Auto News 5

Honda Motor Europe (HME) announced on Friday it is cutting 800 jobs at its UK plant in Swindon, citing "sustained conditions of low demand in European markets".

News 11 Jan, 2013

Nissan has released the first teaser image of the Resonance concept

News 11 Jan, 2013

Honda has announced it will cut 800 jobs at its Swindon plant, due to poor demand across Europe

Volkswagen brand sales surged in December to push its full-year worldwide volume up 13 percent to a record 5.74 million vehicles, the company said on Friday. VW brand sales jumped 31 percent during the final month of 2012 to 517,900 vehicles.

Volkswagen brand sales surged in December to push its full-year worldwide volume up 13 percent to a record 5.74 million vehicles, the company said on Friday. VW brand sales jumped 31 percent during the final month of 2012 to 517,900 vehicles.

The Chevrolet Corvette, once the coolest of cool rides on Route 66 and the rest of America's roads, has suffered the cruelest of fates: It's known as an old man's toy.

A visit to Smart's car production plant in Hambach, France, offers a first-hand look at how the Daimler subsidiary gets two different cultures to work together.

With Europe's new car sales set to fall this year to levels not seen since the 1990s, pressure will increase on automakers' revenues and operating margins.

With a generous array of incentives, China's government expected to turn the country into the world's biggest market for electrified vehicles.

Ford Motor plans to hire 2,200 salaried workers this year in the United States as it continues to beef up payrolls to handle rising sales and production in North America.

South Korea's Halla Climate Control has decided to buy Visteon's automotive climate units, almost four months after the American auto-parts supplier announced the plan for combining the businesses to make them more competitive.

While the big theme was the beginning of the last test of the new body types before the 55th edition of the Daytona 500 there was plenty of news of all types in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

The trio of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas led the speed charts in the afternoon session of the test which saw 34-cars take the 2.5 mile oval. Denny Hamlin (at 195.712mph) who drafted with new teammate, Matt Kenseth (at 195.389mph) and Kyle Busch was just a tick off at 195.312mph.

At the end of the session Mark Martin, who was fourth fastest in another Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing when all four Toyotas ran in a small pack.

Because of many factors, including but not limited to a dearth of spare parts for the Gen-6 new look cars, most of the drivers chose not to draft either in tandems or the big packs which made Daytona famous.

With a 500lb reduction in downforce for Daytona and Talladega the cars are supposed to be harder to drive. The cars also feature a rear spoiler that is 4 inches-by-53 inches compared to 3.5 inches-by-62 inches last year. Also to offset some of the weight gains due to the redesign of the car teams are allowed to incorporate carbon fiber into rear deck lids of the cars.

Photo: NASCAR

One of the previous Car of Tomorrow or Gen-5 car haters was triple-champion, Tony Stewart, who was very happy with the new car. “I'm glad we finally got away from the Car of Tomorrow that wasn't, I don't think, one of the best of ideas,” Stewart said. “... It is nice to get back to cars that look like production cars again.”

Still it's early days “there's a lot of work for the cars in general,” added said 2012 champion Brad Keselowski.

Hamlin left Daytona due be with the expectant mother of their first child.

In other news the simmering feud between Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer remains unsettled. The feud came to a boil at the penultimate race in Phoenix when the four-time champion intentionally wrecked Bowyer.

Coincidentally over the New Year's break they were on the same yacht owned by Hip Hop star Sean “P. Diddy” Holmes but didn't speak to each other.

“I was on the damndest boat you've ever seen in your life” Bowyer said during testing Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. “I think he (Gordon) was on that same boat. There was a big time being had. Yes, he was on there and I think it was on the same island.

“I'm pretty sure he was on there. It was pretty late, put it that way.”

But Bowyer was still angry even to talk about his feud when he added "yeah, we held hands and walked on the boat, discussed the past year and enjoyed ourselves throughout the whole vacation," Bowyer said sarcastically. "That was the one person that I definitely wanted to vacation with. Yes. I could not wait to get there for that very reason. Is that what you wanted me to say?"

Robin Pemberton, the NASCAR vice president of competition was satisfied with the first day.

“We've had some good tests this summer. Now we're in the final stages and letting the guys go to work today looked pretty good for what it was,” he said.

One of the mechanical changes seemed effective “we've been working on that for a year now, softening springs where the car will run faster by itself.

What we've learned is that we need to give (teams) them as much as they can to work with; it's not a new chassis. When we get to Charlotte next week we'll see the downforce come back and they'll hustle them around the track because the package is quite different (than Daytona).

But most, including driver Kasey Kahne who tweeted, want to see more cars draft.

Pemberton thought they will “we anticipate that they will want to run (draft) later in the day. I think it will benefit everybody to get some drafting.”

Samsung's transparent display technology will play a key role during the launch of the new Toyota Furia concept on Monday at the Detroit Auto Show.

The sedan will be revealed using a custom-built structure that houses 30 of Samsung's new 46'' transparent LCD panels, marking a first for an automaker at a major international auto show.

''This technology will be used to help create a unique dramatic effect for the Furia reveal as elements can be transmitted on the clear transparent panels to partially obstruct or completely block view of the vehicle until the panels are made completely clear to show the car'', said Brian Hords, Design Director at o2 Creative Solutions, the agency responsible for orchestrating the Furia's unveiling.

Photo: Toyota

From GMM

Williams Formula 1 team will give new recruit Valtteri Bottas at least half a season to get up to speed.

After a full season of preparation as the famous British team's reserve driver last year, practising on most Friday mornings at grands prix, 22-year-old rookie Bottas will make his full time race debut in 2013.

The young Finn can't wait.

"Well, it was mentally tough," he told the MTV3 broadcaster, referring to 2012.

