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So far, four world premieres have taken place at the 31st Thailand International Motor Expo.

The media preview day of the 31st Thailand International Motor Expo was on 28 November 2014. Here follows a list of vehicle world premieres.

A cottage industry of vendors has sprung up to help dealers manage the often bewildering world of online reviews. The vendors are adept at intercepting some bad reviews before they are posted.

If North American light vehicle output keeps rising next year, some suppliers warn that spot shortages could develop.

GM and an Iowa Chevrolet dealership have settled a lawsuit that accused the dealership of engaging in "widespread fraudulent and unlawful conduct" to report "sham" new-vehicle sales to the automaker.

Near-field communication, the wireless technology that allows users of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 6 to make payments by tapping the smartphone on a reader at a checkout counter, is coming to the car.

The Sauber F1 Team Saturday announced in the paddock of the Circuit of the Americas that Marcus Ericsson as one of its race drivers for 2015.

After his Formula 1 debut with the Caterham F1 Team this year, the Swede will head into his second season.

“We are pleased to announce this cooperation. We have got to know Marcus as a highly motivated driver,” said Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal.

“He did not have an easy rookie season this year in F1, however, he kept calm and improved continuously, mainly in the last races. We are convinced that signing Marcus can give the team a fresh impetus.”

Marcus Ericsson (Photo: WRI2)

“Fresh from a very turbulent week, I was suddenly given my best early Christmas present ever,” Ericsson declared.

“The Sauber F1 Team has put its trust in me for 2015, and it makes me proud, as Sauber is known to be one of the best teams in developing young drivers. It will be a great challenge. I will give my very best to develop both as a driver, and to be part of the challenge to put the Sauber F1 Team back closer to the front where it belongs.”

The Swiss team indicated that the second driver for the 2015 season would be announced at a later date.

Several penalties were imposed after the qualifying session of the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas.

So here is the official starting grid for Sunday's race:

Row 1
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W05) - 1'36"067 - Q3
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W05) - 1'36"443 - Q3

Row 2
Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'36"906 - Q3
Felipe Massa (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'37"205 - Q3

Row 3
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'37"244 - Q3
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F14 T) - 1'37"610 - Q3

Row 4
Kevin Magnussen (McLaren MP4-29-Mercedes) - 1'37"706 - Q3
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F14 T) - 1'37"804 - Q3

Row 5
Adrian Sutil (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1'38"810 - Q3
Pastor Maldonado (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1'38"467 - Q2

Jenson Button, McLaren MP4-29 (Photo: WRI2)

Row 6
Sergio Perez (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'38"554 - Q2
Jenson Button (McLaren MP4-29-Mercedes) - 1'37"655 - Q3 *

Row 7
Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'38"598 - Q2
Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'39"250 - Q1

Row 8
Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1'39"555 - Q1
Romain Grosjean (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1'39"679 - Q1

Row 9
Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'38"699 - Q2 *

Start from the pit lane
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'39"621 - Q1 *

*Button penalized for a new gearbox, Kvyat penalized for change of power unit. Vettel has used all five of his power units allocated.

From press release

Kyle Busch completed the second leg of a possible sweep, Saturday by winning the Nationwide race of the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

In winning his seventh NNS race of the season, his seventh in 18 starts at Texas, the 70th of his career and the 100th Nationwide event for Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch led 116 of 200 laps in completing the second leg of a possible weekend sweep at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Photo: Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images

Busch beat polesitter Joey Logano to the finish line by 1.561 seconds in the 300-mile event. Logano could keep up with Busch in the short runs but began to lose ground as each fuel run progressed.

On Friday night, Busch also took the checkered flag in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and on Sunday he'll try to record the second weekend trifecta of his career in the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the second event in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

From GMM

Fernando Alonso's future continues to be clouded in mystery.

What does seem certain is that his five-year relationship with Ferrari is set to end, with the only thing blocking his official departure and the arrival of Sebastian Vettel being a Mexican standoff-style contractual impasse.

It is believed Ferrari and Alonso are both waiting for the other to publicly declare it's over and therefore breach contract -- either costing or saving the Italian team up to an incredible $50 million payout due to the Spaniard.

It is an odd situation, given that Luca di Montezemolo's parting shot as president was to declare that the Alonso-Ferrari marriage is definitely over.

"Yes Luca said something," Alonso is quoted by Germany's Focus, "but I have been every day on the Ferrari website and nothing has been written."

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F14 T (Photo: WRI2)

The paddock perception is that Ferrari's supposed signing of German Vettel caught Alonso by surprise, leaving him to choose between a move to McLaren-Honda or a sabbatical.

But Lotus might be the ideal stepping stone for a works Mercedes deal for the 33-year-old, and even the Enstone team's owner Gerard Lopez is not ruling it out.

"It would not surprise me," the Luxembourger told France's Canal Plus, "if Alonso should someday return to the cockpit of a formula one car from Enstone."

McLaren, on the other hand, is saying nothing, much to the frustration of the British team's current drivers, Kevin Magnussen and the 2009 world champion Jenson Button.

