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Workers at two Bangalore factories run by Toyota's subsidiary in India have been locked out of the plants after a series of talks stretching back 10 months on wage settlements failed to reach an agreement.

Bentley expects to reverse last year's 3 percent decline in China deliveries after introducing a new V-8 variation of its all-new Flying Spur sedan next month.

News 18 Mar, 2014

Car electrical faults are on the increase as new gadget-packed models grow in complexity

European car sales rose by nearly 8 percent percent in February, the sixth consecutive monthly gain, as a gradual economic revival in southern Europe and price cuts helped to boost demand for new models.

European car sales rose by nearly 8 percent percent in February, the sixth consecutive monthly gain, as a gradual economic revival in southern Europe and price cuts helped to boost demand for new models.

Tenneco recently acquired exclusive rights to the digital valve technology used in its so-called DriV suspension products. Continuing just-auto's series of interviews with leading market players in this sector, Matthew Beecham spoke to Rudi Schurmanns, Executive Director, Ride Performance Global Engineering to find out more.

-- If your crippling hangover didn't remind you today, yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. You know what that means: today is a good time to catch up on

Somewhere in the deserts of Morocco there's an array of thin plumes of dust heading west towards Erfoud, near the Algeria border. The 160 teams of women have no directions, GPS, even binoculars.

Mini Coopers really come to life when finished in the marque's signature appearance packages, such as Union Jack roofs and checkered flag mirror caps.

A few days ago, the United States Secret Service posted the bid requirements

The new Smart ForTwo and ForFour will share up to 70 percent of their components with the redesigned Renault Twingo, but they will bear no resemblance to the new Twingo.

Forget NASCAR, Subaru found a competitor to race against in the arts and crafts aisle.

From GMM

Lewis Hamilton is still in the hunt for the world championship despite failing even to finish in Australia.

That is the view of Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda, who revealed he consoled the Melbourne pole-sitter by harking back to his own F1 history.

After Hamilton retired at Albert Park only to see his German teammate Nico Rosberg go on to win, Lauda said: "I hugged him (Hamilton) and said 'This was only the first race.

"'In 1984 I also failed in the first race but I was world champion in the end'," Lauda recalled telling Briton Hamilton.

Indeed, while Lauda retired in the pits at Jacarepagua in Brazil, his McLaren teammate Alain Prost won the race.

But Niki Lauda went on to win the 1984 title by half a point.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG. (Photo: WRi2)

Asked how Mercedes has managed to get off to such a strong start in 2014, Lauda told the Osterreich newspaper: "Because we have been best with the new engine regulations.

"Also last summer, when Red Bull was still focusing on the 2013 season, we were already developing our new car," he added.

Italy's La Repubblica declared after Sunday's Australian grand prix: "The F1 revolution has its leader."

But Mercedes chief Toto Wolff expects Red Bull to catch up.

"With these new cars," he told Kleine Zeitung newspaper, "the development curve is much steeper than usual."

He said the reigning world champions had already "caught up massively" between the winter season and Melbourne.

And Red Bull's increasingly confident Dr Helmut Marko said: "We know what is still to come in our car and the (Renault) engine.

"On the engine we are still nowhere near the maximum," he insisted.

McLaren's Jenson Button, however, thinks that at the moment, F1 has a clear leader.

He said: "Right now we seem to be able to fight against everyone -- except one."

From press release

This weekend, Western Fair District prepares for a show that is sure to get any car enthusiast's motor running.

The Speed & Custom Car Show, March 22 and 23 will fill over 85,000 square feet with old classics, bright racers, impressive model cars, as well as shiny new dream cars, sure to please the gear head in all of us.

Fanshawe College will be onsite to present their interactive display, where visitors can participate in a virtual painting demo, hydraulic and AC trainers in car, truck and farm fields.

The 1st Canadian Army Veterans Motorcycle Unit and Jet Aircraft museum have teamed up to present a display of their vintage military vehicles, including an airplane fuselage, tanks and motorcycles that are sure to attract attention.

We are excited to introduce the Hagerty Youth Judging Program to this year's event. 15 kids, each day, will be selected and have the opportunity to learn what it takes to judge the best-of-the-best, and will have their own opportunity to judge the cars for themselves with the help of Hagerty. The Hagerty Youth Judging Program winners will be presented each day at 4pm on our main stage.

S&L Auto Wreckers have crushed a car into a cube for us, but we can't guess what make and model it is. If you have an eye for detail, maybe you can "Guess the Car" to WIN.

