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News 14 Jan, 2013

Full details of the facelifted Mercedes E63 AMG, following its debut at the Detroit Motor Show

Steve Catlin, formerly General Motors' Vauxhall national retail sales manager in the UK, has been promoted to retail sales director, reporting directly to chairman and managing director, Duncan Aldred.

General Motors Middle East (GMME) recorded its second best December sales in 2012 - up 3% year on year to 14,413 vehicles as the Chevrolet and Cadillac brands booked record month and full year volume.

Toyota will "significantly" increase the availability of SiriusXM satellite radio across its US vehicle range during 2013.

The US National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) has named Peter Welch its new president from 1 February.

Automakers increasing digital offerings, linking in-dash systems to smartphones and services like traffic monitors are responding to demand, according to a US report which said a recent study by IBM showed buyers would increasingly select new cars based on the gadgetry they contain. Separately, an online survey of about 2,100 people conducted for Johnson Controls (JCI) by Harris Interactive suggested consumers want to use phones and existing apps to safely connect in their vehicles.

Prolonged economic recession, increasing input costs and high interest have affected truck maker Tata Motors, according to OnCars, which said Tata reportedly is offering a discount of up to INR500,000 (US$9,056.89) on some of its heavy trucks to clear stock and avoid inventory backlog.

NEWS EDITOR GREG MIGLIORE: I normally would not select a bright yellow sports car as my commuter machine, but this

A decrease in export market demand for Colombian products and commodities combined with domestic speculation about car tax reform and the free trade agreement (FTA) with the US - with its consequent fall in car prices - made 2012 one of the most difficult in recent memory for the local auto industry.

Renault plans to increase local production in Turkey to take advantage of a market expected to grow slightly in 2013.

The French government has officially sought approval from the European Union for its 7 billion euro ($9.2 billion) state loan guarantee for PSA's financing arm, a French newspaper reported today.

PSA vehicle deliveries dropped 16.5 percent to 2.97 million last year as the struggling automaker lost ground in the European market and withdrew from Iran.

Russia's auto industry is in danger of sliding into the same overcapacity problem as the rest of Europe, analysts say.

Ram has fired the latest salvo in the ongoing pickup war between the domestic automakers, releasing what the brand claims is now best-in-class towing capacity for its 2013 heavy-duty pickups.

A growing number of global auto executives say they are planning to increase investments in factories and distribution networks as their fears of widespread overcapacity wanes.

Next week's Detroit auto show will demonstrate that automakers are finding ways to provide sharp looks and speed, even as cars are shrinking to save fuel.

Automakers for months have been announcing plans to add local manufacturing in Russia. The list of companies planning to increase output includes VW, Nissan and Ford. But when Russian sales unexpectedly fell flat in November it caused concern.

The European market for compact station wagons is becoming more competitive after Honda said it will join Toyota in adding a wagon variant to its Civic lineup.

From press release

British team is first official entry to be approved by the FIA in new global electric championship.

Drayson Racing Technologies LLP (DRT), the pioneering low-carbon motorsport R&D business, announced on Wednesday at the Low Carbon Racing Conference that the Drayson Racing Formula E Team is the first team to have agreed with Formula E Holdings (the promoter) to be officially proposed to the FIA as one of the ten teams taking part in the Championship starting in 2014.

The Oxfordshire, UK-based outfit is the first team to commit to the zero-emissions series and will run in the inaugural season of the Championship in 2014, featuring cars racing on city street circuits powered exclusively by renewable electric energy.

Illustration: Drayson Racing

Drayson will field a two driver attack and is already talking to a number of the world's leading racing drivers about seats with the team. During 2013, it will work with Spark and Formula E Holdings to test the Formula E customer car and to promote the championship around the world in the 10 host cities planned for the first season.

Drayson Racing will run the new Formula E customer racing car in 2014 which will be supplied by the promoter Formula E Holdings and is currently being developed by Spark and McLaren.

From 2015, the team plans to be a constructor in its own right fielding a new drivetrain developed from the advanced DRT 4X2-640 electric system featured in the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV car that set a new electric record this summer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The team is a wholly owned subsidiary of Drayson Racing Technologies which has been pioneering green racing initiatives since 2007 and has been acting as Scientific Adviser in terms of sustainability to the FIA Formula E Championship during its establishment over the past few months.

It was the very first time my driving partner had ever been on the storied Mulholland Drive leading up to the gloriously winding Topanga Canyon route. The narrow roads above Southern California are a driver's paradise, both spiritually uplifting and utterly demanding; twisty as a plate of spaghetti and peppered with the scattered evidence of previous rock slides.

My codriver is loving it, marvelling over the funky villas, the endless blue sky, the circling California condors, when suddenly "it" happens.

We're brought up short, reverie interrupted, by the bumbling nemesis of drivers everywhere: the dreaded beige Corolla. For the next five excruciating miles we're trapped behind the brake lights of this scourge of the roadways with no room to pass. What else could we do but laugh?

Truly, the Corolla gets no love from my colleagues. However, I've declared my own personal nemesis to be the Buick Century: a drifting barge whose droopy backside resembles a full diaper. While the Corolla may be stodgy and annoying, the Century is dementia on wheels; dreamily wafting across centre lines, pausing on entry ramps, coming to a full stop on a busy thoroughfare as the driver, bespectacled and blue of hair, peers over the steering wheel while trying to remember just what in the heck brought them there in the first place.

In sort of a “which came first: chicken or the egg” scenario, I've never been able to figure out whether the drivers subconsciously chose the cars that matched their most annoying personality traits or whether they're innocent victims of an automotive "Invasions of the Body Snatchers" -- powerless to resist the transformation into commuter zombies.

Just like that old cliché of pets coming to resemble their owners, some folks are easily matched up to their rides.

Consider the young dude in baller shorts, white brim cocked to the side, affecting a rolling gangster stride -- it's a pretty safe bet he's not climbing into a Buick Verano. His whip's either the ghetto Honda with the flat-black paint scheme and 4” fart-pipe, the iridescent green Cavalier with the two-foot wing and Lambo doors or the right-hand-drive Silvia parked diagonally across three spots because it's a JDM classic, yo.

Or the neckless bruiser, tiny eyes peering angrily from beneath the overhang of a Cro-Magnon brow, anti-gun control tee stretched tightly across the vast-expanse of a Cracker Barrel-fuelled belly: No big surprise when his key fob lights up two rows of Hella lamps (great for night-huntin'!) mounted on a jacked-up Ram, emblazoned with stickers, balls-a-swinging from the trailer hitch.

I really like those guys. Few things give me greater pleasure than leaving them in my dust, since my sweet little girlie pickup's balls are under the hood.

My academic friends drive Volvos and Subarus, my automotive friends; someone else's cars.

If there's a New Beetle in the gym parking lot, five to one it belongs to someone with matching yoga wear.

I've often found that I subconsciously morph into the targeted demographic of whatever press car I'm driving.

Maybe I'll arrange to test the poor, maligned Corolla, and specify that I'd like beige.

Look for my next stories: they'll be on competitive scrap-booking, cooking with Spam, and the best of Walmart fashion.