Five-star safety

Renault's Megane coupe/cabriolethas been awarded a five-star crash rating, the sixth model from the French carmaker in the past few years to achieve the maximum five stars. Europe's New Car Assessment Programme, the crash-test body, gave the Megane 33.46 points out of a maximum 37. NCAP noted the "excellent protection afforded by the vehicle under frontal impact conditions". It says its crash tests cover 70-80 per cent of real-life accident situations. The Megane drop-top could be in New Zealand by the end of the year.

Toyota gaining ground

Toyota is the first Japanese company to report a net profit of more than a trillion yen, or about $16 billion. Toyota's global sales are slightly ahead of Ford, but considering Ford earned just US$675 million last year, Toyota's number-two spot behind General Motors is solid and gaining. Toyota executives have said they plan to match GM's 15 per cent market share by 2015. Toyota now has just over 11 per cent of the market.

Japan's largest carmaker posted US$10.2 billion in net earnings for the year ended March 31, a 55 per cent gain from the previous year, on revenues of US$152 billion. Its record profit was helped by rising sales and profits throughout the world. Toyota sold 6.7 million vehicles last year, and said it was out to sell more than seven million vehicles worldwide this fiscal year. GM sold 8.3 million vehicles last year.

Goodwood racers

Ferrari will give its latest model, the 612 Scaglietti, a run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Britain this weekend. The 400kW (540bhp) V12 four-seater will join a special-edition model of the 575 Maranello at the event. Both cars are capable of around 320km/h (200mph). Stablemate Maserati will show off its GT-based MC 12 prototype, a targa-top, carbon-fibre two-seater powered by a 6-litre V12 producing 470kW (630bhp) and bench-tested at 332km/h (205mph).

Fewer road deaths

The number of deaths or serious injuries on Britain's roads fell last year. Although traffic volume rose by 1 per cent, there were 14 per cent less deaths and a 6 per cent drop in injuries. Now schools are being sent a hard-hitting video, Too Young To Die, to try to cut the number of young casualties.

Meanwhile, speed traps in Britain will soon have two cameras - one to photograph the rear number plate and the other to capture the driver's face. The move, says Auto Express, is designed to stop vehicle owners trying to avoid fines by claiming they cannot remember who was at the wheel when the offence occurred.

We are the world

William Basil Armstrong, 56, was a few minutes into holding up a shop at gunpoint in Akron, Ohio, when he began gasping for breath. He slumped across the counter and asked the woman he was robbing to run out to his car and get the oxygen he needed for a respiratory condition. She came back with the oxygen - and the police.