Even a saloon can be sexy when it’s made by Porsche September 15, 2009 IT was with surprise that we learnt that Porsche was going to build a four-door car. Porsche has always made two-door sportscars, why would it want to sink its teeth into the saloon market? But the same question was asked when they went into 4×4 territory with the Cayenne. There are enough manufacturers out there [...]
Even a saloon can be sexy when it’s made by Porsche September 15, 2009 IT was with surprise that we learnt that Porsche was going to build a four-door car. Porsche has always made two-door sportscars, why would it want to sink its teeth into the saloon market? But the same question was asked when they went into 4×4 territory with the Cayenne. There are enough manufacturers out there [...]
Noble latest oil group to sell its assets September 13, 2009 NOBLE Energy, the US oil group, is pulling out of the North Sea, it is understood, as it auctions off its European arm. The sale, which has a price tag of $350m (£210m), follows a series of firms leaving the area as a slump in production and tax increases at the Treasury hit the sector. [...]
Large caps break 5,000 as travel gets its day in the sun September 9, 2009 THE FTSE 100 ended a week of waiting yesterday to pull itself above the 5,000 level by the close. The benchmark index rose by 1.2 per cent on the back of strong oil and bank stocks, as well as early gains on Wall Street. By the close the index was 56.96 points higher at 5,004.30, [...]
CRAZY HORSES beneath the bonnet September 8, 2009 BENEATH a considerable amount of wing, skirt and angular metal lies a car, the chavmobile that is the FQ 400. I clamber on board the Mitsubishi gunship, turn the ignition key and on comes Radio 3. What? The delivery driver, an ex-policeman, had been driving the mother of all on-road anarchy magnets whilst listening to [...]
CRAZY HORSES beneath the bonnet September 8, 2009 BENEATH a considerable amount of wing, skirt and angular metal lies a car, the chavmobile that is the FQ 400. I clamber on board the Mitsubishi gunship, turn the ignition key and on comes Radio 3. What? The delivery driver, an ex-policeman, had been driving the mother of all on-road anarchy magnets whilst listening to [...]
Not Fiat for purpose September 1, 2009 I WAS driving another car altogether recently with a motoring pal and we got on to the subject of the Fiat 500. We naturally progressed on to this high-performance version of the car. Fiat has taken the much-loved 500 and let loose Abarth, the designer which is to Fiat what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz. It [...]
Rio profits plunge but optimism holds August 20, 2009 RIO TINTO, the world’s second-largest miner, yesterday blamed the collapse in metal prices for plummeting pre-tax profits, but was cautiously confident about the future. London and Sydney-listed Rio reported first-half pre-tax profit was 56 per cent lower than the same period in 2008, at $4.3bn (£2.6bn). But the miner said that it had eased its [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 19, 2009 BHP BILLITONBHP Billiton’s full-year results emphasised its balance sheet derived resilience, according to Evolution Securities, which was also impressed by the margin performance that the group extracted from its oil and gas divisions. The broker also said that revenues came in ahead of expectation. It upgraded its target price from 1,025p to 1,200p but retained [...]
Eurasian leads the miners higher while Lloyds shines August 19, 2009 THE FTSE 100 share index inched higher yesterday, helped by oil producers, which gained on firmer crude prices as US demand recovered, but banks fell after HSBC traded ex-dividend. The index closed up by 3.89 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 4,689.67, after trading as low as 4,625.44 earlier in the day. Volumes on the [...]