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Trump reportedly says he wants to wipe German cars off the U.S. map

BERLIN/FRANKFURT — A report that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York's Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers on Thursday. An excerpt from German magazine Wirtschaftswoche's article, which cited several unnamed European and U.S. diplomats but did not include any direct quotes, could not be independently verified, while a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Berlin referred questions to Washington. The news and current affairs magazine said Trump had told French President Emmanuel Macron in April that he aimed to push German carmakers out of the United States altogether. Macron's administration in Paris declined to comment on the report. The Trump administration last week opened a so-called Section 232 trade investigation into vehicle imports, which could result in a 25 percent tariff on cars on the same "national security" grounds Washington used to impose metals duties in March. This could destroy exports by German carmakers, which control 90 percent of the U.S. premium market and are the biggest European Union exporters of cars to the United States. BMW owns Rolls-Royce, while Daimler has Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen controls Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche and Audi. Daimler, BMW and Audi declined comment. Porsche was not immediately available for comment. BMW shares were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0939 GMT, while Daimler and VW's shares were down 1 percent and 1.6 percent respectively, underperforming Germany's blue-chip DAX. Trump has railed against German carmakers before. And in early 2017, in an interview with German newspaper Bild, he said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on imported cars. At the time, the president called Germany a great car producer but said that the business relationship with the United States was an unfair one-way street. Germany's auto industry association VDA says its members exported 657,000 vehicles to North America last year, with total exports of vehicle components, cars, engines, as well as second-hand vehicles totaling 31.2 billion euros in 2016. Imports from the United States to Germany amounted to 7.4 billion euros, meaning a trade deficit of 23.8 billion euros the VDA's latest available figures show. However, German brands also have huge factories in the United States, where they built 804,000 cars last year, VDA said, providing jobs for U.S. workers. Berlin has reacted angrily to the U.S.

Is a wrecked Bugatti worth $250k?

When a Bugatti Veyron crashed on a highway in Austria a few months ago, insurance company AXA estimated the cost of repairs at upwards of $800,000. Of course, there were worries that even after all the repairs the car may never drive quite the same. So rather than try, the insurance company evidently wrote it off and paid the owner the insured value of the car. But now it's got the wrecked Bugatti on its hands, and is looking to offload it.
This early model, built in 2008, has the original version's 987-horsepower 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine, a fixed roof and a blue and black livery - unlike some more recent examples that have adopted a removable roof panel, employed a more powerful 1,184-hp engine and moved away from the original two-tone paint schemes. It's got nearly 20,000 miles on the odometer and would still require the better part of a million bucks to get it running again... at which point it could be worth more in spare parts, which surely don't come cheap from the manufacturer in Molsheim.
Alternatively, with bidding currently hovering around a quarter million, you could just get yourself a brand spankin' new Ferrari 458 Italia, Lamborghini Huracán or McLaren 650S and actually get to drive it without spending eight hundred grand on repairs. But if you were looking to pick up a Veyron on the cheap, regardless of condition, this could be your chance.

Check out the diverse ways Bugatti Divo customers are configuring their car

The limited-edition Bugatti Divo introduced in 2018 recently entered production after a development process that took two years. It made its debut in black with blue accents, and we've never seen it in another color — until now. Bugatti released computer-generated images of four Divo configurations commissioned by customers to illustrate the wide range of possibilities. One is painted in a shade of yellow inspired by the Type 55. Company founder Ettore Bugatti would love it; yellow was his favorite color, according to the firm. Another celebrates Bugatti's French roots with blue, white, and red accents inside and out, while a third wears a two-tone livery that highlights the Divo's meticulous design details as well as a contrasting blue exterior. Our favorite from the lot is a gray and blue car an anonymous customer chose because it's similar to the Chiron that's already part of his collection. These examples confirm there's no standard or right way to configure a Divo. Bugatti wants its loyal customers to view the car as a blank slate, and it noted over two-thirds of reservation holders decided to customize their car. Laure Beneteau, the carmaker's sales and operations manager, explained the sky is the limit when it comes to paint colors, upholstery types, and stitching patterns. She joined Bugatti in 2006 and has helped over 400 Veyron and 300 Chiron buyers configure their cars, so repeat customers trust (and value) her opinion. She's not about to see new faces, though; every collector who bought a Divo has at least one Chiron in his or her collection. Clients have the option of traveling to the company's picturesque headquarters in France and working with stylists to create a unique car. "Customers often have their own ideas, such as family crests, national flags, their own logos, or special color schemes. We then try to implement the ideas in technical terms. Some customers choose leather and color to match their handbag or their favorite pair of shoes," said Anne Beynat, Bugatti's sales coordinator. She added changes that would compromise the car's safety or alter the Bugatti logo are off-limits. Inside, customers can choose from many different types of leather. It can be new, vintage, thin, thick, perforated, or something else entirely.