The good oil: Ford's the comeback kid

Speeding along safely
Jaguar is about to unveil a special-edition XKR coupe that's good for a top speed of 280km/h. The one-off two-door gets a 5-litre supercharged V8 engine with a six-speed automatic transmission calibrated to deliver 375kW/625Nm to the rear wheels. A "speed pack" - an under-body aerodynamic splitter and a large rear spoiler - helps to keep the aluminium-bodied coupe stable at such speeds. Jaguar's XK programme chief engineer, Russ Varney, says: "The car has always had the potential to reach speeds far beyond its original electronically limited maximum (250km/h) and many of our customers have expressed an interest in a car that can safely be driven faster where conditions permit." The go-fast XKR will first appear at the Geneva motor show next week.

Ford's the comeback kid
Ford could reclaim its place from Toyota as the No2 carmaker in the United States for the first time since 2007, according to website Edmunds.com's revised sales forecast. Edmunds predicted that Ford would finish 2010 with a 16.57 per cent US market share. Toyota - now battling the worst quality crisis in the company's history - is expected to slip more than a full percentage point to 16.45 per cent. "I would equate Ford as the comeback kid. They're doing a lot of things right," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at JD Power and Associates. Edmunds has General Motors at No1, with a projected 18.12 per cent share of the US market. It says: "We anticipate that GM, Ford and Honda will pick up the majority of the sales Toyota loses."

Oh dear, price rises too
Out of the global Toyota recall comes another hiccup - potential price rises. Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of Edmunds.com, says: "As a result of the public spotlight on the Toyota recall, carmakers may have no choice but to devote more resources to safety in the future."

Swedishness reigns at Saab
General Motors has completed the sale of its Swedish Saab brand to Dutch luxury sports carmaker Spyker Cars, marking the first successful sale of one of its four unwanted US brands. The transaction combines Saab Automobile and its 3400 employees with Spyker Cars and its 110-plus workers under parent company Spyker Cars. "The focus will be on getting back to business," said Jan Ake Jonsson, CEO of Saab Automobile. Executives wanted to refocus the identity of the Saab brand "to create an innovative, free-thinking company based on our Swedishness", he said. Among Saab product plans is an entry-level car reminiscent of the tear-drop-shaped 92, the company's first model, which went into production in December 1949.

We are the world
Councillors in Castleford, Yorkshire, were tickled pink when a television team decided to film the success of an urban regeneration scheme in the town - until somebody said that the name of a landmark road bridge might swing attention away from the scheme. So council voted to rename it - from Tickle Cock Bridge to Tittle Cot Bridge. Townsfolk got their knickers in a twist and forced councillors to restore the original name. It came about in Victorian times, said a local historian, "probably due to the bridge's popularity as a trysting place".

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Californians Tasha Silva, 30, and her boyfriend Marcus Schulze got such a rush joyriding in a stolen police pick-up that they stopped to have sex. They left the engine idling for a quick getaway ... but the truck ran out of gas. They legged it when police arrived, and were later reunited - in front of a judge.

alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz