News in brief

India’s Ambassador turns 50 amid row
India's iconic Ambassador car – easily the most recognisable vehicle on the country's potholed roads – was supposed to have been celebrating its 50th birthday this year.

But now the party has been spoiled by an industrial row that has shut the lone factory making the pug-nosed car and raised fears the Ambassador could be coming to the end of the road.
“We don't know when things will return to normal. Of course we hope it’ll be soon,” said Soni Shrivastav, spokeswoman for India’s oldest car maker Hindustan Motors, which produces the Ambassador.
Hindustan Motors, flagship company of Indian industrial house C K Birla Group, suspended work at the plant in the eastern state of West Bengal on 11 April following a month of union unrest over pay and other issues.
The Ambassador’s bulky design, based on the 1950s British-built Morris Oxford, is little changed from when it first rolled off the assembly line in 1957, although the engine is now more powerful.

Porsche launches bid
Porsche, the German maker of luxury sports cars, said it had launched an official bid to acquire Volkswagen, Europe's largest auto manufacturer.
Stuttgart-based Porsche announced in late March that it would exercise an option to buy an additional 3.6 per cent stake in VW.
Under an offer to run until May 29 Porsche said it would propose  euros 100.92 per ordinary share, which is well below VW's current share price of around euros 112, and euros 65.54 for priority dividend shares.

McQueen’s car on sale
A Ferrari once driven and raced by “King of Cool” Steve McQueen is being tipped to fetch more than $1 million later this year when it goes under the hammer, auction house Christie’s said.
The 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso is to be auctioned at Christie’s International Motor Cars auction in Monterey, California on August 16, and is estimated to go for between $800,000 to $1.2 million. The Ferrari had been used regularly by iconic actor and noted car enthusiast McQueen in daily life.