2009 Volkswagen Beetle Base Convertible 2-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

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Porsche 911 and Nissan 350Z get smoked by unlikely hero

So a Nissan 350Z Procharger and a current Porsche 911 GT3 drive onto the Autobahn together - stop me if you've heard this one before - and they decide to race. We're not sure how much power the Z is packing, but the stock model topped out at 306 horsepower on the last year of its run in 2009. And if that's a stock GT3 then it will be rocking something like 475 horsepower. So the Z and the GT3 give it a racing go, and just as one of them starts to pull away they're both overtaken by one of the most unlikely dark horses you could imagine. It's a really short video and we won't spoil the surprise, so check it out above. News Source: Woreth V12 via YouTube Nissan Porsche Volkswagen Coupe Hatchback Luxury Racing Vehicles Performance Videos porsche 911 gt3 autobahn

Felicity Ace sinks with thousands of VWs, Porsches, Lamborghinis

The stricken ship Felicity Ace sank overnight after a week of salvage efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The ship, which was carrying up to 4,000 VW Group cars, went to the bottom unexpectedly while a salvage team was attempting to tow it to shore, Bloomberg reports.  "Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard," Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company (MOL), which owns the Felicity Ace, said in a statement released early Tuesday.    "The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores," MOL said. "The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available." The ship sank after being battered by waves and listing 45 degrees to starboard, the ship’s operator said. “The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management (Singapore), a unit of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd., said by phone. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.” VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models were aboard the ship, which was headed to Rhode Island from GermanyÂ’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16.  Rough seas and ongoing fires fueled by the lithium-ion batteries of EVs onboard delayed the ship's salvage and recovery operations for the better part of a week. While the likelihood of salvaging the smoke and potentially fire- and water-damaged vehicles from Felicity Ace's hold was slim to none, some had held out hope that their special-ordered vehicles might survive the mishap.  The Panama-flagged Felicity Ace was safely evacuated of its 22 crew members by the Portuguese navy after a fire started in its hold more than a week ago. The ship can carry up to 4,000 cars. European carmakers declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were on board, but it appears to have been transporting approximately 2,500 cars, including roughly 1,100 Porsches and an undetermined number of Volkswagens.  The cars aboard were on order. Porsche customers in the United States were being contacted by their dealers, the company said. “We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told The Associated Press in an email. The ship sank in water nearly 10,000 feet deep, the Portuguese Navy said.

How the Volkswagen cheating probe developed

Fallout from Volkswagen's revelation that it engaged in cheating on emissions testing continued Monday, with the company's stock falling more than 15 percent and a Congressional subcommittee announcing an investigation into the German auto giant's conduct. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board served Volkswagen with a Notice of Violation on Friday, saying the company intentionally circumvented emissions standards by using "defeat devices." Here's a look back at the agencies' emissions enforcement history and how the charges involving Volkswagen developed. August 1998 – Honda spends $267 million to settle charges it violated the Clean Air Act by disabling "misfire monitoring devices" installed on more than 1.6 million vehicles. Ford spends $7.8 million to settle a charge it violated the Clean Air Act by installing defeat devices on 60,000 Ford Econoline vans. May 2014 – Working with the International Council on Clean Transportation, researchers at West Virginia University find significantly higher in-use emissions from a 2012 Jetta and 2013 Passat and alert the EPA to their findings. November 3, 2014 – Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia agree to pay a $100 million fine for overstating the fuel economy on several of their models by as much as six miles per gallon. In announcing the fine, government officials sought to make an example of the two companies to deter further cheating. VW officials admit the vehicles were designed with a defeat device to "bypass, defeat and render inoperative elements of the vehicle emissions control systems." "This type of conduct quite simply will not be tolerated," said then-Attorney General Eric Holder. "And the Justice Department will never rest or waver in our determination to take action against any company that engages in such activities – whenever and wherever they are uncovered." December 2, 2014 – Following discussions that stemmed from West Virginia University's findings, Volkswagen agrees to initiate a recall of 500,000 cars. The company says a software update will fix the nitrous oxide trap technology and selective catalytic reduction technology causing the cars to miss emissions thresholds. May 6, 2015 – CARB wanted to see whether the software fix implemented by Volkswagen worked. Using portable emissions measurement systems, the regulatory officials found NOx emissions were still significantly higher than expected.