Online Car Loans News
Wed, 2 May 2007
Interest rates on hold: reprieve for homeowners
In a boon for the nation's mortgage belt, the Reserve Bank decided at its quarterly meeting on May 1 to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 6.25 per cent. The Reserve Bank's decision followed the publication of a much lower than expected March-quarter consumer price index, which showed inflation rose just 0.1 per cent for the quarter and 2.4 per cent for the year. This was well within the Reserve Bank’s target of 2-3 per cent. In a rare show of consensus, many economic forecasters are now predicting a further easing in inflation and most believe interest rates will stay on hold for the rest of 2007, particularly given the impending federal elections.
Wed, 31 October 2007
Security checks faster
The Federal government is looking to establish a national securities register which would record all encumbered personal property. The new electronic system will make it easier for consumers, finance companies and businesses to determine whether there is any money owed on the personal property before purchase. Currently it is not possible to check the records for every state in real time when purchasing a motor vehicle. Data will be available on the web, by SMS, call centre, interactive voice response, fax, mail or over the counter. The project is being driven by Federal Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock who said "Personal property security reform will reduce red tape for businesses and lead to cheaper finance, more competition in the financial services sector and a reduction in legal disputes."
By The Financial Review July 2007
Wed, 31 October 2007
New car sales continue to boom
New car sales continue to boom with Australians buying over a 1 million new cars for the first time in a 12 month period. The continued strength with new car sales over a number of years has coincided with record levels of household debt. Japanese car company Toyota recorded a massive 24,500 sales in the last month of the financial year, whilst other Japanese brands have also enjoyed strong 12 month sales growth.
By News.com.au July 07
Tue, 06 November 2007
Champ Car sets 14-Race schedule for 2008
Indianapolis: The Champ Car World Series added Spain to its schedule for 2008 on Monday, putting eight of its 14 races outside the United States.
The June 8 race will be held on the 2.7 mile (4.4Klm) Jerez Circuit in southern Spain, also used in testing by Formula One. Champ Car will run three races in Europe, the others in Zolder, Belguim, on June 1 and Assens, the Netherlands, on Sept. 14.
The Schedule also includes three races in Canada, one in Mexico and one in Australia.
SOURCE:Internationl Herald Tribune Nov 5 2007
Sun, 18 November 2007
MotorSport: A final, crucial query on Tonwsville
A V8 Supercar round now looks certain in Far North Queensland, but one key piece of the jigsaw is still missing; Tasmania promises to be a decisive round in the V8 Championship; F1's cool fuel row should be settled overnight; Michael Schumacher back in an F1 car-- and Sebastian Loeb to do likewise.
SOURCE: Thursday Motorsport Report Nov 15 2007
Sat, 24 November 2007
Proton and VW part ways
THE on-again off-again relationship between Malaysia's national car-maker Proton and Europe's largest vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen is now definitely off following the severing of talks about an alliance between the two car giants. Malaysia's state investment arm Khazanah Nasional, which controls Proton, said it had discontinued negotiations with Volkswagen this week, confirming that for the time being it had decided to "shelve joint talks with VW about the alliance". SOURCE: GOAUTO 24 NOV 2007
Mon, 03 December 2007
Smart Digital Australia announces Melbourne Ope Air Cinema
Smart Digital Australia today announced that it has formed a new division named Melbourne Open Air Cinema. Melbourne Open Air Cinema will provide both event rental and production and sales of outdoor cinema equipment. Melbourne Open Air Cinema will provide huge inflatable projection screens up to 100' wide which can be blown up in just a few minutes.
SOURCE: SMART DIGITAL AUSTRALIA NEWS OCT 4 2007
Sun, 09 December 2007
Treasurer to resist targets at Bali meeting
TREASURER Wayne Swan flies to the international climate change conference in Bali today carrying an ultra-cautious message on targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
As part of the Government team arriving over the next week, Mr Swan will set the stage for Australia to resist growing pressure to sign up to a 2020 target.
From Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd overruled the official Australian delegation in Bali after it last week endorsed a 25 to 40 per cent cut in 1990 greenhouse gases levels by 2020.
SOURCE: Google News 8 December 2007
Mon, 17 December 2007
Please help us to restore our fragile environment.
Ten more years at the current growth rate of green house pollution will kill us all. It must be dealt with now. That is right now!! Even if we stopped polluting today it would take thirty years for the earth to recover. That’s Thirty years. But it won’t happen that way will it? There is no way it will stop tomorrow, but it must be stopped or we humans as a species, and nearly every other species on earth are doomed.
It is therefore vitally important that you/we make people who count aware of the LEA technology.
Now that we are ready to showcase our technology it is time to act. Others, who support the coal, oil, and uranium industries are lobbying government’s world wide to push their own agendas. They have years of experience, and the know how, financial backing and networks to help them to “play the game” Remember Big Business does not take kindly to what they see as competition. In reality what we propose for our technology actually helps them to extend their resource life and by so doing make them more money. Take oil for example, what if the diminishing supply could last for an extra ten years, what would it be worth a gallon or litre then? We are not in opposition to these people, we want to fit in alongside them and help them as well.
Source: extract from open letter www.lutec.com.au LU Brits & John Chritie
Thu, 27 December 2007
CBA more convenient than ANZ
7 December 2007
The Commonwealth Bank has emerged victorious in its fight with the ANZ Bank over which could claim to be "Australia's most convenient bank". ANZ will switch to using the less controversial claim of "more convenient banking" after being challenged by the CBA which says that it has more branches, ATMs and points of presence. ANZ said that convenience could mean a number of things including shorter queue times.
SOURCE: The Australian
Sat, 05 January 2008
Same Small-Car Stew, Stirred and Reheated
WHETHER you’ve been bad or good, I can tell you what you’re not getting this Christmas: a new Focus from Ford’s European workshop.
The Focus that Americans are receiving definitely beats a fruitcake. But it is a warmed-over version of the Focus that’s been around since 2000, rather than Europe’s vastly fresher (and admittedly pricier) Focus that shares its mechanical recipe with the sophisticated Mazda 3 and Volvo S40.
For people who expected the new Focus to saddle up against the best compact cars — including the Mazda 3 and the Honda Civic — it’s hard to hide the disappointment. Especially because the original Focus proved that Detroit could design a fully competitive small car when it wasn’t busy chasing the latest S.U.V. hussy.
SOURCE New York Times
Mon, 14 January 2008
The people's car with a market of 1.8m
It may not meet Western standards, but with the arrival of the Tata Nano, India's motor industry has come of age. By Richard Orange in Delhi
Published: 13 January 2008
Girish Wagh blinks and recoils slightly as he is guided by a smiling PR man back to his chair to face the heaving, bellowing mass of the Indian press.
The man who led the design of the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano, is obviously not used to the spotlight. But today he is getting the kind of attention India usually lavishes on its Bollywood film stars.
Ratan Tata may have dreamt up India's first people's car, but it was Wagh and his team of 500 engineers who made it happen. As he leaves the conference, he is followed by a stampede of journalists so unruly that burly bodyguards are called in to rescue him.
The Tata Nano's launch on Thursday marked the day that India's skills in "frugal engineering" – once represented by clunky, garishly painted Tata trucks, antiquated Ambassador taxi cabs and Mahindra jeeps – finally came of age.
Mon, 21 January 2008
$30 Million Fine for Mileage Violations
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Published: January 3, 2008
DaimlerChrysler paid a $30 million fine in 2007, the most ever by an automaker, for failing to meet federal fuel-efficiency standards, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The penalty was assessed for DaimlerChrysler’s imported fleet of cars from the 2006 model year, which failed to meet the corporate average fuel economy standard of 27.5 miles per gallon, an agency spokesman, Eric Bolton, said Wednesday.
DaimlerChrysler, now known as Daimler, topped the record of $28 million set by BMW in 2002. The United States has collected $735 million in fines since 1985 from automakers whose fleets failed to meet car and light-truck mileage standards, now at 27.5 m.p.g. and 22.2 m.p.g..
