The CarWale Daily Fuel, May 14, 2012

• Volkswagen is keen on bringing its compact car Up! to the Indian market. To be positioned below the Polo, the Up! will compete with the likes of Beat, i10, Wagon-R and Figo. As a part of the Volkswagen aim to sell a million vehicles in India by 2018, the company is investing Rs 2000 crore into expansion and reinforcement of its production, sales and after-sales infrastructure in India.

• Maruti Suzuki, the automotive market leader in India, will adopt around 40 Industrial Training Institutes to generate potential employees and a talent pool to meet the workforce needs of their 18,000 crore Gujarat facility. As a part of their CSR, the adopted ITIs will also provide workforce to the Maruti Suzuki vendors and dealers.

• Mahindra will launch limited editions of the Scorpio and XUV500 for the Nampo Harvest Day Show in South Africa. Badged 'Adventure', these models will be displayed along with the Ssangyong cars at the Mahindra stall.

• BMW 7-series face-lift, to be launched in the US by the end of 2012, is expected to hit Indian shores soon after. The assembly of the 7-series has already started in the Chennai facility. With the new A8 and the upcoming S-Class, BMW would not want to stay far behind the competition.

• Formula One rookie Pastor Maldonado won the Spanish GP round after starting from pole. Excellent pit stop strategy coupled with top class driving gave the F1 season its fifth different winner in the first five races of the 2012 season. Former champion and Ferrari driver, Fernando Alonso, raced hard against the Williams, unable to overtake the race leader for ten laps in spite of being within the DRS zone.

• The Mini John Cooper Works GP is the fastest Mini ever built and will produce at least 214bhp. With race-spec suspension, brakes and an exclusive aero package, the Mini JCW GP should be fun to throw around.

• For those who were expecting Volkswagen to compete in the F1 in near future, the new VW motorsports chief, Jost Capito, is concentrating on the WRC spec Polo. However, the other marques that Volkswagen owns viz. Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti could possibly venture into F1. We just have to wait and watch. We recently reported that Bentley will be making a comeback to endurace racing.

• Only 100 Aston Martin DBS Ultimate Edition will be produced and sold on a first come first serve basis. For those who want one of these, make it sure you ring up the nearest dealer as soon as possible - the Coupe costs US$287,576 and the Volante US $302,576. That is Rs 1.54 crore for the Coupe and Rs 1.63 crore for the Volante before taxes.

• A 1957 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud drop-head coupe is up for auction in Monaco. The rarest of the rare Rolls, one of only two made, known as the honeymoon express for its details, is expected to get at least $1.59 million.

• Bentleys, known for their big-displacement engines, have decided to go green. The Continental GT V8 gives an approved 24mpg (8.5kmpl) on the highway in UK. The economy figures have almost doubled after the V8 came in with about 70bhp less without sacrificing much performance.

The CarWale Daily Fuel is your quick daily dose of automotive news from India and around the world. If you want to know whatever's in the news but want it short and sweet, here's your solution.