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A one-off Ferrari F50 owned by the Sultan of Brunei is up for grabs at auction in London later this month. Nothing to suggest that the oil-rich king is strapped for cash, but the track-focused F50 (above) is expected to fetch around $1 million. It is the only right-hand-drive F50 ever made, built by Ferrari in 1996 for the Sultan's collection of rare exotics. Also for sale is the world's only remaining original example of a 1955 Aston Martin DB3S. The same car last changed hands for $5.6 million.
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Volkswagen says it's time for the New Beetle to grow up. "The future New Beetle should look less toyish and become a much more mature product," says VW Group design chief Walter de' Silva. He wants the next New Beetle's interior to be more functional. The current version has been criticised because of the large space between its A-pillars and steering wheel and for a lack of roominess despite being built on the same platform as the Golf. The next New Beetle will be launched in 2010, followed a year later by the Cabriolet.
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India's Tata Motors says it is not about to buy part of Ford's 33.4 per cent stake in Mazda. Reports in Japan say Ford wants to sell a 20 per cent block of its holding in the Japanese carmaker to help stabilise Ford's financial situation, weakened in the US by falling sales and tumbling stock price. But Tata, which bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford earlier this year, says reports linking it to a Mazda share buyout are incorrect. Ford and Mazda declined to comment on specifics. Said Ford: "Our relationship with Mazda has not changed." Said Mazda: "Nothing has been decided."
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Nothing in recent years brings back the raw-boned appeal of American muscle cars more than Chevrolet's 2010 Camaro coupe. It stood out at the Paris Motor Show with an in-your-face mix of every car that ever figured in a great movie chase. It goes on sale in the US in February, priced at $38,606.38 for the 3.6-litre V6 variant and $52,046.48 for the big bopper with the 6.2-litre V8. Chevrolet is claiming fuel economy for the V6 of 10.4 litres/100km, or 27mpg. It says it expects the V8 to return around 12 litres/100km, or 23mpg, on the open road. The company will look beyond Camaro's traditional competitors, the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Challenger. Says Camaro marketing chief John Fitzpatrick: "We will keep them on the radar. But we think we have a product that has the styling, performance, safety and fuel efficiency to go up against the best in the market."
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A colleague who had her car broken into in Grey Lynn found a cellphone laying near the brake pedal. Wonder if it fell out of the thief's pocket? she thought. "I took the phone to the nearest police station," she says. "On the screen saver was a picture of a man holding a marijuana plant. A scroll through the phone's photo album showed the same man with a marijuana crop. Police said they would return the man's phone in person."
alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz
