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European suppliers' prospects should be boosted by a recovery in domestic demand for new cars, coupled with continued emerging market growth, Moody's credit rating agency said.

Moody's says a recovery in domestic demand coupled with continued emerging market growth should boost European automotive parts suppliers' prospects.

News 26 Mar, 2014

Exclusive: We reveal evolutionary look that aims to keep new BMW 5 Series ahead of next Mercedes E-Class

News 26 Mar, 2014

Range extender model on offer with extra £5,000 off on top of Government grant

Maruti Suzuki is set to regain its 50% market share in India at the end of the 2013/14 financial year, its best performance for more than four years.

When a pair of 1965 Ford Mustangs served as pace cars for the 1964 Indianapolis 500, the car -- which had made its debut just a few weeks before -- was kicking off an exciting

Malte Dorowski loves building Porsches out of Lego, as demonstrated by his Flickr photostream.

Over the past few years, Sumitomo Rubber Industries' subsidiary, Falken Tyre has been strengthening its presence overseas, in particular Europe. In this interview, Matthew Beecham spoke to Matt Smith, UK director of Falken Tyres about tyre modelling, winter tyres, EU tyre labelling, run-flats and the forthcoming requirement for tyre pressure monitoring systems in Europe.

Former IndyCar star driver Dario Franchitti has announced that he will be behind the wheel of this year Indianapolis 500 pace car.

The four-time IndyCar champion and three-time winner at Indy is thrilled to be part once again of the May classic.

"It is a tremendous honour for me to be asked to drive the pace car for the Indianapolis 500," said Franchitti.

Franchitti, whose Ganassi team switched to Chevy engines this year, will drive a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.

Dario Franchitti and the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. (Photo: IndyCar)

Peugeot Sport, Red Bull and Total have joined forces to compete in the Dakar raid rally in 2015.

To take on the 10,000km of the world's longest and toughest cross-country rally 25 years after the French car manufacturer last contested the event, the team has recruited Carlos Sainz. Cyril Despres and Stephane Peterhansel.

Last June's memorable new record of 8m13.878s for the ascent of Pikes Peak confirmed that Peugeot Sport had lost none of its taste for motorsport.

The 1988 Dakar winning Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 of Juha Kankkunen. (Photo: Peugeot Sport)

Inevitably, the decision recalls a particularly successful period in the history of the French team which made an indelible mark on the Dakar by winning the legendary competition four years running from 1987 until 1990, first with the 205 T16 Grand Raid, then with the equally iconic 405 T16 Grand Raid.

Team Peugeot Total will take on the Dakar challenge with a new car, the 2008 DKR. After last June's 20-kilomètre asphalt sprint, it's a two-week, 10,000-km marathon that will put Peugeot Sport's all-round skills to the test in January 2015.

The team's driver line-up stars the 2010 Dakar victor Carlos Sainz, who brings his extensive experience and car-development skills to the table, as well as the event's five-time winner on two wheels,

Cyril Despres, who has chosen Peugeot to kick off a new career on four wheels. Stephane Peterhansen has yet to be confirmed by Peugeot as he is still under contract with MINI.

From GMM

Simona de Silvestro rates her chances of joining the grand prix grid in 2015 with Sauber as "good".

Last month, the Swiss team signed up the 25-year-old IndyCar driver, nominating her as "an affiliated driver" of the Hinwil based outfit.

Sauber's February statement said de Silvestro will undertake "on track testing, simulator training, as well as mental and physical preparation", with the goal being "to gain her super license and prepare for a race seat in Formula 1 for 2015".

The Swiss newspaper Blick said de Silvestro, from Thun in Switzerland, is set to make her F1 test debut at the end of April.

She said this week: "Formula 1 has always been my dream."

Simona de Silvestro. (Photo: Sauber F1 Team)

Asked how realistic that dream is, she answered: "If I do everything right, there is a good chance I will get there at some point."

However, given the current nature of midfield F1, Simona de Silvestro must be considered third in line at Sauber, behind the well-sponsored reserve driver Giedo van der Garde and the 'Russian rescue deal'-linked Sergey Sirotkin.

Veteran Blick correspondent Roger Benoit said: "The chance that de Silvestro will ever race for Sauber in formula one is about 1%."

Dutch race car driver Beitske Visser will make her debut in Formula Renault 3.5 this season with Spanish team AVF.

Visser, 19, raced in the international karting scene and spent the past two seasons competing in the German ADAC Formel Masters series.

She graduated to car racing in 2012 with Team Lotus where she collected two victories.

The year after, she joined the Red Bull Junior Team. She claimed one victory and ranked eighth overall.

However, she lost the Red Bull support of the end of the year. After several tests in various cars, she struck a deal to race in the World Series by Renault Formula 3.5 series in 2014.

Visser will be racing alongside Zoel Amberg at AVF.



"I fell in love with the F.Renault 3.5 car in Monza, and from then on contesting the World Series season became my only aim," said Visser ion a press release.

