European Car Sales - First Rise in Sales for 6 years

Car sales in the European Union rose in 2014 for the first time in six years, according to the industry trade association ACEA.

Sales were up 5.7% to 12,550,771, fuelled by government scrappage schemes and wholesale orders from companies.

There was also a shift in sales to cheaper brands, with Dacia and Skoda reporting some of the biggest sales rises.

Spain and the UK saw a sales jump in 2014, up 18% and 9.3% respectively.

The ACEA said in a statement that in December sales rose 4.7% year-on-year, the 16th consecutive monthly rise.

However, the industry remains cautious about growth this year, as many incentive schemes and tax breaks are being ended.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan-Renault, said this week at the Detroit Motor Show that he expects European growth this year to be slow, at around 1%-2%.

Peter Fuss, an automotive analyst at business services group E&Y, said in a research note on Friday that he expected 2015 sales to be about 3% higher.

He said: "We remain cautious about the ability of new car sales to return to their pre-crisis levels by the end of this decade.

"Furthermore, car sharing and other alternative trends of urban mobility are expected to gain relevance in the market amid shifting consumer preference."

In Spain, the government has repeatedly extended an incentive scheme, known as Plan PIVE, which offers price cuts on new low-emission vehicles.

Rally De France 2012 Video Highlights - Day 3

So a perfect day for Loeb and the supporters as he ties up his 9th championship on home soil. We will have the best of the action when we find it.

Congrats to Loeb

Rally De France 2012 Video Highlights - Day 2

A nasty accident on day 2 for Petter was the talking point of the day.

And here's some highlights from the day.

Rally De France 2012 - Solberg Off

Here is the footage from Petter Solbergs off on the 2nd day of Rally France. A nasty incident and thankfully nobody was hurt.

Rally De France 2012 Video Highlights - Day 1

First bit of video from this years Rally France. Its feels like a while since you real tarmac action. Looking forward to it.

Here's some more highlights from day 1.

WRC 2013 Changes

The WMSC approved for the FIA to proceed with an agreement with The Sportsman Media Group and Red Bull Media House to become the new global Promoter of the FIA World Rally Championship from 2013. The Promoter will be responsible for investing and developing the WRC with a view to increasing its profile, reputation and commercial value. In particular, the Promoter, working in close collaboration with the FIA, will be focused on introducing live television and an innovative digital media strategy in the next years.

As part of a cost-reduction process and to attract greater entries, WRC Teams competing in the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship will now only have to contest one non-European event. WRC Teams must however still nominate and take part in a minimum of seven events.

The structure of the support Championships has been revised to reflect the interests and demands of the competitors. From 2013, the current Championship for S2000 cars will be replaced by the WRC-2 Championship including cars with four-wheel drive (R5, R4 and S2000). A specific cup for cars in the Group N category will also form part of the FIA WRC-2 Championship, and titles for teams, drivers and co-drivers will be awarded to those who have scored the most points in six of the seven events in which they have taken part.

The current Production Car World Rally Championship will be replaced by the FIA WRC-3 Championship, including Group R cars with two-wheel drive (R3, R2 and R1). Titles for teams, drivers and co-drivers will be awarded to those who have scored the most points in five of the six events in which they have taken part.

The current FIA WRC Academy will be re-named the FIA Junior WRC Championship.

For safety reasons and therefore with immediate effect, each crew that is entered with a WRC car is permitted to use a route note car on asphalt events.

To limit costs and encourage participation, from 2013 the use of the latest evolution of parts homologated by manufacturers will not be mandatory for WRC cars entered by drivers not scoring points in the Manufacturers’ Championship. This also applies to all cars in the S2000 category with a 1.6L turbo engine.

The 2013 FIA World Rally Championship calendar is confirmed as follows:

20/01 MCO Rallye Monte Carlo
10/02 SWE Rally Sweden
10/03 MEX Rally Mexico
14/04 PRT Rallye de Portugal
05/05 ARG Rally Argentina
02/06 GRE Acropolis Rally
23/06 ITA Rally d'Italia
04/08 FIN Rally Finland
TBC DEU Rallye Deutschland
15/09 AUS Rally Australia
06/10 FRA Rallye de France
27/10 ESP Rally de España
17/11 GBR Rally of Great Britain

Note: The finish date given is the Sunday of the rally weekend. Itineraries are however subject to final confirmation by event organisers.

Hamilton's 2013 Move to Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton will make a switch to Mercedes from McLaren next year it has finally been revealed. Speculation has been rife for a few years that the Brit would leave McLaren and after so many years of association with the team you can see why he may want a change.

Lewis has gone through all emotions in his career so far and seemed to have picked himself up from the bottom this year with 3 wins and seemed to have a generally better outlook on his life.

So why move from proven race winner to an inconsistent performer. Well anything can happen in this sport and generally has this year, but Mercedes are a team on the move and with plenty of cash for development. Mercedes have struggled this year with certain choices they have made regarding their double DRS and they have suffered from rear tyre wear almost constantly. Without these issues they could be a lot closer to the top 3 teams.

But what Hamilton must remember is that this team is built from the faltering Honda team who struggled with so much investment to make any moves to challenge for titles. Yes Ross Brawn turned them into a dominant team for half a season and they struggled through to hang on to constructors and driver championships but that was based on one great idea. Since that time they have struggled behind the top 3 and have now fallen behind to Lotus.

With the same problems though it only takes 1 idea and they could be back to the top. It is always a gamble in F1 and Hamilton is going for it, he wants championships and so do the team. He will help move them forward and next year will have a another great driver to battle with in Rosberg, so until they whip the covers off next year we will continue to speculate.

This could work for Hamilton though in terms of himself, he has shown the need to escape from the old when he dropped his Dad as manager and you get the sense this is another one of those moments.