Banks Hold Line as Hedge Funds Circle German Auto Suppliers
The restructuring of auto supplier Webasto this week gave some reassurance to players in a key German manufacturing sector that's being eyed up by distressed debt investors.
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Forbes
25 minutes ago
- Forbes
Waftability Meets Flingability In Rolls-Royce's Most Powerful Car
Rolls-Royce's Chris Hardy explains to Iain Macauley the difference Black Badge enhancements make. Regardless of the grunt under one's right foot, and the dashboard power meter advising, for the most part, 90% or more of the available horses were unused, I never really felt the urge to floor the throttle of any Rolls-Royce and "see what it'll do". Sure, an occasional exploratory squeeze, but never a prolonged gallop. It felt rude and uncouth. It is, after all, a Rolls-Royce. And it must be, and be seen to be, effortless everywhere. "Effortless" is all about discreet potential, the fullness of that latent potential rarely seen in public. Several years ago, former Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös introduced me to the word "waftability", and described, pre-launch, the marriage between Rolls and EV power, an idea many years in the making before Spectre harnessed the two. And if I hadn't already settled on the way I'd be driving its cars, then that took me a big step closer. After being given a shortened version of Rolls-Royce's "White Gloves Academy" course, aimed at finessing clients' chauffeurs' already considerable skills, that sealed it. If I was in a Rolls, I'd waft. Until Black Badge Spectre, itself described as Rolls-Royce's "dark alter ego", got under my skin and played with my mind. The Black Badge Spectre seemed to shrinl on North Wales ribbony roads Transitioning From Wafting to Yeehah In short: a sportier and more engaging Spectre EV, Rolls-Royce's most powerful-ever car at 659bhp, up from the standard car's 577bhp. It has been described and reviewed in Forbes and elsewhere. I drove the Black Badge Spectre from the city of Birmingham, England, via suburbs, then highways, then country roads to a destination in North Wales which Rolls-Royce described as complementing the Spectre and its 'dark alter ego'. Intrigue climbed into the car with me. But this car sold me a dummy. The first few miles were certainly waft; 60 miles later, inner 'yeehahs', hot brakes and pursed-lip nodding and smiling of acknowledgment confirmed I'd been hoodwinked. The gates of Ynyshir, a restaurant with rooms, more of which later, planted the confirmatory full stop, or the period, of the story of the Black Badge Spectre. The tale had unfolded in convoy with my minders who were in a standard Spectre. I'd been enjoying my car's EV-perfected waftability, then driving the Black Badge progressively more briskly along near-deserted ribbony Welsh roads for around 60 miles. Then the minders' car, piloted by one of their test drivers, overtook. Ah, reining me in, I thought. But no, it became apparent, within the bounds with which those Welsh roads somehow allow you to have fun without breaking the speed limit, they wanted me to further explore the Spectre's dynamics. They say big cars shrink if they have a good chassis, and this Spectre was definitely shrinking. Nearly three tonnes and a considerable footprint provide a natural limit, but within those limits this car exuded confidence. Even parent company BMW's renowned chassis engineers have remarked how well it handles. It's no go-kart, but for its size and weight it is an incredibly good for an enthusiastic ... More cross-country gallop. This Car Is A Big Deal, But It Shrinks I simply forgot how big it was until Rolls-Royce staff stood by ready to guide me through the narrow gateway to Ynyshir, the Michelin 2* restaurant-with-rooms overnight stop. Chef and owner Gareth Ward, himself a car nut, is a disruptor. The menu was 29 courses, no compromises, culinary creative self-indulgence, sublime theater, minimum around £500 a head, four hours duration. It was an inspired Black Badge Spectre-esque stopover. "When a Black Badge pulls up and the occupants exit," explained Black Badge Product Manager Chris Hardy over dinner, "it might not be who you'd think it is. That's the point of Black Badge: you can be whoever you want to be - wearing a suit, scrubs, shorts, cowboy boots... "We're obviously marketing Black Badge Spectre as the most powerful-ever Rolls-Royce, which is a very different to any other launch campaign we've done. But it's still within the safety net of our brand. I think that's why a lot of our clients like it because it's had the Rolls-Royce approval. "It has a playfulness about it, it's very open, it's aggressive, its unapologetic." Unapologetic Performance Provides The Encore The next day outright and unapologetic performance takes centre stage. Black Badge Spectre, at the touch of one of either of two buttons, becomes a 2.8 tonne supercar-chaser. You won't find references to sport mode or launch control, they're labelled "Spirited" and "Infinity". The raffishly-named Spirited is a reference to a WW2 Spitfire dogfight performance-boost feature; what the Infinity button does is more Star Trek, the bit where USS Enterprise starship Captain Christopher Pike says "hit it". To demonstrate Infinity, Rolls hired an airport, Sleap in Shropshire. Product specialist and racing driver James, in the passenger seat, took me onto its runway, and told me to stop between a pair of cones. Press the Infinity button, he said, floor the brake pedal with my left foot, floor the accelerator pedal with my right until the car vibrates, then get off the brake pedal pronto. Seemingly Defying Physics, Hurled At The Horizon What happened next seemed to defy physics. "Hurled" about covers it, the silence at odds with an immense gathering of velocity. Ten seconds later, well into three figures mph, reaching a second set of cones was the cue to stand on the brakes. Some cars, in such circumstances, would display an element of distress. Not the Spectre. And to go some way towards explaining its Welsh lanes agility James then took me onto another section of runway where cones had been laid out to enable a demonstration of the Spectre's "flingability" (my word, not Rolls'...). Four wheel steering is a standard setting in the Black Badge Spectre, and it deftly helped belie the car's bulk through the slalom. A second run, with the four wheel steering switched off, revealed night-and-day handling characteristics. Rolls-Royce describe Black Badge Spectre's performance as "unforgettable". It's a perfectly-weighted word: both understatement, and accurate.
