Auto News 5

Spain is continuing its subsidy scheme for new car buyers until the end of the year, the seventh time Madrid has extended the scrappage programme which has so far cost more than EUR1bn.

Takata, the Japanese airbag supplier at the center of a safety crisis, widened its annual loss forecast, will skip a dividend payout and warned it can't estimate the full financial liability as regulators urge automakers to speed up recalls.

BMW and Toyota are moving closer to putting jointly developed sports cars on the road.

Mercedes is the worst offender in manipulating European fuel-efficiency tests, a move that costs the average car owner thousands of euros over the lifetime of a vehicle, green lobby group TandE said in a report.

Chrysler Group boosted net income 32% year on year in the third quarter of 2014 to US$611m. Revenue was up 18% to $20.7bn.

News 6 Nov, 2014

Land Rover has teamed up with British gunmaker Holland & Holland to create its most luxurious model ever. It could be yours for £180k.

Fiat's Turkish joint venture, Tofas, will invest $1 billion to produce a family of compact cars to replace the Bravo in Europe. The family will include a hatchback, sedan and station wagon.

Nissan's upmarket Infiniti brand began production of a long-wheelbase version of the Q50 on Thursday (6 November) at the company's Xiangyang plant in Hubei Province.

Russia's top carmaker AvtoVAZ said sales of its best-selling Lada brand increased by 5 percent in October, the first rise in 19 months and a possible sign that a turnaround plan from the carmaker's new CEO, Bo Andersson, could be having an effect.

AvtoVAZ said Russian sales of its Lada brand increased in October, the first rise in 19 months, as a scrappage program to counter Western sanctions over Ukraine helps to boost demand.

News 6 Nov, 2014

Oil suppliers to be told by Treasury to pass on savings to drivers at the pumps

Google's head of automotive says society is still at "dawn" in terms of the pace of technological change.

The UK car market has posted another strong month in October with sales up 14.2% to 179,714 units

Ford began production of its Escort compact saloon car at a new plant in China this week, in the south-western city of Chongqing.

Lotus's new CEO Jean-Marc Gales has launched a cost-cutting plan at the money-losing automaker that will include axing over a quarter of employees. The former No. 2 at PSA says his next task is to add more dealers.

Proposed changes to how fuel economy and emissions are measured could mean the end of useful-but-ugly sideview mirrors and other design changes on cars.

From GMM

McLaren has warned Fernando Alonso he is running out of time to commit to the British team for the 2015 season.

Media reports in the last days have suggested the Spaniard, whose five-year stint at Ferrari appears definitely over, has now decided to re-join McLaren to spearhead the team's new works Honda era.

Italy's Tuttosport said the contract is for two years with a total value of EUR 70 million.

On a visit this week to Mexico City's rejuvenating F1 venue for 2015, however, Alonso denied the reports.

"There is nothing new," he insisted. "I have decided nothing for next year -- nothing is definite yet.

"With Ferrari I am seeing what is the best decision for next year, whether I continue or not, but I will try to choose what is best for my future.

"I have something in my head, but every week for the past two months there have been these rumours, always with a different team.

"I respect Ferrari greatly," Alonso said. "It is a team that I love. For Ferrari it has been a difficult year, and for me it has been five difficult years."

On the face of it, it seems Alonso's only choice is McLaren or a sabbatical, leaving Jenson Button increasingly nervous about the likely end of his F1 career.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari. (Photo: WRi2)

In his latest interview with Hermes, former McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen agrees: "Jenson's behaviour lately reflects a certain loss of confidence. I think when you are striving for success in the long-term, your behaviour looks different."

McLaren acknowledges that it has put Button and Kevin Magnussen in an awkward position as the Alonso talks drag on.

Team boss Eric Boullier may now be losing patience.

"We want to have Fernando's decision between Brazil and Abu Dhabi," the Frenchman is quoted as declaring clearly to the German newspaper Bild.

"We have had good conversations with him, he would fit well with us and he has signalled that he wants the job. However, we want a long-term solution - three years - not just a contract for one."

Honda is making no secret that it wants a driver of Alonso's top calibre for 2015. The BBC has reported Alonso is on the verge of agreeing a two-year contract plus a further option for 2017.

"We cannot comment on the drivers as it is a subject for McLaren and Honda," said the Japanese marque's F1 chief Yasuhisa Arai, according to Spain's Marca.

"But Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton are very strong drivers and all the teams want them. Any one of them has a chance of being in the team in 2015," Arai added.

The big favourite is clearly Fernando Alonso.

"There are simply moments in your career when you know that you have to change teams," McLaren legend Emerson Fittipaldi said. "Fernando has arrived at such a moment."

