Porsche on a roll

Porsche is having a crackerjack year in New Zealand, despite gloom in the business world. This flies in the face of the old, unofficial yardstick about Porsche sales being up only when things are hunky-dory. Sales are running nearly 70 per cent ahead of last year's and June was the best month ever, with 14 going out the door. Meanwhile, the latest Porsche 911 Turbo has been awarded the maximum five stars in an evaluation by the British magazine Autocar. The car will arrive here in November, priced at $295,000 for the six-speed manual and $305,000 for the clutchless Tiptronic S.

Pick a colour

Triangle Television, Auckland's non-commercial channel, has been screening the English version of Germany's top motoring show, Auto Motor and Sport, since the station started broadcasting almost two years ago. The time slot moved from Friday to Saturday a couple of weeks ago and tonight's show zeroes in on the colour of cars - what's hot and what's not. It also looks at BMW's new 323Ci convertible, what Skoda is up to, and compares the SL 55 AMG Mercedes-Benz with the Jaguar XKR.

Mind off the job

A traffic safety study shows that more than 20 per cent of the 6.5 million car accidents each year in the United States are caused by drivers who are eating or drinking at the wheel or talking on a mobile phone. One woman was eating a bowl of cereal in her four-wheel-drive when she lost control and collided with an oncoming car, killing the driver.

Petrol scam

Criminal gangs in Britain are trying all sorts of ways to beat the rising price of petrol, now approaching $2.50 a litre. One scam is to fit two fuel tanks to cars - then fill up and drive off without paying. The extra tank of petrol is sold at a discounted price on the black market. British police report that the number of drivers doing a runner at petrol stations is up 250 per cent in two months.

Gas guzzlers

The price of petrol in the United States is going up, too - but it is not slowing sales of the country's biggest off-roaders. Ford sold more than 4400 models of its huge four-wheel-drive Excusion last month. But some people say that trumpeting sales of the gas-guzzling Excusion doesn't fit with Ford's constant references to how environmentally aware it is. DaimlerChryser's American head, Jim Holden, is one, criticising Ford for "screaming it from a truck that barely fits in a garage."

Second-hand airbags

It can cost thousands of dollars to replace an airbag that has deployed in an accident. But the Automotive Recyclers' Association of America is short-circuiting the process by buying second-hand airbags from wreckers for about $450. The bags sound about as inviting as second-hand beer - but they have never deployed and are mostly out of early-90s models which are starting to turn up at scrapyards.

We are the world

* Perth resident Rupert Hindle drove to a police station in the West Australian capital to check if he was okay to drive after a night out drinking. He was tested and then arrested for being over the limit.

* Another Australian, Paul Groves, of Brisbane, has failed his driving test for the 103rd time. Groves, aged 41, has been trying to get a licence for 16 years.