Auto News 5

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Carlos Tavares will be the keynote speaker at the Automotive News Europe Congress in June in Brussels.

Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, Texas, the nation's largest Chevrolet dealership, has opened its own compressed natural gas fueling station to help sell the brand's new natural-gas-powered vehicles.

Mark Fields, the 53-year-old New Jersey native who is expected to be named soon as Ford's next CEO, has confronted cynics with every big post he's taken. They always expect him to fail #8211; and he never does.

Ford is faced with rebuilding the C-Max Hybrid's sales after volume tanked when the company was forced to lower the vehicle's estimated fuel economy in August.

In late 2009, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and his team laid out an audacious five-year plan to rebuild Chrysler Group.

Michael Millikin, GM's top lawyer, was conspicuous in his silence during a U.S. Senate panel grilling of CEO Mary Barra over the company's ignition-switch recall.

It's never easy for a labor union to walk away from a fight, but for the UAW, surrender offered a way to salvage a long-term opportunity from the wreckage of Chattanooga.

Mercedes-Benz USA is taking a hard line with dealers after the brand made little progress in the latest J.D. Power and Associates Customer Service Index.

To get a sense of the manufacturing challenge facing Ford as it prepares to build its aluminum-bodied F-150 pickups, you need only look at rivets and other complexities at the Range Rover assembly plant in Solihull, England.

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne will turn Alfa Romeo into a stand-alone company.

Public dealership groups are moving to improve their own online lead development and reduce reliance on third-party lead providers.

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne will turn Alfa Romeo into a stand-alone company -- like Maserati and Ferrari -- as part of his latest plan to revive the brand, sources told Automotive News Europe.

As if the small-car company needed to explore yet another market segment, a few BMW workers recently decided to have fun with a MINI Paceman and turned it into an Adventure pick-up truck.

As you can see on the picture, this is not a joke.

According to BimmerToday, the rear section of the roof had to be chopped in order to install the metallic cargo box. The team also reinforced the chassis, added a roof brace integrating the spare tire, and switched to off-road rubber.

What do you think?

Source : caradisiac.com

Photo: BMW

Will the five-passenger Ford C-MAX and Toyota Prius v face direct competition from the next-generation Chevrolet Volt? That's a question more and more people are seeking an answer to.

According to a Reuters article from two weeks ago, the new Volt may be available in more than one model, including a less expensive, lower-range variant. More interestingly, there are growing rumours of a production version of the Orlando-inspired concept that debuted at the 2010 Beijing Auto Show.

The new Chevrolet Volt is due for the 2016 model year. Stay tuned...

Source : greencarreports.com

Photo: Chevrolet

On May 6th, Fiat-Chrysler president and CEO Sergio Marchionne will announce Alfa Romeo as a stand-alone company within the automaker's ranks. Similar to Maserati and Ferrari, Alfa Romeo will have to publicly disclose profits and losses.

According to Marchionne, the move will help turn the struggling brand around. Last year, Alfa Romeo sold fewer than 75,000 cars... like it used to in the 1960s, and far from the 300,000 promised a decade ago.

Fiat-Chrysler will need to invest at least five billion euros in Alfa Romeo for the operation to be successful, Mediobanca Securities analyst Massimo Vecchio told Automotive News.

Several sources claim that six new Alfa Romeo products will be launched in the next few years, including a compact SUV and a midsize sedan to be built in Cassino, near Rome. A full-size SUV and a full-size sedan are expected to be produced in Turin. Alfa Romeo also plans a large coupe and a two-seat roadster.

Source : autonews.com

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, must be giddy right about now, while dealer associations in Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, and Massachusetts are probably cringing.

That's because three highly ranked officials with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have publicly opposed current state laws that ban manufacturers from selling automobiles to consumers without a traditional dealer network.

Andrew Gavil, director of the FTC's Office of Policy Planning; Deborah Feinstein, director of the Bureau of Competition; and Martin Gaynor, director of the Bureau of Economics, claim these laws are outdated and “bad policy,” pointing out that the Internet has changed how people shop, not just for everyday items but also for more expensive products.

They also urged lawmakers to be skeptical of auto dealers' arguments that they need protection.

“Change can sometimes be difficult for established competitors that are used to operating in a particular way, but consumers can benefit from change that also challenges longstanding competitors,” they wrote.

Their views do not necessarily reflect those of the commission, however.

Source: autonews.com

Photo: Tesla

From GMM

Bernie Ecclestone's troubles are continuing.

According to F1 business journalist Christian Sylt in the Telegraph, court papers in Munich show that, since the F1 chief executive divorced from his wife Slavica, she has paid him an incredible $100 million per year.

"The duration of the payments from the divorce decree is not known," the indictment confirmed.

Apart from demonstrating the 83-year-old's incredible wealth and income, the news could tie in with other reports of a 'secret' deal with the British tax office.

BBC current affairs programme Panorama claims that HM Revenue and Customs ended a long investigation into Ecclestone's tax affairs when the F1 supremo reached a $17 million settlement.

Bernie Ecclestone has claimed that he paid the alleged $44 million bribe to jailed Gerhard Gribkowsky not to affect the sale of the sport, but to stop the ex-banker from revealing details about his tax affairs to British authorities.

Bernie Ecclestone told the Times: "It feels as though the vultures are circling. The trouble is that vultures are usually around for dead people and I am very much alive."