"I worked hard with the engineers to understand the car and to step-up in terms of driving, and in the meantime I used any spare time I had to work out and build the strength and the stamina needed to master such a car. I'm happy with the progress we made in testing and even more happy to know that there's a lot of room for improvement. I'm really looking forward to the start of the season in Monza."

Red Bull Racing's boss Christian Horner revealed the reasons why the team "is extremely confident" that Daniel Ricciardo's RB10 did not break the rules governing fuel flow at the Grand Prix of Australia.

The Red Bull was disqualified from second place after the officials declared that the Renault-powered car had repeatedly exceeded the fuel flow limit of 100kg/hour.

The team immediately announced that they would appeal the decision.

"We are appealing on the grounds that we do not believe, we are extremely confident, that we have not broken the rules, that we haven't exceeded the 100kg/h of fuel that is permitted to be utilised by the car and the engine," Horner told Sky Sports News.

Red Bull Racing's argument centres on the wording of the FIA's Technical Regulations with Article 5.1.4, stating, "Fuel mass flow must not exceed 100kg/hour".

However, as it does not say that this reading has to come from the FIA's sensor Red Bull feel they can use their own measurements to prove they did not breach the regulations.

"We have a sensor (from the FIA) that is drifting and isn't reading correctly versus a fuel rail that we know is calibrated and we know that hasn't varied throughout the weekend and has subsequently been checked and found to be not faulty and hasn't moved or varied at all since it was installed on the car prior to the weekend.

"Our argument is very simple - that we haven't broken the Technical Regulations. That we haven't exceeded the fuel flow limit and that the sensor, which hopefully we will be able to demonstrate in the appeal, is erroneous,” said Horner to Sky Sports News.

From GMM

According to the outspoken Australian Ron Walker, his fellow F1 promoters will speak with "an enormous voice" next week in Bahrain.

Walker, fiercely critical of the quieter sound of the sport's new turbo V6 engines, also heads an F1 promoters' alliance, and he has called a meeting ahead of the forthcoming grand prix in the island Kingdom.

According to the Independent newspaper and F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, he tips the promoters to tell "Bernie (Ecclestone), enough is enough. This is not what we bought'."

However, one of Walker's fellow promoters is unlikely to be joining the chorus.

Razlan Razali, the boss of the Malaysian grand prix venue at Sepang, is not among those who are denouncing the new sound, insisting F1 remains "amazing".

"Even the quieter engines, which goes against what many have been expecting in motor sport previously, might not entirely be a bad thing," he told the New Straits Times. "Parents should now be less afraid of bringing their children to races with the reduced noise levels."

The Sepang track in Malaysia.

And Razali said F1's new technology, producing higher top speeds with less noise and fuel, is impressive.

"You see a small engine still able to produce 750 horse power and clock laptimes almost as fast as the V8s did last year, so it is just amazing how far technology has advanced," he insisted.

Nonetheless, Ecclestone and even FIA president Jean Todt are reported to be making moves to spice up the sound.

Franck Montagny, a former F1 driver turned French television pundit, acknowledged the issue.

"For the public, when they go and see the GP2 cars race on the same weekend and they're louder, it will seem like they are faster as well. So there is something wrong," he is quoted by Le Figaro.

The Telegraph newspaper reports that the Ecclestone-run Formula One Management is already "looking at where they position the microphones" around the tracks "to optimise the sound for television".

And some actual tweaks to the cars to make the engine note louder are also possible.

The 2014 Formula One cars on the Australian Albert Park track. (Photo: WRi2)

But Sam Collins, an editor of the Racecar Engineering magazine, is sceptical.

"The concept of these engines means it's quite difficult to redesign them to make them louder because you have the turbo sucking all the noise out," he is quoted by the Guardian.

"So you would have to go for a complete rulebook change and that would take two or three years to introduce and would be hugely expensive and basically teams would stamp their feet and say no," Collins added.

Franck Montagny disagrees.

"I think there will be a change this season," he said. "Technically, it is not even very difficult to do so.

"There are already methods being used to allow electric cars to make more noise in order to avoid incidents with pedestrians.

"You could also intervene by putting in a second exhaust, but there will be no miracles," he warned. "These engines are 1.6 litres -- the era of the V10 and V8 is over."

From Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will roar back into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this coming Labour Day Weekend (August 29-31).

Looking to camp trackside for this historical event? There are still a limited number of reserved camp sites left, but they're going quickly.

Reserve yours, with the best vantage points for the Truck Series' only north-of-the-border stop.

Click here to see what's available and give us a call (905-983-9141) or go online to place your order.

Also competing over the weekend will be the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, the Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin.

(Photo: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park)

The all-new 2015 Hyundai Sonata yesterday made its world debut in Korea, just a few weeks before its North American premiere in New York.

Photo: Hyundai

Compared with the outgoing model, the 2015 Hyundai Sonata is 35mm longer and 30mm wider. It also packs numerous advanced safety features including lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and blind spot monitoring.

The roomier cabin of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata is available with heated leather seats, side airbags for rear passengers, a state-of-the-art multimedia system, and the next generation of Hyundai infotainment.

