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As one of seven Tier 1 partners of the Olympic Games, BMW is banking on massive exposure for the brand during this summer's jamboree in London, not the least through the automaker's sponsorship of 150 athletes. BMW UK managing director, Tim Abbott, is not revealing what the cost will be, but outlined his Olympic thoughts to Simon Warburton.

Updated Lexus RX gets more equipment and a new F Sport model

A Woman’s Place Is In The Garage – SEMA Mustang Build Powered By Women

Vote for Your Favorite Design at HOTROD.com on May 23

This summer, the women of the auto industry will strut their stuff and show off their skills to raise money for the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund with the first-ever SEMA Mustang Build Powered by Women.

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The Thai new vehicle market continued its recovery from the deep setback in the fourth quarter of 2011 with sales rising by 30.5% in April to 87,788 units, according to the Federation of Thai Industries.

The partnership between Fiat and Tata Motors in India may be headed for a split after the two carmakers ended a distribution deal that had allowed Fiat to sell cars via Tata's dealerships.

The partnership between Fiat and Tata Motors in India may be headed for a split after the two carmakers ended a distribution deal that had allowed Fiat to sell cars via Tata's dealerships.

Daimler, Mercedes-Benz's parent company, is overhauling its product development organization, changing the structure of the organization and the responsibilities of several executives.

Gasoline at $4 a gallon and government-mandated fuel economy targets are creating vast opportunities for many big global suppliers.

General Motors' decision last week to end paid Facebook advertising was more than an awkward moment for a media behemoth on the verge of a high-profile stock offering.

The auto sales collapse that started in 2008 is hitting home in the service department in 2012. Late-model vehicles traditionally represent the sweet spot for repair and maintenance work for dealership service departments.

Several automakers have rolled out incentive programs that pay dealers escalating bonuses as sales targets are hit in a bid to wrest back market share or boost key models.

BMW and other automakers are trying to break through the long-held notion that small engines are only for wimpy econoboxes and drivers who find comfort in the far right lane of the freeway.

Nexteer Automotive has promoted its top executive in Europe to COO of the former General Motors-owned steering and driveline specialist. Laurent Bresson, 40, starts his new job immediately.

Takeshi Uchiyamada, the enormously influential Toyota Motor Corp. executive who next month takes on the largely advisory role of vice chairman, drew inspiration from Japan's doomed push to build a jet fighter in the last days of World War II.

The starting grid for the upcoming Indianapolis 500 has now been officially completed after Bump Day that was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal. (Photo: IMS)

Good news for the Lotus-powered teams as Jean Alesi (Fan Force United) and HVM's Simona de Silvestro are both on for the race after formally qualifying for the race. Still, both are at least 12 mph slower than the poslesitter.

Quickest of the Bump Day runners was Dragon's Sebastien Bourdais, whose team, Dragon Racing switched from Lotus to Chevrolet power last week.

Indianapolis 500 - Starting Grid

Pos Driver Team/Car Speed
1. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 226.484
2. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy 226.481
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy 226.240
4. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy 225.456
5. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 225.422
6. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy 225.172
7. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 224.037
8. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 224.751
9. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy 224.422
10. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy 224.264
11. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda 224.000
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.959
13. Ana Beatriz Andretti/Conquest DW12-Chevy 223.920
14. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.868
15. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.684
16. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 223.582
17. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 223.482
18. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy 223.422
19. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 223.392
20. Townsend Bell Schmidt DW12-Honda 223.134
21. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 222.929
22. Michel Jourdain Jr Rahal DW12-Honda 222.893
23. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 222.891
24. Sebastian Saavedra AFS/Andretti DW12-Chevy 222.811
25. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Chevy 223.760
26. Wade Cunningham Foyt DW12-Honda 223.258
27. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy 222.393
28. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy 222.324
29. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 222.319
30. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy 221.624
31. Bryan Clauson Fisher DW12-Chevy 214.455
32. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 214.393
33. Jean Alesi Fan Force DW12-Lotus 210.094

Tony Kanaan and Alex Tagliani. (Photo: IMS)

After Ander Villarino takes his third Racecar Euroseries win in a row in sprint race at Brands Hatch, Javier Villa ended his fellow countryman's domination by taking endurance race win.

Ander Vilarino won the Elite Sprint of the Bands Hatch 200, the second event of the 2012 EURO-RACECAR NASCAR Touring Series. For his third victory in three races this season, the Spanish driver finishes ahead of his two main contenders: RomainThievin, poleman, and Javier Villa. A trio already seen on the Nogaro's podium.

