Auto News 5

Mahindra & Mahindra is to reduce its supplier base by 10% a year over the next five years, cutting numbers from 650 to 450, as part of its one sourcing strategy across the group.

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne sees potential to form a new No. 1 in the auto industry as carmakers grapple with low returns on the increasing amount of money needed to develop new cars.

New vehicle sales in Indonesia fell by 12.2% to 101,801 units in September, compared with a monthly record of 115,921 units a year earlier, according to data released by industry association, Gaikindo

South Korea's Hyundai and Kia plan to strengthen their low-emission line-ups in 2015 with hybrid versions of the mid-segment Sonata and K5/Optima models.

News 8 Oct, 2014

Official prices and specs of the new Mercedes-AMG C 63 AMG have been revealed ahead of arrival in early 2015

News 8 Oct, 2014

More than 20,000 overseas motorists avoid tickets adding up to £2.3million because they can’t be traced

BMW will announce later this month that it has hired Ferrari's former technical director, Roberto Fedeli, sources said. Ferrari said Fedeli left the carmaker Sept. 13.

BMW has hired Ferrari's former technical director, Roberto Fedeli, for an as-yet unspecified role. Fedeli joined Ferrari in 1988 and has been responsible for the engineering of all Ferrari cars since 2007.

BMW has hired Ferrari's former technical director, Roberto Fedeli, for an as-yet unspecified role. Fedeli joined Ferrari in 1988 and has been responsible for the engineering of all Ferrari cars since 2007.

Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's CEO and the architect of its merger with Chrysler, plans to step down after completing a five-year strategic plan to expand the combined carmakers. He says his role may be split among more than one executive.

Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's CEO and the architect of its merger with Chrysler, said that he plans to step down after completing a five-year strategic plan to expand the combined carmakers. He says his role may be split among more than one executive.

Power electronics is being brought into sharp focus as OEMs look to improve the efficiency of electric and hybrid cars. Many of the energy losses in such systems occur in power electronic systems (such as DC-DC converters) which convert the high voltages from the batteries to the correct levels for the various systems in the car. Prodrive are exploring the use of silicon carbide based components which can operate at much higher temperatures and efficiencies. To find out more, Matthew Beecham spoke to Pete Tibbles, Prodrive programme manager - power electronics.

Mass-market car brands such as Renault, Peugeot and Opel are getting a much-needed boost from sales in Europe's booming small SUV segment which are forecast to more than double to nearly 1 million by 2020 in western Europe.

Peter Horbury has faced three design challenges in his career: Injecting style into Volvo; rejuvenating Ford's moribund North American styling, and his current assignment #8212; creating a design team and a design language for China's Geely.

On this day, October 8, 1978 Canadian Gilles Villeneuve won his maiden Grand Prix in front of a home crowd here in Montreal.

I was there, frozen like a Popsicle like the other tens of thousands of race fans. I was sitting in the “gold” grandstands located right in front of the pits of the prestigious Scuderia Ferrari.

Heavy rain caused chaos during the two days of practice and qualifying. At the end of each day, the old garages, located at the far end of Ile Notre-Dame, were transformed into a big car wash as the F1 cars returned covered with mud!

Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari 312 T3 (Photo: WRI2)

We later found out that Villeneuve made a hazardous Michelin tire choice for the race. The cold temperature would give him reason if he could drive fast yet carefully without damaging them.

We all followed his progress during the race. We all cheered for Gilles when he passed Alan Jones (Williams) and then Jody Scheckter (Wolf), before race leader Jean-Pierre Jarier in the second Lotus dived into the pits with terminal rear brake problems. Villeneuve was leading the race!

From that moment on, no one was cold despite the very light snow that began to fall.

At the conclusion of his 70th lap, Gilles Villeneuve, in his Ferrari 312 T3, passed the finish line in triumph, saluted by Michel Hanson waving the checkered flag.

The Villeneuve legend had just begun.

Gilles Villeneuve son the podium, wearing his agent Gaston Parent's coat. (Photo: WRI2)

Russia will stage its first Formula 1 Grand prix of the new era this weekend.

The 18-turn circuit of Sochi is located inside the Sochi Olympic Park. It was designed by German architect-engineer, Herman Tilke, who also directed two other projects in Russia, one in Moscow and another, east of the city of Smolensk.

Sochi will now be the 6th city to have proudly hosted both a Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Olympic Games. Previously, Melbourne (1956), Mexico (1968), Montreal (1976) and Long Beach (Los Angeles 1932, 1984) had such privilege. Let us not forget that Berlin (1936) also hosted once (1959) the German Grand Prix.

Layout of the Sochi track, in Russia.

Sochi is the third longest lap on the calendar after Spa and Silverstone. At over 5.8km fuel consumption per lap will be high predict the Renault Sport F1 engineers, but with plenty of tight corners and short bursts of power the high rate will be balanced out by energy recovery via the MGU-K and MGU-H, so Renault do not expect to be on the 100kg fuel limit permitted for the race.

“Sochi is a brand new track on the calendar this year, but the characteristics are very similar to other circuits we have visited in the past or this season,” said Remi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 head of track operations.

“It is actually most like Singapore or the street track in Valencia we visited from 2008 to 2012 - a high-speed, street track with tight corners. From our simulations we see that the average speed will be 200kph, with approximately 56% of the lap spent at wide open throttle, well above the ‘traditional' street average”.

