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Senate releases $350 billion more in bailout money

The Senate voted Thursday to release a second round of $350 billion in federal aid to rescue financial institutions. The money could be the source of additional loans to automakers, auto finance companies and perhaps suppliers. An earlier allocation of $350 billion funded the first installments of emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler LLC.

Porsche 911 cabriolet: First official photographs

Porsche has developed an innovative fabric and composite-plastic folding roof for the 911 cabriolet as part of a push to give it a cleaner appearance, improved aerodynamic efficiency and greater levels of refinement than its strong-selling predecessor. Pictured here officially for the first time ahead of its world premiere in January at the Detroit auto show, the new open-top 911 is planned to go on sale in North America in 2012 in Carrera cabriolet and Carrera S models. Eschewing the traditional multilayered fabric structure of the 997 series 911 cabriolet, the next model (991 series) adopts a specially developed lightweight roof that uses two fabric-skinned composite plastic panels for the upper and rear part of the structure, giving it a more uniform shape together with a tauter fit that is claimed to make it more resistant than before to buffeting at high speeds.

Fisker about to be bought by Volvo’s Chinese owner Geely?

It’s reported that China’s Geely – which bought Volvo from Ford – is about to take a majority stake in Fisker Automotive. But Fisker has run in to big problems when its battery supplier - A123 Systems – went bust leading to Fisker production grinding to a halt. That has now been resolved with China’s Wanxiang Group buying up A123 Systems and it looks like Fisker is heading East too with Geely set to grab a majority shareholding.