Nissan was lacking cash but could contribute vehicle engineering and an engine built at its Smyrna, Tennessee facility.

The company focused increasingly on military vehicles; in 1979 the military vehicle engineering was collected in one organisation.

Newman, 25, a somber Indianan who has a bachelor's degree in vehicle structural engineering from Purdue, won his series-leading fourth race of the season.

Kelly Brown, Ford's director of vehicle environmental engineering, said that Ford was working on even cleaner Expeditions but was not sure when they could be built.

Ford has already recruited Chrysler's senior vice presidents for vehicle engineering and minivans, and is widely expected to hire more former Chrysler executives.

"Building them is not the issue," said Francois J. Castaing, Chrysler's vice president of vehicle engineering.

Francois J. Castaing, vice president of vehicle engineering at Chrysler, said that the car, called the Patroit, could form the basis for ordinary passenger cars.

"I told the design team to make them prominent," said Mujeeb I. Ijaz, the manager of fuel-cell vehicle engineering at Ford.

The Renault team supports powertrain development, vehicle engineering, information systems as well as styling and special project support for Renault's Mumbai-based design studio.

As the population grew, manufacturing concerns related to sheet metal products, clothing, tools and vehicle engineering followed.