USA - Lincoln continues to collaborate with Tasting Table, to promote the all-new Continental luxury sedan.

• Event was the latest in a series of collaborations between The Lincoln Motor Company and Tasting Table, introducing Continental at upscale venues in major cities throughout the United States
• Invited guests can engage with the highly anticipated 2017 Lincoln Continental; the vehicle heralds the return of Lincoln’s flagship – embodying elegance, effortless power and serenity
• An evening of food and entertainment hosted by Lincoln and Tasting Table at Atlanta’s recently opened Regent Cocktail Club on the rooftop terrace of American Cut, a fine-dining steakhouse

To create a culinary masterpiece, a skilled chef focuses on quality and originality, enticing the diner with flavor and flair. To create a luxury vehicle, dedicated designers and engineers blend personalized features with effortless power to appeal to the most discerning of clients.  

Invited guests had the opportunity to experience both as they enjoy the hospitality at the elegant Regent Cocktail Club on the rooftop terrace of American Cut steakhouse and engage with the highly anticipated 2017 Lincoln Continental.

The event is a collaboration between The Lincoln Motor Company and Tasting Table, a multimedia content provider for culinary enthusiasts featuring news, restaurants, recipes, a dining app and city guides through its digital platform. Lincoln is teaming up with Tasting Table on a series of similar events, introducing its all-new Lincoln Continental flagship sedan at upscale venues in major cities throughout the United States.

“Tasting Table is proud to collaborate with Lincoln to showcase the new Continental,” says Geoff Bartakovics, cofounder and CEO, Tasting Table. “It’s the perfect vehicle for finding inspiration out in the world and bringing it back home.”

Bartakovics is shown riding in the Lincoln Continental throughout Tasting Table’s new video series “I Know a Place,” in which he tours some of America’s best food cities with friends.

“In an increasingly complicated, noisy world, it’s a simple pleasure to find a sense of quiet, understated luxury in a modern, high-tech vehicle,” he adds.

Continental is the return of Lincoln’s flagship vehicle – an elegant, effortlessly powerful, and serene full-size sedan delivering quiet luxury and first-class travel.

In Atlanta, Tasting Table and Lincoln highlight the ambiance of the Regent Cocktail Club and food from American Cut, known for creating a modern interpretation of the classic high-end steakhouse experience. American Cut has been lauded in reviews for its quality and authenticity, traits it shares with The Lincoln Motor Company.

The Lincoln Continental will be on display in front of the restaurant; guests will be invited to learn more about the vehicle and the Lincoln brand.

“Creating warm, human, personally crafted experiences for our guests is very important for Lincoln,” says John Emmert, group marketing manager, The Lincoln Motor Company. “As fans of Tasting Table, we’re thrilled to collaborate with Geoff Bartakovics and his culinary platform to bring our ever-curious guests on the ultimate epicurean journey.

“And we’re delighted, of course, that the all-new Continental will be at the heart of those memories,” he adds.

USA - Mercedes unveils the first rendering of it's new Headquarters in Georgia.

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) has unveiled the first rendering of their new Atlanta headquarters in Sandy Springs. The company plans to break ground in the spring of 2016, with a target completion date of early 2018.

MBUSA, which moved to a temporary facility in July 2015, will construct a new, state-of-the-art headquarters facility on a greenfield site located at the corner of Abernathy and Barfield road, near the intersection of Georgia 400 and Interstate 285. 

The 225,000 sq. ft. headquarters will be located on a 12-acre campus at the south side of the 76-acre property formerly owned by Glenridge Hall. The four-story building will contain innovative architectural elements designed to provide a performance-oriented and collaborative environment.

The continuing curse of the "that" Ferrari, should be resolved this September, or will it, or will it go on for ever.

Wanted: one caring owner for a cherry-red 1954 Ferrari racer; current proprietorship heavily contested.

When an eccentric U.S. Army engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II bought a burned-out Ferrari chassis for $2,500 in 1958, he had no idea that it would become the most fought-over car on the planet.

Now, after 16 years of lawsuits and ownership claims from Paraguay to Switzerland, the fate of the roadster, which Victoria's Secret founder Les Wexner thought he bought last year for 10.7 million pounds ($16.5 million), is finally coasting toward resolution in a London court.

Ferrari made just five 375 Plus models that year and only four of those gleaming symbols of motor racing's golden age remain. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren and candy billionaire Giorgio Perfetti have two of them.

"This vehicle, along with a number of others, has entered into the realm of fine art," Dave Kinney, publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide for classic cars, said.

The move toward closure of the case comes amid a surge in the value of vintage Ferraris. A 1962 250 GTO fetched $38.1 million at auction last year, the most ever for a car. Hagerty's Ferrari Index of 13 models has more than tripled since 2010, peaking at $5.4 million in May.

The last undisputed owner of the 330-hp 375 Plus was Karl Kleve, the army engineer-turned designer, artist, serial tinkerer and author (of a book linking baldness to blood circulation).

Kleve, who died in 2003 at the age of 90, bought the car's damaged body from the heir to the Kleenex tissue fortune, Jim Kimberly, to add to his collection. It languished on a trailer outside his home near Cincinnati, Ohio, for three decades before it was stolen sometime between 1985 and 1989, according to court documents.

That's when things started to get weird.

Shortly thereafter, the Italian machine, or at least part of it, turned up in Antwerp via Atlanta, where it had been acquired by a Belgian trader. Customs officials there impounded the car to determine its ownership after Kleve reported it stolen, but authorities sided with the trader. 

