Toyota Aiming for Safer Vehicles

There are different ways that could result to death, if not due to old age, illness, murder, suicide then people are likely to be killed in motor vehicle accidents. This is also the very reason why car manufacturers are working hard to reduce casualties from accidents by placing crumple zones, safety cells, and of course driver/passenger airbags to increase protection. And so far these measures have been quite successful in lowering down the number of deaths and serious injuries for both front and rear collisions.

According to recent studies, nearly three quarters of serious side collisions end up in head and upper body injuries—these are the very same injuries that Toyota is trying to prevent. The second-world largest automaker has fitted their vehicles with side-impact airbags and curtain shield airbags which are offered as standard features for Japanese passenger cars. The automaker believes that such features reduces death due to side impacts by as much as 37 percent which is not bad considering the number of accidents that happen on the road everyday.

Toyota the maker of Lexus brakes in match with jaguar car cover has also recently announced that all of its new models that are to be launched soon including all the new passenger vehicle models in Japan would come equipped with side-impact reducing SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) side airbags for front seats and SRS curtain shield airbags.

In case of side collisions, an SRS side airbag that is placed into the front seat is triggered reducing the risk of upper body injury for front seat occupants. Similarly, the SRS curtain shield airbags that are located between the front pillars and the roof-side rails are also triggered protecting the sides of all occupants’ heads by forming a curtain-like barrier. This reduces the impact from the side windows, pillars and other internal objects and even from external objects that may struck the vehicle.

A study conducted in the United States has cited SRS side airbags and SRS curtain shield airbags as effective features in vehicles in reducing casualties from side collisions. These safety features reduces death by 37 percent. In Japan, such safety features have been able to lessen serious injuries to the head and upper body as well as death by 73 percent.

To further lessen injuries Toyota has been equipping a wide range of its vehicles with new airbags including SRS side airbags for the Celsior which was first launched in August of 1996. It has also introduced the world’s first ever SRS curtain shield airbags for the Progrès model which was launched in May of 1998.

To further its efforts, Toyota is planning to increase its traffic safety initiatives by developing safer vehicles and technologies, participating in the development of a safe traffic environment and promoting or sponsoring activities that will educate people in traffic safety which the automaker believes is also important in reducing road casualties.

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Nissan: No New Models Led to Drop in Profit

Nissan Motor, one of the top three Asian rivals---- together with Toyota the producer of Lexus brake pads in match with jeep axle and Honda, has recently announced that its profit dropped for the third consecutive quarter due to a decline in the domestic demand. Japan’s third largest automaker has been able to sell fewer light trucks in the US while paying more in taxes.

Nissan’s net income fall by 16 percent to ¥92.3 billion or $765 million for the previous three months this year ended June 30 from ¥110.2 billion a year earlier.

The reason why Nissan sold few vehicles domestically is because of the aging population, add to that the absence of new car models. While the sales of large vehicles fell due to the ever increasing prices of gasoline which reached $3 a gallon.

According to Takashi Aoki, a fund manager at Mizuho Asset Management, "Dropping domestic sales are pulling results down, while a worsening product mix worries me. As only the cheap cars like the Versa and Sentra seem to be selling well."

Last year Nissan’s Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn have scrapped the bonuses that are to be given to top executives including himself since the automaker has failed to reach its target not to mention profit fell for the first time in seven years.

Nissan has also not introduced any new car model in the domestic market for the last 16 months in which on the same period Toyota has introduced 11 new or redesigned models while Honda introduced three. Ghosn said that Nissan need to improve if it wants to remain competitive. He also added that the automaker should released new models on a more regular basis.

Last April, Ghosn has relinquished the supervision of North American operations giving him more time to focus in improving the performance of Nissan and Renault. The French vehicle manufacturer owns 44.3 percent of Nissan.

Three months inclusive June 30, Nissan together with Toyota and Honda has been able to benefit from the 5.3 percent drop in the value of the yen against the dollar. The yen dropped by 11.7 percent against the euro.

The company has also recap its full-year forecast stating that it will introduce 11 new or redesigned vehicles for this fiscal year. It also predicts that its new models will help in boosting net income by 4.2 percent higher than the ¥480 billion forecasted in the 12 months ending next March.

Revenue is also seen to fall by 1.6 percent to ¥10.3 trillion this fiscal year since the total for the earlier year was for 15 months sales in Europe and Mexico according to the company as it changed to accounting to a fiscal year. The carmaker’s operating profit for the quarter has also dropped by 3.2 percent to ¥148.4 billion while vehicle sales increase by 5.9 percent to 875,000.

