SHANGHAI : Fast-rising British racing driver Lewis Hamilton is unlikely to make his Formula One debut for McLaren at next month’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old winner of the GP2 series has been widely tipped to become the first black Briton to take part in a Grand Prix, but McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh said it was not likely.

Whitmarsh was quoted by Autosport magazine saying: “I doubt it in truth, because we don’t need to,” when asked if the team were likely to promote Hamilton from testing duties to take part in the final race of the year.

“We don’t need to prove Lewis’s credentials in one way or the other in the remaining races,” said Whitmarsh, the McLaren team’s chief executive, ahead of this Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

“We’ll make those decision after Japan. I think the goal is now to develop Lewis and take a view as to when and where he makes his inevitable debut.”

Hamilton was involved in a successful week of testing with the McLaren team at Silverstone in Britain last week.

In addition to lapping the circuit, he was involved in pit-stop and starting practice, fuelling speculation that he might replace Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa in the final race of the season.

“He was going through all of the things that would give you an appreciation of what you need to learn,” Whitmarsh added.

“Everything in the car has got to become second nature and we thought it would be interesting to expose him to some of those things.”

Hamilton said: “If an opportunity came up, we would sit down and analyse if I am ready or not. I think it was 60 laps on Wednesday, and on Thursday I did 50 laps, so not a lot at all.

“Pedro has done thousands and thousands of laps and there is a lot to learn in this car.”

- AFP/ms

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DETROIT, Michigan : In a city struggling to deal with the slow disintegration of the iconic General Motors and Ford, Chrysler was the shining star whose bold designs could beat out the Asian competition.

That star fell to earth last week with the announcement of major production cuts amid a sharp drop in demand for the trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles that accounted for 71 percent of its unit sales.

While the Chrysler Group’s chief executive said the plant closings would be temporary and that sales were expected to pick up in the fourth quarter, Tom LaSorda’s caution that the group was considering all options in the face of a forecasted 1.5 billion dollar loss has many here worried about their jobs.

More than 60,000 high-paying union jobs at GM and Ford will be lost as the two giants undergo massive restructuring plans in the face of a steady loss of market share that accelerated as consumers shied away from the highly profitable but gasoline guzzling trucks and SUVs that the Big Three relied upon.

With Toyota openly attacking General Motor’s ranking as the world’s largest automaker and expected to soon overtake Ford as the second biggest seller in the United States, Chrysler’s missteps have struck deep at the pride of the Motor City.

And the consequences will be felt across the United States where an estimated 13.3 million jobs are dependent upon the automotive industry.

The production cuts announced recently have put enormous pressure on companies that supply parts to American carmakers, Himanshu Patel, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, said during a conference call Friday.

Two Detroit-area suppliers, Lear Corp. and BorgWarner, announced last week they were cutting the financial guidance for the balance because of the production cuts. BorgWarner also announced plans to lay off 6 percent of its staff worldwide in response to the changes.

A third major supplier, Dura Automotive Systems, which posted sales of more than two billion dollars in 2005, disclosed it had been warned it would be dropped from NASDAQ’s listings because its shares were trading for less than one dollar. A recent report from Lehman Brother’s indicated Dura was on the verge of seeking bankruptcy protection.

Ford - which had until recently been seen to be in better shape than General Motors - had its ratings cut deeper into junk status by both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s last week and is now considered to be equally - or perhaps even more - at risk.

“We view the automakers’ accelerated cost-cutting initiatives as a necessary pre-condition to any sustained improvements in credit quality,” Standard &Poor’s credit analyst Robert Schulz said.

“But a successful, multi-year turnaround on the revenue and product side will also be required. In the meantime, performance in North America will remain weak for the foreseeable future.”

Meanwhile, Toyota continues to push out new vehicles into segments long dominated by the Big Three.

Brian Smith, Toyota’s corporate manager for truck operations, said Monday that the Japanese auto giant expects to sell about 200,000 new Tundra pickup trucks next year. So far this year, Toyota has sold only 79,000 Tundras, but its executives believe the new truck it is getting ready to launch in February is coming to showrooms with new designs, new features and a new, more powerful engine.

JP Morgan’s Patel said during conference call with investors that new car-based crossover vehicles coming this fall will help American automakers. However, they are coming to showrooms with a lot new features and price tags that are smaller than those of the old sport utility vehicles.

“It’s an open ended questions about how profitable these vehicles (crossovers,) really are,” Patel said.

LaSorda said DaimlerChrysler AG planned to continue to press the United Auto Workers union for concessions, particularly on health care benefits, which have become increasingly expensive. So far, though, the union has turned down the company’s plea.

“No one likes to hear about your company losing money,” said Dale Hunt, president of UAW Local 7 at Chrysler’s Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit which will be on temporary layoff for the next month.

Hunt, however, said he other union leaders at Chrysler plants remain opposed to granting the company the kind of health-care concessions the union granted GM and Ford last year.

“I’m still against concessions,” he said after the production cuts were announced.

- AFP /ls

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PARIS : The Paris Motor Show will roar into life next Saturday when international car makers converge on the French capital hoping to wow crowds with prototype models and woo critics with green technologies.

This year, the mix of exhibits is expected to underscore two key developments for the industry and the global economy, namely concern about global warming and the emergence of China as a world manufacturing force.

After being thrown on the defensive last week by a ground-breaking court case in California, the industry is ready to prove its environmental credentials by showcasing hybrid cars, bio-fuel technology and emission innovations.

The US state of California said last Wednesday it was suing six US and Japanese automakers for their alleged contribution to global warming, the first such legal fight in the United States.

The 2006 Paris event show will be the first time Chinese manufacturers display their wares at the show in the French capital, underlining their ambition to compete with the leading sellers in Europe: Volkswagen of Germany, PSA Peugeot Citroen of France and Ford of the United States.

The Chinese presence, which was established at the Frankfurt auto show last year, will be led by manufacturers Landwind and Great Wall Motor.

Over the course of the two-week show, which runs from September 30 to October 15, more than 65 new models are to be given their world premiere in front of the more than one million people who attend each year.

Alongside new green technology, manufacturers will also look to satisfy appetites for big, gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and four-wheel-drives.

This has been one of the fastest growing segments of the car market in recent years, but a surge in petrol prices has switched many consumers’ attention to the importance of fuel efficiency.

This year’s show also coincides with a period of talks between some of the biggest names in the industry, many of which are struggling with acute global competition and rising production costs.

Renault and Nissan are in talks with General Motors with a view to including the struggling US giant in their two-way alliance.

And Malaysia’s loss-making national carmaker Proton said on Friday that the first round of talks on a possible pact with PSA Peugeot Citroen will begin this week.

Elsewhere in the industry, the US trio of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are all struggling to adapt to demand for more fuel efficient vehicles instead of trucks and SUVs.

Volkswagen is in the midst of a giant cost-cutting programme, French manufacturers Renault and PSA are facing falling market share in Europe while Italian group Fiat is still recovering after years of losses.

Meanwhile, Japanese group Toyota continues to expand. It set itself a goal last week of selling 9.8 million vehicles worldwide in 2008 as it looks to overtake General Motors to claim the crown as the world’s top automaker. - AFP/de

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