Everyone knows that when you travel to say, China, and someone offers you an amazing deal on a Swiss watch, you might not be getting the genuine article. Buy a discount Ferrari in Italy though, and you can safely assume you are getting the real deal, right? Wrong. The International Herald Tribune reports that Italy's financial police (?) have broken a ring of Ferrari counterfeiters who had built 14 fake 360 Modenas using, get this, "mostly Pontiacs as their base, but also Mercedes and Toyota." While visions of the notorious "Fiero-rrari" body kits are probably racing through your head, these fakes actually were fairly well done (if equally targeted at the chest-rug sporting crowd). Authorities say that seven of the faux-rraris were sold to people who knew the cars were fake, and simply wanted to impress the neighbors. Said neighbors were sadly unavailable for comment as to the full glory of a late-model Ferrari with the exhaust note of 20-year old Pontiac V6.

All things must come to an end. The United States Air Force (my current employer) is replacing the Nissan Urvans we use for fun in the sand passenger transport. Apparently, not enough of today's troops know how to drive a manual; stick-ignorant airmen were tearing up the Urvan's transmissions. There were also reports that those who could handle the third pedal found them a bit too much fun and were engaging in unauthorized (is there any other kind?) hooliganism (not that I would have any first-hand experience in such activities), leading to a few, uh, "mishaps." The Hyundai Trajet has been deemed a cheaper, safer bet, as their V6 motors, front wheel drive and automatic transmissions are more in tune with "American tastes." Above all, it's a bit of a disappointment.

Much to the sorrow of Jeremy Clarkson, the English automobile manufacturing industry is limited to small firms producing limited volume, home grown sports cars. Firms like Caterham, Noble, Morgan (wood you in a car?), Ariel and [the Emperor's new] Bristol. Caterham continues to make the 40-year-old 7 roadster– a great summer Sunday car (for the South of France). And Ariel Atom roadster is a kick in the proverbial pants. Which just became a big ass boot. Both Caterham and Atom are now offering their maniacal machines with a eight cylinder engine: a 2.4-liter V8, supercharging its way to a staggering 500 horsepower, breaching the mythical 1000 bhp/ton ratio. (Caterham plans to offer a naturally-aspirated 380 horsepower model, and it's a safe bet Ariel would do the same if you asked nicely and paid them generously.) Caterham's claims the front-engined RS V8 will teleport customers to sixty in under three seconds. That'll do pig, that'll do.

Thought I'd put the dimenstion in the header, in case you thought Maserati was green lighting this sexiest of all wagons (and yes I know the Sultan of Brunei has some bizarre examples of the breed). No, it's not the work of TTAC's house photochopper; the Five Door Maser comes to you via Italian coachbuilders Studio Torino and Studio M. Classic Driver reports that an "unnamed Middle Eastern businessman" commissioned designer Alfredo Stolas to build this beast, but I bet the 1/4 scale mock-up is just a come-on to lure a customer (especially as the article ends with a full press release flourish). Anyway, color me lured. And I love this description of the origin of the quaint term shooting brake: "The tradition of the bespoke shooting brake originated in the early years of the 20th Century, when wealthy British hunters wanted to enjoy travelling in a sporting vehicle while pursuing their game. British and Italian coachbuilders in particular have, over the decades, been asked to adapt coupés, saloons or even sportscars to accommodate the needs of the hunter in a stylish, elegant fashion." Talk about a killer station wagon…

GM's Australian holding Holden is launching the fastest, most powerful, most expensive road car ever made in Australia at today's Melbourne International Motor Show. The HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) Commodore is based on the company's rear-wheel-drive Commodore platform (headed to the states in Pontiac G8 form). Hand-assembled at the Holden Team Racing headquarters, the new HSV Commodore boasts the Corvette Z06's 7.0-liter, dry-sump V8. With over 500 horses on tap, the Aussie supersedan has more horsepower than any of GM's stateside four-door offerings… at least until the '09 CTS-V arrives with 550 supercharged ponies. But is a $150k, premium-slurping V8 monster going to sell in the land of Mad Max with oil likely over $100/barrel for good? Unsurprisingly, HSV boss Scott Grant reckons so. More surprising is the rationale he gave the Sydney Morning Herald: "Holden and HSV have had record sales of V8s over the past 12 months and we believe there is definitely a market for this car." Whether there's a non-fleet market for V8's in Australia now, or after a few more years of rising gas prices, remains to be seen.

