Auto News 5

General Motors' Colombian plant Colomotores in Bogotá has begun stamping 11 body parts for Chevrolet models assembled here, 17 months after plans to install a press shop were announced.

General Motors Europe's Opel division has announced an additional spend of EUR60m (US$77m) at its Szentgotthárd plant in western Hungary to boost output by 70,000 engines per year to 670,000 and create 100 new jobs.

ABB, the Swiss-Swedish power generation firm, has announced a project to construct a national network of solar powered recharging stations for electric vehicles in The Netherlands.

Renault Samsung Motors, which saw first half global sales plunge 29.3% to 58,705 units and domestic sales tumble 14.2% to make it the nation's smallest car maker behind SsangYong, has agreed a new pay deal with its union after 12 rounds of talks.

Fuji Heavy Industries, maker of Subaru, said it had received 5,580 orders for its first hybrid model, the XV Crosstrek, in the two weeks after it went on sale, about 10 times more than its monthly sales target of 550 units.

News 12 Jul, 2013

Mazda to bring back its hot hatch with a high-revving naturally aspirated engine

New vehicle sales in mainland China rose 11.2% year on year to 1,754,084 units in June, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

There aren't too many car shows in America where you're likely to encounter a BMW Isetta bubble car sitting next an NSU 1200 and a Citroën 2CV.

The average car/truck/SUV sold by the top eight brands in America makes almost one mile per gallon more than it did a year ago, according to sales-weighted data from the industry analysts at TrueCar.

News 14 Jul, 2013

Our spies have snapped the facelifted 2014 McLaren 12C undergoing testing in Germany

News 11 Jul, 2013

Figures reveal the number of traffic police in UK has fallen by 12 per cent in five years

Audi plans to return the Quattro to its lineup three decades after the original model debuted, sources said. The Frankfurt auto show in September is shaping up as the likely backdrop for the reveal.

News that DHL workers have voted to strike at Jaguar Land Rover's three UK plants throws the spotlight on just how embedded into the factory operation logistics suppliers have become.

Striking autoworkers at GM Korea have scuttled production of hundreds of vehicles this month, as the union and management haggle over wages and working conditions.

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park's Racefest will take over Toronto's Yong-Dundas Square Wednesday, July 17 to offer racing fans a taste of racing action in advance of the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport, a few days later.

The event will be staged July 17, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto.

Canada's biggest sports car race of the year, the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix will featurw the American Le Mans Series for exotic prototype and GT race cars. A world-class field of drivers pilot the globe's top marques such as Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Lotus, Mazda, Porsche and Viper on Canada's classic, challenging road course.

Four other U.S.-based series will be on track; the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites, IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup and the Pro Mazda Championship. The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin returns for their final Canadian Tire Motorsport Park event of the season to round out an exciting weekend of racing.

The RaceFest is a dynamic public and media event, with great on-site visuals, sounds and personalities.

It includes:

• Live Pit Stop demonstrations by the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Corvette Racing team with Ron Fellows back behind the wheel for this special event

• The first Canadian showing of the unique and revolutionary DeltaWing prototype, a new generation race car, joined by team driver Andy Meyrick (Great Britain)

• "Team Canada's" ALMS drivers, Tony Burgess (Toronto) and Kyle Marcelli (Barrie), who will compete against an international field of top Sports Car drivers

• Drivers and race cars from other event weekend series, including Martin Barkey (Huntsville) and Tim Sanderson (Pickering) of the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada presented by Michelin, and James Vance (Stouffville) of the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup

• Driver Autograph Sessions and draws to win event tickets

The Rolls-Royce Wraith, the most powerful car ever built by the British automaker, is one of the crown jewels at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed in England, which kicks off today. This 624-horsepower fastback, which accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 4.6 seconds, will take part in the famous Goodwood Hillclimb.

Other Rolls-Royce models on display at Goodwood include the 2013 Alpine Trial Centenary Ghost that made its debut in Shanghai this spring and pays tribute to the 1913 Silver Ghost “Radley Car.” The two will actually travel up the Hillclimb side by side 4 times each day.

Moreover, the company is providing invited guests with the opportunity to drive a brand new Rolls-Royce Phantom or Rolls-Royce Alpine Trial Centenary Ghost around the Goodwood Estate during the Moving Motor Show on Thursday.

And of course, the return of the Soapbox Challenge, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Festival of Speed, would not be complete without the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars team.

Photo: Rolls-Royce

Photo: Rolls-Royce

From GMM

Honda on Thursday announced it will base its formula one operations in the UK.

After a six-year absence from the paddock, the Japanese carmaker is returning to the sport in 2015 as a supplier of works V6 power to McLaren.

Photo: McLaren F1 Team

Honda will develop and manufacture the engines in Japan, but the trackside operations will be based at a site in Milton Keynes, where the engines and energy recovery systems will also be maintained.

This is nothing new as Honda already operated a base in the UK when they supplied engines to McLaren, Lotus, Williams and Tyrrell.

"With the confirmation of a new F1 operation base in the UK, our preparation to join F1 has become more specific and concrete," said motor sport chief Yasuhisa Arai.

Reigning world champions Red Bull are also based in Milton Keynes, a town in Buckinghamshire, England.

From GMM

Lewis Hamilton thinks Kimi Raikkonen should leap at the chance to join Red Bull in 2014.

The Mercedes driver said Finn Raikkonen, who is currently weighing up between the move alongside Sebastian Vettel or staying at Lotus, would give Vettel "a hard time".

"It would be really cool to see Kimi in a Red Bull. He would give Seb a hard time," 2008 world champion Hamilton is quoted by the Sun.

"Kimi is an incredible driver, everyone knows that, so with an even better car it would be interesting to see what he does with that."

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, in China. (Photo: WRi2)

Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, has often struggled to match up to his own teammate in 2013, having switched from McLaren to join Nico Rosberg at Mercedes.

But Ferrari's Fernando Alonso said he is not surprised by German Rosberg's top form.

"We saw him beat Michael (Schumacher) the last few years, and not because Michael had forgotten how to drive but because Nico did a fantastic job, and he's getting even better," the Spaniard told Sport Bild.

From GMM

Interlagos has moved a step closer to securing its future on the F1 calendar.

Earlier this year, the future of the Brazilian grand prix came into doubt when F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said the venue in Sao Paulo must be upgraded.

But those fears eased when Ecclestone confirmed city mayor Fernando Haddad had written him a letter "and he's guaranteed to revamp the whole facilities there".

It was said a new contract through 2020 would then be signed.

Start of the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix. (Photo: Pirelli)

Now, O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper is reporting that the city has indeed opened up bids for the construction of an all-new three-storey pit and paddock complex and revisions to the layout, to be ready for 2015.

The report said Sao Paulo is paying for the project through an agreement with the tourism ministry, aimed at "maintaining F1 in Brazil and in the city of Sao Paulo", according to spokesman Nunzio Briguglio.

The newest member of Fisher-Price's Power Wheels collection is a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray replica. Set to go on sale in the U.S. at $275 starting this September, this toy-sized, battery-powered Corvette will be available for pre-order at Walmart.com.

Designed for children age 3 and older, the Power Wheels Corvette can reach speeds of up to 6 mph (nearly 10 km/h) going forward, and 3 mph (5 km/h) in reverse, making it the fastest car in the collection. It's a single-seater with a long-lasting 12V battery.

Canadian availability has yet to be announced.

Sources : www.autoblog.com

Photo: Fisher-Price