Wheels Blog: Wheelies: The Fabled Ferrari Edition

Newspress USA Luca di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari S.p.A., announces the opening of an expanded Museo Ferrari in Maranello, Italy.

In which we bring you motoring news from around the Web:

• Ferrari is immortalizing more of its storied cars in an 11,000-square-foot expansion of the Museo Ferrari in Maranello, Italy, Luca di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari, announced on Wednesday. Among the permanent displays will be single seat racecars from throughout the company’s history. A temporary exhibit, “From Cinecittà to Hollywood, All Ferraris in the Cinema,” will feature Steve McQueen’s 275 GTB4, the Mondial T Cabrio that Al Pacino drove in “Scent of a Woman” and the 330 LM-inspired one-off that appeared in Federico Fellini’s “Spirits of the Dead.” (Museo Ferrari)

• For the first time since I. J. Cooper created the Cooper Corporation in Findlay, Ohio, in 1919, the company is leaving American ownership. Apollo Tyres, an Indian company, just paid $2.5 billion in cash to take over the tire manufacturer. Crain News Service reports that Apollo’s acquisition creates a company with about $6.6 billion in sales annually and puts it at the helm of 12 factories spread across India, the United States, China, Mexico, the Netherlands, England, Serbia and South Africa. (Automotive News)

• Spyker’s lawsuit against General Motors for blocking the sale of Saab to a Chinese-backed investor was thrown out by a federal judge. Spyker, the Dutch sportscar manufacturer that had bought Saab from G.M. for $400 million in January 2010, had accused G.M. of intentionally bankrupting Saab to keep it from generating competition in the lucrative Chinese market. Saab went bankrupt in December 2011, but a federal judge determined that G.M. was well within its rights to block the sale of Saab. G.M. said it was satisfied with the court’s finding, and Spyker has not indicated if it will appeal the decision. (Reuters)

Fiat Fiat’s Gucci edition 500 will feature fancy leather, chrome accents and, like the last one, a limited run.

• If you want a Gucci-inspired hatchback, now’s your chance. Fiat just announced that it will be offering a Gucci edition Fiat 500, starting at $23,750. The cloth-top 500C will start at $27,750, almost $10,000 more than the 500 Lounge hardtop. As a matter of fact, the fancy trim puts it in the same price range as the more powerful Turbo and Abarth models. But despite its fashion-over-function spirit, which includes fancy leather, chrome accents and Gucci badging, the last Gucci 500 to be offered sold briskly. (Autoblog)

• Competing against all-electric vehicles including the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Tesla Model S, the Ford Focus Electric has languished. Ford announced that it would not update the car for the 2014 model year, which has left analysts thinking that Ford may have given up on the car. Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Edmunds.com, told The Detroit News that Ford’s heart does not seem to be in the Focus Electric, and that it might be offered just to aid the company’s overall fuel economy numbers and image. (The Detroit News)

• The electric carmaker Coda has gotten the green light from a bankruptcy court to sell its assets to lenders for $25 million. Fortress Investment Group agreed to a cash payment of $1.7 million, with the rest coming from a credit bid allowing lenders to use debt owed to them in lieu of cash. Although Coda announced in May that it was stepping away from the car game, the company said it would be developing and selling energy storage technology through a subsidiary. (The New York Times)