The good oil: John Cleese on your GPS

John Cleese. Photo / Supplied

British comedian John Cleese is one of the voices sat-nav company TomTom uses on its portable units. Cleese might tell drivers who have lost their way to "Turn around when possible so that you are facing in the opposite direction from the direction in which you are directing your vehicle". Darth Vader is another guide. "The force is with you, but you are not a Jedi yet." TomTom will soon have a home-grown Kiwi voice, perhaps offering advice like "Follow your nose and she'll be right, mate." The five final voices have been chosen. Go to www.bethevoice.co.nz to vote for your favourite.

Benefits of shunning bailout

Analysts at the time said Ford was risking everything by turning down the US Government's offer of cash to help it navigate through the financial flotsam. General Motors and Chrysler had dipped into the bailout fund big time and Ford was also in trouble - it lost US$14.6 billion in 2008. But turning down the funds turned out to be a sage move. "I think it was worth more than US$1 billion of coverage and customer interest," said Ford marketing chief Jim Farley. "If I had to go out and advertise, it would be that kind of bill in paid media. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing." Ford's 2010 sales were up 19 per cent through September. and its US$4.7 billion profit in the first six months of this year is the company's largest since 1998.

Ford waves goodbye to Mazda

Ford, meantime, is said to be selling off its remaining stake in Mazda. Ford owned as much as 33.4 per cent of Mazda until 2008, when it reduced the stake to 14 per cent. A Japanese business newspaper said partners of Mazda were in talks to buy Ford's shares and a decision was likely by the end of the year. The rumour mill in Hiroshima, where Mazda is based, runs rife with speculation that an up-and-coming Chinese carmaker could step in to fill Ford's shoes. Ford and Mazda have called the reports "speculation".

Mixing cyclists and cars

Middle-aged mate said he looked both ways and quickly crossed Tamaki Drive. "There was plenty of time between cars but a cyclist caught me on the hop - he was racing, going faster than the cars. He yelled 'Silly old fool' as I jumped out of his way. I told him to slow down." Mercedes-Benz vice-president of safety engineering Ulrich Mellinghoff told a road safety conference in Melbourne the other day that mixing bicycles with motorised traffic was an "unsafe practice" that needed changing.

Porsche turns to hybrid

Porsche is counting on hybrid technology to help reduce its fleet CO2 emissions. "In the future, we will have hybrid drive in every model line," said Porsche development chief Wolfgang Duerheimer. Porsche already has its petrol-electric Cayenne SUV and, next year, will deliver a hybrid Panamera. Its first hybrid sports car, the 918 Spyder, is expected in 2014. Hybrid versions of the 911, the Boxster and Cayman, are also planned. The European Union has set Porsche a target of reducing its CO2 emissions to 216 grams per kilometre by 2015 from 255gr/km now. But new vehicles such as the Cajun SUV, which will be positioned below the Cayenne, are intended to win new customers, not to cut the carmaker's CO2 emissions. "If you want to save on your heating costs," he said, "you don't move into a smaller apartment."

We are the world

Ambulance men in New York's Brooklyn found Sherin Brown, 23, pinned under a roadside pole, screaming for help. She told them a passing truck had hit the pole and it fell on her. They took her to hospital. But a nearby surveillance camera told a different story. A truck had indeed knocked over the pole, but pedestrian Brown stepped out of the way as it fell. The camera showed her looking quickly around, then crawling underneath the pole and "wailing" in pain, perhaps, said the New York Daily News, in anticipation of a lawsuit and payout.

alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz