Auto News 5

BMW and U.S. aircraft maker Boeing plan to pool information on carbon fiber including research on carbon fiber recycling and know-how covering manufacturing.

2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SV

The new Nissan Altima feels significantly more substantial than several of its competitors.

The Altima V-6 certainly provides very eager throttle response and lots of power. There's a bit of torque steer, that tug at the front wheels under hard acceleration, but it's not bothersome. I was merging onto a freeway in the Altima and the merge lane traffic didn't have much of anywhere to go due to heavy traffic in adjoining lanes, so I was in one of those situations where I either needed to brake hard and dawdle, waiting for traffic to clear, or else gun it. Naturally, I chose to gun it, and the Altima's V-6 responded without hesitation, propelling the car from 55 to 80 mph easily and sounding pretty good while it did so. Nissan, which committed to continuously variable transmissions years ago, has come a long way in its CVT engineering. I didn't even remember that the Altima had a CVT until the second day I drove it.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SV - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SV - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 SV | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

European new-car sales in 2013 will remain more or less at 2012 levels, the chief of the Italian carmakers' association ANFIA said.

Ford, recalling two of its best-selling US models, has said repairing the cooling system (with a software fix) on the 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine used in the Escape [Kuga] and Fusion [Mondeo] won't negatively affect financial results.

The three-way joint venture between Chang'an Automobile Group, Ford and Mazda has finally ended following a lengthy procedure that began in 2010.

Fiat plans to axe 1,500 jobs at its Tychy plant in Poland and reduce production to under 300,000 cars in 2013.

North-Rhein Westphalia's (NRW) government has confirmed around 3,000 jobs are at stake as Opel looks to shut its Bochum plant in Germany once the Zafira model runs out in 2016.

France will no longer have a domestically produced flagship when output of the Citroen C6 ends later this month. The C6's demise marks the end of an era in France that reached its pinnacle in the 1950s.

Renault-Nissan is to plough US$742m into a joint venture with Russian Technologies State Corporation that will give the Franco-Japanese alliance a 74.5% stake in AvtoVAZ by mid-2014.

German union IG Metall is asking politicians to step in and halt the closure of a Faurecia car seat plant in northern Germany that will cost 200 hundred blue collar jobs.

Not much more could go wrong for electric-car maker Coda, which has struggled to sell its four-door EV in the United States since officially launching it here in March.

If you've always wanted to add and#8220;owning a vehicle with celebrity provenanceand#8221; to your pantheon of materialistic achievements, then allow us to present you an opportunity: All-American ass-kicker and real-life GI Joe action figure Bruce...

Was anyone around 20 years ago in Southern California? Show of hands? Remember how different a time that was? The Cold War had just ended and all those aerospace engineers and rocket scientists were walking around unemployed.

Renault-Nissan finalized a long-awaited deal to expand in the Russian market, investing $742 million in a joint venture which will control Lada-maker AvtoVAZ.

Renault-Nissan finalized a long-awaited deal to expand in the Russian market, investing $742 million in a joint venture which will control Lada-maker AvtoVAZ.

Daimler said that Mercedes-Benz trucks chief Hubertus Troska will take over a newly-created portfolio for China to boost the car maker's flagging business in the world's largest auto market.

PSA plans to shed an additional 1,500 jobs by 2014, deepening its workforce reduction as car sales in Europe plunge to levels not seen in nearly two decades.

Maserati's boss says the carmaker's new Quattroporte flagship has 'nothing to envy' when compared with German premium rivals such as the Mercedes-Benz S class or BMW 7 series.

PSA plans to shed an additional 1,500 jobs by 2014, deepening its workforce reduction as car sales in Europe plunge to levels not seen in nearly two decades.

Red Bull's Junior Team in Formula 1, Scuderia Toro Rosso ranked 9th in this year's Constructor's championship, scoring 26 points. Its best result was 8th -- undoubtedly, a disappointment for team boss, Franz Tost.

The team started the 2012 season with two new drivers: Australian, Daniel Ricciardo (from HRT) and Frenchman, Jean-Eric Vergne, both former Formula Renault 3.5 front runners.

The season began on a strong note with Ricciardo qualifying a surprising 6th in Bahrain. However, on average, the Ferrari-powered STR7s were eliminated at Q2 during the qualifying sessions. Their race pace was not amongst the best, and the two drivers experienced real difficulties breaking into the top 10.

Photo: WRi2

Jean-Eric Vergne
17th in the Driver's championship with 16 points
Best place in qualifications: 11th (once, Australia)
Best race result: 8th (four times)
Retired 4 times

Daniel Ricciardo
18th in the Driver's championship with 10 points
Best place in qualifications: 6th (once, Bahrain)
Best race result: 9th (four times)
Retired 1 time

It's quite hard to conceive that the small team based in Faenza, Italy scored a victory in F1: It was with Sebastian Vettel at Monza in 2008. Nowadays, the team is really struggling. Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull's motorsport man, made it very clear that the B team has to raise their game in 2013.

Toro Rosso hired a new technical director in James Key (former Force India designer) to replace Giorgio Ascanelli. Next year's car, still powered by the Ferrari V8 powerplant, will need to be a regular point scorer.

Photo: Toro Rosso F1 Team

Tost is known to put immense psychological pressure on his drivers. And sometimes, that does not work as they crack under pressure and make silly driving mistakes. Rookie, Vergne -- spectacular on occasion -- seemed to have more difficulty handling intense pressure. He spun a few times in qualifying, but saved his season with four 8th place finishes.

The outgoing Ricciardo's 9th place in Australia looked promising for the rest of year, but his campaign was stymied as the STR7 faltered. His best run was a trio of point-scoring finishes in Singapore, Japan and Korea where he was able to mix it with faster cars.

Tost kept them both for next season, with hopes that they'll do better if one has hopes to graduate to the A team, Red Bull Racing.