Today, the 15 millionth Passat produced throughout the world rolled off the assembly line at Volkswagen’s Emden plant. Official DKMS ambassador Sybille Beckenbauer accepted the vehicle as a donation from Prof. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Pavel Vacek, plant manager at Emden and Peter Jacobs, Chairman of the Works Council of Emden plant. The car is a Passat Variant BlueMotion 1.9 TDI 105 HP in arctic blue silver metallic.

The Passat is one of the most successful models in Volkswagen history and also one of the most popular mid-size models in Europe. Heizmann stated: “Fifteen million Passats produced in 34 years are a fantastic result which everyone at Emden can take pride in together with all the other members of the Passat family at plants throughout the world”.

Plant manager Pavel Vacek added: “This round figure has a very special significance for our plant. Of the 15 million Passats produced in total, 5.9 million were made in Emden. This indicates the strategic importance of the model as a symbol for Emden plant and the whole region.” On the presentation of the vehicle in Emden, Sybille Beckenbauer stressed the importance of the charitable work of the German Bone Marrow Donor Center: The Passat donated to the organization will be employed in the large number of campaigns organized by the DKMS.

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The project for a Ferrari Park is finally coming true. It will be inaugurated in 2009, and will include a whole new circuit, which will be the home of the first Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix in the same year.

A Foundation Stone Ceremony was held today to celebrate the start of construction of one of the most anticipated amusement parks in the world. Special guests in attendance for today’s event included Ferrari’s President Luca di Montezemolo and Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Chairman of ALDAR Properties.

During the ceremony a capsule containing a piston and a conrod from the F2007 engine, have been buried underground and will be disinterred in 2047, in occasion of Ferrari’s 100th anniversary. The park will offer a number of different attractions displaced on a 250.000 sqm area, 80.000 of which will be covered.

Continue reading: Ferrari Theme Park in Abu Dhabi

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The Ma-Fra sexy car wash tour has just started, and will be hosted by car-washes all over Italy.

The Ma-Fra “starlets” will be washing cars in their own fashion, as you can see.

Continue reading: Sexy Car Wash Tour

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Dodge’s attempt to get into Europe involves not only viral ads, but also girls in hot-pants with branded tied off shirts dancing and pouring water on each other at the Madrid Auto Show. I’m sure it attracted attention on the floor …

Auto Motor und Sport has a two image galleries with the girls from Madrid: the other auto-makers were way more discreet.

Continue reading: Dodge Girls in Madrid

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Nice Concept Truck from Fiat: the Ducato Truckster concept, will be shown in Madrid, together with the new Ducato Van, the mainstay of Fiat’s Commercial Vehicles division.

The style is modern and “exuberant”, thanks to a design which accentuates the concept of sporting performance applied to a commercial vehicle, with features like 28 inch wheels, LED headlights, hydraulically-controlled gullwing doors, smoked glass windows and an aerodynamic spoiler. The interiors have also been given the same sporty feel, emphasising its “road racer” personality.

No word on whether the truckster has an engine to match its appearance.

Continue reading: Fiat Ducato Truckster

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Whoa! Talk about sang-froid: look at this video and marvel at the pilot’s maneuver at the end of the climb, when he starts to roll-over.
Via | Motorpasion

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Because behind every feature of a car there’s always the human touch. I don’t know if I’d like to seat on those carseats, though …
Via | Motorpasion

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Almost historical, this video, but always impressive: the unlucky Mercedes CLR flipping over in Le Mans. Three of them flipped over in the course of a week, causing the withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz from the race and the shelving of the CLR project. SpeedTV has the whole story [Via Jalopnik]

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As promised, a second installmente of the Geneva Girls!

Continue reading: Girls of the Geneva Auto Show - part 2

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The Shelby Cobra 427 might be the queen of replicas. But what happens if a german firm decides it wants to build the “ultimate version ?”

What happens is the Weineck Cobra 780CUI Limited Edition.

780 cui (cubic inches) mean 12,9 liters of capacity, for this monstruos V8 engine. Torque is 1.760 Nm at 5,600 rpm. Power output is 1,100 hp at 7,000 rpm. The power to weight ratio is 0,9 Kg / hp.

Weinbeck doesn’t even bother declaring acceleration data from 0-100 km/h. From 0-200 km/h the Ultimate takes only 4.9 seconds, from 0-300 km/h it takes only 10 s !!!

Interested ? Better hurry: “Limited Edition” means only 15 will be produced.

Continue reading: Weineck Cobra 780CUI Limited Edition

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