Auto News 5

Automakers are catching on to Subaru's strategy of targeting the active-lifestyle, outdoorsy psychographic.

The speculation that Alan Mulally is headed to Microsoft won't die down -- not helped by the fact that the Ford CEO has not exactly come out and said it isn't true.

PSA plans to invest 90 million euros to add production of a new Peugeot compact at its Rennes plant in France. Output will begin in mid-2016 of the vehicle, which will replace the 5008.

Despite its poor performance in Europe, Lexus will set a global sales record of more than 520,000 units this year.

The owner of a small tooling supplier in suburban Detroit wants to play a big role in the auto industry's high-stakes shift from steel to aluminum. He just needs time.

SUVs and crossovers rank far below hatchbacks and sedans when it comes to what customers in Europe intend to purchase, according to a study.

PSA plans to invest 90 million euros to add production of a new Peugeot compact at its underutilized Rennes plant in France. Output will begin in mid-2016.

Toyota targets big weight savings and fuel economy gains with new technology due in 2015, the company's top randd executives said.

The latest issue of the Automotive News Europe monthly e-magazine goes live on Monday, Dec. 2. This edition looks at Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's new plan to relaunch struggling Alfa Romeo.

From GMM

F1 legend Michael Schumacher has admitted he is worried about the sport's financial health.

As teams prepare for the even more expensive 2014 regulations, Lotus and Sauber have already been struggling to pay their drivers and bills this season.

And amid rumours of a possible Marussia-Sauber merger over the forthcoming winter, it is possible the grid could shrink to just ten teams and twenty cars for 2014.

Photo: WRi2

Schumacher, the most successful driver in grand prix history, admitted he is worriedly watching the situation from the sidelines.

"It is really alarming," the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver told Bild newspaper. "Financially it has become a very difficult situation, showing that even formula one is not immune."

44-year-old German Schumacher, however, has no such money worries, having sat atop the tree as F1's highest-earning driver for many years at Ferrari.

Indeed, now retired, he had been speaking about F1's financial troubles from Frankfurt, where he had travelled in his private jet to collect an original painting called 'Boxenstopp' for EUR 3,500.

Years ago the American comedian, Rodney Dangerfield, made a career out of a tag line “I get no respect.”

Ironically, for many years in NASCAR, there was a perception that six-time Sprint Cup Champion, Jimmie Johnson, didn't get the respect he deserved.

Was it because he was quiet, didn't brag, or because he certainly didn't make headlines away from the race track for inappropriate behavior?

It must have been maddening to the Johnson haters that, year-after-year, he continues to win races, and for a five year-stretch (2006-2010) he was the Sprint Car Champion a feat not likely to be matched.

Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet SS, Hendrick Motorsports. (Photo: NASCAR)

Quietly he endured the booing. At least that was until he won the Daytona 500 in 2006 after his crew chief, Chad Knaus, was caught in technical violation. "This was our chance to show the world all those headlines that said we're a cheater, they aren't true, there's nothing to it," Johnson said. "This is for the haters of the 48 team."

To insult to injury, on the verge of Johnson's sixth champion Donovan McNabb a NFL quarterback and Fox Sports Live analyst said on television, "Do I think he's an athlete? Absolutely not."

After celebrating his latest title Jimmie Johnson finally responded.

“Yes, I am an athlete...,” said Johnson in a matter of fact tone in his voice just after the final laps of the year had been had been run. “Even Tony Stewart, even though he's carrying a little,” he said with a laugh. “He's an athlete. That's just fuel (inferring his rival driver's paunchy belly) for his engine.”

Hendrick Motorsport founder Rick Hendrick was offended by those television remarks. And he responded. “I heard McNabb say he wasn't an athlete,” said Hendrick at Homestead Miami Speedway. “I'd like to see McNabb come run the Boston Marathon with him or swim the lake out here. Guys like that don't know what they're talking about. He wouldn't have been Athlete of the Year if people didn't know what kind of unbelievable athlete he is.”

Jimmie Johnson, six times Sprint Cup champion. (Photo: NASCAR)

And even at 38 years of age Johnson said the best is yet to come.

“I've worked so hard and long to get to this point, I'm finally on top of my game. I've worked a lifetime to get here. There's more motivation staying on top for those reasons than chasing stats and the historical things that are out there in front of me now, it's really something that comes from within.

“I'm humbled by the nice things that have been said by competitors and owners, my peers in this industry. I think their opinion is very important. I don't think my opinion matters. It's not for the athlete, the driver. It's bestowed upon you; it's passed down from others.”

