Auto News 5

International Automotive Components (IAC) has opened its Asian headquarters in Shanghai.

General Motors has announced four more recalls, taking the total to 34 this year, including the high-profile ignition switch replacement programme currently under way.

TRW says it is maintaining its affordable safety approach to vehicle systems as it looks to capitalise on its market position in the field.

At the cornerstone laying ceremony for its new Brazilian engine plant, Toyota said it plans to have 19 suppliers close to the Porto Feliz site, 76 miles west of the city of São Paulo. The town is close to Sorocaba where the Etios hatchback and saloon are produced.

-- Potential trouble for the kei car, Japan's famous 660cc tiny-wheeled wonders of mirth and merriment. It's hard building for just one market, and kei cars are limited to the Japanese market and the occasional campus of a state university.

German parts supplier Brose has agreed to let a 75,000 sq ft industrial unit in Coventry from property investment company Palace Capital as it expands its operations.

News 9 Jun, 2014

CEO Elon Musk predicts that Britain will be a key market and R&D hub for Tesla, despite concerns over electric car infrastructure

Blake Helfman could tell that May was going to be a killer month for Jeep at his Houston dealership when customers started putting their names on SUVs that were still on the delivery truck on his lot.

General Motors employees who showed up at a town hall meeting last week expecting to hear CEO Mary Barra talk about moving on from the company's embarrassing safety crisis were thrown a curveball.

So what's the story behind last month's unexpectedly strong sales results? Forget the fifth weekend in May, crossovers are what did the trick.

General Motors' investigation into its mishandling of a fatal defect spreads blame among dozens of employees at various levels, but it bluntly says the problem began -- and remained unfixed for years -- largely because of "a single engineer."

Lenders are boosting auto sales and commanding higher transaction prices by extending loan terms. Is the industry flirting with another 2008, or is the risk limited?

Elon Musk says he wanted to name Tesla's planned third model, a compact, battery-powered sedan, the Model E.

New UAW President Dennis Williams said he planned to attack the wide compensation disparity between veteran auto workers and new hires during next year's contract negotiations with the Detroit 3.

BMW has begun rolling out the i8 plug-in hybrid supercar as Tesla shakes up the market for luxury cars with alternative powertrains.

American consumers appear to have become inured to the fuel price spikes and sales of the Toyota Prius and other hybrids may be flattening.

Yves Bonnefont became the first CEO of PSA's upscale DS brand on June 1. The group's former director of strategy is now tasked with elevating DS from a tiny-but-successful division of Citroen to a global powerhouse.

From GMM

Formula 1 will scrap plans to return to Bahrain for pre-season testing next winter.

To guarantee good weather for all-important running of the radically new cars and engines, this year the teams headed to Bahrain's Sakhir track for eight days of running ahead of the season opener in Australia.

But with cost cutting now such a high priority, the sport will not be returning to the island Kingdom ahead of the 2015 season, Speed Week claims.

Pirelli chief Paul Hembery backed the move.

"Bahrain is much further away from everything than Spain is," he said, "so testing there is more expensive.

"Logistically, Bahrain is a nightmare," Hembery added. "If you have a problem, it takes a lot more time to fly out new parts. Six hours flights, not two."

Speed Week correspondent Mathias Brunner said team bosses agreed in Canada at the weekend that three pre-season tests will take place next winter -- all of them in Spain.

The precise dates have not yet been decided, but it is believed the winter testing will begin at Jerez and end with two sessions in Barcelona.

It is also reported that, also for cost reasons, F1 could once again axe in-season testing, despite the fact the concept of post-race tests at some key grand prix circuits was only introduced this year.

Brunner said: "It (the in-season test ban) is not yet set in stone. There are team bosses who want at least two tests during the season."

Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa had a huge accident in the last moments of the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday.

Shortly after the race, stewards blamed Perez for the accident, judging that the Mexican had changed his racing line going into the Senna corner.

Monday, Perez, who drives for Sahara Force India, said he'd left his Williams rival enough room to overtake.

“It was very disappointing to lose such a strong result through no fault of our own,” Perez declared.

“I was following the same line and braking patterns as in the previous laps and I just got hit from behind by Massa. There was plenty of space on the left of my car to attempt a clean overtake and I cannot understand why he had to scrape by.

“I watched several replays of the incident and I can't help but notice how Felipe turns right just before he hits me. I can only think he must have changed his mind and wanted to rejoin the racing line, his misjudgement cost us a big amount of points.”

The team posted this screen capture showing Massa turning his steering wheel slightly to the right moment before the impact.


Near the end of the race, Perez' Sahara Force India developed braking problems. However, the Mexican refuted the suggestion made by Williams that he shouldn't have been on track in the first place.

"Also, I'm not happy about comments saying we should have retired the car,” he continued.

“It was perfectly driveable with just some adjustments and we showed it up until the moment in which we were taken out. Other cars out there had been in similar conditions for way longer than us and they finished the race without problems”.

Sergio Perez's Sahara Force India, Montreal (Photo: WRI2)

From GMM

Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team insists its chief designer, Adrian Newey is not retiring.

On Sunday, off the back of reported huge-money poaching efforts by Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren, the world champion team announced that Newey has agreed a new "multi-year" deal.

But Red Bull also said 55-year-old Newey will be working on "new Red Bull Technology projects", while merely "advising and mentoring" the F1 team "as it develops its formula one cars over the next few seasons".

And interviews given by Newey in the hours before Sunday's Canadian grand prix made it sound as though the Briton is stepping away from F1.

Renault's Remi Taffin and Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey (Photo: René Fagnan)

Indeed, Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko admits Newey is "disappointed" at the state of today's F1, where unbridled technical inspiration is a thing of the past.

"One must understand that whatever he has done has been banned or restricted by the rulemakers shortly thereafter," he lamented.

"The technical rules have clearly restricted his work, which has frustrated him, but instead of losing him, we have found this solution.

"Newey will remain active with Red Bull Racing for another year," Marko told Germany's Sky, but at the same time he will be fronting what Marko referred to as the new 'Advanced Technology Centre'.

How Newey will split has time has "not yet been fully defined", Marko admits, "but Adrian's genius and incredible wealth of experience will still be available to the team."