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Porsche rolls out new 919 Hybrid at racing gala

That Porsche is returning to Le Mans next year with a top-tier LMP1 entry is no news - we've known that for some time. We've even seen pictures of the car in question undergoing testing at various racetracks across Europe, been told who'll be driving it and given some basic parameters of what will make it go. We just haven't known what to call it, but now we do.
In detailing its full endurance racing program for next year at its Night of Champions in Weissach, Porsche has revealed that its new LMP1 racecar will be called the 919 Hybrid. So, something like the 918 Spyder, only one faster. With a four-cylinder engine and a pair of electric motors, the 919 Hybrid will be taking on the top class at Le Mans next year, with a compelling roster of drivers on the docket: along with Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani, Porsche has assigned its works driver Marc Lieb and F1 test driver Brendon Hartley to the effort. But that's not all Porsche has in store.
The factory is also supporting teams that will campaign the 911 RSR in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well as the United SportsCar Championship here in the US, taking Porsche off the pit wall and right in the race seat for next year as part of a comprehensive new racing program, details of which you can read in the press release below.

Porsche to replace chassis components in 918 Spyders

The entire production run of the Porsche 918 Spyder is completely sold out, but 205 of them need to make a trip to the dealer for a repair estimated to take about two days. According to Porsche, it found quality problems with unspecified "chassis components" on the hybrid supercar and has instituted a plan to fix them as a precautionary measure. There were no reported breakages of these parts or complaints from customers. The German automaker already contacted all of the affected owners directly to have the 918s repaired in 2015. When reached for comment, Porsche Director of Corporate Communications Achim Schneider told Autoblog via email that "due to the supplier relationship we did not announce further details regarding the components so far." He also said that 43 vehicles are affected in North America, which includes the US and Canada. The 918 Spyder was affected by a small recall in the US earlier this year when Porsche found that the rear-axle control arms could potentially break. The campaign covered only five cars, though. Porsche replaces chassis components in 205 vehicles worldwide Atlanta. As a precautionary measure, Porsche will replace chassis components in 205 vehicles of the 918 Spyder model worldwide. The reason for this is that for vehicles that were manufactured in a certain time period defective parts were used from a delivery batch, whose functionality cannot be permanently guaranteed. No complaints have been made known (such as a break of a component) from customers up till now. The problem was identified during in-house quality inspections and remedied immediately. The owners of the vehicles, which could be exactly traced, were contacted directly by their competent Porsche representatives. The workshop visit, which will take place by appointment at the onset of 2015, takes about two days to complete at no charge. Featured Gallery 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder: First Drive View 51 Photos News Source: PorscheImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Michael Harley / AOL, Porsche Green Recalls Porsche Hybrid Supercars porsche 918 spyder porsche 918

The Volkswagen Group switches official language to English

The Volkswagen Group can't be fairly thought of as entirely German anymore, so the news that the company is switching its official language to English to help attract managers and executives is a rational, if surprising, decision. While many VW Group companies are still staidly German in character and culture, consider the other companies that it controls: Bentley (British), Bugatti (French), Ducati and Lamborghini (Italian), Skoda (Czech), Scania trucks (Swedish), and SEAT (Spanish). Not to mention the large Volkswagen Group of America operation, which constructs cars in Chattanooga, TN. Volkswagen's explicit motivation is to improve management recruitment – making sure the company isn't losing out on candidates for important positions because they can't speak German – and that's inherently sensible in a globalized economy. Particularly considering, like it or lump it, that English is the lingua franca of said global economy. It also should make it inherently easier to communicate between its world-wide subsidiaries and coordinate operations. It's hard to say for sure if this will have any impact on the consumer, although it's easy to see the benefits if, say, VW Group hires some American product planners or engineers and they push for features and designs that more closely suit American needs. After all, the US is a hugely important market for any manufacturer, and so the switch to English almost certainly has something to do with the outsized influence of the US in the global economy. And there doesn't seem to be a downside from a purely rational perspective, although it could mean that the Group's corporate culture becomes less German. Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on your perspective. Related Video: Image Credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images Plants/Manufacturing Audi Bentley Bugatti Porsche Volkswagen SEAT Skoda