Auto News 5

Honda is set to launch a hybrid sedan with a best-in-class fuel economy of 29km per litre, reports The Nikkei newspaper.

Think you can make a killer app for Ford Sync? Ford just made it a whole lot easier.

PSA's joint venture with Dongfeng sold 440,000 cars in China in 2012, an 8 percent increase from the previous year, China's Xinhua news service reported.

To speed the introduction of new infotainment features, General Motors is offering software developers an online kit to create new programs for its vehicles.

With help from Robert Bosch and Faurecia, Peugeot has cut weight and improved engine efficiency in the new 208. The subcompact offers CO2 emissions as low as 87 grams per kilometer in variants with its 1.

Skoda will unveil its new Octavia at the Geneva auto show in March. The car will be larger than the current model to widen the gap from the brand's new Rapid compact, which went on sale in Europe in October.

Czech car sales fell 14.9 percent year on year in December to 12,784 units as demand in the recession-hit economy ebbed, the country's Car Importers Association said. In total, car registrations rose 0.4 percent to 174,009 units in 2012.

Renault is betting that following Apple's iPhone and App Store business model is the best way to entice customers to buy its R-Link infotainment system. The company will introduce R-Link in the Clio, Zoe and Fluence this year.

Carmakers showing off their latest vehicles at the Brussels auto show later this month have been told to refrain from using scantily dressed women to promote their wares.

From GMM

Pastor Maldonado insists he has no intention of easing what he describes as an "extremely aggressive" driving style.

Like Romain Grosjean, Williams driver and 2012 Spanish grand prix winner Maldonado was heavily criticised last season for being involved in too many on-track incidents.

One analysis showed he was the driver penalised most often by the FIA in 2012.

Pastor Maldonado, Williams, Monaco. (Photo: WRi2)

But the 27-year-old Venezuelan insisted: "Every time I walk down a hallway in my house and see everything I've got with this style, I think I should continue on this path.

"Yes, I've had run-ins with other drivers, not only now but in the past," Maldonado is quoted by Spain's Marca sports newspaper.

"But I have won in each of the categories in which I have competed. That gives me strength to keep going, because you can always improve," he added.

Stephane Peterhansel (MINI) takes the lead back after the third leg of rally Dakar, which was won by Nasser Al-Attiyah's buggy.

The Frenchman, who won last year's race, already took the lead after Sunday's stage, but the ASO, the race's organisers, decided to give back to Carlos Sainz (buggy) the 21 minutes he lost while trying to find a way point, considering there was a problem from the organisation's GPS system.

Stephane Peterhansel, MINI. (Photo: Dakar.com)

On Monday, as the drivers reached Nazca, in Peru, Sainz lost 20 minutes following electric issues on his buggy. His team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah was fastest on the stage, but it was Stéphane Peterhansel that took the first position overall, now for good.

In the evening following the stage, ASO came back on its previous decision, and decided to add the 21 minutes lost by Sainz on his overall time. Now, Sainz stands more than 40 minutes behind Stéphane Peterhansel, while Al-Attiyah moves up to second ahead of argentinian driver Lucio Alvarez, driving a Toyota Hilux.

Carlos Sainz, Qatar Rally Team. (Photo: Dakar.com)

Krzystof Holowczyc (MINI) crashed heavily during the third stage, and reports broken ribs and back pain.

On Tuesday, the remaining entrants will cross Chile's border, with a long a difficult stage with a lot of dunes' crossing, to reach the city of Arequipa.

One of the anticipated North American premieres at the Detroit Auto Show next week will be the 2013 Dodge Dart GT, which features a 184-horsepower, 2.4L four-cylinder engine.

The 2013 Dodge Dart GT also separates itself with standard 18'' wheels, LED taillights, a sport suspension, an 8.4'' touchscreen, Nappa leather upholstery, a 10-way power adjustable driver's seat, and a tire pressure monitoring system, among other items.

The GT completes an already extensive Dart lineup consisting of SE, SXT, Rallye, Aero, and Limited models. The company is still working on a Dart R/T as well.

Production of the 2013 Dodge Dart GT will begin in the second quarter of 2013. In the U.S., the car will be priced at $20,995.

Photo: Dodge

From GMM

Huge uncertainty still surrounds the hosting of this year's German grand prix.

Just after Christmas, a major German newspaper declared that - despite the circuit's financial woes - the Nurburgring will run the early July event after all.