Other automakers paying fines last year were BMW, $5.1 million for its imported fleet of passenger cars; Porsche, $4.6 million for its cars and sport-utility vehicles; and Volkswagen, $1 million for its sport utility vehicles. For each 0.1 mile below the standard, automakers pay $5.50 multiplied by the number of vehicles in the fleet.
Daimler, based in Stuttgart, Germany, sold an 80.1 percent stake in its Chrysler unit last year to Cerberus Capital Management and has paid $281.8 million in fines to date, the most in the industry. BMW is second, at $245 million, followed by Porsche’s $57 million, based on agency data.
American automakers — General Motors and Ford Motor — and the Japanese makers Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor typically avoid penalties by using past or future year mileage credits to offset noncompliance. Some automakers also qualify for a 1.2 m.p.g. credit for making vehicles able to run on E85, a blend mixing gasoline with 85 percent ethanol.
Sun, 03 February 2008
Going “Beyond Falcon” with the Territory-based F6X 270 expands FPV’s portfolio
1 February 2008
FORD Performance Vehicles’ first foray away from Falcon-derived vehicles was realised this week in the shape of the F6X 270.
Based on Ford’s range-topping SY Territory Ghia Turbo AWD, the F6X 270 is also the most powerful six-cylinder SUV available in Australia.
Priced from $75,990, the FPV SUV will be on sale from February 29, which coincides with its public debut at the Melbourne International Motor Show.
SOURCE: RACV
Sun, 10 February 2008
The Australian-specification Maserati GranTurismo
The Australian-specification Maserati GranTurismo will make its debut at the
Brisbane International Motor Show on Friday 1 February 2008, providing the more than 150 people who have put them name down for the most eagerly anticipated car of 2008 with their first opportunity to see their new car.
‘No Maserati has sold as quickly as the GranTurismo,’ explains Edward Butler, General Manager at Maserati Australia and New Zealand.
‘So the arrival of the first right hand drive, Australian-specification GranTurismo is a highly significant moment for Maserati in Australia. Indeed, the significance of the GranTurismo is clearly indicated by the fact
that our waiting list for the GranTurismo is greater than our entire sales last year!The Maserati GranTurismo has a recommended retail price of $292,800.
SOURCE: DUTTON DIRECT.COM
Wed, 20 February 2008
Ford FG Falcon: prepared for speed cameras
Ford has responded to the increased use of speed cameras and a trend towards authorities fining more drivers for speeding with a new cruise control system on its all new FG Falcon, codenamed Orion.
The new Ford FG Falcon now gets a cruise control system that can be adjusted in just 1km/h increments, half the increments of the previous car.
It also has a digital cruise control set display system in the instrument cluster designed to make it easier for people to set the exact desired speed.
While Ford engineers stopped short of suggesting the new cruise control system was designed with speed cameras in mind, a wry smile by engineers implied it was at least part of the reason for the update.
“It’s what our customers are telling us they want,” one engineer told Drive.
The so-called set-point cruise control also has more features to make it more user friendly.
Once set, the cruise control can be adjusted in two different ways.
Depending on how the speed up/down buttons are pressed the cruise control will increase or decrease by increments of 1km/h or 10km/h.
The idea is for easier setting of the cruise control when moving from one speed zone to the next.
The move by Ford follows a move by arch rival Holden to include a large digital speedometer – in addition to the standard analogue speedo - on its Commodore.
Source:Drive.com 17/02/08
Wed, 27 February 2008
Lamborghini gives Gallardo bigger engine, new name
Under pressure from Ferrari and eager to maintain momentum, Lamborghini will show a massively overhauled and renamed Gallardo at the Geneva motor show.
While most will note only minor styling changes, the biggest news is that Lamborghini will switch to a bigger, more high-tech and far stronger 5.2-liter V10 powerplant.
The Gallardo's name will change as well, with Lamborghini following the Murciélago's naming regime by calling it LP560/4--not LP550 as some others have claimed--because the re-engined Gallardo will have 560 hp.
The new engine shares core technology with Audi's new RS6, though Audi has been forced to accept some compromises that the Gallardo's more potent, high-revving pace demands.
The engine is not simply an upgrade of the existing, 5.0-liter V10, though. According to Stephan Reil, head of development at Quattro GmbH, the existing Gallardo engine has 88 mm between each of its bore centers, while the new 5.2-liter engine will have 90 mm.
"We have three petrol V10s now, and the oldest one is the Gallardo engine," he said. "It was based on the old generation of Audi engines, and they have 88-mm bore spacings, like all the old Audi engines.
"The new-generation engines have 90-mm spacings, like this one. All Audi engines are now 90 mm, whether they are four, six, eight or 10 cylinders."
He said the engine would have FSI direct-injection technology, new valve-timing systems and a flat-plane crankshaft. Most of the engine's core hardware will be cast in Audi's factory in Gyor, Hungary.
SOURCE:AUTO WEEK 25 FEB 08
Sun, 09 March 2008
Lowndes forced into older Ford V8
Ford star Craig Lowndes has been forced into a superceded car for this week's Eastern Creek V8 Supercar round after the demolition of his 2008 spec Falcon.
Ford star Craig Lowndes has been forced into a superceded car for this week's Eastern Creek V8 Supercar round after the demolition of his 2008 spec Falcon.
Lowndes' car was wrecked in a controversial high-speed accident during the opening round of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide a fortnight ago.
The Triple Eight team has had to work frantically to upgrade his three-year-old chassis in an attempt to make the former touring car champion competitive this weekend.
The car Lowndes will drive, tagged Chassis 10, is the one which provided him with his first victory for the team at Eastern Creek in 2005.
It is also the same car which brought him several round wins, including the 2005 and 2007 Sandown 500 enduro and the 2006 Bathurst classic.
Lowndes' car was destroyed when he took out fellow Ford drivers James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom opener, leading Winterbottom to describe him as "one of the dirtiest drivers in the field".
But Lowndes is focused on the next round, ahead of the Ford versus Holden challenge exhibition races at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix meeting.
"The team has been working hard to get our spare car, Chassis 10, ready for me to compete in at Eastern Creek this weekend," Lowndes said.
"We have had to make some changes to the car, including swapping the H-pattern gearbox to the sequential gearbox, but thankfully the car had already been given its major upgrades earlier in the year."
Lowndes said both he and series leader Jamie Whincup had had good results in the older car.
"I won my first ever round for Triple Eight in her so hopefully that is a good omen for this weekend.
"In saying that, my new car is definitely the best car Triple Eight Race engineering has built and we are all hoping to have it back on track for New Zealand."
Whincup, runner-up to Holden's Garth Tander in the championship last year, has opened his campaign with a flourish, completing a clean sweep in Adelaide with pole position and wins in both 250km races.
"Our off-season modifications worked very well on the Adelaide street circuit but it will be interesting to see how the car reacts on a purpose built racing circuit," Whincup said.
"We are not changing too much, we are going to stick to our plan as we convert the car from endurance spec to a sprint round contender.
"It is not only the car we need to change - as a driver I also need to change my preparation and mentality for the three shorter races.
"We couldn't have asked for a better start to the season but it's now really important that we keep the momentum going," he said.
Meanwhile, the Supercar series has signed another long-term contract by agreeing to return to the Gold Coast Indy 300 for the next six years.
As part of the agreement V8 television will produce coverage of the meeting for both the Seven Network and the Indy Racing League.
The new combined Indy and Champ Car series has entrenched itself in Surfers Paradise at a time when Australia appears to be struggling to retain its round of the Formula One World Championship.
SOURCE:DRIVE 06/03/08
Sat, 22 March 2008
Power in Indycar contention
March 20, 2008 AUSTRALIAN Will Power has made a seamless transition to Indycars, clocking the fastest lap in testing ahead of the season-opening race in Miami next week.
Power, who raced a Champ Car last year, was driving an Indycar for the first time after the two US open wheeler series merged.
The Queenslander was the quickest of six drivers who tested at a two-day session at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida.
Sydney's Ryan Briscoe was the fastest driver at the earlier Indycar test at Sebring from March 3-6.
Power ran 77 laps and was the only one to break the 53 second mark, beating experienced Brazilian Bruno Junqueira by three tenths of a second.
He was running the Team Australia car for the KV Racing Technology team.
There will be a further two-day test at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week ahead of the opening race under lights at the same track on March 29.
Power, a former winner in Champ Cars, said he was happy to be back driving after a lengthy break while the two series negotiated a merger.
"It was good to go run around today and get back into form because I haven't driven for five or six months since Mexico City," Power said.
"It's good for driver fitness, it's really good to have a run like this before I get on the Homestead oval which I've never run at before.
"It's pretty similar to the Champ Car. They run on the same tyre, similar weight, similar wheelbase, a little less horsepower and not as much grip - but it's a car and therefore you try to make it go as quick as you can.
"The team is great to work with and they've done an outstanding job to get us to this point today," he said.
Power, who moved from Walker Racing, will drive alongside Spaniard Oriol Servia in the team owned by former Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven and former driver Jimmy Vasser.
"It's tough leaving a team where you've had a group of guys around you," Power said.
"The good thing is my engineer has moved across. Having Jimmy Vasser to help mentor me on the ovals (circuits) will make the transition easier.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge but it makes me look like a rookie again," Power said.
Vasser said he was impressed by the 27-year-old Australian's ability.
"Will is an extremely capable and competitive driver," Vasser said.
"Over the years he has shown the ability to win races and challenge for the championship."
SOURCE: Fox Sports
Thu, 17 April 2008
Petrol price reform on the way
THE Federal Government is about to adopt a national FuelWatch system that could save motorists as much as 5c a litre at the petrol pump.
The announcement could be made as early as next week, according to sources within the NRMA and the Australian Automobile Association, to coincide with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's return from overseas.
It follows intense debate within the Government about the merits of the scheme, after Mr Rudd promised before the federal election to try to bring down petrol and grocery prices.
NRMA backs scheme
The Federal Government has not committed to such a scheme but the NRMA motoring body said it should be introduced sooner rather than later.
NRMA president Alan Evans said day-to-day reporting of petrol costs under a FuelWatch type arrangement could be easily communicated to motorists through use of modern technology such as SMS, websites and emails.
"That way you know very early in the afternoon that there's going to be a price increase tomorrow which means you can take advantage and fill your tank on the way home," he said.
"What that's done (in WA) is smooth out that volatility. You don't see the big jumps in WA that you get in the eastern states."
Mr Evans said the NRMA wanted the Government to seriously consider the scheme and bring it in sooner rather than later.
"Our research shows that FuelWatch is a benefit to motorists and if introduced in the eastern states, then they'll get the benefits the people in the west have been receiving for a number of years," he said.
Service stations warn of higher costs
However, Service Station Association chief executive Ron Bowden warned increased compliance costs could result in higher fuel costs being passed on.
"We think that this step, if it happens, needs to be done extremely cautiously," he said.
"We need to have a really close look at the WA situation before making such a step.
"The WA market is totally different to the east coast. It's an isolated area, there's only one supplier. There's a limited number of players.
"Here (in the east), it's totally different.
"We don't think there's any margin available for further discounting at the retail level."
But Mr Evans said fear of higher compliance costs for owners was fanciful.
"Looking at the experience in WA, the compliance costs are not high," he said.
"All it means is you log onto your computer, you fire an email off to the central authority - in this case I imagine it will be the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission).
"If that's increased cost, then I'd hate to see what else they'll use to try and justify exorbitant prices at times."
'Families are struggling'
Family First senator Steve Fielding said he would introduce a national FuelWatch Bill when the Senate returns in May.
"Petrol prices are once again close to $1.50 a litre in capital cities and higher in regional areas and families are struggling to make ends meet," he said.
"Family First is drafting legislation to ensure that families battling skyrocketing petrol prices will have a chance to buy cheaper petrol."
Opposition competition policy spokesman Peter Dutton said the proposal was a hollow promise that would put no downward pressure on petrol prices.
"The coalition supports any scheme that enables motorists to pay less at the bowser but I am not convinced that FuelWatch has delivered to WA motorists," he said.
"And there are significant question marks on whether this scheme will deliver for working families, should it be implemented nationally."
ACCC's blackflip
It is understood a change of heart by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel was critical to getting the green light for FuelWatch.
The ACCC had previously argued that although FuelWatch served to flatten out petrol prices over the price cycle, it deprived motorists of potentially greater savings if they bought at the trough - rather than at the peak - of price movements.
Source SMH 13/04/08
Sat, 17 May 2008
Car industry slams luxury car tax increases
Posted Sun May 11, 2008 3:08pm AEST
Updated Sun May 11, 2008 4:38pm AEST
A car industry representative has criticised the Federal Government's plan to raise taxes on luxury cars in Tuesday's Federal Budget.
For the first time in more than 10 years, taxes will rise for prestige cars from 25 per cent to 33 per cent and will apply to local and imported vehicles that cost $57,000 and above.
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says high-income earners can afford to pay for increases in taxes on luxury cars.
He says the move is part of the Government's plan to reduce demand in the economy and lower inflation.
"We don't think it's unreasonable that people who have done well in recent years, particularly from Government decisions in terms of top end tax cuts, just pay a little more for a luxury car," he said.
But Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Andrew McKellar says local car makers will suffer.
"It will have an adverse effect on them. It will impact on vehicle affordability and demand," he said.
"One of the things to remember with these types of vehicles is that the luxury vehicles tend to lead in terms of the advancement of safety technologies and environmental technologies. So they play an important role in the market."
Opposition treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says the move will lead to higher prices for all vehicles.
He says the increase will not help the Government's efforts to reduce inflation.
"It adds to the cost of one part of the motor vehicle universe, and inevitably the price of other vehicles will move up because that will give them a bit of headroom," he said.
"So all cars in Australia will be more expensive as a result of this, bear that in mind. That feeds into inflation because if you put the price of anything up it feeds into the consumer price index."
SOURCE : abc
Sun, 25 May 2008
Latest 'Idol' Cook praises Ford
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Singer opens door for possible collaborations; Detroit automaker says nothing is in the works.
Ford Motor Co. is getting some much-needed celebrity endorsement from America's newest celebrity, David Cook.
The singer, who became the latest "American Idol" Wednesday, told The Detroit News Friday that he can't wait to get some quiet time behind the wheel of the Ford Escape Hybrid the automaker gave him.
"I love it. It's nice to have a new car," said Cook, whose last ride was a 1996 Jeep Cherokee that he admits he ran into the ground. "Ford has been amazing throughout the whole process. I definitely could see this as the start of something."
Cook would not be the first "Idol" tapped by the automaker. The first winner, Kelly Clarkson, recorded a new anthem for Ford that was used as part of a nationwide advertising campaign.
Ford and Coca Cola are the two main sponsors of the hit television show, which gives their logos plenty of screen time.
Connie Fontaine, who manages Ford's sponsorship of "American Idol," said it has been a boon for the company, which used this season's show to launch its new "Drive One" campaign, as well as the new Ford Focus Coupe.
"It's an opportunity for us to be part of something that is part of pop culture," she said. "We don't have anything in the works with David yet but he is someone Ford would be proud to be associated with."
SOURCE: The Detroit News
Sat, 31 May 2008
Rudd defends petrol policy
May 31 2008
In an article from AAP PM Kevin Rudd defends the petrol price policy.
Stating "there is no silver bullet to fix the problem,through the Budget, the Government had done "as much as we physically can" to help."
Mr Rudd was grilled by voters for almost an hour by TV studio audience But it was the price of petrol that dominated the discussion.
He said the price of petrol, which hit a record high of $1.62 per litre in capital cities earlier this week, was largely out of his control.
"When it comes to things you do not have direct control over, obviously in terms of the global price of oil, then what you can do is simply act in the other areas to make sure that there are some more dollars to draw upon in terms of the family budget."
Mr Rudd also defended the planned FuelWatch program and criticisms that the Government would simply be watching fuel prices while the coalition's policy of reducing the fuel excise by five cents per litre would have a real impact.
He said the responsible course of action was to maximise competition among the petrol companies.
All this on the back of fuel companies release of net profits being made public.
Caltex reported net profit after tax in 2007 was $444 million on a replacement cost of sales basis, which removes the effect of oil price movements.
Royal Dutch Shell and BP, Europe's two largest oil companies, both saw first quarter profits jump thanks to record crude prices and higher natural gas prices.Shell's first quarter profits rose 25pc to $9bn, while BP's profit soared to $7.6bn from $4.6bn in the same period.
While US Based Chevron posts record $18.7 billion profit in 2007, the fourth consecutive year that the San Ramon company made record amounts of money.
Other companies have made even more. Exxon Mobil, the country's largest oil company, reported on Friday that its 2007 profit hit $40.6 billion, a 3 percent increase from 2006, while sales passed $404 billion. No American business has ever scored a higher profit.
"The major oil companies' incredible profits, boosted by multibillion-dollar tax subsidies to the industry, are ultimately clobbering taxpayers," said Judy Dugan, research director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
Here in Australia it seems the skyhigh price of petrol will soon be felt more than just at the bowser, with the earnings of companies expected to be downgraded as profit margins are squeezed by higher oil prices.
The usual suspects of airlines and transport companies are in the sights of analysts at the moment, as they question what effect on the bottom line there will be from oil prices remaining above the $US130 per barrel mark.
However, the effect of higher oil prices will be felt across the market, particularly in the second half of the year, as the input and transport costs move higher and the spending patterns of consumer are crimped as they pay more for fuel.
It needs to be remembered that despite the current hubbub surrounding fuel prices, Rudd and Wayne Swan have not actually done anything from a serious policy perspective that will bring down the price at the petrol bowser for consumers.
Whilst a showdown with the states is looming over the proposal to scrap the GST that is levied on the fuel excise.
In reality, Rudd has only moved to include the GST arrangements on excise in the broad review of the national taxation system to be headed by Ken Henry.
The inquiry could report defiantly that the ``tax on a tax'' should be scrapped but the government does not have to follow suit. Like the majority of these reviews, the recommendations could be ``reviewed' by the government with little actual outcome.
The "tax on a tax" issue and fuel prices is an issue that if continued could see prices hikes for us all in groceries, produce and most consumer goods which will undoubtedly severely effect the economy and affordability crisis looming for all Australians.
How much longer Mr Rudd do we need to allow the Oil companies to create record (almost criminal) amounts of profit and seemingly hold the world to ransom with fuel prices, whilst almost all governments worldwide claim to be powerless in the effort to control ever increasing bowser prices ?
Do we see a whole transport industry crippled, or smaller operators closed their doors due to rising costs leading to major shortages of basic living needs shortages in groceries and produce before any steps by not only governments, but bodies like the ACCC.
The Mega rich tyccons of places like Dubia must be rubbing thier wallets daily whilst planning more spectacular and incredible feats of architecture rising up out of the once deserted strip that was named the main street of dubia in the early 90's.
Author: Craig OBrien
Sources: ABC NEWS, AAP, NEWS.COM, The Chronicle, Bloomberg
Tue, 10 June 2008
Fuel Prices: The Mass Debate
10 June 2008
Or How to Knock About 50c a Litre Off the Price Of Fuel
First and foremost this debate should be centred on Diesel NOT Unleaded. Why? You may ask. Just look at the increase in supermarket prices for your answer. While it may cost you $5 or $10 extra to fill your tank everything that is transported (which is everything) rises as Diesel rises. My average basket at the supermarket per week has increased on average $30 and that’s for one person. Australia’s whole economy is tied to Diesel and therefore it should be afforded the same priority and status as water i.e. an essential commodity.
I own a small transport company and I have had to significantly raise my prices twice in the past year just to maintain profit margins. This cost you money too.
I am compelled to write this letter because I am sick of all the namby-pamby pussyfooting around everyone seems to be doing about the current fuel debate. I have spent considerable time researching this area because it affects my income. Contained herein is the WHOLE truth about the debate, the WHOLE big picture, if you will. NO-ONE till now has had the testicular fortitude to stick their necks out and present the WHOLE argument about just how much we are being RIPPED OFF. If you want the truth and the WHOLE truth read on.
DON’T – Listen to spin doctors from the oil companies. THEY HAVE A VESTED INTREST TO KEEP FUEL PRICES HIGH.
DON’T – Listen to the government – state or federal. THEY HAVE A VESTED INTREST TO KEEP FUEL PRICES HIGH.
DON’T – pay too much attention to news or current affairs programs. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN AGENDAS.
So here we go, how to make fuel cheaper!
FIRSTLY – DISBAND FUEL PARITY
Parity, for those that don’t know, is government sanctioned price fixing (simple as that). Parity allows fuel companies to sell their products for the highest current price they find in the Asia Pacific region. It completely disregards supply and demand economics and eliminates any need for competition amongst themselves.
Don’t believe me? Just look at the price of Diesel. If you remember growing up when Diesel was always 10-15c p/l cheaper than Petrol you might understand this more.
How can a product that costs far less to produce (partially a by-product of producing Unleaded as well) and a product that Australia uses more of than any other fuel be MORE EXPENSIVE than Unleaded? Simple, ring Singapore, where they don’t use a lot of Diesel and import all their fuel, find out how much it’s selling for there and charge the same here – sound fair? NOT!
Any other industry who tried this one would be hauled of to the High Court quick smart and prosecuted for price fixing! Oh but hang on, our government ALLOWS them to do this
NUMBER TWO – BARRELL PRICE
That price the news loves to show us each night is the PREMIUM GRADE crude oil price. Australian oil companies DO NOT buy PREMIUM GRADE crude oil! In fact Australia produces around 70% of its own oil and imports about 30%. The cost of production per litre produced here is cheaper than that of imported fuel, but in no way is this factored into the pump price, because they don’t need to (SEE PARITY ABOVE) we pay a pump price based on PREMIUM GRADE crude oil price the same as if we imported all of it, say somewhere like Singapore! Starting to get the picture?
NUMBER THREE – LEVIES
Everyone knows that both State and Federal Governments take a large slice of the cost of a litre of fuel. This equates in total to about 46% of the price per litre. This money is used for infrastructure, road trauma etc. etc. so fair enough right? WRONG!
What is wrong is that it is a PERCENATGE! Look at this. If a litre of fuel costs $1.00 then the Government gets 46c p/l, right? A week later fuel rises to $1.10 p/l; the Government gets 50.6c p/l, bingo! Something tells me that in one week, their costs, IN NO WAY have gone up 9%!
As I stated previously – THE GOVERNMENT HAS A VESTED INTREST TO KEEP FUEL PRICES HIGH. THEY MAKE LOTS MORE FREE MONEY! Why else do they allow fuel companies to maintain PARITY?
If they changed the tax (sorry, levy) to a flat rate tied to the GDP then the fuel price would drop drastically and immediately!
NUMBER FOUR – GST - THE DOUBLE DIPP
Now this one is outright “THIEVERY” and also applies to cigarettes and alcohol.
GST = Goods and Services Tax, correct?
46% or 46c in every dollar in the price of a litre of fuel is TAX (sorry; again, LEVY).
What part of LEVY is a good or a service? YOU CANNOT TAX, TAX RIGHT? WRONG!
You do the math.
Say fuel costs $1.00 p/l – the GST component = 9c
But hang on a minute 46% or 46c of this is TAX!
i.e., 4.14c of the GST is ILLEGALLY CHARGED ON THE TAX COMPONENT! Not much you say?
FOR EVERY LITRE SOLD IN AUSTRALIA EVERY DAY!
That equates to millions of free dollars for the Government! I’ll say it one more time - THE GOVERNMENT HAS A VESTED INTREST TO KEEP FUEL PRICES HIGH. THEY MAKE LOTS MORE FREE MONEY!
