First the New Beetle. Then the new MINI. Now the new Trabant. Yep, you read that right. Reuters reports that the plastic-bodied, smoke-spewing, two-stroke, two-cylinder rolling testimonial to everything that was wrong with communist East Germany is ready to stage a comeback. Or at least, that's what Herpa, a Bavarian company that manufactures miniature vehicles, is hoping. The company bought the rights to the name with visions of building an updated version of the car with a modern powertrain– possibly even a version with a BMW engine(!). They're planning an initial run of 5k Trabis, once they find someone to build them. The only question we have is… why? Perhaps one of our German readers can enlighten us.

Want a "full day of upper class experience onboard a Maybach 62S with a designated chauffeur" at your beck and call? Just be one of the first 62 walk-in customers at the new Mercedes dealership at the Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Oh wait, you're too late. AME Info reports a local franchisee opened a 25,295 sq. ft. dealership at the mall on Sunday. It features everything that Mercedes makes, including the full AMG, Maybach and McLaren lineups. The mall also includes displays of Mercedes models in a "circle of elite boutiques" and "showcased around the main entrance and coffee shop area." Placing the dealership at "the busiest mall in Abu Dhabi" brings "Mercedes-Benz into the heart of retail in Abu Dhabi." Geez… and we get all excited when a new Starbucks opens at the mall!

This Sunday's Times carried a report from "The People's Republic of Richmond" describing the effects of the London Borough's anti-car jihad, which includes proposals to charge residential parking permit fees according to a vehicle's CO2 emissions. The article paints a vivid picture of a city under siege by its own government. "Across the road, carpet retailer Martin Herdman has erected 1,000-watt speakers outside his shop that emit an air-raid siren blast whenever parking wardens are spotted in the vicinity — usually four or five times a day. An underground network of fellow retailers and residents phone in alerts, and children on bikes cycle ahead of the wardens to give warning." The rest of the piece offers the usual examination of government hypocrisy (300 parking spaces for city council staff) and greed. The most telling quote comes from a sports car-loving immigrant. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful," Zoran Jokic told the Times. "But now I live in a borough that takes away another little freedom every day. In this country we are cramped by people and cramped by legislation. It irritates me considerably, but at least in this society I still have the freedom to speak out and raise my concerns.”

Even though GM Daewoo Auto & Technology (GMDAT) builds a variety of cars to sell around the world under a number of nameplates, they only sell four models on the home market. Rivals Hyundai and Kia offer five times that many models, including luxury cars. Fearing a further drop in overseas sales, the union wants GMDAT to broaden their line to boost domestic sales. Yahoo! Singapore says the union has a solution: revamp the design of "discontinued Cadillac models" and sell them in South Korea to produce "explosive sales." The union bosses didn't suggest what models they want to drive build there. But just think– this could mean the rebirth of the Cimarron or the Catera. OK, they're talking about the DTS and STS, but I mean, c'mon, really.

Of course, that's not the way the left-leaning Guardian newspaper's spinning news that their country's populace relies on cars for 80 percent of their journeys. (That's four fifths of all movements hither and yon.) As far as the papers' editors are concerned (and rest assured they are), the UK Department for Transport's annual national travel survey is bad news. Hence the second paragraphs' statement that a quarter of all UK car trips were less than two miles. And this back asswards analysis: "The proportion of households in Britain without access to a motor vehicle fell to 25% last year, from 30% 10 years previously – the lowest figure ever." Consumer affairs correspondent Rebecca Smithers trots-out the Paul Watters of the AA (Automobile Association) to finish her report with the appropriate chastisement: "UK citizens know the transport system lags behind those in Europe. The UK's congested network would do better with a dose of European medicine, showing how to run a truly joined-up transport system."

Venture supplies Ford of Australia with bumper bars, dashboard consoles, interior panels and door trims. Faced with Ford's production slowdown, Venture execs decided to trim 40 percent of its 500-person workforce. Its union said beauty mate, just pay us the AUS$25.5m in entitlements you owe us. News.com.au says Venture promised to meet its obligations. But the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union wasn't buying it and called a strike. Normally, FoMoCo Down Under uses Venture's bits and pieces to build 359 vehicles per day. Since last Thursday, nothing. Yesterday, Ford asked Australia's Industrial Relations Commission to force Venture employees back to work pending independent adjudication. No decision has been made; the strike continues. Ford production remains suspended at the cost of millions of dollars per day.

The trend toward class-action law suits against auto companies isn't just an American phenomenon. The Straits Times reports that major Japanese automakers and the Tokyo city government have settled a lawsuit filed by asthma patients 11 years ago over the city's air pollution. More than 520 Tokyo residents claimed that diesel fumes caused their asthma (before authorities imposed strict standards in 2003). The settlement specifies $29m to set up a five-year health plan and a one-time $10.9m payment to the plaintiffs (and their lawyers). Plaintiff Hiroko Ozawa was not satisfied with the pay-out. "The benefits will only be given to asthma patients, not to those suffering chronic bronchitis and other lung problems."

Germany's AutoZeitung (via MotorAuthority) reports that Porsche is planning to create a hatchback about the size of a VW Golf. The brand defiling line extension new model is designed to help the luxury sports car maker meet Europe's proposed, tighter CO2 emission standards. Projected for introduction after the 2009 launch of the four-door Panamera, Porsche's relatively down market parts-bin special would have a front-mounted 295hp boxer engine (from the Boxster) driving all four wheels. Porsche hasn't released any official sketches yet, but we can only pray it won't look like a 5/8 scale Cayenne. Still, with the new model's engine mass in front of the wheels, handling could be interesting– kind of like driving a 911 in reverse.

