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A new DVD tells the story of the Porsche company. (Photo courtesy of Porsche Cars North America, Inc.)

STUTTGART, Germany — As souvenirs go, this is a good one. The Porsche Museum has just released a DVD history of the company in eight chapters, each covering a decade of Porsche's history. The DVD is titled The Porsche Way.

The DVD, which has a specially composed musical soundtrack, is two and a half hours in length and is available in both German and English. It's based on the Porsche archives' 5,000 hours of film footage. The company promises some never-before-released film clips. Racing drivers Hans Herrmann, Eberhard Mahle and Paul Ernst Str?hle make appearances, as do Porsche historical figures including “Engine King” Hans Mezger and Heinz Rabe, described as the former… Read the rest of this entry

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The No. 9 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, with a team of former Formula 1 drivers at the wheel, took the overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans over the weekend. (Photo courtesy of Automobile Club de l'Ouest)

LE MANS, France — For the past three years, Peugeot has brought the fastest turbodiesel-powered sports cars to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but not until this year did the speed of the 908 HDi FAP prototype pay off in victory.

David Brabham, Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene dominated the event in the No. 9 machine and led a 1-2 finish Sunday, with Gene at the wheel of the winning entry at the end. The winners covered 382 laps around the 8.5-mile Sarthe circuit. Sebastien Bourdais, Franck Montagny and St?phane Sarrazin drove the runner-up machine, one lap down in their formation finish to the 77th… Read the rest of this entry

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The U.S. Hummer dealer network and top management will remain as is, assures an executive of the Chinese company. Pictured: 2009 Hummer H3T. (Photo courtesy of General Motors Corporation)

BEIJING — Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery hopes to close its deal to acquire the Hummer brand from General Motors before October, according to company General Manager Yang Yi.

Yang, in an interview with Reuters, said Tengzhong, which is based in Sichuan province and has no previous experience as a car builder, has no plans to transfer Hummer equipment or technology to China.

GM announced plans to sell Hummer to Tengzhong nearly two weeks ago. Since then, numerous reports in China's media have suggested the privately owned company, which makes heavy-duty highway and construction equipment, may have a… Read the rest of this entry

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As the flap continues over rules changes, the European automakers' group ACEA is calling for the resignation of FIA President Max Mosley (pictured). (Photo courtesy of SingaporeGP.org)

PARIS — Three new teams have been awarded entry into Formula 1 competition next season, including North Carolina-based Team US F1, but a dispute between most of the present teams and the sport's governing body remains unresolved.

In fact, the two sides appeared to harden their positions, with members of the Formula 1 Teams Association (FOTA) demanding changes in next year's rules and the F?d?ration Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) accusing the team owners of trying to sabotage plans for next season.

“There is clearly an element in FOTA which is determined to prevent any agreement being reached regardless of the damage this may cause to the sport,” the FIA stated Monday.

Adding fuel to the fire, the European… Read the rest of this entry

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General Motors Corp. consistently lost money on its Saab brand and ran out of cash as the bankrupt automaker was preparing to launch the next-generation of vehicles at the Swedish automaker, President and Fritz Henderson said today.

Henderson made the comments in a series of text messages with reporters hours after the automaker announced it had reached a memorandum of understanding to sell the Saab brand to luxury sports car maker Koenigsegg Automotive AB. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Henderson said GM will continue to provide support for powertrain and other technologies, and that he expects GM will be asked to build the 9-4x compact crossover for Saab.

Since filing bankruptcy, GM also has reached deals to sell Hummer and Saturn as part of the automaker’s plan to focus on four core brands: Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC.

One hundred percent “of our product, technology… Read the rest of this entry

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Nine out of 10 new car shoppers expect gas prices to rise sharply over the next month, and two-thirds of them say that’s influencing their thoughts on what to buy, according to a new survey.

Kelley Blue Book’s Market Intelligence Study found that consumers’ expectations of higher gas prices are creeping higher, with 87 percent anticipating sharp rises in a May survey, up from 66 percent in April.

The findings suggest that the U.S. auto market’s recent shift toward cars and away from trucks will accelerate this summer.

In May, cars accounted for 52.7 percent of new light vehicle sales, according to Autodata Corp., up from 51.9 percent in March.

The shift to smaller vehicles is likely to be further encouraged by a government “cash-for-clunkers” program offering customers cash vouchers of up to $4,500 to trade in old vehicles. Customers buying substantially more fuel-efficient models would benefit the… Read the rest of this entry

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Toyota Motor Corp. will boost hybrid battery production capacity as much 10 percent over earlier plans next year as orders for its Prius model rise, the Nikkei newspaper said.

The automaker aims to increase manufacturing capacity to 1.1 million nickel-metal hydride cells in 2010, the paper said, without saying where it got the information.

Toyota originally planned to boost production capacity by 300,000 batteries from 700,000 a year, the report said. Panasonic EV Energy Co., owned by Toyota and Panasonic Corp., will make the batteries, the paper said.

Toyota increased output of the Prius in Japan this month as orders rose 75 percent since the hybrid went on sale in May.

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Thailand aims to lure automakers to relocate their production of new-technology vehicles by offering tax incentives for projects worth at least 10 billion baht, the Board of Investment (BoI) said yesterday.

The board, chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, yesterday agreed to designate the new segment of vehicle production eligible for BoI privileges.

“We want to attract new investments from automakers to use Thailand as their production base for exports of new-technology vehicles such as hybrid cars,” said BoI secretary-general Atchaka Brimble.

“These vehicles must be models that have never been produced locally.”

According to Dr Atchaka, there are foreign automakers that have expressed interest in such projects in Thailand but she declined to elaborate.

Under the criteria endorsed by the BoI, companies need to invest in a new production line with the capacity to make a minimum of 100,000 units in the first five years of operations.… Read the rest of this entry

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Tata Motors Ltd said on Wednesday its 5-billion-baht ($147 million) project to produce an “eco car” in Thailand by 2012 was still on track.

Ajit Venkataraman, chief executive of Tata’s Thai unit, dismissed local newspaper reports that the Indian car giant may be wavering on its Thai project.

Tata is one of six foreign carmakers applying for government incentives to manufacture mini passenger cars with at least an annual production capacity of 100,000 units, he told reporters. “We have made long-term commitments to Thailand and are a part of its automobile industry with plans to extend our product lines to include commercial vehicles and buses as well as eco-friendly, affordable small cars,” he said.

The Tata executive said its Thai eco-car would be an entirely different vehicle from the company’s Nano model, billed as the world’s cheapest car, that has attracted more than 203,000 bookings in India since… Read the rest of this entry

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Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) expects its Indian vehicle sales to remain flat in 2009, mainly because the automaker doesn’t yet sell a small car in the country.

The Japanese firm sold 51,800 cars and sport-utility vehicles in India last year, lagging behind competitors General Motors Corp. (GM), Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269.TO) and Hyundai Motor Co. (005280.SE).

“We would like to maintain what we did last year,” Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd., said at the launch of the new Land Cruiser sport-utility vehicle, or SUV. “The market is doing well, but growth is more in the small car (segment).”

Toyota Kirloskar, which is 89% owned by Toyota and the remainder by India’s Kirloskar group, started operations in December 1999. It produces the Innova multi-purpose vehicle and the Corolla Altis sedan as well as importing the Camry and Land Cruiser Prado SUV as fully… Read the rest of this entry