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Renault and Nissan will bring four key functions closer together to further strengthen their alliance and achieve at least EUR4.3bn (US$5.8bn) in annual savings by 2016.

Strong domestic sales of the redesigned Fit (Jazz), launched last September, helped boost Honda Motor's fiscal third quarter operating income 73.2% year on year to JPY228.5bn.

Honda said its October-December net profit more than doubled to $1.56 billion, back to pre-Lehman crisis levels, helped by strong sales of the redesigned Fit subcompact.

Sometimes we have to wonder about the rationality of those who squirrel away low-mileage cars for decades.

As far as entry-level vehicles go, it's hard to get more basic than the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. No air conditioning, radio or no power windows. Actually, no glass windows at all. No engine, of course; it's foot-powered.

Daimler is open to broadening its cooperation with partners Renault and Nissan to include other car segments and to new projects with Tesla, CEO Dieter Zetsche said.

Daimler is open to broadening its cooperation with partners Renault and Nissan to include other car segments and to new projects with Tesla, CEO Dieter Zetsche said.

BMW i3 buyers face a six-month wait to receive the electric car because of high demand.

The latest issue of the Automotive News Europe monthly e-magazine goes live on Monday, Feb. 3.

Only suppliers with deep pockets like Bosch have the resources to develop cutting-edge technology such as collision avoidance systems, infotainment systems and EV batteries.

Porsche's Macan was a huge Web winner during the fourth quarter but the media champ of 2013 was the VW Golf, which was No. 1 in online news stories, blogs and other social media such as YouTube.

From GMM

Amid world champion Red Bull's testing nightmare at Jerez, bigwigs Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko and the visiting team owner Dietrich Mateschitz all departed southern Spain on Thursday.

While rival Mercedes and Ferrari-powered teams have managed to collect dozens upon dozens of early pre-season laps, the tally amassed by Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in the troubled RB10 numbers unlucky 13.

Christian Horner and Dietrich Mateschitz. (Photo: WRi2)

"Adrian has gone back to the drawing board, definitely," team newcomer Daniel Ricciardo, on duty on Thursday, said.

Red Bull had initially pointed the finger at engine supplier Renault, and the French marque duly admitted it has had problems with all of its customer teams, including Toro Rosso and Caterham.

But Marko confessed before departing on Thursday that the latest problems are also Red Bull's making. Paddock rumours suggest Newey has pushed his famously tight packaging too close to the limit in a new era where cooling is a major hurdle.

"I guess now there's only so much he (Newey) can do at the track and I think he's pretty happy working at his office in Milton Keynes," added Ricciardo.

The RB10 back at the pit on a truck. (Photo: WRi2)

Red Bull is expected to try to get the RB10 running on Friday, the final day of the Jerez test, but the real attention will be ensuring the car is in working order for the crucial final two tests, in Bahrain.

"I think the break before Bahrain is going to help the team a lot. Even if tomorrow doesn't go to plan, we still won't be worried," said Ricciardo.

"Time is still on our side. Even if we go to Melbourne with whatever (issues), it's a long season. These guys know how to win and I'm sure we'll sort it out," he added.

Undoubtedly, Daniel Ricciardo is putting his characteristically-smiling tilt on serious trouble for Red Bull.

There are rumours that, before Adrian Newey left, he had a "heated" exchange with Renault's Rob White -- each accusing the other of being most to blame for the situation.

And Red Bull's culpability seemed clearer on Thursday, when sister team Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne said a Renault fix had given the new STR9 a "massive step forward" overnight.

Daniel Ricciardo aboard the RB10 for three laps only. (Photo: WRi2)

Bernie Ecclestone, nonetheless angry at the Jerez testing 'farce', sees some upside to the situation.

"The good thing is that the season could be extremely interesting -- really unpredictable, and that is the exciting thing," he told the Daily Mail.

Williams' Felipe Massa agrees that the 2014 revolution has given F1 a total shakeup.

"As I drove around, you could see these major differences between the cars," the Brazilian is quoted by Finland's MTV3.

"I'm not talking about performance, I mean how the cars are braking and how they're coming out of the corners. It seems as though there are three categories of cars on one track -- Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. Even the sound is different," he explained.

From press release

TOYOTA Racing can reveal the first details of its participation in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in which it will push the limits of hybrid powertrain technology in motorsport.