The GST on fuel should be 5.4% not 10%. At $1.75 p/l this would drop the current price by around 8c p/l.
Feeling a little annoyed? You should be!
Even without disbanding parity and introducing real competition among fuel companies, you should be paying about 40c less per litre!
My name is Graeme Strempel, (gusto1@arach.net.au) and I run a small transport business, I happily welcome anyone, Government and fuel companies included to prove me wrong.
If you feel strongly about this issue then pass this missive on to everyone in your address book. Eventually someone might take notice.
SOURCE: GREAME STREMPEL
Mon, 23 June 2008
Fuel Price -World protests spread
Is Australia NEXT?, maybe we should be ??
Whilst I agree something needs to be done, some other countries methods are maybe a bit over the top, but i guess how else are they to be heard.....So what is next in the global debate that i simply describe as the OIL COMPANIES HOLDING THE WORLD TO RANSOME!.
Artcicle source ABC NEWS Fri Jun 20, 2008
Spanish farmers marched, Israeli truckers slowed rush-hour traffic and Nepali students stoned cars overnight in anger at rising fuel prices and inflation that they say are crippling their economies.
Protests by truckers, taxi drivers, fishermen and farmers demanding fuel tax breaks have spread across the world, increasing fears of political instability and a global economic downturn.
The oil price, which dipped $US3 to $US133 after China's announcement, has touched record highs near $US140 in recent months, fuelling inflation and squeezing business margins.
In Madrid, thousands of farmers brought traffic to a halt on the capital's busiest road to demand lower diesel tax to help cushion the blow of higher fuel costs and low producer prices.
"This is the last straw. If good spring rain hadn't arrived this year and last, we would already have gone bust," sugarbeet farmer Evaristo Ortega said.
"The price of diesel and fertiliser is impossible to bear."
Diesel prices have shot up to around 1 euro ($1.62), from 60 cents a year ago, farmers said as they marched past soccer club Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium carrying banners reading: "For the future of our countryside."
For Greeks, the cost of living has replaced unemployment as the top concern, unions said.
Food prices have risen and motorists pay 13 per cent more for fuel than a year ago and heating oil costs 38 per cent more.
Labour unions have called for rallies in Athens to protest against the conservative Government's failure to rein in the price increases.
"Business interests have staged a party while the Government is duping us with its ineffective measures to contain rising prices," president of Greece's largest labour confederation, Yannis Panagopoulos said.
But Germany and other European Union states said they would reject a fuel tax break plan sought by France to cushion rising oil prices.
A senior French official said President Nicolas Sarkozy would ask EU peers to back a reduction in value-added tax on petrol across the 27-nation bloc.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Parliament: "In our view, financial policy intervention, which is being discussed again and again ... should be avoided."
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt went further and told reporters that Europeans should work longer hours and pay less income tax to cope with rising prices.
"I am asking myself ... that we might ease up on income taxes to make work pay even further, so that people could react to the fact that an increase in the petrol price could be met by working some extra hours," Mr Reinfeldt said.
Fri, 27 June 2008
Truck drivers protest over soaring fuel prices
June 27 2008
EUROPEAN leaders are struggling to defuse growing anger over soaring fuel prices as fisherman and truck drivers staged protests in several countries with more strikes planned in coming days.
The protests came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a Europe-wide cut in oil taxes to help consumers and European ministers appealed for direct EU aid to help the hard-hit fishing industry.
Fishermen and truck drivers were in the vanguard of the protests across western Europe over rising fuel costs, amid recent record global oil prices over $US130 ($135) a barrel.
French riot police cleared blockading fishermen from an oil depot at Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille, but off the north coast of France, fishing fleets resumed blockades of ports and cross-Channel ferries over high fuel prices.
In London meanwhile, hundreds of angry haulage truckers, horns blaring, drove their vehicles in a rolling protest through the capital.
They handed a petition to Downing Street demanding a rebate in fuel tax.
About a hundred drivers staged a similar protest in the Welsh capital Cardiff.
In Spain, truck drivers joined striking fishermen in calling for government help to cover soaring fuel costs, before a meeting between road transport firm bosses and Transport Ministry officials. Italian, Greek and Portuguese fishermen may strike later this week.
Meanwhile here in Australia Truck drivers in Western Australia have threatened a "State of Chaos" within six weeks if they don't get relief at the petrol pump. The Transport Workers Union gave a taste of the disruption they can cause today by setting up a blockade around Western Australia's Parliament House.
Hundreds of trucks arrived at Parliament House early this morning. Police had to rush to set up barricades so parliamentarians would be able to get to work. The blockade caused chaos in a city that's not used to the kind of crawling traffic typical in Sydney or Melbourne. The Transport Workers Union secretary, Jim McGibbon, says there'll be worst to come if something's not done about the high price of petrol.
The same In Queensland with a planned blockade of all major roads is reported to be coming for the Brisbane Metro area and west to Toowoomba at the end of this month (June), sending a clear message to our PM about the crippling price of diesel soaring to as much as nearly $2.00 per litre in some parts of the state. Placing a clear emphasis on the importance of removing the "TAX on TAX" scheme currently in place and showing that the transport industry can clearly return the so called " Holding for Ransome" that oil companies worldwide are currently displaying.
Source: New.com , ABC News and website owner.
Fri, 27 June 2008
Queensland Roads Chaos over Fuel Prices
June 27 2008
Truck drivers in Western Australia have threatened a "State of Chaos" within six weeks if they don't get relief at the petrol pump. The Transport Workers Union gave a taste of the disruption they can cause today by setting up a blockade around Western Australia's Parliament House.
Hundreds of trucks arrived at Parliament House early this morning. Police had to rush to set up barricades so parliamentarians would be able to get to work. The blockade caused chaos in a city that's not used to the kind of crawling traffic typical in Sydney or Melbourne. The Transport Workers Union secretary, Jim McGibbon, says there'll be worst to come if something's not done about the high price of petrol.
The same In Queensland with a planned blockade of all major roads is reported to be coming for the Brisbane Metro area and west to Toowoomba at the end of this month (June), sending a clear message to our PM about the crippling price of diesel soaring to as much as nearly $2.00 per litre in some parts of the state. Placing a clear emphasis on the importance of removing the "TAX on TAX" scheme currently in place and showing that the transport industry can clearly return the so called " Holding for Ransome" that oil companies worldwide are currently displaying.
This planned blockade of Queensland roads will be one on a scale to cripple all major roads in and out of Brisbane and Toowoomba for up to 48 hours according to industry sources.
As much as this planned blockade will send a clear message, it is yet to confirmed.
It would be a sight to see, though with continual pressure worldwide on relief for transport operators of all kinds, and the growing pressure on governments to remove exise and taxes, i think this kind of protest is almost A MUST to show our government the message of unity amongst the transport industry as a whole, from big operators to small and owner drivers !
Source : ABC news and Webmaster
Mon, 30 June 2008
Queensland Roads Chaos over Fuel Prices
June 30 2008
In the Article below i simply stated what transport industry sources were planning,I actually got the month wrong and this is planned for the end of JULY 2008.
Wether you read this in Australia or any part of the world for that matter, please understand this is only my opinion, which is that i think whether you drive a car or own a whole fleet of trucks, ride a pushbike even, we all need to get behind this, because it affects every single one of us, from kids and those that use public transport like buses and trains, to every day people, everything including groceries, building materials, general freight, houshold goods, the list is never ending for what is being affected by the rising cost of fuel, and it affects us all. These cost are flowing back to us, the end user.
Those who may say it's extreme,i will agree with also, as i said though its all just my opinion, but what else and how else do we get our government and the oil companies (that continue to push up these prices for apparently no other reason that profit margins) to listen to the public ?
Use the media to our gain, because that is what they are doing to us, create a big enough event that will bring worldwide media attention, in other parts of the world far worse and things of a more extreme nature are being done in protest over fuel prices.
So...lets support this, if it happens join in the trucks drivers efforts, even if its in your car, on your bike, or on foot, the more people the better. Let Get the message across peacefully but clearly.
