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Just in time for cheap gasoline, automakers will show high-performance cars at next week's Detroit auto show. But pickups and hybrids will get their share of attention.

To boost Mini's prospects of long-term profitability, parent BMW Group has decided the British brand needs to shrink its lineup to four nameplates from seven.

Most car companies don't worry much about the cost of parking, but in a garage under a San Francisco overpass, a group of BMW employees is figuring out how to factor those costs into a new business model.

With gasoline selling for less than $2 a gallon in some states, it's fair to ask whether the industry's investment in electric vehicles has been an expensive blunder.

Mercedes-Benz could become the first luxury carmaker to launch new models in China before rolling them out in Europe and the U.S.

Moray Callum, Ford's global design chief, is coming off a frenetic year when Ford introduced a bevy of crucial products including the global 2015 Mustang and aluminum 2015 F-150 pickup, both generally well-received by critics.

In an increasingly digital, on-the-go world, Dale Snow's challenge was to devise the most effective way to update millennials on car repairs.

Honda dealer Greg May decided to follow American Honda Motor Co.'s advice and add service bays and make other improvements to his service department.

Jaguar is poised to have a record 2015 and to increase global sales to well above 200,000 vehicles this decade as a massive investment in products, plants and underpinnings starts to pay dividends.

Jaguar sales are set to surge following the arrival of the new XE midsize sedan and updated large premium XF. Jaguar Land Rover's global head of sales, Andy Goss, spoke about the brand's future with Automotive News Europe.

General Motors provided a sneak peek at the 2016 Chevrolet Volt -- which will be quicker, quieter and have a longer range than its predecessor -- Sunday night at International CES in Las Vegas.

There are lots of ways to gauge really good years in the auto industry, but here's one of the best: how many brands set sales records.

From GMM

Less than a month before official winter testing begins, the future of the ailing backmarkers Marussia and Caterham remains unclear.

Marussia's administrators have auctioned team equipment, and the factory at Banbury could even be sold to the new American team for 2016, Haas.

That is to pay back a long list of creditors, with Forbes journalist Christian Sylt saying even staff are still owed more than $72,000 in pay.

But administrator Geoff Rowley insists there "continues to be dialogue with a number of parties who are considering making an investment into the company".

To date, however, Rowley admitted that "no satisfactory offer or strategy has been offered to presently allow racing to continue". Sylt concluded that it is "unlikely" Marussia's redundant staff will be returning to work.

Meanwhile, Caterham's administrators have in the past days and weeks sounded more bullish about the future of the Leafield based team.

But the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat reports that a significant percentage of the team staff have in fact already moved on, for example to jobs at Williams and Lotus, who are also both based in Oxfordshire.

Sauber C33-Ferrari. (Photo: WRi2)

Finally, Switzerland's Blick reports that Sauber is also fighting for survival, helped by the three drivers for 2015 who are bringing a collective $50 million to Hinwil for 2015.

Paying racers Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr are joined by the new reserve and Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello, who correspondent Roger Benoit said is accompanying a $10 million subsidy for Sauber's 2015 engine deal.

Roger Benoit wrote: "Actually, Ferrari had also planned to promote Jules Bianchi from Marussia to Sauber for 2015."

Williams' test driver, Susie Wolff has revealed she will drive Williams' new 2015 Mercedes-powered car, the FW37, at the Barcelona test in mid-February.

The 32-year-old Scot, née Stoddard, drove during Friday practice at the British and German Grands Prix in 2014.

“With 6 weeks until my first test in the @WilliamsRacing #FW37 its full focus on fitness & preparation,” Susie Wolff tweeted from her official account.

Susie Wolff is expected to take the wheel of the FW37 during the second winter test.

The first test will take place at Jerez from February 1, with the two other Barcelona tests to be held February 19-22, and Feb. 26-March 1st.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas remain the team's race drivers for this year.

Susie Wolff aboard the Williams FW36. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Delaying a start-of-season engine 'freeze' may be nowhere near enough for Mercedes' rivals to catch up in 2015.

Although the rule 'loophole' championed by Ferrari and Renault will now allow them to develop their turbo V6 engines beyond February 28, it will also apply to Mercedes, F1's dominant champions of 2014.

"We're not going to give up. But given the size of our deficit, as well as the fact that Mercedes are going to develop as well, significantly reducing the gap in 2015 is going to be difficult," Christian Horner, boss of the Renault works team Red Bull, is quoted by Russia's f1news.ru.

"If you believe the rumours," Horner added, "there is a risk that not only will the gap not be reduced, but it could even get bigger."

Indeed, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that Mercedes' engine division at Brixworth has uncovered a further 50 horse power boost for 2015 over and above the German marque's dominant 'power unit' of last season.

Mercedes V6 turbo hybrid engine. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

We were extremely sorry to hear of the passing of former Formula 1 driver, Frenchman Jean Pierre Beltoise.

The winner of the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix sadly died when on holiday near Dakar, Senegal.

His brother-in-law was another famous former F1 driver, François Cevert.

Beltoise began his racing career on two wheel, racing motorcycles.

He then switched to sports car and endurance racing. His career almost ended with a huge crash in the 12 Hours of Reims sports car race, in which he lost the usage of his left arm, which was permanently blocked at a 90-degree angle.

Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Matra MS11, Grand Prix de France 1968 at Rouen (Photo: WRI2)

Despite his handicap, Beltoise contested 86 Grands Prix between 1966 and 1974, winning on the streets of Monaco for BRM under heavy rain in 1972.

