Focus reported that RTL is the broadcaster behind the supposed plans, although a spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that it was developing a programme, saying only “we're developing and piloting a lot of things”.
A spokesman for the BBC, which produces the original version of Top Gear, said on Wednesday that they were unable to confirm whether a German version was being planned.
Sources told Focus that the new project was not a simple dubbing of the British version of the show – already broadcast on men's lifestyle channel DMAX – but a specially-produced show for the German market.
RTL already has a highly-successful car show, “GRIP”, broadcast on RTL 2 and hosted by racing driver Matthias Malmedie.
But none of German television's plethora of car shows has quite the character of Top Gear, which is loved by fans for its irreverent humour and forays into Monty Python-style wackiness.
That particularly British blend might be tough to replicate for German tastes, although viewers here would be certain to love the regular segment in which celebrities are invited to drive around the programme's test track in ordinary cars.
The news follows reports last year that the BBC would create a French version of the show.
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