16th round of the 2014 Championship, 1st edition, 1st on the Sochi circuit, in the Olympic Park.
53 laps of a 5,853 km track (310.471 km in total)
October 10, 11 and 12, 2014
Qualifying: Saturday 11, 3:00 pm, local time; 7:00 am ET
Race: Sunday 12, 3:00 pm, local time; 7:00 am, ET

From Formula1.com

Formula One group CEO Bernie Ecclestone and Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan's Minister of Youth and Sport, unveiled the layout of the new Hermann Tilke-designed Baku European Grand Prix street circuit at a special press event in Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

The Baku European Grand Prix will take place in 2016 and Tuesday's event saw Mr Ecclestone and Minister Rahimov presenting the layout of the street circuit that will see Formula 1 cars racing through the streets of Baku on F1's newest track.

Photo: Baku Grand Prix

Hermann Tilke, CEO Tilke Engineering: “I am absolutely thrilled about the Baku European Grand Prix project and delighted we can now unveil the track design. We have created a challenging street circuit, in terms of engineering and design, and one that thrives on Baku's very attractive urban atmosphere and its great combination of history and 21st century style. The historic city centre, the beautiful seaside promenade and the impressive government house all combine to provide the perfect backdrop for a spectacular new track.

“Obviously street circuits present a number of challenges, in terms of circuit design, but we have been able to incorporate some unique features that will provide the teams and fans with fascinating racing.

“For example, there will be an extremely narrow uphill section at the old town wall that will reward pinpoint accuracy and courage, and we have an acceleration section of almost 2.2 kilometres along the promenade which will see the cars running flat out at very high top speeds - something that will create an incredible spectacle for the race fans on track and the viewers at home, Tilke explained.

Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan's Minister of Youth and Sport; Formula One group CEO Bernie Ecclestone; Anar Alakbarov, Executive Director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the president of Azerbaijan Automobile Federation; circuit designer Hermann Tilke. (Photo: Baku Grand Prix)

From GMM

Marussia says the withdrawal of its GP3 team ahead of this weekend's round in Russia is not connected to Jules Bianchi's fight for life.

At the time of writing, it is still not clear how the similarly Manor-run, Marussia-branded F1 team will tackle this weekend's Sochi round, after Frenchman Bianchi's life-threatening Suzuka crash mere days ago.

But some might have linked Wednesday's news that Marussia Manor Racing GP3 is not racing this weekend in Russia with the Bianchi situation.

In a statement, however, the GP3 team insisted "its non-participation in the Sochi event is for purely commercial reasons and these have not been influenced in any way by events at last weekend's formula one race in Suzuka."

Marussia GP3 added that the freight deadline for Russia was in fact last Thursday, long before Marussia F1 driver Bianchi's crash on Sunday.

Marussia Manor GP3 cars at the Red Bull Ring. (Photo: WRi2)

From wrc.com

Hyundai Motorsport has carried out the first tests of an all-new World Rally Car based on the latest version of the Korean manufacturer's i20 road car.

Hyundai test driver Bryan Bouffier carried out the very first shakedown of the car in Germany last month, checking systems and collecting data for upcoming development tests this year and next.

The newly launched third generation i20 road car is a complete overhaul of the current model, and Hyundai says the WRC version incorporates all the learning and feedback that the team has collected during its first season in the World Rally Championship.

Hyundai's new i20. (Photo: wrc.com)

The current i20 World Rally Car was introduced at Rallye Monte Carlo

Hyundai Motorsport Team Principal Michel Nandan said: “It's always an important moment when you take a car to the road for the first time and this one was no exception. We have been working on the development of our future WRC car for some time now and we were finally able to put the first prototype on its wheels last month. The data and experience that we have accumulated during our debut WRC season has contributed to our approach with this new car.

The current i20 World Rally Car made its competitive debut at this year's Rallye Monte Carlo and has been been developed further throughout the season. The model scored a surprise one-two victory at Rallye Deutschland in August.

Nandan added that the team was in no rush to replace the existing model. “We will introduce it in competition when we are absolutely sure that it is ready to replace the current i20 World Rally Car,” he said.

“It's a totally different car compared to current WRC model; the platform is different, the car is longer, lower and wider and it features a new engine, transmission and other components. Of course we are just at the beginning of a long process and we will continue to work hard on development and continue testing in the next months and throughout 2015.”

From GMM

McLaren was moved on Wednesday to deny wild speculation Lewis Hamilton is set to return to the team in 2015.

The British team said the rumour Ron Dennis' former protege - who is currently leading the world championship for dominant rival Mercedes - had recently travelled to Woking to sign up are "utterly without foundation".

But it would tie in with the climate of sensation in the F1 'silly season' at present, after Sebastian Vettel announced his departure from Red Bull, ostensibly to replace the disgruntled Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.

Spaniard Alonso has been much more strongly linked than his 2007 McLaren teammate Hamilton with Woking's looming Honda era.

But when asked about Alonso's rumoured interest in Japan last weekend, team supremo Dennis fascinatingly answered: "There's no impediment for Lewis Hamilton coming back. There's no impediment for Fernando Alonso coming back.

"And there's no impediment for Kevin (Magnussen) and Jenson (Button) staying," he told Sky.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W05. (Photo: WRi2)

Wednesday's strong Hamilton rumour, however, is new, but it emerged just as the German magazine Sport Bild went to print with comments attributed to the 2008 world champion.

"I feel very happy here," said the Mercedes driver. "For me it's like a family. The team and I have a positive feeling that we want to keep working together."

Lewis Hamilton is under contract for 2015 already, and team figures have indicated that talks to extend the deal are to take place.

The 29-year-old insisted he has "no thoughts" about leaving the silver arrows.

"I never have had. Mercedes is one of the coolest and most traditional brands in the world," said Hamilton.

Indeed, one of his chiefs at Mercedes - the F1 legend Niki Lauda - thinks it is another former McLaren driver who is returning to Woking to lead the new Honda era.

"The agreement (between Alonso and McLaren) was signed last Thursday," the great Austrian was quoted on Wednesday by Spain's El Mundo Deportivo.