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Toyota is studying whether to keep the hybrid line's aerodynamic wedge-shape as the automaker designs the next-generation car, due to arrive in the spring of 2014.

Hyundai and Kia built their reputations with high-mpg vehicles in the past few years. But much of that marketing sparkle went poof last week.

Insurance checks cut in November and December are expected to help automakers and dealers more than make up for the sales that Hurricane Sandy wiped out at the end of October.

Like a lot of other car company honchos, former Lexus and Toyota executive Dave Illingworth wanted to become a dealer. So in the thick of the recession he opened Toyota of Warsaw, a new store in Warsaw, Ind., population 13,500.

GM is spending more than $5 billion to transform its dealership network. But not all of that cash is going toward shiny tile and silver exterior cladding.

Honda Motor Co. President Takanobu Ito expects the subcompact Fit hatchback to be Honda's fastest-growing nameplate in North America over the next four years.

Alan Mulally will stay Ford Motor Co. CEO at least through 2014. Joe Hinrichs (pictured) will return from the Asia Pacific Africa region to head Ford's business in the Americas. Oh, yeah, and Mark Fields is Ford's COO.

Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn says the company will need another assembly plant in North America within five years -- after it reaches his goal of taking 10 percent of the U.S. market.

Kimi Raikkonen's victory in Sunday's Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi marked Lotus' first victory in Formula 1 since 1987 with the legendary Ayrton Senna.

A period of 25 years 4 months and 15 days separated the two victories.

Lotus' previous win took place at the US Grand Prix in the streets of Detroit on June 21, 1987. Ayrton Senna was driving a Lotus-Honda 99T turbo shod on Goodyear tires and fitted with the revolutionary Peter Wright designed active suspension.

Senna qualified second on the grid behind Nigel Mansell in the Williams-Honda. Senna took the lead on lap 34 when Mansell had to slow down. Senna led all remaining laps and won the race.

It was Senna's sixth victory in F1, and Lotus' 79th win.

Six Formula 1 teams have stayed in the paddock of the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi to take part in the young driver three-day test.

Red Bull Racing, Lotus, McLaren, Sauber, Toro Rosso, and Caterham elected to stay in Abu Dhabi to run these tests. The other F1 teams already took part in the two previous tests held at Silverstone, UK and Magny-Cours, France.

Photo: WRi2

Here is the program for the three days, as well as the drivers listed:

Red Bull Racing
Antonio Félix da Costa (Tuesday and Wednesday) and Robin Frijns (Thursday);

Lotus
Nicolas Prost (Tuesday), Edoardo Mortara (Wednesday) and Davide Valsecchi (Thursday);

McLaren
Gary Paffett (Tuesday pm and Wednesday am), Oliver Turvey (Wednesday pm and Thursday am) and Kevin Magnussen (Tuesday am and Thursday pm);

Sauber
Robin Frijns (Tuesday), Esteban Gutiérrez (Wednesday and Thursday);

Toro Rosso
Luiz Razia (Tuesday et Thursday) and Johnny Cecotto Jr (Wednesday);

Caterham
Giedo Van der Garde (Tuesday and Wednesday) and Alexander Rossi (Thursday).

Recent winner of the Petit Le Mans in Road Atlanta, Frenchman Nicolas Prost will Tuesday take the wheel of Lotus E20 usually assigned to Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen in the yopung driver test at Abu Dhabi.

The son of fourt-ime F1 champion Alain Prost had so far not had the opportunity to take part in Formula 1 official testing.

Nicolas Prost, Lotus (Photo: WRI2)

At each of his performances at the wheel of a Lotus - particularly in the context of the World Series by Renault - the Rebellion Racing regular had to settle for an older generation model (obliged by regulations).

This time it is the 2012 version of the Lotus that he will drive on November 6-8 at the Yas Marina circuit. This will be an opportunity for him to compete against other young talents from different backgrounds.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for me to gain experience at the highest level of motorsport. I have finished twice as the first "privateer" in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and I'm fourth in the World Endurance Championship, this is an exiting direction in my driving career,” said Nicolas Prost.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. (TMMC) announced the production of the company's 5 millionth vehicle in Canada at its Cambridge, ON assembly plant.

