tell.
But the hardtop was mega. As soon as you climb aboard it feels better, with a roof enclosing you and focussing your mind, and the lack of back seats doing the same. After just the first corner you know the steering is better, more alive and analogue, with more feedback through the thin Alcantara rim – incidentally, the GTS is the first car that has the paddleshift-style steering wheel available for manual cars, and with narrower spokes it’s nicer to hold. And speaking of paddles, they are standard (instead of the awful buttons) if you opt for the £2472 PDK ‘box, but while every other control weighting in Porsche’s sports cars is perfect, these are curiously lacking any tactility.
You can’t say that about the brakes though. Both the steel and ceramic brakes are easy to modulate, but the latter are epically good and just don’t fade on long, fast downhill sections punctuated by tight corners. With the other savings you’re making, you may as well drop £5349 on them.
The coupe was just brilliant. With a stiffer body than the drop-top the nose bobbles around a little more, and it’s more alert and reactive to throttle changes, especially in corners – the softer, less rigid cabriolet has bit more flex to soak up the road. It's always best to leave the PASM system in Normal rather than Sport, but while the springs have been uprated, the damping has been left alone so there's still enough compliance. It’s wonderfully small and easy to place, lovely to drive at low speeds, even better when you go faster, keen to change direction, precise and so involving. And it just felt more interactive than the oh-so-slightly-staid Powerkit Carrera S I drove recently.

Verdict

Even if there was no difference at all between a Carrera S and a GTS, the thousands of pounds of extra kit would make it worth plumping for. That it’s a better car, or the coupe is at least (the cabriolet felt rather flat in comparison, and like a completely different car), makes it an absolute bargain. A GT3 is still a different beast, and I'd have one and stick on a set of regular tyres. But there's nothing wrong with the GTS. Get one, and hammer a decent discount out of your dealer as the new 911 is less than 12 months away.
The only real pity is that Porsche didn't take the GTS a step or two further, fit aluminium doors, cut out some other weight, and make this 911 even better. It's greater than the some of its parts, but you also know that almost all of those parts aren't unique to the GTS.  
>> Click 'Add your comment' and let us know what you think of the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS

Porsche 911 Speedster (2010) CAR review

By Ben Pulman

First Drives

25 November 2010 12:45

This is Porsche’s new 911 Speedster, a limited-edition special that pays tribute to the original 356 Speedster. It’s also an open-top follow up to last year’s 911 Sport Classic, a 25th birthday present for Porsche Exclusive (the arm of Porsche that created the Sport Classic and Speedster) and a final hurrah for the current 997-generation 911. More powerful with a unique body and roof, it’ll set you back over £140k – read on for CAR’s verdict on the new Porsche 911 Speedster.

How has Porsche turned a 911 Cabriolet into a 911 Speedster?

Let’s start at the very front, where the nose gains the bumper first seen on the equally expensive 911 Sport Classic. Next you’ll come to the black Fuchs alloys, also pinched from the Sport Classic, and they shroud the standard-fit carbon-ceramic brakes. There’s some black trim detailing just ahead of the rear wheels too, the bodywork bulges out an extra 44mm at the back with the haunches from a four-wheel drive 911, and at the rear there is again the same bumper used on the Sport Classic.
But it’s the changes above the waistline that are the important ones. For a start the windscreen is 60mm lower, and by now you will have noticed the double-bubble bump, which hides the manual roof. Gone are the heavy electric motors (and the back seats) in place of a DIY hood. Strangely you still need to hold down a button in the cabin so the electrics can lift the rear deck up a few millimetres, but then you take over, haul up the bodywork and fold the hood into place. Despite the process being 15 steps long, clipping the roof in place is not complex – it takes barely a minute, and it’s still a proper, thick fabric hood, rather than the tent you’ll find on the Boxster Spyder.
What you can’t see are the lighter aluminium doors from the GT3, plus an engine upgrade, which lifts peak power from 380bhp at 6500rpm to 402bhp at 7300rpm. The peak torque figures remains at 310lb ft, but it’s produced 200rpm lower than before. Part of the package is a louder (but non-switchable) sports exhaust, so you always get to hear the flat six in full war cry mode.
All in the Speedster weighs 1540kg, the same as a PDK-equipped Carrera S Cabriolet (blame all options for the weight), but the extra power means it’ll hit 62mph in 4.4 rather than the 4.5 seconds of a similar Sport Chrono Plus-spec Carrera S Cabriolet. It’s 4mph faster flat out too, with a 190mph top speed, but returns the same 27.4mpg and 242g/km CO2.

And inside?

Inside you’ll find Porsche has courteously ticked every options box, so as well as sat-nav and PDK (with proper paddles, not crap buttons) there’s leather on everything from the air vents, door handles and on the hooks on the back of the seats. But it just doesn’t feel that special inside: the leather is over the top and doesn’t really lift the cabin, the blue trim looks like plasticine, and the rally-style blue ring on the steering wheel is tacky. Thankfully the chequered flag graphics, which run up to your crotch when you’re seated, are a no-cost delete option.
In total just 356 cars will be built – a homage to the 356 Speedster – and each one will cost £144,100. A lot? Not really, not when you consider that the extra cost of engineering (including unique-to-the-Speedster pop-up roll bars) and crash testing has to be split between such a small run of cars. The colour, a rather strong hue called Pure Blue, will only be available on the Speedster, but you can have white instead if you want.

So how does the 911 Speedster feel from behind the wheel?

Not very impressive. For a start, personally, I don’t think it looks that great, and the nose especially seems to sit too high. And conversely, with the lower windscreen and lack of a wind deflector, there’s loads of buffeting so conversations about 60mph are almost impossible – I drove a GTS Cabriolet the same day, and with the windows up and wind deflector in place it was perfectly civil.
Okay, so maybe it’s meant to be driven hard, and the spec is pretty focussed: the track is 6mm wider at the front, 34mm wider at the back, the suspension has been changed accordingly, there’s a locking diff, and the extra power. But straight away you notice that the steering of this convertible doesn’t have the clarity and feedback of a regular hardtop 911, and although the PDK ‘box will shift seamlessly, without the punch of a Turbo engine it’s not an engaging transmission. Plus the paddles themselves are, well, just a bit flappy and lacking the lovely control weighting that is usually present on every Porsche.
It is by no means a bad car, and it’s still precise and quick and shrinks around you, but it’s also everything else that a regular 911 Cabriolet is, and the Speedster tweaks don’t hold any appeal to yours truly.

Verdict

The problem with cars like these is that you and me will try and rationalise them, and work out that an £83,493 Carrera GTS Cabriolet is just a powerful, pretty much the same to drive, yet costs £60k less. And the infinitely faster Turbo S cabriolet is £130,791. A Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder is just ten grand more too, much more exciting and much more of an event.
Speedster customers won’t care, will have numerous others cars, and just add this latest Porsche to their collection. But the original 356 Speedster was lighter, cheaper, and better to drive – this one is anything but. Porsche will sell every one – has sold every one – but that doesn’t mean it’s a particularly good car or one we should celebrate.
>> Click 'Add your comment' below and let us know what you think of the Porsche 911 Speedster

Tata ramps up production of Nano to boost slow sales

By Tim Pollard

Motor Industry

25 November 2010 11:21

Tata is cranking up supply of the Nano in India to counter sluggish sales. Until now, supply has been pretty limited with sales most months struggling to break beyond four figures; hardly the breakthrough expected from the widely hyped cheapest car in the world.

A new plant in Sanand recently came on stream and it has a capacity of 250,000 cars a year. The Nano hasn't been rolled out across India yet, but this week Tata launched sales in six new provinces.

In a bid to drum up disappointing sales, it's also launched a new finance scheme with 26 local 

banks with interest rates from between 8% and 20%.

Tata Nano: the three versions you can buy

The Tata Nano is just 3.1m long and has the smallest claimed footprint of any car on sale in India. Tata sells three trim levels in India: 

Tata Nano StandardThe standard version, in three colour options, single-tone seats, and fold-down rear seat

Tata Nano CX
In five colour options, with heating and air-conditioning, two-tone seats, parcel shelf, booster-assisted brakes, fold-down rear seat

Tata Nano LXCX plus complete fabric seats, central locking, front power windows, body coloured exteriors in three premium colours, fog lamps, electronic trip meter, cup holder in front console, mobile charger point, and rear spoiler.

Tata Nano spec

The Nano's two-cylinder 624cc engine delivers 35bhp at 5250rpm and 35lb ft of torque at 3000rpm. It's enough for a claimed top speed of 65mph and oomph to tackle a 30% hill before rolling backwards.

Tata claims the 600kg kerb weight helps trim fuel consumption and CO2 emissions stand at a claimed 101g/km.

What about all these Tata Nano fires?

They've done nothing for consumer confidence, according to sources in India. But Tata says the problem has been isolated and they've offered upgrades to early cars.

All new Nanos sold in India come with an 18-month/15,000-mile warranty - extendable to 30 months/25,000 miles with the optional Nano Secure package.

News watch November 2010: today's auto industry news

 

 

 

News watch November 2010: today's auto industry news

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman, Sarah-Jayne Harrison, Robby Tyler and Ben Miles

Motor Industry

30 November 2010 09:55

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour
Tuesday 30 November 2010
• Toyota has said it will repair 650,000 Prius models worldwide because of a fault with the coolant pump (BBC News)
• Porsche look likely to succeed in persuading preferred shareholders to support a €5 billion stock sale becuase the deal may offer the chance to buy into Volkswagen at a discount rate (Bloomburg)
• China will become Rolls Royce's biggest market, surpassing America as early as 2011 (Automotive News Europe)
Monday 29 November 2010
• Bentley has appointd a new CEO to succeed Franz-Josef Paefgen, who's retiring. Porsche R&D director Wolfgang Dürheimer, 52, is now chairman and chief exec of Bentley Motors and Bugatti (Bentley)
• In return, Porsche has replaced Dürheimer with Wolfgang Hatz, an internal appointment. He will take over as Porsche's R&D chief from February 2011 (Porsche)
• Volkswagen group chief executive officer Martin Winterkorn is to get a five-year extension to his contract from January 2011, reports German newspaper Der Spiegel. They tip him to remain as VW CEO until 2016 (Automotive News Europe)
• A BMW worker and an employee at a car-parts supplier have been arrested on suspicion of stealing seats and fittings worth €3 million from production lines in Munich (Automotive News Europe)
• Tata  Motors will set up 10 dealerships for its Jaguar Land Rover luxury car brand in India in 2010 to tap rising disposable incomes in Asia’s second-fastest-growing major economy (Automotive News Europe)
• Ford has opened 40 dealerships in China and plans to add 26 more by the end of 2010 as it aims for record sales in the world's largest car market (Detroit News)

Friday 26 November 2010
• Fiat is readying a mid-sizwed SUV to be unveiled at the 2011 Geneva motor show, reports the Wall Street Journal. It'll be based on the Dodge Journey, according to Sergio Cravero, Fiat's head of product planning, and go on sale in late 2011 (WSJ.com)

Thursday 25 November 2010
• Ford has reduced its debt pile by $1.9bn, by paying investors in 'convertible debt', swapping notes for shares (Automotive News)
• Ssangyong Motor Company has signed a definitive agreement with Mahindra & Mahindra to relaunch a global SUV company. It's the next step in the long, drawn-out takeover of previously bankrupted Ssangyong (Ssangyong)
• Cerberus is said to be seeking a buyer for Chrysler Financial, the money-lending arm of the car maker it used to own (Automotive News)
• Fiat will announce on Friday plans for its historic Mirafiori plant in Turin, according to ANE (Automotive News Europe)
• Mitsubishi has built its 5000th i-MiEV electric car, the firm has announced. It's one of the earliest full EVs on the market from a mainstream car maker (Mitsubishi)

Wednesday 24 November 2010
• Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-saud has invested $500m for a 1% stake in GM, according to the FT (Financial Times)
• The 2010 SMMT award for automotive innovation has been awarded to Gordon Murray's iStream technology. It’s the new streamlined manufacturing process that speeds up production of the new T25 and its ilk (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders)
• Porsche unit sales are up, reaching 21,218 in the past quarter. That’s 86% up on the same quarter in 2009, during the depths of the recession. Revenue in the same period in 2010 hit €2.06bn (Porsche)
• Fourteen cars have won five stars in the latest Euro NCAP crash test results, including the Audi A1, Mini Countryman and Seat Alhambra (see full list). However, Jaguar’s XF and VW Amarok pick-up scored just four stars (Euro NCAP) and the Landwind CV9 scoring just two.
Tuesday 23 November 2010
• Porsche is investing €150 million in its R&D facilities at Weissach. The money will pay for a new wind-tunnel, design centre, electronics lab and 100 new staff (Porsche)

Monday 22 November 2010
• GM Europe may return to motorsport for the first time in 20 years to bolster its battered reputation; a return to World Rally Championship is being considered said CEO Nick Reilly (Automotive News Europe)
• 'Sport is an important area, and to me, a car company ought to be able to compete,' said Reilly. 'It's very significant to us, the brand image, and in our view it's not as strong as the product. We're winning lots of awards but Opel and Vauxhall probably don't command the prices they deserve (Automotive News Europe)
• Saab is cutting 200 jobs in Sweden, mostly from temporary staff. Unions blamed it on the Christmas slowdown, although the company has also trimmed the sales forecast from 45,000 to between 30,000-35,000 (Automotive News Europe)
• VW design chief Klaus Bischoff is reportedly suggesting the 2011 Microbus retro-MPV could be back on the cards (Auto Express by Autoblog)
• Volkswagen is to spend a whopping €52 billion over the next five years in its bid to overtake Toyota. Group CEO Martin Winterkorn said: 'These investments underline Volkswagen's goal of becoming the leading automobile manufacturer for its customers, employees and shareholders. We are systematically pursuing the goals of our Strategy 2018 to further increase our profitability and to make Volkswagen the world's most future-proof automotive group (Automotive News)

Friday 19 November 2010
• Barack Obama has said GM's return to the stock market shows the US car industry is on the rise, and will result in taxpayers getting their money back from 2009's government bail-out (Automotive News)
• As previously reported by CAR, Porsche may launch a small SUV and 'sub Boxster' sports car as it aims to double worldwide sales over the next three years, says Bernhard Maier, head of sales and marketing at Porsche AG (Automotive News)
• VW will today announce its spending plans, to help it reach its objective of toppling Toyota from the number one spot by 2018 (Bloomberg)
• A lawyer for Toyota has given the company's most aggressive stance so far in its sudden-acceleration scandal, citing 'driver error as a likely cause of many fatalities that have been tied to the issue' (Wall Street Journal)
• Europe's car market is still wildly over supplied, according to Stephen Odell, the new chairman and chief executive of Ford of Europe. He states 'that the overcapacity makes for stiff price competition in the market. We have to have some element of transactional flexibility' (Daily Telegraph)

Thursday 18 November 2010
• AMG and Ducati announced a partnership at the LA show. The deal will see the two firms combine marketing activities and they say their focus on racing and driving passion will allow each to access new customers. The deal means that AMG will be a sponsor of the Ducati Moto GP team from 2011; in return, customers at AMG events will be able to sample Ducati bikes (Mercedes-Benz and Ducati)
• Nissan is predicting a sales boom in 2011, led by the Chinese market. They also announced that the UK-built Qashqai is currently their biggest earner (Reuters)
• GM India has announced that it is to launch six new vehicles for the Asian market in 2011, and increase their dealer network from 211 sites to 240 (Reuters)
• According to the JD Power US sales satisfaction index released today, Jaguar customers rate their shopping experience higher than other US luxury brand, with Mini leading the mass market category (Autonews) 
• Again in the news, JD Power Associates have predicted that electric vehicles are 'overhyped' and 'won't make up more than a small slice of the global market even ten years down the road' (Wall Street Journal)
• VW America's CEO Jonathan Browning has announced targets to increase US sales from 250,000 in 2010 to 800,000 by 2018 (Autonews)
• According to the Center For Automotive Research in Michigan, the US government bailouts of GM, Chrysler and other car makers has saved more than 1.4 million jobs (Detroit News)
Wednesday 17 November 2010
• European new car registrations fell by 17% in October, according to the European auto makers' association Acea. UK new car sales fell by 22% against the same period in 2009 (Financial Times)
• The Fiat 500, the first Fiat model to be re-launched into America, is to be marketed as the Cinquecento to emphasise its 'Italianness'. Sales start in 2012 (Detroit News)
• The Chevrolet Volt has been named Car of the Year by a second US car publication. Motor Trend magazine gave the range-extender hybrid the gong, which follows Automobile Magazine's award (Detroit News)
• The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is helping to promote the London mayor Boris Johnson’s electric vehicle charging network. Source London is to go live in spring 2011
• Volvo has announced a raft of new engines and safety enhancements to a large number of models in their range for 2011. Three new petrol engines have been announced, along with a new version of their D5 unit (Volvo)
Tuesday 16 November 2010
• Opel has announced pricing for its European version of the Ampera. When it goes on sale at the end of 2011 it will cost €42,900, which equates to £36,322 in UK money at today's rate. Vauxhall however is expected to announce its own UK pricing before the end of the year (Autoblog)
• Renault Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has announced that the two car companies plan to collectively build 500,000 electric vehicles annually by the end of 2013 (Detroit News)
• Three months after acquiring Volvo, Geely president Li Shufu has said he disagrees with Volvo's management about its product plans. He has stated that Volvo should develop large cars for China, yet Volvo's managers prefer small cars for their fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness (Automotive News)
• Saab and Spyker chairman Victor Muller has said that he aims for half of its new 9-4X crossover sales to be in the US. Saab targets annual global sales for the 9-4X of 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles in a full year (Automotive News)
• Bob Carter, sales chief for Toyota in the United States, has said the company expects 2011 sales to increase to between 12.5 million and 12.9 million, up from this year's expected 11.4 million to 11.5 million. That'll be a jump of 13% (Automotive News)
• GM aims to price its initial public offering as high as $33 a share, exceeding expectations and tempting the US Treasury to sell a bigger proportion of its stake in the car maker it rescued from bankruptcy (Financial Times)
• The BMW 3-series is the most reliable model in the UK according to the 2010 FN50 survey by our sister publication Fleet News. The FN50 reliability survey monitors faults on 900,000 company cars operated by the country’s biggest 50 leasing companies (Fleet News)

Monday 15 November 2010
• Tata has announced that worldwide Jaguar/Land Rover sales for October 2010 are up 12% over the same period in 2009 (Tata)
• Land Rover has announced a pricing incentive to help UK customers beat the VAT increase in January 2011. Land Rover and participating dealerships will jointly fund the 2.5% VAT difference on all new car orders placed before the end of 2010, and delivered between 4 January and 31 March 2011 (Land Rover)
• Range Rover tuning specialist Overfinch called in the receivers on Friday. The Surrey-based company blamed weak cash flow over the past 18 months (Overfinch)
• US power firm General Electric has said it will order 25,000 electric cars in a bid to boost development of a network of charging stations and other related products it produces. GE has initially ordered 12,000 Chevrolet Volts – and the first will start to roll off GM's production lines this month (BBC News)
• Indian vehicle manufacturer Tata is having to offer free safety upgrades to the Nano, after owners have reported a number of fires in India (BBC News)
• Volkswagen is on the verge of a wide-ranging reshuffle of its truck operations, in a move that would see it take full control of Sweden's Scania and Germany's MAN (Financial Times)
• A full-scale model of London's new Routemaster bus, due into service in 2012, has been unveiled. London mayor Boris Johnson said the buses were a combination of 'nostalgia' and the 'latest technology' (BBC News)
• Chrysler Group will unveil to the public this week new or significantly redesigned versions of 80% of its vehicle line-up (Detroit News)
• Aston Martin’s new luxury city car, the Cygnet which will go into production in 2011, is making its global debut at Harrods in Knightsbridge, the world's most prestigious department store (Aston Martin)

Friday 12 November 2010
• Owen Developments has been named as the sole supplier of turbochargers to the NGTC (Next Generation Touring Cars) that will compete in the British Touring Car Championship from 2011. The company supplied turbochargers to Arena Motorsport’s LPG-powered Ford Focus entries in 2010 (Owen Developments)
• Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has called for governments to offer financial incentives to encourage consumers to buy electric cars, helping to offset the increased cost of zero emissions vehicles (Bloomberg)
• A French judge has ruled that Renault can call its new electric supermini Zoe. A case had been brought against the French manufacturer by the parents of two girls called Zoe Renault (BBC)
• The Volkswagen Group delivered almost six million vehicles in the ten months to November 2010. 612,000 vehicles were delivered in October alone – a 9.8% rise over October 2009, and a record for the company (Volkswagen)

Thursday 11 November 2010
• Toyota has delivered its 20 millionth car in Europe. The Japanese manufacturer first entered the European market in 1963 and sold its 10 millionth car in 2000 (Toyota)
• The BMW 3-series has been named the UK’s most reliable car by the annual Fleet News FN50 survey. Honda was named the most reliable manufacturer (Fleet News)
• General Motors made a profit of $2bn (£1.2bn) in the three months to September 2010, passing Toyota ($1.1bn, £681mil) as the world's most profitable car manufacturer (USA Today)
• General Motors has increased its stake in a Chinese joint venture with SAIC and Wuling. The move needs approval from government regulators, but the sale of shares from Wuling Group to GM will increase the American manufacturer’s holding from 34% to 44% (Bloomberg)
• Russian supercar maker Marussia has bought a ‘significant stake’ in the Virgin F1 team. The team will be rebranded Marussia Virgin Racing for the 2011 season (BBC)
• The Austrian-based sales and distribution division of Porsche is to be sold to Volkswagen for €3.3bn (£2.81bn). Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS) will transfer to VW ownership before September 30 2011 (Volkswagen)
Wednesday 10 November 2010
• BP has been accused of complacency by the White House oil spill commission over the safety of the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig. The rig exploded in April 2010 leading to a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (BBC News)
• GM’s finance unit made a profit of $51.3m in the three months to September 2010, up from $25.8m in the same period in 2009 (Automotive News)
• Russia’s car market is recovering from the recession. Sales rose 62% in October 2010 compared to the previous month, and were 22% up on October 2009 (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Tata, parent company of Jaguar/Land Rover, has seen its profits soar by 10,159%(Nasdaq)
• The Honda CRZ has been named 2010 Japan Car of the Year, beating the likes of Jaguar’s XJ and the Mercedes E-class (Japan Car of the Year)

Tuesday 9 November 2010
• SAIC, the Chinese owner of MG, is set to buy shares in General Motors when the government-owned American manufacturer returns to public ownership via a shares sale on November 18 2010 (Trading Markets)
• The Toyota Prius has been named the most fuel-efficient car in the USA, averaging 48mpg in the city and 51mpg on the highway, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Bugatti’s Veyron was the worst performer, managing only 15mpg on the highway and a thirsty 8mpg in the city (EPA)
• London mayor Boris Johnson has announced plans to make the city the 'electric car capital of Europe'. A network of 1300 electric charging points will be installed across the London by 2013. Owners will be able to charge their cars anywhere in the capital for a £100 annual fee (Greater London Authority)
•French police have arrested an armed BMW employee who took hostages at the German manufacturer’s offices in Paris (BBC News)
• Renault has announced it remains committed to staying in F1, despite an upcoming strategy review from the French manufacturer (Autosport)

