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Officially, Tesla's marketing efforts have yet to include commercials. However, back in November, a group of young graduates spent $1,500 to create a short video advertisement promoting the famous electric luxury sedan.

Titled ''Modern Spaceship,'' the minute-long clip is so good and professional-looking that Tesla shared it on Facebook and Twitter.

Addressing the possibility of hiring the creators, CEO Elon Musk wrote: "I'm confident that Tesla will do something with them."

Source: autonews.com

From GMM

German driver Nico Rosberg on Wednesday vowed not to get ahead of himself, despite admitting he likes the taste of Formula 1 dominance.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel's eight-month string of race wins finally came to an end in Melbourne, where a new dawn for the sport saw Mercedes' Nico Rosberg win by half a minute.

Currently holidaying in Bali with his fiancee Vivian, F1's new winning German said he is expecting to hang on to that sunny feeling in 2014.

"To know that I can keep going for poles and race wins is cool," he told Sport Bild.

"I now know pretty well how Sebastian must have felt last year when he was winning by 30 seconds," said Rosberg.

However, although currently a big step ahead of his likely title rivals like teammate Lewis Hamilton and Vettel, Rosberg insisted he is counting no chickens.

"You can never rule out Red Bull," said the 28-year-old. "I would almost have bet my house after the tests that they would still be in trouble (in Melbourne) but they were stronger than we expected.

"It shows that we cannot sleep," Rosberg warned.

Another problem on the horizon is a likely tense in-house battle with his own Mercedes teammate, Briton Hamilton.

Their relationship, both personal and competitive, goes back to their boyhoods, with Rosberg admitting: "We are not best friends, but we are fine.

"But I'm also aware that the more success we have, the more complicated our relationship will be."

Two engine fires that resulted from a loose connecting rod that damaged the crankcase and led to oil leakage have prompted Porsche to replace the engines of all 911 GT3 vehicles from the 2014 model year.

Overall, 785 Porsche customers are affected in Canada. All of them are required to take their car to a local Porsche Centre, which will stay in touch to discuss the further course of action.

No other 911 models or other Porsche vehicles are affected by this recall.

Photo: Porsche

From GMM

Almost unnoticed in the Albert Park paddock last weekend strolled two Japanese with very big plans.

Speed Week correspondent Mathias Brunner reports that Yasuhisa Arai, Honda's new F1 boss, and the Japanese marque's technical chief Kazuo Sakurahara were on an ununiformed mission to learn and observe as the 2014 season kicked off.

It is not until 2015 that Honda, absent from the paddock since the shock decision in late 2008 to pull its Brackley based works team from F1, will return to the grid as McLaren's supplier of works turbo V6 engines.

Kevin Magnussen, McLaren-Mercedes. (Photo: WRi2)

But as F1's brave new era began in Australia, "It was the first of many visits this year," Brunner claimed, as the Honda duo embark upon a meticulous mission to be up to speed against experienced rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.

Arai is quoted as saying: "At the beginning (of the V6 programme) there were some difficulties, but at the moment we are quite satisfied with our level of development."

Undoubtedly, F1's smaller, greener and more relevant engine regulations lured the modern-minded Honda back to the sport, but Arai insists that the ultimate ambition is clear.

"There's no point in racing unless you win," he is quoted by Japan Today.

"That's why we teamed up with a winning team," Arai added, referring to McLaren, who in 2014 are spending their twentieth and last season with Mercedes power.

From GMM

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted 2014 could be his last at the helm of formula one.

And he insists that is not because of the Gerhard Gribkowsky corruption scandal, that if found guilty would at best see him fired and at worst land him in a German jail.

Until now, the F1 chief executive has always said he has no intention of stepping down.

"As long as I feel I can deliver, and the shareholders are happy for that to happen, I will stay," the diminutive Briton said in 2012.

But Bernie Ecclestone has now admitted he is thinking about retiring.

"I'm going to be 84 at the end of this year so I am probably going to have to start to think, do I want to go into the 85th year doing what I've been doing for goddamn how many years?" he is quoted by the Mirror.

"It's something I'll have to give some very serious thought to."

Bernie Ecclestone's motorhome. (Photo: WRi2)

Ecclestone likened his thoughts about quitting to a sports star at the top of his game.

"The important thing is to know when you should hang the boxing gloves up," he said, "so you are not going to end up going into the ring and getting a good hiding."

He said the Gribkowsky case, in which he is accused of bribing the now-jailed Gribkowsky to the tune of dozens of millions of dollars, has nothing to do with his new retirement thoughts.

"No, that's nothing. No, no. It's the way people have to run businesses today compared to how they used to," Ecclestone insisted.

He said he is referring to today's era of "corporate governance", involving "different committees, ethics committees and god knows what else boards to report to".