Forbes
30 minutes ago
- Forbes
Catalysts In Innovation: A Doctor's Dream Impacts Healthcare
The beautiful country of Malta, is surrounded by deep blue waters, and has a rich history of visitors and conquerors from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A place to soak in fascinating stories, culture and architecture, it also has another unexpected dimension. Malta has been a hub of accelerated progress, in health, led by a doctor whose vision has been to build bridges while elevating healthcare to the next level. Dr Dylan Attard, a skilled surgeon, realized that he could make a more scalable difference to many patients through helping grow connections between innovation, industry and healthcare. Dr Dylan Attard, is an entrepreneur, leader and congregator of worldwide experts from 4 different continents, and the founder of a global med tech conference which he started it in his home country of Malta. I had the pleasure of speaking with him recently about the vision of these global meetings. Why did you decide to start MedTech World? As a surgeon, I often felt limited by the fact that I could only help one patient at a time within a hospital setting. While that work is deeply rewarding, I've always had the urge to make a broader, global impact. I was also fascinated by the intersection of healthcare and entrepreneurship—especially venture funding and the journey of MedTech startups going from concept to market. MedTech World was born out of that blend: a desire to scale impact and help companies bring transformative technologies to life faster, by connecting them with the right investors, partners, and clinicians. Is collaboration between industry, investors and doctors important and how do conferences help? When you have small group gatherings, as simple as a walking tour or beverages at a local restaurant, conversations happen. One example that comes to mind is how the founder of a company, Cognixion, had an organic conversation with an investor about his vision. The company is building AI augmented AR wearable devices that may affect millions of patients who are unable to speak, a difficult health challenge. They started chatting on an excursion around Malta. A relaxed ride seeing beautiful scenery on a small boat with just 10-12 people can create a nice chance for a great conversation between a founder, a doctor or investor with no pressure. I'd say the strength of a global health innovation conference lies in the consistent pipeline of opportunities it creates. We've seen investors meet their next high-potential startups, clinicians join advisory boards of emerging tech companies, and strategic partnerships formed over conversations that started in Malta. The environment is designed for serendipity—and over the years, it has delivered tangible results across funding, product development, and market entry. Why did you decide to initiate this in Malta? Malta offers a rare combination of strategic location, government agility, and business incentives. Positioned at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, it's perfectly placed for international collaboration. The Maltese government, through Malta Enterprise, has been instrumental in encouraging entrepreneurship—offering a range of benefits from tax incentives and startup grants to co-financing and support for AI-driven solutions. The country's compact size also fosters a unique kind of collaboration: policymakers, clinicians, and founders are accessible and open to innovation. It's becoming a testbed for emerging technologies in AI, offering both access and scale in a controlled, collaborative environment. What are the growth plans of this conference beyond its annual flagship in Malta? We've seen such great connections from our annual flagship that we have started to transform it into a truly global movement. Starting this year, we're launching four flagship events across four continents, one per quarter—Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. From Singapore and Asia and more recently the Middle East, with a growing presence in Dubai, we've now set foot in the U.S., having held a successful event in Houston and with our upcoming partnership event with MedTech Innovator in San Jose, California. This expansion is rooted in our belief that innovation happens everywhere, and by meeting our community where they are, we can better support startups, investors, and healthcare leaders in driving impact locally and globally. Each event will retain our core DNA—curated networking, high-value content, and startup-driven energy—while tapping into the unique opportunities and challenges of each region. Dr Attard's dream is to build bridges amongst people around the world; he has succeeded in connecting startups with investors, clinicians, service providers, and strategic partners, ultimately creating opportunities that have helped accelerate innovation and healthcare globally. Through the visionary leadership of one doctor, it turns out that Malta has a lot more to share than just tourism. It has become ground zero, in many instances, for expanding innovation and is making a difference in healthcare around the world. Grandmaster's Palace, Home To The House Of Representatives And The Office Of The President Of Malta, ... More Valletta, Malta (Photo by: Insights/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Drive