"From humble beginnings, today TMMC is a globally respected manufacturing operation that can produce more than 500,000 vehicles per year,'' said TMMC Chairman Ray Tanguay. ''Our success has allowed us to create more good jobs for Canadians and become a better corporate citizen for our community."

TMMC currently builds the Toyota Corolla, Matrix, RAV4 and RAV4 EV, as well as the Lexus RX 350. The RX 450h hybrid CUV will be added in 2014. This makes Canada the only production site for Lexus vehicles outside of Japan.

Since 1988, the TMMC workforce has grown from 1,000 to 6,500.

During a press conference held last Friday, Hyundai Canada and Kia Canada announced errors in the fuel consumption ratings for several 2010-2013 models and promised to reimburse affected customers with a personalized, pre-paid credit card.

It may not be enough, however: Consumers in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and other provinces have just filed class-action lawsuits against the two companies.

"Hyundai and Kia need to properly compensate Canadians who purchased these vehicles. They need to explain to Canadians what the real fuel mileage numbers are, and how long they've been aware of those real numbers. And then they need to provide proper compensation in line with what these buyers deserve. The compensation program that the companies have announced certainly helps, but does not provide a full and adequate remedy," said Matthew Baer, a lawyer with Siskinds.

If you've purchased or leased one of the affected vehicles, visit www.classaction.ca for more information.

GM has issued a recall on the 2012 Buick Verano as well as the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic and Cruze. A total of 500 vehicles are affected.

Apparently, the primary stage of the driver's front airbag may not deploy during a crash (where deployment is warranted), which could obviously increase the risk of an injury.

Therefore, GM Canada dealers will replace the steering wheel airbag coil.

Source: Transports Canada

Photo: IIHS

Jimmie Johnson may have won in Texas but second place, Brad Keselowski, made the five-time NASCAR Champion work hard for it.

Keselowski won the battle of next-to-last restart as their cars bumped and banged with the younger upstart holding the lead. But Mark Martin spun bringing out the final caution and set up a green-white-checkered finish.

“The gloves are off and it's bare knuckle fighting,” Johnson said. But the difference in the finish was due that last caution. “Another caution came out and we got by him,” he said.

“I expect a lot of hard racing that's what we've had all season long,” Johnson added. On the other hand. “If he was going to take me out I was going to take him with me. We walked up to that line, got right up in the edge and it stopped.''

Jimmie Johnson leading Brad Keselowski. (Photo: NASCAR)

Keselowski remained calm. “I thought we had it. I had to choose between wrecking him and winning the race. It didn't seem right to wreck him. I know how to keep him honest. Getting the restarts, eventually you are going to lose them. To win two-out-of-three I felt lucky. Every restart I spun the tires. We fought the best we could.”

Early in the race Keselowski got track position by taking two tires instead of four tires and that same strategy set up the exciting finish.

Then on lap 312 while Johnson and others were taking four tires Keselowski took two.

“Two tires was the right way to go. Paul and I made the decision together I might have poked him a little but it was worth a shot,” he said.

Third place Kyle Busch questioned the restarts “from my experience with Brad,” it seemed normal.'

“I just wish I had some better restarts there at the end of the race or was a little closer to those guys when they were going at it and pushing. When Brad was pushing Jimmie up the track, I could have squeaked in and got underneath him. Just didn't quite have enough there and just didn't have enough to be comfortable. I was a little too loose there in the last couple restarts,” Busch said.

Keselowski could have been a sore loser, but, wasn't. He even went out to Victory Lane to shake Johnson's hand. He said NASCAR officials have made their restart policy clear “I think NASCAR are not going to get out a micrometer and measure them, and via that interpretation it was fair play.”

In notable finishes Matt Kenseth was fourth, Dale Earnhardt came back from almost a lap down to finish seventh. Strangest of all, Kevin Harvick, whose car was damaged by a falling sand bag weight for pre-race parachutist display finished ninth.

Johnson now takes a seven point lead to Phoenix the penultimate race of series.

Note this was Johnson's fifth win of the year, and 60th in his career. And it was Chevrolet's 700 Sprint Cup victory.

From GMM

Kimi Raikkonen returned to the winner's circle in Abu Dhabi in his inimitable style.

Once derided for being robotic and shy, the 2007 world champion is now widely loved for being the 'iceman' -- a nickname dreamed up by the press but now tattooed with pride on the Lotus driver's forearm.

