Spy shots of the upcoming Porsche's Panamera sedan have produced an almost unanimous reaction from motorheads: it's fugly. Autoweek published photos of [what the optimistic among us can only hope is] a somewhat disguised Panamera. Their readers are not shy about expressing their sense of aesthetic affrontery: "this 'design' is just hideous," "more brand dilution," "it looks like an eggplant," and "Franken-car." Perhaps sensitive to the near universal condemnation of their lardy 911-on-stilts Cayenne SUV's design, Porsche has unleashed some preemptive damage control. "In reality," Stuttgart's spinmeisters say, "the Panamera is a lot more attractive than anything to be seen so far." Does that include the Maserati Quattroporte? Anyway, Cayenne notwithstanding, I have a hard time believing The Sultans of Stuttgart would let anything this gawky out of their styling studios. And yet, how could they make it better?

The International Herald Tribune reports that Shanghai Automotive is selling $1.06b worth of junk bonds to fund its expansion plans. China's largest automaker says it needs the cash to develop its own-brand Roewe sedans, repay debt and expand commercial-vehicle production. Details of the offering are sketchy at best; Shanghai didn't reveal the sale date, how many call warrants investors would receive or the trigger price. Oh, and Shanghai's debt has not yet been assessed by any of the three largest global credit rating companies. Still, if you have faith in the Chinese auto market– which just passed Japan to become the world's number two (after the U.S.)– it could be a good deal. Thanks to laws requiring foreign automakers to partner with domestic producers, Shanghai has its fingers in a lot of pies: General Motors (Shaghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile), Volkswagen (Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive) and Ssang Yong Motor Company. On the downside, the emphasis on the new Rover-based Roewe 750 sedan may not pan out. Shanghai says it sold a little over 1000 750s per month in its first four months of production. 

The next time you're fumbling around for coins to feed the meter so you can run into Starbucks for a venti half-caff triple mocha soy latte with a shot, thank Carl Magee. In 1932, he invented the parking meter as a solution to parking problems in downtown Oklahoma City. As recounted in the Wall Street Journal, his invention was met with ridicule, indignation and lawsuits. For a while, it looked like the courts would side with the public. But greed civic responsibility eventually prevailed, and the "combination of an alarm clock and a slot machine which is being used for further socking the motorist" became commonplace. But it wasn't just motorist swho had to pay. In 1936, San Antonio city officials forced farmers to park their horse-drawn wagons at what became a coin-op hitching post.

GuideOne Insurance, a leading insurer to American churches, is now offering special coverage to supplicants. According to Insurance Journal, their FaithGuard insurance policy has specific benefits if you're involved in an accident while going directly to or from a worship service or scheduled religious activity. In that case, they waive the deductible, double medical coverage for non-family members, and cover your loan payments up to $3K. To give churches some incentive to promote the policy, it also covers tithing or church donations up to $750 should the wayward motorist lose income due to a covered accident. GuideOne also offers fire insurance, but we won't get into the theological implications of that policy.

Four states ban drivers from making cell phone calls whilst underway (California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York). Sixteen states ban beginning drivers from phoning from cars. In May 1999, the Oklahoma legislature rejected a bill mandating a blanket ban. The Journal Record reports state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft is shifting focus, proposing a mandatory fine of $1,000 and 20 days in jail for using a cell phone if it's determined to be a factor in an accident. Previously, Wesselhoft tried (and failed) to get OK to restrict drivers to hands-free devices. "I would much rather be on the preventative side of the issue. Unfortunately, we [now] have to punish them." Wesselhoft cited a NHTSA study revealing that drivers looked at the road less than 40 percent of the time while dialing a cell phone. He also pointed to statistics from the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office citing cell phones as a contributing factor in 802 accidents in 2006. Why can't we all just hang up and drive?

Sixty years ago this week, a Dutch Volkswagen importer saw a strange vehicle built by workers to move heavy body panels around the VW factory. From these humble beginnings sprang the VW Kombi, AKA the VW Van, Bulli, Camper, and Minibus. Arguably the first true minivan, the Kombi sired a line of work trucks (including crew cab pickup variations), passenger vans, campers and became the official vehicle of the Deadhead.  VW is planning a three-day celebration this October 5-7 in Hanover to mark the 60th Anniversary. Gizmag quotes Stephan Schaller, spokesman for Brand Management, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: "Scarcely any other vehicle evokes as many emotions as the VW Bulli. Back then it stood for new departures, economic success, independence as well as fun and travel. It is pleasant, reliable and a real cult vehicle. We want to establish the unrivalled legacy of our brand with the international VW Camper event and hope to revive the Bulli brand in the future." No word yet on whether Paul Neidermeyer will make the pilgrimage.

There comes a time in many a life when an individual must prove to the world they are no longer the student, they have become the master. The transition usually arrives on the field of battle, whether it’s a real battlefield, competitive sports, academia, entertainment or business. In the case of Toyota, their moment of ascension arrived when their products outsold General Motors’ in the first quarter of 2007. Toyota bested The General by a score of 2,348,000 to 2,260,000. Toyota is the new numero uno. But it still has much to learn, if it is to avoid following its old, corpulent mentor's footsteps off the high tower of greatness.

Who woild have guessed the spoils of war had a nasty aftertaste? While Lord Dalhouise had the honor (honour?) of claiming India's legendary Kohinoor Diamond for the Queen in 1851, the Era of Globalization threatens to take UK's automotive crown jewel as reparations. India's Tata Motors currently has "absolutely no comments to make" about the prospect of bidding for Jaguar, but the estimated bid of 1.5 billion dollars for both the mighty Jaguar/Land Rover has the Times of India thinking otherwise.  Its just a matter of time before this becomes a Bollywood love story.