"I didn't know about any of these things back then," said Ecclestone. "Probably, if I had of done, I wouldn't have lasted as long as I lasted.

"And we will be more restricted as time goes on. That's how the world is. It's coming that way. I don't agree with it. What we are slowly but surely managing to do is get rid of entrepreneurs. Getting rid of people who think outside the box," he said.

From GMM

One of Ferrari's main problems is that its all-new 2014 engine is overweight.

That is the claim of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, who said customers Sauber and Marussia are also struggling with a 'power unit' that weights 13 kilograms too much.

Correspondent Michael Schmidt said the overweight Ferrari caught even the Maranello based team by surprise, having successfully argued against a further increase in the minimum car-plus-driver weight of 691 kilos for 2014.

Fernando Alonso finished just fifth in Melbourne.

"I have 12 points more than Vettel and Hamilton, which is a positive," the Spaniard said, "but I was missing 35 seconds to Rosberg.

"That must give us pause," added Fernando Alonso.

Indeed, technical boss James Allison admits: "Our competitiveness was not acceptable in Melbourne."

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) leading Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Jenson Button (McLaren). (Photo: WRi2)

Slimming-down the Ferrari engine might prove difficult, as in the wake of the end-February 'freeze' deadline, changes can only now be made for safety, cost or reliability reasons.

The FIA's Charlie Whiting revealed that all three F1 engine makers, including the troubled Renault but also dominant Mercedes, have already applied to the FIA to make changes.

"Ultimately, it's for us to decide," he said.

From GMM

The supplier of F1's mandatory new fuel flow sensor has distanced itself from the Red Bull cheat controversy.

The reigning world champion team pointed a clear finger of blame at Gill Sensors after Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified in Melbourne due to breaching the new rules governing a maximum fuel flow rate.

"The (Gill Sensors) device has obvious fluctuations," Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko has now told Austrian television Servus TV.

"It does not give precise measurements, when in our opinion we were within the (100 kilogram per hour flow) rules," he insisted.

But Gill, a British company, said in the wake of the Melbourne controversy that it has the backing of its client, F1's governing body.

It said the FIA "provided Gill Sensors with positive feedback on the performance of the fuel flow meter (in Australia), confirming their confidence in the development and stating the meters meet the FIA's accuracy specification."

Red Bull is expected to follow through with an appeal against the Ricciardo ruling, but the fuel flow saga may only be a blip as the champions continue their chase of dominant 2014 team Mercedes.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, second in Melbourne, leading the pack. (Photo: WRi2)

"The speed with which Red Bull has caught up should make everyone worry," Williams' Pat Symonds is quoted by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner confirmed that the team and its struggling engine supplier are making clear progress.

"At the Bahrain test the Renault was at 10 per cent of what it can do. In Melbourne we were at 60," he said.

Renault chief Rob White, however, warned: "We are not out of the woods yet. In our steep learning curve, further setbacks are inevitable."

But the huge progress since Bahrain means car designer Adrian Newey can now get down to the real challenge of 2014.

"I have only now begun with the development of the car," he said. "If you can't drive, you can't try anything."

Hertz Global Holdings has trimmed its rental fleet and expects to sell more of those vehicles, when they're retired from service, directly to consumers at company-owned dealerships, its CEO said today.

Volkswagen, the most prolific seller of diesel cars in the American market, said it will have the newest iteration of its TDI engine ready for U.S. sale at the start of model year 2015, marking a continued effort to popularize diesel with Americans.

BMW and Toyota engineers are continuing to discuss sharing a platform to underpin new roadster models for each automaker to share, just-auto.com has learned.

In what Ford claims as a segment first the New Ford F-150 truck will be available with LED headlamps.

Chrysler Group has suspended production of its SRT Viper sport coupe for at least two months because of slow sales.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra has named a new vehicle safety leader whose first priority will be to quickly identify and resolve product safety issues such as the current recall involving faulty ignition switches.

Jay Leno invited Tom Apostolos to the garage this week. He's the president of Ricardo Americas, a tech company partially responsible for the hybrid powerplant on the

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's supervisory board unanimously backed ex-Airbus Group CEO Louis Gallois to succeed Thierry Peugeot as chairman, a person familiar with the matter said.

Porsche will swap out the engine on the racing version of the 911 sports car after the company took the rare step of telling customers to stop driving the model because the vehicle could catch fire.

Porsche will swap out the engine on the racing version of the 911 sports car after the company took the rare step of telling customers to stop driving the model because the vehicle could catch fire.

Presidio, a key player in the buying and selling of auto dealerships in the United States, last week named a new head of its automotive investment banking practice after the recent departure of the practice's former leaders.

Peugeot says it is completing the engine line-up on the 308 by adding its new PureTech 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine.

News 18 Mar, 2014

A new 1.2-litre petrol engine is now offered in the 308 hatch, returning over 99mpg on test