Truck drivers in Western Australia have threatened a "State of Chaos" within six weeks if they don't get relief at the petrol pump. The Transport Workers Union gave a taste of the disruption they can cause today by setting up a blockade around Western Australia's Parliament House.
Hundreds of trucks arrived at Parliament House early this morning. Police had to rush to set up barricades so parliamentarians would be able to get to work. The blockade caused chaos in a city that's not used to the kind of crawling traffic typical in Sydney or Melbourne. The Transport Workers Union secretary, Jim McGibbon, says there'll be worst to come if something's not done about the high price of petrol.
The same In Queensland with a planned blockade of all major roads is reported to be coming for the Brisbane Metro area and west to Toowoomba at the end of the month (July), sending a clear message to our PM about the crippling price of diesel soaring to as much as nearly $2.00 per litre in some parts of the state. Placing a clear emphasis on the importance of removing the "TAX on TAX" scheme currently in place and showing that the transport industry can clearly return the so called " Holding for Ransome" that oil companies worldwide are currently displaying.
This planned blockade of Queensland roads will be one on a scale to cripple all major roads in and out of Brisbane and Toowoomba for up to 48 hours according to industry sources.
As much as this planned blockade will send a clear message, it is yet to confirmed.
It would be a sight to see, though with continual pressure worldwide on relief for transport operators of all kinds, and the growing pressure on governments to remove exise and taxes, i think this kind of protest is almost A MUST to show our government the message of unity amongst the transport industry as a whole, from big operators to small and owner drivers !
Source : ABC news and Webmaster
Sun, 06 July 2008
Petrol protest causes F3 chaos
July 1, 2008
Traffic delays on the F3 are easing as a protest involving a convoy of hundreds of trucks begins to disperse in Wahroonga.
Motorists travelling from the Central Coast experienced significant delays and heavy traffic this morning after hundreds of truck drivers protesting against rising petrol costs took over two lanes of the freeway between the Caltex service station at Warnervale and Wahroonga.
About 100 trucks were originally involved in the go-slow on the F3 freeway this morning, as they drove towards Sydney at speeds of between 60kmh and 80kmh, but up to 300 more joined in, according to a spokesman from the Transport Workers Union (TWU).
Most of the trucks have now reached Wahroonga and are immediately diverting down Pennant Hills Road or the Pacific Highway, which are experiencing increased traffic but no major delays.
The protest was about soaring fuel prices, the TWU said.
"Drivers are currently having to absorb the spikes in fuel prices," NSW TWU secretary Tony Sheldon said.
"The major retailers like Coles and Woolworths increase the costs of goods for every member of the public and use the rising fuel costs as an excuse, yet this money isn't passed down the transport chain to the drivers."
A TWU spokesman tsaid his morning the trucks were allowing traffic and emergency vehicles to pass in the third lane of the freeway.
"We're just hoping people understand the cause, obviously we apologise for the inconvenience caused but the attitude is it's an issue of safety if these guys are having to spend more money on fuel and less on keeping safe trucks.
"Unsafe trucks on the road are not good for any road user."
The RTA advised motorists to allow extra travel time or use public transport.
SOURCE: SMH
Thu, 17 July 2008
2000 Qantas jobs axed as fuel prices bite
QANTAS will slash about 2000 jobs next week as the national carrier seeks to offset cost pressures caused by the crippling fuel crisis.
The belt tightening also will include cutting loss-making flight routes from both domestic and international schedules.
The economic situation confronting the airline is so grim senior managers, flight crew, engineers and ground staff will be included on the hit list.
The cuts are expected to affect 5 per cent of the carrier's 36,000-strong worldwide workforce.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon told workers this week rocketing fuel prices had changed forever the way Qantas did business.
Qantas last month pruned about 100 staff, cut services and agreed to retire four aged 747 jumbos
Since then, the cost of refined jet kerosene has leapt even higher on the Singapore index, the benchmark for Asia-Pacific airlines, from $US171.45 a barrel to the July 3 record of $US181.43.
Jet fuel yesterday traded at $US175.25.
The fact fuel continues to hover above $US170 a barrel means the Qantas and Jetstar fuel bill will double to more than $2 billion this financial year.
Next week's cuts come as the airline and the International Airline Pilots Association agreed to a new pay deal that will hand long-haul pilots an annual 3 per cent pay rise, plus a 1 per cent increase in company superannuation contributions each year for the next five.
The pay deal is expected to put pressure on the airline's 1500 engineers, who have taken industrial action in support of a 5 per cent pay rise, which Qantas argues is outside its wages policy.
"The overall view of our industry is dire," Mr Dixon said
SOURCE: THE ADVERTISER
July 17, 2008
Wed, 23 July 2008
100 trucks protest fuel prices
July 23, 2008
MORE than 100 heavy trucks formed a go-slow convoy from the New South Wales southern highlands to Sydney today in a protest against high fuel prices.
About 40 trucks met at Sutton Forest about 6am (AEST) for the two-hour trip north on the Hume Highway to Casula, Transport Workers Union (TWU) spokesman Joshua McIntosh said.
The number of participating trucks grew to "just over 100" during the trip, he said.
The trucks moved at about 60km/h in the left-hand lane of the Hume Highway under police escort and the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) reported no traffic flow problems.
Mr McIntosh said the aim of the convoy was to attract attention to the impact of the rising cost of fuel.
The union says drivers are having to absorb the spikes in fuel prices along with the cost of maintaining their vehicles.
Retailers increasing the cost of their goods blame the rising price of fuel, but those increases are not being passed onto drivers, it says.
It is the second protest this month after at least 60 trucks took part in a go-slow convoy down the F3 to Sydney on July 1.
SOURCE: NEWS.COM
Sun, 03 August 2008
Virgin joins iPhone party with 5GB data plan
August 01, 2008
VIRGIN Mobile has started selling Apple's iPhone 3G and aims to attract younger customers to mobile internet services with the highest monthly data allowance in Australia.
Virgin Mobile, wholly owned by Optus, is making the 8GB iPhone available on a $70 per month plan which will include 1GB of data, according to information posted on the company's website today.
In contrast, Telstra is offering the iPhone on an $80 plan with a data allowance of just 5MB outside the company's own websites.
Optus offers 700MB of data each month on a $79 plan while Vodaphone customers get 250MB on a $69 plan, which includes a one-off charge for the handset of $189.
Virgin will also offer the 16GB iPhone for $100 a month with a download allowance of 5GB, the highest data limit in Australia.
"The Apple iPhone is there to experience the internet and we're the best carrier to do that with," Virgin Mobile chief executive Peter Bithos said.
"We're not going for the lowest price but the best value for data."
Mr Bithos, who has been in the job for a month, said customer feedback indicated the iPhone had prompted people to increase their usage of mobile internet and data applications and any plan offered by Virgin Mobile would have to satisfy that demand.
Virgin Mobile, which has 700,000 mobile phone and internet customers, is aiming to increase its share of the market for Optus – particularly among younger customers who are quicker to adopt new technology.
The iPhone has spurred a cult-like following in the lead up to and since its release on July 11, and prompted reports comparing the value offered by the major carriers.
Hutchison, which provides mobile services under the 3 brand, isn't selling the iPhone but announced yesterday it would offer SIM card and data kits for those who buy the handset elsewhere.
Hutchison will offer $350 of calls and 1GB of data on a $49 cap plan and $650 of calls and 2GB of data on a $69 plan.
Sun, 17 August 2008
Why Warming Your Car in Winter is Burning a Hole in Your Pocket
17 August 2008
Winter is a difficult time for drivers. It does it's best to wreak havoc on your gas mileage. You may be playing the part of an unwitting ally to winter's effect on your fuel economy. Improperly warming your car up could be burning a hole in your pocket.
Drivers are in the habit of warming their vehicle up in winter temperatures. Drivers seem to be under the mistaken idea that they need to warm up their car for it to operate properly. By warming up they mean idling the car for a considerable amount of time before driving. This misnomer is costing you money.
