NEWS

Für Keeping Up Mit Der Joneses

Munich, Germany - Bayerischeophiles who've long lamented the disparity between America's M3 and its German counterpart - 286 horsepower to our 240 - just took another pop in the shorts. BMW will announce a new and improved European M3 at September's Frankfurt show, a move which responds to the success of BMW's new 3.8-liter 328i on the Continent.

- Another 30 horses will get piled on the European M3 to stretch out its performance advantage to 315+ bhp overall, and thrown in for good measure will also be the M5's 6-speed gearbox, an uprated engine management kit by Siemens and new alloy wheels. As for us, we'll have to wait until the U.S-spec 328i starts nibbling at our own M3's heels. - Jerry Traeger

Mercedes Coupes An Attitude

Phoenix, Arizona - The styling on this one is misleading; our ace desert rat insists that what looks like a simple E-class coupe mule is in fact an all-new machine built on a dedicated platform that uses both E- and C-class parts. Offering 4- and 6-cylinder engines, the coupe should appear during 1997 as a 1998 model and be more or less the size of Saab's similarly proportioned 900 3-door. This one is a fixed coupe, however.

- Preproduction prototypes of the SLK have also been spotted in the same area wearing a new nose similar to the current S-class coupes'. Whether that's an im-provement over the SLK concept car or not is a matter of debate....

There Will Always Be An (American Sticking it To) England

Coventry, England - The above is particularly true when it comes to Jaguar, one of the few jewels still remaining in the Empire's crown. (So what if those blighters the Yanks actually hold the pursestrings?)

- It seems Ford was vocal enough about looking outside the island for the all-new Jaguar X200's assembly site that a coalition of Parliament and local councils have coughed up $125+ million in grants and assistance to keep the factory in England's green and pleasant land. Both a Jag-designed V8 and a Ford Duratec-based V6 will power the new car, which will be priced and sized below the current XJ range. Even with the real estate finally selected, how-ever, Job One won't roll down the line before 1999.

De Tomaso's Bigua Plans

Modena, Italy - Doing an apparent about-face in its turn to BMW V8 power, specifications of De Tomaso's upcoming Bigua now call for a 4-cam Ford V8 similar to the 300-horse unit destined for the new Mustang Cobra. A 2+2 GT to be priced against the Porsche 911 and constructed in an all-new factory largely funded by the Italian government, the Bigua's engine may even get a V8 tuned to supply more power than it does in the SVT product. If all goes according to plan, the car could debut in early 1996 and enter production within a year, but that's a mighty big "if."

Incidentally, Alejandro de Tomaso - who's still suffering the effects of a 1993 stroke - has decided to resign as the head of De Tomaso Industries. His replacement hadn't been named by presstime.

GM's Favorite Fortysomething

Warren, Michigan - The Chevy/GM smallblock will close out its 40th birthday year in high style. First came word of a factory WS6 Ram Air Firebird good for a claimed 305 bhp, and news quickly followed of a Z28 SS equivalent with the same SLP-sourced hardware. Now the long-rumored 1996 Corvette Grand Sport, with its Guldstrand-esque paint scheme and 330-horse engine, is also official.

- Various and sundry less-permanent promotions continue in the meantime, including special books, show activities and dealer programs. GM Motorsports has even shown a factory hotrod in the truest sense of the word - a fully smog-legal `55 Chevy coupe built around a current Caprice V8 and electronically controlled 4-speed auto. Decked out with a new camshaft and aluminum Corvette cylinder heads, the 265-cid cruiser makes 329 bhp @ 6500 rpm.

Cad Gets Caught

Phoenix, Arizona - Arriving into the teeth of stiff opposition from a new Acura Legend, new BMW 5-series, the sexy Antares showcar-based Oldsmobile Intrigue and later the X200 Jaguar (see above) will be the Cadillac sports sedan shown here - which is actually a US-tweaked version of the Opel/Vauxhall Omega MV6.

