Porsche Panamera to debut at Shanghai

Porsche Panamera will debut in Shanghai in April It’s a sign of the growing importance of the Chinese market that Porsche has chosen to launch the car officially in China. Even the Chinese car market is suffering at the moment, but the simple fact is that with such a huge population, and a Chinese DNA that seems to predispose them to commerce now they are allowed to ‘Trade’ once again, there will probably be more potential Porsche buyers in China in the next 10 years than in the rest of the world combined. So suck-up now seems a good motto.

SEAT lets the train take the strain

SEAT by Train from the Martorell Factory to the Port of Barcelona The building of this project started in 2005 -  a joint venture between SEAT and Autometro – as an innovative way to transport cars from the factory to the port, and has made a big difference to the traffic on Catalan roads in that time, taking more than 20,000 lorries off the roads and racking up a big saving in SEAT’s carbon footprint. Throughout 2008 the rail link transported cars on twice daily runs on double-decker carriages over 400 metres long, carrying more than 170 cars at a time. Try doing that on the roads!

Official: Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series

The new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series has been revealed ahead of going on sale in the Summer of 2013. The SLS Black Series gets the usual mix for a Mercedes Black Series model – more power and less weight – and uses the same 6.2 litre V8 as the regular SLS but with the wick turned up to 622 horses from the regular, but hardly wanting, 583 thanks to a new air intake, cams, boost tweaks and better cooling. The oily tweaks for more power – and some weight shedding (70kg) – means the SLS Black can get to 62mph in 3.6 seconds – 0.2 seconds quicker than the regular SLS – and top out at 196mph (due to the extra downforce).