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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.

Jaguar XKR – the best drifting car

The Jaguar XKR drifting at the hands of Jeremy Clarkson - who was wearing flippers! In a bit of Christmas DVD daftness (a Jeremy Clarkson speciality) Clarkson and the Stig are out playing at ‘Splat the Apple’ on the track at Monteblanco. But there’s a catch.

2012 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying: Vettel takes pole

Sebastian Vettel has taken Red Bull’s second pole position in a row with a stunning qualifying at the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix. Red Bull may have seemed a bit out of sorts so far in the 2012 F1 season, but Vettel’s pole at the Canadian Grand Prix on top of Mark Webber’s win at Monaco last time out may be an ominous sign for the rest of the grid. Vettel took his Red Bull round Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve a full three tenths of a second ahead of second place Lewis Hamilton and moves Vettel up to fifth place in the all-time pole listings alongside Nigel Mansell – and his career still has a long way to go to overhaul Schumacher, Senna, Clark and Prost.