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It took four minutes to steal Roger Waters' Ferrari

The owner of a 1973 Ferrari 365 Daytona in Australia is singing Wish You Were Here after thieves stole his red Italian coupe, which counts Pink Floyd lyricist Roger Waters as a former owner. The car was at a mechanic in Melbourne when the brazen crooks rammed open the shop's door in the early morning. They needed just four minutes to get away with the Daytona and a 328 GTB, according to The Drive. This Daytona carries an estimated value of 2.5 million Australian dollars ($1.8 million), and it counts a string of celebrity owners, according to The Age. James Hunt allegedly drove it because the coupe once had a connection to the Hesketh Formula One team. Waters used the car to go to Pink Floyd's recording studio, and magnate Mohamed Al Fayed later had the Ferrari also. He gave it to his son Dodi – Princess Diana's boyfriend when she died. The Daytona wasn't just another brick in the wall to the owner, either. "I don't have any other sport cars, that was the one," he said to The Age. The car just completed a restoration three weeks ago, and it was at the mechanic to sort an alternator problem. Police are still searching for the perpetrators. The 328 was reportedly spotted about 4 miles away after the robbery, but the car was gone when the cops went to check.

Stellantis ready to kill brands and fix U.S. problems, CEO Tavares says

  MILAN — Stellantis is taking steps to fix weak margins and high inventory at its U.S. operations and will not hesitate to axe underperforming brands in its sprawling portfolio, its chief executive Carlos Tavares said on Thursday. The warning for lossmaking brands is a turnaround for Tavares, who has maintained since Stellantis was created in 2021 from the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA that all of its 14 brands including Maserati, Fiat, Peugeot and Jeep have a future. "If they don't make money, we'll shut them down," Carlos Tavares told reporters after the world's No. 4 automaker delivered worse-than-expected first-half results, sending its shares down as much as 10%. "We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money." The automaker now also considers China's Leapmotor as its 15th brand, after it agreed to a broad cooperation with the group. Stellantis does not release figures for individual brands, except for Maserati which reported an 82 million euro adjusted operating loss in the first half. Some analysts say Maserati could possibly be a target for a sale by Stellantis, while other brands such as Lancia or DS might be at risk of being scrapped given their marginal contribution to the group's overall sales. Stellantis' Milan-listed shares were down as much as 12.5% on Thursday, hitting their lowest since August 2023. That brings the loss for the year so far to 22%, making them the worst performer among the major European automakers. Few automotive brands have been killed off since General Motors ditched the unprofitable Saturn and Pontiac during a U.S. government-led bankruptcy in the global financial crisis in 2008. Tavares is under pressure to revive flagging margins and sales and cut inventory in the United States as Stellantis bets on the launch of 20 new models this year which it hopes will boost profitability. Recent poor results from global carmakers have heightened worries about a weakening outlook for sales across major markets such as the U.S., whilst they also juggle an expensive transition to electric vehicles and growing competition from cheaper Chinese rivals. Japan's Nissan Motor saw first-quarter profit almost completely wiped out on Thursday and slashed its annual outlook, as deep discounting in the United States shredded its margins. Tavares said he would be working through the summer with his U.S. team on how to improve performance and cut inventory.

The Monaco Grand Prix clearly highlights Ferrari's team orders

Sebastian Vettel stretched his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 25 points on Sunday after becoming the first Ferrari driver since Michael Schumacher in 2001 to win Formula One's showcase Monaco Grand Prix. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen, on pole for the first time in nine years, lost out in the pitstops but secured a Ferrari one-two with Hamilton finishing seventh for Mercedes after starting 13th. The German celebrated as jubilantly as his seven times champion compatriot would have done, whooping over the radio and beaming from the podium as mechanics sang the Italian national anthem. "It's obviously a great day for the team... great to get the points, great to get the win," said Vettel. As with Schumacher in his pomp there was also a distinct whiff of 'team orders', with Raikkonen pitting first and Vettel staying out for a further five laps in a move that worked in his favor. Vettel's 45th career win was the German's third in six races but there was plenty of sympathy for Raikkonen, who last won with Lotus in 2013. The Finn looked far from happy on the podium, staring fixedly ahead and taking gulps of the Champagne as Vettel sprayed his. "It's still second place but it doesn't feel awful good," he said. "It's how it goes sometimes." "I know how it feels, it's not a good feeling," reigning champion Nico Rosberg, who retired at the end of last year after years of battling Hamilton at Mercedes, consoled him as he conducted the post-race interviews on the finish straight. Australian Daniel Ricciardo took his second successive podium with third place for Red Bull. MINIMAL OVERTAKING In a race with plenty of sunshine and minimal overtaking, late crashes ensured the safety car made its traditional Monaco appearance. While Raikkonen led for the first 34 laps, the writing was on the wall at the pitstops with a consensus emerging already before the start that Ferrari would favor the championship leader. "It was a very tense race. I knew that (staying out) was the chance to win and I was able to use that window and come out ahead. After that I was able to control the gap behind," said Vettel. What had been a processional race, with the wider new cars making overtaking more difficult, turned into sudden drama with a collision between Jenson Button's McLaren and Pascal Wehrlein's Sauber at the tunnel entrance.