Shanghai Auto Show: World's Baddest Convertible

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

“Herr Professor Piech! I guess all of us here at the Volkswagen Group are still working on becoming the world’s largest auto maker … by 2018, that’s right.

In the meantime, we built the world’s largest convertible!”

I hope he won’t mind the Spaltmass …

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • 28-Cars-Later What happened to the $1.1 million pounds?I saw an interview once I believe with Salvatore "the Bull" Gravano (but it may have been someone else) where he was asked what happened to all the money while he was imprisoned. Whomever it was blurted out something to the effect of "oh you keep the money, the Feds are just trying to put you away". Not up on criminal justice but AFAIK the FBI will seize money as part of an arrest/investigation but it seems they don't take you to the cleaners when they know you're a mobster (or maybe as part of becoming a rat they turn a blind eye?). I could really see this, because whatever agency comes after it has to build a case and then presumably fight defense counsel and it might not be worth it. I wonder if that's the case here?
  • 28-Cars-Later "Around half of that money comes from the Department of Energy to help internal combustion engine suppliers retool to make EV parts."So, pay them to dispose of their current presses/equipment to choke future parts availability, then most of them become insolvent when EV doesn't happen. Brilliant!"Another $50 million provides grants of up to $300,000 for the companies to make their factories greener and improve cybersecurity.""$300K isn't squat to renovate anything in an actual factory or hire new SecOps folks/add to an IT dept (best I can think of is some developer training/conferences on more secure coding). Depending on how one would qualify, this is either a bribe to the owners so they'll dance whatever tune comes out of Washington, or just free money to selected parties (i.e. subservient to D.I.E.).FJB - May he live at least another 40 years in the most excruciating pain possible.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Auto Stop/Start is useless. If you want it, great, but it should be an option within a package. Same with those satellite stations. Just leave it off my head unit and give me AM radio and a USB port for my own music collection.
  • Doc423 Question to EV/Tesla owners : how long will a Tesla or EV hold a charge on it's battery when it sits for months, especially, like here, outdoors in all weather conditions??
  • Doc423 Would LOVE to see the laws changed here in the U.S. and see may of these sleezebags get jail time, including Dealers.
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