Suspense story

One of Mazda's answers to the future of motoring will go on show at Big Boys' Toys in Auckland next month. It's a concept car, Neospace, a flexible people/cargo carrier. Mazda says the interior is designed to give a sense of "space and light," with front seats which appear to float above the floor. No tricks with mirrors here - the seats are hung from the centre console instead of being mounted on the floor.

Land-Rover fights back

No one is saying much, but Land-Rover is understood to be building an off-road course near Rotorua to help to attract new business. The four-wheel-drive specialist, now owned by Ford, wants to get back some of the sales ground it has lost to workhorses such as Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi. It has introduced two new 110 Defender models - a cab/chassis priced at $49,500 and a crew cab at $54,500.

Inside story

Want to peer into the way the West McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team works? Ring Marie on 529 3888 and book a ticket for next Wednesday night. The Bruce McLaren Trust is hosting a behind-the-scenes video presentation. Venue is Coutts Cars, Newmarket. Price is $25.

Speedy Scandinavian

While we are on things McLaren, its F1 three-seater road car is in danger of losing its title as the world's fastest production car to a Swedish convertible called the Koenigsegg CC. The V12 F1 speeds from zero to 100 km/h in about 3.6 sec and has a top speed of about 375 km/h. The Swedish challenger, powered by a supercharged V8 engine producing 480kW, gets to 100 km/h in 3.2 sec and charges on to 385 km/h.

Wheels within wheels

Ford's tyre woes with its four-wheel-drive Explorer continue. American authorities are investigating reports that anti-roll bars on 1995 and 96 Explorers have been failing, says Britain's Autocar magazine. This after a Washington Post probe which concluded that, even though Ford executives insist the Firestone tyres were at fault in roll-over accidents, the Explorer itself may be contributing to crashes. Ford president Jac Nasser has said that that higher centre of gravity in four-wheel-drives meant they were more susceptible to roll-overs when tyres failed. But safety authorities say Ford must accept some blame for the tyre problem because it recommended that the Explorer run on lower inflation pressures than those advised by Firestone.

We are the world

A stone wall forms part of Ferrari headquarters at Maranello. Or it did, until one of thousands of party-goers celebrating Michael Schumacher's world Formula One championship win drove his hatchback into the wall, partly demolishing it. The mess was quickly cleaned up - by Italians grabbing pieces of the wall as souvenirs of Ferrari's first world title in more than 20 years.