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Porsche to decide soon on Bugatti future

WEISSACH, Germany — Volkswagen will soon decide on the future of its luxury brand Bugatti, Oliver Blume, Volkswagen management board member and CEO of Porsche AG, said on Monday. Last week, Reuters reported that Bugatti was working on a strategic partnership with Rimac, which will likely result in a joint venture between Porsche and Rimac, with Porsche as a minority partner, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said in March. "The future of Bugatti is an issue that will be decided on a group level," Porsche said in a statement, declining to comment further. Porsche boss Oliver Blume earlier this year said intense discussions on Bugatti's future were ongoing and that Rimac could play a role as the brands were a good technological fit, adding that a decision was expected in the first half of 2021.  

Jack Olsen built one Porsche to do it all

Jack Olsen has built himself a lair called the 12-Gauge Garage, and inside that garage he built a lairy Porsche 911 nicknamed Black Beauty II. Although it looks like one of Stuttgart's models from the sixties or seventies, it is actually four decades of 911 gubbins from 1965 to 2000 thrown under one shell: the lightweight body is from 1972, the transaxle from 1977, the brakes from a 1986 Turbo, the engine from 1995, for example. It weighs 2,400 pounds and it's got 272 horsepower to get it going, but it's still a pure Porsche, Olsen saying, "If you stop thinking about what you're doing, it will remind you in very abrupt ways."
Olsen said the real point has been to have one car that does it all, so he does everything in his 911 from neighborhood runs to 7-11 to track racing - he loads the aero bits in the car and bolts them on trackside. And he says he'll never stop tweaking the suspension.
You can watch and hear the rest in Olsen's words in the video below.

Porsche names new chief for North America

Porsche has named a new president and CEO for its North American division. The role will now fall to Klaus Zellmer, named by the executive board back in Stuttgart, and slated to take effect at the beginning of November. Zellmer's appointment is just the latest round in an ongoing game of musical chairs (or Reise nach Jerusalem as the Germans call it for some reason) underway in the Volkswagen Group at large and in the Porsche division specifically. In the wake of the diesel emissions scandal, Porsche CEO Matthias Muller was promoted to replace Martin Winterkorn as head of the entire group. Porsche's own production chief Oliver Blume was named as Muller's replacement. Sales and marketing chief Bernhard Maier moved to the Czech Republic to run Skoda, and Detlev von Platen – who served until now as the president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America – was recalled to Stuttgart to take Maier's place. Now Zellmer has been named as von Platen's successor in Atlanta. Schooled in Germany, the UK, and the US, Zellmer has until now been responsible for overseas and emerging markets for the company. In that capacity he's overseen regional operations in Asia-Pacific, South America, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as Australia, Japan, and Korea. He previously ran operations in Porsche's home market, where he nearly double the company's sales in less than five years. Of course his appointment means that Porsche will in turn need to name a new executive to oversee those oversees markets, but this is about as far as we'll be chasing the ripple effect. Related Video: Klaus Zellmer to lead Porsche Cars North America Detlev von Platen to join Porsche AG Executive Board as new member responsible for global Sales and Marketing ATLANTA, Oct. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Porsche AG's Executive Board appointed Klaus Zellmer as new President and Chief Executive Officer of Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA), effective November 1, 2015. PCNA's current President and Chief Executive Officer, Detlev von Platen, will relocate from Atlanta to Porsche headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany to assume his new role as Executive Board member responsible for global Sales and Marketing, also effective November 1, 2015. He succeeds Bernhard Maier, who was appointed Chairman of the Board of Management for SKODA in the Czech Republic. Mr. von Platen has led PCNA since 2008. Under his leadership North America remained the most important market for Porsche worldwide.