TOYOTA Racing entered two prototype cars for the WEC season, including Le Mans and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest is scheduled to confirm the full grid on February 13.

For the third consecutive year, Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin will drive for TOYOTA Racing. They are joined by test and reserve driver Mike Conway.

Photo: Toyota

The TS040 HYBRID prototype has been designed according to new regulations intended to keep the WEC and Le Mans at the forefront of road-relevant technology development. Its first public appearance will come at the WEC official test session on March 28-29 when it will take to the track alongside prototypes from Audi and Porsche for the first time.

After the TS030 HYBRID established TOYOTA Racing as a pioneer in the field of hybrid powertrains for motorsport, its successor, the TS040 HYBRID, takes the technology to the next level.

The addition of an Aisin AW motor/generator on the front axle, in combination with the DENSO unit at the rear, means the TOYOTA HYBRID System - Racing now provides power to all four wheels.

Under deceleration, the motor/generators apply braking force in combination with traditional mechanical brakes to generate energy, which is transferred via a DENSO inverter to the Nisshinbo super-capacitor. During acceleration, the motor/generator reverses its function, acting as a motor to deliver a significant power boost.

Photo: Toyota

That four-wheel-drive hybrid power is allied to a petrol-powered V8 engine, both having been developed by Motor Sports Unit Development Division at the Higashifuji technical centre, where next generation TOYOTA road car technology is also under development.

The TS040 HYBRID chassis is designed, developed, manufactured, built and operated by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne. It represents a major evolution on the TS030 HYBRID thanks to advanced aerodynamics and lightweight design.

New regulations with revised dimensions have made the 2014-generation LMP1 cars narrower by 10cm while measures such as wheel tethers and a rear crash box have further increased safety.

Intensive simulation and calculation work at TMG has refined the TS040 HYBRID, utilising hardware-in-the-loop technology to test individual components based on real track data and powerful calculation computers to optimise designs.

The car completed a successful roll-out at Paul Ricard earlier this month (January 21-23), with Alex Wurz and Anthony Davidson driving. Further testing is planned prior to the season-opening Six Hours of Silverstone (April 20).

For the fourth time in the ten-year history of NASCAR's playoffs, called the Chase for the Sprint Cup, NASCAR has made another change in the rules.

Take a look at these new regulations which are supposed to reward winning, but, ask yourself do these new rules really simplify the Chase (as NASCAR says) or make it complicated?

But first consider the old-old rule (which did award bonus points) - the driver with the points wins.

Now here's the new rule.

First 16 drivers will now qualify instead of the present 12 and initial ten candidates.

The over-arching philosophy is to put more rewards for winning. Although not changing the basic points system, which might pay only a 2.5 per cent premium over second place for a victory, race winners will take priority in qualifying for those 16 spots of the original round.


Other key points announced by Brian Z. France NASCAR's CEO and president are:

• A victory in the first 26 races all but guarantees a berth in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup - a change that will put an unprecedented importance on winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race all season long

• The number of championship drivers in contention for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship will decrease after every three Chase races, from 16 to start in the Chase Grid; 12 after Chase race No. 3; eight after Chase race No. 6; and four after Chase race No. 9

• The first three races of the Chase (27-29) will be known as the Challenger Round; races 30-32 will be known as the Contender Round; races 33-35 will be the Eliminator Round and race No. 36 will be the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship

• A win by a championship-eligible driver in any Chase race automatically clinches the winning driver a spot in the next Chase round

• Four drivers will enter the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with a chance at the title, with the highest finisher among those four capturing the prestigious NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

Other important points include the top 15 finishing drivers, with the most wins, ensure a driver a spot in the Chase provide they are within the top-30 in the points. And the points leader after 26-races guaranteed a spot in the Chase.

And there's more rules.

By a mere word count the rule in effect before 2004 was simpler.

So, on one hand this is not simpler - except - and it's a very important exception. At the season closing race NASCAR will declare four drivers eligible for the Championship.

And to this writer the interim eliminations are a distinction without a major difference except that a win will override a bad finish like when Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew an engine in the first Chase Race in 2013 all-but eliminating him from contention.

A driver won't be able to merely finish with minimum points to become the champion. That competitor will have to out-drive the other three qualified drivers to take the title instead of just slowly circulating on an oval, accumulating points.

