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From GMM

All eyes are on Ferrari and Fernando Alonso in the wake of Sebastian Vettel's shock news on Saturday.

Although some think Spaniard Alonso's exit at Ferrari and move to McLaren-Honda is now obvious, others are not so convinced.

Spain's El Mundo Deportivo thinks a sabbatical for the 33-year-old is even a possibility, as his plans to set up a professional cycling team take shape.

"It is an option that he takes a break for a year," agreed former team owner and serial F1 prognosticator Eddie Jordan.

"I don't think Fernando is going to go to McLaren to struggle and build a team up. He will take a year off," he told German broadcaster Sky.

Alonso is definitely not going to Red Bull to replace Red Bull, and Christian Horner said on Saturday that the energy drink-owned camp had never even considered Alonso.

"In all honesty, no," Horner told Britain's Sky at Suzuka.

Ferrari has confirmed in Japan that it is not currently planning to make a driver announcement this weekend.

Fernando Alonso is still in red. For now. (Photo: WRI2)

But McLaren and Honda are obviously "considering" putting Alonso in a Woking-built car for 2015, reportedly after he and Ron Dennis recently sat down and put their horrendous 2007 collaboration in the past.

It is even rumoured Alonso arrived in Tokyo on Monday, where the Honda Motor Co is headquartered.

Asked about that, Alonso laughed and denied he had visited Honda.

But Honda is obviously keen on having F1's best driver in a McLaren next year.

When asked if the carmaker and McLaren have already signed Alonso, Honda chief Yasuhisa Arai turned to his McLaren colleague Jonathan Neale on Friday and said: "Should I answer?

"Not only McLaren-Honda but also the other teams want to keep the good (best) driver," he said.

Eric Boullier, McLaren boss, is now admitting Alonso is actively under consideration.

"We are still trying," he told Spain's AS daily, "and we will take our time not to make any mistakes.

"We have a good chance and we don't want to lose it," Boullier added.

"We will take our time but the decision will anyway be soon -- in a couple of weeks."

The UAW formed a new local for hourly workers at Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama and confirmed it will work with two German labor groups to organize the plant.

With the new pint-sized Fiat 500X, CEO Sergio Marchionne wants to show his vision for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is ready for the street.

Detroit can benefit from a trip through bankruptcy, just as GM used court protection to turn itself around, Roger Penske on Friday told the judge weighing whether to approve the city's $7 billion debt-cutting proposal.

Volvo will use the XC90 to relaunch itself in the US market where sales have declined for 11 years to slip to 58,000 from a peak of more than 140,000 in 2005, said Alain Visser, the Geely-owned automaker's senior vice president, marketing, sales and customer service.

General Motors has recalled 89,294 2013-2015 model year Chevrolet Spark cars in the US to fix a bonnet (hood) catch fault first identified in the UK.

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Porsche has launched a Carrera GTS version of its latest 911, offering more power and handling upgrades.

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Bentley is moving into the fast lane of ultra-luxury cars with a new version of its flagship saloon, aiming to grab a bigger slice of a market expected to double in size by 2018.

Volvo said on Friday its vehicle sales rose 9 percent year-on-year in September on the back of growth in all its main markets. It was the group's 15th consecutive month of growth.

Toyota plans a controlled rollout of its fuel cell car in Europe next summer as the automaker aims to replicate the first-mover success of its Prius hybrid and stir interest in the new technology.

The Paris show, of course, was the big event this week and just-auto was there in force.

Maserati expects to up global sales to 35,000 this year from 15,400 in 2013, putting the sports car maker on course to meet a goal of selling 50,000 units in 2015, the brand's CEO, Harold Wester, said at the Paris auto show.

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Toyota product chief defends decision not to pursue plug-in hybrids, but hints more hydrogen fuel cell cars are in the pipeline

The Volkswagen Group didn't dominate the world premieres list, a 1970s DS21 devoid of Citroen badges was exhibited, Jaguar's XE drew only modest praise, and Volvo went properly premium - just some of the many highlights from the 2014 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile.

The Volkswagen Group didn't dominate the world premieres list, a 1970s DS21 devoid of Citroen badges was exhibited, Jaguar's XE drew only modest praise, and Volvo went properly premium - just some of the many highlights from the 2014 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile.

General Motors is recalling 117,651 cars and trucks in North America because of a potential manufacturing defect in their chassis-control systems.

Back in the 2000s, Ford do Brasil's EcoSport was one of the first to ride the B-SUV boom in South America. Now, the second generation model has arrived in Europe.