Christian Klien put himself in pole position for the second race seat with Spyker after completing a full day's testing today with the team at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Christijan Albers was axed on Tuesday by the Dutch outfit, who cited "financial difficulties" as their reason claiming they had not been paid by one of the 28-year-old's sponsors.
Spyker then approached Honda, asking permission to use test driver Klien for the final day of the three-day programme at the Belgian circuit that returns to the Formula One calendar in September.
The Austrian did not disappoint, completing 63 laps, with his best an unofficial one minute 49.119secs, just two seconds off the pace set by Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari.
A decision as to who will drive for Spyker at the Grand Prix of Europe in 10 days' time is due to be announced soon.
Klien, though, knows he has increased his chances of competing at the Nurburgring.
"Obviously it was a new team, new car and a new seat and it took some time to get used to it, but there is a good bunch of people here and I felt at home straight away," said Klien.
"We did a lot of mileage, but obviously today's focus was to get used to the car and how the engine and gearbox works.
"I think it all went well, there is potential in the car and I enjoyed the day."
Raikkonen kept Ferrari out in front after Massa had yesterday topped the unofficial timesheets, with the Finn clocking 1:47.042 for the revamped 7.004km track.
Robert Kubica was second quickest for BMW Sauber, followed by two- time world champion Fernando Alonso in his McLaren, and then Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber.
Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), Alexander Wurz (Williams) and Jarno Trulli (Toyota) were fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Champ Car champion for the last three years Sebastien Bourdais was eighth for Toro Rosso, who are due to decide soon if the Frenchman has a race seat for 2008.
Takuma Sato completed 99 laps for Super Aguri and was ninth, while Rubens Barrichello was 10th for Honda, with Klien bringing up the rear.
sportinglife.com
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Car bookings in June: Honda lovers to pay more for their cars
KARACHI: All those Honda lovers who booked their cars in June are sure to be taken for a ride, as Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan wants its consumers to pay one percent special excise duty (SED) for cars booked in June.
The company that manufactures all makes of Honda for Pakistan is demanding that the consumers pay one percent special excise duty for all bookings made after June 9, 2007, the day the budget was announced. The company has also raised its prices by Rs 1,500 as an increase in freight and insurance expenses, Daily Times learnt from sources in the company. The budget 2007-08 evoked positive reactions from the automobile industry as imports of used vehicles were curtailed to three-year old machines only. Dealers cried farce as imported vehicles were popular among the middle-class buyers and were a good source of income for them. But it was the consumer that was affected the most by the announced budgetary measures. Locally manufactured cars were slapped one percent SED, which was to be applicable from July 1, 2007 and together with 2.5 percent withholding tax was to take effect from September 1, 2007.
Over the past week other auto manufacturers in the country, namely, Indus Motor Company and Pak Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that they would not burden their consumers with one percent SED for cars booked in June. But it isn’t good marketing in any way, as Honda Atlas Cars demands one percent SED from its consumers for car bookings in June. On top of this they are to wait for five to six months for the arrival of their cars.
Sources in the industry state that the company has had excess capacity for the past two years. The company produced 18,240 cars for the year ending March 31 2007 against pervious year’s production of 31,476 cars. Despite this, the company does not jack-up its production but chooses to test the consumers’ patience.
Interestingly, ‘The Vision Statement’ of the company, as published in the annual report for the year ending March 31, claims ‘focusing on satisfaction of customers, shareholders and associates’. It is difficult to see whether such practices by the company would actually satisfy its customers. Though it may satisfy its shareholders and associates. Even the most preliminary course in marketing tells us that loyal customers are a company’s greatest asset.
dailytimes.com.pk
The company that manufactures all makes of Honda for Pakistan is demanding that the consumers pay one percent special excise duty for all bookings made after June 9, 2007, the day the budget was announced. The company has also raised its prices by Rs 1,500 as an increase in freight and insurance expenses, Daily Times learnt from sources in the company. The budget 2007-08 evoked positive reactions from the automobile industry as imports of used vehicles were curtailed to three-year old machines only. Dealers cried farce as imported vehicles were popular among the middle-class buyers and were a good source of income for them. But it was the consumer that was affected the most by the announced budgetary measures. Locally manufactured cars were slapped one percent SED, which was to be applicable from July 1, 2007 and together with 2.5 percent withholding tax was to take effect from September 1, 2007.