38 minutes ago
- The Drive
2025 BMW M5 Touring Review: Haters Are Wrong, but It's Not for Everyone
The latest car news, reviews, and features. If car dorks had churches, you'd see some of BMW's greatest hits on the stained glass and plastered on the walls. As you know, the 2025 BMW M5 Touring has been out for a bit, and reviews have been… mixed. As a wagon, this new luxury long roof is solid, but it doesn't look or feel like the bygone Bimmers that millennials grew up worshiping. And after hundreds of miles exploring its many modes and moods, I have complicated feelings about the darn thing myself. The candid curmudgeon in me says it's embarrassingly gaudy, annoyingly complex, and too fast for public roads. The realist in me is much happier with the old non-M BMW wagon I have at home. But objectively speaking, there's no denying that the M5 Touring is supremely comfortable, capable, quick, and technologically advanced. Which is surely what was on the whiteboard of whatever Munich office this thing was conceived. This is the seventh generation of BMW M5, chassis code G90 for the sedan and G99 for the wagon. M wagons are not entirely new, but they are to the U.S. market. The last time BMW sold a station wagon here at all was in 2018—the F31 3 Series—and the hottest version had a modest four-cylinder engine built for efficiency rather than performance. That's not the case anymore. The new M5 Touring is an aggressive, 5,500-pound plug-in hybrid family car with 717 horsepower and peak system torque of 738 lb-ft. All that oomph comes from a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 and a synchronous electric motor paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Or in BMW-speak: It's got an M TwinPower Turbo V8, fifth-generation BMW eDrive, and M xDrive. If that sounds complex, it's because it is, and so is the user interface. The new M5 offers many customizable features beyond the typical modern performance car driving settings, and it even swaps from all-wheel drive to rear-only in its most hardcore driving mode. Andrew P. Collins If you're willing to take it easy on the throttle, the plug-in hybrid can go 25 miles on a full charge. I was not, but more on that later. I have a 2017 BMW wagon myself—it's an M Sport, but that just means it has a few nice decorative flourishes. Still, I couldn't resist doing a photoshoot with the wagons together. Swipe through for some comparisons: The M5 Touring's cargo area is generous, as you'd expect. Folding down the rear seats creates a downright huge hold for whatever you are carrying. You'll want to be very careful squeezing long items in, though. The rear climate control is run by a screen, and of course, the entire dashboard is pretty much a screen, so don't go yeeting lumber in there without somebody carefully guiding you from the inside. Some particularly brutal commentary on the new M5 wagon came from critic Jason Cammisa, who recorded the wagon's wiggling under acceleration. 'I don't understand how any engineer let this car leave the building,' he said on his Carmudegon show. As an aficionado of classic German cars, he categorically hated it. I launched the car quite a few times and did not experience the same odd effect. But I agree with his assessment of the interior. Chris Harris reviewed the M5 more favorably but still couched his praise, '…as a fast, roomy, daily that treads the line of acceptability in these weird times, I loved it.' Travis Okulski similarly appreciated the car's refinement but called it 'too isolating to feel like it's ever working on a back road.' Andrew P. Collins Those guys all have serious driving experience and know what they're talking about, but I think Harris has the best assessment. An M5 is not optimized for smoking tires on Angeles Crest, it's not that likely to be used on a track, and it's definitely not supposed to feel like it's 'working' on a back road. This car's happy place would be high-speed highway cruising across Europe. Log out in Munich on Friday and prost 'ing at a bar in the Alps before the sun goes down. Zip the family down to Innsbruck for the evening. At socially acceptable speeds, it's quite comfortable and appropriately responsive. I was pleasantly surprised by the ride quality, too. The last modern M car I drove was an X4 M Competition, which was downright punishing on New York roads. But I was satisfied with the M5 Touring's comfort-to-stiffness balance. It rides cleanly over potholes or unpaved roads, even in the more aggressive drive modes. But when you go to make a turn, the response is instantaneous. The downside of this high level of isolation is that when you're driving a new M5 at sub-stupid speeds, it kind of feels like the car's sitting still while the world is moving around it. Like the windows are screens, and you're playing a driving game. The cockpit is a fine place to watch things fly by from, though—the seats are spectacular, front and rear. Andrew P. Collins Of course, one doesn't spend six figures on a 700-hp car to keep calm and carry on. New performance cars at this level are heavily comput'ified, and some, unfortunately, have reached an annoying level of capability where they're not fun until you're tripling the speed