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Paul Walker's daughter files wrongful death suit against Porsche [UPDATE]

UPDATE: This post has been edited to include a statement from Porsche. While police blamed the crash that killed Fast and Furious star Paul Walker and racecar driver Roger Rodas on excessive speed, Walker's daughter, Meadow, thinks Porsche is at fault. The 16-year-old has now filed a wrongful death suit against the German manufacturer to back up that allegation. According to legal documents obtained by E! Online, the suit alleges that the Carrera GT that Walker and Rodas died in "lacked safety features ... that could have prevented the accident or, at a minimum, allowed Paul Walker to survive the crash," with Porsche Stability Management being called out in particular. Federal motor vehicle safety standards didn't require new cars sold in the US to be equipped with electronic stability control until 2012. The suit focuses not only on the Carrera GT's lack of electronic safety systems and "history of instability and control issues," but on an allegedly defective seatbelt. It claims that upon impact, the belt "snapped Walker's torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs and pelvis," and prevented him from exiting the car before it caught fire, roughly a minute and 20 seconds after the initial impact, according to TMZ. Soot found in Walker's windpipe supports the theory that he was alive and breathing when the fire started, the suit continues. Like the suit Roger Rodas' widow filed against Porsche in 2014, Walker's filing also alleges that the Carrera GT wasn't traveling at 80 to 93 miles per hour, as a police investigation concluded. But where Mrs. Rodas claimed the Carrera GT was going 55 at the time of the crash, this suit claims the hypercar was moving at 63 to 71 mph. That's a more manageable figure to be sure, and if true would have a serious impact on the way the car behaved, but it's still well above the road's posted 45-mph speed limit. "The bottom line is that the Porsche Carrera GT is a dangerous car," Meadow Walker's lawyer told TMZ. "It doesn't belong on the street. And we shouldn't be without Paul Walker or his friend, Roger Rodas." Porsche, meanwhile, has stood by the reports from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and other authorities.

Audi CEO says brand's EVs are almost as profitable as its other cars

After, oh, a hundred years or so of building vehicles primarily powered by internal combustion engines, automakers around the world have been and still are pumping billions of dollars into the development of electric vehicle technology. Everything from platforms and batteries to motors and the software to control it all requires untold hours of development, and that takes time and money. Fortunately, it's not going to take long for that massive investment to start paying off, at least according to Audi CEO Markus Duesmann, who told Reuters in an interview that "The point where we earn as much money with electric cars as with combustion engine cars is now, or ... next year, 2023. They are very even now, the prices." As a brand, Audi contributed more than a quarter of overall profit for the massive Volkswagen Group, which has such powerhouse brands as Volkswagen and Porsche among others. Under the Audi umbrella are Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati, and it seems those high-end branches aren't going anywhere, at least for now. "These brands ... are very valuable very profitable brands, where we can even expand the synergy level in the future," Duesmann said in the interview. "There are no plans whatsoever to get rid of them." Despite the overall profitability of the brand, the ongoing global chip crisis is causing headaches. "We had a very strong first half in 2021. We do expect a much weaker second half," said Duesmann, who added, "We really have trouble." In fact, so serious is the trouble that the brand is forced into "a day-to-day troubleshooting process" to limit the chip-shortage damage. The good news for the automaker is that Audi has been able to boost its profit margin from 8% prior to the pandemic in 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2021. The bad news is that various chip shortages aren't expected to get a whole lot better over the rest of the year. Related video:

Jerry Seinfeld is selling three rare and valuable Porsches

Jerry Seinfeld, whose car guy status has come to the fore in the post-Seinfeld universe with Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, is selling a few of his Porsches. If you're expecting half-completed restoration candidates or tired old 930s, you're mistaken. What Seinfeld considers excess, most Porsche museums would jump up and down for ... and they might. But they'll have to bid. The three-lot Seinfeld Collection will be the highlight of the Amelia Island Auction by Gooding & Company on March 11th. At the top of the pre-auction estimate heap is a 1955 550 Spyder, one of the most coveted road cars the company made. It could go for $6m or more, and it's an interesting and lovely shade of blue. A seafoam green 1958 356 A GS/GT Carrera Speedster could bring $2.5m, and appears to still be stripped-down and set up for racing, as it would have been originally. And at the bottom of the heap is the 1974 911 Carrera 3.0 IROC RSR once driven by Peter Revson in the famous Roger Penske International Race of Champions. It should bring something north of $1m. Why is Seinfeld selling these rare and desirable Porsches? According to the comedian, it's simply time to send some of his collection "back into the world, for someone else to enjoy, as I have." Fair enough, although with the celebrity name attached to the auction, that enjoyment isn't going to come cheaply. Related Video: Gooding & Company Announces an Unprecedented Offering From the Esteemed Jerry Seinfeld Collection to Headline Amelia Island Auction Three highlights from the collection will be on display at the company's Scottsdale Auctions – the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, 1958 Porsche 356 A 1500 GS/GT Carrera Speedster and 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 IROC RSR SANTA MONICA, Calif. (January 19, 2015) – Gooding & Company, the auction house acclaimed for selling the world's most significant and valuable collector cars with the tradition of presenting some of the greatest collections to ever come to market, is honored to announce a selection of consignments from The Jerry Seinfeld Collection to be sold at the Amelia Island Auction on March 11, 2016. A sampling of this exceptional collection will feature three historic Porsches at Gooding & Company's annual Scottsdale Auctions marquee beginning January 27, 2016.