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Fuel protests halt Spanish car production

By Dimitri Pesin Motoring Issues 16 June 2008 10:25 Fuel protests in Europe triggered by the soaring cost of fuel have drastically reduced car production in Spain this month.  Last week's truck blockades and fuel depot pickets in Madrid caused car plants around the country to cut production. Seat, Citroen Peugeot, Ford, Nissan, Renault and Mercedes-Benz all have factories in Spain and most said they were affected.Seat production slashed by 40 percentSeat said its main Martorell plant was operating at 40 percent capacity, with production of the Leon and Altea models severely affected. However, the protests won’t delay sales of the new Ibiza, a spokesman promised, and assembly of cars in the factory is expected to return to normal this week.

One Lap of the Web: new imports, old imports

-- The 1956 Maserati A6G-2000 Allemano is as beautiful as it is rare, and if Jay Leno didn't take one for a spin in this video, we probably wouldn't see one until next year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. -- Simon Cowell (of Simon Cowell fame) bought a Bugatti Veyron three years ago because a friend told him its a good idea, and he's driven it a total of two times since. Not driven it at its maximum speed, but just driven period.

Nissan updates GT-R for Europe

Now that the initial excitement over the GT-R has died down, Nissan has launched a round of improvements aimed at improving its reliability, comfort and yes, even its ability to plaster a smile across your face. Apparently so. Changes to spring and damper rates improve the pretty woeful ride comfort but also the handling, says Nissan, thanks to more accurate control of suspension movements.