Caterpillar's retired United Auto Workers (UAW) members are suing the company for cuts in health coverage their union approved. In return, Caterpillar is suing the UAW to make them pay– should their members win their lawsuit. As quoted in Forbes, Caterpillar spokesman Rusty Dunn asks, "How can the union sponsor lawsuits that fight the very terms that the union proposed, negotiated and ratified during collective bargaining?" Caterpillar also alleges the UAW encouraged their retirees to file the suits. The UAW has declined to comment on Caterpillar's actions. You can bet the automakers will be keeping an eye on how this progresses as they attempt to make similar changes in the health care coverage they provide for their thousands of retirees.

"It's deeply disappointing that Toyota has joined in the lie-and-threaten game," says Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global-warming program. Speaking to Automotive News [AN, sub], Mr. Becker is referring to Toyota's decision to join The Big 2.8 in lobbying Washington to throttle back on plans for higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The effort is sure to tarnish the transplant's green credentials and stoke the fires of domestic partisans, but it makes perfect sense. As AN points out, Toyota's combined car-truck fleet peaked at 26 mpg in 1983, and ToMoCo is enjoying full-size profits generated by its full-size SUV's and pickups. The real story here is Toyota's 'tude towards the Detroit. Apparently, they want to compete "relentlessly, but not ruthlessly." "We don't want to see our competitors in any worse financial shape," claims Josephine Cooper, Toyota's group vice president for government and industry affairs. Methinks they will. 

Ford's Twin Cities production plant in Highland Park, Minnesota– one of three that build the Ford Ranger pickup– is slated for closure in 2008. FoMoCo's been looking to sell the 138-acre parcel to local property developers. The site, which still has tunnels where the company mined sandstone to make glass windshields, occupies one of St. Paul's nicer neighborhoods. Only The Minneapolis St.Paul Star Tribune reports that the site is awash with toxins: waste oil and solvents, paint sludges, batteries, gasoline and diesel. There are over 40 identified "hot spots" and the groundwater ain't too healthy neither. Stefanie Denby, communications and marketing director for Ford Land, promised a thorough clean-up: "We take our environmental responsibility very seriously." Given the enormous cost and effort required to "remediate" large, heavily polluted sites, the company's seriousness could push the land deal from the profit to the liability side of Ford's ledger. 

Just as anything Apple now gets an "i" prefix and any traditional industry moving its products or services online feels compelled to stick an "e" in front of it (e.g. eLoan), anything hydrogen-related gets a "hy" five. I'm speaking here of HyHauler™ and HyHauler Plus™. The first is Quantum Technologies' portable hydrogen filling station, while the second is a mobile filling station PLUS an on-board hydrogen generator! Now how much would you pay? Just-Auto reports that GM has purchased three hytankers at an undisclosed price. The rolling Hindenbergs filling stations will support GM's hydrogen fuel cell-powered hyhypemobiles at "various locations from vehicle proving grounds and public ride-and-drive events to fleet demonstrations." Quantum's website is strangely silent about cost, safety and the energy needed to create and pump the hydrogen into zero emissions vehicles.

How does 0 – 60 in less than a second, and 156 mph in the quarter mile sound? Like… a loud whir. MSNBC reports Scott Dube's lithium-ion powered KillaCycle is breaking local records at drag strips and hopes to challenge the world record for bikes powered by nitromethane. That's not too bad for "a giant cordless drill with wheels." In the four-wheeled world, Dick Brown's White Zombie started life as a 1972 Datsun 1200. The undead automobile is now the world's quickest-accelerating street-legal electric car, covering the quarter mile in 11.46 seconds (the Corvette Z06 needs 11.8 seconds to cover the same distance). In terms of consumer aplications, the Zombie's quarter-mile driving range could be something of an issue.

Pundits who've called on Cadillac to return to its roots as purveyor of the world's finest full-size luxury sedans can now officially abandon all hope. Automotive News [sub] reports that Cadillac is trading its luxobarge image for the small, sporty, European thing. GM is killing the full-size STS, DTS (nee Deville) and SRX. In their stead, Caddy will develop a new, high performance BMW 5-Series competitor and roll-out a CTS wagon and coupe. Cadillac will also introduce two new models into the U.S.: a small, entry-level sedan, similar to (if not the same as) the Euro-spec BLS, and the BRX, an as-yet-undeveloped V6-powered cute-ute. Question: who's driving these nails into the brand's coffin? Both Mark LaNeve, GM's top marketing maven and former Cadillac brand manager, and Jim Taylor, Caddy's current jefe, have specifically decried downsizing the brand's products and moving it downmarket. Is this the work of The General's beancounter General Rick Wagoner? Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz? Anyway, that's it for our Cadillac dreams. We're done.

I test drove Nissan’s 2008 Altima Coupe 2.5 S on a sunny summer morning in Denton. Keen to clock the whip’s curb appeal, I stunted and flossed around the University of North Texas campus, stopping to pose (the car) in front of the school’s giant beetle larva-inspired fine arts auditorium. Blurry-eyed students of the Fast and the Furious generation yawned as they made their way to classes. And yet the Altima Coupe’s flying off dealer lots. Does that mean this car’s sex appeal is designed for people who like to wear sensible shoes? Uh-huh.