Over the past week other auto manufacturers in the country, namely, Indus Motor Company and Pak Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that they would not burden their consumers with one percent SED for cars booked in June. But it isn’t good marketing in any way, as Honda Atlas Cars demands one percent SED from its consumers for car bookings in June. On top of this they are to wait for five to six months for the arrival of their cars.
Sources in the industry state that the company has had excess capacity for the past two years. The company produced 18,240 cars for the year ending March 31 2007 against pervious year’s production of 31,476 cars. Despite this, the company does not jack-up its production but chooses to test the consumers’ patience.
Interestingly, ‘The Vision Statement’ of the company, as published in the annual report for the year ending March 31, claims ‘focusing on satisfaction of customers, shareholders and associates’. It is difficult to see whether such practices by the company would actually satisfy its customers. Though it may satisfy its shareholders and associates. Even the most preliminary course in marketing tells us that loyal customers are a company’s greatest asset.
dailytimes.com.pk
German GP: Repsol Honda preview
The championship reaches the halfway mark at the Sachsenring
The world's top riders are in the middle of a hectic summer programme of racing that brings five races in just four weeks. After the excitement of Assen the teams move on to the circuit of the Sachsenring -- the German GP. Expect to see the recharged riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden going flat out to cut the gap that the leader Casey Stoner has over them.
The circuit of the Sachsenring is one of the newest in the World Championship, it was constructed in 1996 to replace the obsolete track that existed in exactly the same place and with the same name. One of its main characteristics is that the race is held in an anti-clockwise direction. It has a length of 3 671 metres and has two clearly difeerent sections, the first is very teccnical and slow and the second is faster.
The finishing line is at the start of the long straight on an upward slope and this is one of the shortest in the calendar. The Omega Curve is the most spectacular turn on the circuit since it takes the riders almost 300є and must be taken very slowly, it gives the sensation that it is never ending.
The German track is suited to the Repsol Honda riders since last season Hayden managed to finish third behind Rossi and Marco Melandri. Pedrosa was just behind these three in an exciting race where these four riders constantly overtook one another. The Spaniard started in pole position and set the fastest lap in the race itself.
Hayden will go to Germany on a high after finishing third at Assen, thanks to the modifications and improvements made to his Honda RC212 V, having recoverd his good vibrations. Meanwhile Pedrosa continues to improve, as he has been doing in the last few races, and this makes him optimistic going to Germany.
motorsport.com
The world's top riders are in the middle of a hectic summer programme of racing that brings five races in just four weeks. After the excitement of Assen the teams move on to the circuit of the Sachsenring -- the German GP. Expect to see the recharged riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden going flat out to cut the gap that the leader Casey Stoner has over them.
The circuit of the Sachsenring is one of the newest in the World Championship, it was constructed in 1996 to replace the obsolete track that existed in exactly the same place and with the same name. One of its main characteristics is that the race is held in an anti-clockwise direction. It has a length of 3 671 metres and has two clearly difeerent sections, the first is very teccnical and slow and the second is faster.
The finishing line is at the start of the long straight on an upward slope and this is one of the shortest in the calendar. The Omega Curve is the most spectacular turn on the circuit since it takes the riders almost 300є and must be taken very slowly, it gives the sensation that it is never ending.
The German track is suited to the Repsol Honda riders since last season Hayden managed to finish third behind Rossi and Marco Melandri. Pedrosa was just behind these three in an exciting race where these four riders constantly overtook one another. The Spaniard started in pole position and set the fastest lap in the race itself.