From GMM

Lewis Hamilton has produced championship-winning performance alongside former title favourite Nico Rosberg in the latter stages of 2014.

That is the claim of former F1 stars turned pundits including the outspoken 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who said Mercedes' British driver deserves his title 'check mate' following five straight wins.

In contrast, Hamilton's teammate Rosberg, once the runaway leader in 2014, has fallen 24 points off the pace with just Brazil and then the 'double points' finale in Abu Dhabi still to go.

"In the crucial moments, Hamilton has just been more aggressive. And that's the only way you win a world championship," French Canadian Villeneuve told the German magazine Sport Bild.

Indeed, in the wake of his latest triumph in Austin, an increasingly bullish and relaxed Hamilton said he found a new gear after Spa in August, when he and Rosberg famously collided.

"Spa was like 'I'm going to turn this up. This means war!', that kind of feeling," Hamilton said.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG. (Photo: WRi2)

Another pundit, David Coulthard, agrees with his contemporary Villeneuve that Rosberg might be missing the final piece of the title-winning puzzle.

"I am almost embarrassed to criticise Nico," said the former McLaren and Red Bull driver, "because he is 95 per cent the perfect driver.

"He is much better than I ever was technically, and he has the speed too," Coulthard declared. "But what he has not yet proven is that he has the necessary hardness in combat. He needs to change that urgently in the last races of the season -- not only because of the championship, but because of his reputation."

Caterham Formula 1 team administrators expect the small squadron to be in a position to compete in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after missing races in Austin and Sao Paolo, they said on Wednesday.

"We are now extremely hopeful that we will be going to Abu Dhabi," Finbarr O'Connell told news agency Reuters.

"I think I've got enough confidence now to say I'd be very surprised if we were not racing in Abu Dhabi," he added in a telephone conversation.

"I'm now really hopeful for the future of the team."

Both teams in administration, Caterham and Manor Grand Prix (a.k.a. Marussia), appear on the 2015 F1 entry list published yesterday by the FIA.

Finbarr O'Connell said the entry had been lodged without a fee being paid, with plenty of time before a November 30th deadline.

"We're trying to sell a racing team and clearly a new owner will want to be racing next season," O'Connell explained.

O'Connell hasn't said a word about the potential Caterham drivers for Abu Dhabi.

From GMM

Caterham is preparing to return to formula one for F1's 2014 finale in Abu Dhabi next month.

As it was put into administration following founder Tony Fernandes' ill-fated sale to Colin Kolles-managed investors, the team as well as backmarker Marussia sat out Austin and will again be absent in rainy Brazil this weekend.

But it then emerged on Wednesday that Caterham's administrators, led by Finbarr O'Connell, have lodged an official team entry for the 2015 season.

Marussia, now renamed to the operating company Manor, is also on the provisional FIA entry list.

But reports that Caterham and Marussia have paid the $500,000 entry fee already are wide of the mark. That fee is not due until late in November.

O'Connell, however, who now runs Caterham, said it was imperative to lodge a 2015 entry so that the team is saleable.

"It's absolutely essential," he said. "We're hoping the new owner will then pick up things like the fees and finalising the 2015 design."

It would also make Caterham's life much easier if it could appear and race in Abu Dhabi, as Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA only agreed a two-race dispensation for the backmarker teams to sort their financial problems.

O'Connell said: "I think I've got enough confidence now to say I'd be very surprised if we were not racing in Abu Dhabi."

Photo: Caterham F1 Team

A headline at Brazil's Globo Esporte suggested Rubens Barrichello could make a "surprise return" to F1 as Caterham looks to get back up and running.

"There are a number of parties involved," said O'Connell, "but because the financial commitments are so huge it is difficult for people to commit. But we are making arrangements to go to there (Abu Dhabi) as we speak."

Marussia, now Manor, has been much quieter following its slump into administration, but boss Graeme Lowdon was in Austin last weekend for meetings.

In Austin, of course, the next three endangered privateer teams Lotus, Sauber and Sahara Force India threatened to boycott the race if the sport's owners CVC do not release more revenue.

It is reported those teams, plus Caterham and Marussia, could share a $160 million bonanza if Lotus owner Gerard Lopez's direct negotiations with CVC chairman Donald Mackenzie are successful in the coming hours.

"Talks are progressing well," the Guardian quoted Lopez as saying, "but I don't expect any news before Friday."

According to departed boss Cyril Abiteboul, however, life at the back of the grid for a team of Caterham's scale is not viable.

The Frenchman, having returned to Renault, told Auto Hebdo: "In their (Caterham's) situation to be in formula one, it was simply impossible.

"You only have to analyse their situation and the economic model of F1 to realise that the adventure was doomed to failure," said Cyril Abiteboul.