KEY POINTS:
South Korean carmaker Kia will bring customisation to the mainstream market in New Zealand when it unveils its funky Soul (above) next year. Its dealers will be able to style the cars with such things as exterior graphics, bolt-on body kits, various wheels, and multiple interior trim configurations and options.
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Tiger Woods' manager says he expects to have a new sponsor's name on the golfer's bag by March, when Woods returns to the PGA tour. General Motors' has been paying Woods US$7 million ($13 million) a year to plug its Buick brand but ended the relationship last month. Said IGM's Mark Steinberg: "We had a very good relationship with GM, and it would be disrespectful to rush out and try to sign another automobile sponsor."
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Some go-fast figures for the upcoming Ford Focus RS have been leaked by a Ford dealer in Austria - and they make mind-boggling reading for a car putting its power through the front wheels. The 220kW hot hatch apparently covers the zero to 100km/h sprint in just over five seconds and goes on to a top speed of 265km/h. The dealer says the RS has no trouble putting the power down, thanks to its limited-slip differential and "RevoKnuckle" front suspension, designed to reduce steering disturbance and torque steer. The RS will go on sale in New Zealand next year.
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US company GreenEarth Technologies is making engine oil from animal fat collected from slaughterhouses. The company already sells such oils for two-stroke and four-stroke lawnmower engines and is now waiting on American Petroleum Institute approval for its use in car and truck engines. The oil is already being being called "Slaughterhouse Live", a play on Slaughterhouse-Five, the title of the 1969 anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut.
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Walter d'Silva, Audi's head designer, has called the A5 coupe the most beautiful car he's ever drawn. But those in the know say the soft-top variant, due to be unveiled next year and on sale in 2010, is even better looking. It comes with a fabric roof. A folding hardtop would have meant engineering changes to the car's rear, which d'Silva was desperate to avoid.
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Veteran US car salesman Peter Greenberg has set up a website - www.flyhoopty.com - for whacky used cars only. FlyHoopty is a hybrid of the street slang "fly" (cool or stylish) and "hoopty" (a vehicle in various states of disrepair). UrbanDictionary.com says a hoopty can be anything from a 1978 Cadillac Brougham with duct tape in place of panels, to a purple Hyundai Elantra with three spinner hubcaps and a plate that reads BBY GRL.
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The Good Oil is going on holiday. This column will next week be written by a colleague. Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Drive safely. Remember the late motorsport champion Ashley Stichbury's advice: "Only when you have found your way out of a corner have you found your way into it."
alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz
