| 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.
Porsche to recall 2,561 Cayenne SUVs in China
BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Luxury automaker Porsche has started a recall of 2,561 of its Cayenne sport utility vehicles (SUV), Chinese officials said here in a circular on Tuesday. According to the General Administration of Quality Supervisio n, Inspection and Quarantine, the vehicle's fuel line came into contact with the engine block while the car was being driven, The contact could cause a knocking sound and leave abrasions on the fuel line, which could lead to fuel leaks, the circular said. The automaker said that it would repair the fuel lines for free. The recall will last for 12 months. To date, no injuries or accidents had been reported due to the defect, it said. Due to the problem, the automaker will recall nearly 19,000 Cayennes worldwide, according to media reports.
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.
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 unveils SUV after exiting Detroit
Porsche unveils SUV after exiting Detroit Cayenne GTS, Windy City event both touted as performing best-in-class. Eric Morath / The Detroit News CHICAGO -- Porsche AG showed its 2008 Cayenne GTS SUV for the first time in North America at the Chicago Auto Show on Thursday, just a couple weeks after the German automaker was a no-show in Detroit. In unveiling the latest Cayenne model, Porsche described the GTS as the best-performing on-road SUV in the market. While the new version gives up some of the standard Cayenne's off-road capabilities, a 405-horsepower V-8 engine and lower-riding sport suspension make the SUV nearly track worthy, officials said. But the unveiling seemed to be as much about Chicago as the Cayenne. Company officials talked about how Chicago is a strong market for the automaker.
McFADDEN: TAYLOR CAN BOUNCE BACK
Birmingham goal hero James McFadden is backing central defender Martin Taylor to put behind him the trauma of unintentionally breaking the leg of Arsenal striker Eduardo. A distraught Taylor went to visit the Croatian international in a Birmingham hospital on Sunday before the player, who is 25 today, was transferred to a London hospital. Taylor, who was red-carded by referee Mike Dean, was described as being "distraught" in the aftermath of the 2-2 draw at St Andrews as the extent of Eduardo's injury became clear. And several Blues players have already condemned Gunners boss Arsene Wenger's initial comments in which he claimed "this guy (Taylor) should never play football again". But McFadden, who scored both of City's goals against Arsenal, is confident Taylor will eventually be able to put the incident behind him.
Iran dominates Republican presidential debate in conservative South ...
What those who would not confront Iran are missing in their analysis, is that Israel will act if the US does not. Imagine what would result from that. The time for the US to stand by and let the world burn ended in 1917. Withdraw and appease at your own peril. .
For Carmakers, High Performance Equals High Profit
In March, Lexus is launching a high-performance division. Called the F—for "Flagship"—the first model will be the sporty, $56,765 Lexus IS F. Several more F models are in the pipeline, including a luxury sedan and an SUV-wagon crossover. This represents a radical departure for Lexus, which has enjoyed enormous success as Toyota's (TM) luxury brand, despite being often faulted by driving enthusiasts for making cars that are unexciting, albeit attractive, well-built, and competitively priced. Now obviously Toyota's top brass wants to change this impression—and that is something that should concern executives at the high-performance divisions of its luxury rivals, specifically Mercedes-Benz (DAI), BMW (BMWG), and, increasingly, Audi (NSUG). Mercedes offers an AMG version of nearly every model it sells, including light trucks.
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