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News watch July 2012: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Tuesday 31 July 2012•Porsche SE recorded a first half profit of €1.15bn, in comparison with €149m for the same period in 2011. The enormous jump has come not from directly selling cars, but from the group's investments in Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH and Volkswagen AG (Porsche SE)•Reuters suggests Germany's car market is in recession, but few outside the industry would know it, thanks to a controversial sales practice that inflates official statistics and paints a flattering picture of demand.

VW Golf GTD (2009) first pictures

By Chris Chilton First Official Pictures 27 March 2009 12:30 Volkswagen UK hasn’t even delivered its first new Golf GTi but is already showing us this: the GTD, its diesel alter ego. Powered by a 168bhp version of VW’s ubiquitous common rail 2.0-litre turbodiesel four it sprints to 62mph in just 8.1sec compared with 7.1sec for the 207bhp petrol GTi and its 136mph top speed falls 12mph short. But with 256lb ft of torque (the GTi makes do with 207lb ft) on hand, the diesel should have the upper hand in mid-range performance.

Amazing muscle car and rare supercars go to auction

The forthcoming RKM Collector Car Auction at the Charlotte Convention Centre, USA features - as you'd expect - a wealth of American muscle cars. But sift through the catalogue and you'll discover some very interesting lots from Europe and Japan, too. We couldn't help but take a closer look, starting with a McLaren F1 car, formerly driven by James Hunt...