Asked how many drivers Woking is considering for 2015, team boss Eric Boullier laughed to Finland's MTV3 broadcaster: "Hundreds.

"In all honesty, four or five," he added.

Scuderia Toro Rosso's boss Franz Tost admitted that Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne might stay with the Italian team next season.

When teenager Max Verstappen was signed for Toro Rosso two months ago, everyone expected that Vergne would be dropped.

A few weeks later, Sebastian Vettel decided to leave Red Bull Racing at the end of the year. Red Bull therefore decided to promote current Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat to their main team.

Speaking to the press Thursday, Verstappen said he would like to work alongside an experienced teammate next year, such as Vergne.

“The situation is still open,” confirmed Tost to the official Formula1.com website.

“I think the drivers that are shortlisted for Toro Rosso are: Jean-Eric, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn. All four are Red Bull drivers and it will definitely be a Red Bull driver.

“I am still convinced that Jean-Eric can do a very good job in F1 if he gets a competitive car. He has shown this a couple of times and I personally would like to continue with him - but we have to wait to see what Red Bull decides," Tost said.

Lewis Hamilton spent the first 24 laps of the US Formula 1 Grand Prix running behind his teammate Nico Rosberg and then passed him to score his 9th win of the season, extending his lead in the championship.

Rosberg started the race from pole position and led the pack. A first-lap collision eliminated Sergio Perez (Force India) and Adrian Sutil (Sauber) while Kimi Raikkonen received a big bang at the rear of his Ferrari, ruining his race.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

Mercedes' teammates pitted for tires on lap 15 and 16. However, Hamilton asked for a small front wing change, and that fixed the balance of his W05.

On lap 24, the Briton passed the leader and controlled the race from that moment on.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

Rosberg finished second, having lost a bit of time to Hamilton on the last lap when he got caught in slower traffic.

Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo finished on the final step of the podium, despite a poor start.

Williams-Mercedes teammates Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas arrived home fourth and fifth after a quiet race, but both were passed by the flying Ricciardo in the middle part of the race.

Kevin Magnussen, McLaren (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

Fernando Alonso finished sixth in his Ferrari after a fantastic battle with several drivers, including Jenson Button of McLaren.

Sebastian Vettel started the race from the pit lane. His early pace was disappointing but he passed several rivals in the closing laps of the race, thanks to a set of soft tires. He finished the race in 7th position.

Romain Grosjean and Jenson Button after the race. (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

Kevin Magnussen (McLaren), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) rounded out the top 10.

Drivers' championship:
1 Lewis Hamilton, 316 points
2 Nico Rosberg, 292
3 Daniel Ricciardo, 214
4 Valtteri Bottas, 155
5 Sebastian Vettel, 149

From press release

Antoine L'Estage and Alan Ockwell of the Yokohama Canada Rally Team won the Rocky Mountain Rally, a two-day competition on the sinuous roads of eastern British Columbia. The two day event forced competitors to race in varied conditions including wet and slippery roads on the final day of action.

“It was a tough day today,” said L'Estage, who struggled with a flat tire and power steering problems throughout the second day of the rally. “We only had one good stage today. I tried to push as hard as I could to compensate for the problems and it paid off with another victory.”

L'Estage clinched the 2014 driver's championship at the Pacific Forest Rally in October. Ockwell needs just two more points to clinch the co-driver title, having joined L'Estage part way through the season.

Antoine L'Estage, Alan Ockwell (Photo: Andrew Snucins)

Martin Rowe and Nathalie Richard have been working hard to increase the pace of the new 2015 Subaru WRX STI rally car. The Rocky Mountain Rally marks the car's third event and Subaru Rally Team Canada have shown considerable improvement.

The team won three of the stages on the second day and closed the gap to L'Estage and Ockwell.

“We're in a good place and the car has been 100% reliable,” said Rowe. “There are still improvements to be made, but we can focus more on driving the car faster with fewer changes to the setup. The car is really starting to show its potential.”

Following a frustrating start on Friday, Hardy Schmidtkeand John Hall were able to fend off challengers to take the final spot on the podium. The team arrived at the first stage of the rally already suffering from a mysterious oil leak. The car was eventually repaired allowing the team to return to a faster pace.

Rocky Mountain Rally Final Results
1. Antoine L'Estage - Alan Ockwell - one hour, 44 minutes, 57.1 seconds
2. Martin Rowe - Nathalie Richard - 1:45:58.8
3. Hardy Schmidtke - John Hall - 1:55:36.0
4. Alex Kozlov - Martin Matas - 1:58:29.0
5. Boris Djordjevic - Chris Kremer - 2:02:51.3
6. Josh Shewchuk - Keith Morison - 2:08:12.4
7. Nicholas Spencer - John Kesslar - 2:09:30.2
8. Mattiew Perron - Robin Chapelski - 2:10:33:3
9. Graham Bruce - Martin Burnley - 2:13:38.8
10. John Munroe - Spencer Armstrong - 2:16:27.1

From GMM

The smell of crisis is in the air in Austin, as Bernie Ecclestone scrabbles to end a boycott threat and put failing teams back on track.

