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Renault hopes to receive final approval from Beijing by the summer to build its first plant in China, CEO Carlos Ghosn said.

Volkswagen may cut temporary posts in response to Europe's weak market but won't close factories or reduce its permanent work force, CEO Martin Winterkorn said.

Within the past five years, GM moved the production of its trucks and Buick LaCrosse sedan in Oshawa, Ontario, to the United States.

UK car sales are rising while those in other major European markets are falling steeply but the bright spot is due to special circumstances and it may not last.

With the German auto market in free fall, at least one dealer is offering Groupon coupons to boost sales.

With the German auto market in free fall, at least one dealer is offering Groupon coupons to boost sales.

Robert Kubica rolled out aboard his Citroën DS3 RRC in the ES11 of rallye Açores, fourth round of the European Rallye Championship.

The Pole, who led the race in the early stage, was running in sixth position when he went out in a corner and rolled. Kubica and his team mate Maciak Baran lost about fourth minutes in the incident, and had to stop again for several minutes to repair the damages on the car.

Robert Kubica dropped down to 8th position overall on Friday evening, as Jan Kopecky's Skoda Fabia S2000 was the leader of the rally, after ES12 was cancelled due to heavy fog.

Jan Kopecky, Skoda. (Photo: FIA ERC)

Augusto Farfus and Martin Tomczyk will race both the DTM race in Brands Hatch, before heading to Germany for the Nürburgring 24 Hours on May 19th.

Both BMW drivers, who will take on the DTM championship this season, will run the free practice session, the qualifying and the race in Brands Hatch, second round of the DTM calendar, and will head to the Nürburgring immediatly after the race to take part to the famous 24 Hours race where they will drive a BMW Z4.

Martin Tomczyk leading Augusto Farfus. (Photo: BMW Motorpsort)

That will be possible as the Nürburgring 24 Hours will be presented on Sunday and Monday this year. Farfus and Tomczyk will miss the practice sessions and qualifying in Germany, but will be allowed to enter the race considering their VLN championship experience this season.

BMW Z4 GT3. (Photo: BMW Motorsport)

Toyota has now sold more than five million hybrid vehicles globally, including 77,000 in Canada, where over 80% of all hybrid sales in 2012 can be credited to Toyota.

These five million hybrids have collectively reduced CO2 emissions by about 34 million tons and helped save 12 million kilolitres of gasoline.

“Toyota's hybrid offerings have been extremely beneficial in reducing the environmental impact of cars in our society,” said Seiji Ichii, President and CEO, Toyota Canada, Inc. “The best part is that we are only at the early stages of this trend. As hybrids become even more entrenched and continue to improve, the positive effects on the environment will become even greater.”

Toyota and Lexus currently sell 19 hybrid models and one plug-in hybrid in 80 countries and regions around the world. In Canada, there are six Toyota hybrids and five from Lexus.

Photo: Toyota

On Friday in Richmond, NASCAR's vice president of competition, Robin Pemberton, said that punishment for technical rules violations does not consider intent.

But Joe Gibbs the founder of the team with his name said that intent should matter when meting out punishment. Gibbs has appealed the severe penalties NASCAR has imposed after finding one connecting rod was only 2.7 grams underweight, but, not the finding.

When asked about the background for punishment Pemberton said “Not intent; we don't judge the performance.”

JGR used to build their engines, now they are obtained from Toyota Racing Development which in turn purchased the offending item from a third party. Would NASCAR penalize the third parties?

“At this time we will not and cannot penalize vendors,” said Pemberton.  We'd be in it all day long, whether it was a shock that went bad, a spring that collapsed that caused the car low or any of those things. You can concentrate right now on a certain area, because right now it's the height and awareness around an engine part.

“But when you go down that road, there are a million pieces on these cars, and so we choose to go down the path that it's the team's responsibility for quality control, and check on the parts and pieces that they bring and compete with at the racetrack.”

A little while later Gibbs, the triple Super Bowl winning coach, took the penalties personally.

For me personally, in my entire life and every decision or just about every decision I've made -- I felt like intent was very important,” Gibbs said.

“Whether it was somebody doing something in a situation where somebody has done something maybe against me, the first thing I wanted to know is what was their intent? Was it an accident? Was it a mistake or did they purposely try and do something. Intent to me is I think very important.

“In this case, I think that's important to me. This motor and what happened -- there was not an intent to circumvent the rules or to have an unfair competitive advantage. That was very important to me. I think, like I mentioned -- we really value our relationship with NASCAR.”

Most appeals go in favor of NASCAR, but there is a final appeal available to John Middlebrook, a former General Motors executive.

Last year Middlebrook reduced a penalty imposed against the No. 48 team of Jimmie Johnson for an unapproved “C” pillar, the piece which connects the rear of the roof with the body, at Daytona.

Less than two days after NASCAR stripped Matt Kenseth of his Kansas Speedway pole, he was back on top in Richmond.

