2005 Chevy Cobalt Floor Center Console Gray 2597164 on 2040-parts.com

LaFerrari commanding £1 MILLION premium – and the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder attracting premiums too

LaFerrari commanding £1 MILLION premium Being at the top of the new owners list for a very desirable, and scarce, car can yield big benefits, and none more so recently than for Ferrari’s hypercar – the LaFerrari. Oracle Finance has been busy looking at the premiums being charged for desirable cars (and, presumably, willing to finance to premium too) and have discovered that those not on Ferrari’s VIP list – and therefore not invited to buy a LaFerrari from Maranello – are willing to pay a premium of £1 million to get their hands on Ferrari’s replacement for the Enzo. But it’s not just LaFerrari that’s commanding hefty premiums.

MG Rover – Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to investigate

The Rover 75 Coupe - one of MG Rover's last big ideas before its collapse in 2005 MG Rover was bought from BMW for the princely sum of £10 after BMW had had enough of trying to make a viable company out of a business that was still undermined by the woes – and attitudes – of the British Leyland years. That £10 purchase price also came with £425 million in loans from BMW, so MG Rover had a chance. But the collapse, and the subsequent sale of the rights to the MG trademark to SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation), brought accusations that the ‘Phoenix Four’ – Directors and owners of MG Rover – has acted fraudulently when it was revealed they had acquired more than £40 million in pension rights, salary and assets in the intervening five years between purchase from BMW and collapse.

Porsche 911 GT3 R hybrid back to racing in 2012

Porsche will return to the track in 2012 with the third generation of its rolling laboratory, the 911 GT3 R hybrid. The company continues to push its technology, noting its future in the sport. “There is no way around the hybrid technology in motorsport,” said Wolfgang Hatz, board member for research and development.