He insists there is nothing sinister about his British tax affairs.

"I could control the business from anywhere I like," said Ecclestone. "I could go to Monaco or Switzerland and still run F1 quite happily. I don't."

From GMM

Kevin Magnussen is going through the same sort of rookie "processes" endured in the past by the likes of Vitaly Petrov and Romain Grosjean.

That is the claim of new McLaren team boss Eric Boullier, who at his former team Lotus helped to get the latter two drivers up to speed in formula one.

In Danish rookie Magnussen's case, the 21-year-old got his F1 career off to a stellar start in Melbourne with a debut podium, but his and McLaren's form has since dipped.

Eric Boullier said Magnussen's progress "reminds" him of Russian Petrov and Frenchman Grosjean at Lotus.

"They went through the same processes and it's part of the learning curve, unfortunately," he said.

"They need experience, they need to be able to understand the car. The F1 car -setup wise- is much more complicated than the junior categories, so it's just part of the learning progress. And he's not helped by the fact that he has a car that is not so easy to drive today," Boullier added.

Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, second in Melbourne for his first Formula 1 Grand Prix. (Photo: WRi2)

Kevin Magnussen agreed that the four races so far in 2014, including the more difficult run since Melbourne, have been good for "learning".

"At this point for me it's all about learning," he said. "I need good results but I need to learn along the way as well."

Ryan Hunter-Reay won a rain-delayed IndyCar race at Barber Motorsport Park and finished just in front of teammate Marco Andretti for an Andretti Autosport 1-2 this Sunday.

Hunter-Reay had been leading the race since capitalising on a spin by Will Power to take the lead on lap 16.

Ganassi's Scott Dixon finished third, giving him a fifth consecutive podium finish at the Alabama circuit.

The start of the race had been delayed for more than two-and-a-half hours because of severe thunderstorms and when the race finally got underway it had been trimmed to an abbreviated 100-minute timed event.

The entire field started on wets before taking advantage of a caution to change to slicks almost in unison.

Power, meanwhile, eventually finished fifth behind Simon Pagenaud, but if he was annoyed at being caught out by the conditions, then he at least had plenty of company.

Juan Pablo Montoya was making extraordinary progress through the field early on before spinning into the gravel and losing two laps, while Carlos Munoz's race was ended by a similar spin.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner in Barber. (Photo: LAT for IndyCar)

Results - 69 laps

Pos  Driver  Team/Engine  Time/Gap
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay  Andretti/Honda   1h40m43.3337s
2. Marco Andretti   Andretti/Honda  +1.0364s
3. Scott Dixon   Ganassi/Chevy  +1.4286s
4. Simon Pagenaud  Schmidt/Honda  +2.4350s
5. Will Power   Penske/Chevy  +3.1559s
6. Justin Wilson  Coyne/Honda  +3.7009s
7. James Hinchcliffe  Andretti/Honda  +4.6538s
8. Josef Newgarden  Fisher/Honda   +5.3417s
9. Tony Kanaan  Ganassi/Chevy   +6.2513s
10. Charlie Kimball  Ganassi/Chevy   +6.8371s
11. Ryan Briscoe  Ganassi/Chevy  +7.6182s
12. Jack Hawksworth  Herta/Honda  +8.5257s
13. Takuma Sato   Foyt/Honda  +9.6750s
14. Mike Conway   Carpenter/Chevy  +10.1933s
15. Sebastien Bourdais  KV/Chevy  +11.3198s
16. Carlos Huertas  Coyne/Honda  +12.8894s
17. Graham Rahal  Rahal/Honda  +13.7182s
18. Sebastian Saavedra  KV/Chevy   +14.0955s
19. Helio Castroneves   Penske/Chevy  +16.1476s
20. Oriol Servia   Rahal/Honda   +1 lap
21. Juan Pablo Montoya  Penske/Chevy   +1 lap
22. Mikhail Aleshin  Schmidt/Honda   +6 laps

Retirement
Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 40 laps

From GMM

Lewis Hamilton thinks the time is right for Sebastian Vettel to "show his leadership" at world champion team Red Bull.

The Milton Keynes based team has been pushing to emerge from its pre-season crisis involving troubled engine supplier Renault.

But at the same time, German Vettel - the reigning quadruple-consecutive drivers' world champion - has been struggling simply to keep up with his fresh-faced new teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, following the sport's V6 rules switch.

Further up the grid, Hamilton and his Mercedes have been dominating, but in an interview with Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper, the 2008 world champion commented on Vettel and Red Bull's plight.

"As a four time world champion, Sebastian needs to show his leadership inside the team now," Lewis Hamilton is quoted as saying.

"When it comes to the crunch, you are able to show that leadership to your team," he added.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing. (Photo: WRi2)

Indeed, Hamilton expects Vettel and Red Bull - formerly a near-unbeatable combination in F1 - to eventually get back to winning.

"Regardless of the power unit, it's still a strong car," said the Briton, referring to the Adrian Newey-penned RB10. "So I don't believe that the current situation will stay the same."

Hamilton also commented on his ever-intensifying rivalry with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, in the wake of their forceful wheel-to-wheel battle in Bahrain.

"We both know what we are doing," he said, amid reports the Brackley based team is at odds over whether to rein in their battle with some form of 'team orders'.

"Nico is fair and aggressive, but not wildly aggressive," Hamilton said. "Just the right amount. The real problem is that he is faster than ever before."