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Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen Polo) remains in the lead after the second day of rally Sweden, 26.9 seconds ahead of Sébastien Loeb (Citroën DS3).

Ogier, who dominated the first day, had a tougher time on Saturday, opening the road for his rivals. Despite this handicap, the Volkswagen driver lost only four seconds over Loeb before the four last stages of Sunday.

Behind the Frenchmen, Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta) took over third position from Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen Polo). The Norwegian now stands six seconds ahead of Latvala, but some 30 seconds behind Loeb, in second position.

Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo WRC (Photo: WRC.com)

The promising start of Pontus Tidemand turned into a retirement, as the local hero suffered from a mechanical failure on his Ford Fiesta while running 6th.

Sébastien Ogier is now four stages away from the first Volkswagen win in WRC.

Classification after day 2 :
1. Ogier-Ingrassia (VW Polo Wrc) in 2h18'22”8

2. Loeb-Elena (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 26”9
3. Ostberg-Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 57”7

4. Latvala-Anttila (VW Polo Wrc) + 1'03”18
5. Novikov-Minor (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 1'43”5

6. Neuville-Gilsoul (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 3'16”2

7. Hanninen-Tuominen (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 4'10”5
8. H. Solberg-Prevot (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 5'16”7
9. Prokop-Ernst (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 7'56”1
10. Sordo-Del Barrio (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 8'31”9
Etc.

Petter Solberg and his wife Pernilla have won the Historic Rally Sweden, aboard their MkII Ford Escort.

The former world champion, who is getting his rallycross season together, fended off Erik Johansson, in an Audi Quattro to earn both his class and the outright victory of the historical event.

Petter Solberg aboard his historic Ford Escort MkII (Photo: Fotogubben)

"Pernilla and I fought back today and took the overall Historics victory by almost two minutes," the Norwegian wrote on his website.

"Great conditions, so many fans, and my Viking Motorsports MkII Escort ran like a banshee with only a slight gearbox problem.

"The car just revs and revs. It's an unbelievable machine, and I bought it to use it!"

Chevrolet will launch its "Find New Roads" global advertising campaign with two lengthy anthem commercials that will air Sunday during coverage of the Grammy Awards, General Motors' top marketer said.

General Motors' Australian subsidiary, Holden, has revealed its new VF series Calais -- the rear-wheel-drive sedan that in top-of-the-line, V8-powered, left-hand-drive form -- will be exported to North America and sold as the

Auto dealers have 10 months to re-evaluate and change their employee health care benefits under the national Affordable Care Act, and complying with it could leave many of them with sticker shock.

Matt VanDyke is global director of marketing, sales and service for Lincoln, which recently said it would do additional quality inspections of the 2013 MKZ sedan at Ford's Flat Rock, Mich.

With the United States economy gaining momentum, NADA chief economist Paul Taylor predicts industry sales will top 15.4 million vehicles this year.

With little payback proven, automakers should back off demands on dealers for massive investment in facility image programs, outgoing Chairman Bill Underriner told dealers today at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention.

Lincoln will kick off a multimedia campaign called 'Hello Again' with two commercials Sunday night during the Grammy Awards telecast.

Land Rover dealers in most of the country are sold out of the new-generation Range Rover SUV through early summer.

Expect consumers to keep their cars longer, requiring more repair work, and expect more dealership groups to follow AutoNation's lead and brand themselves.

Volkswagen of America executives on Sunday plan to discuss with dealers a new plan for achieving an old goal: slashing the per-unit cost of selling cars.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR JAKE LINGEMAN: I enjoyed the last Tacoma we had in the office and I remember saying it felt trucky.

A lot was going on at One Autoweek Tower during February's first week. Besides the Chicago Auto Show we talked Super Bowl commercials, Formula One testing and even reviewed a supercar. Here are some of the biggest stories from the week.

Expansive new dealership buildings still aren't worth the millions of dollars invested in them, but facility renovation programs aren't as dramatic an issue for dealers as they were a year ago. So concludes an NADA study that was released Saturday.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR SHERRICE GILSBACH: I love the looks of Kia vehicles these days, including the sporty styling this

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said he may stay at the helm of the carmaker beyond the term of his current contract to launch the new Golf model.

With France on the brink of recession and PSA and Renault seeking to shed thousands of jobs, the country's government may be forced to follow Germany's path that helped Volkswagen to restructure.

Linamar, the third-best performing auto supplier stock in the past year, says the biggest obstacle to its goal of tripling revenue and boosting profit seven-fold is finding skilled workers willing to earn C$80,000 ($80,000) a year.

A Colombian driver who has been arrested multiple times for drunk driving wound up in court this week after fatally hitting an 87-year-old bystander and injuring her son.

The judge soon found out that the man's driving licence had been suspended by the Ministry of Transportation for the next nine centuries. That's right!

As he continued to drive illegally, this idiot also collected fines totalling 1.4 billion pesos, equal to more than $780,000!

Drunk driving offenders in Columbia usually have to pay 26 million pesos ($15,000), get their licence suspended, and can even be charged with aggravated homicide if they caused an accident.

Source: LaPresse