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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.

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

Collision tests performed by Global NCAP on certain Indian car models have shown a high risk of life-threatening injuries in road crashes at speeds of 64 km/h. In fact, all the cars selected by Global NCAP for testing in a frontal impact received zero-star adult protection ratings.

Max Mosley, Chairman of Global NCAP, said: "India is now a major global market and production centre for small cars, so it's worrying to see levels of safety that are 20 years behind the five-star standards now common in Europe and North America. Poor structural integrity and the absence of airbags are putting the lives of Indian consumers at risk. They have a right to know how safe their vehicles are and to expect the same basic levels of safety as standard as customers in other part of the world."

The models tested included the Suzuki-Maruti Alto800, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo, Hyundai i10, and Tata Nano. None were fitted with airbags as standard, and their structures proved inadequate and collapsed to varying degrees.

Coinciding with the Global NCAP tests, Volkswagen has decided to withdraw the non-airbag version of the Polo from sale in India. The new airbag-equipped model later received a four-star rating for adult occupant protection.

Source: NCAP

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."

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.

Mitsubishi Motors President Osamu Masuko, who led the struggling carmaker to record profits and overhauled its product strategy, plans to hand off control April 1 to Managing Director Tetsuro Aikawa, Japan's Nikkei business daily reported Friday in...

Mitsubishi will appoint Managing Director Tetsuro Aikawa to replace Osamu Masuko as president. Masuko will become chairman and focus on building partnerships with other automakers, sources said.

The first 2014 Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake was delivered to the new Shelby Automotive Museum in Southern California on Dec. 26, 2013.

Tom Moorehead, owner of BMW and Mini dealerships in northern Virginia, has acquired a Rolls-Royce store, becoming the first African-American with a franchise to sell the ultraluxury brand in the United States.

We suspect that your initial inclination upon the discovery of a new model's configurator is to throw gobs and gobs of equipment at a car to see just how high the price will go. After all, that's what we tend to do.

Just a few days after the last Tesla Superchargers were in place,

Auto plants in the southeastern United States, where cities were gridlocked by snow and ice this week, canceled some shifts, and parts shortages caused by the storms have slowed production in other regions of the country.

Skoda has just given the Yeti a facelift and a new Haldex 4x4 system. Curious to see how the restyle looks covered in mud, Glenn Brooks took it off-roading.

We weren't even alive when "Ghostbusters" was released in 1984. We honestly didn't realize it was that old -- it's timeless as far as we're concerned. But the Big 3-0 is as good an excuse as any to celebrate the film.

Following a name drop by President Barack Obama during his State of the Union Address Tuesday night, the CEO of a woman-owned Ford parts supplier in Detroit plans to capitalize on the spotlight.

Renault-Nissan will accelerate integration between the carmakers after naming executives to lead efforts to converge manufacturing, research and development and human resources.

Renault-Nissan announced plans to accelerate integration between the carmakers by stepping up joint projects in development, manufacturing, purchasing and human resources.

Pictures See all 8 pictures 26 Feb, 2014

Ford has started built its EcoSport B-crossover at Ford Thailand Manufacturing in Rayong, Thailand.