– Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc. are preparing to announce plans for a new race in Britain, says Chief Executive Christopher Pook, part of a program to boost the open-wheel series in its rivalry with the Indy Racing League. Pook declined to discuss details of the announcement, but ESPN’s Web site and Autoweek.com have reported CART was looking to have a race at the Brands Hatch track, which was used by the European-based Formula One racing series.
– Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has made its truck and bus business a separate company to focus on turning around its car operations, whose sales have sunk in Japan since a scandal two years ago involving a cover-up of defects. The new company, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp., will be 43 percent owned by DaimlerChrysler AG, which owns 37.3 percent of Mitsubishi.
– Porsche AG will boost its U.S. advertising spending 50 percent this year as it rolls out commercials for its Cayenne sport-utility vehicle, which a company executive says will halt a slide in U.S. sales. The Cayenne commercials will appear during National Football League playoff games and then return before the Cayenne goes on sale in March, says Fred Schwab, chief executive of Porsche’s North American unit. U.S. sales should take half the 25,000 Cayennes built annually in Germany, he says.