Hayden will go to Germany on a high after finishing third at Assen, thanks to the modifications and improvements made to his Honda RC212 V, having recoverd his good vibrations. Meanwhile Pedrosa continues to improve, as he has been doing in the last few races, and this makes him optimistic going to Germany.
motorsport.com
Sauber F1 expert follows ex-colleague to Honda
London, England - The Honda Formula 1 team has signed BMW Sauber chief designer Joerg Zander as deputy technical director.
Zander, 43, worked with BAR Honda from 2002 to 2005 as a chief engineer before moving to Williams as chief designer where he worked with Loic Bigois, the Frenchman who joined Honda on Monday as head of aerodynamics
Latest in a series of appointments to boost team
.
He left Williams for Swiss-based BMW Sauber in March 2006.
"This is the latest in a series of key appointments that we have made to bolster our team," senior technical director Shuhei Nakamoto said. "F1 is a rapidly changing sport and we need to evolve to keep pace.
"With the steady performance improvements we have made over the past few races and a strengthened technical team, I am sure that the difficulties we have seen in the first half of 2007 are now behind us."
Honda has scored only one point in nine races so far in the 2007 season.
motoring.co.za
Zander, 43, worked with BAR Honda from 2002 to 2005 as a chief engineer before moving to Williams as chief designer where he worked with Loic Bigois, the Frenchman who joined Honda on Monday as head of aerodynamics
Latest in a series of appointments to boost team
.
He left Williams for Swiss-based BMW Sauber in March 2006.
"This is the latest in a series of key appointments that we have made to bolster our team," senior technical director Shuhei Nakamoto said. "F1 is a rapidly changing sport and we need to evolve to keep pace.
"With the steady performance improvements we have made over the past few races and a strengthened technical team, I am sure that the difficulties we have seen in the first half of 2007 are now behind us."
Honda has scored only one point in nine races so far in the 2007 season.
motoring.co.za
James Toseland in number one Honda team for Suzuka 8-hour
James Toseland has been confirmed to ride in Honda’s number one factory team in this year’s Suzuka 8-hour race at the end of July.
Toseland will partner Japans Ryuichi Kiyonari on the number one Honda and the current British and World Superbike championship leaders are already being hotly tipped to win the prestigious event.
Toseland is currently in Japan completing a two day test in preparation for the Endurance event, but this time he’s there on his own with fellow Honda men Jonathan Rea, Carlos Checa and Kiyonari all unable to attend the test due to racing commitments at Oulton Park BSB and Sachsenring MotoGP this weekend.
During the opening day of the test Toseland got valuable wet track time with heavy rain falling at the Japanese track. The 26 year old Brit concentrated on tyre testing and lapped comfortably within the target time set by Honda.
This will be Toseland’s last test before the event takes place on 29th July 2008.
For a full report on Toseland’s test and his thoughts on his new team-mate see MCN out 18th July.
motorcyclenews.com
Honda's Acura In Race To Boost Rep As Performance Luxury
HONDA'S ACURA BRAND HAS FOR the first time entered racing this year with a factory-backed team as part of an effort to boost its reputation as a performance luxury brand versus companies like BMW, Porsche and Audi.
Acura has three cars in the prototype division of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The cars were developed by Santa Clarita, Calif.-based Honda Performance Development and are raced by Andretti Green Racing, Lowe's Fernandez Racing and Highcroft Racing.
Acura races in a prototype class called P2, whose million-dollar-plus vehicles look nothing like production cars, resembling instead the low-slung cars raced in Formula-style events. Porsche also fields vehicles in the P2 class, and Mazda also races. The larger LMP1 class vehicles--in which Audi is the only factory brand this year--are the most powerful cars in American Le Mans.
