Range Rover improved

Land Rover reckons the third-generation Range Rover, on sale in New Zealand next year, will become the car of choice for buyers with deep pockets. The Range Rover will come with improved performance on and off the road: the standard engine will be a BMW 4.4-litre V8, the same as in the BMW X5; suspension will be independent all-round, offering adjustable ride height and better off-road ability; and the traditional steel chassis gives way to a more car-like monocoque body. The other expected changes include the 4.6-litre V8 engine in the current Range Rover probably becoming an option in the Discovery, and the utilitarian Defender getting power windows and mirrors.

Speed demons


Police in southern Germany are using a supercharged Mercedes-Benz equipped with video surveillance cameras to nail speeding motorists. The system is so accurate that German courts accept the findings to prosecute offenders, says tonight's Auto Motor and Sport show. The Triangle Television programme, screening at 8.30, also puts two BMWs - the new M3 and 330Ci - up against each other, with surprising results. It turns its cameras on other cars, too: the Skoda Fabia stationwagon, the 20-year-old Ferrari 512BBi, and a collection of classics that have deliberately been left to rust old gracefully.

Changing targets


The world's fourth-biggest marketing and communications group, Havas, controls international advertising networks, public relations firms, direct marketing shops and digital groups and is run by a Frenchman, Alain de Pouzilhac. Last year corporations such as television giant CNN and carmaker Volvo spent more than $41 billion through Havas companies. But de Pouzilhac says he is moving away from the advertising, predicting that it will represent only 25 per cent of Havas' business by 2010. Instead, it will focus on marketing services targeting specific groups, something car-makers are looking at now. "The internet will totally change the advertising world," he says. "Our generation was one speaking in front of a targeted mass audience. This generation is speaking individually with people."

Aussies off centre


The new BMW-built Mini features a speedo mounted just like the one in the old Mini, in the middle of the dash. But Australia's Federal Office of Road Safety, the Government body charged with ensuring vehicles meet the Australian Design Rule standard, doesn't like it. Instead, it wants the speedo in front of the driver, behind the steering wheel and next to the tachometer. BMW wants it to stay where it is. Discussions are continuing. The new Mini will go on sale in New Zealand next year, and we will take the British-spec model, with the speedo in the centre of the dash.

Italian car finance


Alfa Romeo and Fiat have launched their own finance service as part of a marketing campaign to get more people into the Italian cars. It must be working - sales so far this year are ahead of projections. Lawrie Malatios, general manager for Alfa and Fiat in New Zealand, says, "It is no longer a matter of having a simple loan and debating over the interest rate range. Customers want financial choices like lease packages, interest-free loans, split financing and a host of other combinations."

We are the world


Notice on the back of a car with a badly dented rear end in Britain: "Please be careful, it still hurts."