That begs the question can Johnson follow that up with a seventh championship, tying him with NASCAR legends, Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt?

“If others are saying it, I'm not going to deny it, chase it away. Sure, I would love to be considered that. If you look at stats, there's still numbers out there that I need to achieve. That's why I say, until I hang my helmet up, it's not necessarily a fair conversation to have,” he said.

Maybe then he'll get the full respect he deserves.

From press release

Lotus F1 Team is pleased to announce that Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado will join the Enstone squad alongside Frenchman Romain Grosjean for the 2014 Formula 1 season.

Pastor - a veteran of 58 Grand Prix starts, including pole position and victory at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix - has driven for Williams F1 Team since entering the sport at the start of the 2011 season.

Romain has raced for Lotus F1 Team since the start of the 2012 season, having previously driven for the Enstone outfit in its former guise of Renault F1 Team during the final seven races of the 2009 season, in addition to serving as third driver for the team in 2011.

Photo: Lotus F1 Team

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: "It is with great pleasure that we can formally confirm that Romain Grosjean will continue with Lotus F1 Team next season. He has really made the most of his tremendous talent over the latter part of the 2013 season and will be a fantastic asset to our 2014 challenge. Romain will be joined by Pastor Maldonado; a driver I have known since he drove for me at DAMS in the 2005 World Series by Renault season. It is clear that Pastor has pace and potential. With Romain and Pastor I believe Lotus F1 Team will be able to cause quite a few surprises next year."

Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 Team Driver: "I am very happy to have official confirmation that I will be continuing to drive for Lotus F1 Team next season. I am very excited about next year's car and I cannot wait to get out on track for pre-season testing before heading to Australia for the first race of the season."

Pastor Maldonado, 2014 Lotus F1 Team Driver: "It is a fantastic opportunity for me to join Lotus F1 Team for 2014. It's no secret that I have wanted a change of scene to help push on with my Formula 1 career and Lotus F1 Team offered the very best opportunity for me to be competitive next season."

After 50 hours, 20 minutes, and six seconds, Vintage Adventurer Rod Wade and co-driver Michael Flanders finished their journey from New York to California aboard a 1930 Ford Model A, in the process setting a new world record for driving a pre-war automobile across the U.S.

More precisely, the two men began the 4,800-km trek at Staten Island at 00:01 am on Friday, November 22nd. Despite horrendous weather conditions, including rain storms, extreme winds, and even snow through New Mexico, they reached Venice Beach just after 11:15 pm on Saturday, November 23rd.

Arrival at Venice Beach, California. (Photo: Rod Wade and Michael Flanders)

At one point, Wade and Flanders had to stop every five kilometres to clear the windscreen of ice because there is no heated windscreen on the Model A.

In an earlier attempt in October, their car suffered a broken crankshaft after 38 hours of driving.

The goal was to raise awareness and funds to support kidney disease sufferers all over the world. The Vintage Adventurer team will now take on the Ocean to Ocean Australia, driving from Queensland to Freemantle but also making the return journey. This is scheduled for June 2014.

Source: Poppyseed Media

The 30th annual Operation Red Nose kicks off tonight under the theme "Planning Some Holiday Cheer? Call a deer!"

From November 29th to December 31st, 2013, some 58,000 volunteers wearing the famous red vest will be on the road to provide Canadians who feel unfit to drive with a safe alternative to get back home.

The service will be available in 106 cities across Canada, including 63 in Quebec.

Fun fact: Operation Red Nose will welcome its one millionth volunteer in December.

A Volunteer of the Day section of the website will present the story of a volunteer each and every day of the campaign. An Operation Red Nose board game has also been launched.

Source: Operation Red Nose

Graham Hill, who won the Formula 1 championship in 1962 (BRM) and 1968 (Lotus), died on November 29th, 1975 when the aeroplane he was piloting crashed, killing all six people on board including young driver Tony Brise.

Hill took part in 176 races throughout his career, winning 14 of them and achieving 36 top-3 finishes -- a total of 289 points.

A crash at the 1969 U.S. Grand Prix broke both his legs and interrupted his career. He retired in 1975.

Trivia: Hill's son, Damon, is the only F1 champion to duplicate his father's success.

Source : Wikipedia

Photo: WRi2

From GMM

Tickets for next year's returning Austrian grand prix have sold out.

Next June's race at the former A1-Ring, demolished and rebuilt by Red Bull, went on sale a mere three days ago.

