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Porsche to take majority stake in VW for £7bn

By Ben Whitworth Motor Industry 07 March 2008 11:26 Porsche is about to become the majority shareholder in Volkswagen. The sportscar maker has been given the green light to purchase further stock in VW, taking its share past the 50 percent mark to give it a controlling interest. As soon as various legal checks have been cleared, Porsche plans to purchase a further 20 percent of VW stock – it already owns 31 percent - at an estimated cost of around £7 billion.

Driven: Lexus IS-F

The Lexus IS-F is a significant new design for one core reason: it introduces a performance sub-brand parallel to that of the M-cars from BMW, AMG from Mercedes-Benz, and the S and RS sub-brands from Audi. This then is Lexus making a logical next step to further encroach on the established German premium brands. BMW originated the premium brands' performance sub-brand with the 'M for Motorsport' M3 of 1986 (the M1 supercar of 1978 preceded that, but was a singular model, not a performance derivative).

Kia announces upcoming concept

Kia will unveil an, as yet, unnamed concept car at the Geneva motor show this March. The concept, which the carmaker calls ‘provocative and racy', features a new take on Kia's signature tiger nose aesthetic that integrates the headlamps into the grille design in a narrow, full-width strip. The lamps themselves seem to be contructed of a pixelted, mesh-like light source.