• Audi marked its 13th win in Le Mans 24 hours by winning the 2014 race in front of 300,000 spectators who came to witness the world toughest endurance race. “It was a race of the kind you can only experience at Le Mans,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “There were many incidents and none of the top cars made it across the distance without any problems. The decisive factors were that our Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars were able to drive consistently fast for 24 hours, our drivers made no mistakes and our squad responded properly and quickly to the issues that occurred. In Porsche and Toyota we had two really strong rivals who, as expected, did not make life easy for us. I always believed that, in spite of the particularly difficult prerequisites for us this year, we’d be able to succeed and that we’ve got the most efficient race car. That we succeeded again makes me feel proud.

• Europe’s passenger car registrations rose four per cent in May as growing consumer confidence encouraged purchases of new models. Volume brands such as Renault, Peugeot, Opel and Skoda gained sales while Ford Motor, Fiat and Hyundai lost ground. Registrations in the EU and EFTA markets increased to 1.13 million vehicles from 1.09 million a year earlier, industry association ACEA, said. Five-month sales gained seven per cent to 5.62 million cars.

• Bentley is on track to introduce its new SUV in 2016. The vehicle, which may be called the Falcon, will share its platform with the next-generation Audi Q7 and the Lamborghini Urus SUVs. Bentley expects to sell about 3,000 units of the SUV annually, so the model will be key to the brand’s goal of boosting annual sales to 15,000 by 2018 from last year’s record volume of 10,120. The biggest market for the SUV is expected to be the United States, which will receive a third of the production, followed by China and the UK.

• In a recent test drive arranged by Mohammed Yousuf Naghi Motors — the authorized dealer for Jaguar and Land Rover in Saudi Arabia — a number of automotive journalists were invited to a special track at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to try their driving skills on various Jaguar models under different road conditions. The test-drive sessions which ran for four days under the slogan “Jaguar Experience” generated compliments and applause. Amr Badghaish, Marketing Director of Jaguar Land Rover at Mohammed Yousuf Naghi Motors, said that during the event, the press had the opportunity to learn more about Jaguar’s range of models and their technologies in three different test-drive sessions. Amr emphasized that such test drive events play a significant role in showing the specialized automotive media the strength and dynamics of Jaguar cars.

• General Motors said it is recalling 3.4 million cars in North America because bumpy terrain could move the ignition switch out of the run position if the driver’s key chain is too heavy — the same basic problem that began its recall crisis earlier this year. GM said Ray DeGiorgio, the engineer who was fired for his role in the Chevrolet Cobalt recall, also approved the ignition switch used in the vehicles covered by the latest recall. GM said it has increased its estimate of recall-related repair charges for the first half of this year to $2 billion, which is $300 million more than its previous figure.