Cayenne S Leather Navi Gps Black Grey Bluetooth V8 Low Miles Clean on 2040-cars

Auto blog

China bans military license plates on luxury autos

Driving a vehicle with a military license plate in China provides many privileges. Legally reserved for official vehicles only, the designation apparently allows drivers to enjoy special liberties on the roads, including breaking traffic laws, filling up with free fuel and receiving light-and-siren escorts through congested cities. So attractive are the benefits that there is a secondary market for used legal and counterfeit plates - especially among those wealthy enough to afford luxury cars. But all of that is reportedly coming to an end, as President Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission, is on a mission to fight corruption in his country.
A new license plate system goes into effect today, and it is designed to "maintain social harmony, stability and the reputation of the military," says the PLA Daily, the armed forces' official newspaper. While the abuse has been going on for many years, the internet has put the spotlight on the bad behavior, and the negative press does not represent the morals and true colors of the armed forces, say officials.
While military-plated Porsche drivers have been singled out as offenders, Bloomberg notes that all vehicles with engine displacements above 3.0 liters and with a sticker price in excess of about $73,000, will be banned from receiving military plates. This includes vehicles from Audi, Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln and the Volkswagen Phaeton. Even if drivers are savvy enough to circumvent the new issuing system, the military has put technology at toll gates to catch users of counterfeit plates. There has been no word on the punishment if caught.

Volkswagen names Piech's nieces to supervisory board

Volkswagen was left with two vacancies on its supervisory board after Ferdinand Piech and his wife Ursula were forced out a few days ago, and now it's filled them. Intriguingly, however, both of the new directors are Piech's nieces. The most obvious connection is Julia Kuhn-Piech, a real-estate professional who has sat on the board of VW's Man truck subsidiary since last year. Kuhn-Piech, 34, is the daughter of Ferdinand's younger brother Hans-Michel Piech (and by extension, niece of the ousted chairman). The other seat is being filled by Dr. Louise Kiesling, 57, a designer and daughter of Ferdinand's late older sister Louise Daxer-Piech. Keeping track of the lineage of the Porsche-Piech clan can be confusing, particularly with so many Ferdinands and Louises, but it breaks down essentially as follows: All are descended from Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the eponymous automaker and credited as the designer of the original Volkswagen Beetle. Porsche had a son and a daughter, the latter being Louise Porsche, who married Anton Piech and had four children: Ernst, Louise (mother of incoming board member Louise Kiesling), Ferdinand (the ousted chairman) and Hans Michel, father of the other incoming board member Julia Kuhn-Piech and a board member of both the Volkswagen Group and Porsche SE as well. The Piech and Porsche families control Porsche SE, which holds 50.7 percent of shares in the Volkswagen Group, which in turn owns Porsche the automaker. With all that in mind, appointing other members of the Piech-Porsche clan to the board follows logically enough - particularly since other members of the family helped oust Ferdinand from the chairmanship in the first place. The nominations, incidentally, also help VW increase its proportion of female board members. The two incoming Piechs will join Annika Falkengren of Swedish bank SEB and Babette Frohlich of the same IG Metall union as the board's interim chairman Berthold Huber. Wolfsburg, 30 April 2015 Dr. Louise Kiesling and Ms. Julia Kuhn-Piech appointed new members of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG Upon application by the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Dr. Louise Kiesling and Ms. Julia Kuhn-Piech were today appointed members of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG by Braunschweig Local Court with immediate effect. The appointments were made pursuant to Section 104 of the Aktiengesetz (German Stock Corporation Act) and were occasioned by the recent resignations of Prof. Ferdinand K.

Porsche celebrates 50 years of 911 with some excellent pics

The Porsche 911 is one of the most iconic sports cars of all time, and to celebrate the car's first 50 years, Porsche has released a stunning set of photos showing how far the 911 has come from the original back in 1963 to its current 991 generation. Unlike the recent 60-year photo spread that Chevrolet put together for the Corvette, though, Porsche's gallery only shows the original 911 and the current car.
Each time the 911 is redesigned, the car's front fenders, roofline and the shape of the side windows are key focal points. Even some of the interior cues have remained the same over the years, including the positioning of the ignition key on the left of the steering column and the five-gauge instrument cluster layout.
Scroll down for Porsche's press release breaking down the seven generations of the 911, and be sure to check out our gallery with plenty of high-res pics for you to download as a desktop wallpaper. In fact, we're providing these at 1920-pixels-wide instead of our usual 1280 wide. Enjoy!