Video: Mini responds to Porsche, still ready to race

Steven J. Ewing — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:59:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Hatchback, Mini, Porsche, Racing

Mini boss Jim McDowell responds to Porsche - Click above to watch the video after the jump

We'll be honest - we were rather excited to see how a race between a Mini Cooper S and Porsche 911 Carrera S would go down. After Mini initially challenged Porsche to a trackday showdown at Road Atlanta on June 21, Porsche declined, saying that it will "stick to racing the way we have over the decades," and welcomed Mini to attend any sanctioned race where "there is more at stake than t-shirts and valet parking spaces."

Mini has had a very impressive response to this challenge, and isn't giving up. Mini USA boss Jim McDowell has issued yet another message to Porsche Cars North America CEO Detlev Von Platen saying that they're willing to raise the stakes, offering prizes such as Justin Bieber concert tickets (including backstage passes!), a lifetime membership to the Salami Of The Month club or even a (slightly used) home gym, among other things. Excellent.

We love Mini's enthusiasm over this whole event, and as we understand, Mini is even flying a banner plane over Porsche's Atlanta, Georgia headquarters with the message "Dear Porsche, Bring it. Love, Mini." Seriously. You can keep up with the whole back-and-forth on Mini USA's Facebook page. In any case, with only one week until the supposed race day, we hope Porsche will saddle up for this duel, even though Mini hasn't specified what the Road Atlanta challenge(s) will be (it could be an egg-carrying race for all we know) and Stuttgart really doesn't appear to have much to gain by picking on the little kid. Top tip, Brett!

[Source: Mini Facebook]

Continue reading Video: Mini responds to Porsche, still ready to race

Video: Mini responds to Porsche, still ready to race originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Porsche exec insists that CAFE won't change automaker's character

Damon Lavrinc — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:27:00 EST

Filed under: Porsche

Porsche remains resolute in the face of the United States' proposed fuel economy standards. Speaking with Automotive News, Porsche's North American CEO, Detlev von Platen, made it clear that the automaker's plan for the future is to create the same compelling vehicles it has in the past, but its focus on fuel efficiency won't come at the expense of Porsche's products.

"We will make our cars more fuel efficient," von Platen told AN, "but it will not change our nature." As such, Porsche doesn't intend to produce smaller vehicles, nor will it look to diesels or small-displacement engines. Instead, it's bucking the trend set by BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz - which are about introduce a new range of diesel vehicles in the U.S. - by bringing the hybrid Cayenne, jointly developed with Volkswagen and Audi, to market towards the end of 2010. The NA exec goes on to say that none of Porsche's U.S. lineup is slapped with a gas-guzzler tax, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Association's proposed regulations will require Porsche's corporate average fuel economy to rise to 41.3 mpg in 2015. That means the 911 would need to exceed the current Toyota Camry's fuel economy numbers due to the coupe's footprint. Unfortunately, von Platen didn't divulge how the automaker would meet NHTSA's stringent demands. More turbos? Less weight? We should have a clearer idea by the turn of the decade.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Porsche exec insists that CAFE won't change automaker's character originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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