Creator of the first Porsche 911 was found dead, Thursday of unknown causes in Austria. The creator of first Porsche 911, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, was found dead Thursday, April 5, in Salzburg, Austria, at the age of 76 years.  Causes of death are unknown yet. German designer was born on December 11, in 1935 in Stuttgart, his parents being Dorothea and Ferry Porsche. His grandfather was even Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of company.

In 1957, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche or “Butzi”, as it was called by family, has enrolled at the School of Design, but only after a year he was expelled. Thus, in 1958, he joined Porsche and drew a successor to the 356.

After four years, took over leadership of the design department. In 1963 he completed Porsche 901 project, but because Peugeot had rights on “0″ particle, he had to change its name to 911.

Ford – PSA partnership will exclude large diesels

After more than 20 million diesel engines built together for 12 years, Ford and PSA ceases to work for manufacturing units larger than 2.0 liters.

In the past 12 years Ford and PSA have collaborated in developing diesel engines for which were made nearly 20 million engines. Recently, the two companies have announced that from now on won’t build anymore 2.0 liter diesel engines or higher, while the two builders are going to take different paths.

This decision does not apply to power units with a displacement between 1.4 and 1.6 liters, representing 70% of thrusters built in the 12 years of partnership. The first vehicles that will benefit from this change will be commercial vehicles that will be built after 2015.

French officials argue that this decision has no relation to the recent alliance between PSA and GM. U.S. group recently bought seven percent stake in French company and will build a common platform where will be manufactured several models of the two groups.

TUV (Technischer Uberwachungsverein) means the engineering controls from Germany. So the TUV statistics on 2011 can be considered a guide good enough for those who want second-hand cars from Germany.

By law, Technischer Uberwachungsverein organization (TUV) is required to publish once a year a detailed report about the roadworthiness of vehicles in circulation from Germany. Each car must pass of an inspection at 3 years after it was purchased, after which regular technical inspection takes place every two years.

Although the detailed report will be released only after several days, TUV made public the list of the most reliable cars on the old categories: those of three years, respectively those of 10-11 years. So if you are interested of a car used from Germany, you are directly interested to know who and what is in the top position of it.

The percentage from the top represents the percentage of top models that had to appear again at TUV technical inspection after was sent to the service to fix the various problems. The total number of tested cars by TUV in July 2010 – June 2011 is nearly of 7.8 million cars, so the results can be considered conclusive for reliability.

As you can see, the big surprise is the placing of the first position of a model not only Japanese, but with hybrid propultion: Toyota Prius. This was by far the car with the fewest problems reported to technical control. In fact, Toyota has three models in the Top 10, keeping more than a respectable reputation of reliable brand.

Mazda comes in this top with two models; Mazda2 is tied on the podium with the compact Toyota Auris. From the German brands, the best placed are Porsche, with the pair Boster/Cayman, followed by a van version of Golf, Volkswagen Golf Plus.

Here are the first photos of the new Porsche 911 Cabriolet version, which will be officially shown to the public at the Auto Show Detroit 2012 early next year. As it was expected, changes from Porsche 911 Coupe of the main design elements doesn’t exist, the car is differentiated only by the fabric roof.

New Porsche 911 Cabriolet comes, however, with an innovation in the soft-top, which gives it a more elegant look, but has an important contribution in terms of aerodynamics. The hood, of the new Porsche 911 Cabriolet shows as would be equipped with a hardtop – thanks to new ideas patented by German engineers.

The top and rear retractable roofs panels are made of composite plastic, the final form is more uniform, and looks much different than a regular soft-top. In addition, Porsche engineers estimate that the soft-top will last much better than soft-top while the laminated fabric, from the previous 911 convertible.

The rear window glass is also unique because it is directly bonded with a special resin material’s soft-top, which eliminates the problems of soundproofing, waterproofing and wind turbulence. The structure that is placed using the soft-top magnesium, giving the roof a very low mass.

The time for convertible the new Porsche 911 Cabrio amounts to only 11 seconds, and the maneuver can be done and went up to a speed of 60 km / h. New 911 Cabriolet comes standard with a wind deflector and cap’s soft-top is higher than the previous 911 convertible, being better designed in terms of aerodynamics.

In Germany, prices for the new Porsche 911 Cabrio version will be 100 532 to 350 hp Carrera (with 12.495 euro more than the coupe), respectively 114 931 euro for 400 hp Carrera S version (with more than 12 495 euro and Carrera S Coupe).

Porsche Panamera have emerged many tuning programs, including for the diesel version. Even though some would say that these photos that you test the resistance retinas stomach and is the result of changes proposed by Top Car Tuning, might be about something else. The Porsche Panamera rather leaves the impression that it has been in the kitchen of Lucifer, one day they find a cure against boredom.

The exterior was equipped with a package called Stingray GTR, and the components included are new bumpers, redesigned hood with ventilation holes and larger thresholds. In addition to the set of black wheels instead of standard emblems were attached some new custom. So far, the changes do not affect anything spectacular and only gives the impression that the car fell into the pitch of the boiler above said something and went there with some accessories.

Inside, the situation is changing. If a hypothetical fresh Pharaoh returned from a hunting crocodiles had seen the Panamera interior, would not have remained indifferent. In addition to white skin takes some of the interior and trunk, is also provided genuine crocodile leather on the dashboard, center console and armrest.

The guys from Top Car Tuning felt that is not enough to “attack” part of the fauna, so they decided to borrow some elements and the flora. Birch was detached from his environment and inserted inside the car only for visual and tactile comfort of occupants. Moreover, gold dominates on the surface of the buttons on the pedals to the roof and trunk anchor points. How much does this monument perfect uselessness? Only accessories are estimated at about 150,000 euro and the total price starts at 423,810 Euros.

7 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s say the people from Porsche that would have taken the new Porsche 911 to go through a lap on the famous Nurburgring circuit – where almost all manufacturers of sports cars on the track hunt the record. Previous-generation Porsche 911 (997) was, in its time, weaker by 13 seconds.

Not worth to talking about an official value, certified by sports bodies or even the Guinness Book, but is a time obtained during the test plant with the new 911 on Nurburgring. However, it is enough for the marketing department of the Germans to use this information as a “weapon” in favor of the Porsche 911.

The model that was obtained this time was a Porsche 911 Carrera S with sport suspension package which lowers the body by 20 mm, but the tires were standard. This means that the new 911 Carrera S with no special modifications, is as fast on Nurburgring as 911 GT3 racer based on the previous generation.

Interestingly, the Germans will thus highlight and input electronics, the model is equipped with the new Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control, as well as automatic gearbox with a dual-clutch PDK. The engine of the Carrera S is a boxer with 6-cylinder, 3.8 liters and 400 horsepower – while the GT3 has a 4.0 liter engine and 435 horsepower, plus more sporting settings.

However, there are many who argue that the 911 has a long time to catch the Nissan GT-R, whose record of 7:24 minutes is further challenged by Porsche. German officials say that the new 911 will receive a comprehensive racing program customization, including the chassis settings and carbon fiber components, so do not worry about the confrontation with Japanese rival.