Brawn expects to lose Virgin, no Merc buy-in yet

*news*

Ross Brawn does not expect his team's cars to carry the sponsorship of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group next season.

Virgin agreed to sponsor the team just before the season began in March, just weeks after Brawn had secured their survival in the wake of Honda's decision to pull out of the sport.

The decision paid off as Jenson Button took the Drivers' Championship, with his efforts and those of team-mate Rubens Barrichello also enough for Brawn to take the Constructors' title.

But team principal Brawn has conceded that he does not expect the Virgin partnership to continue as his all-conquering team look to repeat their success in 2010.

"We had a great year with Virgin but they have different ambitions next year so it's unlikely you will see their name on the car next year," he said.

"They had the faith or good luck to be with us from the start and won a Championship with us but it doesn't look like they will continue."

Brawn also hinted that a link-up with engine manufacturers Mercedes-Benz was not far away from being finalised.

The German car giants have been linked with taking a 75% stake in the Brackley-based team which could provide the financial backing required to again see off Ferrari and McLaren.

"Mercedes is a very important part of our team and without the engine we would not have won the Championship," said Brawn.

"It was the best engine in Formula One and we have formed a great partnership together.

"We are looking at all opportunities for the future but it is too early to announce anything yet.

"But it is an amazing contrast we have been through as a team this year.

"We were in the depths of despair last winter when we didn't know if we would have a team at all and then to win the World Championships was amazing.

"It has been an incredible journey but now we must focus on next year."

Brawn revealed the team have been working hard in order to ensure their continued progress next season.

"We are in good shape for next year," he added.

"We were fortunate to get a big lead early on and that allowed us to start on next year's car early.

"We could consolidate and concentrate on finishing races and picking up the points to wrap up the title and our design team have been working flat out on the 2010 car since the summer."

Brawn expects to lose Virgin, no Merc buy-in yet

*news*

Ross Brawn does not expect his team's cars to carry the sponsorship of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group next season.

Virgin agreed to sponsor the team just before the season began in March, just weeks after Brawn had secured their survival in the wake of Honda's decision to pull out of the sport.

The decision paid off as Jenson Button took the Drivers' Championship, with his efforts and those of team-mate Rubens Barrichello also enough for Brawn to take the Constructors' title.

But team principal Brawn has conceded that he does not expect the Virgin partnership to continue as his all-conquering team look to repeat their success in 2010.

"We had a great year with Virgin but they have different ambitions next year so it's unlikely you will see their name on the car next year," he said.

"They had the faith or good luck to be with us from the start and won a Championship with us but it doesn't look like they will continue."

Brawn also hinted that a link-up with engine manufacturers Mercedes-Benz was not far away from being finalised.

The German car giants have been linked with taking a 75% stake in the Brackley-based team which could provide the financial backing required to again see off Ferrari and McLaren.

"Mercedes is a very important part of our team and without the engine we would not have won the Championship," said Brawn.

"It was the best engine in Formula One and we have formed a great partnership together.

"We are looking at all opportunities for the future but it is too early to announce anything yet.

"But it is an amazing contrast we have been through as a team this year.

"We were in the depths of despair last winter when we didn't know if we would have a team at all and then to win the World Championships was amazing.

"It has been an incredible journey but now we must focus on next year."

Brawn revealed the team have been working hard in order to ensure their continued progress next season.

"We are in good shape for next year," he added.

"We were fortunate to get a big lead early on and that allowed us to start on next year's car early.

"We could consolidate and concentrate on finishing races and picking up the points to wrap up the title and our design team have been working flat out on the 2010 car since the summer."

Truck market to start recovering in 2010 - Mercedes-Benz

The truck market continues to take a pummelling, even as early indications are that the global recession has started to bottom out.

Sales of extra heavy commercial vehicles were down 57% year-to-date at the end of July compared with 2008, with heavy commercial vehicles down 44,7%, and medium commercial vehicles 44,4%.

The bus market provides the only ray of hope in the commercial vehicle segment at the moment, at a 2% negative compared with 2008, this as government is equipping the public transport sector for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) commercial vehicles vicepresident Kobus van Zyl says truck sales typically lag passenger car sales by a few months.

As truck sales were still buoyant long after passenger car sales had entered the downturn, Van Zyl expects the truck market to now only pick up at the beginning of the next year, with passenger car sales already stabilising.

However, the extra-heavy commercial market is only expected to bottom out next year somewhere.

“Cars are down 29%. We would love that number right now,” says Van Zyl.

On a year-to-date basis, total truck sales are down from 21 884 units in 2008, to the current 11 398 units.

Van Zyl expects a South African truck market of 19 430 units this year.

This is a huge drop from last year's 34 664 units, and 2007’s record-breaking 37 069 units.

As recently as 2003, the truck market stood at an annual volume of 16 327 units.

Despite the doom and gloom, Van Zyl points out that the South African truck market is faring well compared with the rest of the world, with the segment down 60% in Western and Eastern Europe, for example.

Van Zyl says the local market is witnessing a lot of fleet replacement rather than expansion at the moment.

“Over the last few years companies build up their fleets to prepare for government's infrastructure spend, and now we see things starting to stabilise.”

Following much criticism from the trucking industry earlier this year that South Africa's traditional banks were shying away from providing credit to the automotive sector, Van Zyl believes the country's large banks have now started to return to the market.

“We are not where we were before the crisis, but the banks are definitely playing the market again. The banks are moving back. They understand the commercial vehicle market better now, and they are pricing the risk better,” he explains.

Around 45% of commercial vehicle deals within MBSA are funded in-house.

One aspect that has not improved is that the commercial vehicle parc is not providing service income to truck dealers as is the case with passenger vehicle dealers.

“Trucks are standing still, they are simply being parked, so workshop throughput has fallen dramatically,” notes Van Zyl.

He adds that MBSA's truck plant in East London, doing completely knockdown production, has been “severely affected” by the market downturn, but notes that no staff has been retrenched.

“To enable the plant to remain open we have spread out production volumes over the rest of the year. We have spend a lot of time and effort to build up expertise, and we do not want to lose this.”

Van Zyl notes that it was also important to retain staff in the light of the bus deal the company has clinched from the Gautrain rapid-rail link project, and the government supply contract it has secured for the World Cup.

Government earlier this year handed MBSA and MAN Truck & Bus the contracts to supply 570 buses to transport spectators, officials and players for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

MBSA will supply 168 semiluxury and 292 intercity buses, and MAN 110 general spectator buses.

Bombela, the company building the Gautrain rapid-rail link, and the company which will operate it for 15 years, has also signed a deal with MBSA for the supply of 125 buses which will service the project’s feeder and distribution routes.

source:http://www.engineeringnews.co.za