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Titan Poker to Award $100,000 Porsche Cayman S Sports Car, $50,000

Titan Poker, one of the most prominent online poker rooms on the Internet, is staging a World Challenge Tournament series – country and regional leagues, culminating in a Main Event with a top prize of a Porsche Cayman S sports car, which costs $100,000, and $50,000 in guaranteed cash prizes. Porsche is the maker of quality car parts such as Porsche 924 parts in match with that of integra body kit and other accessories.

In order to qualify for the World Challenge Tournament, the players must first compete against their countrymen in Country Qualifier Leagues before playing against the best online poker players in the world in the Regional Qualifiers. The top 50 players will get the opportunity to play in the World Challenge Main Event Tournament.

The winner of the Main Event will be named as Titan Poker World Champion and receive a Porsche Cayman S Sports Car at a cost of $100,000. There will be no losers because participating players in the Main Event will finish in the money, sharing in a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The World Challenge Tournament is just one of the several big cash promotions offered by Titan Poker. Titan Poker is indeed some kind of a luxury poker room as it currently guarantees, well, just more than $6,000,000 in monthly tournament prizes.

How are players drawn? They are drawn to Titan Poker's popular daily, weekly and monthly huge cash tournaments, and to Titan Poker's special jackpot sit 'n' go tournaments with progressive prizes and jackpots as soaring as $270,000.

The well known online poker room will stage a $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Tournament on September 9, wherein winning players will share in a million dollar prize pool. Titan Poker also regularly awards its players with seats at the most well-known poker tournaments in the world such as the Aussie Millions in Australia, the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, and the upcoming World Series of Poker Europe in London this September.

About Titan Poker
Titan Poker is the leader in online poker room in Europe and part of the iPoker Network. Titan Poker's software was developed by Playtech, which is a public company as well as a leading gaming software developer. Titan Poker guarantees a whopping more than $6,000,000 in monthly prizes and awards winning players with entries to the major poker tournaments worldwide. Visit http://www.titanpoker.com/ for more information about Titan Poker.

The pokers rooms are really rich, are they not? Well, we just have to wait for the news to come as to who will be the lucky poker player who will bring home the $100,000 Porsche Cayman S sports car – lucky player indeed!

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Porsche N.A names TransSyberian Rally Teams

To compete in one of the world's most difficult rally events, the 2007 TransSyberian Rally, Porsche Cars of North America (PCNA) will be fielding three specially prepared Cayennes. Beginning August 3, and covering 3,850 miles of forest, desert, mountains, and plains, the route will pit the Cayennes against 47 other entrants on the 15 day expedition from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.

The 2008 Porsche Cayenne S TransSyberia vehicles used for the rally have had a set of special safety equipment added in preparation for the rally. Based on the standard Cayenne S, the race vehicles remain mechanically identical to their street-bound parent right down to the stock 4.8-liter, 385 horsepower V-8 engine. Each participant is fitted with a full rollcage along with racing-style seatbelts, auxiliary lighting, and skid plates, among other features.

The rally will be composed of two teams from the U.S. and one from Canada. Meaning, the three entrants will be divided into three separate teams with two drivers on each team. Rod Millen, Jeff Zwart, and Paul Dallenbach -- all former winners in various disciplines, are among the employed drivers for the event.

The North American teams will compete against entries from Europe, South and Central America and Asia, including other teams driving Porsche Cayenne S TransSyberias.

Visit www.porsche.com/all/Transsyberia2007/international.aspx for more information on the TransSyberian Rally or the Porsches entrants.

The team lineups from Porsche include Team USA 1, Team USA 2, and Team Canada.

Team USA 1 is composed of Rod Millen and Richard Kelsey. Millen has won rally championships on three continents. He has reached a class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona and led the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Racing series winning the truck title three years in a row. He is also a multi-time overall winner of the famous Pike's Peak Hill Climb. Kelsey has won both as a driver and co-driver at the Baja 1000, The Pike's Peak Hill Climb and the SCCA National Rally Championship.

Team USA 2 is composed of Jeff Zwart and Paul Dallenbach. Between the two, the team has accumulated nine overall and class championships at the Pike's Peak Hill Climb, the 2nd oldest race in the U.S. Moreover, Zwart has been a U.S. Open Class PRO Rally champion and a class-winner at the abhorrent Baja 1000. Meanwhile, Dallenbach is a three-time winner of the Alcan Rally and a racer in almost every professional road-race series in SCCA and IMSA.

