Porsche Design is setting up shop in New York’s trendy Soho district. This is the second Porsche Design store location in New York, and it will outfit affluent shoppers with its luxe line of products.

The new flagship store will not only feature swanky Porsche swag, it will also showcase a designed wall showcasing the brand’s history and a VIP shopping area. Located on West Broadway in Manhattan, the Porsche Design store covers 250 square meters of retail space filled with the brand’s entire range of products. This includes luggage, eyewear, smoking accessories, mobile phones, and the Porsche Design Fashion Collection for women and men.

“With the store in SoHo we are taking the Porsche Design luxury brand to the next level – not only in New York City and the United States of America but globally”, said Dr. Juergen Gessler, CEO of Porsche Design Group. “Porsche Design SoHo is the world’s largest store and brings our philosophy of ‘Iconic Style’ alive. The boutique will not only set its footprint within Lower Manhattan but also become a landmark for shopping enthusiasts around the world. The idea behind that new store and our whole lifestyle matches perfectly with the Manhattanites’ lifestyle.”

With the outdated Crown Victoria taxi being put to rest, the competition to select the future NYC cab has turned into a fierce fight.

Three different models were chosen to be tested including the Nissan NV200, Ford Transit Connect and the Turkish entry, the Karsan V1. Ultimately the NV200 was chosen to serve for the next ten years, but the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) could approve other vehicles for the fleet. The Transit Connect was among the vehicles selected for approval, and taxi companies can choose to add the Ford van as well. New York will join Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia where officials have approved Transit Connect Taxis for use.

“For decades, Ford has been synonymous with New York City taxis, and we are pleased residents and tourists now will benefit from our next-generation vehicle,” said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas.

The young and wealthy of New York gathered in the Park Avenue Ferrari showroom in Manhattan on Tuesday to ogle a new coffee-table book that traces the history and heritage of the automaker in words and exclusive photos. Marco Mattiacci, the president of Ferrari North America, was also there to greet the chic crowd, most of them current or prospective Ferrari owners.

The Official Ferrari Opus is not just any coffee-table book, especially the volume made with its red-leather cover featuring the brand’s prancing horse encrusted with diamonds. This edition retails for $250,000 while the cheaper model was priced at a more “reasonable” $3,200.

Mr. Mattiacci later explained, that the rapid growth of the Ferrari brand in China “We were selling 300 cars a year when I left,” he said. “It is now the second-largest market for Ferrari, and the average age of customers there is 32. In the U.S., it’s 47.” He also said that most sales in America were to repeat customers. “My job is to gain more opportunity in the U.S. for Ferrari,” The United States accounts for more than a quarter of Ferrari’s annual sales. Mattiacci said he has worked hard to attract growth among younger buyers, as he recently assembled a show-and-tell session in California to attract the sultans of Silicon Valley.

[Source: Wheels]

What will Manhattan look like in 2030? Get your multipasses ready, because Audi has an idea—it’ll be green, multicultural, and certainly involve four rings.
Opening at the New Museum at the Bowery, the exhibit brings designers, architects, and artists together to form a unified vision of what life will be like in less than 20 years, with five prominent New York architecture firms concentrating on one section of the island. The exhibit features a 1:1200 rendering of the Manhattan of 2030, with an Inception-like rendering of the island folding upon itself.

“With the Audi Urban Future Initiative we as a globally operating company are exercising social responsibility”, said Peter Schwarzenbauer, an Audi board member. “In order to convert visions into reality more quickly, our experts are taking part in the debate about the city of the future. At the same time we are networking with experts from other disciplines – and in this way playing our part in shaping the urban future.”

Want to get a glimpse of the future? You’ll have to go to the New Museum and attend its Festival of Ideas for the New City, including a three-day symposium, starting May 7th, about what this future will truly bring. Flying Audis? Self-tying shoelaces? Zombies? Remember, it’s only 4 more years until we’re supposed to get hoverboards. Get on it, you lousy scientists.

For more information, visit the Audi Urban Future Initiative web site.