For the last billion years, motor sports, and more specifically Formula 1, has been dominated quite solidly by Scuderia Ferrari and its hallowed driver, Michael Schumacher. Last weekend marked the end of Michael Schumacher’s career and the end of Scuderia Ferrari.

That’s not to say that Ferrari won’t be returning to racing next year. Quite the opposite, actually. Felipe Massa will return to Ferrari next year along with a new teammate, Kimi Raikkonen. Both racers have achieved great respect and success of the GP circuit. Ferrari, despite coming in second in the constructor’s championship this year, will be powering more vehicles for next year. Unfortunately for Scuderia Ferrari, much of the technical team that helped Michael Schumacher win dozens of races and six championships is splitting up.

With so many changes, on might ask: will Formula 1 ever be the same? To answer this is to realize which changes will be made. First, no Schumacher in 2007. Fernando Alonso may be the best driver next year, and for all we know, he may eventually become the best of all time, but he is unlikely to have the same pull or marketing appeal to the sport that Schumacher brought.

Second Renault and Ferrari are both suffering from major team changes at the end of this year. Renault stands to lose everything with the change of its champion drive. Ferrari is likely to be diluted by having to produce more engines for more teams, assembling a new management team, and leaving Massa to take over for a top driver.

Third and most importantly, the money that pours into Formula 1 will be changing. New EU rules outlaw the Marlboro type of advertising. These new rules have prompted an exodus from F1 by tobacco companies including British American Tobacco (producer of Lucky Strike cigarettes), once a title partner with the Honda team will exit. Marlboro has promised to stay on with Ferrari, but will be severely limited in advertising for the 2007 season onward. This regulation means that some teams will have a very difficult time finding major sponsors for next year. Formula 1 after all, is not cheap to run. On the upside, Speed TV in the U.S. has succeeded in paying a lot of money to the Formula 1 Administration to broadcast races next year, so no team is likely to be starving.

As avid readers will note, I had posted a week ago, the announcement that today the production of the Ford Taurus will end. It is a bittersweet ending for one of the most recognizable cars on the America road.

The Taurus actually had a long life brought on mostly by its early popularity among the car buying public and later as a favorite fleet car for Corporate America and car rental agencies. It would be nearly impossible to leave one’s house on a trip in America and not see one. It had a distinctive front nose and shapely headlights, which seemed to suggest that it was gawking at you as you passed it on the road (some would suggest it wasn’t gawking so much as it was yawning).

Whatever the case may be, the Taurus marked an interesting era for Ford Motor Company. For Ford, the car meant large profit. It also signifies the end of an era. For Ford, that era is one of bad design, and the company clearly feels that the latest cars to roll off their assembly lines are much different in terms of quality and design. Given Ford’s announcement that they lose more than $8 billion in 2006, there are a lot of jobs riding on their judgment being correct.

There was little surprise in today’s final Formula 1 race of the season. There were however many retirements, several car failures and accidents.

The important story of the day was Felipe Massa’s win, the first by a Brazilian since Ayrton Senna in 1993 on the home track. Massa dominated from the beginning and finished with a substantial lead over Fernando Alonso who finished second followed by an impressive third place finish by Jensen Button.

The finish meant that Fernando Alonso won the 2006 F1 Championship and Renault walked away with the Constructor’s Championship. It also meanth that with Schumacher finishing fourth, up from his 10th place start, that Ferrari finished second in the Constructor’s competition.

As for Michael Schumacher, today marked his last F1 race, but also represented an impressive display of driving. Early in the race, Schumacher’s left rear tire was nicked resulting in a very early pit stop, costing him dearly. He rejoined at the back of the pack. Combined with several retirements and what can only be described as amazing driving, Schumacher worked his way from 17th (after the pit stop) to fourth by the end of the race.

It is the end of the 2006 season and the end of Schumacher’s career, but 2007 will hold new challenges for Formula 1 with many changes for many teams and changes to the sport, some of which will affect the business-side of Formula 1.

Check back soon when Beyond the KM discusses implications of changes that F1 will make over the break and how that will affect the sport.

In just a few short hours Michael Schumacher will start (and hopefully complete) his last race as a Formula 1 driver in Brazil, the last F1 race of the season. Schumacher holds many F1 records. Most notably, he holds 7 F1 titles.

Schumacher has also had the opportunity to take his 69th and final career pole, but due to an engine blowout, his hopes were dashed at the start of his final qualifying round.

Interestingly, Schumacher’s teammate at Ferrari, Felipe Massa took the pole despite also having problems. Massa’s problem required the changing of the gearbox, a process that took a mere minutes. In Formula 1 though, exchanging an engine, despite all of the money spent on R&D and technicians/engineers, still takes a long time. Moreover, an engine change means that Schumacher would drop from his previously guaranteed 5th row start to a more harrowing, and difficult 10th row start.

Meanwhile for Schumacher to win the title, he would have to have a flawless race AND Fernando Alonso would have to drop out. With those odds, Ferrari will have to settle for second place in both the individual and constructor’s championships.

Stay tuned for more analysis on the Brazil Grand Prix to follow after the race Sunday.

Update: Schumacher’s Ferrari suffered a fuel pump failure rather than an all out engine failure. This means that he will start 10th as he was unable to make a final round qualifying run.

It was brought to our attention today that Ford Motor Company is bringing the end of the Ford Taurus sedan next week after 21 years, and 7 million units sold.

Our feelings on this: AMEN! The demise of the Ford Taurus was due long ago. Popular or not, the design got old and the car lost its appeal.

Then again it was only inevitable after FoMoCo’s Jaguar unite opted to style the front of the latest XK after that of the Taurus. Like we said, LONG overdue!

Thanks Ford!

In 1986, Ford Motor Company bought 75 per cent of Aston Martin. In 1993, they bought the rest of the company from Victor Gauntlett. Since then, Aston Martin has been turned upside down. Barely is the company recognizable to fans of the Aston of yesteryear. Today the company is lean, innovative, and more or less profitable. The brand is stronger than ever, as are the sales figures.

In a lot of ways, the acquisition of Aston into Ford’s Premier Automotive Group was strategically sound long-term investment. Ford had needed a well-known company to purchase, one which could be bought on the cheap and turned around to reap long-term profits. The secondary benefit is that Aston brought a super car to the company that lacked one. Additionally technology that has started in Aston as motorsports technology has filtered down. Some technology has also been filtered to other companies in the Premier Auto Group portfolio. The Aston shares many design concepts and parts with Jaguar. Both companies are located in the West Midlands in what was long considered the heart of the British auto industry.

Aston Martin also had long-term potential in motorsports. In fact, Aston announced in 2003 that they would bring the marque to Le Mans starting in 2005. The efforts in motorsports and in rejuvenating the production car lineup have proven fruitful in adding value to the brand.

Despite all of the benefits of having Aston in the Premier Auto Group, Ford announced at the end of October plans to sell the luxury sports carmaker in an effort to raise capital. The question is: “is now the best time?” Hindsight is always 20/20, but the question is certainly valid. Ford has serious financial problems, to be sure, but dumping companies in which they have invested serious time and money to resolve short-term problems seems absurd. The fact is, Ford isn’t suffering because of Aston Martin, they are benefiting from having the company in the portfolio. Selling this company at this juncture with growth almost certain would be a bad move.

In a future posting, BeyondTheKM will examine the strategic moves that Ford may take in securing the future of the Premier Auto Group.