What makes the 12-event-per-year American Le Mans series unique in auto racing is that races have a free-for-all quality because four classes of vehicles--including modified Porsche, Ferrari, Panoz and Corvette production cars--race simultaneously on the same track, and rules are less strict even when it comes to fans' access to vehicles and teams: minutes before races, fans crowd the pre-race grid, swarming cars, snapping photos and even chatting up drivers.
"It's the most relevant series in racing today because the rules are open and flexible," says Robert Clarke, president of Honda Performance Development.
Wes Brown, automotive market consultant with Los Angeles-based marketing firm Iceology, says that Acura's success off the track and on the marketing circuit will depend on its not being shy about promoting the cars in advertising and PR, something that Acura's sibling, Honda--which made a name in CART and Formula--has done over the years.
"This is a much more affluent and educated audience, along the lines of Formula 1," he says. "I think what played into Honda's success in '80s and '90s--with younger guys especially--was the fact that Honda was so heavily involved in CART and F1, and they had strong marketing campaigns that tied into the fact that 'what we learn in racing is making its way into your vehicles in concrete ways'," he says.
Clarke alluded to that at a presentation at Lime Rock (Conn.) Park last week during the sixth race of the season. He said the Honda's premium division decided to enter racing to boost Acura's performance reputation and credibility both to consumers in the U.S. and Canada and worldwide as Acura expands into China and Japan.
"We joined American Le Mans because it gave us the clearest positioning versus world-class brands," he says. "American Honda wanted to establish Acura as a luxury and performance brand, so racing became a clear priority for Honda."
The fan base is relatively affluent and large, at least outside of the U.S. Per the Braselton, Ga.-based ALMS, 465 million households in 100 countries tuned in to broadcasts of ALMS races in 2006. A Nielsen Media study commissioned by the Series pegged the median age of ALMS fans at 41.7, with about half earning more than $90,000 per year, with 22.3% of fans having a net worth more than half a million dollars. Fifty-five percent of ALMS fans gave car-purchase advice within the previous six months, per Nielsen.
Clarke says Honda technology--such as VTEC (variable valve timing and lift electronic control), via F1, and metallurgic advances via Honda's CART program--are used in mass-production cars.
"That kind of message and positioning appeal to that 18-to-35-year-old guy into motor sports," says Brown. "That I can get a VTEC engine from the Formula 1 world in my car, for example - that clear linkage between motor sports and road vehicles that says you can get racing-bred performance in an everyday car--that has a tremendous effect on a brand's reputation."
And, while Honda touted its racing roots, Acura benefited as well, by extension. But Brown says that, as the Honda brand has evolved away from racing and as the company has moved to separate Acura and Honda - with separate design studios in separate buildings, for instance--Acura must create its own performance/lux image if it's going to compete with the likes of Audi and BMW, both of which strongly identify with racing.
"They have a brand promise and an emotional connection around it, and they spend a lot on motor sports. So Acura's success will depend on how are they going to market this activity to the consumer, so it's not just for the enthusiast. If they do it properly, it will help strengthen the Acura brand and its link with the male owner base." Karl Greenberg can be reached at karl@mediapost.com
publications.mediapost.com
Acura has three cars in the prototype division of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The cars were developed by Santa Clarita, Calif.-based Honda Performance Development and are raced by Andretti Green Racing, Lowe's Fernandez Racing and Highcroft Racing.
Acura races in a prototype class called P2, whose million-dollar-plus vehicles look nothing like production cars, resembling instead the low-slung cars raced in Formula-style events. Porsche also fields vehicles in the P2 class, and Mazda also races. The larger LMP1 class vehicles--in which Audi is the only factory brand this year--are the most powerful cars in American Le Mans.
What makes the 12-event-per-year American Le Mans series unique in auto racing is that races have a free-for-all quality because four classes of vehicles--including modified Porsche, Ferrari, Panoz and Corvette production cars--race simultaneously on the same track, and rules are less strict even when it comes to fans' access to vehicles and teams: minutes before races, fans crowd the pre-race grid, swarming cars, snapping photos and even chatting up drivers.