Team Canada is composed of Kees Nierop and Laurance Yap. Nierop has bagged the overall win in the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring aside from many other endurance racing wins. He was a Rothman's Porsche Cup champion, and co-drove the Porsche 961 (the racing version of the iconic Porsche 959) for the factory team. Yap is an award-winning journalist and photographer from Toronto, Canada who writes for publications like Driven, the Toronto Star and CanadianDriver.Com.

Aside from producing quality Porsche boxter parts in match with that of ingen cold air intake. Porsche has also proven their worth in the field of racing.

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Porsche Bags 4th Straight Wins

As Penske drivers Ryan Briscoe and Sascha Maassen claimed the manufacturer’s fourth-straight overall win, both being second in a row, in a thrill-a-minute race around Lime Rock Park’s cramped confines, Porsche maintained its winning round in the American Le Mans Series.

With the late introduced 2007-spec LMP2 air restrictors, Porsche’s RS Spyder lost 5 percent of its engine power for this race. Nonetheless, it was still the car to have around the 1.54-mile Connecticut venue. The LMP1 Audi R10s, which was much heavier, weren’t at home on the narrow and bouncy circuit. Moreover, Porsche appeared to extend its advantage over its Acura LMP2 rivals.

The second Penske Porsche mainly led the two-hour, 45-minute race. Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard led the first two hours. But the latter was caught behind two slower cars.

After both cars went off track, the Audis ended up nowhere. Allan McNish spun twice avoiding a slower prototype. As a result, he ended up fifth overall along with co-driver Rinaldo Capello. Marco Werner crashed the other R10 massively.

Ahead of Chevrolet Corvette teammates Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen, Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin won GT1. Their winning was essentially decided when Beretta ended up 0.01 second quicker in free practice, given that overtaking between the two cars was banned, before rain that canceled qualifying.

Porsche got its first ALMS GT2 victory of the season over Ferrari. The three F430 GTs of the race came together in one incident, thus allowing the Flying Lizard Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister and Johannes van Overbeek to win the class.

Porsche is not only dedicated to building ordinary cars or Porsche 911 parts in match with that of jeep catalytic converter. It also indulges in racing activities.

The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) gave all drivers and teams since 1999 the probability to compete for a whole racing season with the legendary 24-hour race of Le Mans. The ALMS regulations, which are issued by IMSA (International Motor Sports Association), are based on the long-distance classic. These are the two prototypes and two GT classes drive at the same time in a single race; meaning, the spectators watch four races in one. Year after year the ALMS satisfy its fans with enthusiasm due to the presence of many notable manufacturers and prominent drivers at this very open and attractive race series. One of the many manufacturers is Porsche.

Porsche got a double champion in the 2006 season. It succeeded as the first manufacturer to win the championship title in two different classes. Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr won the manufacturer’s class, while team (Penske Motorsports) and driver titles were won in the LMP2 class. In, Jörg Bergmeister won the manufacturer’s and driver titles in the 911 GT3 RSR (996) in the GT2 class.

The 2007 racing calendar has been increased from ten to twelve races. Porsche will face this challenge with the advanced RS Spyder, 911 GT3 RSR (997) models and several top class teams, including Penske Racing, Dyson Racing, Flying Lizard, Tafel Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing.

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HNWIs Rank 'Luxury Collectibles' as Top 'Investments of Passion'

The 2007 World Wealth Report, issued recently by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, reveals “investments of passion” have become an important allocation as the world’s 9.5 million High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) develop an increasingly more global outlook with varying interests. Luxury collectibles (automobiles, boats, aircraft), jewelry, art, sports-related investments (professional teams, sailing, race horses) and other collectibles categories (wines, antiques, coins, etc.) are the so-called “investments of passion”.

Ranking first in the report was the luxury collectibles with more than 26% of all HNWIs investments of passion in 2006. Luxury collectibles became a top seller over the last year, with collectors buying classic automobiles and private aircraft, as wealth continued to concentrate in the hands of the Ultra-HNWIs.

Porsche is one of the considered luxury car makers in the auto industry. It is yet to find out whether Porsche 914,are considered luxury collectibles in match with that of index.

Bertrand Lavayssière, Group Director of Capgemini Financial Services, said HNWIs have obtained a wide knowledge of many cultures into a varying set of interests and hobbies. He continued that other than portfolio returns, socially responsible investing, global diversification, and an increased focus on philanthropy, investments of passion has become yet another objective that HNWIs integrates when assessing their overall goals and are developing wealth management strategies.

