Good oil: Bentleys on parade

If you reckon Bentleys are the bee's knees get down to Giltrap Prestige on Great North Rd this morning to see probably the biggest collection of the luxury British cars seen in Auckland. Around 50 Bentleys and their owners are getting together for a cup of tea and nibbles from 9.30am. They are on the last leg of a tour of New Zealand. The line-up spans 80 years, going back to examples from the 1920s.

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Overheard on a Los Angeles-Auckland flight, an American voice saying: "Ya know that people in Noo Zealand go shopping without shoes on, don't ya?"

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Honda New Zealand is shouting the sales success of its new Civic from the rooftops. The 1.8- and 2-litre sedan range was launched here on January 28 and the company says it sold 547 models in the 26 days to February 22. Around half that number have been the top-range 2-litre "S" model, priced at $32,000. Says managing director Graeme Seymour: "[The sale of] 547 Civics in the first three weeks has caught us a little unprepared with forward-ordered stock. We had set ourselves a target of 800 units per annum."

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Alfa Romeo will take the covers off a new convertible Spider at the Geneva motor show next week. The gossip is that it has been inspired by Alfa's glory years of the 1950s with the Giulietta Spider. The two-seater will have elongated rear lights, four exhaust pipes and will be powered by the choice of two engines: a four-cylinder 2.2-litre turbodiesel and a 3.2-litre V6 petrol unit.

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British turbocharging specialist Owen Developments has unveiled a quad turbo kit, which uses a small turbocharger for each cylinder. The company's managing director, Brian Owen, says: "The project is to evaluate how small the manufacture of a turbocharger would have to be in order for one to be used for each engine cylinder. The reason for the use of multi-turbochargers is to produce sufficient boost speed not only to achieve optimum atmospheric pressure but additional boost for each of the four cylinders. This would produce better driveability, engine response and more performance."

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American engineer Stefan Marti has solved what he believes is a profound social problem: how to decide whether to take a cellphone call during a meeting. He calls his invention the Finger Ring, says the New York Times. It vibrates upon sensing a cellphone call and, once rubbed, diverts the call to an electronic mailbox. But everyone in the meeting must wear one. Maybe your company could hang personalised Finger Rings outside the conference room door. Or maybe you could just turn your cellphone off.