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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.

Peugeot 308 RC Z and hybrids

By Tim Pollard Motor Shows 13 September 2007 02:36 Peugeot 308 RCZ: the lowdown The Peugeot stand at Frankfurt was a timely reminder just how much the market has fragmented these days. It was packed with 27 cars in rambling hall 8 – five of which were new concept cars, albeit mostly versions of existing production cars. But there was little doubt which was most eye-catching: the 308 coupe concept was an elegant reminder that French design shouldn’t be written off quite yet.

New Lotus Elan revealed

The new Lotus Elan I know, you’re starting to get bored and wondering how on earth Lotus can suddenly churn out a range of models that are seemingly poles apart from where they are, and expect it to be credible. But they’be done it. And they’re serious.