Pininfarina eyes year-end debt deal

After months of talks that have forced it to postpone a crucial capital increase, Italy's Pininfarina said today it still expected to reach a deal with its creditors to reschedule its debt by year-end.

Like other suppliers and service providers in the car industry, the small designer and niche manufacturer has been struggling to pay off its debt.

Its business has been suffering since clients such as Ford Motor and Fiat's Alfa Romeo have seen their sales tumble in the worst crisis to hit the industry in decades.

One client, Swedish luxury brand Volvo, has had such a hard time that its owner, Ford, has put it up for sale.

Best known for designing Ferraris, Pininfarina was supposed to have reached an agreement with its creditors to reschedule 600 million euros of debt by Sept. 30.

But the talks stretched beyond the deadline.

Since a deal had been a prerequisite for a capital increase of 100 million euros, Pininfarina was forced to abandon its plans to raise the money in November. It was to use it for a joint venture with French financier Vincent Bollore to develop an electric car, a project pivotal to Pininfarina's revival.

The talks eventually led to Pininfarina proposing the banks convert 180 million euros of debt into shares representing up to 30 percent of the company.

The founding family had been ready to cut its stake to about 30 percent from more than 50 percent with the capital increase to a select group of investors including Bollore. But this latest proposal to the banks, announced on Nov. 12, was seen substituting that idea.

Other select investors had included Ratan Tata. But the Indian business leader has had his own money problems, with his Tata Motors finding it hard raising money to pay the $3 billion bridge loan obtained to buy Jaguar and Land Rover.

In light of plunging sales, Pininfarina has been cutting costs by halting production at its three plants on a rotating basis for one week a month in November and December. It plans to do the same thing for all of 2009.

Its creditors include Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit.

Lamborghini Estoque

New super-saloon from Lamborghini gets its Paris unveil

After several weeks of teasing, we finally know the identity of the all-new model from Lambo. This is the Estoque, a four-door, four-seater concept. Expect a production version to not look much different, though, so long as public reaction isn't too negative. It clearly fits in with the existing Gallardo and Murcielago model ranges, and even has hints of Countach about its front-end.

It's front-engined, four-wheel drive and will likely use a V10 power plant. Oddly for a Lambo, practicality and spaciousness are promised, and are achieved via a long wheelbase, which allows the car's height to stay low and keep the Estoque in line with the rest of the brand's models.

And if you're wondering, the name Estoque is derived from the term for a 35in sword used by a matador in bull-fighting. A typically Lamborghini name, then. The car is a concept for now, but in the company's words, they wouldn't produce a concept that couldn't be feasibly built.

Exciting, or just plain silly? The forum's the place to tell us about this, and anything else that's being revealed in Paris.

Ferrari unveils new Maranello assembly lines

Ferrari's historic Maranello, Italy, complex has long held a certain mystique for fans of the Prancing Horse. But mindful of the realities of modern manufacturing, the automaker has been focusing on upgrading its facilities and on Wednesday unveiled two new buildings designed to improve production.

At a ceremony, Ferrari executives showed off new assembly lines with workstations that reduce worker movement. The building is lined with large windows that offer a view of the 1960s factory built by Enzo Ferrari.

The company has spent 198 million euros since the late 1990s to improve its facilities, including completely revamping the car-production area, where work began late last year. The assembly facility was designed by Jean Nouvel, a noted French architect who won one of the industry's top awards, the Pritzker Architecture Prize, this year.

Ferrari also unveiled a new restaurant for workers in the "Ferrari Village." The impressive structure features a soaring glass overhang and is surrounded by a square for staffers to relax.
Meanwhile, in product news, the company revealed more details about its much-anticipated new GT-style convertible, the California. Most interesting is that the car will have a "launch control" button that will shoot it from 0 to 62 mph in less than four seconds. The technology is borrowed from Ferrari's racing division and allows maximum torque while preventing the wheels from slipping.

UEFA Supports Dutch Goal Decision

UEFA has emphasised that the goal scored by Netherlands striker Ruud van Nistelrooy in last night's UEFA EURO 2008™ match against Italy in Berne was valid, and that referee Peter Fröjdfeldt acted correctly in awarding it.

Not offside

UEFA General Secretary David Taylor was reacting to claims from some quarters that Van Nistelrooy was standing in an offside position when he scored the first of the Netherlands' goals in their 3-0 win. "I would like to take the opportunity to explain and emphasise that the goal was correctly awarded by the referee team," he said. "I think there's a lack of understanding among the general football public, and I think it's understandable because this was an unusual situation. The player was not offside, because, in addition to the Italian goalkeeper, there was another Italian player in front of the goalscorer. Even though that other Italian player at the time had actually fallen off the pitch, his position was still relevant for the purposes of the offside law."

Still involved

The starting point, said Mr Taylor, is the Laws of the Game – Law 11 – which deal with offside, whereby a player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponents' goalline than both the ball and the second-last opponent. "There need to be two defenders involved," the UEFA General Secretary said. "If you think back to the situation, the first is the goalkeeper, and the second is the defender who, because of his momentum, actually had left the field of play. But this defender was still deemed to be part of the game. Therefore he is taken into consideration as one of the last two opponents. As a result, Ruud van Nistelrooy was not nearer to the opponents' goal than the second-last defender and, therefore, could not be in an offside position.

Rare incident

"This is a widely-known interpretation of the offside law among referees that is not generally known by the wider football public," he continued. "Incidents like this are very unusual – although I'm informed that there was an incident like this about a month ago in a Swiss Super League match between FC Sion and FC Basel 1893. [It was] initially suggested that this [goal] was a mistake by the referee in terms of the offside law – the commentator later apologised publicly, as he didn't realise that this was the correct application of the law."
Law appliedMr Taylor concluded: "So let's be clear – the referees' team applied the law in the correct manner. If we did not have this interpretation of the player being off the pitch then what could happen is that the defending team could use the tactic of stepping off the pitch deliberately to play players offside, and that clearly is unacceptable. The most simple and practical interpretation of the law in this instance is the one that is adopted by referees throughout the world – that is that unless you have permission from the referee to be off the pitch, you are deemed to be on it and deemed to be part of the game. That is why the Italian defender, even though his momentum had taken him off the pitch, was still deemed to be part of the game, and therefore the attacking player put the ball into the net, and it was a valid goal. The law in this place was applied absolutely correctly."