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Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said the European auto market won't recover before 2020 unless governments take action to make their economies competitive.

News 30 Jan, 2013

Check out the latest issue for our exclusive test of the all-new Range Rover

An hour before the awards ceremony was set to begin, Toyota Korea was told that its Camry would be crowned the 2013 Korea Car of the Year, a stunning feat for a foreign brand.

News 30 Jan, 2013

The OFT has scrapped plans to hold a full inquiry into whether petrol and diesel prices in the UK are being manipulated

News 30 Jan, 2013

The all-new Audi A3 Cabriolet will be based on the forthcoming A3 saloon

Fiat reported a 29 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit, boosted by record sales of Jeep models and a narrower loss in Europe.

Fiat reported a 29 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit, boosted by record sales of Jeep models and narrower losses in Europe.

Opel has received more than 20,000 customer orders since October for the new Adam minicar, a crucial product for the money-losing brand. Opel and GM need the Adam to be a success if it is to turn around its European business.

Toyota Motor is recalling almost 1.3m cars globally for two separate defects, including 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in the US, to fix airbags that could be deployed inadvertently, the automaker said on Wednesday. The second recall is to check Lexus IS wipers.

Mazda Motor Corporation will establish a new affiliate company in Thailand - Mazda Powertrain Manufacturing (Thailand) - and construct a transmission plant with an annual production capacity of approximately 400,000 units in the Chonburi province of Thailand at a cost of JPY26bn (US$285m).

The 1988 Chicago Auto Show showcased the beginnings of a comeback for U.S. automakers, battered by imports throughout the decade.

Fisker Automotive, the plug-in hybrid maker that's seeking a partner or a buyer, hired a turnaround special to help manage day-to-day operations during negotiations.

German trade union IG Metall wants GM to guarantee no Opel employee at the Bochum car plant will join the ranks of the unemployed once production ends.

Labor tensions at France's automakers took a turn for the worse as Renault workers protested over planned cuts and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's restructuring plan hit a legal setback.

The Treasury Department needs a 'concrete plan' to unwind the 2009 bailout of Ally Financial, the former auto-finance arm of GM, an administration watchdog says in a new report. Taxpayers still own 74 percent of Ally, which owes $14.

Veteran crew chief, Pete Rondeau, who has been promoted to competition director at Furniture Row Racing.

Rondeau initially joined the Denver-based Furniture Row Racing as the team's car chief. He assumed the crew chief role in May 2010 and served in that capacity until July 2012.

In his new position as competition director, Rondeau will be based at the Denver race shop with the building and preparation of the team's No. 78 Chevrolets driven by Kurt Busch.

Rondeau will report to Mark McArdle, Furniture Row Racing's executive director of competition, who also serves as director of racing operations at Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Furniture Row Racing and RCR are partners with a technical and engineering alliance.

Pete Rondeau. (Photo: Furniture Row Racing)

“Since joining Furniture Row Racing Pete has played a significant role with team development,” said team general manager Joe Garone. “His transition to the competition director position is having a positive impact in our continuing effort to strengthen our overall program.”

Rondeau is also upbeat about the direction of Furniture Row Racing.

“With the tremendous gains Furniture Row Racing has made in recent years and the solid foundation that it has built, the opportunity has never been better to reach a higher level of competition,” said Rondeau. “That is why I am enthusiastically looking forward to this new challenge and working with Mark (McArdle) and also with my counterparts at RCR.”

A native of New England, Rondeau grew up in Saco, Maine, approximately 90-miles north from New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Prior to joining Furniture Row Racing, Rondeau worked at Evernham Motorsports where he served as the team's director of research and development from July 2005 to the end of the 2009 season.

He also worked at Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) from 2001 to May 2005 and Jasper Motorsports from 1998-2001. During his three-plus years at DEI, Rondeau's positions included the crew chief role for both Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Rondeau has also had experience behind the wheel of a race car. Before he traveled south to North Carolina in 1998 to work in NASCAR, he raced for many years on the New England short tracks, including super late model cars in the American Canadian Tour. He also drove in NASCAR's Pro Series East and the Whelen Modified Tour Series.