Monday 8 November 2010
• Jaguar/Land Rover plans to open a new Chinese factory, once it has signed a deal with a domestic partner. The new factory would need $100m of investment, but sidestep hetfy import taxes which can double the retail price of new cars. JLR plans to build the Freelander, Evoque, and a Jaguar model in China (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Aston Martin has announced a new chief financial officer. Hanno Kirner, previously director for finance and IT at Rolls Royce, will form part of Aston’s executive board of management (Aston Martin)
• Chrysler has reported a third quarter loss of $84m. However, the figure is half the loss of the previous quarter, down from $172m (Financial Times, subscription required)
• BMW is investing €400m to expand its Leipzig factory. The plant will build the German car company's first electric car, the Megacity Vehicle (MCV), from 2013 (BMW)
• Mercedes sold over 100,000 cars in October 2010, a 13.6% rise over the same period in 2009, the 12th straight month of growth (Automotive News)
• Worldwide Audi sales rose 5.8% in October 2010, fueled by increases in China (18.2%) and the USA (10.5%) (Automotive News)
• Toyota has reported a large rise in quarterly profits. The company made 98.7bn yen (£754m) between July and September 2010, up from 21.8bn yen (£166m) during the same period in 2009 (Detroit News)

Friday 5 November 2010
• Nissan has raised its profit and sales forecast after revenues grew fourfold in the last quarter. It expects 270bn yen profit ($3.3bn) in the year to March, nearly double what it predicted earlier (Automotive News)
• Lamborghini today marked the end of Murcielago production. It actually built the final V12 earlier this summer, but celebrated today with a procession around Sant'Agata. It has made 4099 Murcielagos, making it the most successful V12 it's ever produced (Lamborghini)

Thursday 4 November 2010
• Car sales dropped dramatically last month. New figures from the Society of Motor Manufactrurers and Traders reveal a 22% drop in October registrations to 131,495. However, October 2009 was artificially high, riding on the scrappage scheme (SMMT)
• Better news if you look at the year-to-date. Up to the end of October, UK car sales are up 4.8% on 2009. They're forecasting just over 2m sales this year, up 1.5% on last (SMMT)
• Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez claims the company remained profitable throughout the recession. He said Aston would not seek a partner and was working well as an independent concern (Automotive News Europe)
• US car sales reached their highest level this year in October. Industry leaders Ford and Toyota fell short of some smaller rivals, including South Korea's Hyundai (FT.com)
• BMW third-quarter operating profit margin of 8.1% fell short of rivals Mercedes’ by 9.5% and 11.2% behind Volkswagen. BMW shares dipped 0.7% on their publication on Wednesday (FT.com)
• Panasonic has invested $30m into electric car specialist Tesla to develop battery tech; it joins Daimler and Toyota, who have both invested in Tesla already (Automotive News)

Wednesday 3 November 2010
• Volvo has pulled a U-turn and the new owners say they won't plan an S-class rival as was mooted a few weeks ago. New CEO Stefan Jacoby told ANE that no such car existed in the short or medium term (Automotive News Europe)
• GM will not have to pay US federal taxes on up to $50 billion of profits for 20 years. With the standard federal corporate tax rate at 35%, the tax break could save GM $17.5bn, not factoring in tax deductions (Automotive news)
• The US government is tipped to sell at least 263.5 million GM shares, as it prepares its IPO this month (Detroit news)
• BMW is benefiting from sales in China as sales rise 36% for the third quarter of 2010 (BBC news)

Tuesday 2 November 2010
• Tata Motors’ total sales of cars and vans - including Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary - jumped 21% in October compared with the same month last year. The group sold 64,757 vehicles, up from 53,404 in October 2009 (Tata Motors)
• Oil giant BP has returned to profit in the last quarter after a record loss in the previous quarter in the wake of the oil spill in the US. BP posted a $1.85bn (£1.2bn) profit, up from the $17bn loss recorded from April to June (BBC News)

Monday 1 November 2010
• It's a big week for General Motors, as it prepares to announce third-quarter earnings, revise its IPO price and embark on a global marketing push (Detroit News)
• The Pontiac car brand is finally dead; it was killed off by the collapse of GM in the recession, one of the brands that had to be culled (BBC News)
• Mid-sized Japanese car makers are looking perilously placed, as larger car makers shy away from cross ownership. It points out that Ford is currently diluting its 11% stake in Mazda down to nearer 3% (Financial Times)
• Chrysler is in discussion with banks over loans ahead of a possible IPO flotation in 2011, according to trade title AN (Automotive News)
 