"Formula one will be held at the Nurburgring on July 7, 2013," Nurburgring Automotive GmbH spokesman Karl-Heinz Steinkuhler said. "The major sponsors are making their bookings now."

But on Monday, the Reuters news agency reported that F1 packages for Germany in 2013 are still "conspicuously absent" from the usual ticket websites.


A financial recovery company is current handling the Nurburgring's insolvency process, and spokesman Pietro Nuvoloni on Tuesday admitted uncertainty remains.

"The ball is currently with Bernie Ecclestone," he is quoted by Rhein Zeitung newspaper.

Reports have suggested meetings between the F1 chief executive and Nurburgring officials are scheduled for January in London.

"We hope there will be formula one at the Nurburgring in 2013," said Nuvoloni.

QNX, a Canadian software company based in Ottawa, today unveiled its new technology concept car built from a Bentley Continental GT Convertible and featuring the QNX CAR application platform at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

For those who didn't attend the Detroit Auto Show last year, QNX also has its 2012 reference vehicle on display - a Jeep Wrangler Sahara.

The modified Bentley includes a revolutionary centre stack boasts an organically curved surface, full HD graphics, and optical touch input technology. The car's voice recognition system, powered by the AT&T Watson speech recognition technology, activates when you say "Hello Bentley," and enables hands-free control of the media player and navigation system.

What's more, a Web application allows users to view a variety of data about the cloud-connected Bentley (current media track, fluid levels, tire pressure, etc.) on any smartphone or device that supports HTML5. The demo at the CES is available to everyone to demonstrate the possibilities of remote access; however, in the real world, only the car's owner would have access to this app.

Every three months, GPS manufacturer TomTom releases its Congestion Index for North America.

During the third quarter of 2012 (July-September), Honolulu (4th) and New Orleans (7th) entered the top 10, while major cities like Washington and New York dropped out. Surely this had something to do with summer vacations...

Vancouver remains the most congested Canadian city for the third consecutive quarter with journey times that are 34% longer than when traffic is flowing freely. Toronto went from 5th to 6th place, while Montreal improved from 4th to 9th.

1. Los Angeles (34 %)
2. Vancouver (34 %)
3. San Francisco (33 %)
4. Honolulu (31 %)
5. Seattle (27 %)
6. Toronto (26 %)
7. New Orleans (25 %)
8. San Jose (25 %)
9. Montreal (24 %)
10. Chicago (24 %)

Source : TomTom.com

Last October, we published a story about the project of a new Formula 1 circuit to be located in Athens, Greece.

Our October story was based on an exclusive interview Auto123.com had with Athanassios P.Papatheodorou, architect and Project Manager of Dielpis Formula 1.

"Our proposal -- Dielpis Formula 1 - represents the project of staging a Formula 1 race in the area of the Port of Piraeus in Athens. We are the project managers of this proposal, which is based on funds coming from the private sector that we are trying to collect. The public sector will not invest in this project," said Mr. Papatheodorou.

Here is now a 3D introduction to the street circuit.
Graphics Design by www.3dmotion.gr

The year 2012 is nearing a close, and if all goes right we'll make it to 2013. The end of year always brings a large number of delectable new cars for the model year to come, and the coming year promises many new and sweet machines.

The crop of 2012 and early 2013 cars has been fantastic. On more than one occasion, I fell in love, got my heart broken and was left completely indifferent by various cars.

The following list contains those that titillated my senses, and those that shook me to the very core of my being. I can't help it; I'm a “caromantic.” They are enumerated in alphabetical order, as I would not want to show any preference for one car over another.

2013 Audi A8
This car makes the man. Like an incredible suit or a mansion on the mountain, the 2013 Audi A8 demonstrates that you've arrived, made it and are a genius. A truly regal ride this is.

Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre

Continue reading Matt's Top 10 cars 2012-13

In an interview published in the latest issue of Red Bull's in-house magazine, The Red Bulletin, Dr. Helmut Marko, a former Formula 1 driver and today's motorsport advisor at Red Bull, said he is not impressed with Ferrari's politics.

Reviewing the championship battle that involved Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, Marko suggested that the Spaniard got distracted by off-track aspects while Vettel focused solely on driving.

"Sebastian's driving was virtually flawless," said Marko.

