Mini's Mars mission

Mini has joined forces with space exploration teams working on a Mars landing and transportation module. The International Space Commission said in a press release from its Australian office that a special development of the Mini was undergoing testing in Tasmania and New Zealand. "Mini is ideal for exploring distant planets because of its low centre of gravity, go-kart handling and supple suspension, not to mention the special Mars Mission Control Traction System we are jointly developing," commission spokesman Captain F. Gordon said. The Mars Mini will be equipped with anti-radiation paint to reflect harmful rays and an all-new heating system to cope with the planet's extremely low temperatures. The press release was dated April 1 ...

Passat takes to the skies

Volkswagen in Britain is offering free air travel with every new Passat it sells. It has teamed with a travel company to give buyers 4000km worth of air points. VW says that's enough to fly a family of four from London to the south of France, or a couple to Budapest.

Cheaper down Mexico way

American company Johnson Controls Inc, which makes sun visors for most of the major carmakers, plans to move almost 900 jobs from its base in Michigan to Mexico over the next 18 months as it seeks lower wages for workers. The move comes as manufacturing jobs seem to be heading from Michigan to Mexico in droves. The latest to leave for Mexico is Electrolux AB. With it goes 2700 refrigerator-making jobs. Over the past four years, Michigan has lost about 300,000 jobs - more than half of them in manufacturing. A JCI worker in Michigan gets between US$14 and US$18 an hour, including benefits. The same job at its plant in Mexico pays about US$2.25 an hour, including benefits. Keith Wandell, president of JCI's automotive group, said the decision was difficult, but the choice was simple: move work to Mexico or lose sales to a company that would.

Jazz rules

The Honda Jazz has been voted Britain's most satisfying car, in a survey of the top 100 cars among more than 37,000 readers of Auto Express. Readers voted the Jazz best car overall (the only one to score better than 90 per cent) and placed it top for practicality, build quality, reliability and running costs. More than 98 per cent of respondents said the Jazz lived up to their expectations, with just 2 per cent reporting a breakdown. As a marque, Honda emerged fourth in the survey, up from eighth last year. Lexus remained the most reliable brand. Skoda jumped four places to second and Porsche took the bronze medal. At the other end of the survey, Peugeot's ageing 106 was voted readers' least-favourite car for the third year running.

Drunk? You're nicked

Drink-drivers in Britain could soon be convicted on the evidence of a single roadside breath test. The British Government is looking at new legislation that would allow police to charge offenders at the scene, confiscate their keys and order them to find an alternative way of getting home. The move would lead to the end of a second test at the police station. A Home Office spokesman said: "The Government is committed to the idea of convicting drink-drivers on the evidence of one roadside breath test. We are evaluating new evidential breathalysers which provide results that would stand up in court."

Nothing like a Daimler

The oldest carmaker in Britain has been killed off after 108 years, and bosses at Ford-owned Jaguar have confirmed the Daimler brand stands little chance of revival. When the latest XJ was unveiled last year, a replacement for the Daimler Super V8 was missing from the range. Now it has been revealed that there isn't going to be one.

The Daimler & Lanchester Owners' Club - which has Ford's global chairman Nick Scheele as patron - is bemused by the decision. "It's very sad," said director Lionel Morris. "We thought there would be a new model to come." The marque was acquired by Jaguar in 1960. The last unique model was the DS420 limousine, axed in 1992, although the Corsica concept was built in 1996 to celebrate Daimler's centenary.