The report also shows the art market having 20% of HNWIs allocations is second in the category of investments of passion. Art has become a very popular commodity and many wealthy investors now perceive paintings, drawings and sculpture as viable vehicles for diversifying their portfolios given the low interdependence between art prices and the market cyclicality of stocks, bonds and real estate.

Having 16% allocation to this luxury market, jewelry followed third in the rank. Among the investments of passion, jewelry showed greater geographic variations. Last year, this category was most popular with Middle Easterners, who put 32% of their investments of passion into jewelry. In contrary, Europeans, Latin Americans and North Americans each allocated less than 20%.

As investments of passion pursue great interest to HNWIs, the cost of luxury goods and services increased about twice as fast as the cost of everyday consumer products in 2006.

The Report compares the consumption of luxury goods and the everyday consumer products. The cost of the luxury items tracked by the Forbes’ Cost of Living Extremely Well Index (CLEWI)¹ climbed 7.0% while the cost of consumer goods and services, oversaw by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), climbed 4.0%. Therefore, a significant increase is represented in relative inflation of luxury goods over 2005, when the CLEWI rose 4.0% and the CPI by 3.6%.

The Report deduces that the growing buying power of emerging market HNWIs will pursue to force demand for lifestyle and luxury brands. However, this growth carries with it the risk that as the number of HNWIs interested in investments of passion primarily intended for financial gain increases, the possibility that these items will become overvalued also increases. Financial service firms will have to properly do their tasks.

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Reminiscing 'Porsche Pete'

To compete in one of the world's most difficult rally events, the 2007 TransSyberian Rally, Porsche Cars of North America (PCNA) will be fielding three specially prepared Cayennes. Beginning August 3, and covering 3,850 miles of forest, desert, mountains, and plains, the route will pit the Cayennes against 47 other entrants on the 15 day expedition from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.

The 2008 Porsche Cayenne S TransSyberia vehicles used for the rally have had a set of special safety equipment added in preparation for the rally. Based on the standard Cayenne S, the race vehicles remain mechanically identical to their street-bound parent right down to the stock 4.8-liter, 385 horsepower V-8 engine. Each participant is fitted with a full rollcage along with racing-style seatbelts, auxiliary lighting, and skid plates, among other features.

The rally will be composed of two teams from the U.S. and one from Canada. Meaning, the three entrants will be divided into three separate teams with two drivers on each team. Rod Millen, Jeff Zwart, and Paul Dallenbach -- all former winners in various disciplines, are among the employed drivers for the event.

The North American teams will compete against entries from Europe, South and Central America and Asia, including other teams driving Porsche Cayenne S TransSyberias.

Visit www.porsche.com/all/Transsyberia2007/international.aspx for more information on the TransSyberian Rally or the Porsches entrants.

The team lineups from Porsche include Team USA 1, Team USA 2, and Team Canada.

Team USA 1 is composed of Rod Millen and Richard Kelsey. Millen has won rally championships on three continents. He has reached a class win at the 24 Hours of Daytona and led the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Racing series winning the truck title three years in a row. He is also a multi-time overall winner of the famous Pike's Peak Hill Climb. Kelsey has won both as a driver and co-driver at the Baja 1000, The Pike's Peak Hill Climb and the SCCA National Rally Championship.

Team USA 2 is composed of Jeff Zwart and Paul Dallenbach. Between the two, the team has accumulated nine overall and class championships at the Pike's Peak Hill Climb, the 2nd oldest race in the U.S. Moreover, Zwart has been a U.S. Open Class PRO Rally champion and a class-winner at the abhorrent Baja 1000. Meanwhile, Dallenbach is a three-time winner of the Alcan Rally and a racer in almost every professional road-race series in SCCA and IMSA.

Team Canada is composed of Kees Nierop and Laurance Yap. Nierop has bagged the overall win in the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring aside from many other endurance racing wins. He was a Rothman's Porsche Cup champion, and co-drove the Porsche 961 (the racing version of the iconic Porsche 959) for the factory team. Yap is an award-winning journalist and photographer from Toronto, Canada who writes for publications like Driven, the Toronto Star and CanadianDriver.Com.

Aside from producing quality auto parts like that of ingen cold air intake, Porsche has also proven their worth in the field of racing.

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Nissan Opens new FQC, Recalls over 140,500 Altima Sedans

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced in July 11 the official opening of a state-of-the-art field quality centre (FQC) at the Nissan Technical Centre Europe in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, UK.