limit. Then, when you make a mistake, they drop you off a cliff—proverbial or otherwise. I fully expected the M5 to be one such vehicle. Linking turns at an aggressive pace doesn't provide the sense of accomplishment or oneness-with-the-machine that you get in an old E46-something. But the M5 is surprisingly easy to line-step with and can be quickly reeled in from overly ambitious driving. If you boot the throttle in a sport driving mode to light up the tires and kick the tail out at an intersection, you can do that, and then regain control of the car with minimal effort and input. Andrew P. Collins Granted, you don't really need a twin-turbo V8 for such silliness; all I'm saying is you don't need to be on the Autobahn to evoke some personality from the car. All that to say, the car's core mission hasn't changed all that much since the days of the first M5. In the '80s, the E28 M5 was a showcase of the era's top sport-luxury car tech, just like the new one is today. But the reserved executive aesthetic BMW used to do so well has long been left behind. Andrew P. Collins From the outside, the G99 M5's got some good angles and interesting visual details. More than a few passers-by complimented the Isle of Man Green Metallic color, and the optional Style 952M wheels are incredibly cool-looking. The vehicle has a lot of presence, and you don't need to be into cars to appreciate that you're looking at something special. Andrew P. Collins The interior has some neat decorative elements. The cockpit, though—gauges, dash, buttons, touchpoint materials—is overwhelming in the worst kind of way. Sitting behind the steering wheel of the new M5 reminded me of everything that sucks about Las Vegas. It's just a ceaseless expanse of lights, colors, and shiny materials that look very cheap under the slightest scrutiny. There are way too many lines and shapes on the dashboard of this thing. And those butterfly wing lights on the front… not feeling it. Andrew P. Collins At some point, the software designers at BMW must have been encouraged to get creative with displays. Maybe the idea was to be distinctive, maybe they just wanted to compensate for the inherent dullness of a huge rectangular screen being the only prominent shape in the cockpit. But they went way too hard. The gauge cluster is packed with so many colors, shapes, gradients, and shading. It's doing way too much and is neither legible nor cute. Almost every flat surface is illuminated. When you hit the hazard lights, you're surrounded by red blinking bars like the car's trying to warn you of an incoming missile. A gaudy plastic bar illuminated in M colors spans the dash, and the few physical buttons that are present are disappointingly low-effort. Like, a row of buttons will actually all be one button, yielding a very unsatisfying haptic experience. Some of the door plastic feels like it was 3D-printed on some kid's tabletop machine. In spite of my dissatisfaction with the interior, I would say that the M5 Touring is a decent value. At least in the context of cars at this price point. You get a lot of impressive technology, some unique capabilities, considerable practicality, and the novelty of being in a high-performance station wagon. These list for about $120,000 and they hold their own at that level. The longroof M5 looks like a six-figure car, and if you pick a good color, you'll make an entrance anywhere you pull up with this thing. Like most of the elite cars I've driven lately, I was impressed by it, but you won't catch me staring at the window wishing it'd come back. I'm fine with my 200-odd horsepower BMW wagon from the last decade, which I think is quite a bit prettier. It's more fitting to compare the new BMW M5 Touring to the Audi RS6 Avant. They're both about the same price, same idea, but have considerably different executions. Even though I've been called 'a BMW guy' (I do have three of them), it'd be the Audi for me if I had to choose. If you're interested in a new M5 wagon, I wouldn't get too hung up on evaluations of its performance at the track or its limits. This is a battlecruiser, not a starfighter. And you will feel like you're on the bridge of a spaceship while driving it. I'd much rather see an M340i Touring come to the U.S. market for people like me who appreciate sport-luxury wagons but don't want to commit $100,000 to a novelty. That said, I'm grateful that the M5 Touring finally came to America; here's to hoping it's a harbinger of more wagons, because sedan driving dynamics with crossover cargo capacity is a great combo. 2025 BMW M5 Touring Specs Base Price (as tested) $121,500 ($140,775) Powertrain 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 with trans-integraged electric motor | 8-speed auto | all-wheel drive Horsepower Gas Engine: 577 @ 5,600-6,500Electric Motor: 194 Total System: 717 @ 5,600-6,500 Torque Gas Engine: 553 @ 1,800-5,400Electric Motor: 207 Total System: 738 @ 1,800-5,400 Seating Capacity 5 Cargo Volume 27.2 cubic feet behind second row | 57.6 behind first row Curb Weight 5,530 pounds 0-60 3.5 seconds Top Speed 190 mph (M Driver's Package), 155 mph standard EPA Fuel Economy 54 mpge combined, 13 mpg combined (gasoline only) Score 8/10 A big shiny battlecruiser for ostentatious aristocrats. But for some reason, I still think it's cool.