- Badged as the Catera, this 4-cam, V6-powered sports sedan has received new nose and tail detailing since its LSE concept-car debut in 1994. After a `96 Detroit Auto Show introduction, production Cateras will reach American dealerships the following Fall - and no, the name doesn't mean a damn thing.

Lamborghini's Rumors Head Home

San Francisco, California - Few things are as common as sale rumors concerning Italy's supercar builders, but the most persistent lately has been one suggesting an imminent buyout of Lamborghini by Ducati's Castiglioni brothers. (The Castiglionis had expressed some interest in the firm before it was purchased by its current owners, Indonesia's MegaTech Ltd.)

- But does this rumor hold up? "If so, that's the first I've heard of it," stated the company's US head of public relations. Lamborghini USA chief Robert Braner, meanwhile, says there's no sellout in the works, and offers another explanation - a deal is cooking between MegaTech and the Castiglionis over the possible manufacture of motorcycles in Indonesia, and this may have started kibitzers down the wrong path.

It's Not So Easy Being Lee

Detroit, Michigan - Boy, all you do is try to buy the company out from under them and look what happens. As a reward for throwing in with Kirk Kerkorian's failed buyout of the company, first the current board threatened to stop the stonecutters from chiseling his name over the new Chrysler Tech Center. Ouch! Now they're even discussing nixing Lido's next batch of stock options, under the rubric of "conduct unbecoming a former CEO," or some such rot. Come on, guys - just because he tried to get you all canned....

Is He a Rescuer or a Vapor Brahmin?

London, England - This just keeps getting better and better: The latest scheme for saving Bugatti and Lotus revolves around an Indian potentate named His Royal Highness Shivchandra Vikramkant Chagos-Chola Ramarao III. We kid you not. Of course this moniker sounds rather like the antihero in some bad piece of turn-of-the-century fiction, and now reporters across the world are beginning to wonder if that's not too far from the truth.

The august Indian gentleman stepped forth as a hyper-wealthy investor who aimed to bail out Bugatti and Lotus by paying $144 million for a controlling stake in Bugatti International, the Luxembourg-based holding company behind Bugatti Automobili and Group Lotus. So far, however, we've been unable to locate "Mr. Rao," as his mates warmly refer to him, in any Indian social registers or make contact with the Overseas Asian Financial Investments Corp., his alleged LA-based money factory. Rumor has it that Bugatti's creditors aren't easing off. - Ian Adcock and George Stradlater

Juan Manuel Fangio, 1911-1995

- On July 17, 5-time Formula One World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio died in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nicknamed "The Maestro" for the way he conducted a racecar, he was born on June 24, 1911 as the son of Italian immigrants.

- Raised in car-crazy Argentina and racing a borrowed Ford taxi by his late teens, in 1940 the people of his home town of Balcarce sponsored Fangio to his first major success: victory in the 5900-mile Gran Premio del Norte in a Chevrolet.

- Fangio raced in Europe in 1948 and returned home the following year having won five events, a strong showing that led to his hiring by Alfa Romeo in 1950. That year he won three of seven races and finished second in points to teammate Giuseppe Farina. The following year Fangio earned his first World Championship: As clever out of the cockpit as he was in it, to guarantee the mechanics would be on his side Fangio had made them a deal. "Whatever I win," he said, "you will get 10%."

- After recovering from a broken neck received in a 1952 crash, Fangio drove for Maserati in 1953 and finished second to Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari. Lured to Mercedes-Benz in 1954, the Argentine then went on a tear never duplicated: four F1 championships in a row. Recalling his two seasons with the German team (10 wins out of 14 races), Fangio later told historian Nigel Roebuck, "With Mercedes, there was always peace of mind...." The same could not be said about the following season; even though he won his fourth championship, "I must say the year with Ferrari was not happy," he continued. "I never felt comfortable there...."

- Fangio rejoined crosstown rivals Maserati in 1957 and won his fifth title. After two more races for Maserati in 1958, Fangio retired to Buenos Aires with a record of 24 wins in 51 F1 starts. After ending his driving career, he subsequently became president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina, had a museum erected in his honor and traveled the world as a goodwill ambassador for the sport. - Winston Goodfellow