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Coda Automotive, a California-based private company, and China's Great Wall Motors will develop and, build and an entry level electric vehicle to sell in North America, China and Europe.

Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has told Brazilian journalists the company is most likely to resume car manufacturing in Brazil through its partnership with Renault-Nissan.

Renault first quarter group revenue fell 8.6% to EUR9.5bn (US$12.6bn), while units sold dropped 7.9% to almost 639,000.

Mercedes A25 AMG hot hatch spied with less camouflage at the Nurburgring

Mazda Motor and Ford have announced an additional spend of US$27m (approximately THB837m) in their AutoAlliance (Thailand) (AAT) joint venture to upgrade production equipment and increase pickup truck production capacity by 20,000 units per year.

Volkswagen Group reported a 10 percent gain in first-quarter operating profits on higher demand at its Audi luxury brand. Operating profit rose to 3.21 billion euros ($4.26 billion) from 2.91 billion euros a year earlier, the automaker said today.

Volkswagen Group reported first-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates on higher demand at its Audi luxury brand. The automaker stuck to its target of matching last year's record operating profit of 11.

Hyundai boosted sales in the United States and bucked sluggish markets in Europe and China to drive quarterly net profit up by almost a third to $2.15 billion, its highest since changing accounting methods a year ago.

Hyundai expects to beat an aggressive sales target to raise car sales by 15.4 percent in Europe even though the overall market may fall by 5 percent. The automaker reported quarterly net profit up by almost a third to $2.15 billion.

Renault said first-quarter revenue fell 9 percent on declining European demand as the car industry struggles with a sluggish economy in the region and overcapacity.

Chrysler has announced its best quarterly profit since Italian automaker Fiat took control of the company following its 2009 bankruptcy. The U.S. carmaker said first-quarter net income rose to $473 million, up from $116 million a year ago.

Chrysler Group said its first-quarter net income quadrupled on surging sales as the automaker set a profit target of $1.5 billion for the year. Chrysler earned $473 million in the January-March period, up from $116 million a year earlier.

Chrysler Group will let its operating agreement with Ally Financial Inc. expire in April 2013 as the automaker negotiates with other banks for vehicle financing.

Ford Motor may report that first-quarter profit slid by almost half as earnings in North America couldn't overcome losses in the automaker's international operations.

Ford may report that first-quarter profit slid by almost half as earnings in North America couldn't overcome losses in the automaker's international operations.

Nick Reilly, who retired as president of GM Europe earlier this year, has been named by MSX International as chairman of its Asia Pacific region. MSX, a technical staffing and dealership process consultancy, expects major growth in Asia.

First Test: 2013 Scion FR-S

Subaru engineered it, but Scion made it better.

As we learned a few months ago Subaru did the vast majority of the engineering work on the newest Toyota/Subaru/Scion triplets that will be sold here in America as the Subaru BRZ and the Scion FR-S. Amidst all the Internet armchair warrior demands that the sports cars need a turbocharger, our drive reviews have all concentrated on the cars’ handling. After all, sports cars have never been about speed -- they’re about finesse and handling. Or at least they should be. And these two cars certainly are.

Photo Gallery: First Test: 2013 Scion FR-S - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: First Test: 2013 Scion FR-S - Automobile Magazine

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From GMM

Red Bull has poured cold water on expectations the reigning back to back world champions could be set to resume their reign over formula one.

After a victory drought spanning the opening three races of the 2012 season, Red Bull broke through with Sebastian Vettel's familiar win-from-pole triumph in Bahrain last weekend.

It means he has leapt to the top of the drivers' standings, while the Milton Keynes based team is now 9 points clear of its nearest rival, McLaren.

"King Sebastian is back!" exclaimed the authoritative Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport after Bahrain. "Vettel and Red Bull dominated like old times. They have worked hard in recent weeks to have a great car again, so it will be difficult once again to take the throne from Sebastian."

Podium of the 2012 Bahrain grand prix. (Photo: Lotus F1 Team)

The energy drink-owned camp, however, is not so bullish.

"To predict our performance in Bahrain just a week after what happened in China would have been tricky," said team boss Christian Horner, referring to Vettel's fifth place in Shanghai. "I am sure that with 16 races to go, we are going to see a lot more variation."

24-year-old Vettel agrees that, despite the familiar pole-and-victory in Bahrain, 2012 is not the same as 2011, when the RB7 car utterly dominated F1.

