MINI to Pull Out of the WRC at the End of 2012 Pointing Towards the Financial Crisis as the Reason

Just as suddenly as it entered the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) after a decades-long hiatus in 2011, the BMW Group's MINI brand is abandoning the sport.

On Friday afternoon, the British carmaker announced that it will terminate its works involvement in the WRC at the end of the 2012 season by withdrawing its financial support for "WRC Team Mini Portugal".

The bad news came from Kay Segler, Senior Vice President MINI Business Coordination and Brand Management.

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Ford Australia to Take Over FPV Performance Brand from Prodrive

Ford Performance Vehicles (more commonly knows as FPV), which was originally established as a joint venture between Prodrive (51%) and Ford Australia (49%), will be absorbed by the Blue Oval's local arm.

The announcement was made on Thursday with Ford and FPV, the maker of cars like the Falcon-based GT RSPEC and F6 high performance sedans, expected to complete negotiations shortly.

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