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Porsche uses phone-formatted bar codes to connect with customers

Porsche is harnessing the power of smartphones, using Microsoft Tag bar codes to provide dealership customers with unique information about the cars they're looking at. Buyers can scan the square stickers with a properly equipped phone, and the application will take them to dedicated microsites where they can see stats, videos and pictures of the car, along with audio clips of a flat-six engine revving up. Through the microsite, buyers can provide contact info for a follow-up call from Porsche salespeople.

Mercedes-Benz SLS prepped to go GT3 racing

Mercedes-Benz AMG pulled the wraps off its new race car on Monday in Oaxaca, Mexico, scene of a commemoration of Mercedes' victory in the 1952 Carrera Panamericana. The new SLS GT3 is a modified Mercedes-Benz SLS intended to meet FIA homologation requirements for the GT3 class in series throughout the world. While it's not known what the production car will look like when it starts going to customers either this fall--according to the press release--or "before the start of the 2011 racing season," according to AMG's Thomas Rappel, the prototype shown in Oaxaca had a full roll cage, a new front skirt with splitter, rear diffusers and an enormous rear wing.

CAR interviews AMG's ex-boss Volker Mornhinweg

Volker Mornhinweg has single-handedly transformed AMG, turning the in-house tuner into a fully fledged and independent supercar manufacturer. During his five-year watch he built up an outstanding team of engineers and designers, and his enthusiasm for fast and dynamic cars was as contagious as it was never-ending. In April he will leave AMG and take on the new role of overseeing Mercedes’ van operations – a vital, but very different role.