Once cleared, it was sold to another Belgian, Jacques Swaters, a Ferrari dealer and former racecar driver, for an undisclosed sum. Not knowing it had been purloined, Swaters, who considered Enzo Ferrari, the automaker's late founder, a close friend, spent years restoring the car and its Barchetta-style aluminum bodywork to racing form.

In 1999, after Kleve located the vehicle and confirmed his ownership by its chassis number, 0384M, Swaters agreed to pay $625,000 to keep it.

"It's a car worth fighting for," John Collins, owner of UK Ferrari dealer Talacrast, said by phone Thursday. "It's an important car."

A decade later, after both Swaters and Kleve died, a daughter of Swaters filed a suit in Ohio arguing that Kleve violated the sales agreement by withholding some of the car's parts, according to court documents. That claim of ownership was followed by two others -- one by a fellow Ohio resident and the other by a U.S. citizen living in Switzerland.

In 2013, the four parties jointly agreed to "extinguish all claims and counterclaims" and allow Bonhams, one of the world's oldest auction houses, to sell the roadster so they could split the proceeds. And so last June, after an extensive marketing campaign, it was sold to Wexner, the lingerie billionaire, at an auction at the historic Goodwood Festival of Speed in the English countryside.

But the bickering didn't stop there.

Wexner sued Bonhams after the sale, claiming the auctioneer had failed to inform him of unresolved ownership disputes and demanding a full refund plus damages. Bonhams, for its part, sued Kleve's daughter, Kristine, for allegedly breaching the terms of their settlement deal prior to the sale. And that's not all: Bonhams is also suing a Paraguayan car dealer for deceit. 

The dealer, the company said in a complaint, sent a letter three days before the auction claiming ownership of the Ferrari.

The auction house, anxious to avoid canceling the centerpiece of the Goodwood Festival, allegedly paid him 2 million pounds, according to the documents.

All four lawsuits related to the roadster in London have now been folded together so a judge can settle the disputes once and for all. The next hearing is scheduled for September.

Lawyers for each party involved either declined to comment or didn't respond to emails seeking comment.

While Kleve may not have foreseen the extent to which people would one day go to possess his once-battered chassis, he certainly would have appreciated the passion behind it. 

He started his collection in 1939 with his mother's black 16-cylinder 1936 Cadillac, according to an obituary in theCincinnati Enquirer newspaper. By the time his Ferrari was stolen, the collection was so vast that his neighbors had started to complain, prompting a court to order him to clear his yard.

"Do you know anyone in America who's limited to two cars?" Kleve asked the judge in 1990, according to the newspaper. "Especially one who loves cars? Cars are my life."

REPORT HERE 

JLR executives met Georgia Governor Nathan Deal last month to discuss opening a factory in his state.

Jaguar Land Rover executives met Georgia Governor Nathan Deal last month to discuss opening a factory in his state, a U.S. newspaper reported.

Merry Hunter Hipp, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the Deal "made prospect calls." while on an economic development trip to England, where he also visited Pinewood Studios, which has a facility near Atlanta.

She declined to comment on the reported meeting with Jaguar Land Rover. "We do not discuss the calls due to the sensitive nature of these ongoing business communications," Hipp said in an email.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the meeting, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the matter.

In October, the UK's Sunday Times said Jaguar Land Rover is talking with several southern U.S. states about financial support for a factory that would eventually produce 200,000 vehicles a year.

A U.S. plant would enable JLR to avoid import tariffs and reduce averse effects of fluctuating currency rates, the paper said.

Jaguar Land Rover opened a new plant in China last year and plans to open a factory in Brazil in 2016. The UK luxury carmaker has expanded its product lineup and global presence since Tata Motors bought the company from Ford Motor in 2008.

The U.S. South's importance to the auto industry is increasing.

Mercedes-Benz USA, which has a plant in Alabama, is moving its headquarters to the Atlanta region from Montvale, New Jersey. BMW, Kia Motors and Volkswagen have factories in the region. Porsche has its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta.

REPORT HERE

McLaren expands with 5 new North American/Canadian dealerships.

• New locations in Atlanta, Long Island, Scottsdale and Washington D.C. confirmed for North America
• McLaren Vancouver confirmed as second Canadian location
• Five new locations to support the continued expansion of the McLaren brand

McLaren North America is pleased to announce the continued expansion of the retailer network, with the appointment of five new authorised retailers. The four locations in the US and one in Canada will take the network to 15 retailers representing the North American market

The sites for the latest McLaren retailers will be located in Atlanta (Georgia); Long Island (New York); Scottsdale (Arizona); and the capital of the US, Washington D.C. The brand’s second Canadian retailer will be located in Vancouver (British Columbia).

This latest announcement follows the recent opening of the 50th McLaren retailer, as the company continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary. This saw the McLaren name return to its roots in New Zealand, as McLaren Auckland opened its doors.

Tony Joseph, Director McLaren North America explained: ‘McLaren Automotive is continuing to expand around the globe, including the North America market. With three models successfully launched in as many years, and further exciting models in the pipeline, demand for McLaren continues to be strong, and this is why we are adding five further retailers in key areas across the region. We are looking forward to an exciting 2014.’

McLaren Automotive is currently represented by ten retailers across the North American region: Beverly Hills (California), Chicago (Illinois), Dallas (Texas), Greenwich (Connecticut),

Miami (Florida), Newport Beach (California), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), San Francisco (California) and Tampa (Florida). McLaren Toronto (Ontario) represents McLaren Automotive in Canada.