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Last summer of speed?

If you want to enjoy driving on the unlimited-speed German autobahn, you might want to get in gear. If the opposition Social Democratic Party wins in this September's elections, party leader Sigmar Gabriel promises to form a coalition with the Green Party -- and both say they'll limit autobahn speeds to 120 kmh (about 75 mph), the German publication Bild is reporting. Not so fast, says the SDP's actual candidate for German chancellor, Peer Steinbrueck, who said he saw “no reason” to reignite the long-running debate over autobahn speeds, Bild reported.

Petersen museum executive director to retire

The executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum is retiring after a 12-year-run at the helm of one of the nation's preeminent car collections. Richard Messer is stepping down to concentrate on other business interests. He will be replaced by Buddy Pepp on June 15.

VW Taigun: It’s an Up! SUV

Volkswagen has revealed the VW Taigun at the Sao Paulo Motor Show in Brazil, a very compact SUV based on the VW Up! The Taigun is 3859mm long and 1728mm wide, making it a chunk smaller than the next VW SUV up (the Tiguan) and smaller even than Nissan’s Juke, but it gets an extra 50mm in the wheelbase compared to the Up so interior room looks decent. Vw say the Taigun is purposely designed to look just like a mini-me Tiguan or Touareg (and sound like one too) with its very similar styling, high ride height, skid plates and roof rails with an interior that offers room for four and enough spce for 280 litre of stuff in the boot (a plentiful 987 litres with the back seats folded).