KEY POINTS:
You don't need opticians to tell you how important sunglasses are during the glaring summer months in this part of the world. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation can cause all sorts of long-term problems with your vision. Behind the wheel, tired, strained eyes can play potentially fatal tricks on a driver's view of the road ahead.
Eye-wear specialist OPSM recognises this and has just introduced Drivewear, the latest in lens technology for drivers. The lenses can be fitted into most frames and are available from OPSM stores nationwide from $439. We have two pairs of Drivewear lenses in Ray-Ban frames to give away, each valued at $639.
Write your name, address and phone number on the back of an envelope and post to Drivewear competition, NZ Herald, PO Box 3290, Auckland. The first two names drawn get the Ray-Bans. Entries close February 12.
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Organisers of the New Zealand Classic Car Show at Ellerslie Racecourse next Sunday have been so overwhelmed by entries they have run out of space. More than 400 classic cars will be on display, the biggest field in the event's 35-year history.
Almost 70 car clubs are involved. There is also a line-up of latest models from Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, Fiat, Ford, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Renault and Volvo. For the first time, commercial exhibitors have been turned away. Gates open at 10am; adults $10, children free.
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The number of vehicles on the world's roads will top one billion by 2011, says United States automotive research company RL Polk & Co. The heavy growth will be fuelled mostly by the rapidly expanding Asian market, which will see 5.7 per cent compound annual growth in the next three years. Growth in the Asian market will be volatile in the next three years but is still likely to lead growth worldwide, says CEO Stephen Polk.
Asia will account for more than 23 per cent (231 million vehicles) of global growth by 2011 and Europe and the Americas for between 34 per cent and 36 per cent.
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General Motors is reporting global sales of 9.369 million vehicles in 2007, a total that would place it just ahead of Toyota. GM said its global sales rose 3 per cent from a year earlier. Toyota, which was expected to surpass GM as the world's largest car-maker, is believed to have finished 2007 with about 9.366 million sales. GM said the 2007 result was the second-best global sales total in its 100-year history.
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An 80-year-old man who jumped on his pick-up truck's accelerator instead of the brake pedal outside a Burger King restaurant in Wausau, Wisconsin, crashed through the wall of the place - and got out and ordered breakfast, The Wausau Daily Herald reported.
