by Damon Lavrinc

According to our friends over at Motor Authority, Porsche exec Wendelin Wiedeking has officially denied the development of a cute ‘ute designed to slot in below the Cayenne. This news is contrary to last month’s report from Autobild that Porsche intended to share a platform with the upcoming Audi A5 and Volkswagen Tiguan, dubbing the stillborn model the “Roxster.” This most recent news confirms another story reported back in May.

Wiedeking used his opportunity at the podium today to dispel the rumor and to hype the upcoming sports sedan, the Panamera. However, no word from Wiedeking about a successor to the 928 that could conceivably share a platform with the front-engine, four-door sports car.

[Source: Motor Authority]

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Associated Press
BEIJING — The Chinese maker of tires at the center of a U.S. recall controversy denied Wednesday that it supplied faulty products and accused its American distributor of making the claim to gain an advantage in a commercial dispute.
U.S. regulators have ordered Foreign Tire Sales Inc., of Union, N.J., to recall as many as 450,000 tires after the company said an unknown number of light truck radials imported from Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co., of Hangzhou, China, could suffer tread separation.
“We have not found the faults cited by FTS,” Hangzhou Zhongce said in a written statement. It said its tires met U.S. safety standards and FTS’ specifications.
Hangzhou Zhongce accused FTS of making the claims because of a dispute that led the U.S. company to sue its Chinese partner in May.
“We believe this is merely an effort by FTS Co. to stir up a fuss due to this lawsuit,” Hangzhou Zhongce said.
FTS, which has imported light truck radials from Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber since 2002, said in a June 11 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing that an unknown number of the tires it sold were made without a safety feature, called a gum strip, which helps bind the belts of a tire to each other. But the company says it can’t afford to pay for a recall.
FTS sued Hangzhou in U.S. District Court last month, charging that its tests found that the tires may fail early. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and an injunction that would bar Hangzhou products from being imported.
According to the NHTSA filing, the Hangzhou tires at issue were sold under at least four brand names — Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS — in these sizes: LT235/75R-15; LT225/75R-16; LT235/85R-16; LT245/75R-16; LT265/75R-16; and LT3X10.5-15.
The tire trouble comes amid safety concerns involving other Chinese products.
In recent months, U.S. inspectors have banned or turned away Chinese exports containing high levels of toxins or potentially deadly chemicals, including frozen fish, juice and toothpaste. Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine was blamed for recent dog and cat deaths in North America.
Other recent recalls involved Chinese-made children’s toys that contained potentially poisonous lead paint.

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Oldsmobile was a brand of automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, the company produced automobiles in the United States until 2004. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory. When it was phased out, Oldsmobile was the oldest surviving American automobile marque, and one of the oldest in the world, after Daimler and Peugeot.

Oldsmobiles were first manufactured by the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing, Michigan, a company founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In 1901, the company produced 425 cars, making it the first high-volume automobile manufacturer of the day. Olds became the top selling car company in the United States for a few years. Ransom Olds left the company in financial difficulties and formed the REO Motor Car Company. The last Curved Dash Olds was made in 1907. General Motors purchased the company in 1908.
The 1901 to 1904 Curved Dash was the first mass-produced car, made from the first automotive assembly line, an invention that is often miscredited to Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. After Olds sold the company in 1899, it was renamed Olds Motor Works and moved to a new plant in Detroit. By March 1901, the company had a whole line of models ready for mass production. Unfortunately, a mistake by a worker caused the factory to catch fire, and it burned to the ground, with all of the prototypes destroyed. The only car that survived the fire was a Curved Dash prototype, which was wheeled out of the factory by two workers while escaping the fire. A new factory was built, and production of the Curved Dash commenced.
Officially, the cars were called “Olds automobiles,” colloquially referred to as “Oldsmobiles.” It was this moniker, as applied especially to the Curved Dash Olds, that was popularized in the lyrics and title of the 1905 hit song “In My Merry Oldsmobile.” From then on, the company and its products were known as Oldsmobile. Some two decades later, it was apparently the reputation of the vehicles that spawned a revival of the song for another round of popularity, essentially “returning the favor.”
The 1910 Limited Touring was a high point for the company. Riding atop 42 in wheels, and equipped with factory “white” tires, the Limited was the prestige model in Oldsmobile’s two model lineup. The Limited retailed for US$4,600, an amount greater than the purchase of a new, no-frills three bedroom house. Buyers received goatskin upholstery, a 60 hp (45 kW) 707 in³ (11.6 L) straight-6 engine, Bosch Magneto starter, running boards and room for five. Options included a speedometer, clock, and a full glass windshield. A limousine version was priced at $5,800. While Oldsmobile only sold 725 Limiteds in its three years of production, the car is best remembered for winning a race against the famed 20th Century Limited train, an event immortalized in the painting “Setting the Pace” by William Hardner Foster.

Source: Wikipedia

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by Jonathon Ramsey

The Abarth name was only retrieved from the dustbin of history a few months ago, and already Fiat is showing off funky concepts for it. Created by the European Institute of Design, sitting on a Fiat Panda platform, and powered by a 100 bhp 1.4-liter motor, the Abarth roadster could sell for £12,000 if it were ever produced. True, 100 bhp isn’t much, but the roadster’s weight wouldn’t be much, either. The two-tone paint job and black hood would signify an SS edition, and a turbo could be fitted to the 1.4-liter for a 50 hp jump. Right now, though, there are no plans for such a car. For the time being there will be no dedicated Abarth model. The name will only be used for hotted-up versions of Fiat cars.

[Source: Auto Express]

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by John Neff

Sorted Performance had its Speed World Challenge racing season come to an abrupt halt earlier this week when its transporter consisting of a 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 4×4 dually and 48-foot Gooseneck Haulmark Edge triple axle trailer were stolen from a Hampton Inn parking lot in Livonia, MI. Team manager Ken Grammer was transporting both of the team’s Grand Touring Class Dodge SRT-4 race cars at the time, along with all the spare parts available for the cars. Today it was learned that the truck has been recovered in Detroit and sustained some damage, though not as much as the trailer, which was also found in Detroit burnt to a crisp. The two SRT-4 race cars, one driven by team owner Hal Brown and the other by current Rookie of the Year points leader Stan Wilson, are still missing. The racing community has its feelers out for the cars, as their parts are very specific and should be easy to spot should the thieves attempt to sell them.

You can view all the currently available info on the situation in this thread on the SCCA Pro Racing forums, and please keep your eyes open if you live in the Detroit area. Hopefully these two race cars can be found in good shape thanks to the collective effort of a concerned auto and racing community. Sorted Performance was looking forward to the next round of the series at the 2007 Grand Prix of Toronto. With any luck, Hal and Stan will be behind the wheels of their SRT-4s by then.

Thanks for the tip, Joe!

[Source: SCCA Pro Racing forums]

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NSU Motorenwerke AG (normally just NSU) was a German manufacturer of cars and motorcycles which was founded in 1873, and was acquired by Volkswagen in 1969. VW merged the company with Auto Union to eventually evolve into Audi as it is known today.

NSU began as a knitting machine manufacturer in the town of Riedlingen on the Danube in 1873, and moved to Neckarsulm, where the river Sulm flows into the river Neckar, in 1884. The company soon began to produce bicycles as well, and by 1892, bicycle manufacturing had completely replaced the knitting machine production. At about this time, the name NSU (from Neckar and Sulm) appeared as brand name.
In the early years of the 20th century NSU motorcycles were developed, in 1905 the first NSU cars appeared. In 1932 the car production in Heilbronn was sold to Fiat.
During World War II NSU designed and produced the famous Kettenkrad, NSU HK101 a half-tracked motorcycle with the engine of the Opel Olympia.

NSU Max Standard
After the war, NSU restarted in a completely destroyed plant with pre-war constructions like the Quick, OSL and Konsul motorbikes. And also still the HK101 could be purchased at NSU as an all terrain vehicle in a civil version. The first post war construction was the NSU Fox in 1949, available in a 2-stroke and a 4-stroke version. In 1953 the famous NSU Max followed, a 250 cc motorbike with a unique overhead camdrive with connecting rods. All these new models had a very innovative monocoque frame of pressed steel and a central rear suspension unit. Albert Roder, the genius chief engineer behind the success story, made it possible that in 1955 NSU became the biggest motorcycle producer in the world. NSU also holds 4 world records for speed: 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955. In 1956 Wilhelm Herz started at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Herz was the first man to drive faster than 200 miles per hour, in August 1956. [dubious — see talk page] In 1957 NSU re-entered the car market with the new NSU Prinz, a small car with a doubled NSU Max engine, an air cooled two-cylinder engine of 600 cc and 20 hp. Motorbike production continued until 1968.
In 1964 NSU offered the first Wankel engine car of the world: the NSU Wankelspider. In the same year Prinz 1000 and derivates like the TT and TT/S followed. As a family car the Typ 110 (later 1200SC called) was launched in 1965 with a more spacious body design. The last NSU cars with a conventional 4 - stroke engine had the air cooled OHC four cylinder engine in common. In 1968 the sensational 2 rotor 115hp NSU Ro 80 was presented to public and soon gained several design awards like “car of the year 1968″. The sensation was never found back in sales figures.
The development of the rotary engine was very cost-intensive for the small company. Problems with the sealings of the engine rotor soon damaged the image of the company. In 1969, the company was taken over by Volkswagen, who merged NSU with Auto Union. VW also owned the almost forgotten pre-war brand Audi. So now the new company was called Audi NSU Auto-Union A.G. The management of the Neckarsulm plant moved to Audi’s headquarters in Ingolstadt. Unfortunately Audi never made use of the brand name NSU again after 1977, when the last NSU Ro 80 was sold. Ironically enough you can still find NSU as a brand name on very mean bicycles which are neither produced to former NSU standards nor have any spirit of the once 1st address for quality and innovation on 2 wheels.
After production of NSU-branded cars was halted, the Neckarsulm plant was used to build the Porsche 924 and later Porsche 944. Porsche did not have the internal capacity to build the 924 and 944, VW had the unused plant nearby, so the deal was struck. In present days it is the production plant for Audi’s topline vehicles like the A6 and A8 cars.
NSU is primarily remembered today as the first licensee, and one of only three automobile companies, to produce cars for sale with Wankel engines. NSU invented the principle of the modern Wankel engine with an inner rotor. The NSU Ro 80 was the second mass-produced two-rotor Wankel-powered vehicle. In 1967, NSU and Citroën set up a common company, Comotor, to build engines for Citroën and other car manufacturer.
Only Mazda continued the development on the Wankel engine. Mazda currently has a reliable sportscar, the RX8 in their portfolio looking back on a successful Wankel engine family.
A museum in Neckarsulm, the Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum, has many of NSU’s products on display.

Source:Wikipedia

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