"One of our goals this weekend was to come here this weekend and sit on the pole and try to quiet down some of the noise," Kenseth said. "I was pretty glad we were able to accomplish that. It's not been historically a good qualifying place for me -- it's probably one of my worst qualifying tracks on the circuit -- but I've been really champing at the bit to get to the track this weekend."

The double irony is that Kenseth is not known for winning poles. In 481 races this is only his ninth pole because he was stripped of that pole he won last week due to a technical, underweight connecting rod, issue.

On Thursday he said he was upset, but, focusing on the next race.

"I think almost every person that I've talked to has been very supportive," he said after his pole. "I just kind of left it behind me. I'm just going to let the appeals process work out and see what happens. Whatever it is it is. We'll have to deal with the consequences then and move on. For now, it's just business as usual.

"There's absolutely nothing we can do about anything that happened last week at this point so you just put that out of your head. It's only a distraction if you let it become one."

And Kenseth did it in style with his Toyota with a track-record run at 130.334 mph (20.716 seconds), Kenseth edging previous record holder Brian Vickers (130.303 mph), who was subbing for injured Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, for the third straight week, by .005 seconds.

Jeff Gordon qualified third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer as the top five drivers broke Vickers' 2004 track record of 129.983 mph (20.772 seconds).

Has the "Multi-21" affair been resolved?

Mark Webber, who was betrayed by his triple world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel at the Malaysian Grand Prix, is now saying the two Red Bull Racing drivers are enjoying "great camaraderie", according to IANS news agency.

The controversy that followed Malaysia made every headline possible. The already ailing relationship between the two drivers was falling apart completely. Rumours of Webber leaving the team were flying around.

And now, the Australian insists the matter is behind them?

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel on the podium in Malaysia (Photo: WRi2)

"Now into its seventh season, my partnership with Red Bull racing is one of the longest between a driver and a team," the 36-year-old is quoted saying by IANS.

"Sebastian and I are a team and we share a great camaraderie."

Webber, who swerved dangerously towards Vettel after they crossed the finish ling in Malaysia, seems adamant: "We continue to respect each other and will continue to remain focused in wanting to make the team proud."

However, the same Webber wrote today on his Twitter account that some "rubbish quotes (were) floating around" lately, bringing everybody back to square one on his tensed relationship with Vettel.

A difficult start to his F1 career has put Mexican Esteban Gutierrez in a difficult position at Sauber. But he needn't worry, team boss Monisha Kaltenborn is not ready to drop the axe on him.

The team did acknowledged its 2013 car, the Sauber-Ferrari C32, is lacking pace. But it doesn't hide the fact the former GP2 winner has failed to score in four races because his teammate Nico Hulkenberg has amassed five points in the same span of time.

Gutierrez's best result is a 12th position.

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari C32 (Photo: WRi2)

"A lot has to do with the performance of the car," insists Kaltenborn, the first female team principal in F1, on Autosport.com. "We have no doubts about his mental capabilities to get on top of things and understand them."

Instead, Kaltenborn wants to focus on helping her struggling driver, for now at least. If Gutierrez doesn't improve, she might then be forced to take action in order to save the team some financial troubles.

"We need to try to focus on get that potential out because we know it's there," Kaltenborn promised. "But at the same time we know as a team we don't have many chances, and whatever you do in a season can have a straight impact on your finances for the future."

Last fall, as we waited for our turn to partake in a braking drill at Bob Bondurant's driving school in Arizona, a black Cadillac CTS-V coupe came screaming out of the facility's parking area and onto the tarmac where we sat.

The Shanghai auto show and keeping tabs on Fisker Automotiveand#8217;s drama kept the Autoweek Web team busy this week.

2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque - Existential Questions

Is it a utility vehicle? Does it even matter?

One of our readers recently emailed us the following question:

Photo Gallery: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque - Four Seasons Update - April Update - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque - Four Seasons Update - April Update - Automobile Magazine

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Aisin Seiki's net income jumped 40 percent to 77.5 billion yen ($823.1 million), as revenue rose 10 percent to $26.87 billion, in the fiscal year ended March 31, the parts supplier said today.

Tesla is making changes to the Model S sedan's battery warranty and service contract.

2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL - View From The Top

Celebrating a sales victory with a Midwestern road trip.

We closed last month's Nissan Altima update by saying "the Altima's sales results prove that the approach is working well." That turned out to be an understatement, as the model leap-frogged the Camry as the best-selling car for the month of March. According to Ward's Automotive Group, it was only the second time that the Altima has ever been at the top of the monthly car-sales numbers, whereas the Camry has been the best-seller 139 times since 1980 and the Honda Accord has achieved that status 90 times.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL - Four Seasons Update - April 2013 - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SL - Four Seasons Update - April 2013 - Automobile Magazine

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The Ford Motor Company Fund, the charitable arm of Ford Motor, said today it will be donating $1 million to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit over the next five years.