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Toyota has been named Best Car Manufacturer at the 2007 Which? Awards, the magazine’s inaugural awards for the best products and services in the UK. Toyota beat runners-up BMW, Audi, Honda, Lexus and Mazda.

The Which? Awards judges said: “Toyota deserves to win this award thanks to a combination of its innovative thinking and excellent value for money. You can’t go wrong when buying a Toyota. Its models usually do everything well and always score highly in every area of our tests, as well as in our annual car owner’s survey.”

GM plans to launch its first Kazakh-produced Chevrolet onto the Kazakh market next month after opening its first Chevrolet assembly line in the country, the Kazakhstan government has reported. The assembly line, a partnership between Asia Avto and GM Daewoo, was opened at the Asia Avto plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk in a ceremony attended by the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The Lacetti, Epica and Captiva models will be the first to be assembled, in a volume expected to reach 1,300 this year and over 3,000 in 2008, assembled from kits of parts supplied from South Korea by GM Daewoo.

Kazakhstan’s annual vehicle sales exceeded 60,000 for the first time in 2006, and are expected to increase to 250,000 within five years.

General Motors has reached a definitive agreement to sell its $2bn-turnover Allison Transmission commercial and military business to The Carlyle Group (Carlyle) and Onex Corporation (Onex) for approximately $5.6 billion.

The sale covers includes nearly all of the Allison business, including seven manufacturing facilities in Indianapolis and its worldwide distribution network and sales offices, but the production facility in Baltimore dedicated to transmissions used in GM’s pick-up trucks and SUVs will remain with GM. The transaction is expected to be completed as early as the third quarter of this year pending union and regulatory approval.

“This is another important step to strengthen our liquidity,” said Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and CEO.

Seth Mersky, managing director of Onex said, “We believe Allison is poised for excellent growth in its sector with the increasing rate of adoption of automatic transmissions in commercial vehicles both in North America and abroad.”

GM’s stock rose in trading on the NYSE following the announcement.

General Motors today announced the “Transform Your Ride Sale,” tied to the 4 th of July holiday release of DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures’ live-action film “Transformers” from Executive Producer Steven Spielberg and Director Michael Bay, opening July 3, 2007. The “Transform Your Ride Sale” offers qualified buyers 0 percent APR for 36 months – plus $1,000 cash – on select Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac and GMC vehicles (a list of eligible vehicles follows). The “Transform Your Ride Sale” runs June 26 through July 9, 2007.

“People who have recently switched to a GM vehicle tell us we’ve really changed their previous perceptions about our products. They love their new car or truck,” said Jim Campbell, GM’s director of Customer Relationship Management. “We’ve enhanced the value of our cars and trucks with features like OnStar, XM Radio, superior quality and the best coverage in the business with a 5 year / 100,000 mile powertrain warranty plus roadside assistance and courtesy transportation. Just look at the award-winning Chevrolet Silverado or hot HHR. The “Transform Your Ride Sale” gives everyone the opportunity to buy a new car or truck with outstanding style, great fuel economy, performance and value.”

Saturn will continue its innovative “Side by Side by Side” campaign and will be offering bonus cash on select models. Cadillac, Hummer and Saab also will continue to offer attractive deals on select models in their lineups.

The “Transform Your Ride Sale” is supported with an integrated marketing program including 30-second television spots, 60- and 30-second radio spots, print advertising, digital online advertising, Web site homepage grabs and gaming plus other activities. The television advertising, by McCann Erickson Detroit, features a variety of vehicles, including the Chevrolet Silverado and Cobalt, Buick Lucerne, Pontiac G6 and GMC Yukon. The spots incorporate actual scenes from the movie and are directed by Michael Bay (advertising fact sheet follows).

All of the “Transform Your Ride” TV spots originated in High-Definition (HD) format, starting with Super 35mm motion picture film. The visual effects and animation were also rendered in HD, and the HD versions of the final spots include a 5.1 surround sound mix.

Eligible Vehicles List

Chevrolet: 2006 and 2007 Cobalt, Monte Carlo, Impala, HHR, TrailBlazer, Tahoe, Suburban, Avalanche and 2007 900-series Silverado

Buick: 2006 and 2007 Lacrosse, Lucerne and Rainier

Pontiac : 2006 and 2007 G5, G6, Grand Prix and Torrent

GMC: Envoy, Yukon, Yukon Denali, Yukon XL, Yukon XL Denali and 2007 900-series Sierra

Note: Customers should visit their neighborhood GM dealer for complete details and offer restrictions.

There is drama going on in Italy at the moment - but no-one seems to be quite sure exactly what is happening. As we reported a few days ago a senior member of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has run into trouble with the team. Nigel Stepney, the team’s technical coordinator, is now being investigated by the public prosecution service in Modena.

“Nigel Stepney is still an employee but we have brought an action against him,” said a Ferrari spokesman. “It is not related to any event, it is related to his behaviour.”

Ferrari is not saying what Stepney is supposed to have done but stories in Italy allege that there was an attempt to sabotage the Ferrari F1 cars before the Monaco Grand Prix. This sounds rather unlikely - and even more difficult to prove. There have also been allegations flying about that Stepney has been selling Ferrari equipment to other teams. At the same time Stepney was talking openly to other teams about his future employment and, we hear, was proposing to bring a group of top engineers from Ferrari with him. No-one knows who this group included but obviously this would have meant trouble at Maranello. When we last spoke to Stepney he alleged that Ferrari had people trailing him wherever he went. It was in this period that he had meetings with Honda F1.

