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.

Versace to design Lamborghini bags, interiors

Versace has agreed to design the interior of a limited edition Lamborghini car and its accompanying accessories like gloves and bags in the latest collaboration between the two luxury brands. The Italian fashion house will design the interior of the Murcielago LP640 Roadster, a joint statement said on Monday at Milan's fashion week for men.

The cars, whose interiors will be fitted with black and white leather, will be made on demand so the number to be produced has yet to be determined, a Lamborghini spokeswoman said. The accessories, which also include trolleys and suitcases, will go on sale in Versace and Lamborghini stores by November.

Versace began collaborating with Lamborghini about two years ago. It designed the interior of a limited edition Murcielago coupe and later worked on another Lamborghini car that went up for auction at a charity event.

Working with Versace is part of the luxury sports car maker's strategy to raise its profile and make money through the franchising of its brand.

Although it is based in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Lamborghini is owned by Audi, a unit of Volkswagen of Germany

Pininfarina Car Pays Homage To Rolls-Royce

Pininfarina's third model designed and built for a collector will be a Rolls-Royce.

Called Hyperion and based on the Drophead Coupe, this model is an homage to the great pre-war Rolls-Royce cars.

The Hyperion will debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, in Monterey, California, in mid-August.

Hyperion was the name of one of the titans in Greek mythology. Hyperion is also a moon circling the planet Saturn.

Pininfarina declined to identify the private collector who ordered the Hyperion.

In April 2006, Pininfarina unveiled the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti-based "K" built for Peter Kalikow, president of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

In August 2006, Pininfarina debuted the Ferrari Enzo-based P4/5 model, built for former movie director James Glickenhaus.

Special orders from collectors generate significant revenue and high margins for coachbuilders, but Pininfarina always declined to elaborate on the topic.

In Web car enthusiast blogs, Glickenhaus has said he spent more than $1 million to buy a Ferrari Enzo and about $3 million to have Pininfarina convert it to the P4/5 custom unit.

VW feels pinch from raw materials

Volkswagen is stepping up efforts to cut costs in the face of rising raw materials prices but still expects to feel the pinch, Europe's biggest carmaker said today.

"From today's perspective the impact resulting from (cost-cutting) will not compensate for current market prices," a spokesman said.

VW's comments came amid a sell-off in European car sector stocks given renewed concerns over raw material prices, ongoing worries over the outlook for the U.S. economy, and the euro's strength against the dollar.

Volkswagen and other carmakers typically lock in steel prices via long-term contracts but face price increases as these contracts have to be renewed.

BMW, the world's biggest premium carmaker, reiterated that it expected the burden from higher materials costs to rise 12 percent this year versus 288 million euros ($448 million) in 2007 and 178 million the year before.

Shares in Daimler retreated on market talk -- which the company denied -- that it was lowering its 2008 guidance for higher operating profit from ongoing operations.

Daimler stock was down 4.9 percent at 12:47 CET, while Volkswagen shed 2.1 percent and BMW fell 3.7 percent.

Nokia to buy rest of Symbian, give away its software

Nokia is buying the consortium that makes the software for its phones and making it available for free to other manufacturers, in hopes of blunting the influence of competing software providers.

Nokia (NOK)said Tuesday that it is offering to buy the 52% of Britain's Symbian that it doesn't already own for about $410 million. Symbian's software is the most widely used on high-end phones.

Nokia will then establish a foundation with handset makers Sony Ericsson and Motorola and Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo to make the software available royalty-free. They will combine their three versions of the Symbian software for advanced, data-enabled phones into one open platform.

AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone Group, will also join the foundation, Nokia said.

Nokia said that all previous owners of Symbian, except Samsung, have committed themselves to accept the offer and that it expects Samsung to join them shortly.

While more than 90% of PCs run Windows, the market for cell-phone software is much more fragmented, with a dozen competing platforms. That means software developers have a much harder time creating applications, and it raises costs for handset manufacturers and carriers that have to deal with many different systems.

In the race to set create a dominant standard for phones, the price of the software has become one differentiator. Symbian and Microsoft have been charging royalties for their software, but a leading challenger, the LiMo Foundation, will make software available for free. Google plans to give away its handset software, Android.

The foundation model addresses another concern from carriers and handset manufacturers, which don't want a single company to control the software like Microsoft does on desktops.
In giving away the software, Nokia is counting on the benefits of increased adoption to offset its upfront costs. Technology companies often donate the fruits of their research to non-profit organizations with this in mind. Last year, Nokia gave away a low-power wireless technology called Wibree to the Bluetooth consortium.

