KEY POINTS:
Word out of Europe is that the C-Class Mercedes-Benz is more sporty than ever. The C-Classwill be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and goes on sale in New Zealand later in the year. Reports say it will share more components with the bigger E-Class, will be much sharper to drive and more distinctive in appearance. It will be equipped with four and six-cylinder petrol or diesel engines, and some markets will have all-wheel-drive options. The range-topping AMG model will get a 5.4-litre V8, reworked to deliver 305kW (410bhp) to compete with BMW's new M3 and the Audi RS4.
* * *
Korean carmaker Hyundai may offer a safety package aimed at the needs of older drivers. The Silver Car package could include special restraints, including four-point seatbelts that spread the load more evenly across the torso under emergency braking. Hyun-Soon Lee, president of Hyundai's research and development centre, told an engineering conference in Japan that elderly people's chests are 20 to 80 per cent less tolerant of pressure from seat belts than those of younger people.
* * *
The Prince of Dubai has already pledged to give Formula One great Michael Schumacher his own man-made island called The World. Now the Ferrari Clienti, a well-heeled group who race classic and late model Ferraris, has bought Schumacher a custom-built Harley Davidson motorbike. The Ferrari red bike was given to Schumacher at a Clienti event in Italy and will join the seven-time world champion's collection that already includes a few Harleys.
* * *
Television talk-show host and car nut Jay Leno and General Motors design chief Ed Welburn unveiled a supercar they had collaborated on at the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas. Leno's Big Dog Garage business invited General Motors advanced design studio to build a mid-engined, turbine-powered car especially for the show. The result is the EcoJet, an all-aluminium spaceframe powered by biofuel. One of the standout features are wheels designed to resemble turbine blades.
* * *
Police in Newton, Massachusetts, arrested Christopher Bordne after the 17-year-old fell asleep at the wheel at traffic lights. He had been there for several traffic light changes, sound asleep but with his foot firmly on the brake. After an officer yelled and rapped repeatedly on the window, he watched as Bordne woke up, drove off and crashed into a tree.
* * *
Police in Madison, Wisconsin, were called to a service station where a man was shadow-boxing with a petrol pump and wrestling with the rubber hose. Tests later showed Milo Chamberlain's blood-alcohol content was so high that in theory he should have been in a coma, or dead.
