Good oil: Beamer world's best

The new BMW 3-series has been named World Car of the Year at a presentation during the New York Motor Show. A jury of 46 motoring writers reviewed every new car available around the world and narrowed them down to three - the BMW 3-series, Mazda MX-5 and Porsche Cayman S. The 3-series won the title thanks to its balance of ride, handling, performance and interior space. The Porsche Cayman S was voted World Performance Car. The Citroen C4 took design honours for its "stylistic originality that defined the brand's reputation in the past, without resorting to a retro look", and the Honda Civic hybrid topped 21 other vehicles for the title of World Green Car". Meanwhile, BMW chief executive Helmet Panke says the luxury carmaker will have more models because customers want more choice. Panke hinted that a people-mover will be launched in 2008, as will an all-wheel-drive crossover vehicle observers are calling the X6.


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Land Rover has launched an online feature called Go Beyond TV, which it says is the first broadband TV application from a carmaker. The website offers videoclips of lifestyle and adventure events that focus on the Land Rover experience, along with news from Land Rover. The service can also be viewed on some cellphones and devices like the Sony PSP.

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To mark the 40th anniversary of the classic Shelby rent-a-car, Ford in the United States is producing a limited-edition Mustang Shelby GT-H. The 1965-66 muscle car produced by Ford and Carroll Shelby was offered through Hertz rental outlets for US$17 ($27) a day and 17c a mile. Today, surviving models are among the most prized classics from the muscle-car era. Ford hopes history will repeat itself with the 500 GT-H coupes that Shelby plans to customise at his Las Vegas plant.

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The head of the New Zealand office of a multi-billion-dollar international company was heard to say: "New Zealand thinks it is a First World country. It is not. It is a Third World country trying to live like a First World country."

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New Jersey Attorney-General Zulima Farber has a driving history of 13 speeding tickets, three licence suspensions and two arrest warrants for failure to appear in court regarding the tickets. She said she was embarrassed and joked that it might take psychoanalysis to learn why she did those things. A psychoanalyst interviewed by the New York Daily News said Farber just "needs spanking".