Holy Toledo Batman! Back by popular demand; don't miss the return of the Bat-Mobile from the Classic Adam West Era Batman television series.

Another custom car will be appearing at the show, but this one gets its muscle from the sun. Western University's solar-engineered car, the "SunStang", will be showcased at the show. This car has competed in 8 international solar car competitions and is gearing up for the World Solar Challenge next year in Australia.

When you come to the Speed & Custom Car Show you experience more than just great looking cars; you'll be immersed in car culture including the lifestyle, music, fashion and car accessories.

In "Pinstripe Panorama", you can see the unique artwork of the Pinstripers community and even bring in your own items to be striped. In addition, the Kustom Kulture artwork will be for sale all weekend, with a live auction at 6:00pm on Saturday with all proceeds going to Autism Dog Services.

Car accessories like subwoofers, amplifiers, subwoofer enclosures will be for sale at blow-out prices from Kicker Audio. Just in time for spring, so you can "soup up" your own vehicle before the summer months.

With approximately 100 vehicles on display, the competition will be tight for awards such as "Best in Show", "Best Club Display", "Cool Pics" and many, many more. Winners will be crowned on our main stage Saturday evening at 7pm.

Show Information: Dates & Times: Saturday March 22 10am-10pm; Sunday March 23 10am-6pm

Location: Western Fair District: Progress, West Annex and Canada Buildings, 900 King St, London, Ontario

Tickets: $12 in advance at westernfairdistrict.com (until 11:30pm Friday March 21) // $15 at the door // $7.50 for students with valid student card // Children 10 & under are free

Parking: FREE

Social Info: Twitter hashtag #LDNCarShow

McLaren Formula 1 team CEO Ron Dennis told rookie driver Kevin Magnussen to keep his feet in the ground after the Dane's surprising second-place finish in his F1 debut at the Grand Prix of Australia Sunday.

The young Dane performed well all weekend long. He took the start of the race from 4th place on the grid and drove a strong race to cross the line third, only to be promoted to second after the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.

Kevin Magnussen, McLaren (Photo: WRI2)

“It was unbelievable, really,” the 21-year-old Magnussen told The Telegraph on Monday.

“The team have taken care of me so well and I am proud of the team. It does not feel real. It is so strange that this is happening. I have been dreaming about this for my whole life. I have now done my first F1 race, I was able to get on the podium and I did it with McLaren. It is my dream.”

“No [I will not celebrate],” he assured reporters, with a severe Ron Dennis watching on. “We know we are not the quickest so we have to keep our work rate up and keep it flat out.”

But if he was in any doubt, the 66-year-old Dennis was ready with the kind of tale he has become famous for.

“A very wise old man went into his house and nailed to the celling was a pair of shoes,” Dennis. “I asked what they were for, and he said they were his son's shoes. 'Every time he sees them it reminds him to keep his feet on the ground', [the man said]. I will put some in your [Kevin's] hotel room.”

From press release

Race Time Radio (RTR) is back for the 2014 season with the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour, bringing fans far and wide closer to the action with five races confirmed to be streamed live via www.racetimeradio.com.

RTR has been streaming races on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour since the 2012 season, making Canadian motorsports history at the IWK 250 that year by airing the event live to Satellite Radio, which became the first stock car race in Canada to be aired live on the platform.

Two races at Riverside International Speedway and a trio of races at Scotia Speedworld will be streamed live this season, which include some pivotal events within the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour season. The season opener on Saturday, May 24th and season finale on Saturday, September 13th will be live via www.racetimeradio.com, along with both extended 250-lap events on the season, the IWK 250 on Saturday, July 19th and the 15th Annual Atlantic CAT 250 on Saturday, August 9th.

The first race at Riverside International Speedway this season, the Ron MacGillivray Chevrolet Buick GMC 150, will also be live to air on the RTR website on Saturday, June 14th.

Race broadcasts will be available for listeners absolutely free, no subscription necessary via www.racetimeradio.com by clicking the "Listen Live" links in the upper right of the page, or by downloading their smart phone App, for iPad, iPhone, & Android.

Over 30,000 fans streamed the 2013 Atlantic CAT 250 live, which was won by Terence Bay, Nova Scotia's Craig Slaunwhite.

The season comes to life at Scotia Speedworld on Saturday, May 24th. Racing action begins at 4:00 pm. For more information on this event, or any of the 12 races on the 2014 schedule, visit www.maritimeprostocktour.com.