Ten years after unveiling the Kamal concept, Alfa Romeo is reportedly close to launching a production model. It will go on sale around 2015, sources claim.

The crossover is said to borrow its front-wheel-drive Compact U.S. Wide (CUSW) platform from the Jeep Liberty's successor, which will be introduced at the New York Auto Show in late March, as well as the Alfa Romeo Giuletta and Dodge Dart sedans.

This model will play an instrumental role in Alfa Romeo's future return to the U.S., given the popularity of crossovers in the world's second-largest car market.

Production will take place at the Mirafiori plant in Italy, near the Fiat headquarters in Turin.

Source: Motorauthority.com

2003 Concept Kamal (Photo Alfa Romeo)

Iconic symbol for the London 2012 Paralympics, the former car racing champion came to Maranello to see his friend Stefano Domenicali.

Along with the Scuderia Ferrari team principal, Alex Zanardi visited the departments where the car that will take part in this year's Formula 1 World Championship is taking shape.

The mechanics, busy with the final, delicate stages of assembling the car, gave him a very warm welcome, before posing together for photos.

Photo: Ferrari

"It was a very exciting evening for me!" said Alex, talking to www.ferrari.com. "The thing that struck me the most when I went into the department where the new car was being built, was the smell, the same I used to smell when I went to the Chip Ganassi team headquarters in America. There too the car was red, but it definitely wasn't a Ferrari! I know many of the guys who work at the Scuderia from a long time ago, but this was my first time in Maranello and it was a great experience. Finally, I can claim to have got my hands on a Red car!"

From GMM

The 30-year-old German has had to leave formula one for the DTM touring car series for 2013, because Marussia need to replace him with a pay-driver.

"I learned the hard way," said Glock, "that it is extremely difficult for a small team to come out of the cellar."

"The top teams get a lot of money from Bernie Ecclestone, starving the small teams a little bit. Finding partners to improve the budget is increasingly difficult," he insisted.

Indeed, the smaller teams are apparently becoming increasingly reliant on 'pay drivers' to boost their coffers, and it is expected that - like Glock - the next victim of this trend will be Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen.

Timo Glock. (Photo: Marussia F1 Team)

"There have always been pay drivers," Glock admitted. "I won't say that they have no talent. Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez have proved that you can have good partners behind you and drive fast as well. It's perfectly legitimate. But it's too bad that formula one is increasingly developing in this direction."

He said Marussia in particular was caught out by the political wranglings of a few years ago, when small teams' interest was sparked by former FIA president Max Mosley's plans for a budget cap.

"The approach of building a car only with CFD could have worked if the budget cap had come in," said Timo Glock. "But it didn't. We then determined early on that you can't do it just with CFD, you also need the wind tunnel, and by then the collaboration with McLaren had come too late. Last year, we showed that we can make a step forward, and found more than 1.5 seconds (per lap). But in order to make the big step, you need double the budget."

Der Spiegel reported last week that Marussia only managed to vacate Glock's cockpit for 2013 after paying him his retainer.

He responded: "Then they know quite a lot, or more than I do. On contractual things I can't say much. It's mine and Marussia's business only."

Timo Glock testing in DTM. (Photo: BMW Motorsport)

As for whether he has closed the chapter on F1, having reportedly signed a three-year contract with BMW, Glock insisted: "Let's wait. At the moment I'm focusing on what lies ahead. What happens in the next few years, we wait and see."

Chevrolet will launch the convertible variant of its hot new 2014 Corvette Stingray at the Geneva Motor Show on March 5th, according to various sources.

You may remember that the previous generation (C6) also made its debut there in 2004.

The only information we have so far is that the topless Corvette will feature a soft top and use the coupe's 450-horsepower V8 engine.

Look for the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible to go on sale by the end of this year.

Source: Automotive News