Built at a cost of 4.5 million euros (US$6.13 million (i)), the new facility will be Europe’s leader in product quality improvement and will also centralize responsibilities which were previously handled by several functions that were disseminated throughout the continent.

Russell Crossan, general manager of quality for Nissan Europe, said that putting up the FQC at Cranfield enhances their company’s ability to work cross-functionally and quickly develops countermeasures to vehicle quality issues in Europe.

FQC engineers will reproduce the concern experienced by customers in the market through the use of parts which are directly collected from dealerships. They will then lead teams drawn from development, manufacturing and suppliers to name the root causes and develop "right first time" countermeasures.

The center will have a total staff of 46, as well as guest engineers from supplier partners who will work with the FQC to enhance parts quality. It will work closely with Nissan's new state-of-the-art field quality center which opened last week in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, as well as Nissan's two FQC facilities in the US. This will be done in order to improve Nissan's global standard of quality and contribute to higher customer satisfaction at the optimum level.

Nissan Motor Co. is also recalling more than 140,500 Altima sedans because the air filter can catch fire if it touches a hot object such as cigarette ash.

The Japanese auto maker said that the recall involved 140,582 Altimas from the 2007 model year. Spokesman Tony Pearson said last Wednesday that the company has received reports of four fires but no injuries.

Nissan told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which posted the recall notice last Monday on its Office of Defect Investigation Web site that the filter may ignite if a certified hot object enters into the air-intake system.

Owners were notified in July 3, and dealers are replacing the air filters. The recall is expected to pursue through October 1, and owners with questions may call Nissan at (800) 647-7261.

About Nissan Motor Company and the SHIFT_ principle

Nissan is a Japanese car maker and maker of Nissan frontier parts in match with that of husky floor mats, whose philosophy revolves on a single word – SHIFT_.

According to the company web site, the SHIFT_ principle implies that the company is not afraid to take the lead or to stretch the boundaries in wider and better directions.

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BMW Launches 1 Series in South Africa

BMW has already released its 1 Series in South Africa with the three-door model. Minor changes were made to car’s exterior styling with a design update done for the front lights, air intake, fog lights, front and rear air damps and the kidney grille. Aside from that the bumpers and tail lights were also new.

BMW has also enhanced the interior form and finish of the 1 Series. But the big news is not on the enhancements although it simply cannot be denied the effect that they would have on the 1 Series. The remarkable news is the introduction of the three-door model which is offered as 130i, 120i, and 118i derivatives.

The 130i model is given the BMW’s straight-six 3-liter petrol engine with double VANOS and Valvetronic. Its maximum output is 195 kW with torque at 35 Nm while its average fuel consumption is 9.2 liters/100km. It can also sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in a matter of 6 seconds and reach a top speed of 250 km/h but electronically limited. The average fuel consumption to the EU standard is 9.2 liter/100 km.

On the other hand, the 120i produces 115 kW with maximum torque of 200Nm and a fuel consumption figure of 7.9 liters/100km. The power for the 118i is 100kW with torque of 180Nm and according to BMW this particular model has a fuel consumption of 7.4 liters/100km.

The German luxury car maker and producer of high quality BMW 323ic parts,in match with hurst shifters and other accessories. BMW has its lineup for the five-door remains unchanged however the automaker has improved the 120d engine giving it more power and a much better fuel consumption. All these are courtesy of the modifications done on the combustion chambers, in the air guidance system, the turbocharger with variable turbine geometry, and of course the common-rail fuel injection.

The aluminum crankcase was also a big help since it significantly reduces the overall weight of the engine. This four-cylinder diesel revs up a maximum output of 25 kW and a peak torque of 340 Nm--- recording an increase in power of torque by 10 kW and 10 Nm respectively. The increase in power guarantees acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in just matter of 7.6 seconds.

The average fuel consumption under the EU standard is down to 5.5 liters for 100 kilometers.

All of BMW’s Series models are offered with a six-speed manual gearbox with six-speed automatic transmission offered as standard feature. The Steptronic function is offered as an option or as a standard feature depending on the model. Active steering is offered on the 130i and 120d derivatives.

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Theissen Awaits Further BMW Progress

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen positively anticipates that his team's rate of progress in Formula One will continue after already emerging as Ferrari and McLaren's closest contenders this year.

Although he has already admitted that contending for wins on pure pace will be impossible in 2007, Theissen has seen his team become the third best in F1 this season and that development work at their Hinwil factory could change that scenario for next year.