Many drivers idle their car for 5 to 10 minutes in the winter to let their cars warm up. You should not let your car idle for more than 30 seconds. You need no more than 30 seconds of idling to circulate the engine oil before you can drive away on cold days
When you idle your car to warm it up you are burning gas but not going anywhere. When you let that happen you are getting zero miles per gallon. You may think that idling your car for few minutes or so is no big deal, think again.
To get an idea about how much fuel you are burning by letting your car idle for 5 to 10 minutes when you start it consider this. Assume you idle on the short side, only 5 minutes when you start your car in the morning. Most likely you idle for 5 minutes again, when you start your car again to drive home.
Therefore your car is idling for a minimum of 10 minutes a day. For illustrative purposes we consider winter to be four months long, or 120 days long. If a car is idling for 10 minutes a day for 120 days then it is idling for 1200 minutes during the winter period.
1200 Minutes is 20 hours. Think about it, warming your car for only 5 minutes per start amounts to your car idling and burning gas going nowhere, for 20 hours. Can you visualize your car sitting and idling for 20 hours? Of course not. Then why warm it up for the equivalent of 20 hours of burning gas when it is completely unnecessary?
Warm your car up by driving it. To operate efficiently your car needs to warm up other parts in addition to the engine. Tires, transmission, wheel bearings and other moving parts also need to warm up. Your car's catalytic converter doesn't function at its peak until it reaches between 400C and 800C. The only way these other parts warm up is by driving. The reality is, to warm your car up completely you have to drive it anyway.
To save gas and increase gas mileage in the winter one of the simplest things you can do is warm your car by driving it, not by idling. Not only will it save you gas and money but you will also be doing something positive for the environment. That warm car will stop burning a hole in your pocket.
Source:www.fuelcostangel.com/newsarticles
Sun, 24 August 2008
Want a piece of the world's priciest car?
August 24, 2008
A COOL $200,000 can buy an apartment in Sydney's west, 14 Holden Barinas or a one-tenth share in the world's fastest, most expensive car.
For that you get to drive it just 20 days a year and not even on Australian roads.
The Supercar Club has two shares left to sell in the $2 million Bugatti Veyron, a car that can reach a speed of 100km/h in 2.5 seconds.
The eight Australians who have already become part-owners in the car include a potato farmer, a film star and corporate big wigs who have ridden the resource boom.
The car will be bought by the exclusive club next month - most likely in grey-blue - and for the first year will be based in Europe, where it can legally reach speeds of more than 400km/h on autobahns.
But the vehicle's left-hand drive cannot be converted for Australian use so, when it arrives here in a year's time, it will be restricted to private roads and race tracks.
"This is the only opportunity that consumers in Australia are going to have to drive the Bugatti Veyron," Supercar Club spokesman Richard Thomas said.
"It's going to be based in London initially, then the south of France and northern Europe.
"We'll ship the car to where members want to drive it, basically."
At the end of the two years, the club will sell the car and guarantee its members a 60 per cent return on their money.
The shares are selling for $179,000 plus $9000 a year for two years in running costs.
For that, members have to get themselves to Europe in the first year and are given a maximum of 20 days to drive the vehicle.
"The people who've bought shares so far are obviously very wealthy corporate and individual clients," Mr Thomas said.
"It's a very rare opportunity for them."
The Supercar Club offers members access to exclusive wheels for a hefty annual fee plus joining costs.
SOURCE: news.com
Tue, 02 September 2008
Top Gear Australia Goes Live September 29
September 2 2008
That’s right, there’s only 27 more sleeps before Top Gear Australia hits the airwaves with SBS confirming the release date and subsequent weekly time-slot of 7:30pm each Monday. In a little under four weeks we’ll know if co-hosts Charlie Cox, Warren Brown and Steve Pizzati have what it takes to make TGA ‘cut the mustard’.
While we can expect to see a bevy of local products put through their paces, we know for certain that at least some foreign metal will be represented. Eagle-eyed snappers caught our very own dingo-eating Stig at Camden airport testing one of only two RHD Ford GT40’s in the world late last month.
Once TGA goes live you can expect to see clips from our series hitting the Top Gear YouTube channel so keep your eyes peeled. If you’re more interested in getting in on the action personally, you’ll be pleased to know that applications are still open for the live studio audience across late September to mid-October. (So if you’re keen, you’d best get in quick.)
What do you think guys and gals - is Top Gear Australia going to live up to the promise? Or will it fail.
SOURCE: THE MOTOR REPORT
Tue, 09 September 2008
Ford CEO Mulally Says Lawmakers Back Auto Makers
September 8, 2008
Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said that more legislators are "in our corner" as the three U.S. auto makers prepare to lobby the government for as much as $50 billion in low-cost loans.
"I think last year was a real turning point," Mr. Mulally said following a speech in Dearborn, Mich., on Monday. "I think a lot of people [in Washington] believe in the industry."
Ford, along with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, are hoping to persuade the U.S. government to provide as much as $50 billion in low-cost loans as slumping sales in the U.S. market eat into profitability. A bill signed into law last year authorized loans of as much as $25 billion to help car makers and suppliers retool plants to produce new, highly fuel-efficient vehicles.
"I absolutely don't think it's a bailout," Mr. Mulally said. "I think it will be a loan at lower interest rates with the caveat to pay it back. It is written for $25 billion but there are a lot of people who believe that more would help speed the transition," he said.
Mr. Mulally declined to say if he personally will travel to Washington to lobby legislators. GM's CEO Rick Wagoner, scheduled to participate in an energy summit in Washington on Friday, is expected to address the issue of loans in prepared remarks during a question-and-answer session, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The push for loans also comes as the auto makers grapple with economic slowdowns around the world.
"Everything you read out there about the business situation is true," Mr. Mulally said. "The rest of the world is slowing down, the Middle East is slowing down and Europe is slowing down. It's really tough out there."
He said that as the economies slow and gas prices remain high, auto makers will have to respond with more fuel-efficient vehicles. Ford plans to convert three of its North American pickup truck and sport-utility vehicle assembly plants so they can build at least six cars that Ford now builds and sells in Europe. The cars are due to hit showrooms starting in 2010.
This is the first public appearance for Mr. Mulally in the past few months, after the company posted a second-quarter loss of $8.7 billion and dropped its goal of turning profitable in 2009. He jumped to Ford from Boeing Co. two years ago.
SOURCE: WSJ
Tue, 23 September 2008
Grant Denyer hurt in 'monster' crash
September 18, 2008
Former Dancing With The Stars winner and Channel Seven television personality Grant Denyer has been taken to hospital with back injuries after crash-landing a monster truck earlier today
Grant Denyer's monster leap and, inset, the result with him lying under the truck with an injured back Picture: Joshua Dowling
Denyer, who is also an accomplished race driver, was doing a demonstration jump over five wrecked cars during a media preview for the NSW Monster Truck Championships at the Dapto showgrounds this weekend.
Denyer has been driving the 6.5-tonne rig for about six months and in Melbourne last month defeated the Australian and North American monster truck champions.
The incident is a significant setback for Denyer, who is poised to compete in Australia's biggest motor race next month, the Bathurst 1000.
The 31-year-old was taken to Wollongong Hospital, where he was expected to stay overnight for tests.
The owner of the monster truck, Clive Featherby, who has been operating the big rigs for nine years, said he was devastated by Denyer's accident but said such injuries were common in the sport.
"I feel so sorry for him," he said. "He's just such a good guy. He loves driving these trucks. He's adapted to them so well."
Featherby said it appeared Denyer took his foot off the accelerator too soon as he landed.
"He lost a bit too much momentum and that's why it landed so hard," he said.
"The poor bugger was lying under the truck while we were waiting for the ambulance and he was apologising to me.
" I said: 'Don't be stupid, I just want to make sure you're OK.' "
Featherby said one of his drivers had been to hospital 11 times.
"Doing one show is like doing a dozen demo derbies, it really knocks you around," he said.
"At least Grant's in one piece thank goodness.
