APRIL 29, 2003

Honda punchy about the future

The BAR-Honda team goes to Barcelona this week with new aerodynamic parts which the team hope will improve the performance of the promising combination. Honda is expected to put more effort than ever into the F1 program under the guidance of new president Takeo Fukui, and the company has just announced impressive new sales targets which will lift vehicle sales by 7.7% this year. If that happens the company will be building over three million vehicles a year. Honda is predicting growth both in Europe and North America, which is pretty impressive in the current economic situation.

Other car manufacturers are not doing as well. Renault has just announced its first quarter results for 2003 and, despite a new product range, sales are down 2.86%. Renault says the drop in sales is due to the sluggish European market. The news will add pressure to the Renault F1 team as money is needed for the organization to invest in the much-needed new V10 engine for 2004. A decision on that has to be made very shortly.