While not making draconian cuts like The Big 2.8, BMW is reducing their work force to lower their overheads. The Detroit Free Press reports that the Bavarian automaker is cutting an additional 5.6k jobs this year. That's in addition to the 2.5k positions they've already eliminated. By the time they're through showing workers the door, Bimmer will have trimmed 7.5 percent of their worldwide workforce. The move comes in response to Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer's commitment to increase the company's "rate of return" (which made the exec queasy and left the money men a lot less than impressed). Ernst Baumann, BMW's head of personnel, said the job reductions will end-up costing in the "three-digit million" euro range for severance pay, benefits and other expenses. He also warned that if the dollar continues to fall, more employees would get the old heave-ho.

Having failed to go it alone, small electric vehicle (EV) companies are finally realizing that they need large, experienced partners to help with supply chains, mass production and distribution. Th!nk Global (previously and more accurately known as Th!nk Nordic) builds and sells tiny EVs in Norway. At the Cleantech Forum in San Fran, Chairman Jan-Olaf Willums dropped hints that Th!nk will join with a large automaker to build a larger EV, and extend their marketing to Europe and the US. Ford Motors is a possible partner. Ford bought Th!nk in 1999, developing much of Th!nk's practical technology, but sold out in 2003. As reported by greentechmedia.com , Willums appears realistic about Th!nk's potential. Asked by an interested Cleantech attendee if the Th!nk could be driven from Arizona to California, Willums admitted, "I think you are typically a noncustomer for us."

A survey by organizers of the British International Motor Show shows that Britons are more likely to remember their first car better than their first kiss. In fact, the survey shows that over 40% of the study group remembers the license plate number of their first car. The poll of 2,011 adults also shows that younger respondents anticipated getting their first car more than first kisses and 18th birthdays. Why the strong attraction to first cars? More than a third of respondents reported engaging in carnal acts in the back seat of their first car, and over half left home after securing their first set of wheels. "People develop powerful bonds with their cars, especially their first," says show organizer Kirsty Perkinson. "First cars represent an explosion of independence and a gateway to untold adventures, which is why they are so special." No word yet on whether carbon-hating London Mayor Ken Livingstone plans on challenging the results of this survey.

Thomson Financial News [via CNN Money] reports that GM will announce a joint venture with the GAZ Group of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element company. The team plan to build the Chevrolet Lacetti (Suzuki Forenza/Reno) at a factory based in Deripaska's home oblast of Nizhny Novgorod. The plant will initially produce 50k of the Daewoo-designed vehicles per year, increasing to a planned to 300k units p/a. Basic Element, will invest a billion dollars in the project. This is not Deripaska's first flirtation with the American car industry. Last May, he bought a $1.5b stake in Magna International, a move which allowed the Canadian company to tender an ultimately unsuccessful bid for Chrysler. Despite his new joint venture with GM and a crucial stake in Chrysler's supply line, Russia's youngest and richest billionaire in Russia isn't allowed to visit the United States due to "suspected links to the criminal community" Given this inconvenience, Mr. Deripaska will likely look once more to Magna to act on his behalf when American automakers start holding holding pre-bankruptcy fire sales.

Autocar reports that a new poll financed by Porsche suggests that 74 percent of Londoners think London's new, higher (for some) CO2-based charge is "unfair." Having released complete polling data from that study, Porsche is challenging Livingstone to produce similarly comprehensive data from the Ipsos-MORI poll which the left-wing mayor claims to show support for the environmental measure. The incompleteness of available data from the Ipsos-MORI poll has prompted Porsche to file a complaint with the British Polling Council for failing to uphold public transparency standards. Porsche clearly smells blood in the water; Livingstone has staked his re-election campaign on environmental issues. With a May first election looming, and two opponents who oppose the fee, Livingstone is retaking the offensive by attacking Porsche at a recent press conference. "(Porsche) should be redoubling efforts to produce less- polluting cars,'' said Livingstone. "I can imagine how annoyed Berliners would be if a British company tried to intervene in a mayoral election.'' Meanwhile, Livingstone has still not released his polls data, showing that whatever his purported allegiance to the environment, his populism does not prevent him from hiding information when his political survival is at stake.

