Photo / Supplied
After we mentioned in last week's Driven that the Honda S660 concept will be unveiled at the Tokyo motor show next month, we hear Daihatsu is joining the tiny sports car trend with plans to resurrect the Copen.
The company has shown a few concepts that hinted at the idea of bringing back the Copen since it dropped it only last year, but now we hear that the idea is being seriously considered.
The fact that Daihatsu has been quietly pulling out of international markets over the past few years (it exited NZ earlier this year) could suggest that a larger Copen, rebadged as a Toyota in overseas markets could tie in nicely with Toyota's new sports car plans that include the current 86 and a larger Supra-style car from its collaboration with BMW.
With the reveal of the Honda S660 concept and the rumour that Suzuki are considering a new Cappucino, we could be in for a new wave of screaming little roadsters in the next few years.
We are the world
If it wasn't bad enough being attached to Canada and having Sarah Palin as governor, Alaska also takes the crown for massively over-reacting to a problem. That problem?
Texting while driving. The over-reaction? A US$10,000 ($12,120) fine for your first offence.
While some motorists aren't exactly in love with cyclists, it seems there is a squirrel in Iowa that dislikes them even more. The rodent is the prime suspect in a case of bicycle vandalism at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, where a professor reported that his bicycle had its seat slashed, tyres punctured and two lights destroyed across a two-day period. Another professor came forward with pictures of a squirrel attacking the bike, solving the case. But not explaining why a squirrel would hate cyclists so much. Reincarnation perhaps?
Easy walker ... anyone?
Got a young Mini-fan in the making?
The Dutch company has teamed up with Mini for a clever bit of cross-branding that sees a range of EasyWalkers released in distinctive Mini liveries - white racing stripes on either black, blue or red and, of course, the Union Jack in either a cool black-on-black look or
the traditional red, white and blue.
A range of mix-and-match colour options is available for the wheels and a range of optional matching extras, such as windshields, umbrellas, bags and blankets, is also available.
The EasyWalker Mini can hold up to 30kg of child, strapped in with a five-point harness that you could almost convince yourself was ''just like the ones in a racing car''.
Build quality is said to be excellent, something that would seem to be likely given the price: US$850 ($1028) for a basic model, while adding a few accessories can push the price well beyond US$1200 ($1451).
No word on handling yet, but our guess at the performance figures would be ''however fast the person pushing it can go ...''
Mustang bucks trend
According to the release, as television transitioned from black-and-white to colour, Mustang reflected the incoming fashion trends with a palate of vibrant colours. In the five decades since, colour shifts to more muted browns and yellows and back to today's
bolder hues have given Mustang a different tint from many other cars.
To illustrate this shifting rainbow of colour trends, Ford have released an infographic that charts the shift in Mustang colour trends over its 50-year lifespan.
While the best-selling vehicle colour in the US today is white, Mustang bucks the trend; just a mere 10 per cent of Mustangs sold today are white.
Currently, black is the best-selling Mustang exterior paint colour, up 10 per cent over the last decade to account for 28 per cent of all 2013 Mustangs sold. By comparison, only about 1.5 per cent of customers between 1967 and 1973 went for black Mustangs according to historical production data provided by Marti Auto Works, the licensed supplier of Ford Motor Company production records.
On the other hand, red, which has always been a popular colour for sports cars, accounts for nearly 21 per cent of all Mustangs ever sold. Blue has made a recent comeback, reaching a peak of 30 per cent of all cars in 1968 when six different shades were offered. It now accounts for as much as 23 per cent of sales in recent years.
Other early favourites such as green, yellow and brown have largely faded away in the 21st century. Green and yellow have mostly been found on limited edition Mustangs like the Bullitt and Boss 302 while the last brown Mustangs were built in 1989.
That, at least, is something to be grateful for.
Focus goes classic with a retro look
Now, if there is one thing The Good Oil loves more than anything else, it has to be when our favourite modern cars sport classic racing liveries, so we could simply not resist
showing you this pair of utterly brilliant Focus STs (one of our favourite cars) wearing Gulf Racing and Team Lotus colours.
The second wears some utterly brilliant retro wheels from American Racing Wheels that go perfectly with the classic yellow and green Team Lotus racing livery. Designed by GreenFilter USA, this ST is pretty much standard, mechanically speaking, although the suspension has been overhauled by Ground Force, while a custom intake and exhaust, complete with Lotus-style conical exhaust tips, are the only performance modifications.
Number Crunching
1966 YEAR The highest number of Ford Mustangs sold in the US in one year was 607,568.
100 THOUSAND The number of Mustangs projected to sell a year when it was launched.
1 MILLION The number of Mustangs sold in the first 18 months of production.
80 THOUSAND The number of Mustangs sold last year.
Mai Kai is an initiative dedicated to strengthening food systems in Hawke’s Bay.