'Jag-Landy deal in 2 weeks'

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 06 March 2008 18:50 It was the story that never happened. Rival media reported that the Jaguar/Land Rover sale would be completed at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this week, but CAR Online spoke to executives close to the deal who said it wouldn’t be for another couple of weeks.‘We didn’t want to over-shadow the products at the show, but to be honest the deal just isn’t done yet,’ said our insider. He said the paperwork and epic detail required on a deal of this scale had created new delays – and revealed that the 4-5 March date had been leaked from the unions, not Ford or Tata.

First Sight: BMW Zagato Coupé

"I've been looking for a way to collaborate with Zagato and Nori [Norihiko Harada, Chief Designer Zagato] for around 20 years," explains Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design as we stand in the shadow of the magnificent Villa Erba. "Last year at this event we had a conversation and decided that it was the right time to do something." BMW and Zagato both have history associated with the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este – Europe's most glamorous car show – yet until last weekend the two illustrious names had never crossed paths. The BMW Zagato Coupé marks the first project between the two and the first Italian-designed car to wear the blue and white propeller since the 2003 Bertone Birusa.

Historic first Porsche P1 electric vehicle goes on display

In what at first glance appears to be a blatant attempt to upset McLaren’s SEO – that’s Search Engine Optimisation – a Porsche P1 model has been announced. But this is no fearsome new 1,000hp rival to McLaren’s P1 hypercar (after all, Porsche already has one of those). Rather, the Porsche P1 actually dates from 1898, and produces just 3hp.