"It's the most relevant series in racing today because the rules are open and flexible," says Robert Clarke, president of Honda Performance Development.
Wes Brown, automotive market consultant with Los Angeles-based marketing firm Iceology, says that Acura's success off the track and on the marketing circuit will depend on its not being shy about promoting the cars in advertising and PR, something that Acura's sibling, Honda--which made a name in CART and Formula--has done over the years.
"This is a much more affluent and educated audience, along the lines of Formula 1," he says. "I think what played into Honda's success in '80s and '90s--with younger guys especially--was the fact that Honda was so heavily involved in CART and F1, and they had strong marketing campaigns that tied into the fact that 'what we learn in racing is making its way into your vehicles in concrete ways'," he says.
Clarke alluded to that at a presentation at Lime Rock (Conn.) Park last week during the sixth race of the season. He said the Honda's premium division decided to enter racing to boost Acura's performance reputation and credibility both to consumers in the U.S. and Canada and worldwide as Acura expands into China and Japan.
"We joined American Le Mans because it gave us the clearest positioning versus world-class brands," he says. "American Honda wanted to establish Acura as a luxury and performance brand, so racing became a clear priority for Honda."
The fan base is relatively affluent and large, at least outside of the U.S. Per the Braselton, Ga.-based ALMS, 465 million households in 100 countries tuned in to broadcasts of ALMS races in 2006. A Nielsen Media study commissioned by the Series pegged the median age of ALMS fans at 41.7, with about half earning more than $90,000 per year, with 22.3% of fans having a net worth more than half a million dollars. Fifty-five percent of ALMS fans gave car-purchase advice within the previous six months, per Nielsen.
Clarke says Honda technology--such as VTEC (variable valve timing and lift electronic control), via F1, and metallurgic advances via Honda's CART program--are used in mass-production cars.
"That kind of message and positioning appeal to that 18-to-35-year-old guy into motor sports," says Brown. "That I can get a VTEC engine from the Formula 1 world in my car, for example - that clear linkage between motor sports and road vehicles that says you can get racing-bred performance in an everyday car--that has a tremendous effect on a brand's reputation."
And, while Honda touted its racing roots, Acura benefited as well, by extension. But Brown says that, as the Honda brand has evolved away from racing and as the company has moved to separate Acura and Honda - with separate design studios in separate buildings, for instance--Acura must create its own performance/lux image if it's going to compete with the likes of Audi and BMW, both of which strongly identify with racing.
"They have a brand promise and an emotional connection around it, and they spend a lot on motor sports. So Acura's success will depend on how are they going to market this activity to the consumer, so it's not just for the enthusiast. If they do it properly, it will help strengthen the Acura brand and its link with the male owner base." Karl Greenberg can be reached at karl@mediapost.com
publications.mediapost.com
Honda's first-half China vehicle sales rise 30% on year
SHANGHAI (MarketWatch) -- Honda Motor Co. (HMC : Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
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2:01pm 07/12/2007
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HMC37.04, +0.42, +1.1%) said Wednesday it sold 186,993 vehicles in China in the first half, up 30% from 143,508 units in the first half of last year.
In June alone its vehicle sales totaled 36,139 units, up 25% from the same month in 2006.
Honda Motor has two joint ventures in China, one with Dongfeng Motor Group Co. (0489.HK) and another with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.
marketwatch.com
News , chart , profile , more
Last: 37.04+0.42+1.15%
2:01pm 07/12/2007
Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio
Analyst
Create alertInsider
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Financials
Sponsored by:
HMC37.04, +0.42, +1.1%) said Wednesday it sold 186,993 vehicles in China in the first half, up 30% from 143,508 units in the first half of last year.
In June alone its vehicle sales totaled 36,139 units, up 25% from the same month in 2006.
Honda Motor has two joint ventures in China, one with Dongfeng Motor Group Co. (0489.HK) and another with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.
marketwatch.com
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