Fears of takeover, foreign or otherwise, figure large in the minds of many European auto execs. These fears ostensibly caused the Porsche-VW shotgun marriage collegial partnership. Schaeffler's "sneak-up" takeover of Continental is fuelling a whole new round of paranoia. Daimler's market value has declined by 45 percent on the year; the weakness has placed the Stuttgart firm in the middle of the takeover mania. Reports emerged saying "a foreign hedge fund is buying a large number of shares in (Daimler)," followed swiftly by more rumors that Swedish hedge fund Cevian Capital was taking a position in the firm. Daimler now says that it has "no indication" that it is under assault. But that confidence is undermined by reports from Automotive News [sub] that Daimler has enlisted Deutsche Bank to watch its back. Deutsche Bank is reportedly helping Daimler find an "anchor investor" who could play white knight should a takeover materialize. Hedge funds, like most predatory creatures, tend to not give a lot of warning in advance of a takeover, so its hard to blame Daimler for freaking out over this one. Especially considering that the prime suspect, Cevian Capital, "does not see itself as a hedge fund but as an investor that pushes for changes in companies." Yikes!
Category: Germany
We've been hearing rumblings for some time that post-Ford Aston Martin has been talking about forming an alliance (The Axis of Axles?) with Mercedes. CAR Magazine claims to have the inside line on details emerging from the negotiations. Unsurprisingly, the cooperation seems to center on getting Mercecdes engines into future Astons, replacing the aged Ford-sourced motors currently on offer. This will supposedly include diesel and hybrid options, as well as AMG's 6.2-liter V8 which may power future Vantage models. alAston could so get Mercedes' eight-speed autobox. And there's even talk of "whole platforms to be shared by top-end models," and cooperation between Aston and Maybach (anyone remember Maybach?). In other words, no matter how hard they try, the British cann't seem to stop their most beloved brands from going German, one way or another. But, as Lieberman suggested the last time this rumor came around, all the identity politics in the world mean nothing if this cooperation makes Astons better, faster and more reliable. And if "whole platforms to be shared by top-end models" means Aston gets to drape the "death on a stick"-sounding AMG SLC in its trademark sex appeal, even Clarkson might forgo ze German jokes.
Volkswagen's newest Golf debuts at the Paris Auto Show in a few months. Ahead of that blessed event, unofficially official images are surfacing around the web. Motor Authority has assembled the "leaked" images for your perusal, but there's not much to see. From the outside, the new Golf retains much of its previous form, with Scirocco-inspired headlights providing the only major contrast with the outgoing model. The Golf's taillights have also been refreshed. Although the whole shape seems lighter and more crisply styled, its bland visage and vacant gaze suggest a lobotomized Mk. V; while the rest of the car suggests… well, a regular Mk. V. If you've been obsessing over the new (Euro market-only) Scirocco for months, you'll probably love the Golf's new looks, and notice subtle similarities between the two. But as the Scirocco won't challenge the GTI for the hearts of American VW fanboys, most shoppers will probably think the Golf just got uglier. Which, until we see it in the steel, we're afraid to say it has.
According to an Automotive News Europe report yesterday, Mercedes is set to have an entirely turbocharged automobile lineup by 2010-2011. You might have noticed that while the "big boys" blogged it immediately, we at TTAC did not. The story, which was originally published in Europe based on a European presentation, was just too many steps removed from Dieter Zetsche to race to press – and a little too wild. Rather than pull an Autoblog on the CTS-V/Europe (rush to report, then recant ), we held off until getting confirmation from the author of the original news story, James Franey. Well it turns out that the madness, in this case, is true – until Mercedes changes its mind. In the meantime, the plan is to go all turbocharged, aside from perhaps the hybrid models set to debut in the coming years. You can see in the attached PDF that Daimler is defecating a brick over the upcoming European emissions regulations and their very European fines for noncompliance. Everything will end up with some kind of marketing-lover name – Bluetec, BlueEfficiency, and DiesOtto. The latter is the most exciting from an enthusiast point of view, with the concept DiesOtto engine delivering 238 hp, 294 lb ft of torque, and 40 US MPG from a 1.8 liter gasoline engine in an S-Class. And from Zetsche's presentation, it looks like it'll be happening. Oh yeah, and everything will get turbos, too.
Motor Trend (MT) is filling-up bandwidth and hyping-up baby boomers with a post on the forthcoming New Beetle Mk II. The bulk of it isn't all that earth-shattering: there will be a new New Beetle. MT reckons it will be based on the next Golf and it should arrive in 2010. There will likely be a hybrid version. Motor Trend says VW should (or could) make the New Beetle a hybrid-only model since "its distinctive style lends it the same kind of instant recognition as the Toyota Prius." Except that the Prius is actually aerodynamic; a far more important feature for efficiency-oriented cars than boomer nostalgiamobiles. But that isn't even MT's wildest bit of speculation. They speculate that VW's forthcoming city car, the up! could be restyled to look like a "Baby Beetle." Hmmm. The VW up! was planned as a rear-engine car, and it will cost enough to place it in the "small-but-premium" category. By giving it a Beetle-inspired shape, VW could use nostalgia to trump the price point. A light, rear-engined baby Beetle would capture more of the original kaeferwagen's appeal than another reskinned Golf. But there's a small problem with the theory. As Mr Berkowitz pointed out, the up! is no la rear-engine, rear-wheel drive car. That doesn't mean a baby Beetle isn't coming. But if it does, it will be just another reskinned FWD VW. Or will it?
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