Corvette faster than ever

Chevrolet says its special-edition Z06 Corvette will be the fastest ever. It promises the new 376kW (505bhp) Z06 will run from zero to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds. The Z06 gets its extra power from a 7-litre V8 engine and is helped to faster speeds by lightweight construction: the 1420kg two-door has a body built of aluminium, titanium, and magnesium. The car goes on sale in the United States in October, priced from US$65,800 ($94, 013).

New VW in the pipeline

Volkswagen is finalising development of its Golf-based, all-wheel-drive crossover model, codenamed Marrakesh. Prototypes of the higher-riding five-door were sighted early in the year during cold-weather testing in Scandinavia and have now been seen at Germany's Nurburgring race circuit. Under the skin is a re-engineered version of the Golf's 4Motion all-wheel-drive system, which will also appear on the A3 Allroad from Audi. The soft-roader is expected to be launched in Europe next year.

So light it might fly

Mini is working on a limited-edition Cooper S, said to be about 15 per cent lighter than the standard model, due to the extensive use throughout of carbon fibre. The bully is that worldwide production will be restricted to around 2000 models. Specialist Mini tuning house John Cooper Works is working on the running gear, beefing up brakes and the supercharged 1.6-litre engine.

Award for Pontiac

Judges at the annual Cannes Lions Advertising Festival liked Pontiac's promotion of the G6 sedan on The Oprah Winfrey Show last year so much, they gave them a Gold Media Lion award. Pontiac gave away 276 G6 sedans to every member of Winfrey's studio audience and as a result 87 per cent of adults randomly surveyed after the show were aware of the new G6.

We are the world

Awiey "Chucky" Hernandez, 20, was arrested when he went to a New York police station to check on the whereabouts of a friend and stood in front of his own "wanted" poster, for car theft, robbery and drug charges. His pal, Huquan "Guns" Gavin, 18, was on the same poster.

Recent scholarly findings revealed in a Wall Street Journal column: It's much easier to identify someone if he is physically near you than if he is up to 140m away. People who choose their careers carefully experience greater job satisfaction. Students tend to drink more alcohol than they realise.Patients who voluntarily tell a doctor about a bad side effect of a medicine are more likely to be switched to a safer one than if they don't.