Auto News 5

From press release

The newly christened DeltaWing Racing Cars with Claro/TracFone team brings new sponsors and a winning driver line-up to the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Four-time Rolex Sports Car Series champion Guillermo “Memo” Rojas joins DeltaWing veterans Katherine Legge, Gabby Chaves and Andy Meyrick behind the wheel of the revolutionary DeltaWing coupe.

The move to DeltaWing brings Rojas' sports car career full circle, as his very first sports car racing experience was a test behind the wheel of the Panoz front-engine LMP-1 prototype in 2003.

International entrepreneur Carlos Slim Helú's telecommunications divisions Claro and TracFone also come onboard the DeltaWing team for 2015.

From GMM

Porsche has ruled out entering formula one.

2016 F1 entrant Gene Haas this week indicated he hopes rumours the German giant Volkswagen - Porsche's parent - is contemplating entering F1 are true.

"I think having big manufacturers coming in and supplying engines makes a lot of sense," he told Autoweek and F1 business journalist Christian Sylt.

Porsche returned to the premier LMP1 prototype class at Le Mans last year, housing the F1 veteran Mark Webber. This year, Nico Hulkenberg will split his Force India duties with a Porsche seat.

But the marque's head of research and development Wolfgang Hatz has told Auto Motor und Sport: "Formula one has never been an issue for us and won't be.

"Le Mans is a more attractive environment for us -- there are more and more competitors and we learn more about the production of road cars," he added.

Porsche 919. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Toto Wolff thinks his relationship with wife Susie has actually harmed rather than helped the Williams test driver's career.

Formerly Susie Stoddart, the Scot and former F3 and DTM driver married Toto Wolff in late 2011.

It has often been suggested that her move into F1 was powered by her marriage, as Austrian Wolff is the boss of Williams' engine supplier Mercedes, and he remains a minor co-owner of the Grove based team.

But Toto Wolff told France's Auto Hebdo: "Susie is a small woman with a big character, who was at Mercedes before I was. When I took an interest in HWA (Mercedes' DTM team), she was already in the DTM.

"What makes me a little sad is that I am aware of doing more harm than good to her career that she built up long before she knew me.

"I often hear her described as 'the wife of Toto Wolff', which is fundamentally unfair. There are advertising contracts that she cannot conclude because of me and the conflict of interest. She has had, and still has, a lot of compromises in terms of her career because of me," he added.

Susie and Toto Wolff. (Photo: WRi2)

"She is the test driver at Williams because she did a good job behind the wheel, not because I was a shareholder. At first it was a marketing idea to have a woman, and the only one at the required level was Susie. The team tested her and she went well.

"In DTM, because she was not at the front, people made comments without knowing how the sport is organised also with drivers who are in less competitive cars.

"But when she was competing directly with David Coulthard and Roberto Merhi, she was at their level. And when testing with Williams, she has shown that her level is excellent," Toto Wolff added.

President Barack Obama, on a trip to unveil elements of his State of the Union address, took a victory lap in Michigan on Wednesday to tout his support of the auto industry, but concerns about trade policies hung in the background of his tour.

Tenneco named longtime Johnson Controls executive Brian Kesseler as its COO, effective Monday. Kesseler, 48, who has been president of Johnson Controls Power Solutions, replaces Hari Nair, who is retiring.

Cadillac is cutting prices on its CTS sedan in the US by as much as $3,000, a partial walk back of a big price increase 15 months ago that dealers say has driven away some loyal buyers.

News 8 Jan, 2015

276bhp load-lugging SEAT Leon ST Cupra unveiled, the firm's first ever fast estate

News 7 Jan, 2015

Audi reveals next generation MMI control interface on new Q7 dashboard at the CES 2015 show

News 8 Jan, 2015

New Volvo S60 Cross Country to be unveiled in Detroit heralding completely new market sector

Visteon named two new members to its board amid a flurry of merger and acquisition activity at the supplier in recent months.

News 7 Jan, 2015

More power, less weight and more drama for Porsche Cayman GT4, spied completely undisguised

News 7 Jan, 2015

Israeli firm Storedot is planning to showcase advanced battery tech that allows rapid electric car charging in early 2016

News 7 Jan, 2015

BMW's new lighting signature previewed for front and rear lights on the M4 performance coupe

Mercedes plans to make 2015 its fifth straight year of record annual sales on demand for new models such as the coupe version of the GLE SUV.

Onwers of the beached car ship, Hoegh Osaka, say the vessel has self-floated in the past few minutes and is being towed to a holding position in Southampton Water.

News 7 Jan, 2015

Ford has started 25 worldwide experiments looking at improving driving in congested cities

Ford's US head of marketing, sales and service, John Felice will retire on 1 February, 2015 and be replaced by Mark LaNeve, currently chief operating officer at Global Team Ford, the automaker's global advertising and marketing agency.

Ford's US head of marketing, sales and service, John Felice will retire on 1 February, 2015 and be replaced by Mark LaNeve, currently chief operating officer at Global Team Ford, the automaker's global advertising and marketing agency.

Ford today said Mark LaNeve, a former top sales executive at General Motors, will take over as its new head of US sales, marketing and service as of Feb. 1. LaNeve, 55, replaces John Felice, who was the company's US sales chief for only 15 months.

News 7 Jan, 2015

BMW's advanced automated parking system could be here in five years on the i3 and other models