KEY POINTS:
US presidential candidates are all talking up the need for a greener, more fuel-efficient future. But do they drive what they preach? Of the main republicans, Mike Huckabee has a Chevrolet Tahoe Wagon and a Silverado pick-up truck; John McCain drives a Cadillac CTS sedan; Mitt Romney has a soft-top Ford Mustang and a Chevvy pick-up; Rudy Giuliani doesn't own a car: "I don't drive - I navigate." Of the Democrats, John Edwards drives a Ford Escape hybrid and a Chrysler Pacifica wagon; Barack Obama had a Chrysler 300c hemi sedan but changed it for a more politically-correct Ford Escape hybrid; and Hillary Clinton has a Ford Mercury Mariner hybrid wagon.
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Volkswagen is playing name games again. It pretty much always badges its vehicles after natural phenomena: Passat is German for a prevailing wind, Golf has more to with the Gulf Stream than the sport, Touareg is a nomadic tribe in North Africa. Now VW is calling its version of the Chrysler Town & Country - Voyager in New Zealand - the Routan. It created the name by joining the word route with the suffix as used in the names of its two people-movers, the Touran and Sharan. The Routan is the product of a deal signed by VW and Chrysler nearly two years ago to give the German car-maker a version of Chrysler's redesigned Voyager for the North American market only. The new-look Voyager will go on sale here in April. It will be built at Chrysler's assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario.
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Analysts across the Tasman are saying the sudden departure of the heads of Holden and Ford in Australia point to turbulent times for the big car-makers. GM Holden boss Chris Gubbey, 51, was only at the helm in Australia for a few months before being posted to Europe, as vice-president of GM's operations there. Ford Australia boss Tom Gorman, 47, in Melbourne since March, 2004, is to leave the automotive industry for a job with an Australian company in London.
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The chairman of Ford of Europe, Lewis Booth, is concerned about pending carbon dioxide emissions legislation in the European Union. "It's going to be expensive for the industry," Booth said at the Detroit motor show. "Customers make choices, and if we have too much cost added to the cars, customers will stop buying cars and that's a big worry." Booth said the proposed 2012 deadline was too tight for the industry's lead time. CADILLAC IS TEED OFF Mercedes-Benz has outplayed Cadillac for sponsorship of the Masters golf tournament in the US. The German car-maker did so by emphasising that it had more global appeal than Cadillac, said Steven Cannon, vice-president of marketing for M-B. "We bring them Mercedes-Benz, Japan and all the key markets." Cannon declined to say how much Mercedes is paying for the sponsorship but it will be more than the US$2 million-plus ($2.2 million) it spends to sponsor a PGA tour event in Hawaii.
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After a highspeed chase, a California Highway Patrol officer shot and wounded Steven McDermott, 49, when the accused armed robber reached for an object on his hip. But it wasn't the gun police believe McDermott had used in the robbery - it was a sex toy hanging from his belt.
