Good oil: Thandie urges other stars to follow lead

Thandie Newton

Actor Thandie Newton (Mission Impossible II) traded in her BMW x5 off-roader for a petrol-electric Toyota Prius after finding an anti-four-wheel-drive leaflet from Greenpeace under her windscreen wiper. Newton, pictured, is urging her co-star Tom Cruise and other celebrity drivers to follow her example.

* * *

Volvo is the official vehicle supplier for New Zealand Golf for the next three years, starting with the Blue Chip New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour later this year. It is the first time the Swedish carmaker has been involved with golf sponsorship here, although it has a long-term association with the European professional tour, of which the NZ Open is part.

* * *

The buzz in Germany is that Mercedes-Benz will unveil an S-Class convertible concept at the Detroit motor show in January. Computer-generated images of the four-door soft-top have begun to appear on websites in the US, where such an ostentatious model would be aimed. The S-Class is the carmaker's flagship saloon.

* * *

Soccer World Cup sponsors Hyundai and US phone firm Avaya got the biggest boost to their brands in Germany, says a survey. World soccer body Fifa had 15 main sponsors for the tournament, each one paying around €40 million ($80.7 million). A study by the German university of Hohenheim found Hyundai doubled brand awareness in Europe's largest economy during the cup, with 50 per cent of Germans recognising the South Korean carmaker after the four-week tournament ended. Avaya, a supplier of equipment for web-based telephone calls, improved its brand visibility in Germany by 21 percentage points to 25 per cent, the study showed.

* * *

Britain's most convicted driver has been jailed again for driving while being banned for the 48th time. Jamie Manderson has nearly 2000 previous convictions. His lawyer told Autocar his client suffered "from a very serious addiction to cars".

* Cory Neddermeyer, 42, was turned down for unemployment benefits in Iowa, after a judge ruled that his former employer had legitimate cause to fire him. Neddermeyer, a recovering alcoholic, worked for the Amaizing Energy ethanol plant, which makes alcohol from corn for use as a fuel additive. But an accident at the plant created a spill ... and Neddermeyer found it too tempting to resist. The Des Moines Register said staff found him passed out near a pool of fuel alcohol.

* It was an easy collar, police told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Sixty-year-old armed robber Lawrence C. Lawson ran from the Lasalle Bank in Troy, Michigan, with his loot, spotted a passing police car - and promptly fainted.