 

How car disguise works - and Kacher camo

By Tim Pollard

Weird Stuff

26 November 2010 10:12

Ever wondered how they disguise top-secret car prototypes? Admired the psychedelic monochrome fizz splattered across future BMWs? We did, so we dispatched CAR's European editor Georg Kacher to Munich to find the inside story on car camouflage.
The black-and-white disguise seen on contemporary BMW test cars, such as the BMW 1-series M Coupe Georg is standing next to, is a thin plastic film supplied by chemical giant 3M.
It's stuck on to the prototypes' bodywork, sometimes swollen by disruptive padding to mask sensitive shapes, while all BM hacks use standard dummy headlamps to hide the real lights. This is proving a popular disguise, and we now see other brands, such as Jaguar, using similar disruptive pattern material.

Where's Georg Kacher?

Aha! You haven't spotted our towering Austrian journalist yet? That's because we wrapped him in reams of the BMW's black-and-white 3M-supplied disguise.
The stuff's so malleable we managed to hide most of Kacher's 6ft 8in frame. Honestly, the car camouflage is so effective, we think you'll agree he melts quietly into the backdrop of BMW's Fiz R&D think-tank in Milbertshofen, a suburb of Munich.

Car prototype camo: the background

Every car maker disguises prototypes when they operate on public roads or tracks, to stop nosy bystanders and professional auto spies papping their future wares. In this digital age, scoop photos and spyshots are disseminated globally in a matter of minutes.
Murray Dietsch, Jaguar Land Rover's vehicle line engineering director, said it's essential to disguise test cars, as knowledge about future product could damage sales of existing model ranges - and alert the competition to your plans.
'We use hard plastic cladding and body camouflage to try and disguise the final shape, so you don't know what it's like,' Dietsch told CAR. 'But we need to continue testing these prototypes and the disguise must not stop the car working normally. Furthermore, we often need to take a car from one workshop to another - so it must be easily removed for our engineers to work on it.'
Of course, there is a delicious irony here: 99% of onlookers would probably fail to recognise a prototype if it drove past them undisguised. Adding weird camouflage probably does more to attract attention than to disperse it.
'It's a doubled-edged sword,' admits Dietsch. 'But you only get one chance to make a good impression when you launch a car. It only takes one car to be photographed near launch and you lose all that build-up. Secrecy is still very important to us.'

Now, where is Kacher?

That's him on the right, by the way. He assures us this is not his usual Friday afternoon garb for an evening on the tiles in Munich's shadier nighteries.
>> See the full story on car disguise in the new and improved Agenda news section in the December 2010 issue of CAR Magazine

Audi TT GT4 concept (2010) first official pictures

By Richard Jones

First Official Pictures

29 November 2010 10:30

Audi has unveiled the new TT GT4, its latest racing machine, available for a cool €120,000.

The Audi TT GT4 concept, based on the production TT, got its first shakedown at DTM season finale race in Shanghai at the weekend, with five-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela at the wheel.

This TT is the work of the Technical Development and the Production divisions of the German firm's Quattro division.

So the GT4 is based on the TT?

Yes. The front apron, rear apron and the rear wing are based on the items on the production Audi TT RS. They're turned up to 11 here, mind. 

So what's the difference?

A lot. The basic TT architecture is topped by a motorsport body with a full roll cage, a safety-optimised fuel tank box and further modifications which will be identical for all future customer sport versions.

I presume it's quick?

Almost certainly, but Audi has not yet issued any performance claims for the TT GT4.

It's powered by a TFSI engine delivering 340bhp, driving through an S-tronic twin-clutch transmission with a differential lock, modified production suspension with adjustable dampers, plus 9.5 x 18-inch light alloy wheels.

Can anyone buy one?

Audi says the point of the TT GT4 is to offer potential customers 'affordable motorsport'. Affordable, that is, if you have €120,000 burning a hole in your pocket. 

The TT GT4 is currently a concept, but will hit the track in 2012 as a customer car.