Off-road sports car

The wackiest concept vehicle at the Detroit motor show was the Concept T, a 2004 take on the Volkswagen Beetle dune buggy of the 1960s. The car was created by the German carmaker's American design office and gets its name from the T-bar body style. It is powered by a 179kW V6 engine driving all four wheels through VW's 4Motion system. Top speed is 230km/h. VW calls the concept a crossover vehicle because it combines off-road and sports car attributes.

LOTS OF LOTUS

Lotus distributor Roger Phillips' boat certainly came in the other day. But it was late, and doubled up with another ship bringing in the sportscars from Britain. "As a result we've got the biggest collection of new and used Lotus models ever seen in New Zealand and Australia," said Phillips. Among the line-up are twin-turbo V8 Esprits, Elise models, Caterhams and the Vauxhall VX220, which beat the supercars in a British poll last year.

MAZDA BEST-SELLER

Strong demand for the Mazda6in 2003 helped Mazda New Zealand to achieve its best sales year since 1991. The Mazda6 was the best-selling medium car last year, with sales of 2571 units. Overall, Mazda sold 4762 vehicles in 2003, for a market share of 5.2 per cent and an increase in sales over 2002 of 28.5 per cent. Sales and marketing chief Andrew Clearwater said that was "clear evidence that the move by Mazda to return to making vehicles that are exhilarating and fun to drive has clearly found favour with the New Zealand motoring public." Mazda's latest model, the hatchback/sedan Mazda3, will be launched here next month.

THEN THERE WERE FOUR

Toyota executives have taken to referring to America's traditional Big Three - General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler - as the "Detroit Three" now that they no longer hold 85 per cent of the market and Chrysler is not an independent American company. One analyst said Toyota, which sold more cars in the US than General Motors at one stage last year, was trying to pre-empt any backlash before its sales topped those of Chrysler or Ford. In a meeting with Wall Street analysts, Jim Press, executive vice-president of Toyota's US sales arm, used the term when he talked about Toyota's three brands outselling Chrysler Group's three brands. "In August, we registered sales higher than one of the Detroit Three. Nothing really happened. There were no earthquakes, no locusts. There was no big disruption," he said. "It was really just a natural progression of what's been happening for some time."