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Fiat will add a second shift at the Turin factory where it builds Maserati cars, a source said. Fiat is investing 1.2 billion euros in the luxury marque as it seeks to boost global sales from 6,000 last year to 50,000.

VW, Mercedes and BMW all posted record global sales last year, fueled by demand in China.

VW, Mercedes and BMW all posted record global sales last year, fueled by demand in China.

The Shanghai auto show will provide an opportunity for Chinese carmakers to declare they've learned from past mistakes.

If I were an executive at a Chinese domestic automaker, I would be very worried. Why? Because it is difficult to find a Chinese-brand car on the streets of Shanghai.

The Shanghai auto show will provide an opportunity for Chinese carmakers to declare they've learned from past mistakes.

Jaguar Land Rover North America has hired industry veteran Duke Hale to help improve its reputation for customer service -- especially for the Land Rover brand.

Renault has said its Twin'Z rear-wheel-drive electric concept car is part of a design study for the third-generation Twingo, due to go on sale next year.

German automakers have long seen China as a key market. Now their French rivals, hit by slow sales in Europe, are playing catch up, and they are counting on the popularity of France's luxury fashion brands to help them.

Magna International plans to use its expertise in body engineering to help automakers cut vehicle weight, CEO Don Walker says.

Volkswagen of America has hired Maserati North America CEO Mark McNabb, a former Nissan and GM sales executive, as its COO.

From GMM

Organisers of the Grand Prix of Bahrain would like the event to return to the top of Formula 1's annual schedule.

The Sakhir circuit opened the sport's world championship in 2006 and again in 2010, and was scheduled to be the season opener in 2011 until that event was cancelled due to civil unrest.

Still controversial, Bahrain is back on the calendar and now pushing to return to the coveted opening spot, which is currently occupied by Melbourne.

"It's a good start to the season," circuit chairman Zeyed Alzayani told reporters on Saturday.

"It gives us the chance to have the teams here longer, there is more anticipation, more unknowns, how the cars will react to the new tyres, the regulations, the drivers are just back into their rhythm.

"We are talking about 2014 onwards but it's a bit early to talk about the calendar for 2014," he added. "We're open to suggestion."

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who on Saturday issued a joint statement with the FIA backing the decision to race in Bahrain this weekend amid controversy, admitted a change of scheduling for the race in future is possible.

"We could do, I suppose," the 82-year-old told Reuters. "We need to have a look at it."

Alzayani said one advantage of Bahrain being the first race is that teams could conduct pre-season testing at the circuit, in almost guaranteed dry weather, before returning for the start of the world championship shortly after.

"They can come to the last test and then leave most of their equipment here until race weekend," he said.

"This was the plan in 2011. So if we go after the first race, then we will go after a test as well but again that is not our decision."

You may remember that Volkswagen introduced the CrossBlue Concept in Detroit this past January. This time at Auto Shanghai 2013, the German automaker unveiled a coupe variant that hints at a possible BMW X6 competitor.

The five-passenger Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe Concept offers both sporty driving dynamics and high fuel economy. It combines a 299-horsepower V6 engine with a pair of electric motors for a total output of 415 horsepower and a fuel consumption average of 3.0L/100km.

The Volkswagen CrossBlue Coupe Concept can travel up to 33 kilometres in fully electric mode, at a maximum speed of 120 km/h. With the help of the combustion engine, acceleration from 0-100 km/h takes 5.9 seconds. Top speed is rated at 237 km/h.

While the interior largely resembles that of the CrossBlue SUV in Detroit, the exterior is quite different. Notice the long, broad hood, very short front overhang, long roofline, and massive 22” wheels.

Photo: Volkswagen

According to a report by PrivCo, a New York-based research firm specializing in closely held companies, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) knew by December 2010 that Fisker Automotive wasn't meeting milestones required to keep drawing taxpayer funds, yet waited until June 2011 to cut off funding.

Furthermore, the DoE failed to warn future investors that the electric car manufacturer was in default and no longer had access to the $336.4 million that remained of its loan.

PrivCo chief executive Sam Hamadeh told the media that the government applied “negligent underwriting standards” in granting the Fisker loans. However, the DoE denied this allegation, saying that it “stopped payment on the federal loan in 2011 after Fisker stopped meeting their milestones.”

The PrivCo report indicates that Fisker has spent more than $1.3 billion in taxpayer and venture capital money, or $660,000 for each car it sold.

A U.S. House panel is scheduled to hold a special hearing on Fisker and its government financing on April 24th.

Reuters confirms that “Fisker Automotive raised almost $1.4 billion from investors as diverse as Leonardo di Caprio and Kleiner Perkins, obtained a $528 million loan from the DoE, ballooned to 600+ employees, defaulted on loans or investment conditions at least four separate times, spent $535,000 on a website, got sued by its own employees and evicted from its primary business location, and was finally investigated by the government — apparently for its incredible ability to burn a billion dollars while delivering only a few thousand actual completed cars.”

Today was the deadline for Fisker to pay back $10 million to the DoE.

Source: Reuters

From GMM

Observing that drivers were in the habit of simply walking a few steps from the teams' hospitality areas straight into the garages, the sport's chief executive thought about how to spice up the action in the paddock.

Now, starting with this weekend in Bahrain, the drivers and leading team figures are in some cases having to walk from one end of the paddock to the other to get from their teams' hospitality suites to the corresponding pit area.

It is music to the ears of the media, giving reporters and television crews more of a chance to catch F1's leading players on the hop in the paddock.

"McLaren is the worst off," reported France's RMC Sport, "because the drivers have to cross almost the entire paddock to get from the paddock hospitality to the garage."

From GMM

Fernando Alonso has played down the significance of this weekend's Bahrain grand prix, suggesting the sport should not be picking which of its host countries' controversies to weight into.

