august-2011

IMAGE REX FEATURES
///BUSINESS
Businesstrends
White elephant?
Bugatti’s porcelain motor smashes records for extravagance
Deep-pocketed visitors to next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show might be interested in the
latest headline-hogger from Bugatti – a €1.65m special edition of the Veyron Grand Sport,
partly made out of porcelain. The L’Or Blanc is a joint effort between Bugatti’s parent
Volkswagen and KPM, a 250-year-old Berlin-based porcelain maker. “It may sound like a
pretty odd idea for the world’s fastest convertible car,” said Stefan Brungs, the brand’s sales
chief, with typical Germanic understatement, at the recent unveiling of the car in Berlin. “But
Bugatti has made a name for itself by not shying away from extravagant ideas.” Painted white
with royal blue lines, the L’Or Blanc was, inevitably, developed for an unidentified businessman
from the UAE, who has a collection of about 800 cars. The vehicle features 12 porcelain
elements, including wheel badges and fuel and oil caps.
VW acquired Bugatti in 1998, along with Lamborghini and Bentley, to compete with BMW’s
Rolls-Royce. Having built up publicity over the last few years, Bugatti – which makes around
50 sports cars a year in France – is believed to have got the green light from VW to build a
four-door model, the Galibier. With a 1,000-horsepower engine, this may cost a mere €1m.
Friendly invasion
Russian entrepreneurs flock to Czech capital
Twenty years after Soviet troops slunk out the city, Russian businesses are booming in
Prague. But while the Czech capital seems to be taking this in n its stride, Russia is concerned
at the economic impact of middle-class emigration to Eastern n Europe. In the
first five months of 2011, net capital outflow from Russia nudged dged €25bn,
which, according to opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov (right), t), the
government admits is due to dire domestic investment. A recent ent
conference in Prague on the fall of communism heard that while hile Russian
billionaires head for London and New York, a large chunk of money is
staying in the Czech Republic as Russian entrepreneurs launch ch start-ups.
As a result, Russian schools and communities are flourishing ng in and
around Prague; officially, more than 30,000 Russians have residency sidency
permits, while true figures are thought to be much higher. Although though most
Czech citizens seem at ease with this, they’re not turning their ir backs
on their buddies in the West. Last month president Václav Klaus aus
confirmed that the Prague street of the US ambassador’s
residence will be renamed after US president Ronald Reagan, n,
to recognise his contribution to the fall of communism.
50 Brussels Airlines b.there! magazine August 2011
Handle with care: the
porcelain L’Or Blanc
Power to the pedal
Dominance of Copenhagen’s cyclists
angers pedestrians and motorists
With 37% of the population riding their
bicycles to work/school every day – and
50% expected by 2015 – Copenhagen is on
course to be a CO2-neutral capital. Recently,
however, there have been murmurings that
the city’s cyclists have become too powerful,
and the plan for a bike (and pedestrian) bridge
to connect Nyhavn harbour to Christianshavn
island by 2013 has brought things to a head.
Pedestrians complain that bikes are faster
than they were a few years ago, and that
a generation of cyclists now believes it has
right of way throughout the Danish capital.
Motorists, meanwhile, are fuming that
the number of parking permits exceeds the
Are bikes becoming
a menace in the
Danish capital?
number of legal parking spaces in many parts
of Copenhagen, as the city pressures people
to use a bike or public transport instead of
a car. Moreover, in 2010 the price of parking
permits rocketed from DKK 195 (€26) to
DKK 690 (€92). Things have become so
serious that mayor Frank Jensen issued a
press release stating that while Copenhagen
heavily promotes public transport and cycling,
there is also a need to improve conditions
for the city’s drivers. This is being kicked off
with the creation of 1,726 subsidised parking
spaces, mostly earmarked for residents, at
a cost of DKK 161m (€21.6m).
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