From Ferrari

The scenario suggested by winter testing turned out to be true in Australia, at the first Formula 1 Grand Prix of the year.

There was little doubt that all the teams would be facing reliability issues, or that these will continue to be a decisive factor throughout the course of the season.

As would car performance, which, from what was seen in Albert Park, means that all the teams will be working either to close the gap, as is the case for Scuderia Ferrari, or to maintain it in the case of Mercedes.

Reliability was certainly again encouraging for Ferrari, even if there is still room for improvement to ensure that the new and complex power unit works at its best.

However, the main task facing the team at the moment is increasing the efficiency of the F14 T, as the Scuderia's technical director, James Allison explained to www.ferrari.com.

James Allison and Kimi Raikkonen. (Photo: Ferrari)

“While we can take some satisfaction from the reliability shown by the F14T, it is clear that we have our work cut out to improve our car in order to compete on equal terms with the Mercedes team,” said Allison.

“There is plenty about the F14T that is working very well: The starts and the pace in the corners - especially the high speed ones - are particular strong points, but we need to work further on the stability under braking and the speed on the straights.”

While it might be stating the obvious, in Maranello, the work goes on round the clock to achieve the improvements Allison mentions as soon as possible.

“All the recent seasons in F1 have been characterised by a fierce development battle from March until November. With all the new regulations this year, the opportunities to improve the car are legion and we can expect the race to improve the cars to be even more intense than normal,” Allison added.

Therefore, after the Australian Grand Prix, the lesson has been learned and there is a great desire to get the homework done.

“Our competitiveness was not acceptable in Melbourne. But we intend to fight our way back up the grid with the improvements that we will bring to the car,” the British engineer said.

Just when you thought you seen and/or heard the craziest things about NASCAR something new amazes and amuses you.

We've had the pothole and exploding track dryer at Daytona in years past. This year there have been rain delays, but that's nothing new.

There have been phantom debris cautions, but what about a truly phantom caution?

At Bristol Motor Speedway late Saturday night the long rain-delayed race was about to conclude with Carl Edwards cruising to his first win of the 2014 when caution came out with about two laps remaining.

Carl Edwards, Bristol, 2014 (Photo: Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Only there was no wreck, no debris, and -at the time of the caution- no weather conditions apparently giving a reason for the caution. It did start to pour again shortly after the caution flags waved.

As Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition and racing development, explained it “after review of the situation post-race, what had happened in the closing laps of the race, it appears that in the flag stand one of the flag people had leaned on the switch that is the manual override for the caution lights, and so that happened.

We've got times here, but anyway, that happened, and at that time when the flag stand realized that the caution lights were illuminated, the flag man threw the flag, and then after that happened we froze the field from the tower.

It appears that in, not all, but most of the flag stands have a manual override for the caution lights, and due to the weather and due to other things, there's an area that it couldn't have been ‑‑ it wasn't secured properly, and the flag person leaned against the switch and turned the caution lights on.

We tried to turn them off, and we realized that the override switch was on and they were hung on caution. It was a stupid error.”

Edwards actually saw the caution as an opportunity.

“Yeah, concern is not really a strong enough word, but it definitely got my attention. But at that point, hey, I've seen a lot of things happen in a racecar, and I know that I knew, hey, we're probably going to win this race if a caution doesn't come out,” said Edwards.

“The caution did come out, and I went; now we're going to have an opportunity to prove we deserve to win this race. Honestly it might have been more exciting. With everything like that there's always an opportunity, but yeah, I did not want to see that caution. I did not at all. So I'm glad that the rain came. I think there was some higher powers at work that. That worked out great.”

After a long day at the track including approximately four hours of rain delay I guess it will be hard, even for the natives of Pisa, Italy, to complain about the leaning tower official of NASCAR.

After narrowly escaping bankruptcy in 2011, Bertone continues to face major financial setbacks. In fact, the famous design studio could indeed go bankrupt this time around.

Despite more than €20 million in revenue last year (mostly from China), several employees and suppliers are still waiting to be paid.

Autocar reports that Bertone, which recently fired 160 workers, is facing a number of lawsuits from creditors.

Former design chief Michael Robinson resigned in December, leaving Bertone out in the cold.

All hope is not lost, however: A Turkish company is reportedly willing to purchase Bertone for €2.7 million. Seven other firms from Italy have shown interest, too.

Source : gtspirit.com

Aston Martin Rapide Bertone prototype (Photo: Bertone)

I do so love me a hot hatch. There's something about lots of power and performance in a teeny-tiny package that gets me going. Perhaps it's my kindred feeling of all things little (being vertically challenged myself), and the fact that I'm always so impressed when something so minute can do so much.

Immediately, Shakespeare's words from A Midsummer Night's Dream came to mind. Yes, the Fiesta is little, but it is fierce and that's what makes it so enjoyable to drive and well worth the dollars Ford demands for it -- and I'd own one, without a doubt.


What is the Ford Fiesta ST?
Essentially, the Fiesta ST is a regular Fiesta all hopped up on a fabulous combination of speed and steroids. The Fiesta nameplate has been around at Ford since the mid-‘70s, but this latest iteration hit our North American shores in 2010. With fancy new looks, loaded to the gills with technology and an EcoBoost engine under the bonnet, the Fiesta ST is a hot hatch if ever there was one.

2014 Ford Fiesta ST Price & Specs
While the basic Fiesta starts at $14,499, the overzealous and rambunctious Fiesta ST will set you back a bit more with a starting price of $24,999. Is it really worth the $10k more? Hell, yes.

The 2014 Ford Fiesta ST comes one way only (as in: you can have any colour you want, as long as it's black): with a 1.6L EcoBoost turbocharged I4 engine coupled with a lovely 6-speed transmission that'll push 197 horses and 202 lb-ft of torque. That's OK in my books. No transmission options are offered, and power is pushed out the front wheels only.

Sometimes fewer options are better, and really why would you want to change something that's already put together and executed so well?

With fancy new looks, loaded to the gills with technology and an EcoBoost engine under the bonnet, the Fiesta ST is a hot hatch if ever there was one. (Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre)

Driving the 2014 Ford Fiesta ST
Did I have fun? You bet. Did I have plenty of room for my 2-year-old son in the back all week? Of course. Did I drive as easily on snow-covered roads as I did on dry cement? Surprisingly, yes. Would I do it all again week after week? Damn straight.

Power-to-weight ratio is fabulous and feels similar, if not on par, with the MINI Cooper S. This is a well-balanced, easy-to-pilot hot hatch that's willing to give then give some more. The EcoBoost engine is performance driven, and no matter what gear you're in the 2014 Fiesta ST has oomph. Turbo lag is nearly non-existent, and rowing through the gears (up or down) is a breeze. Pedal placement is ideal for sporty manoeuvres, and steering is spot-on with great response (though I do wish the wheel were a bit smaller).

My only complaint, truly, is the suspension. It's great for cornering and evasive play on the road, however, it is quite harsh in everyday circumstances. When your 2-year-old says the word “bumpy” more than he says the word “go” in the backseat of the Ford Fiesta ST, you know there's an issue somewhere.

Did I have fun? You bet. Did I have plenty of room for my 2-year-old son in the back all week? Of course. Did I drive as easily on snow-covered roads as I did on dry cement? Surprisingly, yes. (Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre)

Inside and Out of the 2014 Ford Fiesta ST
I adore the proportions of the Ford Fiesta ST; squat, short, and a little round I feel a kindred connection to the ST. It's not all bubbles and soft lines though, as the ST has an aggressive front lip and side skirts, as well as a sporty roof spoiler off the rear. Decked out in Performance Blue, with a slate-grey interior, my Fiesta ST looked the part of hot hatch from nose to tail.

Inside the 2014 Ford Fiesta ST, the most noticeable and talked about feature are the standard front Recaro bucket seats that are also heated. Tight fitting and comfortable, these seats are designed to hold you in place no matter how hard you throw the little Fiesta ST around. While I fit quite well, I think larger (taller and wider) occupants will find the seats a tad too snug, and perhaps even uncomfortable.

As always, Ford's SYNC system was tolerable but not perfect. Bluetooth worked 60% of the time without being prompted and the touchscreen was slow to respond most of the time (which was sometimes due to the extreme cold temperatures we experienced that week).

Inside the 2014 Ford Fiesta ST, the most noticeable and talked about feature are the standard front Recaro bucket seats that are also heated. (Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre)

Comparing the 2014 Ford Fiesta ST
What a fabulous category filled with superbly fun-to-drive hatchbacks. From the Volkswagen GTI to the MINI Cooper S, and even the Honda Civic Si and Chevy Sonic RS, there are some fantastic choices in this segment. Each has its redeeming qualities, and most are in the same price range. Truthfully, I'd spring for the MINI Cooper S over the Fiesta ST, but if I was on a tighter budget (under $30k final price), I'd take the Fiesta ST home every time.