The Spaniard was asked in the island Kingdom on Thursday if formula one should be in Bahrain amid protests against the government.

"If we start to look into that," the Ferrari driver is quoted by El Pais newspaper, "then when we go to China we should be concerned about what happens in their factories.

"Or what about India, where it is said that children are exploited, or Spain where there is political corruption?" added Alonso.

Protesters around Bahrain were on Thursday burning tyres for makeshift roadblocks, and it is reported "huge" demonstrations are planned to coincide with Friday's practice sessions.

But an unnamed senior official of an F1 team told the Financial Times: "We are more stoic, more phlegmatic (than last year)."

An FIA spokesman added: "If there is some sort of unrest outside the circuit, it will be for the local authorities to handle."

Photo: WRi2

Toyota has revealed it is disappointed with the performance of its TS030 HYBRID car at the Six Hours of Silverstone.

Despite claiming a 1-2 in qualifying for the World Endurance Championship season opener, the Japanese manufacturer's pace dropped off dramatically during the race and both cars finished a lap down in third and fourth behind the leading Audis.

The result came as a surprise to Toyota, who by the end of the last WEC season, were perceived to have the best car on the grid, due to the TS030's its fuel efficiency and low levels of tire wear.

Photo: Toyota Racing

The pace of the first and second finishing Audi R18 e-tron quattros showed how much progress the Ingolstadt manufacturer has made over the winter, but Toyota is refusing the write the season off yet, considering it has started the 2013 season with its 2012 car. According to Autosport, the TS030 ‘still in the middle of its long-distance development programme.'

“Even though we brought our 2012 car to Silverstone we hoped to challenge for the victory so it is disappointing to miss out," said team president Yoshiaki Kinoshita some days after the race.

"Congratulations to Audi; as expected they have made a step forward over the winter and they performed well.”

The Japanese was also encouraged by the data the Cologne based team received from Silverstone and believes it can translate it to a better performance at the Six Hours of Spa on May 4th.

"We have also found additional performance with our 2013-specification TS030 HYBRID so we are more eager than ever to see what it can do at Spa next time.”

Sebastien Buemi, who finished third for the team at Silverstone was also equally as optimistic ahead of the Belgian race.

“It [was] a solid start to the season considering we used the 2012 car,” said the former Toro Rosso driver. “Nevertheless, we were not able to fight for the win.”

“We have lots we can learn from [the] weekend,” he continued. "We will move forward and improve for the second race; I can't wait for Spa.”

From GMM

Kimi Raikkonen is moving closer to committing to Lotus for the 2014 season, according to team boss Eric Boullier.

The Frenchman was playing down reports Red Bull has expressed interest in signing the 2007 world champion to replace Mark Webber next year.

"These are the usual games, but it's not just Red Bull. Other top teams have interest too," Boullier told Bild newspaper.

"But I'm also interested in Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel, although only Vettel if he listens to my team orders," he laughed. "We have already spoken with Kimi about a contract extension and he sounded very happy."

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus E21. (Photo: WRi2)

In truth, however, with Finn Raikkonen's stock on the rise after impressive form in the wake of his rallying sabbatical, Lotus might struggle to afford the 33-year-old for 2014.

It is reported that team owner Genii has put a part of the Enstone based team on the market, with Gerard Lopez admitting it might be some time before a title sponsor is signed up.

Asked if money will factor into Raikkonen's decision, Boullier said: "Kimi doesn't race for the money. For him it's very important that he feels at home and has the freedom to be who he is. So I really see no reason why he should leave."

"I don't know if other teams would treat him as well as we do. We can definitely afford him. We have more money than last year," he insisted.

American Le Mans Series leader, Bill Auberlen, believes taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans hour will be ‘good preparation' should BMW return to the event in the future.

Despite being a BMW driver in the ALMS, the German manufacturer has lent him to Aston Martin to share its fifth GTE Pro entry with Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana for the 24-hour French event, which takes part on June 22/23.

"It will also be good preparation in case BMW goes back to Le Mans,” he continued. “It's got to be good for our programme, too."

Although his Auberlen's last start at Le Mans was in 2005, he has taken part in the 24-hour race four times. Conversely, BMW's only victory came at the circuit in 2000 with the V12 LM and has yet to confirm any plans to return to the famous race.

Bill Auberlen, BMW Z4 GTE. (Photo: BMW Motorsport)

From WRC.com

Volkswagen's Jari-Matti Latvala believes his season has taken an upward turn following a change of approach on last weekend's Rally of Portugal.

Following a difficult start to the season, which saw Latvala take just 15 points from three rounds, he scored his first podium for VW in Portugal since his switch to the team in 2013, and suggested a more aggressive and proactive approach attitude the wheel of his Polo R WRC was the key to his up-turn in form.

“I was pushing myself, forcing myself to drive fast and it started to help,” Latvala admitted to wrc.com after the event. “I have been letting myself think I can take the experience and the speed will just come, but it doesn't work that way - you have to work for it.”

Photo: WRC

The ex-Ford driver also believes the podium in Portugal has given him the confidence he needed in his car for the rest of the season, after having struggled with its handling and set-up characteristics in previous rounds.

“Now I see my year opening. Finally, my Championship can start!” he said. “My confidence is coming in the car. In Argentina I will have a different set-up which will suit me better, but still I am really, really happy with this result.”

The seven-time WRC rally winner also conceded that the dramatic gap in performance to teammate Sebastien Ogier who has won three of the four events so far this season, lies squarely at his feet and not VW's.

“The start of the season has been tough - learning, but also disappointing. I was expecting more from myself and I couldn't get it,” he continued. “The car has been quick, but I have been somewhere on another planet..."