Turbo Loaded Serviced on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Porsche acquires ANDIAL, will integrate with in-house motorsports

Porsche has purchased longtime motorsports and tuning house ANDIAL.
The Fountain Valley, California-based tuning house ANDIAL has been around since 1975, when it was formed by the Arnold Wagner, Dieter Inzenhofer and Alwin Springer (the company got its name by combining two letters from each of their names). The three men met while working in a Porsche dealership in Southern California and then left to start a business that would put Porsches in victory lane all over the country.
Porsches prepared by ANDIAL won IMSA GT and Supercar Series championships, the SCCA World Challenge, four Pikes Peak class titles and the 24 Hours of Daytona six times. Alwin Springer left the company in 1997 to run Porsche Motorsport North America until 2004 and remains a consultant with PMNA, Wagner passed away in 2011 and Inzenhofer plans to retire this year. ANDIAL is still a going concern, Inzenhofer presiding over a scaled-down engine parts and restoration business. But Inzenhofer is retiring at month's end, making it a good time for Porsche to step in and take over the company's operations.

Our love of SUVs is killing people in the streets

Americans are fond of supersized fast-food meals and colossal convenience-store fountain drinks, even though they're clearly bad for our health and U.S. adults keep getting fatter. We also like large vehicles, and our love affair with SUVs is killing people in the streets. According to a recent investigation by the Detroit Free Press/USA Today, the increase in SUV sales over the past several years coincides with a sharp rise in pedestrian deaths in the U.S. — up 46 percent since 2009, with nearly 6,000 people killed in 2016 alone. With SUV sales surpassing sedans in 2014 and pickups and SUVs currently accounting for 60 percent of new vehicle sales, it's no wonder Ford announced in April plans to cease U.S. sales of almost all passenger cars. And this followed Fiat Chrysler's move to virtually an all-truck, -SUV and -crossover lineup. While the Freep/USA Today investigation found that the simultaneous surge in SUV sales and pedestrian deaths comes down to vehicle size, it also points to a lack of action on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), even though it knew of the dangers SUVs pose to pedestrians. Also blamed are automakers dragging their feet on implementing active safety features. Using federal accident data, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) determined that there was an 81 percent increase in single-vehicle pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs between 2009 and 2016. Freep/USA Today's analysis of the same data by counting vehicles that struck and killed pedestrians instead of the number of people killed showed a 69 percent increase in SUV involvement. As far back as 2001, researchers at Rowan University forecasted a rise in pedestrian deaths as Americans began switching to SUVs. "In the United States, passenger vehicles are shifting from a fleet populated primarily by cars to a fleet dominated by light trucks and vans," the researchers wrote, with light trucks comprising SUVs.

Porsche to introduce new Boxster Spyder, Macan GTS this year

Dig the new Porsche Cayman GT4 but really wish it came in open-top form? Love the Boxster GTS but wish it had more punch? Well we've got good news for you, friend, as that seems to be precisely what Porsche has in store. Among the new models the Volkswagen Group has lined up for this year will be a new Porsche Boxster Spyder. Although no details were announced along with the name, there are a few elements we can look forward to. The new Boxster Spyder is tipped to be essentially an open-top version of the Cayman GT4, but just how many of the latter's components will make the jump from coupe to convertible remain to be seen. The GT4 packs the 3.8-liter flat six from the 911 Carrera S with 385 horsepower, channeled to the rear wheels through an old-school six-speed manual transmission. It also has carbon-ceramic brakes, revised aero, and a stiffened suspension. The Spyder version of the previous Boxster arrived in 2009 with a modest 14-horsepower boost, a retuned suspension and a good 176 pounds trimmed off its curb weight thanks to the elimination of the motorized soft top, air-con and other components. That's not all Porsche has in store for 2015, though. The German automaker has also confirmed a Macan GTS is in the works that promises to explore the little crossover's performance potential. Projecting just what Porsche will do to Macan to give it the GTS treatment, though, is a little tricky. Sure, the German automaker already offers GTS of the rest of its lineup, but just where that model slots in to each line varies. On the Boxster and Cayman, it slots in between the S and GT4/Spyder. For the 911, it serves as a mid-point between the Carrera S and the GT3. And with the Panamera and Cayenne, the GTS bridges the gap between the S and Turbo models. Considering both the Macan S and Macan Turbo pack twin-turbo V6s, the Macan GTS could serve as a mid-point between the S and Turbo with around 350-360 hp, or (more likely) top the range with upwards of 420 hp. One way or another, though, we can expect upgrades to the suspension, brakes, rolling stock and trim to complete the package. Most of the rest of the announcements made in VW's annual report we either already knew about or are of little interest, but the document also confirms new Lamborghinis on the way, including two new versions of the Aventador (likely to be the new SV coupe we just saw and an SV roadster) and three more of the Huracan as well, including two Spyder versions of the latter.