Canadian pricing and on-sale date have yet to be announced.

Photo: Hyundai

The all-new McLaren 650S coupe made its North American debut yesterday at the 2014 Vancouver Auto Show after its world premiere in Geneva on March 4th.

The 650S uses a 3.8L twin-turbo V8 engine that produces 641 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. It sprints from 0-100 km/h in just three seconds before reaching a top speed of 333 km/h.

As for styling, new LED headlamps reflect a similar look to the McLaren P1, while the side profile and rear-end treatment evoke the McLaren 12C.

Source: Autoblog Canada

Photo: McLaren

It started on Twitter, a car swap between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Graham Rahal; it just might end in an IndyCar at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Of course the first impediment is that NASCAR's most popular driver is contracted to Chevrolet and Rahal drives for his Indy 500-winning father, Bobby Rahal in a Honda-powered car.

"Well, he drives a Honda, which is more than just a speed bump," Earnhardt, said during an appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "If I wanted to drive an Indy car, I'm sure I could get with Penske or somebody who owned a Chevy and take a couple laps somewhere. But it would have been fun to do that with Graham because of the relationship with our sponsor and the history of our families.”

"I look forward to meeting him one day,” Earnhardt said in Charlotte, “ but I think the fact he has a relationship with a different manufacturer is going to make it challenging — if not impossible — for me to drive that particular car."

Only Earnhardt must have forgotten about Kurt Busch who drives a Chevrolet in NASCAR and will attempt to qualify for the Indy 500 for Andretti Autosport which races with Honda power. If Chevy will allow Busch to race in IndyCar's most classic and biggest race of the year why would they say no to a joy ride?

Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. (Photo: LAT/IndyCar)

We aren't promoting Honda and we aren't promoting Chevrolet," Rahal said in a teleconference.. "We're promoting National Guard, so I think it should be about the sponsor and there shouldn't be an issue with the cars."

Rahal said he was just throwing out the idea on Twitter to Earnhardt after Rahal attended Sunday's race. His Indy car will have the same stylized number as Earnhardt's does in NASCAR, per the Guard's request, and he had previously said he'd like to partner with Earnhardt on outside projects.

"It's something I really wanted to do. I was surprised he responded," he said. "Of course, I felt with the National Guard that it could potentially I would say happen. Media-wise, for sponsor exposure, I think it would be tremendous for them. But I also thought it would be something that would be fun to do.

"Let's see getting Earnhardt and a Rahal, I think the last time those two names were on the same track were the IROC days with my dad. It would be good to go back out there and see what we could do, have some fun."

The 25-year-old Rahal had just come back from visiting the NASCAR driver introduction at Auto Club Speedway and started a conversation on Twitter suggesting that NASCAR's most popular driver take a ride in an IndyCar.

Earnhardt's car owner, Rick Hendrick said it's okay but...

"I think if he wants to do that, it's fine. Not race, but get out and just play," Hendrick said. "Bobby is a good friend of mine, and I've known him for a long time and I think those kind of things are good for our sport and for the open-wheel guys, too.

"We have the same sponsors, so it all kind of works."

"I don't know really if it's that big of a deal, BMW vs. Chevrolet (Montoya/Gordon), Honda vs. Chevrolet (Hamilton/Stewart)," Hendrick said. "I haven't talked to Chevrolet. If (Earnhardt) is really serious about doing it, then we need to talk to them. I'm fine with it."

The Douglas Boles, the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tweeted We're making @IMS available anytime! JennaFryer @DaleJr @GrahamRahal The swap is about the cars, not the power plants!

The brand new 2015 Kia Soul EV made its Canadian debut at the Vancouver Auto Show this week. It is scheduled to go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2014.

As Kia's first all-electric, zero-emissions car sold in Canada, the Soul EV provides a range of approximately 160 kilometres on a full charge, although internal testing has resulted in trips of more than 200 kilometres in some instances.

The front-wheel drive 2015 Kia Soul EV is powered by an 81.4kW (109hp) electric motor producing 210 lb-ft of torque through a single-speed constant-ratio gear reduction unit. Acceleration from 0-100 km/h takes 11.4 seconds, while top speed is electronically limited to about 145 km/h.

Equipped with a 27kWh lithium polymer battery, the 2015 Kia Soul EV benefits from the company's third-generation regenerative braking system to convert up to 12% of the car's kinetic energy into electricity.

Charging times vary from 24 hours for a fully depleted battery using a standard 120V household outlet and 4 hours 20 minutes when plugged into a 240V outlet. An 80% charge can be achieved in as little as 24 minutes with a 100kW charger (33 minutes with a 50kW charger).

Pricing for the 2015 Kia Soul EV will be announced at a later date.

Photo: Kia

The freshly announced Porsche Boxster GTS and Cayman GTS will go on sale across Canada this summer.

In the meantime, the automaker released a short video showing the Boxster GTS carving up the countryside and attacking switchbacks like a grinning, growling beast.