Airtex 5s1752 Crank Position Sensor on 2040-parts.com

Michael Mauer appointed head of design at Porsche

Porsche AG has anounced the appointment of Michael Mauer to take over as chief designer from Harm Lagaay, who will retire on July 1 after 15 years in the post. Michael Mauer, 41, studied automobile design at Pforzheim University, and started his career at Mercedes-Benz. In 1989, he was appointed design project leader for the Mercedes V Class models, and was in charge of design work for the first SLK model generation.

Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet (2012) first pics

These are the first official shots of the Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, which goes on sale in March 2012.  The convertible top still looks as if it was made of soft fabric, but it actually consists of three semi-rigid lightweight panels coated with a novel furry material, which conceals the cutlines. A fabric top layer finishes things off, and is claimed to be very soundproof, while the rear glass screen is heated and scratchproof. So the new Porsche 911 Cabriolet is a bit of a porker?

News watch July 2012: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Tuesday 31 July 2012•Porsche SE recorded a first half profit of €1.15bn, in comparison with €149m for the same period in 2011. The enormous jump has come not from directly selling cars, but from the group's investments in Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH and Volkswagen AG (Porsche SE)•Reuters suggests Germany's car market is in recession, but few outside the industry would know it, thanks to a controversial sales practice that inflates official statistics and paints a flattering picture of demand.