2006 Porsche 911 Carerra 2 S Covertible on 2040-cars

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Magnus Walker crashes vintage Porsche with reporter inside

One of the minor storms on the Internet earlier this week concerned Porsche 911 collector and Outlaw tuner Magnus Walker getting in an accident in Minnesota. Walker had shipped his #277 1971 Porsche 911T to the twin city for the opening of a $10-million Porsche dealership there, and the day began with lots of Facebook and Instagram photos of the car posing all over the showroom grounds. This is the same car that we've seen in Jay Leno's Garage, in Midnight Rambler, and in a Need for Speed trailer. Then came a photo of the 911 next to a semi trailer with its driver's side crumpled in and punctured. No one was clear on how it happened, but it seemed to involve swerving out of the way of a Mercedes-Benz on a frontage road by the dealership. Thanks to video from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, now we know what happened. Newspaper reporter Vineeta Sawkar had been doing a story with Walker and wanted to get some video for the piece. During one pass down the frontage road Walker decided to go into a right-hander a little faster than prudent, the car understeered toward the center yellow, and then Walker did the most verboten thing one can do when cornering in a vintage 911: he lifted off the gas. Hello instant rear-engined oversteer. Cue the fishtailing, a millimeter-fine brush with a Pagoda SL, and a crunch into that truck trailer. Sawkar said she was a little battered and bruised but ok, as is Walker – who went on to test drive a GT3 RS later in the day. Head over to the Star Tribune to see the video.

Porsche 911: Big in Taiwan

Porsche is continuing celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of its iconic 911. In its latest video, it's gone to Taiwan, to interview some of the folks that have grown passionate about the rear-engined sportscar over the years.
By and large, the views expressed in this video could have come from anywhere in the world. The 911 is a great car and that doesn't change from country to country. These enthusiasts have the same passion that fans in England, the United States or Germany have for the Carrera. Take a look below at the full video, to see what the 911 enthusiasts of Taiwan love about their 911s.

Automakers paying Chinese dealers for lower-than-expected sales

The Chinese dealers vs. foreign manufacturers story won't quit. It began with a story on the struggles faced by FAW-Toyota joint venture dealers, with supposedly 95 percent of the showrooms losing money, and 10 percent of them doing so poorly that they'd have to exit the business. The problem is mandated sales targets, most set when the country's economy was racing. Now that things have slowed, China's dealers are swimming in unsold cars and the costs to keep them. In the case of FAW-Toyota, dealers asked Toyota to hand over 2.2 billion yuan ($355 million) to help address the situation. That was followed by a report noting the issues that Honda, BMW, and Nissan dealers are having with the same issue, revealing that the Chinese Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) had taken the highly unusual step of writing to the Chinese government to complain. Now Reuters reports that CADA is not only pressing its case even harder, it's being open about it: it announced that BMW agreed to pay dealers 5.1 billion yuan ($820 million) to alleviate poor profits last year. Unnamed sources said Audi has thrown 2 billion yuan into the kitty for subsidies, and Daimler has contributed "about 1 billion yuan" to its dealers. The battle isn't just about 2014, but how business will be run in 2015 as well: Chinese Porsche dealers have requested the automaker lower its 2015 target of 64,000 cars, which would be a 40-percent increase on its 2014 sales of 46,931 vehicles. One analyst called it "shocking" that the CADA has taken its fight public, while CADA comments continue to imply that dealers have been railroaded to the cliff's edge without recourse. "Due to the difference in status," it's deputy secretary said, "individual dealers are not willing to, or don't dare to, talk frankly with the carmakers...." Both parties need one another, so they'll figure out a way to make it work – but that could mean acknowledging the Chinese market is behaving more like a mature one, not an emerging one. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images Earnings/Financials Audi BMW Porsche Toyota Car Dealers Luxury