Porsche is drowning in financial debts

Looks like Porsche is really in trouble. Stuttgart’s finest has just been denied of a loan by a German national bank called KFW. The said 1.75 billion euro load (estimated to be around US$2.5 billion) was to be used to pay in partial Porsche’s almost 9 billion euro debt (almost US$12.6 billion).

So far, the sports car maker has been able to borrow 10.75 billion euros in bank financing since March to feed their debt. It even went as far as Qatar in the middle east, in an attempt to sell a big portion of their shares.

To rub salt on Porsche’s wounds, Volkswagen tried to buy almost half of the car maker’s assets at around 3-4 billions euros. This attempt was an offering to forget about the 700 million euro (US$983 million) Porsche borrowed from Volkswagen. But pride still reigns supreme in Stuttgart, refusing the offer altogether.

Well, for all you Porsche fans out there, we hope the car maker finds ways in dealing with their debt soon. Or else, we may be in for another bankruptcy. Only this time, it’s not going to happen in Detroit.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/30/porsche-loan-request-rejected-by-germanys-state-bank/

A sad day for Mosley, a victory for Formula One Teams Association

Hooray to all of you Formula One fans! And a big thumbs up to FIA for doing the right thing.

They’ve finally come to their senses and sacked Formula One head honcho Max Mosley effective immediately. After 16 years of being chair of the most prestigious racing event in the history of motor sports, Mosley has agreed to step down without fists flying.

Finally, now FIA can work with FOTA’s demands for a cheaper and more competitive Formula One. This came right after the announcement of eight teams, including Ferrari, McLaren, BMW-Sauber and Brawn GP, to form a breakaway series under a new organizer.

As a Formula One fan, I truly hope things start to work out between the governing body and the teams. I’m sure all of us would hate to see this event come to a bitter end because of an unfair dictatorship.

Now, there’s only one thing left to iron out – will Formula One ‘commercial rights holder’ Bernie Ecclestone let in the teams onto the track funds he earns at each and every race? Surely, the FOTA wants in on that. Only time will tell.

For now, let us all rejoice on this momentous occasion in Formula One history. Hopefully, it will be a victory for teams and fans alike. Cheers!

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/24/breaking-f1-reunites-as-max-mosely-reportedly-forced-to-quit-f1/

FOTA has had enough of Mosley and FIA

This is probably the best news you’re going to hear as a Formula One fan, ever. Word has it that FOTA, comprised of Ferrari, McLaren, Toyota, Renault, BMW, Brawn, Red Bull and Torro Rosso, has finally announced to media their plans to leave Formula One, and to form a breakaway series.

The new series, to be handled by none other than MotoGP’s head honcho, Dorna Sport’s Carmelo Ezpeleta, is going to be more to every one’s liking. FOTA’s outlook for the breakaway series is a more transparent form of governance, where teams have a say in policies, and lower ticket prices for fans.

If things go as well as FOTA hopes, even track owners are going to profit, unlike under FIA whereby each race, track owners have to shelf out 10 million pounds to pay Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone. In the new series, part of that money will go to the teams instead.

All that’s left now is whether brands, sponsors, promoters and fans (yes, you) are going to support FOTA’s new series, or will stay loyal to Formula One along with Williams, Force India and eight other teams for 2010.

In my opinion, as a huge fan of Ferrari, I’d rather set my eyes on the big pioneer teams, which gave Formula One its spirit, form a new series instead of bowing down to Max Mosley’s dictatorship.

So, what’s your take on this?

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/18/breaking-formula-1-teams-association-announces-breakaway-series/

Watch out FIA, Lotus is coming back home

Now, all you Formula One fans, tell me what you think about this. With all the mess that’s now going on in Formula One, it’s no wonder why some new and old names are coming up for next season’s line up. And that includes former Formula One contender Lotus.

As we all know, Lotus is no pushover, especially with Formula One veteran team leader Mike Gascoyne joining its ranks. Does this mean they’re leaving Formula Three?

It doesn’t matter. They’ve gotten permission from Lotus team owner David Hunt to use the name ‘Lotus’ in their Formula One bid. On a side note, David Hunt also happens to be the brother of James Hunt, who is also a Formula One driver himself.

The team, founded by racing legend Colin Chapman, has won a total of seven world championships thanks to big names such as Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti behind the wheel.

The new Lotus Formula One team is looking is set up their headquarters at the Racing Technology Norfolk (RTN), which also happens to have been home to other Formula One teams such as Bentley’s Le Mans outfit. They’ve also started recruiting ex-Lotus engineers plus a former Lotus Formula One driver Johnny Herbert.

Let’s all hope for the best for Lotus in the next season of Formula One. If things turn out as bad as they look, they won’t be locking horns with big names such as Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. They’ll only have Brawn and Jenson Button to worry about.

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/09/whats-in-a-name-lotus-to-return-to-formula-one/

Lamborghini is not giving in to financial fears

Even if you’re one of the best supercar makers out there, you’re not immune from the global recession.

Sant’ Agata’s pride, Lamborghini, has reported that their sales are down by almost one-third this year. This has led them to shed their workforce to battle the crisis. According to Lamborghini Chief Executive Stephan Winkelman, 2010 looks as gloomy as this year because of the deep economic crisis. Out in the US, Lamborghini’s sales are down by almost half, forcing them to cut their availability waiting list by six months from the previous one year.

Although that may sound like good news to buyers of the Raging Bull, it doesn’t fare well for the Italian supercar maker. But despite the grim situation, Winkelman still managed to boast of his company’s profits, which according to him amounted to 60 million Euros (around US$84 million) for the previous year.

Winkelman is confident that their company can pull through, being the sole rival of Ferrari in terms of quality and power. They’re even working on ways to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of their cars by as much as a third by 2016.

Perhaps, it’s in league with Ferrari’s go green designing process which is centered on bio-fuel. Only time will tell. But for now, Lamborghini fans have to stick with premium gasoline.

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/10/report-lamborghini-sees-no-recovery-until-2011/

This Benz is doing mighty fine burning rubber sideways

I’m sure there’ll be some of you who relate with this. I know I do, so please bear with me for a few seconds.

Here’s a sneak peak at the drifting scene over at Hungary, and some of the drift cars are – you guessed it – European, mixed with a few Japanese imports. I see a few BMW’s, a Merc and a VW.

You should know that drifting all started in Japan, hence the dominance of Japanese cars in the sport. However, the sport has grown immense popularity all over the world, so you see all kinds of rear-wheel drive cars being drifted in the US and Europe.

Well, my real point is that, I wanted to show all you Euro fans what your cars could do besides breaking land speed records around the ‘Ring and down the Autobahn. They’re also good for going sideways.

Source: http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/04/28/gallery-gt-gt-hungarian-drift.aspx