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News 1 May, 2013

The Mercedes SL range has been tweaked, with more standard equipment and a price cut

PSA Peugeot Citroen's hardline CGT union says it will continue its strike at the automaker's Aulnay plant near Paris and has promised unspecified further action in its bid to halt the factory's proposed closure.

Stuart Frith, the chief programme engineer for the new Range Rover Sport, has revealed details of more derivatives to come, including "over 500kg of weight reduction compared to the outgoing model" for the still-secret four-cylinder versions.

Meritor has reported a fiscal second quarter loss of US$4m versus a net profit of $20m a year ago.

GKN and Huaya Automotive Systems (HASCO) have announced a major expansion of their Chinese joint venture - Shanghai GKN Driveshafts (SDS).

News 2 May, 2013

Nissan Qashqai +2 will be dropped when the new Qashqai arrives in 2014

Mikuni Corporation and Eberspaecher Climate Control Systems have signed a joint venture agreement. Newly established Eberspaecher Mikuni Climate Control Systems Corporation headquartered in Odawara will distribute vehicle climate control systems in Japan.

News 1 May, 2013

Lexus has been named best manufacturer in a survey of 46,000 owners

French supplier Valeo expects annual sales in China to reach 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) by 2015, doubling its 2012 revenues.

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India sold 90,523 units locally in April 2013 for growth of just 0.3% over April 2012.

News 1 May, 2013

An error by Mercedes Austria means that the new Mercedes S-Class has been revealed early

News 1 May, 2013

Nissan chief has revealed more details of its all-new VW Golf rival

News 1 May, 2013

Read our verdict on the Peugeot 2008 and Renault Captur, as well as the 2013 Driver Power manufacturer results

Volkswagen is developing a 10-speed dual-clutch transmission to help reduce fuel consumption, CEO Martin Winterkorn said.

Porsche SE says an additional 12 hedge funds have dropped a U.S. court appeal in a market manipulation suit focusing on the company's failed attempt to takeover Volkswagen in 2008.

Volkswagen is developing a 10-speed dual-clutch transmission to help reduce fuel consumption, CEO Martin Winterkorn said.

Safety and braking components supplier TRW Automotive's first-quarter profits fell, but results from China and elsewhere helped mitigate reduced business in the troubled European market.

Nissan has named Daniel Kirchert, a former BMW executive in China, to head its luxury brand Infiniti in the country, as it seeks to expand production and dealerships in the world's biggest auto market.

BMW is studying ways to meet the fast-changing demands of China's car buyers to determine whether trends such as tele-dining and a heavy reliance on voice messaging will expand globally.

Denny Hamlin, still recuperating from his injuries suffered in California, will be racing at Talladega. For a short time that is.

The Virginia native tweeted on Tuesday "can not wait to get back in car.. The smell of fuel and tires Ahhh." Then to clarify he responded to another person on twitter "just to start."

The plan for driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing will be to drop to the rear of the 43-car field and get out of his Toyota right after the first caution. This would entitle him to receive whatever points substitute driver, Brian Vickers, may ear at the Aarons 499 on Sunday.

Photo: NASCAR

"They all came to the conclusion they were happy with me starting Talladega and getting out when it's a safe time to get out," Hamlin said at RIR. "So ... we'll start our process at Talladega and then rescan again and try to go to Darlington."

Although getting out of a NASCAR Sprint Cup car requires a bit of a maneuvering, Hamlin said he's still able to do it reasonably quickly.

"I could do it pretty easy," he said. "Really, I am physically capable of doing the same things other than running. I just can't do that yet. Getting up and down I can do just as easy as I could before the injury. I really only had about a week and a half of severe pain from the actual spine itself."

It's expected that Hamlin would remain on the scene after that.

UPDATE:
In light of the numerous reports of Denny Hamlin's return to race at Talladega NASCAR has told reporters that Hamlin is not yet cleared to drive this week.