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Fernando Alonso denies giving McLaren a Honda-or-me ultimatum

MONZA, Italy — Fernando Alonso has denied telling McLaren to choose between him and Honda as the Spaniard considers his future with the Formula One team. The two-time world champion also dismissed media speculation that he retired from last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix without there being anything technically wrong with his car's power unit. Some reports this week suggested that Alonso had run out of patience after three years of unreliable and under-powered engines and had told McLaren he would leave if it stayed with Honda. "Absolutely not true," the Spaniard, who won his titles with Renault more than a decade ago, told reporters at the Italian Grand Prix on Thursday. "I have absolutely not decided. More than anything I'm not bigger than a team," added the 36-year-old, who has said he will decide his future in September. His current contract expires at the end of the season. McLaren has sounded out Renault and has also indicated it would support Honda moving to Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso. Honda said after Spa that it could find nothing wrong with Alonso's race engine, but the driver expressed surprise that anyone could suggest he had faked a failure. "It seems people forget that I'm racing here for three years, giving my maximum ... I tried to race with a broken rib in Bahrain," he said, explaining that sensors had started to fail and something had felt wrong. "We retired the car, and they checked the whole engine and it seems everything is fine ... so we will try to fit that engine tomorrow (in the second practice). If it blows up, we will change it," he said. Alonso expects to start Sunday's race at the back of the grid due to penalties for further engine changes. Regarding his future, he said he would start discussing with the team and Honda their expectations for next year and look at what was on the table. "I think we do have now some ingredients to be champions," he said. "I think the team did improve a lot in the last three years ... I think we have the talent in the team, we have the facilities. "We just miss (being) more competitive. We will see what the numbers are saying for next year and after that try to make a decision." Asked whether he thought Honda could be competitive in the short term, he replied: "I think you never know. It could be possible. Why not?" Reporting by Alan BaldwinRelated Video:

Carmakers ask Trump to revisit fuel efficiency rules

Car companies operating in the US are required to meet stringent fuel efficiency standards (a fleet average of 54.5MPG) through 2025, but they're hoping to loosen things now that President Trump is in town. Leaders from Fiat Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and VW have sent a letter to Trump asking him to rethink the Obama administration's choice to lock in efficiency guidelines for the next several years. The car makers want to revisit the midterm review for the 2025 commitment in hopes of loosening the demands. They claim that the tougher requirements raise costs, don't match public buying habits and will supposedly put "as many a million" jobs up in the air. The Trump administration hasn't specifically responded to the letter, although Environmental Protection Agency nominee Scott Pruitt had said he would return to the Obama-era decision. The automakers' argument doesn't entirely hold up. While the EPA did estimate that the US would fall short of efficiency goals due to a shift toward SUVs and trucks, the job claims are questionable. Why would making more fuel efficient vehicles necessarily cost jobs instead of pushing companies to do better? As it is, even a successful attempt to loosen guidelines may only have a limited effect. All of the brands mentioned here are pushing for greater mainstream adoption of electric vehicles within the next few years -- they may meet the Obama administration's expectations just by shifting more drivers away from gas power. This article by Jon Fingas originally appeared on Engadget, your guide to this connected life. Related Video: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images Government/Legal Green Chrysler Fiat GM Honda Hyundai Nissan Toyota Volkswagen Fuel Efficiency CAFE standards Trump

Honda could halve its US lineup without crimping its sales much [w/video]

Taking a detailed look at the Honda lineup in the US, it isn't hard to see the strength of some models and the weaknesses of others. A recent report on Autoline Daily points out that its five core models - the Accord, Civic, CR-V, Odyssey and Pilot - make up a full 93 percent of Honda's sales in the US. Through April, Honda has sold 419,798 vehicles, and 389,474 of them were from these core models; not to mention the fact that the Accord was the top-selling car in the US last month.
This means that Honda could technically cut six of its 11 models and only lose about 5,000 sales per month. Of course, this is just some data crunching and there is no reason to believe that Honda is planning to kill off any of its models in the near future. In fact, it seems to be committed to the Ridgeline, while Japanese-made models that may actually lose money for Honda still fill unique voids. Scroll down for the video report - fast-forward to the 1:43 mark for the Honda info.