No driver will be able to clinch the title before the final round is the biggest change in NASCAR history. And this writer likes that.

But I would just prefer a simpler way to get there.

From GMM

Vitaly Petrov has a good chance of restarting his motor racing career in the German touring car series DTM.

That is the claim of Mercedes' Toto Wolff, after former Renault and Caterham driver Petrov made his test debut for the German marque a week ago.

"Russia is a highly significant market for the DTM and for Mercedes-Benz," Toto Wolff said at the time.

Vitaly Petrov. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

However, he made no mention of Russian Petrov's chances of actually securing a race seat for 2014.

Wolff told Russia's f1news.ru website that the 29-year-old was predictably "fast" in the test.

"Vitaly has been on the podium in formula one. What else do you need to say?" said the Austrian.

"The test was successful, and now we are trying to bring everything together to sign a contract. We are considering the option (of signing Petrov) very seriously. If you want me to be specific, I would say the chances are about 60 per cent," added Toto Wolff.

From GMM

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has slammed the sport's brave new era, saying the Jerez test this week proves the radical 2014 rules have produced "a total farce".

"Look at the last few days. I said it was going to be like this," he told the Daily Mail, referring to the chaos at the opening winter test, headlined by reigning world champions Red Bull's almost total inability to run the new car.

Red Bull RB10. (Photo: WRi2)

Bernie Ecclestone, who railed against the introduction of energy recovery-powered turbo V6 engines, said he isn't taking the blame.

"They (the FIA and the teams) insisted on these new engines. If they wanted to race like this they should go to Le Mans," he said.

Ecclestone said the arguments about saving fuel, with each driver now limited to just 100 kilos of fuel per race, don't even stack up.

"Mercedes are taking 23 trucks with them everywhere. If they really wanted to save fuel they should stop that," he insisted.

F1 Mercedes' trucks. (Photo: WRi2)

The 83-year-old campaigned fiercely against the beginning of the new era, arguing that the loss of the roaring naturally-aspirated engines would turn fans off.

"People want noise -- something special, that's what F1 is all about," said Ecclestone. "Now we have quiet engines and nobody on the track."

Williams' new recruit, Brazilian Felipe Massa set the best time Friday, the last day of the first winter Formula 1 test session held at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Sahara Force India's reserve driver Daniel Juncadella showed good speed until Massa beat them all with a time of 1m28.229.

Daniel Juncadella, Sahara Force India (Photo: WRI2)

The times came down during the afternoon after a damp start to the day, but still several seconds slower than Thursday's.

Alonso, driving the Ferrari F14 T, emerged second quickest behind his former teammate, 0.9 second slower than the Mercedes-powered Williams. The Spaniard completed 115 laps of the Jerez circuit.

Felipe Massa, Williams (Photo: WRI2)

Juncadella was a surprising third in the new VJM07.

Kevin Magnussen - fastest yesterday - was fourth quickest in the McLaren, despite spinning twice. The Dane completed 110 laps of the track.

Kevin Magnussen, McLaren (Photo: WRI2)

Next was Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes AMG. The Brit took over the W05 after his teammate Nico Rosberg completed a full race distance in the morning.

Jules Bianchi surprised everyone by taking the sixth time in the Marussia-Ferrari, beating some big names such as Adrian Sutil in the Sauber, Nico Rosberg, Kamui Kobayashi in the Caterham, Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso and Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull RB10-Renault.

Ricciardo did only 7 laps and was some 17 seconds slower than the Williams. Red Bull Racing called it a day when it faced a major mechanical failure that could not be fixed in Spain.

Jules Bianchi, Marussia (Photo: WRI2)

Best lap Day 1
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m27.104

Best lap Day 2
Jenson Button McLaren 1m24.165

Best lap Day 3
Kevin Magnussen 1m23.276

Jerez winter testing*, Day 4:
1. Massa, Williams, 1m28.229, 86 tours
2. Alonso, Ferrari, 1m29.145, 115
3. Juncadella, Force India, 1m29.457, 81
4. Magnussen, McLaren, 1m30.806, 110
5. Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m30.822, 41
6. Bianchi, Marussia, 1m32.222, 25
7. Sutil, Sauber, 1m36.571, 69
8. Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m36.951, 91
9. Kobayashi, Caterham, 1m43.193, 54
10. Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m44.016, 9
11. Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m45.374, 7
*Unofficial timing

Top executives at Volvo have recently told Green Car Reports that the company is planning to launch a plug-in hybrid variant of the new 2015 Volvo XC90 a few months after the latter hits the market in the spring of 2015.

