Volkswagen Makes Virtual Roadster Real

GERMAN car maker Volkswagen has turned the virtual world into reality, as it unveiled its GTI Roadster concept at the famous Woerthersee GTI meeting in Austria recently. The GTI Roadster was originally created as a purely electronic car, to feature in the Sony PlayStation 3 classic, Gran Turismo 6. The result of cooperation between Volkswagen and Sony, the GTI Roadster is the work of three young Volkswagen designers, winners of an in-house competition to design a vehicle to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo game.

Brian Wilson to perform at Petersen fundraiser

The annual Petersen Automotive Museum's fundraising event on May 7 promises to be fun, fun, fun when Beach Boy Brian Wilson and his band take the stage. The rock-'n'-roll icon is scheduled to play for an hour as part of the museum's largest charity event of the year, proceeds from which benefit the 501(c)(3) institution. The Beach Boys had a lot of car-themed hits, including "409," "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Fun, Fun, Fun." (AutoWeek trivia: The Deuce Coupe featured on the cover of the album of the same name belonged to Clarence "Chili" Catallo, whose son, the successful and powerful advertising executive Curt Catallo, once was a lowly editorial assistant at AutoWeek).

Ferrari sales drop off a cliff

And there’s us thinking Ferrari was immune to the chaos that’s beset car makers all over the world. It’s been revealed that Ferrari’s sales in November dropped by a colossal 85% to just 92 cars, from a normal monthly production of around 600. How can this be?