Redeye analyst Greger Johansson in Stockholm, Sweden, said Nokia's move will make Symbian a tougher competitor to the other operating systems, considering that Symbian already has 60% of the smart-phone market. Symbian software has yet to become popular in the U.S., where the smart-phone market has been dominated by Research in Motion, Palm, and manufacturers using Windows Mobile. Apple, with its iPhone, is an up-and-comer.

Nokia said it expects the acquisition to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2008 and is subject to regulatory approval.

BMW Workers Take Time Off For Soccer

BMW factories across Germany will stop Wednesday so workers can watch the country's soccer team in its European Championship semi-final game against Turkey.

Workers at BMW's plants in Leipzig, Munich, Regensburg and Dingolfing will all finish their shifts a few hours earlier so that they can get home to watch the game.

Late shifts at the plants normally end between 10 pm and midnight, but the game kicks off at 8:45 pm Central European Time. So the late shift will end at 7:00 pm Wednesday.

Michael Rebstock, a Munich-based spokesman for the automaker, said that the company wanted to find a solution so that "every employee can get home to catch the game on television."

Rebstock said that 1,700 Turkish nationals work at BMW's Munich plant, where the 3 series is built.

"Both German and Turkish workers will be so excited about the game it makes sense to stop production," Rebstock said.

Maserati Updates Quattroporte

With a new-from-the-ground-up Maserati Quattroporte not due until 2012, Maserati has facelifted the car for 2009.

The Quattroporte has Maserati's familiar 400-hp, 4.2-liter V8, while the S uses the new 4.7-liter, 425-hp V8 recently introduced on the GranTurismo S. A six-speed ZF automatic is standard with either engine.

Styling changes include a new front fascia with vertical slots � la the GranTurismo, new front and rear lights, new side mirrors and a revised interior with a new navigation system.

The '09 Quattroporte goes on sale late this year.

VW's Seat brand will launch the Exeo

Seat's new upper-medium car will be called the Exeo.

Seat, Volkswagen's Spanish brand, will launch sales of the Exeo early next year. It will be a competitor to the Ford Mondeo, Renault Laguna and Peugeot 407.

Based on an Audi A4 platform, the Exeo will be built in Seat's factory in Martorell, near Barcelona, Spain.

The Exeo will have sedan and station wagon versions
Seat says it took the name Exeo from the Latin word exire, which means to go beyond or to go further in English.

Seat said the Exeo will not replace its Toledo model.

Saab 9-3 To Be Built In Sweden

Production of the Saab 9-3 will remain in Sweden, a General Motors Europe spokesman said today.

Media reports had suggested that production of the next-generation 9-3 would move to GM Europe's Opel plant in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, from Saab's Trollhattan, Sweden, factory.

To compensate for not getting the 9-3, GM Europe will add production of the Saab 9-5 and a compact car at Ruesselsheim.

"It is good news that Ruesselsheim will get an extra model, a third shift and that the 9-3 production will remain in Saab's home country," said GM Europe spokesman Joerg Schrott.

GM Europe has not named the compact car that will be built in Ruesselsheim, but company sources say it will be the Opel Astra lower-medium car.
Currently, Ruesselsheim builds the Opel Vectra and Signum. It will build the Insignia, the Vectra successor, later this year.

ZR1 costs $105,000, runs to 205 mph

General Motors said today the new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 will carry a sticker price of $105,000, including shipping charges and gas-guzzler tax, when it goes on sale this summer. The gas-guzzler tax accounts for $1700 of the price.

There are just two options-$2,000 for chrome wheels, and a $10,000 interior package that includes leather-trimmed sports seats with the ZR1 logo, side air bags, Bose audio and a navigation system.

A General Motors spokeswoman said the short options list is by design, since Chevrolet anticipates many fans will want the base car sans the added weight. A fully optioned ZR1 will total $117,000.

But with GM planning to build just 2,000 ZR1s a year, many Chevrolet dealers are expected to ask for more than the sticker price to part with the car.

GM said the ZR1 will sprint from 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds, edging the Corvette Z06 by three tenths of a second. Stretch that drag race out to 100 mph, and the ZR1 betters its stablemate by nearly a full second, posting a tire-smoking time of 7.0 seconds.

The 6.2 liter, 638-hp LS9 V8 propels the ZR1 to a top speed of 205 mph, giving it the title of fastest Vette ever, and putting it into the rarified exhaust fumes usually emitted only by the Europeans.

Fuel economy: An EPA-estimated 14 mpg in the city and 20 mpg on the highway.