With Caterham and Marussia absent from the US grand prix garages, the next set of struggling privateers - Lotus, Force India and Sauber - have reportedly threatened to also sit out Sunday's race in protest of the sport's income distribution model.

"I think we're going to race," Frenchman Romain Grosjean, racing for Lotus, said on Saturday. "I'm sure we're going to race."

But Bob Fernley, the increasingly furious deputy principal at Force India, has a different view. "Nothing is off the table at this point," he insisted.

"Everything and anything is possible."

Many observers believe the boycott threat is an empty one, including F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who told reporters it was "crap".

"I promise they will be racing. I give you a guarantee," he said. "But I worry if they will be racing next year."

Indeed, in a incredibly rare show of mea culpa for the 84-year-old Briton, he admitted his income distribution tables - giving the most to the rich and the least to the poor - may in fact be the cause of the current problem.

"The problem is there is too much money being distributed badly - probably my fault - but, like lots of agreements people make, they seemed a good idea at the time," he said.

Bernie Ecclestone (Photo: WRI2)

Ecclestone said there is no easy way to undo the situation now.

"If one team is given 10,000, everyone has to have 10,000," he revealed.

He said his ideal solution would be to get some of the bigger teams to agree to give up some of their bonus income to give to the "three or four teams we know are in trouble".

"Then I would put in the same amount of money," said Ecclestone. "But there would not be one (big) team that would think it was a bloody good idea."

He said he will therefore have to go over the heads of team employees like Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci and Mercedes' Niki Lauda, and speak directly to the carmaker parents.

"I think it's probably what will have to happen," said Ecclestone, but he suddenly ruled out the idea that three-car teams is the best solution.

"I'm not happy," he concluded. "We'll have to do something about it."

From press release

Toyota Racing took its second consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship 1-2 finish at Shanghai today with the #8 Toyota TS 040 Hybrid heading home the #7 car, to further extend its championship lead.

Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi finished the race 1m12s ahead of their stable mates Alex Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima after another dominant display by the Japanese manufacturer.

Completing the podium today was the pole sitting #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Neel Jani.

In the LMP1-L class the #12 Rebellion Racing entry of Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche took a fifth victory of the 2014 season.

G-Drive Racing scored a conclusive victory in LMP2 with Olivier Pla, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal further reducing the point deficit to Sergey Zlobin, who finished third in the #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan along with team mates Nicolas Minassian and Maurizio Mediani.

In LMGTE Pro it was the Porsche Team Manthey squad celebrating a 1-2 finish, with the #92 crew of Frederic Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet heading their #91 team mates Jorg Bergmeister and Richar Lietz.

LMGTE Am also saw a 1-2, with Aston Martin Racing enjoying a formation finish. The #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 took the victory ahead of the championship leading #95 car.

From GMM

Sauber looks set to field an all-new driver lineup next year, after confirming Caterham refugee Marcus Ericsson is joining the Swiss team in 2015.

Supposedly caught up in the boycott threat ahead of Sunday's US grand prix, Sauber has already admitted that either Adrian Sutil or Esteban Gutierrez will definitely be leaving at the end of the year.

It is rumoured Swede Ericsson, in Austin this weekend despite the absence of his current team Caterham, was announced by Sauber for 2015 only after his sponsors made a pre-payment.

Reports have estimated his personal backing at as much as $20 million.

"It is unfortunately the case that we must see the drivers as a source of income," team boss Monisha Kaltenborn is quoted by Germany's Sport Bild. "A lot of the teams are in the same position."

Giedo van der Garde, Sauber C33 (Photo: WRI2)

It is rumoured both German Sutil and Mexican Gutierrez, despite the latter's close links to billionaire Carlos Slim, will be ousted following next month's Abu Dhabi finale.

That is despite Sutil having a signed 2015 contract.

"That should not be a problem for Sauber," predicted former F1 driver and pundit for German television Sky, Marc Surer. "Sauber can easily pay him off."

Sutil's manager Manfred Zimmermann, however, insisted: "For us, nothing has changed."

But respected media sources including the specialist Auto Motor und Sport and Switzerland's Blick claim Dutchman Giedo van der Garde, who like Ericsson is heavily sponsored, will be the second Sauber race driver next season.

"There is a lot of speculation," Sutil said, referring to rumours Sauber will have no option but to run pay-drivers in 2015.

"Of course the situation in the team is not easy, but I hope they will be in a better way soon."

Takata, adding to questions about the scope of defects in its products, made another 30,687 inflators with an incorrect part that can lead to damaging airbag ruptures in newer vehicles, U.S. regulators disclosed Saturday.

News 3 Nov, 2014

Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai crossover reaches British production milestone faster than Mini or Ford Fiesta

VW Group was told by China's quality watchdog to submit supporting documents after the carmaker's handling of a recall triggered consumer protests.

A safety flaw in Takata airbags prompted a new automobile recall even as U.S. regulators questioned whether the company is moving quickly enough to produce replacement parts to repair previously recalled cars.