On Sunday, after scotching the view that F1 comebacks cannot be successful by driving to victory, he had scolded his engineer mid-race for talking in his ear about the gap to second place.

"Just leave me alone," he said. "I know what I'm doing."

Lotus F1 Team celebrating Kimi Raikkonen's victory. (Photo: WRi2)

Afterwards, he was asked on the podium by his former McLaren teammate David Coulthard to let the world in on his emotions.

"Not much, really," said 33-year-old Raikkonen. "Last time you guys (the media) were giving me shit because I didn't smile enough, so maybe this time (you will) again."

Later, he told another reporter: "Like I said, I'm happy, but there's nothing to jump around about."

Kimi Raikkonen admitted, however, that despite drinking rose water on the no-alcohol Arab podium, he would find somewhere else to celebrate later on Sunday.

Asked 'how many days' he will dedicate to celebrating the win, he answered: "As long as I manage to get myself to the next race I think the team is happy."

And when told it was the first time a 'Lotus' had won a grand prix since Ayrton Senna in 1987, Raikkonen was completely unsentimental.

"It's a name," he said. "It's the same team since Fernando (Alonso) was there (as Renault), just a different name. It's a great name for us, (a) good past but you know I race for the team whatever the name is, I don't really care."

Red Bull Racing's Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey recently had the unique opportunity to get behind the wheel of not one, but two groundbreaking Formula 1 cars, each penned by the designer and his engineering teams during very different eras of the sport.

At Silverstone Circuit, Newey, aided by former F1 driver David Coulthard, was given the chance to drive the Judd-powered Leyton House March CG901 he designed in 1990 and shortly afterwards he was strapped into the championship winning Red Bull Racing RB6, which in 2010 claimed nine race wins in the hands of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

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After making an quiet return to rally in Italy, Robert Kubica, the Renault F1 driver who's been badly injured in a rally, is now set to move up a gear by choosing to compete in two rallies in a Citroen C4 WRC this November.

Following a prolonged period away from motorsport to heal his injuries, the Polish driver gradually began driving again before returning to competitive action.

After claiming two wins in Italy in September behidn the wheel of a Subaru Impreza WRC, the obvious choice was for him to decide to move up another step by driving a Citroën C4 WRC at the Rally di Como and the Rallye du Var.

“I can't wait to drive a car that is as quick and has been as successful as the C4 WRC,” enthused Robert Kubica on the Citoen web site.

Citroen C4 WRC. (Photo: Citroen Racing)

“Rallying is one of my favourite forms of motorsport. After completing a test session so that I can get used to the car, competing in the Rally di Como will above all be an opportunity to get to a feel for the car and learn more about driving it in racing conditions. The objective will be different for the Rallye du Var. This will be the third time I have taken part, so it's a rally with which I am already familiar and where I feel comfortable. And although first and foremost I want to rack up as many miles as possible and improve in the category!” he added.

Stage one is therefore due to be held in Erba in the north of Italy on 15-17 November. The rally will feature 126 kilometres of timed stages on roads around Lake Como: a perfect warm-up for the following weekend's event, the Rallye du Var, the eighth and final round of the French tarmac Rally Championship.

According to reports, IndyCar team HVM Racing is looking at the possibility of entering the FIA World Endurance Championship for the 2013 season, if all goes according to plan.

Even though the team has parted ways with Simona de Silvestro, who has just signed on to join KV Racing for the 2013 IZOD IndyCar season, the team would like to be back in the open-wheel series but it is still waiting for the resolution of the contract with the failed Lotus engine program.

It appears for now that HVM Racing cannot be guaranteed that it could obtain engines from either Chevrolet or Honda.

Additionally, the team primary sponsor Nuclear Clean Energy has also moved on and joined KV Racing; leaving the squad without financial backing for the time being.

Besides contemplating joining the WEC, Keith Wiggins, HVM Racing owner, is also looking at joining the American Le Mans Series.

Wiggins said he's currently in discussions with drivers for the LMP2 effort, which embraces a Pro-Am class format of at least one FIA Bronze or Silver-graded pilot for each car.

As far as the car choice goes, the team is evaluating all options, including offerings from Lola, which Wiggins, a former president of Lola Cars International, still has close ties to.