It looks like Scuderia Ferrari pilot Felipe Massa is out of danger. Reports from a military hospital in Budapest have confirmed that Massa is going to be flown back by private jet to Brazil, his home country, come Monday. Earlier speculations predicted Paris as Massa’s next stop for further treatment.

According to Massa’s personal physician, Dino Altmann, the 28-year-old race driver is going to back on track after his recovery, further denying claims that there was damage to his left eye. Quoting Altmann, “In Brazil, he will continue his recovery and will go back into racing as soon as possible. I think this decision says all you need to know (about his condition).” Massa himself was sarcastic when told about Michael Schumacher’s comeback to take his place for the rest of the 2009 season saying, “We’ll see if I let him drive my car!”

Sarcasm aside, Schumi was denied use of the current F60 race car, not by Massa, but by Formula One rules. He is prohibited from testing in the F60 until the first official practice session for the European Gran Prix, which is set to begin by the second half of August in Valencia, Spain. Schumi, having won in Valencia for six times before his retirement in October of 2006, wasn’t about to let F1 rules stop him from practicing. He stepped into a 2007 Formula One car to start testing on the track. So Ferrari fans, let’s pray that God speeds Schumi’s success in his, albeit temporary, return to the F1 track.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/31/report-massa-to-check-out-of-hospital-on-monday/

One of the perks of being a seven time Formula One World Champion is having the chance to race again. Yes, the rumors are true. After Scuderia Ferrari driver Felippe Massa’s near-tragic accident, Michael Schumacher is set to take his place for the remainder of the 2009 season.

Doctors have advised Massa, who is now out of danger, to take the rest of the season off just to make sure of his recovery. Massa has been diagnosed to have no long-term injury and no eye damage, fortunately. His accident came after his left front tire hit a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s car at over 170 mph (275 kph) during the Hungarian GP qualifying. Massa has just been brought out of intensive care and would be leaving the hospital around the first week of August. He’ll be going to several places, namely Paris, Monaco and San Paulo for additional treatment.

As for Schumacher, I’m sure all you Ferrari fans are just as excited as I am to see the champ back in his territory. The question is will he be able to get his game going after almost three years of retirement? We shall see come August 23 in Valencia for the European Gran Prix.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/29/schumacher-to-return-to-ferrari-f1-for-remainder-of-season/

What’s up with this? Have you guys ever seen anything weirder than this? This Rolls-Royce Phantom has something suspicious rolled up in its sleeves. On either side of its nose are hybrid badges made by GM on their gas-electric cars. There has been no news whatsoever telling of a partnership between RR and GM, especially of any project relating to hybridization. So why the heck is this multi-million Phantom posing as a hybrid?

Although it’s a fact that RR is owned by BMW, and BMW is in partnership with GM, Daimler and Chrysler in developing a two-way hybrid engine, it still doesn’t give a clue as to why this kind of Phantom exists. That’s because there has been news that BMW and Daimler are severing their ties. It seems only appropriate that BMW will do the same with GM and Chrysler.

It’s rumored that this Phantom was lent to a VIP as an evaluation run by RR. But that still doesn’t add much to the mystery. The guys over at Autoblog think it’s all a ploy by its environmentally-conscious owner to show his love for nature. They think the owner, which is probably richer than he or she is famous, just can’t afford to be seen in cheap hybrid cars such as a Toyota Prius. My bet is that this guy is just trying to play tricks on people’s minds, and he’s also a huge fan of GM.

Whatever it is, it’s funny. Rich nature lover rides on green, ultra-expensive car. Makes sense, no?

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/24/badge-engineering-at-its-finest-rolls-royce-phantom-spotted-in/

It was inevitable. Porsche’s head honcho, Wendelin Wiedeking, has quit as CEO, along with his CFO Holge Harter. The two are off Porsche’s front seats effective immediately. No matter how hard the king tried to hold on to his throne, Porsche’s mountain-load of debts proved too much to handle.

Now, it looks like the German sports maker is on its way to merging with Volkswagen. All’s well that ends well. News has it that the car maker is poised to increase its capital by as much as 7.1 billion dollars, which is only a fraction of their debt. It’s unclear though as to where Porsche would get the money from. Qatar perhaps? For now, its finances are going to be worked out by Wiedeking’s replacement temporair, former production boss Michael Macht.

The king would get around 71 million dollars in separation pay. That’s almost half of what was revealed in earlier news. He’s still generous and wants to donate half of that to charity to create more jobs for his fellow Germans. At least, some European ex-CEO’s aren’t as greedy as those from Detroit. Who knows where the 56-year-old German will appear next? Another car manufacturer, maybe? Well, one things for sure. It won’t be Volkswagen.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/23/officially-official-porsche-ceo-and-cfo-quit-leave-the-buildin/

There’s a lesson to be learned from bad experiences. Although Susanne Klatten, Germany’s richest woman, has learned her lesson, her fans apparently have not. The Quandt heiress of BMW has just fought off another attack from copycat villains. The crime – blackmail.

