A round-up of motors news this week
VOLVO TO STOP R-MODEL SALES:Volvo will stop selling R-badged performance models after the 2007 model year.
R-model sales have not met expectations. However, a spokesman said the company will be using the technology derived from the likes of the S60R and V70R in new models.
A new R styling line will be introduced by the end of the year for most models as well.
FORD CHIEF'S EARNINGS:Alan Mulally, Ford's new chief executive brought in to slash costs, earned €21 million in four months last year when the stricken car group lost a record €10 billion.
Mulally (pictured below), who replaced Bill Ford as chief executive on September 1st, was paid €497,000 in 2006, implying an annual salary of €1.5 million, but received a bonus of €13.8 million.
Credited with turning around Boeing's commercial aircraft division to the point where it has regained its primacy over Airbus after five years in the European planemaker's slipstream, he also earned €6.5 million in stock options.
Bill Ford earned no salary, bonus or stock options because he had forsworn any new compensation until the group achieved sustainable profitability.
Mulally dropped a heavy hint on Wednesday that he would be seeking a wage freeze or pay cuts in talks with the United Auto Workers union this summer.
RALLY IRELAND'S WORLD RALLY ROUTES:Rally Ireland has announced the routes for the Irish round of the World Rally Championship.
The event begins on Thursday, November 15th with a special stage in the grounds of the Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast.
This spectator-friendly event will see two cars at a time competing head to head on a specially designed loop of the Stormont grounds. Competition over the four days will also take in a route that covers seven more counties in the northwest of the island: Fermanagh, Tyrone, Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Cavan and Roscommon.
Rally Headquarters will be at The Clarion Hotel in Sligo and the service park will be at Sligo Institute of Technology.