"At the end of practice just when I had found a rhythm in the car I then had to give it back. And I knew that I would have kept improving if only I could have driven more," said Bottas.

"As I then watched the race, of course I thought about what I might have been able to do. It was not so easy. Especially the weekends where I could not drive at all -- they were very long," he smiled.

Valtteri Bottas, Williams. (Photo: WRi2)

The team, however, will be urging Bottas to be patient. Williams co-owner Christian “Toto” Wolff, who is also involved in the young driver's management, said the 22-year-old will enjoy some "puppy protection".

"He needs mileage and racing experience," he told Motorsport Aktuell, a Swiss weekly.

"He is very fast and extremely intelligent," Austrian Wolff insisted, "but we have to give him the right environment so that he can realise his potential.

"We can't assume that he will be on the second row in Melbourne, even if the car is capable of it," he continued. "I believe he can get the full potential from the car by the middle of the season."

M-Sport lost the official support of the Ford Motor company late last year, but managed to be supported by Qatar this season. The team unveiled the new colors of its Ford Fiestas RS that will compete in the World Rally Championship.

Mads Ostberg will be number one driver of the team managed by Malcolm Wilson this serason.

Malcolm Wilson and Mads Odsberg. (Photo: M-Sport)

The Norwegian will be joined bu Russian driver Evgeny Novikov in the second Ford Fiesta. Nasser Al-Attiyah will join the team for selected rounds this year.

Former Citroen driver Thierry Neuville and former IRC rally champion Juho Hanninen will race for the M-Sport Junior Team.

Photo: M-Sport

German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has released two studio shots of its new, 2014 V6 Formula 1 engine.

Photo: Mercedes-Benz

The new V6, 1.6-litre engine is turbocharged, and will feature direct fuel injection as well as ERS, Energy Recovery Systems. It has been designed by Mercedes' engine department, Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines located in Brixworth, UK.

Andy Cowell, managing director of the company confirmed that the turbocharger is capable of spinning at 125,000 rpm.

The engineer also confirmed that the new V6 motor will produce about the same 750 bhp figure of the current normally aspirated, 2.4-litre V8 engine. However, a large pourcentage of that power will come from the ERS.

Photo: Mercedes-Benz

The current KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) currently produces 80 horsepower for 6.7 seconds per lap, while the new ERS will deliver 161hp for 33.3 seconds per lap.

From GMM

Mikko Hirvonen, the 2012 world rally championship runner up, believes countryman Kimi Raikkonen would have kept improving had he stayed in rallying.

Finn Raikkonen, F1's 2007 world champion who has driven for top teams McLaren and Ferrari, finished the 2012 season in third place as he made his return to the sport.

In 2010 and 2011, following his split with Ferrari to make way for Fernando Alonso, the now 33-year-old opted to try his hand at world rallying.

Kimi Raikkonen and Mikko Hirvonen, back in 2011. (Photo: WRC)

Speaking about Raikkonen's competitive return to F1 last year with Lotus after two seasons away, Hirvonen said: "Well, it was not really a surprise."

"This man knows how to drive F1 (cars). When I heard he was going back, I thought that if the car is good, he will survive -- and Kimi did very well," he told Turun Sanomat newspaper.

But Hirvonen thinks Raikkonen would have kept improving had he stayed in rallying.

"The results would certainly have improved, but how much would have depended on how much enthusiasm Kimi had for practicing and testing. But his pace would definitely have improved in the third season," he added.

Mikko Hirvonen and his codriver Jarno Lehtinen escaped unhurt from a big crash while testing for the Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Team Citroen Racing began its last day of testing in Ardeche, southern France, when Hirvonen's DS3 WRC hit a rock and rolled several times.

Hirvonen and Lehtinen were luckily inunjured, but the car was totally destroyed.

Here is a video of the Citroen Team and Sebastian Loeb testing prior to the famous Monte-Carlo season opener.

From GMM

Ferrari has added an aero Briton to its ranks.

Acknowledging its aerodynamic weaknesses, the fabled Italian team last year signed well-known F1 aerodynamicist Loic Bigois to switch from Mercedes.

Ferrari is currently developing its 2013 car, probably to be called the F2013, in Toyota's state-of-the-art Cologne wind tunnel, while the Maranello facility is closed and improved.

Toyota's wind tunnel at Cologne. (Photo: TMG)

At the same time, Autosprint reports that the scarlet-clad team has signed Martin Bester.

The Briton's last post was as Williams' aerodynamics team leader.

He has also worked for BMW and McLaren's F1 teams.

Prior to working at Mercedes, chief aerodynamicist and Frenchman Bigois worked alongside Bester at Williams, the Italian magazine added.

Former IndyCar series' driver, Danica Patrick confirmed Thursday that she will not contest this year's Indy 500, round of the IZOD IndyCar series.

Patrick, who recently made her debuts in the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup series wants to focus this year on her first full-time season on NASCAR's highest level of competition.

Now a member of the Stewart Haas team, Patrick will contest the full Sprint Cup and will run the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day as the Indy 500 in May.

"The team and I decided to focus on (Sprint) Cup,” Danica said during a press conference held in Daytona.

“It's going to be plenty of work as it is, and it's going to be important for me running for the championship full-time for the first time to really keep myself focused with the Cup car," Patrick said.

Danica Patrick with her new boss, Tony Stewart. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

The recently divorced Patrick added that her 2013 schedule also could include some Nationwide series events, although she has not yet signed a deal with a racing team or sponsor.

"I'm not sure if that's completely set. There have been some reports that have come out about running for Turner, and we're definitely talking to them trying to figure it out," Danica Patrick said.

"We're definitely working on that, but there's been nothing signed yet, and the exact dates and the sponsor has yet to be confirmed for all that."