"We're not as confident as we used to be," he is quoted by the Sun newspaper, "so small things can make a difference in qualifying and have a big impact on the race. We've only had four races but I'm not entirely happy with where we are."

Sebastian Vettel will be back in action next week, when F1 moves to the Mugello circuit in central Italy for a rare in-season test.

"In Italy we'll be able to test and evaluate a lot of things and get the car in a happier place for Barcelona," he said.

From GMM

James Key could be the next formula one engineer to join F1's struggling giant Ferrari.

Multiple media sources, including the authoritative Italian specialist newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, say the Maranello based team is interested in Key, a 40-year-old Briton.

Key's career dates back to the Jordan days, continuing through the transition to Force India, and he eventually joined Sauber in 2010.

He was the highly respected technical director at the Swiss team until earlier this year, and was therefore in charge of the impressive 2012 Sauber C31, amid speculation he had headed to Lotus' sports car project.

But the media reports, including in the major German daily Bild, say Ferrari is now interested, particularly because Key is already familiar with the Italian marque through Sauber's use of the Ferrari drivetrain.

However, when asked what truth there is to the Key rumours, Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni snapped: "Nothing, nada, niente!"

After hearing a myriad complaints about the lack of interesting racing at Bristol Motor Speedway; Bruton Smith, Chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, announced his plans for significant modifications to the track on Thursday.

For decades the track located in Tennessee was a complete sellout. However, ever since the track was reconfigured, to include progressive banking, spectator interest has fallen dramatically.

Changes scheduled at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Bristol Motor Speedway)

The cause of the problem might be the banking which allows more cars to race side-by-side and thus the racing is missing the fender banging and aggression which was signature feature at the short oval.

The fans spoke via emails, Twitter, and any other medium whose message would reach Bruton Smith.

"I said when this process began last month that I would listen to what the fans said they wanted," Smith said. "After a week to 10 days, there was no question that the overwhelming majority was asking for alterations to the track.

Ironically most of the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers were very satisfied to race instead of wreck.

Twelve-time BMS winner and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Darrell Waltrip, Speedway Motorsports Inc. President Marcus Smith, Bristol Motor Speedway Executive Vice-President and General Manager Jerry Caldwell and Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman Bruton Smith discuss the details of the construction project with media members. (Photo: Bristol Motor Speedway)

"Since March 28, when we announced that changes would be made, we have listened to fans, heard from drivers and talked to engineers about what to do and how much time we had to do it. Once we knew the direction, we located the right equipment to make it happen," added Smith.

"The majority of fans we heard from said they wanted adjustments made and the bulk of those said the progressive banking was what they didn't like," said Smith in explaining the decision-making process. "So, that's the focus of our efforts. And that is what we are working to change."

The striped line indicates that banking which will be removed by the paving project. (Photo: Bristol Motor Speedway)

When the deteriorating BMS track surface was replaced in 2007, variable banking was added. Often referred to as “progressive” because the degrees increase from bottom to top, the layout provided multiple lanes of racing on the famed short track.

Smith said the choice to change the track surface did not come easy, but listening to the race fans always has served him well.

"More and more fans kept asking us to do something to the track," Smith said. "So I put it out there. They spoke and we listened. I want them to be happy; I want them to love their experience in Bristol.  This will accomplish that and I know they will be pleased with the result."

Penhall Company machinery developed specifically for the Bristol Motor Speedway project in Turn 4. (Photo: Bristol Motor Speedway)

Goodyear Tire & Rubber said that they would conduct tire tests in June.

"We're happy with our current tire set-up at Bristol but we always have to keep up with track changes, so we plan to run a test to determine what will best suit the specific modifications made to Bristol," said Stu Grant, Goodyear's general manager of worldwide racing. "We will start out our test with the existing Bristol tire set-up, in order to determine if the changes to the track surface require any changes to our tread compound formulation. We'll then evaluate if the track surface has changed and if we'll need to bring back something different for the race in August."

"Being a concrete surface, we always need to manage the ‘rubbering in' process," added Grant. "Concrete seems to be more sensitive to taking rubber, so we need to make sure we get the right combination of tires to match up with this race track.  The most important thing to us is making sure the actual racing surface is the same from the bottom of the track to the top."

Participating teams are to be determined.