Cogged Belts on 2040-parts.com

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.

Lexus LF-A still on the cards

With the car world in turmoil, and buyers running scared of high performance cars, most of the car makers around the world are shelving their high-end projects until things settle down. Honda has announced that it has put its NSX replacement on ice (although it is apparently still going to show it at Detroit) and other manufacturers are concentrating on their frugal products. But Toyota is taking a different tack.

New Hyundai i30: Look in to my eyes

Hyundai use hypnosis to sell the new i30 Hyundai in the Netherlands are using hypnotist Peter Powers to experiment with hypnosis to raise awareness for the new Hyundai i30. We’ve been big fans of the way Hyundai has marketed their products in the last few years, managing to change perceptions of the brand in a fraction of the time mighty VW took with Skoda. What we’re not too sure of is the latest marketing tactic being tried out by Hyundai in the Netherlands, who have enlisted the skills of hypnotist Peter Powers to create a 15 minute immersive video designed to be watched full screen on your computer – with headphones on – as Powers lets you experience the new Hyundai i30 in a whole new way.