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Porsche CEO likely to bow to pressure to leave, report says

Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking is likely to bow to pressure from the Porsche family to step down, a German newspaper report said on Wednesday. Business daily Handelsblatt said that the two parties had already reached agreement that the chief executive should go and that a formal decision could come by Thursday, when the company's supervisory board meets. The newspaper also said, however, that Wiedeking would fight to keep his job.

PRE-WAR CARS MAY GET MOT TEST EXEMPTION

PRE-WAR vehicles may have their requirement for an annual MoT test removed, it has been suggested. A meeting between Transport Minister Mike Penning and members of the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group, led by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, has resolved to address the issue. The extremely low accident rate for such vehicles, the vast majority of which are kept in pristine condition by avid collectors, means there is little need for a MoT test, the group argued.

BMW set to go front-wheel drive

BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer has confirmed that the German carmaker will introduce a new front-wheel-drive entry-level model positioned and priced below the existing 1-series as part of plans to help increase part sharing and to bolster the potential for production savings between the BMW and Mini brands, thus bringing an end to the era of rear- and four-wheel-drive-only BMW models. Speaking to AutoWeek at the Geneva motor show, Reithofer said internal BMW studies revealed that despite the downturn in the world's economy, there was continued demand for what he described as "premium vehicles" in the small-car class, before officially acknowledging plans that will see BMW produce a rival to the recently unveiled Audi A1 and a new Smart Forfour presently under development at Mercedes-Benz. "We will be extending the BMW and Mini brands into the small-car segment with new models and variants," he said.