Holy emerging markets! According to Japan's Nikkei business daily [via Reuters], Toyota's luxury division is boosting production by 35 percent to cater to strong demand in Russia, China and other nascent automotive markets. No question: the brand's on a roll. Last year, ToMoCo sold 518,300 Lexi, a nine percent gain over 2006 totals. Lexus now accounts for roughly six percent of Toyota's total sales. As we reported previously, Toyota plans to expand production generally by 8.4 percent– despite the U.S. downturn and any ripple effect it may have on the global economy. According to Nikkei, that's just a start (continuation?). "Toyota has set an internal goal of producing 11.3 million vehicles globally in 2012, excluding its units Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd. That would represent a rise of more than 30 percent from 2007." Toyota denied the report. 

Check out the ad for the new Citroen C5 above. I shall translate. "We at Citroen have a sense of humor (you see, we're not REALLY German). We are taking this new car seriously, so we are spending millions on a gorgeous campaign by ad agency EuroRSCG. This is a car for anal-retentives and it won't be unreliable. BMW has won the [carmaking] war, so all we can do is parrot/parody them. We'll do anything to promote the car, including negating what's left of Citroen's brand values (which were: hydropneumatic suspension, quirky styling, value-for-money, French esprit)." Like you, I'm amused and confused. "Vorsprung Durch Gobbledygook" or "Fahrvergnuckgnuck." Those were (kinda) OK, because they said: "We are German, but we no longer invade other countries, we just build good cars". In other words, those compaigns transported a coherent message about branding and national identity. This Citroen ad? Not so much.

It's like Maserati read our minds. We, meaning pistonhead with a pulse, love the way Maser's new DuoPorte looks. Long, lean, sharkish, rakish, classic, chiseled, sexy, hot and on and on we could go. But with "only" 405 horses pumping-out of its detuned (and carried over) Ferrari heart, the GranTurismo was a case of more show than go. (That's less mojo than a Corvette, don't you know.) Basta! No more. Fiat's sports car group has crammed its 4.7-liter V8 under the Maser's hood, boosting power up to a highly respectable 440 hp. We like that. The transmission has also been re-jigged for faster shifts and the brakes are dual-cast (steel and aluminum) Brembos squeezed by six-piston calipers. Subtle exterior and interior tweaks abound (like Poltrona Frau leather). About time too.

Nearly half of all U.S. military deaths in Iraq are caused by roadside bombs, the cobbled-together explosives known by the now-household acronym IED (Improvised Explosive Device). These homemade killers are powerful enough to launch an up-armored Humvee in the air, penetrate it and split it in half. Which is why the military is hustling to get a new generation of MRAPs– that's Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles– to Iraq. The New York Times reports that 2,500 MRAPs have already been deployed; 5500 are due in theater by June. The MRAPs range in size from the four-wheeled, 40k pound "Category 1" MaxxPro, to the six-wheeled Buffalo, which sports a mine-clearing robotic arm and a 12-liter diesel International straight six (yeah, that's two liters per cylinder). With mine-resistant undercarriages, AK47 repellent windows, city bus-inspired shock absorbing driver compartments, and Corbeau four-point racing harnesses, MRAP's are considered to be 300 percent safer in an IED blast than an up-armored Hummer. Which leaves only one question: how long before one of these bad boys ends up in a rap video?

Leave it to the Brits to take traffic surveillance to the next level. Worried that drivers may be getting away with violating the car share lane (carpool lane to us Yanks), Leeds is testing a new camera system that actually detects the blood and water content of human skin to determine how many occupants are in the vehicle. BBC reports the system, developed by researchers at Loughborough University, uses two wavelengths of infrared (IR) light and special algorithms to distinguish faces and count heads. If it finds more than one, it lets the car pass. If it detects only one occupant, it takes a photo of the license plate and records date, time and speed. Developers say it's accurate 90 percent of the time– and isn't fooled by large dogs, dummies or cosmetics. They didn't say if the system could be disabled by transmitting an IR signal back at it or if heat reflections from different color cars would affect its accuracy. Or what happens when there's a small child in a carrier in the back seat that may not be in the camera's line of vision. There seems to be several questions they need to address before they start using the system to prosecute solo drivers. But where there's dosh, there's development.