“Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle primes for its Best Buy debut - Los Angeles Times Blogs” plus 1 more

Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle primes for its Best Buy debut - Los Angeles Times Blogs

Posted: 30 Jul 2009 04:53 PM PDT

BMW will bug out of Formula 1 racing at the end of the 2009 season, company officials announced today, to which we say – in a collective exhalation of stunned amazement -- Wha…? Perhaps a Scooby Doo-like "Huh-hhhh?" The premium German automaker, based in Munich, attempted to put the best face on the announcement, not unlike a certain former Alaskan governor.

In a press conference today (full release after the jump), BMW AG board member Dr. Norbert Reithofer claimed the move was a "resolute step in view of our company's strategic realignment. ... Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability."

Uh-huh. Indeed, not retreat, but advancing in another direction.

There's a problem with this green smokescreen, of course, and that is that BMW had positioned its F1 effort as the spearhead of its advanced green technology initiative. I was just in BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen's office in November and he explained to me, with a seemingly straight face, that the company's hybrid research was being channeled through the F1 program's KERS development. KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems -- a means by which to recover energy lost under braking, capturing it either mechanically (with a flywheel) or electrochemically (with a battery). Theissen told me engineers from the road car division had been integrated into the F1 program precisely to aid technology transfer.

But what about the roughly 200 million Euros BMW kicks into the fire every year to go racing in F1? A little-known and largely unappreciated fact is, top-tier teams make money in F1 through sponsorship and merchandise. This decision was driven solely by the costs of losing to the Werks' image.

Here's my take: The KERS initiative has been a dismal failure and a distraction for the team, which has posted no wins and scored a mere eight championship points in 10 races. Although it's impossible to know from the outside, it appears that the team's results suffered at the hands of the corporation's larger image/technology goals.

In any event, it's one thing for Honda – which pulled out of F1 last year – to be a backmarker in the sport. It simply doesn't make good financial sense for BMW. Win or go home. Also, the F1 well has been utterly poisoned by the fight between the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the sports governing body, and the Formula One Team Assn. (FOTA), whose members threatened to pull out this year unless they got a larger share of revenue from F1.

BMW has plenty of other racing programs to look after, including World Superbike, so Theissen will still be busy. I only hope that one day soon, BMW will return to Le Mans with a full-bore prototype program, to contest for the win against the magnificently resurgent Peugeot.

-- Dan Neil

Photo: BMW

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Universal Technical Institute Renews Training Agreement With Mercedes ... - Biloxi Sun Herald

Posted: 03 Aug 2009 01:07 PM PDT

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PHOENIX, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) (the "Company"), the leading provider of technical education training, announced today that the Company has renewed its training agreement with Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA). As part of the agreement, UTI will continue to provide automotive and collision repair training for Mercedes-Benz dealer personnel at the Mercedes-Benz Learning & Performance Center and Collision Center in Houston, Texas, which are both operated by UTI on behalf of MBUSA.

In addition, UTI instructors will continue to provide technical and retail training at select Mercedes-Benz sites across the country. UTI will also assist MBUSA to launch the STARt program, a 12 week Mercedes-Benz elective program targeted to training top students in its automotive program.

Hendrik Hynekamp, general manager of the MBUSA Learning & Performance department, said, "In today's rapidly changing business environment, MBUSA looks for ways to be fast and agile to best support the Mercedes-Benz dealer network. In order to create learning opportunities that meet the dealers' business needs, we rely on UTI instructional staff to augment our overall training capacity for our dealer organization."

Kim McWaters, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Technical Institute, commented, "We are pleased to announce the continuation of this successful relationship. The Mercedes-Benz STARt program will provide greater opportunities for our students and a lower cost solution to the Mercedes-Benz dealerships."

MBUSA has a long-standing relationship with UTI that spans over a decade, including collaboration in advisory boards, the ELITE Program, and most recently with the STARt program.

About Universal Technical Institute

Universal Technical Institute is the leading provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians as measured by total average undergraduate enrollment. The company offers undergraduate degree, diploma and certificate programs at 10 campuses across the United States. Through its campus-based school system, Universal Technical Institute offers specialized technical education programs under the banner of several well-known brands, including Universal Technical Institute (UTI), Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and Marine Mechanics Institute (MMI) and NASCAR Technical Institute (NTI). We routinely post important information about us on our web site at www.uti.edu under the "About Us - Investors - Information" captions.

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