Under the hood would be a 2.0L turbocharged Drive-E engine with direct injection mated to an electric motor and 8-speed automatic transmission. A second electric motor would drive the rear axle to allow either fully electric propulsion or hybrid all-wheel drive.

Look for more details about the 2015 Volvo XC90 Plug-in Hybrid to be revealed in the coming months.

Source : greencarreports.com

Photo: Volvo

From GMM

It had already emerged that the FIA is unhappy with some of the radical nose solutions, with one camp of teams accusing the other of fielding either dangerous designs or too cheekily skirting around the 'spirit' of the rules.

Arguably, however, McLaren's wing-like rear suspension arms are causing the bigger stir.

Italy's Omnicorse claims world champions Red Bull have already sent a request for clarification to the FIA.

But that doesn't mean that, even if the design is ruled categorically legal, the other teams will rush to copy it.

"The design is based upon quite a lot of air resistance (drag); especially the part that bends downward," said Red Bull designer Adrian Newey, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

McLaren MP4-29. (Photo: WRi2)

Mercedes' Paddy Lowe, however - a former McLaren man - is not so sure.

"McLaren will have determined that it found a way for it to work without major disadvantages," he predicted.

But Williams' Pat Symonds thinks that because of the way the suspension arms have to bend backwards towards the rear, McLaren will have lost some stiffness benefits.

"They may have compensated with more mass, so I would guess that the wishbones are heavier than normal," he said.

Some have said McLaren will retain its potential 2014 advantage for a long time, because it will be so difficult for rival teams to change entire rear suspension layouts.

Symonds is not so sure of that.

"It just wouldn't be as perfect a system as McLaren's, because they have based the whole concept of the car around it," he said.

Here are the photos of the helmets of the 2014 Formula 1 drivers who will be competing in the FIA F1 World Championship.

Note that the photos of some helmets are missing at this point. We will update this article when the photos become available.

Red Bull Racing
Chassis RB10
Engine: Renault
Sebastian Vettel (race number 1; will carry No. 5 when not champion)
Daniel Ricciardo (race number 3)

Sebastian Vettel. (Photo: WRi2)

Daniel Ricciardo. (Photo: WRi2)

Ferrari
Chassis F14 T
Engine: Ferrari
Fernando Alonso (race number 14)
Kimi Raikkonen (race number 7)

Fernando Alonso. (Photo: WRi2)

Kimi Raikkonen. (Photo: WRi2)

Mercedes AMG
Chassis W05
Engine: Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton (race number 44)
Nico Rosberg (race number 6)

Lewis Hamilton. (Photo: WRi2)

Nico Rosberg. (Photo: WRi2)

Lotus
Chassis E22
Engine: Renault
Romain Grosjean (race number 8)
Pastor Maldonado (race number 13)

McLaren
Chassis  MP4-29
Engine: Mercedes
Jenson Button (race number 22)
Kevin Magnussen (race number 20)

Sauber
Chassis C33
Engine: Ferrari
Adrian Sutil (race number 99)
Esteban Gutierrez (race number 21)

Adrian Sutil. (Photo: WRi2)

Esteban Gutierrez. (Photo: WRi2)

Sahara Force India
Chassis VJM07
Engine: Mercedes
Nico Hulkenberg (race number 27)
Sergio Perez (race number 11)

Nico Hulkenberg. (Photo: WRi2)

Sergio Perez. (Photo: WRi2)

Williams
Chassis FW36
Engine: Mercedes
Felipe Massa (race number 19)
Valtteri Bottas (race number 77)

Toro Rosso
Chassis STR9
Engine: Renault
Jean-Eric Vergne (race number 25)
Daniil Kvyat (race number 26)

Jean-Eric Vergne. (Photo: WRi2)

Daniil Kvyat. (Photo: WRi2)

Caterham
Chassis CT05
Engine: Renault
Kamui Kobayashi (race number 10)
Marcus Ericsson (race number 9)

Marussia
Chassis MR03
Engine: Ferrari
Jules Bianchi (race number 17)
Max Chilton (race number 4)