World-Car capital Stuttgart revving up

STUTTGART, May 29 (Reuters) Stuttgart has a reputation for putting business before pleasure and it has clearly been a profitable tactic.

The city of 600,000 people in the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg feels an immensely well-to-do place, from the sleek glass lines of the office buildings to the busy shopping streets and expensive cars tearing around the streets.

The number of Porsches and Mercedes in the valley city reflects Stuttgart's status as the capital of Germany's still mighty car industry, even if it is also the greenest city with an eight-km stretch of parks and gardens.

Porsche and Daimler-Chrysler are both based here, as well as electronics giant Bosch and a host of manufacturers related to the automobile industry.

Even the World Cup stadium is called the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in honour of the inventor of the automobile.

The city inspires little affection from the rest of Germany, not solely out of jealousy for the high standard of living.

Stuttgart, the state capital, seems to have little time for anything apart from making money.

There are a handful of museums, an unremarkable cathedral and large zoological and botanical gardens but much of the city centre was destroyed during World War Two and some buildings that did survive were demolished in the reconstruction.

Really, Stuttgart is a difficult city for outsiders to love.

What it does have is a warm climate and those who can afford to stay here during the World Cup should enjoy the return of the famous ''long nights'' of Stuttgart.

PARTY TOWN Stuttgart hosted matches at the 1974 World Cup and for a brief few weeks the city showed it had the soul of a party town beneath the boring facade.

For the duration of the tournament, fans and locals packed out tables on pavement cafes as the city revealed a Latin character no one had previously noticed.

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