Autocar confidential: Porsche's great blue shark, Nissan's tough scenes and more

In this week's round-up of automotive gossip, we hear what Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger gets up to on his holidays, Cupra's CEO shares his thoughts on the future of ICEs and more.

Porsche's great blue shark

The new Porsche 911 GT3 can be painted in a new shade of Shark Blue, which was inspired, curiously, by a boat that GT boss Andreas Preuninger saw on holiday. “I was lying on the beach in Sardinia and this big, beautiful superyacht passed by – 300ft, very elegant – and it had this gleaming blue hull,” he said. “I was on my feet with my camera, because I thought ‘that’s exactly the colour we need’, and the rest is history.” Other GT3 hues include Lava Orange, Python Green and Racing Yellow.

Round the bend

MK3 Nissan Qashqai development mules covered thousands of miles all over Europe, but one of the most arduous places visited was Milton Keynes, according to R&D chief David Moss. “Driving anything across Milton Keynes and back is much harder on an engine than you would think, so it’s one of our ‘tough scenes’,” he explained. “We know that our worst scene in the UK is roundabouts. We built Japan’s only roundabout at our test track, because they needed to understand how customers use them.”

Cupra sees future for ICEs

Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths has indicated that the marque will continue to develop ICE models as long as there is demand for them in Europe. “I think there will still be combustion beyond today,” he said. “[The] EU7 [emissions standard] comes in a couple of years, and up to 2030 combustion will still play a role. But we will see the tipping point from then onwards, particularly in the UK.” Cupra’s new Formentor VZ5 is its most powerful model yet, taking 385bhp from a turbocharged fi ve-cylinder petrol engine.