Auto News 5

BMW Group's Rolls-Royce has broken sales records in the past two years but it will not be able to continue growing once capacity is reached at its factory at Goodwood, southern England.

German supplier Schaeffler said demand in North America and Asia will more than make up for a sales drop in Europe to allow volume growth in 2013.

The latest of the 10 new model launches that have renewed 90% of the Chevrolet range in Brazil in just 20 months, the Prisma has arrived to contest a segment filled with no less than 18 small saloons ranging in price from BRL26,000/US$13,000 to BRL55,000/$22,500.

Volkswagen doubled output of its Slovak factory to a record level last year as the introduction of the Up minicar offset slowing demand for cars across Europe.

SEAT UK, currently launching the third generation Leon to local media, claimed this is the first car to offer full LED headlights.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR BOB GRITZINGER: Like the Boss Mustang (and I'd argue, the Bullitt before that), this is the and#8220;just rightand#8221;

Growth in the Colombian economy has begun to slow due to the European crisis and a fall in export prices for raw and mining materials and mining. This is hitting incomes and consumer confidence.

Geely will not bid for a majority stake in Fisker Automotive, mainly because of the electric car maker's obligations to the US government, reported Reuters, citing two sources.

The European Union's Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani say he will enforce new rules that ban extremely potent greenhouse gases in car air-cooling systems, defying opposition from the German government and the country's automakers.

The first Rolls-Royce Motor Cars exhibition at the BMW Group museum in Munich, Germany, has opened. The unique exhibition, entitled Strive for Perfection, marks the 10th year of BMW's ownership of the famous UK brand and also commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Henry Royce.

Due to transmission technologies' ability to provide better efficiency and performance, dual clutch transmissions (DCTs) are expected to play a defining role in the global gearbox mix by 2020, according to a new study.

General Motors faces a test in its plans to restructure Opel as workers at its Bochum, Germany, assembly plant vote on a deal that would guarantee the jobs of more than 20,000 German workers in exchange for a wage freeze through 2015, and keep their...

General Motors faces a test in its plans to restructure the money-losing Opel brand today as workers at its Bochum, Germany, assembly plant vote on a deal that would guarantee the jobs of more than 20,000 German workers in exchange for a wage freeze...

The UAW has won the backing of the head of the German IG Metall union in its effort to represent the hourly workers at Volkswagen AG's Chattanooga, Tenn., assembly plant.

Toyota has made its latest RAV4 longer and wider to win back ground in the compact SUV segment. First launched in 1994, the RAV4 for many years led the segment in Europe, but last year slipped to sixth place.

The Rolls-Royce Wraith, a fastback that debuts in the final quarter of 2013, will use satellite data that detect changing road conditions to help shift its ZF eight-speed automatic transmission.

From GMM

F1 backmarkers Marussia and Caterham held talks over the winter about a possible merger.

The surprise news emerged as F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone attempted to explain why Marussia is the only team without a commercial deal for 2013.

"I have everything prepared here for them to sign," he told the Times. "It is not a problem. But they have not been happy and they almost merged with Caterham, so that made me wondering what was happening."

The newspaper claimed Caterham and Marussia contemplated the merger to "guarantee survival", but the talks "foundered and the two teams are now in a dogfight for tens of millions of pounds in prize money".

Marussia chief executive Graeme Lowdon confirmed the merger talks.

"I wasn't involved in them (the talks) and as I understand it, the conclusion was unacceptable to our shareholders. So nothing happened," he told British broadcaster Sky.

Max Chilton (Marussia) leading Charles Pic (Caterham) in Australia. (Photo: Marussia F1 Team)

From GMM

Felipe Massa is enduring the longest victory drought in the history of all Ferrari drivers, according to an analysis by Italy's Autosprint.

Dating back to his title-losing win in Brazil 2008, Melbourne last Sunday marked 68 consecutive races in which the Brazilian has entered a grand prix but failed to triumph.

Massa therefore takes the unenviable record from Jean Alesi, who failed to win a grand prix for the fabled Maranello marque between his Ferrari debut in 1991 until Montreal 1995 (67 races).

31-year-old Massa, however, is quoted by Brazil's Globo as characterising the start of his 2013 campaign as "10 times better" than last year.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo agrees: "I'm satisfied with Felipe Massa's performance (in Melbourne) -- he was very fast in qualifying and delivered a brilliant race."

Next on Autosprint's list of drought-stricken Ferrari drivers are Michele Alboreto (55 races), Eddie Irvine (49), Clay Regazzoni (34), Stefan Johansson (31), Rubens Barrichello (30), Chris Amon and Gerhard Berger (both 27).

Felipe Massa, Ferrari F138. (Photo: WRi2)

But there were others in F1 history who waited even longer for a win and never achieved it, led by Andrea de Cesaris (208 grands prix), Nick Heidfeld (183) and Martin Brundle (158).

And Jarno Trulli holds the record for a winning driver who tried in vain the longest to try to add to his tally. After winning at Monaco in 2004, he raced another 135 times but never stood on the middle of the podium again.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso on Wednesday began his preparations for his 200th career grand prix this weekend by road cycling around the hot Sepang circuit.

Chevrolet is teasing fans just days away from the launch of the redesigned 2014 Camaro SS at the New York Auto Show.

The picture here merely shows a thinner front grille with a subtle chrome accent. The company didn't want to show more; in fact, no other information about the car was provided.

Come back to Auto123.com on March 27th to end all speculations.

Photo: Chevrolet

A study by Juniper Research predicts that app capability will reach a fifth of all consumer vehicles in the developed markets of North America and Western Europe by 2017.

The success of new standards such as MirrorLink will create the foundations that will allow the connected car ecosystem to flourish.

This growing trend is expected to exert downward pressure on the price of automakers' own embedded infotainment services, the study says.

Actually, the only factor holding back even faster deployment of in-vehicle Internet will be the slow growth in the new vehicle market.

Source : juniperresearch.com