Race organisers Spielberg GmbH, a subsidiary of the energy drink company that also owns two formula one teams, said on Thursday that only cancelled tickets will now be available.

APA news agency said the few cancelled tickets were bought by fans so eager to attend the Austrian grand prix - last held in 2003 - that they booked twice.

"We are overwhelmed by the interest," a spokesman is quoted as saying.

The organisers have applied to authorities for qualifying and race-day capacities of 80,000 spectators per day.

A maximum of only 30,000 spectators will be allowed into the circuit on Friday, according to the 100-page application.

British motorsport publication Autosport Friday reveals that Formula 1 teams may be required to make two mandatory pit stops during the Grands Prix in 2014.

Well respected journalists Jonathan Noble and Dieter Rencken write that detailed tweaks to the F1 sporting regulations been tabled for discussion at next month's F1 Strategy Group meeting.

If accepted the new rules will then agreed by the F1 Commission and FIA's World Motor Sport Council in Paris.

Autosport says the rules will require that each driver must stop twice during the race to fit a new set of tires.

Additionally, drivers will not be allowed to use the 'prime' specification of tires for more than 50% of the race distance, while the 'option' compound will not be allowed to be used for more than 30% of the race distance.

“Should the rule changes be accepted, they will almost certainly reduce the importance of tire strategy in the races as there will no longer be an incentive to eke out a longer life from the tires”, Autosport writes.

With the introduction of the new V6 turbo hybrid engines next season, Pirelli wants to decrease the importance put on the performance of its tires.

From GMM

Nico Hulkenberg is expected to flee to Sahara Force India, and Sauber is now also losing its chief engineer to the Silverstone based team.

The Swiss newspaper Blick reports that Tom McCullough, whose official title at Sauber was head of track engineering, is heading to Sahara Force India for 2014 and beyond.

And amid reports the Hinwil-based team's Russian rescue deal may have collapsed, veteran correspondent Roger Benoit said Sauber has not yet responded to rumours of a merger with the Russian-owned F1 backmarker, Marussia.

Blick said that if Marussia's Andrey Cheglakov does push ahead with the deal, the newly-merged team would keep the formerly BMW-owned Sauber's Hinwil factory.

Photo: WRi2

Benoit added that there have also been rumours of possible mergers surrounding Lotus and Caterham, amid suggestions F1 may have to revive the concept of three-car teams or customer cars in order to sustain a healthy grid.

"I'm not in favour of customer cars," said Caterham boss Cyril Abiteboul recently.

"Having said that, I think the situation we have is not necessarily sustainable. Clearly an analysis must be made regarding what to do."

Elsewhere, it is reported that Williams - set to welcome Felipe Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley to Grove - is losing chief engineer Xevi Pujolar to Toro Rosso.

And yet another report indicated that the road for Pastor Maldonado's impending move to Lotus has now been cleared.

Heikki Kulta, the correspondent for Finland's Turun Sanomat, said a deal between Maldonado's backer PDVSA, and the French oil multinational Total, will allow branding by both sponsors to adorn next year's black and gold Lotus.

The PDVSA-Total deal was reportedly finalised early this week in Caracas, Kulta added.

Bahrain GP organizers have scheduled their race to start at sunset, as Formula 1 visits the track for the 10th time in 2014.

Bahrain therefore becomes F1's third "night" venue, with the Singapore and Abu Dhabi races also taking places under floodlights.

"I believe that there can be no better way for us to mark our 10th anniversary in F1," the Bahrain International Circuit's Chief Executive, Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al-Khalifa told Reuters about the idea of racing at dawn.

World Endurance Championship (WEC) competitors are inaugurating the new floodlights this weekend during the 6 Hours of Bahrain, ahead of the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix, scheduled on April 6th.

2013 Singapore Grand Prix (Photo: WRi2)

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- This is one of the toughest places in the world to acquire a driver's license. Narrow, cobbled roads form concentric rings around the city's hub, which is teeming with trams, rickshaws, and literally thousands of cyclists. Yet the traffic accident rate is surprisingly low.

It's the perfect environment to launch a tiny city car nimble enough to co-exist emission-free amongst the cyclists, while offering its driver a connectivity to supporting infrastructure and alternative transportation choices that almost completely alleviate any range anxiety.


What is the 2014 BMW i3?
BMW's i3 is an all-electric four-seater built on an aluminum platform with a carbon-fibre frame. Since its inception in 2007, the i3 project's emphasis was on sustainability from production in the entirely wind-powered Liepzig, Germany plant, through to its emission-free operation and its construction of recycled and recyclable materials. The BMW i3 is more than just a car, it's an amalgamation of alternatives. Via its onboard connectivity system, users can calculate range, find charging stations, determine arrival time, and (if need be) choose from available public transportation options depending on traffic conditions.

BMW's i3 is an all-electric four-seater built on an aluminum platform with a carbon-fibre frame. (Photo: BMW)

2014 BMW i3 Price and Specs
There are three trim levels, and in keeping with the BMW i3's futuristic image they're named: Mega World, Giga World, and Tera World.

Base model Mega World comes standard with 19" aluminum wheels, BMW's ConnectedDrive system, Navigation, LED headlights, 7.4 kWh charger and cloth upholstery.

The mid-range Giga World adds leather and wool upholstery, sunroof, Sirius XM satellite radio, and a garage-door opener.

Range-topping Tera World models have genuine leather upholstery and unique alloy wheels.

The fully electric i3 powered by a 170 hp, 184 lb-ft of torque electric motor and 22 kWh lithium-ion battery pack will arrive in Canadian showrooms during the second quarter of 2014 for $44,950. Also available is a $48,900 Range Extended version, which is virtually identical to the electric model but adds a backup energy source: a rear-mounted 2-cylinder, 647cc gasoline engine producing 34 hp.

The fully electric i3 powered by a 170 hp, 184 lb-ft of torque electric motor and 22 kWh lithium-ion battery pack will arrive in Canadian showrooms during the second quarter of 2014. (Photo: BMW)

Driving the 2014 BMW i3
Put the console-located shift lever into "Drive" and the BMW i3 glides forward soundlessly. There's little drama and it quickly becomes as natural as driving any conventional vehicle.

The only notable difference is the regenerative braking, which is so efficient that the driver need only lift off the gas and rarely finds it necessary to touch the brake pedal.
There are three driving modes "Comfort," "EcoPro" and "EcoPro Plus," depending on whether the driver prefers responsiveness or energy conservation.

Like many electric vehicles, the BMW's bottom-located battery-pack gives it a low centre of gravity that renders it extremely stable while cornering. While it's never going to be included with BMW's corner-carving sports cars, the i3 is quite nimble and has a turning radius of just 9.6 metres making it well-suited to narrow, congested streets.

Navigating the myriad network of laneways in Amsterdam is no small feat, but the i3's agility helped us get through without ending up in one of the many canals.

The 2014 BMW i3 feels solid on the highway, and with a top speed of 150km/hr, has no trouble keeping up to traffic. The immediately available torque thrust makes passing manoeuvres astonishingly easy.

Range anxiety is almost non-existent. An overnight charge using a 110-volt outlet can deliver up to 160 km in EcoPro+ mode.

Put the console-located shift lever into "Drive" and the BMW i3 glides forward soundlessly. (Photo: BMW)

Inside and Out of the 2014 BMW i3
The i3's odd and chunky design is a bit unsettling for our North American palates, but in a modern urban setting, its futuristic appearance fits right in. The "one-box" design maximizes interior space, and the tall roofline and dipping beltline provide plenty of light and space within.

While the boxy nose wears BMW's signature twin-kidney grill, it's merely decorative since no engine needs to breathe.

The oversized turbine wheels on the 2014 BMW i3 are only 6” wide and aerodynamically sculpted to reduce drag.

Inside, the cabin is open and airy thanks to the large greenhouse. Seats are thin, yet supportive. The space-age design is funky yet functional. On the dash is an enormous display that renders crisp, colourful navigation routes, charge-station locations, and points of interest. Another, smaller screen in the gauge pod shows all relevant vehicle information. There's a console-located iPhone docking station, and BMW's nifty app sends nav info, driving efficiency scores, range, and even alternative transportation choices such as train schedules and walking routes.

Inside, the cabin is open and airy thanks to the large greenhouse. Seats are thin, yet supportive. (Photo: BMW)

Comparing the 2014 BMW i3
The i3's closest competitor in terms of style and handling ability is probably the Fiat 500e, but unfortunately it's only available in California.

Nissan's LEAF is a well-established presence and is thousands of dollars cheaper -- yet with shorter range and a lot less power. The Chevrolet Spark EV is roughly $10,000 cheaper, but again has less range and nowhere near the power of the BMW i3. Ford's Focus Electric is almost as expensive as the BMW i3, but has a smaller range and less power.

Over all, the 2014 BMW i3 is well-suited to a modern, busy urban environment with a well-developed infrastructure.