If you’re not aware, Klatten is the victim of a blackmail attempt by her ex-lover, Helg Sgarbi. Her ex, who seduced her into a two month relationship, video-taped their romantic escapades in some resort in Europe (probably around Germany). Sgarbi then threatened to give out copies of the tapes if she didn’t give him 50 million Euros in blackmail money. Klatten, who’s not afraid of controversy, reported the crime to police. Thus, Sgarbi ended up in prison for six years. That wasn’t the end of it, though.

The mother of three has just recently fended off another blackmail attempt by three copycat goons trying to shelf out money in exchange for not revealing the same scandalous videos. They demanded around 800,000 Euros from the BMW heiress to be placed in – you guessed it – a BMW. A BMW X5 to be specific. Klatten, who already learned her lesson, again reported the crime to police. The three copycats got caught while arguing in the X5 who was going to drive.

It seems bad guys never learn their lesson. The next time you want to blackmail Germany’s most powerful woman, make sure not to choose a bimmer as your runaway vehicle. (Just kidding.)

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/22/report-bmw-heiress-susanne-klatten-blackmailed-again-in-sex-tap/

Here’s a little update on the situation down at the New Fabris factory. The workers have agreed to stand down, for the moment, as long as talks are organized between them and Industry Minister Christian Estrosi for Thursday. The disgruntled workers are demanding more financial compensation after being sacked by the factory which shutdown earlier this year. The factory, which serves the car makers Renault and Peugeot-Citroen, is now guarded by the workers who are threatening to blow it up using around twenty canisters of highly flammable gases.

Most of the workers have spent almost half their lives working for the factory. The laid off workers received separation payments which, according to them, won’t last any longer without another job in sight. This kind of grim labor situation is kind of new in France. The trend used to be ex-employees kidnapping their old bosses. There were even cases of barricading their old office buildings.

Now, the unemployed are much more daring, willing to risk their lives to get some well-deserved compensation for their life-long services. Let’s pray that the situation doesn’t get any more uglier than it is now. There are a lot of kids waiting for their mommies and daddies to come home from this mess. Let’s hope the industry minister, the factory owner as well as Renault and Peugeot-Citroen, come to their senses.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/21/report-french-workers-vote-against-blowing-up-plant-as-long-as/

Talk about righting a wrong. Aston Martin has just put on hold production of its Lagonda crossover. No surprise there. We all saw what kind of abomination the Lagonda is. Even if you’re an Aston Martin fan, I’m sure you would have second thoughts of riding in it. James Bond would look pretty awkward driving one as well. Its high profile and big snout looks something borne out of prehistoric times. In fact, it resembles the Flinstones’ pet, Dino. (Remember that sweet little critter?)

I’m sure Aston Martin had the best intentions when they designed the Lagonda. But motives aside, the press simply didn’t like it and showed their disapproval right after its unveiling in Geneva back in March. This prompted Aston Martin to roll it off the Geneva stand even before the public got first look at it. Talk about saving face.

Aston Martin has a long list of impressive sports cars ever since they introduced the DB7. They’ve even earned themselves quite a name in racing, winning races in different motoring events. However, the Lagonda may have proved to be a far-fetched attempt at creating an SUV crossover. And in the world of automotives, bad designs are all too often ignored and such incidences spell bad times for any auto maker’s image and financial outlook. Thumbs up to Aston Martin for doing the right thing.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/20/report-aston-martin-puts-the-lagonda-on-hold/

Drivers, take note – when there’s a sudden heavy downpour, slow down – seriously. Even if you think you’re the greatest, most skilled driver there is, it always pays to be careful. Recently, a Volkswagen test driver was running a car on VW’s Ehra-Lessien circuit around Wolfsburg, Germany when tragedy struck.

The 42-year-old Brazilian test driver suddenly lost control of the test car when rain suddenly poured on the track. His skills saved him from crashing into a concrete barrier. However, a second VW test driver wasn’t as experienced. He also spun off the track and crashed into the first car, reportedly killing the first driver. The second driver was seriously injured, but the first one wasn’t so lucky.

