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Porsche 959 prototype to cross the block at Barrett-Jackson

When Professor Helmuth Bott arrived at the fledgling Porsche sports-car company in 1952, he was in his late 20s. The young engineer's first assignment was setting up a gearbox test stand for the company's new all-syncromesh Type 519 transaxle. Thirty-one years later, he gave the go-ahead for the development of a car that was to be the ultimate bleeding edge of what Porsche knew about building a rear-engined sports car.

Who's Where: BMW announces personnel changes in top design positions

BMW's latest internal reshuffle has seen Domagoj Dukec appointed as head of exterior design, Martina Starke as head of color and material design and Oliver Heilmer as head of interior design. Dukec, a Pforzheim graduate, has previously worked for Volkswagen and Citroën where he played a key role in developing a new Citroën aesthetic with the C4 coupé, C5 Airscape, C5 (Mark II), Hypnos and GQ Concept. Since moving to BMW's exterior design team in 2010 he has been credited with the design of the Concept Active Tourer.

Automakers trail in the great gizmo race

A customer at Rockland Toyota in suburban New York recently asked why he couldn't recharge his cell phone through the USB port built into the otherwise sophisticated Toyota Venza crossover. Evan Kuperman, the dealership's assistant general manager, took a deep breath. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled.