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The administrator will now manage the Caterham Formula 1 Team.

Caterham press release:

Following a request of yesterday evening at 21.55hrs CET from Caterham Sports Limited's administrators and the legal advisors of Mr Tony Fernandes' related EXIM Bank, representatives of 1MRT/Caterham F1 Team have agreed, with all rights reserved, to hand-over management of the Caterham F1 Team to the administrator Mr Finbarr O'Connell in the higher interest of allowing the team to continue operating and preparing for the next events.

From GMM

Bernie Ecclestone has played down reports he is in advanced talks to bring formula one to the streets of Madrid.

Spain's El Confidencial claimed this week the F1 supremo is already in possession of a business plan and bank guarantees, as a group of businessmen want the Spanish capital to host an annual street race.

The news would seem to be a threat to F1's existing Spanish grand prix in Barcelona, but Circuit de Catalunya boss Salvador Servia reacted: "We know nothing. Nobody has told us anything."

F1 chief executive Ecclestone has also now played down the Madrid reports, confirming that a group "talked about it but nothing has happened".

"We're not going to do a race in Madrid," the almost 84-year-old told F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, writing in Forbes.

A second Spanish race, on the streets of Valencia, failed recently and Ecclestone insists: "We don't need a second race in Spain. It's easy enough as it is."

F1 starting grid. (Photo: WRi2)

Notwithstanding that, F1 is preparing to welcome Azerbaijan to the schedule in 2016 and possibly also a race on the famous 'Strip' in Las Vegas.

That would tend to contradict claims that Ecclestone cannot take the annual calendar beyond 20 races unless the F1 teams agree.

But Ecclestone insists: "If I want more than 20 races I don't need consent from the teams. I don't think so. I don't care about the consent from them which is more to the point."

One race that has come into doubt in recent days, however, is the fabled British grand prix, after several directors including Silverstone chief Richard Phillips were escorted off the premises and suspended.

"I don't know what Richard Phillips could have done," Bernie Ecclestone told Sylt. "It's all very strange and it came out of the blue. Everything was fine and now the top guy there that we used to deal with is gone. He never said anything to me about this."

NHTSA botched its effort to inform the public about a potentially lethal airbag defect, directing 8 million consumers to an inoperable website and leaving millions of others unsure as to whether their cars were even at risk.

Toyota said today it had sold some of its shares in Tesla Motors but that it would continue to study possible cooperation with the California electric car maker in the future.

Toyota has sold some of its shares in Tesla Motors, the Nikkei financial newspaper reported.

GM Financial disclosed Thursday it is being investigated by 'state attorneys general and other governmental offices' in connection with subprime auto loans and the sale of subprime auto loans in the form of asset-backed securities.

Toyota's Los Angeles-based U.S. advertising agency is following its longtime client to Dallas in a bid to prolong their nearly 40-year relationship.

AutoNation will become title sponsor of a new college football bowl game that will raise money for breast cancer research.

Edmunds.com has pulled a YouTube ad campaign that spoofed price haggling but that dealers found offensive.

Powertrain component supplier Dana reported net income of $90 million for the third quarter, a 32 percent improvement from the $68 million in the same period a year earlier.

The next-generation Jeep Wrangler will continue to be a body-on-frame vehicle and won't switch to unibody construction, Automotive News has learned.

FCA has added a new model for the Mexican market's 2015 model year: the RAM 700. This small pick-up is a rebadged Fiat Strada Adventure and is imported from Brazil.

Dana has reported third quarter net income up 32% to US$90m, compared to US$68m in the same period last year.

Federal-Mogul has posted a third quarter loss of US$18m based on net sales of US$1.87bn, up 11% on a continuing operations basis.

Valeo has unveiled third quarter sales up 10% to EUR3.07bn (US$3.9bn), with original equipment sales advancing 13%.

Autoliv posted a surprise fall in third quarter earnings and lowered its outlook for 2014 sales growth while saying it has seen positive effects on its business in the wake of recent issues with Japanese parts maker Takata's air bags.

Ping goes the inbox. A welcome new email comes from our colleagues at JATO Dynamics with the latest eight-month YTD European PHEV sales data.

Audi is recalling nearly 102,000 A4 sedans in the United States to fix a software glitch that may prevent front airbags from deploying in a crash.

Audi will recall 850,000 A4 models worldwide due to airbag problem that could prevent front airbags from deploying. Audi said its faulty airbags are not made by Takata, which is at the center of a growing number of U.S. airbag recalls.

News 24 Oct, 2014

Spy shots of the huge six-door Mercedes S600 Pullman have emerged and there's even an armoured version expected