This isn’t the only incident which has claimed the life of a test driver. Only five months earlier, a Porsche test driver was also killed while testing on the German Autobahn. If you still think that being a test driver is fun, think again. It’s hard work, and it puts your life at high risk. Test drivers put their necks on the line just to make sure the cars you drive become better and safer in the future. Our sympathy goes to the family of the late driver.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/16/vw-test-driver-reportedly-killed-in-on-track-incident/

Porsche is in a terrible mess. It’s CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, is holding on to his post and trying to avoid looking as dumb as all the other CEOs who have either been kicked out of or have quit their now-bankrupt car companies. His company is now so deep in debt that Volkswagen’s financial claims are further rubbing salt into Porsche’s wounds. Porsche is already looking into selling almost half of its assets to the Wolfsburg office, and now newspapers all over Germany are already talking about a Wiedeking exit. Financial Times Deutschland even reported Wiedeking hiring lawyers to help plan his bail out.

Porsche’s labor union, though, still has a positive outlook for the sports car maker and goes on to defend Wiedeking saying he’s doing everything in his power to avoid filing Chapter 11. Some reports also say that there are no definite plans to sell Porsche’s 49% to Volkswagen.

With so many contrasting and opposing sides being aired on this bout, a definite conclusion is still a long shot. So stay tuned folks. This is going to last more rounds than everyone at Wolfsburg hopes.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/16/report-porsche-denies-word-that-ceo-wiedeking-will-hand-over/

This event serves as a lesson for all employers, regardless of which industry you belong to – never hold back on your former employees’ salaries, especially if you’ve gone bankrupt. Otherwise, you just might come see your former office building one morning and find nothing but burnt rubble.

These unemployed workers gathered outside the New Fabris factory around the borders of Chatellerault, a small town in France. They were demanding for US$43,000 in back-pay from Renault and Peugeot-Citroen and were threatening to blow up their old factory. The angry mob of unemployed French workers lined up a number of gas canisters which were wired to a worker using electrical cords. Their former employers have a few reasons to believe that the gas canisters are actually empty. However, because of several incidents of kidnapping company executives, the workers finally got their former employers pretty scared.

The incident follows a series of layoffs by Renault and Peugeot-Citroen of their employees to cut costs. Other workers all over France have similarly brought up protests to seek redress of their grievances through other means – kidnapping company executives, blocking company gates, as well as barricading factories. This is reportedly the worst economic downturn in the history of France since the 1940s.

The unemployed workers are dead serious. According to union leader Guy Emermann, most of the workers have given almost half of their lives working for the companies. The canisters, 20 in all, contain acetylene and butane, both highly flammable materials. Explosion of the said canisters would start a massive fire which can engulf the whole factory. As of June 16, the New Fabris factory was shutdown, with all its 366 workers slowly being put out of their jobs.

A view outside the gates of New Fabris shows several cutout cardboards shaped like coffins. Each black cutout lists the names of the laid-off employees, plus the date when they were terminated. A lonely blue uniform hung on the gate, telling the whole story of the factory and its workers. Huge equipment were pulled out of New Fabris and were stripped apart and torched by the workers as display of their anger and desperation. The gates are closed to keep Renault and Peugeot-Citroen from salvaging the remaining pieces of expensive machinery left inside the factory.

The workers have already met with Peugeot-Citroen officials last week, asking for 15,000 euros each, while a meeting with Renault officials is set for Thursday. However, according to PSA Peugeot-Citroen spokesperson Pierre-Olivier Salmon, their company isn’t about to give in, saying “It’s not our job to replace the company’s shareholders or the state. Why should PSA pay for this?” They have, however, offered around 1.2 million euros to buy off the remaining New Fabris equipment. Renault plans to raise the same offer come Thursday, but not much more than that. According to Renault spokesperson Gita Roux, “It is not for us as clients to pay redundancy packages” to New Fabris.

Back in New Fabris, the workers passed time playing table tennis and ‘petanque’. They even passed time just chatting with each other and discussing their sorry situations. Not a single cop is in sight but city officials say the police are keeping an eye on things. Former machine operator Marc Pinardon, who has worked in the factory for over nine years, said he was given a separation pay worth 3,500 euros, equivalent to about two months of income. Pinardon says this small amount is likely not going to get him through much longer without another job in sight.

This is just a small reflection of things going on in Detroit and the rest of the world. The automotive industry is really feeling the slump of the global economy. According to Bruno Perre, a 50-year-old technician of New Fabris for 29 years, while scouting the factory grounds, “They throw us away like Kleenex.”

New Fabris director Pierre Reau walked out of the factory without a word last Thursday past the disgruntled workers, telling the Associated Press that the workers’ actions are out of their control. According to Anne Frachowiak, the top aide of the Chatellerault local governor, the canisters may be empty but they aren’t taking chances. They already have the local firemen on steady alert.

If this drags any further without any settlement between both parties, you may bear witness to some bloody confrontation between the French workers and their former employees. Let’s just hope Renault and Peugeot-Citroen come to their senses and start to seriously consider the workers’ demands.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090715/NATION/907150414/1361/French-auto-workers-threaten-to-blow-up-factory