In 1975, he was involved in a controversy when Guy Ligier choose Jacques Laffite and not him to drive his new Formula 1 car.

His racing career over, Beltoise became heavily involved in promoting road safety.

He leaved his wife Jacqueline and his two sons, Anthony and Julien, and friend in deep sorrow.

Business journalist Christian Sylt revealed in an article published by Forbes that Marussia Formula 1 team lost quite a bit of money in a failed attempt to participate in the final race of 2014 in Abu Dhabi.

Sylt based his article on recently released company financial documents.

Late last year, Marussia F1 Team - operated by Manor Grand Prix Racing (MGPR) - ceased trading and missed the United States and Brazilian Grands Prix.

The small team however intended to compete in the final race of the season in hopes to race in 2015.

The team, cars and equipment were reportedly on their way to the UK airport for the flight to Abu Dhabi when it was forced to turn back.

Official documents from Marussia's administrators FRP Advisory, dated December 18th, reveal that, in fact, the brakes were put on the team's revival when a key investor withdrew support.

“On Tuesday 18 November 2014, I received a commitment by a prospective investor to inject sufficient cash into MGPR to enable the team to race in Abu Dhabi,” says Geoff Rowley, one of the joint administrators at FRP.

“To enable this to happen, the race team had to be reformed and arrangements made to travel to the race. A significant amount of work was carried out over a 24-hour period by both MGPR's staff and the joint administrators. However, ultimately the prospective investors were not able to provide sufficient funds. The prospective investor agreed to pay the costs of the staff (and ancillary costs) in this period, although at the date of this report, these total £29,443 [$45,129] and remain unpaid.”

Last week British newspaper the Daily Telegraph revealed that Marussia owes $48.1 million to more than 200 unsecured trade creditors.

Reigning Dakar winner Nani Roma's start to the 2015 race turned into a disaster.

His MINI broke down just ten kilometres into the opening competitive section and had to wait for his assistance truck to arrive and make repairs. His car broke down yet again further along the stage, having to be towed home by his support team.

In all, Roma lost some 7 hours and 25 minutes to the leaders and sits a distant last at the bottom of the leaderboard, ending his hopes for a third Dakar crown.

Nani Roma's MINI at the first stage. (Photo: Dakar.com)

Meanwhile, his teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah and Orlando Terranova cruised to a one-two finish over a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

However, Al-Attiyah was given a two-minute penalty to speeding.

That handed the event lead to Terranova, with American driver Robby Gordon elevated to second overall and South Africa's Giniel de Villiers third in his Toyota, while under a minute separated the first five cars.

Peugeot managed a pair of top ten stage finishes, former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz the best of their fleet of 2008 DKR buggies with eighth place.

RESULTS - Stage 1, 2015 Dakar Rally
1. Orlando Terranova (ARG)  MINI  1h13m12s
2. Robby Gordon (USA)  Gordini  +42s
3. Giniel De Villiers (RSA)  Toyota  +50s
4. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)  MINI  +54s
5. Emiliano Spataro (AUG)  Renault  +56s

From GMM

Carlos Sainz insists his famous name alone did not power his 20-year-old son all the way to formula one.

Carlos Sainz jr, the new reigning Formula Renault 3.5 champion, will make his debut for Toro Rosso in 2015, having emerged as the cream of Red Bull's famous driver development programme.

Nonetheless, a famous surname was also a help, Sainz's father and namesake, the Spanish rallying legend, admitted to the sports daily Marca.

"There have been times when the surname has benefited him," he admitted ahead of the famous Dakar rally, in which Sainz snr will race a Red Bull-sponsored Peugeot.

"But at the end, you don't get to formula one because of a surname, even less on a team such as the Red Bull junior team."

Carlos Sainz Sr aboard the Peugeot 2008 DKR. (Photo: RedBull.com)

Carlos Sainz, 52, said his son comes to F1 at a "very young" age, but nonetheless "prepared and having won one of the preceding championships to formula one with very good results".

"I sincerely believe that he arrives ready to do a good job," he insisted. "He has an exceptional talent, more than people think, and I hope he can prove it."

Sainz said he will be merely a "spectator" of F1 in 2015, admitting he cannot given his son much advice because "he knows more than I do!"

Carlos Sainz Jr, Red Bull RB10-Renault, in Abu Dhabi. (Photo: WRi2)

Williams Formula 1 team announced Monday an updated Race Operations structure to further bolster the engineering department ahead of the 2015 FIA F1 season.

Andrew Murdoch, previously Race Engineer to Felipe Massa, has been promoted to Senior Performance Engineer.

Murdoch will lead the Performance Group at the factory, developing new techniques and processes within the engineering team to ensure continual performance improvements are brought to both cars throughout the season. He will also remain part of the trackside team with a focus on Valtteri Bottas' car on event.

Photo: Williams Martini Racing

The team is further strengthened by the appointment of Dave Robson, who has joined to take on the role of Race Engineer to Massa and will work under Head of Vehicle Performance Rob Smedley. Robson joins from McLaren, where he had been working with Jenson Button since 2010, most recently as his Race Engineer. Jonathan Eddolls continues as Race Engineer to Bottas.

As part of this process, veteran Carl Gaden has been promoted to Senior Car Systems Engineer.

Gaden joined Williams in 1988 and has spent the last 22 years as Chief Mechanic on the Race Team. With his vast hands-on experience working across the cars, he will now increase the capabilities of the team within this area focusing on ensuring systems continue to be reliable.

Mark Pattinson, previously Number 1 Mechanic to Massa, will step up to take on the role of Chief Mechanic.