"But he is a phenomenon: it is always like that. I don't know how he does it, but to keep doing it cannot be a coincidence. Fernando Alonso, for example, is busy with politics and funny comments. Vettel ignores it all; he doesn't read the newspapers, or the internet,” Marko explained.

The Austrian claimed that Ferrari founder, Enzo Ferrari, would have been harder on his team in defeat than Alonso and current directors.

"Alonso is constantly involved in politics. I believe we saw the stress he was under towards the end of the season. Saying things like, 'I'm competing against [Lewis] Hamilton, not Vettel,' and 'I'm up against [Adrian] Newey.' Psychological skirmishes. We said, 'Just ignore him.'"

"Then the comment of the great Jackie Stewart, that Vettel must go to another team to prove himself. This is said by someone who scored all his greatest successes in just one team, Tyrrell. I can't take it seriously."

Mark Webber and Dr Helmut Marko in Spain. (Photo: Red Bull Racing)

Dr. Marko also talked about Red Bull Racing's other driver, Mark Webber, saying he has doubts that the Australian has what it takes to cope with the intense pressures of a Formula 1 championship fight.

"It seems to me that Webber has on average two races per year where he is unbeatable, but he can't maintain this form throughout the year," Marko added.

"And as soon as his prospects start to look good in the world championship, he has a little trouble with the pressure that this creates. In comparison with Seb's [Vettel's] rising form, it seems to me that Mark's form somehow flattens out. Then, if some technical mishap occurs, like with the alternator for example, he falls relatively easily into a downward spiral,” Marko declared.

Marko explained that for much of his career, Webber was never in a top team, but in 2007 Red Bull Racing put him in a car that could win races.

“Suddenly, along comes this young kid [Vettel] and he snatches the booty from under Mark's nose. Psychologically it's not easy, of course; this would gnaw away at anyone's confidence. It's more than understandable,” Dr. Marko concluded.

As a Red Bull driver, Webber contested 110 Grands Prix and scored 9 wins. In comparison, when driving for the same team,Vettel contested 75 F1 races and collected 25 victories.

As we told you December 20th, Canadian race car driver Jacques Villeneuve has decided to make a return to ice racing by contesting the Andros Trophy held at various French ski resorts, plus Andorra.

The 1997 Formula 1 World Champion drove for Skoda France for the past two seasons. Just before Christmas, Villeneuve contested the Alpe d'Huez event behind the wheel of a private Citroen DS3.

Jacques Villeneuve, Citroen (Photo: Trophee Andros)

A former winner of the Indy 500, Villeneuve just announced that he will be contesting the remaining four rounds of the 2012-2013 season of the Andros Trophy. After one race, Villeneuve ranks 22nd in the drivers' standings with a total of 132 points.

This weekend, Jacques Villeneuve will be back behind the wheel of the Citroen DS3 sponsored by Tesco and entered by Christian Petit's Speedaventure.com team.

Remaning four races of the 2013 season:

January 11-12: Isola 2000
January 18-19: Lans en Vercors
January 26: Saint Dié des Vosges
February 2nd: Clermont Ferrand Super Besse

From GMM

Sauber's team manager has farewelled recently departed Sergio Perez with a round of praise.

As the pundits assess McLaren's choice to replace Lewis Hamilton, Sauber team manager Beat Zehnder told Auto Motor und Sport that 22-year-old Mexican Perez should not be underestimated.

"In terms of tire management," he said, "he is a natural talent. He has an incredibly good feeling for getting the best out of the tires and at the same time keeping them alive. We've seen it a few times. If everything falls into place, he literally flies."

Sergio Perez, Sauber. (Photo: WRi2)

Beat Zehnder admitted, however, that the answer is "in the stars" as to whether Perez can turn those skills into true championship-winning potential.

Indeed, Auto Motor und Sport said some at Sauber - the Swiss team that has hosted Perez since his F1 debut in 2011 - think Perez is immature, impatient, hot-headed and inconsistent.

As well as his 3 podiums, Perez failed to score a single point in 13 of last year's races, including his six-race drought after news broke he was heading to McLaren in 2013.

Martin Whitmarsh, his new boss, hopes Perez stays close to Jenson Button this year.

Jenson Button, McLaren. (Photo: WRi2)

"Jenson is the easiest teammate to collaborate with," said the McLaren chief. "He is honest and open and willing to help. I hope Sergio is smart enough to recognise that he still has a lot to learn."