Online Public Relations Thoughts

In the early days of the motorcar, auto racing was seen as a way to test components that would eventually find their way into sedans sold from showrooms. Over the years, that lessened as racing machines became ever more sophisticated. It looks now like we are going back to the future with race cars like the following . European companies are testing diesel race engines and now hybrids on the track with an eye to moving these technologies into street cars. It's good PR because even if these machines just complete a race without winning, they show the durability of the technology. (Diesels, however, already have a winning record.) It's interesting that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Should Peugeot score a victory with a hybrid, can you imagine what it will do for the company's image as a hybrid manufacturer? Regrettably, there doesn't seem to be a similar effort by American manufacturers to compete in the development of new engines.