FEBRUARY 28, 2001

Car bosses meet at Geneva Motor Show

THE leading lights of the European Automobile Constructors Association are meeting this week at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland and there is no doubt that one of the subjects which will be discussed is the plan for them to be involved in an agreement to buy into SLEC, the company which owns the promotional rights to Formula 1.

Five cars makers are rumored to be interested in an involvement. These are believed to be BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford and Renault. Several of the companies have already said they oppose Leo Kirch's plans to take over SLEC from Bernie Ecclestone but there remain serious doubts as to whether or not Kirch has raised the money to make that deal happen.

There are, however, also doubts about whether or not the car manufacturers will ever get organized enough to do a deal. The consensus in F1 circles is that what will probably happen is that each will end up agreeing to buy a small percentage of SLEC rather than several of them combining to form a company. This will mean that others who do initially become involved can join up later on.