Motoring round-up: Swinging 60s inspire Boxster's new looks
More photos:Wednesday November 28 2007
Porsche this week unveiled a new version of its mid-engined Boxster roadster. It will premiere at the Bologna Motor Show in Italy from December 5.
The company says the Boxster RS60 Spyder echoes the classic motorsport era of the 1960s. Based on the S model, the RS60 Spyder differs significantly on performance (303bhp) and certain items.
It has distinctive front spoiler,19in alloys, modified sports exhaust system, dual tailpipes and the marque's active suspension management system (PASM).
Porsche is only going to make 1,960 and deliveries here are scheduled for March.
Up for a scrap? Carmakers should be
Carmakers are coming under intense pressure on two major fronts -- emissions and recycling.
A new report says automakers will have to do much better on the materials they use in cars.
It does so against a projected backdrop of unprecedented car production over the next 25 years or so.
Many experts are forecasting that more cars will be made in the next 25 years than have been manufactured since the first one was put together.
Greater prosperity all round, will mean millions of cars will be rolling off production lines.
Equally it will mean -- the report says -- 3.5 billion tonnes of scrap produced within two decades.
At the moment, an estimated 75pc of the scrap from older cars is being salvaged and recycled.
The rest is usually dumped. That is still 850 million tonnes of scrap to be dealt with.
But the Oxford Brookes University reports says carmakers will simply have to use far more recyclable materials if the entire industry is to be sustainable.
And finally...
- A NEW survey suggests that mature women on prescription tranquillisers, such as Valium and Librium, could be more of a danger on the roads than drivers on illegal drugs.
The finding was made by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
- UNION leaders at Ford’s Land Rover and Jaguar brands have voted to support a Tata Motors bid for the brands, if Ford sells them, union Unite said.
The leaders still preferred to remain part of Ford, but if a sale was decided, the workforce’s best interests “would be served by finding a partner with an established presence and background in manufacturing,” the union said.
- KIA has appointed Kenny Galway as dealers on the Tuam Road in Galway city.
The number of Kia dealers here is now 39.
- Eddie Cunningham