The Herald Sun reports that coppers down under have developed a "smart" cop car. The Australian National Safety Agency, Victoria Police, Motorola, GM's Holden division and Monash University have created a prototype cruiser by combining a Batcave of crime-fighting equipment: facial and number plate recognition, infra-red scanners, front/rear cameras, an integrated on-board computer and a device "that attaches a sticky GPS transponder to a car being pursued." If civilians don't get out of the way during pursuit, RoboCopCar broadcasts a "direct local radio message warning of an approaching emergency vehicle." LAPD is working with Aussie coppers on the prototype; they're not saying if American modifications will include a coffee maker and donut dispenser.

For the sixth consecutive year, Lexus will hang out its shingle at the National Police Fleet Managers Association Conference in Swindon, UK. According to Easier Motoring, the brand will be "demonstrating the qualities that make Lexus models ideal for police work." ToMoCo's hybrid models, known for their low operating costs and reliability, are already popular with UK law enforcement fleet managers. Meanwhile, the McCook (IL) police department's approaching its patrol car needs from a more "traditional" perspective. Suburban Life reports they've just taken delivery of two Hemified Dodge Chargers. The Chief's making no bones about his carbon-oblivious reasoning: "The new cars are painted metallic black with white graphics that are slightly slanted. McCook Police Chief Frank Wolfe hopes that these graphics give the effect that the cars are moving very quickly, and that they cannot be outrun… 'With the new cars, people will notice us, and hopefully, in most cases that will stop them from committing a crime.'" Old School. 

Well, it starts off predictably enough. The Scotsman links really expensive, really fast exotic cars and the death and destruction they wreak when it all goes "pear-shaped." We get the big numbers (a crash involving an £830k Bugatti Veyron), a celebrity connection (former world boxing champion Naseem Hamed's head-on collision in his paltry £320k McLaren Mercedes), a call from a responsible organization for graduated licenses for supercar operation (The IAM Motoring Trust) and then… ""These are ridiculous cars for wannabe jet pilots rather than people who need to get safely from A to B," declares Jenny Jones, The Mayor of London's road safety ambassador. "Some who buy these vehicles are clearly in need of either an advanced driving course or therapy." Either or? Anyway, call us irredeemable exotic car junkies, but that doesn't sound particularly ambassadorial to us. 

Helmut Becker is the former chief economist for BMW and author of "High Noon in the Automotive Industry." Normally, the German uber-beancounter cloaks his intellect in some of the most stolid prose ever offered outside of a text book (e.g. "The endogenous growth of the US automobile market… will remain predetermined exogenously by the macroeconomic / overall general economic conditions"). Speaking to Stern magazine, summarized for us by the just-auto [sub] editorial team, Becker was uncharacteristically brief about German automakers' immediate prospects: "The German manufacturers have gone for faster, heavier and more expensive. We are satisfied with high-end niches and think that we have beaten off all the competition with them." Becker believes the Germans automakers have driven down an evolutionary dead end, as the world turns to cheap, fuel efficient cars. And this they did because of hubris. "There are so many egomaniacs in the German automotive industry, who would sooner put pseudo race cars onto the road than take a leading role in developing new environmentally-friendly technologies." 

The question comes from Zimbabwe's Deputy Information minister, Bright Matonga, who wants to know if critics of President Robert Mugabe want the president to travel in a pick-up truck. Matonga was defending his president's modified Mercedes S-Class limousines to AllAfrica.com. According to the news report, Mugabe rides in an up-armored stretch S that cost $1.4m. The President also decreed that his 30 ministers should attend to their duties in a fleet of S350s, replacing their E230s, which they could buy from the government for ZIM $5m ($19,595). Spinmeister Matonga refused to discuss the details: "This is a security issue and we don't discuss security issues with anybody. If government decides to buy vehicles for the president or cabinet ministers it is justified because we're a very responsible government."

Toyota's enjoying record financial prosperity; year-on-year, the world's largest automobile manufucturer's Q2 operating profits rose 31.8 percent (675.43 billion yen vs. 512.42 billion yen). The lion's share of Toyota's success stems from strong U.S. sales of high margin models (Tundra and Lexus LS), bolstered by a weak yen. Meanwhile, back at home, bleh. ToMoCo's domestic sales slumped 10 percent, dropping 43k vehicles compared to last year. Speaking to the Japan Times, Yoshihiro Okumura, from Tokyo's Chiba-gin Asset Management Co. says the downturn reflects a shrinking domestic pie. "It's becoming more difficult to make a large profit in Japan, as the market is shrinking and people aren't buying cars." In an attempt to spur sales, Toyota has unleashed  11 new or redesigned cars in the past 16 months. 

The Chinese auto market is booming. Thirty-four new models entered the PRC fray in the first half of this year. Unfortunately, "booming market" doesn't necessarily equate to high sales. Gasgoo.com makes the point with their list of the ten worst-selling cars in China. There are a few familiar names on there: Acura TL, Mitsubishi Galant, Kia Rio, Hyundai Sonata and Toyota Prius. The list also includes the car that Buick fanboys have lusted after, the Holden-based Park Avenue. It'll be interesting to see how long they keep these models on the market in China, or if they'll try to export them to maintain production in the face of low sales.