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LaFerrari commanding £1 MILLION premium – and the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder attracting premiums too

LaFerrari commanding £1 MILLION premium Being at the top of the new owners list for a very desirable, and scarce, car can yield big benefits, and none more so recently than for Ferrari’s hypercar – the LaFerrari. Oracle Finance has been busy looking at the premiums being charged for desirable cars (and, presumably, willing to finance to premium too) and have discovered that those not on Ferrari’s VIP list – and therefore not invited to buy a LaFerrari from Maranello – are willing to pay a premium of £1 million to get their hands on Ferrari’s replacement for the Enzo. But it’s not just LaFerrari that’s commanding hefty premiums.

70% of premium brand cars stolen are taken with the car’s own keys

High-end SUVs – like the new Range Rover (pictured) are a prime target for car key thieves There was once a time when all it took to steal a car was a wire coathanger and the ability to hotwire the ignition. But as car makers have got better at securing the second most expensive asset most of us will ever own, car thieves have had to look for a different approach, and that approach is increasingly to relieve owners of the keys to their pride and joy. Cobra – the vehicle tracking firm – are reporting that a massive 70 per cent of all premium brand cars stolen in 2014 – with an average value of £40k, up £6k on 2012 – are being parted from their owners using that owners keys.

Mercedes signs joint venture to build carbonfibre parts

Not to be outdone by BMW’s joint venture with the SGL Group to manufacturer commercially viable carbonfibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) for the electric Megacity Vehicle, Mercedes has announced a joint venture with Japanese company Toray Industries to manufacturer and market its on CFRP automotive parts. The deal was signed in Germany today, with Toray taking a 50.1% stake, Daimler holding 44.9% and the remaining 5% being taken by other shareholders. The two companies started working together in March 2010, and while Toray has been working on the materials and moulding processes, Merc has designed the automotive parts and the technologies to join the parts together.