Stepney started his F1 career at the age of 21, after cutting his teeth with Broadspeed in the European Touring Car Championship. He began his Grand Prrix career with the Shadow F1 team and then worked at Team Lotus from 1980-1988 before moving to Benetton. During this time he worked with Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet and in 1992 he ran a Formula 3000 team for Piquet before being asked by former Benetton technical director John Barnard to join Ferrari.

He started working at Ferrari in January 1993 and played an important role, with Jean Todt and Ross Brawn, in getting the team organised enough to win a string of World Championships with Michael Schumacher. With Brawn having departed and Todt in his twilight years with the organisation, the wheels of the relationship have now come off in the biggest possible way. Stepney was not happy with the role given him by the team after Brawn’s departure and over the winter he was taken off the race team.

For the moment, Stepney has gone to ground. He is rumoured to be in Asia.

Three more people have died after a drag-racing car went out of control and careened into a crowd of spectators, raising the death toll to seven, state officials said Sunday.

The crash occurred Saturday night during an “exhibition burnout” — when a driver spins his tires to make them heat up and smoke — at the Cars for Kids charity event in Selmer, located about 80 miles east of Memphis.

Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning said the seven who died included a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. At least eight people were taken to hospitals and several others had minor injuries, he said.

Amateur video of the crash, broadcast on WMC-TV in Memphis, showed the car’s engine revving loudly before the vehicle sped down a highway lined with spectators on both sides. After a few hundred feet, the smoking car skidded off the road.

There was a guard rail along at least part of the highway, but state officials could not immediately say if the spectators were standing behind the rail where the crash occurred.

The identities of the victims and the driver were not immediately released.

Mourners placed small votive candles at the crash site early Sunday.

Witness Scott Henley said the vehicle started burning off its tires, then fishtailed and slammed into a utility pole before spinning around into the audience.

Selmer Police Chief Neal Burks said “bodies were flying into the air when it happened.”

“I saw body parts flying everywhere,” said witness Sean Hood.

Browning said the vehicle was a drag-racing car, but he did not have details.

Matthew Brammer, administrator of AMS Pro Modified Series, which sanctions drag races, said late Saturday that the car involved has been driven by drag racer Troy Critchley, of Wylie, Texas, but he did not know if Critchley was driving when the car struck the crowd.

The AMS Pro Modified Series later issued a news release saying the driver was a veteran of more than 20 years in drag racing and had to be taken to an emergency room.

The release said the driver was performing a burnout when road conditions caused the car to go out of control.

“The race team is in shock and deeply saddened by this unexpected event. Their hearts and prayers are with the injured people and their families,” the release said.

Sheriff’s officials and police closed the festival shortly after the crash. About 40,000 to 60,000 people were expected to attend the weekend event.

Cars for Kids holds several events throughout the nation and raises close to $200,000 annually for charities that help children in need, according to its Web site.

The charity was formed in 1990, two years after founder Larry Price’s son, Chad, suffered a severe head injury in a bicycle accident.

Price promised that if his son was saved from lifelong injuries, he would spend the rest of his life raising funds for disabled children, according to the Web site.

Price could not be reached for comment Saturday night.

German auto supplier Continental is to invest $89.5 million on the construction of a hydraulic brake plant in Changshu City, northwest of Shanghai, with production expected to begin next year.

The new manufacturing facility, designed to further enhance Continental Automotive Systems’ manufacturing presence in China as one of the fastest growing automotive market in the world, will be built in phases in the Changshu Southeast Economic Development Zone in Jiangsu province. When construction is completed in 2008, the plant will produce hydraulic brake products and services consisting of calipers for front and rear axles and brake boosters for vehicles at all classes, and supplying to numerous OEM customers in China, Japan and Korea. The annual production capacity is aimed to reach 2 millions of brake actuation units and 4.6 millions of brake caliper by 2011.

Karl-Thomas Neumann, president of Continental Automotive Systems and member of the executive board, Continental AG, gave credit to the fast growing Asian automotive market as a key driver in the company’s development in Asia: “With its rapid growth during the past decade, Asia has indisputably become a key marketplace in the future development of the global automotive industry. The new plant in Changshu will bring our products and engineering services even closer to our customers in the region.”

Toyota has announced that global cumulative sales of Toyota hybrid vehicles have topped the 1 million mark, with approximately 1,047,000 units sold worldwide as of May 31, 2007.

Toyota launched the Prius — the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle — in Japan in 1997 and began selling it in North America, Europe and elsewhere in 2000.

The second-generation Prius, equipped with the Toyota Hybrid System II, was introduced in 2003 with an emphasis on delivering both environmental performance and power.  Over time, Toyota has expanded the use of its hybrid system to minivans, SUVs, rear-wheel-drive sedans and other vehicles.

Toyota began overseas production of hybrid vehicles in Changchun, China in 2005 and in Kentucky in the United States in 2006.

Toyota says that as of April 30, 2007, worldwide sales of its hybrid vehicles since 1997 have greatly contributed to reductions in CO2 emissions, which are considered a cause of global warming, by producing approximately 3.5 million fewer tons of CO2 compared with the same class gasoline-powered vehicles of similar size and driving performance.

Toyota says it aims to double its hybrid lineup and achieve annual sales of one million units in the early part of the 2010s.