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New July 2009 issue of CAR Magazine

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 20 May 2009 12:15 CAR Magazine's new July 2009 issue of CAR Magazine is now on sale. This magazine has a Nurburgring slant to it, as we end the pub argument once and for all: which is faster around the 'Ring, the Porsche 911 or Nissan GT-R? Plus we drive all the month's key debutants and bag a handful of exclusive stories you won't read anywhere else.

Alan Mulally spells out the future

Ford CEO Alan Mulally is famously on-message, handing out business-card-size versions of his business plan to all and sundry, including his “One Ford” mantra. “One Ford” covers a lot of ground, but it's shorthand for Ford becoming a single entity where the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. It's close kin to the concept of building global product platforms that spread costs for product development and parts over the greatest possible volume.

Aston Martin Rapide coming home

Aston Martin Rapide - homeward bound It took Aston Martin what seemed like forever to get their four-door supercar – the Aston Martin Rapide – in to production, and even then they didn’t build it themselves. When they were busy planning production of the Rapide the world’s economy was buoyant, credit was a piece of cake and Aston Martins were flying out of the showroom. But the new economic reality bit in 2008 and sales fell at Aston Martin, but by then the plan to get the Rapide built at Magna Steyr in Austria was unstoppable so, despite Aston Martin workers twiddling their thumbs as Magna Steyr built Rapides, there as nothing to be done.