Auto News 5

Canny minority suppliers, who typically lack the global size and cutting edge randd for competitive technology, are forming partnerships with Tier 1 companies to handle major production contracts.

Nissan threw the switch last week to begin building its prestige vehicle in the United States for the first time, moving the Murano's global export base from Japan to its plant in Mississippi.

U.S. light-vehicle sales rose 6 percent in October and the annual selling rate was a solid 16.5 million. But the real story last month - and indeed for most of 2014 - was all the extra cash those unit sales brought in.

The Republican victory in last week's midterm elections is lifting hopes of a shift in U.S. energy policy to higher production of oil and gas -- a move that could provide a tailwind for the auto industry.

Mark Fields' biggest management shuffle since taking over as Ford Motor Co. CEO involves a job swap for two key deputies -- Jim Farley and Stephen Odell -- who bring very different strengths to their new roles.

The truest measure of good car advertising is whether it moves the merchandise. And the Toyota Camry has been the best-selling car in the country for more than a decade. So some marketing experts are wondering about the newest Camry ad campaign.

Living a teenage boy's fantasy of driving exotic cars is part of Tom O'Keefe's job at Midwestern Auto Group, a 14-franchise group of mostly exotic and luxury dealerships in Dublin, Ohio, that offers valet service to its high-line customers.

Chevrolet's blockbuster $559 million sponsorship agreement in 2012 with British soccer club Manchester United ultimately drew a red card for General Motors marketing czar Joel Ewanick.

Mark Fields' biggest management shuffle since taking over as Ford CEO involves a job swap for two key deputies -- Jim Farley and Stephen Odell -- who bring very different strengths to their new roles.

Automotive News Europe needs your help to identify the Rising Stars in the European automotive industry. The award honors executives with a pan-European profile who have driven change, fostered innovation and made courageous decisions.

The Volkswagen Group plans to add a proving ground for autonomous driving to its test track in Ehra-Lessien in Lower Saxony, Germany, Automobilwoche, a sibling publication of Automotive News, has learned from company sources.

Sites such as TrueCar Inc., Edmunds.com, AutoTrader.com and Cars.com, provide millions of leads to dealers. Critics say they do so by building their own brands, too.

A promotion between GM and Costco Wholesale Corp.'s auto-sales arm helped three GM trucks make the list of most-requested vehicles for dealership referrals among the warehouse club's members in October.

As Volkswagen rides out a U.S. product drought, marketing chief Vinay Shahani is giving restive dealers a larger and more formal role in setting advertising strategy.

German car manufacturer Porsche has confirmed its LMP1 driver line-up for the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Porsche has opted to remain with all six of its current full-season drivers for next year's program.

The team will run an all-new Porsche 919 Hybrid.

It is therefore now official that McLaren Formula 1 driver Jenson Button will not be part of the Porsche squadron in 2015.

Porsche will rely on Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, Brendon Hartley, Marc Lieb and Mark Webber next year.

No word has been given on the potential of a third car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is known to be under consideration, and one of the primary reasons for Porsche recently testing the majority of its factory GT drivers in its LMP1 Hybrid 919 car.

From GMM

Christian Horner has criticised Mercedes for continuing to block moves for an engine development 'unfreeze' for 2015.

He is the boss of Red Bull, the dominant world champions of the past four years whose run of success was stopped by the German team this season.

In Brazil, Red Bull mathematically secured second place in the constructors' world championship, with Horner arguing that it is the best possible outcome given the superiority of the Mercedes 'power unit'.

Red Bull's works supplier Renault and Ferrari are arguing vociferously that significant changes to the homologation or 'engine freeze' rules should be put in place in order to give Mercedes' rivals a chance beyond 2014.

Referring to Interlagos, where Sebastian Vettel finished fifth behind four Mercedes-powered cars, Christian Horner said on Sunday: "We had no chance against the Mercedes engines."

Photo: Mercedes-Benz

In Brazil, talks between the engine makers broke down as Mercedes refused to agree to Renault and Ferrari's latest 'unfreeze' proposals.

"I doubt the engine freeze will even be extended until July now," said Horner.

"I understand Mercedes' position, but is it good for formula one when one team dominates and nobody can do anything about it?

"Yes, we also dominated, but it was a completely different situation. Everyone had the chance to develop their cars before each race, and much of what we did was immediately copied by our opponents," Horner argued.

From GMM

On track in Brazil, a thrilling and intense battle for the drivers' world championship that will now go down to the wire continued to play out.

But at Interlagos, the real drama was being fought furiously behind the scenes.

With Marussia and Caterham already gone, the next independent teams are arguing loudly for help.

Two newspaper reports have now quoted Sahara Force India's auditors as suggesting there is "no evidence" the holding company can sustain the team "as a going concern".

Sauber and Lotus have also joined the exasperated plea, even reportedly threatening boycott as recently as the US grand prix just over a week ago.

Then, Bernie Ecclestone sounded sympathetic to the claim that his income distribution system is skewed unfairly, and F1 owner CVC was said to be in talks with the small teams about a $160 million 'fighting fund'.

But F1 supremo Ecclestone changed his tune dramatically in Brazil on Sunday, calling the talks "a waste of time" and telling the sport's minnows to either get their affairs in order or race out of the paddock gates.

He even said touted talks with CVC's Donald Mackenzie next week are off.

"It's not their position to decide who I speak to," said Bernie Ecclestone.

Bob Fernley, the angry deputy boss at Sahara Force India, confirmed that any earlier talk of financial help has now ended.

"We were given a clear direction there is no money on the table," he said.

He suggests a "very clear agenda" is in play, with Ecclestone, CVC and the big teams in cahoots to replace the minnows with customer teams.

"Three cars (per team) will be the interim," said Fernley.

The Times reports that a high-level email has been distributed that shows Red Bull and Ferrari have agreed to add third cars to their garages next year.

A Red Bull spokesperson immediately denied that, but angry Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn said: "They are trying to drive teams out because they don't suit them anymore."

Bernie Ecclestone surrounded by journalists at Interlagos, Brazil. (Photo: WRi2)

It appears the only concession Ecclestone is willing to make to the struggling teams is to advise them to follow the path expected to be taken by newcomer Haas in 2016 -- buy a full chassis from a big team and survive that way.

The 84-year-old Briton was even quoted as calling the complaining teams "idiots".

"You know what the teams said to me in that meeting? 'We are constructors,' they said. I told them they can't afford to be constructors," said Ecclestone.

"Maybe it's an idea to have another championship in addition to the constructors'," Ecclestone is quoted by Germany's Sport1.

He means one world championship for the 'constructors' - Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Williams - and another for the smaller teams who possibly run year-old customer cars and older engine specifications.

Lotus owner Gerard Lopez confirmed: "The fact is we are talking about third cars, dividing the series into two categories, so forth. At the same time no one is talking about finding a real solution to the problem. Everyone is just talking about crazy things."

He predicted third cars would be "the death" of the sport.

"Looking at the proposals which have been made, we have to believe there is some agenda here," Monisha Kaltenborn told reporters on Sunday. "The more these ideas are coming up, the more we three (teams) get the feeling that maybe some people don't want us to be around and maybe the sport is supposed to be changed in a very different way."

But Bernie Ecclestone insists that his plan is in fact the most sustainable way to run a small team in the sport's next era.

"You and I could start a team under those conditions for $30 million a year and for tenth in the championship you would get $48 million. What's the problem with that?" he said.

The end of the 2014 Formula 1 season is just around the corner, and McLaren is believed to be ready to run a development McLaren-Honda car in Abu Dhabi.

Two test days are also scheduled for November 25 and 26 at Abu Dhabi after the final Grand Prix of the year.

McLaren and Honda engineers have confirmed that they were thinking about running a development car made of an MP4-29 chassis mated to a Honda V6 power unit.

“We are still taking about it. We have to take a decision about now”, McLaren's director of racing, Eric Boullier, told Auto123.com.

“We have two groups of engineers working in two different projects. One is working on the 2015 car, and the other is working on the development car. This car is designed to validate the processes for Honda, which is something fairly major,” Boullier explained.

Sky Sports F1 reveals Monday that not only are McLaren is preparing to run the car in Friday's practice sessions at Abu Dhabi next week, but they will also be trialling new aerodynamic designs as they try to steal a march on their rivals ahead of next year's campaign.

Adapted from GMM

Toto Wolff wants the final Grand Prix to be fair and clean.

The highly controversial 'double points' situation threatens to eat up Hamilton's big lead with something like a mechanical breakdown.

Even the architect of the scheme, Bernie Ecclestone, admitted in Brazil that he never envisaged his double points plan "would come to this sort of situation".

Lewis Hamilton departed Brazil with the message that the system is "unfair".

Mercedes' Toto Wolff is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport: "If it (reliability) wipes one of them (Hamilton or Rosberg) out, it will put a big shadow over the championship.

"Nobody likes the double points. We should talk about it and maybe get rid of it for next year," the team chief added.

"Every part on the cars in Abu Dhabi will be double checked. We will use all low-mileage parts," Wolff promised.

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

Toto Wolff also admitted he remains worried Hamilton and Rosberg will collide in Abu Dhabi, even though the venom appears to have disappeared from their relationship in the past weeks.

Toto Wolff disputes that.

It has emerged that Hamilton did not attend a team dinner on Saturday night while Rosberg did, but Wolff insists that both drivers still have full access to one another's technical information.

"The atmosphere in the team is intense," he revealed. "They didn't talk to each other here (in Brazil) but that's ok. The championship is in the decisive phase now and in the team we can really feel that."

From GMM

Mercedes has warned it will quit Formula 1 if moves to revive the old V8 era are successful.

Amid the debate about costs driving small teams out of F1, and the separate argument about an engine development 'unfreeze', Bernie Ecclestone showed his hand by reiterating he is staunchly opposed to the new V6s.

"We need to change the regulations," the F1 chief executive told Sky television a week ago. "We're going to try to get rid of these (V6) engines.

"They don't do anything for anybody. They're not F1," he insisted.

The 84-year-old Briton most certainly has some allies. Some of them are fans who miss the normally-aspirated V8 scream, and many race promoters.

Mercedes's domination
Mercedes has been utterly dominant so far this season and rival engine suppliers Renault and Ferrari are desperate for the rules to be relaxed so they can catch up.

Mercedes, having mastered the start of the new turbo era, is understandably reluctant.

"We were slowed down for five years running with aerodynamic restrictions," said Dr Helmut Marko, of F1's formerly dominant force Red Bull.

"All we're asking of Mercedes is that they give us the chance to get closer," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Mercedes has offered a slight compromise, but not all of what Renault and Ferrari are demanding.

Now, Ferrari, Renault and perhaps even Honda are threatening that if Mercedes continues to refuse, they will push through a total opening up of engine development for 2016 with the power of their majority vote.

The two Mercedes drivers. (Photo: WRi2)

Increasing costs
That will send costs through the roof and almost certainly drive more teams out of business.

The golden solution to that might be to go down Ecclestone's road of reviving the cheaper and fan-pleasing V8 engines.

"No one likes to take a step backwards," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said, "but sometimes you have to realise when something has gone wrong."

Indeed, struggling small teams like Lotus, Sauber and Force India would be much happier with an old, V8-style engine bill.

"None of us wanted the new engines," said Lotus owner Gerard Lopez, speaking for the struggling trio. "They were forced upon us."

He indicated he would not be opposed to another engine type being introduced, particularly if it was much cheaper.

"If I told Pastor or Romain that next year they're pedalling their car, they're not going to be particularly excited. But it would be way cheaper for us and I might actually make money," Lopez smiled.

Honda, however, is only returning to F1 next year because of the new, modern and more road-relevant engine formula.

And Niki Lauda, Mercedes' team chairman, warned that bringing back the V8s would have other drastic consequences.

"If V8 comes back, Mercedes will be gone,” Niki Lauda said.