NEWS
7 AUGUST 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 21
THE DTM, GERMANY’S
high-profi le, high-powered
touring car series, returns to
Brands Hatch this weekend
- but not as we’ve known it.
First, traditional but
outdated V8s have been
ditched in favour of in-vogue
turbocharged four-cylinder
engines. Uh-oh. If that’s not
hard enough to swallow,
Mercedes-Benz – king of the
DTM pretty much for ever
- has withdrawn, replaced
in part by a new effort under
the guise of... Aston Martin.
Eh? What is going on?
Never fear. As Scottish
ex-Formula 1 ace Paul di
Resta assures us, the DTM is
different, but it hasn’t reallychanged. “Honestly, if you
didn’t know the engines
were new, you wouldn’t
notice from the sound,” he
says. “The cars are quicker,
t o o. T he y ge ne r at e p o w e r i n
a different way, they are very
torquey – and they are fun.
They are brutal and still give
the same old aspects: raw
noise and excitement.”
It’s strange to think
di Resta is still only 33. He
raced Mercedes-powered
cars for 14 straight years,
beating Sebastian Vettel to a
Euro Formula 3 title in 2006
before turning pro in the
DTM and winning the title
in 2010. The leap to Formula
1 followed, racing Merc-
powered Force Indias for
three seasons. But having
been spat out earlier than
he deserved, Paul is back
‘home’ in the DTM whilea l s o r a c i n g s p or t s c a r s.
`
DTM cars are brutal. They still give
raw noise and excitement
a
RACING LINES
GET IN TOUCH
Damien Smith
His new programme,
run by old Merc DTM hand
HWA for R-Motorsport,
exists under licence to Aston
rather than as an offi cial
‘works’ effort, but boss
Andy Palmer has given it
a very public blessing. The
DTM isn’t an obvious fi t, but
Aston Martin is widening
its perspective on all fronts
a nd , s ay s d i R e s t a , it s
presence is already making
a difference. A long-mooted
tie-up with Japan’s Super
GT series will soon become
a reality, with a trial race at
Fuji on 23-24 November.
“I’ve heard this story for
the past 10-12 years and it
has never come to light – butit has now,” says di Resta.
“I fundamentally believe
that has a lot to do with
Aston Martin coming in. It’s
about not being too German
s o t h at L e x u s , To y ot a a nd
Nissan can run in Europe
and we run cars in Japan.”
But at Brands Hatch this
weekend, all thoughts for
di Resta will be to shine at
home against the might
of Audi and BMW in what
has inevitably been a year
of growing pains for the
Vantage-based Astons. “The
cars are going to be lively
on the Grand Prix track,”
he says. “They were quick
enough last year and will be
quicker still this time.
“With how the power is
generated, the tyre is more
fragile, degradation is high,
so you will see overtaking.
“You will defi nitely getthe wow factor.”
MOT
ORSPORT
I
MAGE
SPa u l d i Resta w i l l ra ce a n Asto n M a r t i n i n DTM at Bra n d s H atch
Loss £612m (-135%) Revenue £20.3bn (-1%) Sales 575,639 (-3%) (Second quarter figures)
Mercedes parent Daimler – the car, truck and van business – has issued four profit warnings in
2019, largely because it is setting aside £1.5bn to cover a fine expected to be levied after Mercedes
transgressed diesel emission regulations. A further £0.9bn has been allocated for a Takata airbag
recall in the US. Sales, meanwhile, have been hit by the global trade war between the US and China
and the diesel backlash in Europe. Most affected were SUV sales, which dropped to 181k units (-13%),
although the new A-Class boosted its sales significantly, up 27% to 124k units. But the overall effect
has been stark: last year, in three months’ trading (March to June), Mercedes Cars made a £2.4bn
profit. The comparative figure this year is a £612m loss and a negative profit margin of 3%. Ouch.
Profit £12m (-98%) Revenue £17.9bn (-12.7%) Sales 1.23m (-6.0%) (First quarter figures)
Nissan just about scraped a profit in its first quarter, blaming the near-wipe-out of its profits
co m p a r e d w i th Q 1 2 0 1 8 o n fewe r s a l e s , h i g h e r raw m a te r i a l co st s , exch a n g e ra te fl u c tu a ti o n s a n d
investment costs to meet new emissions rules. Europe dragged down the sales figures, with a 16.3%
drop to 135k units, as did Japan (-2.6%) and the rest of the world (-13%), although sales in China were
up (by 2.3%). In response, Nissan is cutting around 12k jobs globally, pruning some compact cars
from its model range and reducing annual production capacity to 6.6m by 2022, a cut of 600k.
Profit £122m (-99.9%) Revenue £32.1bn (-0.2%) Sales 1.364m (+9%) (Second quarter figures)
Ford launched key new models such as the US-market Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, but restructuring
costs in Europe and South America just about wiped out a £1.1bn operating profit in automotive.
It ended up making £122m in the second quarter, but that’s tiny compared with Q2 2018, when it
reported a £0.91bn profit. Much-publicised attempts to shift Ford into the technology business
continue to flounder and an investment in cloud-based Pivotal Software had to be written down
by £149m. More positively, Europe is showing signs of stabilising, with sales of 379k units (up 3%)
translating into a profit of £44m, the first quarterly improvement in two years. However, European
market share remains under pressure and fell by 0.2%.
FORD
MERCEDES-BENZ CARS
NISSAN