KEY POINTS:
The right-hand-drive Hummer H3will go on sale across the Ditch later in the year, perhaps around the time of the Sydney Motor Show in October. But no decision has been made about the off-roader's appearance here. Says Holden NZ corporate affairs executive Brodie McClellan: "Australia confirmed at last year's Sydney show that it would take the H3, but we haven't made a decision yet."
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Chinese car stylists are coming up with some sophisticated designs, judging by prototypes at the Shanghai Motor Show. Mitsubishi chief designer Akinori Nakanishi was impressed enough to tell reporters: "I'm scared." But presentation was sloppy. Two of Chinese company Chery's cars were displayed on platforms that placed their bumpers at eye level. That put the list of the cars' specifications, on their rear windows, well out of sight of show-goers.
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The United States has become the first country to make electronic stability control systems compulsory on new cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, hopes the move - to come into effect in 2012 - will cut the road toll by up to 22 per cent.
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Students from California State Polytechnic University have won a motoring eco-marathon in the US with a petrol-powered car. Their entry did 0.1 litres /100km. The challenge attracted petrol, diesel, LPG, natural gas and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
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Glitz capital Las Vegas is the most popular city in the country ... with car thieves. In second place came Stockton, California, followed by Visalia-Porterville, California, and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale in Arizona. The vehicle car thieves love most? The Cadillac Escalade SUV.
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Four men arrested on suspicion of drugs offences in New Jersey told police they were "diplomats" from the Abannaki Indigenous Nation. They claimed immunity from the laws of the "so-called planet Earth" - and Mars and Venus. One allegedly possessed an unidentified "controlled substance", the others were driving cars with made-up "diplomat" tags. A burglar was arrested in the village of Klevan, Ukraine, after he broke into a church to steal gold fixtures, fell asleep, got locked in the weekend-only facility for five days, and survived on the only liquid available: sacramental wine.
