KEY POINTS:
Images from a brochure for the 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-Class have found their way online, ahead of the sedan's official unveiling in Europe this week. The new C-Classfeatures styling similar to the S-Class sedan and R-Class crossover, with the Mercedes badge on the car's grille, rather than its bonnet,
for the first time. The C-Class is expected to go on sale in New Zealand in August. Spy pictures of the new E-Class are also doing the rounds. A prototype was snapped doing cold-weather testing in Finland. It appears to be a bigger version of the C-Class except for different front and rear light clusters.
* * *
A Japanese newspaper reports that Toyota is open to a broader partnership with Ford if the struggling US carmaker asks. Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe told the paper that if the two carmakers formed a tie-up it would probably focus on technological development, but he said no talks had yet taken place. Ford is using part of Toyota's hybrid engine technology for petrol-electric versions of its Escape and Mariner sports utility vehicles. Toyota is poised to overtake General Motors as the world's largest carmaker in terms of production in 2007.
* * *
General Motors is looking at buying Malaysian carmaker Proton, says a Reuters report. The deal would include iconic British nameplate Lotus, which Malaysian Government-owned Proton bought in 1996. "If they [GM] put in a bid we will consider it," said Malaysian Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop. Proton is valued at roughly US$1.6 billion ($2.3 billion).
* * *
Toyota cracked the Big Three in US car sales in 2006, passing DaimlerChrysler and closing in on both Ford and General Motors. But 50 years ago, America was still a gleam in the eye of a few optimistic Toyota executives in Japan. Toyota Motor Sales USA set up shop on October 31, 1957, in a former American Motors dealership in Hollywood. Sales in 1958 totalled 288 vehicles - 287 Toyopet Crowns and a Land Cruiser. Last year Toyota and its luxury arm Lexus sold 2.5 million vehicles in the US. Toyota is planning 50-year commemorative models.
* * *
An 81-year-old man in Florida has been charged with attempted murder after his 82-year-old wife was found in the couple's van in a parking lot struggling with a plastic bag over her head. Ricardo Meana, who had left his wife in the van to go shopping, told police he often put a plastic bag over her head so she would not vomit on herself when she felt sick. Mrs Meana suffers from Alzeimher's, the Tampa Tribune reported.
