From GMM
Observing that drivers were in the habit of simply walking a few steps from the teams' hospitality areas straight into the garages, the sport's chief executive thought about how to spice up the action in the paddock.
Now, starting with this weekend in Bahrain, the drivers and leading team figures are in some cases having to walk from one end of the paddock to the other to get from their teams' hospitality suites to the corresponding pit area.
It is music to the ears of the media, giving reporters and television crews more of a chance to catch F1's leading players on the hop in the paddock.
"McLaren is the worst off," reported France's RMC Sport, "because the drivers have to cross almost the entire paddock to get from the paddock hospitality to the garage."
According to a report by PrivCo, a New York-based research firm specializing in closely held companies, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) knew by December 2010 that Fisker Automotive wasn't meeting milestones required to keep drawing taxpayer funds, yet waited until June 2011 to cut off funding.
Furthermore, the DoE failed to warn future investors that the electric car manufacturer was in default and no longer had access to the $336.4 million that remained of its loan.
PrivCo chief executive Sam Hamadeh told the media that the government applied “negligent underwriting standards” in granting the Fisker loans. However, the DoE denied this allegation, saying that it “stopped payment on the federal loan in 2011 after Fisker stopped meeting their milestones.”
The PrivCo report indicates that Fisker has spent more than $1.3 billion in taxpayer and venture capital money, or $660,000 for each car it sold.
A U.S. House panel is scheduled to hold a special hearing on Fisker and its government financing on April 24th.
Reuters confirms that “Fisker Automotive raised almost $1.4 billion from investors as diverse as Leonardo di Caprio and Kleiner Perkins, obtained a $528 million loan from the DoE, ballooned to 600+ employees, defaulted on loans or investment conditions at least four separate times, spent $535,000 on a website, got sued by its own employees and evicted from its primary business location, and was finally investigated by the government — apparently for its incredible ability to burn a billion dollars while delivering only a few thousand actual completed cars.”
Today was the deadline for Fisker to
pay back $10 million to the DoE.
Source: Reuters
You may remember that Volkswagen introduced the
CrossBlue Concept in Detroit this past January. This time at Auto Shanghai 2013, the German automaker unveiled a coupe variant that hints at a possible BMW X6 competitor.
The five-passenger Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe Concept offers both sporty driving dynamics and high fuel economy. It combines a 299-horsepower V6 engine with a pair of electric motors for a total output of 415 horsepower and a fuel consumption average of 3.0L/100km.
The Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe Concept can travel up to 33 kilometres in fully electric mode, at a maximum speed of 120 km/h. With the help of the combustion engine, acceleration from 0-100 km/h takes 5.9 seconds. Top speed is rated at 237 km/h.
While the interior largely resembles that of the CrossBlue SUV in Detroit, the exterior is quite different. Notice the long, broad hood, very short front overhang, long roofline, and massive 22” wheels.
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| Photo: Volkswagen |
From GMM
Organisers of the Grand Prix of Bahrain would like the event to return to the top of Formula 1's annual schedule.
The Sakhir circuit opened the sport's world championship in 2006 and again in 2010, and was scheduled to be the season opener in 2011 until that event was cancelled due to civil unrest.
Still controversial, Bahrain is back on the calendar and now pushing to return to the coveted opening spot, which is currently occupied by Melbourne.
"It's a good start to the season," circuit chairman Zeyed Alzayani told reporters on Saturday.
"It gives us the chance to have the teams here longer, there is more anticipation, more unknowns, how the cars will react to the new tyres, the regulations, the drivers are just back into their rhythm.
"We are talking about 2014 onwards but it's a bit early to talk about the calendar for 2014," he added. "We're open to suggestion."
F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who on Saturday issued a joint statement with the FIA backing the decision to race in Bahrain this weekend amid controversy, admitted a change of scheduling for the race in future is possible.
"We could do, I suppose," the 82-year-old told Reuters. "We need to have a look at it."
Alzayani said one advantage of Bahrain being the first race is that teams could conduct pre-season testing at the circuit, in almost guaranteed dry weather, before returning for the start of the world championship shortly after.
"They can come to the last test and then leave most of their equipment here until race weekend," he said.
"This was the plan in 2011. So if we go after the first race, then we will go after a test as well but again that is not our decision."
Fisker Automotive was allowed to keep using money from a Energy Department loan after violating its terms multiple times, according to a research report.
Greg May Chevrolet in West, Texas, is coping with damage and devastation. Last night, a blast at a fertilizer plant a mile from the store killed several people and injured more than 100.
Visteon CEO Tim Leuliette ruled out selling control of the company's climate-control business that South Korea's Mando has been seeking to buy.
Toyota plans to invest $360 million to bring production of the Lexus ES sedan to Kentucky, making it the first model from Toyota's premium brand to be built in the United States as the carmaker pushes to localize more manufacturing.
Ford has raised its stake in Jiangling Motors to 31.5% and is looking to increase it to as much as 32% over the next year, both companies have said.
Daimler and other global automakers will probably have to lower their forecasts after demand in Germany dropped the most in 2 1/2 years. The plunge in the German market is prompting companies to increase discounting, in turn pressuring earnings.
Subaru parent company Fuji Heavy Industries intends to end a shortage of its vehicles at U.S. dealerships soon by expanding capacity in the country, its largest market.
Sketches of the Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe concept broke cover on Thursday, ahead of the Shanghai debut. We first saw the CrossBlue four-door SUV at the Detroit auto show in January.
Mercedes-Benz is poised to take aim at the growing compact crossover segment with the five-door GLA -- a vehicle company executives say will be packed with premium features but carry a competitive price tag.
Tobias Moers smiles as he hits the starter motor of the Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG 4Matic outside company headquarters in Affalterbach, Germany.
Toyota Motor has been offered US$146.5m in tax breaks by the state of Kentucky to add production capacity at its Georgetown plant where, a company source told Reuters, it will build the Lexus ES from 2015.
Forty-nine years to the day after its 1964 debut in New York, Ford's Mustang celebrated another milestone: 1m have rolled off the line at Flat Rock assembly plant since production moved there in 2004.
Ford of Europe achieved its highest monthly retail market share in three years in March.
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