Photo: Euro-racecar series

Spanish Javier Villa has ended the winning streak of Ander Vilarino in the Open Endurance race of Brands Hatch 200, a great battle with Villarino that ended on lap 22, when junior driver Villa took the lead and pulled away in front. Romain Thievin took another podium finish behind both Spaniard.

Villarino still leads provisional championship classification ahead of Thievin and Villa.

Discount Québec's VP, Robert Lalonde, announced Thursday that his company would soon have two Chevrolet Volts available to rent.

The Toyota Prius has been on the catalogue since 2004, as well as hybrid Ford Escapes and Honda Insights, but for the first time, Montréal and Québec Discount locations will have a fully electric car available.

Photo: General Motors

The hybrids never really caught on, but with gas prices rising to almost $1,50, electric technology is becoming increasingly interesting. Discount believes the simple idea of recharging your vehicle with a plug at home and the growing number of public charging terminals is enough to arouse the demand.

It costs about $5 extra to rent a hybrid at Discount. Daily fee for a Volt will be $39,95 plus $0,25 per kilometre.

Mathieu Audette (Acura RSX) won both rounds of the first Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) weekend of 2012, held at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The Ste-Anne-des-Lacs driver bested Sasha Anis (Hyundai Genesis) in both races to the finish. Scott Nicol (Honda Civic Si), who finished fifth the day before because of a transmission problem, climbed to third spot on Sunday, thanks to a two-place penalty handed to Bob Attrell (Hyundai Genesis).

Mathieu Audette. (Photo: Tom McGory/Pole-Position Magazine)

"I couldn't have asked for a better weekend," admitted Mathieu, who now turns the wheel over to his F2000 champion brother Rémy for the next round of the CTCC, which happens to be the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, held at the circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 8-9.

In the Touring class, the battle between Team Octane drivers Karl Thompson and Michel Sallenbach (MINI Cooper), which saw Thompson come out on top Saturday, yielded a different result the second time around. Sallenbach pulled out a passing move out of his trick bag to steal the win away from his teammate.

"Now I'm happy," Sallenbach said. "I've been chasing him [Thompson] since yesterday and I finally I had an opportunity to pass him and I had to take it."

Unlike in Touring, the results in the B-Spec class were identical. Nick Wittmer led the way in front of Greg Pootmans and Simon Dion-Viens, making it two all Honda Fit podiums in the debut weekend of the category.

From GMM

Paul di Resta is at the front of the queue should Mercedes need to replace Michael Schumacher.

That was the claim on Monday of Nick Fry, the chief executive of the German carmaker's UK-based formula one team.

Seven time world champion Schumacher's existing three-year contract expires at the end of this season.

Paul di Resta, Sahara Force India. (Photo: WRi2)

"Paul's on our radar," Nick Fry is quoted by the Telegraph.

Scot di Resta, 26, has impressed since debuting for Mercedes-powered Force India in 2011. He entered F1 as the reigning DTM champion, driving for Mercedes.

"He has done a fantastic job, he's a nice guy, he's a great team player and he would be one of the drivers undoubtedly that, if Michael were to decide he didn't want to continue, we would look at," Fry added. "We haven't reached that time in our thinking yet, but we have all got a lot of admiration for Paul."

J.R. Fitzpatrick started out the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season by winning the Vortex Brake Pads 200, his first victory since July 25, 2010 after holding off his pursuer D.J. Kennington in the final turn.

For Fitzpatrick, it was his seventh career win in the series and his third at the Bowmanville 2.459-mile road course. On the day, he led a race-high 39 laps behind the wheel of his No. 84 Equipment Express Chevrolet.

Pole sitter Scott Steckly, on the other hand, was not as pleased with his finish as he began his quest for a third series title in his No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge.

JR Fitzpatrick leading Scott Steckly. (Photo: NASCAR)

Two-time winner at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Andrew Ranger finished fourth followed by fellow Quebecer Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, who started 10th, in fifth.

The race lead changed hands nine times among six drivers including four times between Fitzpatrick and Kennington in the final 10 laps. The field was slowed due to caution just three times for 11 laps.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series with two road-course events to open the season will be back on the track on June 2-3 for the Lucas Oil Grand Prix at Circuit ICAR in Mirabel, Que.