Auto News 5

Volkswagen group may have overtaken Toyota Motor to become the world's top-selling carmaker in the first quarter, thanks to government incentives that fuelled demand in VW's major markets. Full story...

The chairman of GAZ, a big Russian maker of commercial vehicles and passenger cars, said opportunities abound in Russia for western suppliers, despite current weakness in the market. "This is the perfect time to go in," said Erik Eberhardson. Full story...

Schaeffler will close a factory in France with a loss of 195 jobs, the company said at its headquarters here. The site at St. Simeon de Bressieux, near the southeastern city of Grenoble, makes timing chains for engines. Full story...

Auto supplier Visteon Corp. has agreed to provide severance pay to former employees of its United Kingdom facilities in a proposal aimed at ending a dispute that has seen workers staging sit in strikes and picketing Ford Motor Co. Full story...

Steven Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's auto task force, was one of the investment-firm executives involved with payments now under scrutiny in a state and federal investigation into an alleged kickback scheme at New York state's... Full story...

Volkswagen group may have overtaken Toyota Motor to become the world's top-selling carmaker in the first quarter, thanks to government incentives that fuelled demand in VW's major markets. Full story...

After topping the morning timesheets, Lewis Hamilton's 2009 form reverted to more familiar territory as the second 90 minutes of free practice was run on Friday afternoon at the Grand Prix of China. Full story...

Consumers looking for a four-seat convertible around $30,000 have plenty of options. Nearly a dozen models are available on the market, all producing 200 horsepower or so. The Ford Mustang V6, Pontiac G6, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Toyota Solara are just a few examples. Full story...

The new Maserati GranTurismo MC will be officially unveiled during the FIA GT "Media Days" at the Paul Ricard circuit. The new model is an offshoot of the Maserati GranTurismo MC Concept introduced last September in Monza and based on the Maserati GranTurismo S road version, with electro-actuated gearbox system. Full story...

(Crewe, 17 April 2009). Bentley Motors, founding sponsor of last year's inaugural Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, will be joining this year's celebrations (July 18-19) with some more unique cars from the company's illustrious past. Bentley will also showcase the very best of contemporary British engineering, styling and craftsmanship by debuting the world's fastest production convertible. Full story...

The number of Formula 1 cars running KERS - the Kinetic Energy Recovery System - has dropped to just five - and possibly just four for Sunday's Chinese grand prix. Full story...

A furious Flavio Briatore in Shanghai accused Formula 1's governing body of tempting another fatality by legalising 'double diffusers'. Full story...

On the fifth day of deliberation in the Helio Castroneves tax evasion trial, jurors have informed the Judge that they were unanimous on counts five and six with regards to Castroneves' employment with Team Penske in 2002 and 2003. Full story...

The WRI2 photo agency captured this very interesting photo of Ferrari Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen in the paddock of the Shanghai circuit at the Grand Prix of China. Full story...

Paris/Wolfsburg, 16 April 2009 - Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, was named "Man of the Year 2008" by a jury of 38 representatives from France's most eminent media in Paris on Thursday. Full story...

After competing at Indianapolis in 2002, veteran driver Tony Kanaan joined the IndyCar Series in 2003 with Andretti Green Racing. He started his relationship by winning the pole for the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the season's championship. Full story...

The EcoDriving movement added another key supporter as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg became the first big city mayor to endorse the initiative. Mayor Bloomberg adds his name to a growing list of elected officials who have announced their support for the program. Full story...

At the 24-Hour Race on the Nürburgring on 23/24 May, Volkswagen will field two Scirocco cars with innovative natural gas engines. Following the historic one-two victory at the Dakar Rally in January, which Volkswagen won as the first automobile manufacturer using diesel technology in the event, the Wolfsburg brand is now taking on another technical challenge - the use of EcoFuel engines in the endurance test twice around the clock on the world's most demanding race track. Full story...

The lingering effects of the differ row were still being felt in the Shanghai paddock on Friday as two teams' officials got into a war of words. Full story...

In response to Gordon Brown's call to make Britain 'a world leader' in electric cars and Government plans to incentivise the public to buy them, the technology behind the stunning-looking all-British JJAD P1-E electric sports car is to be made available to other EV manufacturers. Full story...