Theissen said that they have every reason to be satisfied with what they have so far achieved. He added that their target for this year was to make it onto the podium on their own caliber.

According to him, Nick Heidfeld already managed that merit in Montreal with his second place, at the same time claiming their best individual result so far. Theissen is also confident that this will not be their last podium finish this year.

With intense firmness, he said that they have vividly established themselves as the third strongest team and that they have no intention of discontinuing that position in the remaining races of the season.

Theissen reviews that they have already notched up 56 points for 2007 and last year they finished the season with 36. Thus, he said that they have come away from every Grand Prix with points.

Furthermore, he continued that he is particularly pleased with all of those since they have not yet completed their two-year development phase. He adds that the Hinwil factory extension won't be ready until the end of the year and that's when they will be operating at full power.

About BMW

Along with its automotive concerns, the BMW Group is composed of the development, production and marketing of automobiles, and motorcycles. It is also into financial services.

The BMW Group is the sole car maker in the world to pursue a purely premium strategy for all market sectors covered by its brands, from exclusive smaller cars to top-of-the-range luxury limousines. Its car brands include BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The Group also manufactures quality BMW 318ti parts in match with hurst line lock and other accessories...

As to motorcycles, BMW also uses “premium” as the key word. The Group’s strategy is to develop and build the best motorcycles, set standards in connection with technology, environmental protection and safety, and provide outstanding customer service in the pre- and after-sales phases.

The Group also perceives financial services as a key factor for success in today's mobile world. It provides financing and leasing, asset management, dealer financing and company car pools services.

Other business interests include insurance (Bavaria Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH), IT consulting and systems integration (Softlab GmbH).

BMW is also into motorsport. The BMW Sauber F1 Team looks back on a successful British Grand Prix with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finishing fourth and sixth respectively. With this result, the BMW Sauber F1 Team garnered another eight World Championship points to the team's tally and maintained its position as third power on the Formula One grid.

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Material Girl's BMW 7-Series for sale at Auto Trader

Are you a big fan of Madonna? If you are, then this is your chance to have one of her cars. The original Material Girl Madonna is currently putting her BMW 7-Series on sale at Auto Trader.

Madonna is the only owner of this 2002 BMW 745 Li, loaded with a range of luxury features and quality auto components just like the hotchkis sway bar which is not really surprising, first of all because it’s a BMW and second it’s owned by the Queen of Pop who wants nothing more but the best.

Anyway, Madonna’s 2002 BMW 745 Li is powered by a 4.4 liter V8 and produces 333bhp and 332 lb-ft of pulling power. It can also sprint from 0 to 62 mph (100kph) in a matter of 6.3 seconds before running out of puff at an electronically limited 155 mph.

Inside the 2.5 ton monster which cost $61,000 when brand new is a fitted sat-nav, TV, air conditioning, Nappa leather seats and all-round electrics.

Madonna’s BMW sits on 19-inch alloys and features anti-lock brakes, traction control, and six airbags. Madonna is one of the world’s biggest female artists with a massive chart success over the past 20 years.

Madonna has also recently headlined the Live Earth gig at the Wembley stadium which is an event organized by the former US presidential candidate Al Gore with the objective of highlighting climate change.

Unfortunately, Madonna’s BMW is not the greenest vehicle on earth. Its large V8 engine has a combined fuel economy of 24.4 mpg and emits 280g/kmof carbon dioxide requiring it an annual tax bill of £300 per year.

The Material Girl’s BMW is not the first car featured on Auto Trader belonging to a musical royalty. For the past six months or so cars owned by Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Pete Townshend, and Frank Sinatra have all appeared on Auto Trader.

Even Madonna’ husband, film director Guy Ritchie’s BMW M5 is on the site.

Guy Ritchie who married Madonna the Queen of Pop in 2000 was the first owner of the 2001 M5 before finally passing it on to another member of the UK film industry last August 2003.

Ritchie’s BMW M5 is powered by a 5-liter V8 engine that revs up 400 bhp. The M5 can sprint from 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) in a matter of 4.9 seconds before hitting an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph.

Ritchie’s five-door M5 enters the supercar territory dominated by Porsche 911 and Ferrari F430 with a top speed of 186 mph. Inside the M5 is a sat-nav, TV, climate control, heated seats, and a six-CD sound system. Its other features include ABS, traction control, rear parking sensors, and a six-speed manual gearbox.

It has covered just 36,000 miles. The M5’s black motor boasts of full BMW service history.

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