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When the pictures of the new Ferrari California landed in my inbox this morning I breathed a sigh of relief. 

You see we’ve been tracking this car for so long and published so many stories and spy shots that I’m glad it’s finally out in the open and no longer subject to speculation and rumour.

That said, I’m proud to say that Autocar broke the story of the new GT in a world exclusive over three years ago. In fact I’ve just dragged out the issue (12^th April 2005).

I can remember it particularly well as I wrote the coverlines: “New Dino” it screamed (OK allow me some artistic license) and our sources at the time reckoned it would arrive in 2007 (so five months out).

On a recent trip to Saab’s Trollhatten hometown, I drove the hour or so north from Gothenburg airport in a 9-5.

I figured it could be last chance I’d get to sample one of the oldest cars on sale. The all-new 9-5 arrives early next year replacing the current model, which was launched in 1997. Indeed, only the Ford Ka, Land Rover Defender and Volkswagen Sharan spare the big Saab’s blushes as the oldest car still in production.

Yet despite its pension book, I’ve always had a soft spot for this big machine, being a particular fan of the interior, seats, turbocharged four-cylinder engines and the crash protection.

So what does it mean to European drivers if Toyota and Subaru are starting to get closer and will soon start colaborating to build cars together?

Optimists might well reckon the Toyota connection will do something about Subaru’s generally woeful design and fuel economy – long since the two major weaknesses for car’s wearing the Subaru badge. Which would be a good thing, surely?

I love the way the Audi R8 drives, but unless I’m looking at it head on, I just don’t like the way it looks. It’s way too fussy for me and too jarring with angles and panels all over the place.  

I was sharing this opinion with a senior motor industry bloke the other day and his response was fascinating. He reckoned I should forget about what Audi’s 911-rival looks like, it’s mere existence proves that the company is leaving arch-rival BMW for dead at the moment.

This is a chap who’s opinion counts for a lot. He’s run three major car companies and also spent a good chunk of his career working for BMW itself. And his perspective is that Munich has lost its direction – and that has allowed Audi to move in and plug the gaps.

Fascinating news from Italy that Tata is to take an ownership stake in styling house Pininfarina – rescuing one of the best-known names in automotive design from the financial crisis that threatened to engulf it.

Pininfarina has designed the bulk of Ferrari’s recent range, and currently builds the C70 and Focus C+C for Ford. And, like Britain’s beleaguered high-street banks, it’s raising money by issuing new shares.

We don’t know how much of a stake Tata will take – but the Pininfarina family will see its current 55 per cent holding (and the control that brings) diluted to about 30 per cent. Tata is likely to share the extra investment with French company Bollore, a specialist maker of electric cars.

Those who knew Geoff Polites, the universally admired Jaguar-Land Rover chief executive who died over the weekend, knew perfectly well that he was ill. But we were mostly able to put it out of their minds because his demeanour, workload and optimistic outlook on life made him seem anything but a man with major health concerns.

He was still working at “full steam”, as he would have put it, until a few weeks ago, but died in his native Australia a few days after the birth of a grandchild he had been hoping to see.