Not all doom and gloom in the car world

TATA logo will appear on Ferrari F1 cars

Positive news from carmakers world are rather rare these days. The big three in the USA are staring bankruptcy in the face, Subaru and Suzuki pulled out of World Rally Championship and we all know what steps Honda took … But there are some that buck the trends:

1) Ferrari managed to get themselves new sponsor. And the new sponsor is a carmaker – TATA Motor. The Indian car manufacturer that used to sponsor Williams (or pay for Narain Karthikeyan’s test driver seat at Williams) has agreed a sponsorship deal with Ferrari, becoming the first Indian brand to appear on Ferrari F1. The details and duration of the deal are to be announced shortly.

TATA and Ferrari’s parent company Fiat have also a connection outside F1 – a joint venture car plant in Maharashtra.

2) A bit further away from F1 – Volkswagen announced today expansion of its plant in Bratislava, Slovakia. VW will create 2,000 new jobs in its Slovak plant and will invest almost USD410 million. VW is planning to produce two new small family-car models at the Bratislava. Volkswagen, which launched production in Slovakia in 1991, has not cut production in the Bratislava factory in which it produces the VW Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Skoda Octavia models.

Rather unusual news these days …