"He's talking about doing a telephone interview with [TV morning show] Sunrise tomorrow, so he can't be too bad.
"Even before the ambulance arrived he was telling me he wanted to drive the truck again when he got better."
SOURCE: Herald.
Mon, 06 October 2008
Oil falls below $US90 a barrel
6/10/2008
Oil prices fell to an 8-month low below US$90 a barrel on speculation that the spreading financial crisis will exacerbate a global economic slowdown and cut demand for crude oil.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery was down $US4.69 to $US89.19 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by late afternoon in Singapore.
Oil prices have tumbled nearly 40 per cent since peaking in July. The Nymex front-month contract last traded this low in early February.
The drop came as world stock markets plunged amid growing investor anxiety that the US bad debt crisis is enveloping Europe. Germany announced Sunday a bailout package totalling E50 billion ($A89.04 billion) for Hypo Real Estate, the country's second-biggest commercial property lender, part of a scramble by European governments to save failing banks.
"What happened over the weekend was further evidence of the spread of this financial crisis to Europe," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "This deepens the sentiment that we're going to see a more widespread economic slowdown or even recession, and that's no good for oil demand."
Investors shrugged off Friday's approval by the US House of Representatives of a $US700 billion ($A913.0 billion) bailout package to buy bad mortgage debt, aimed at stabilising the US financial system.
Oil demand in the world's richest countries had already begun to slow since May, before the worst of the financial turmoil hit the United States last month, Shum said.
"The rescue plan should keep a complete financial meltdown from occurring," Shum said. "But the demand data is not encouraging. In the developed countries it's falling, and that's why we're seeing downward pressure on prices."
In other signs the meltdown is spreading, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said on Sunday that France's BNP Paribas SA had committed to taking a 75 per cent stake in Fortis NV.
British treasury chief Alistair Darling said he was ready to take "pretty big steps that we wouldn't take in ordinary times" to help the country weather the credit crunch.
Investors will be watching if the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries moves to cut output should prices fall further.
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossien Nozari said Monday that it would be "unsuitable" for both producers and consumers for oil to dip below $US100 a barrel. He called on fellow OPEC members not to pump too much oil and avoid a drop in prices.
"OPEC has signalled it may defend $US80," Shum said. "There's uncertainty over what OPEC may do."
Traders were also watching currency movements as investors tend to buy commodities like oil to defend against dollar weakness and a hedge against inflation, but sell crude as the US currency strengthens.
The 15-nation euro fell to $US1.3590 in trading Monday from $US1.3774 late on Friday while the dollar dropped to 103.35 yen from 105.30 on Friday.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 6.92 cents to $US$2.60 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 5.68 cents to $US$2.17 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery fell 13.1 cents to $US7.23 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, November Brent crude fell $US3.80 to $US86.40 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
SOURCE: ninemsn
Thu, 16 October 2008
Ford to slash unconfirmed number of jobs
October 14, 2008
Australia's automotive workers' union hopes Ford will reveal next week how many more jobs will be axed at its Victorian plants.
Ford Australia has confirmed more job losses are in the pipeline, saying it is reviewing its entire structure for possible cost cuts.
The step follows the company's earlier decision to sack up to 350 factory floor workers next month, and curb production of V6 models by up to 25 per cent at Ford's Broadmeadows and Geelong plants.
Ford spokeswoman Sinead McAlary said on Tuesday that in light of the production cut, the company was reviewing all operations for possible cost savings.
She said jobs could go in all divisions, including engineering, administration, product design, marketing and the factory floor.
"We have told employees there will be voluntary separations on top of the 300 to 350 jobs being cut in manufacturing," Said Ms McAlary.
"We're still working through that process."
Ford employs about 4,700 people at its Victorian plants - 2,300 on the factory floor and 2,400 in areas such as engineering, administration, marketing and product design.
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union vehicle division federal secretary Ian Jones said the union would meet with Ford next Tuesday to hear anticipated sales figures for the rest of the year.
"And we would expect at that meeting we would get some serious data on the jobs," he said.
Mr Jones said it would not be productive to speculate on the number of jobs at stake.
"We're constantly in contact with Ford. We'll be continuing to have some discussions with them to see exactly what the numbers are."
SOURCE: SMH
Wed, 29 October 2008
GM could have case for aid: experts
Tue Oct 28, 2008
WASHINGTON- General Motors Corp is lobbying for a $10 billion government bailout to help it merge with Chrysler LLC, and could make a strong case for crucial parts of the package, experts said on Tuesday.
Chief Executive Rick Wagoner has personally discussed assistance in recent days with Bush administration officials who have not disguised their reluctance over the years to help the once vaunted but now deteriorating U.S. auto industry.
Financial pressures on Detroit automakers are acute, and the GM proposal -- not coincidently -- ramps up in a politically charged climate with the presidential election on closing fast. Most of Congress will face voters on November 4 as well.
Selling the plan around an election is a high-wire act, with the possibility that a merger could result in plant closings, layoffs and other drastic cost cutting in politically strategic states already hard hit by automakers' problems and U.S. economic woes.
GM may have easier success in making a less emotional case and leave the Treasury Department through the front door with a rescue plan in place. The argument would simply cite the company's overall impact on the economy through manufacturing and related industries, and emphasize the structure and reach of its distressed but historically lucrative consumer lending operations.
For instance, major automakers own or partially own companies -- GMAC, Ford Motor Credit, and Chrysler Financial -- that run auto financing, insurance and mortgage operations.
Troubled lending assets at these units are a drag on overall car company performance. GMAC LLC has restricted its lending only to buyers with the best credit at a time when sales are plummeting and GM is burning through cash.
Gerard Comizio, attorney at Paul Hastings' banking and financial institutions group, said financial services operations at car companies fit well with the government's ongoing efforts to unfreeze credit markets that has mainly focused on capital injections for U.S. banks.
"The automakers are an easy sell because they own banks," Comizio said of their lending arms.
Scott Talbott, chief of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, said industry aid could clearly help consumers get car loans at a time when lending markets are virtually frozen.
Also, the aid would spread to not only the automakers and their finance businesses but also to dealers, which rely on the automakers' ability to have access to credit.
"Both of those processes have shut down," Talbott said.
Late on Tuesday, GMAC said it had been approved to use the short-term funding facility created by the U.S. Federal Reserve earlier this month to ease pressure on the corporate credit market.
Automakers and their affiliated finance companies also would like the Treasury to buy back distressed auto loans in addition to bad mortgage debt.
The White House, through its chief spokeswoman, alluded on Tuesday to the link between auto financing and government help as a way to possibly leverage assistance through the ongoing corporate rescue effort.
SOURCE:Reuters
Tue, 18 November 2008
Los Angeles auto show opens under a cloud
Nov. 17, 2008
Automotive industry in crisis; 'hard to throw a party when you're dying'
When Carlos Ghosn takes the stage Wednesday to deliver the keynote address at the Los Angeles auto show, the journalists and automotive executives gathered are likely to be hanging on the Nissan chief executive’s every word.
With its emphasis on future automotive technologies, the Los Angeles show is often an optimistic and forward-looking event, but there will be little to celebrate this year with the automotive industry in a full-blown crisis, struggling with low sales, massive financial losses and talk of bankruptcies.
Enter Carlos Ghosn, who is credited with turning around Japan’s Nissan, which was on the brink of bankruptcy when he took over as chief executive in 2001. Ghosn, who is also CEO of France's Renault, cut costs and revived sales, quickly returning the company to profitability and becoming a cult figure in the automotive industry.
Industry observers like Jack Nerad, market analyst at automotive information company Kelley Blue Book, will be listening intently for Ghosn’s views on the state of the auto industry and how it can be revived.
“I think this might be the most interesting auto show I’ll ever attend, not so much because of the cars that will be there but because of these troubled times for the industry,” said Nerad. “I’m eager to hear what the big car executives like Ghosn will have to say about what’s going to happen to the industry. This is really a pivotal time.”
The timing of the show could hardly be more pivotal. As automakers show off some of their latest vehicles, Congress will be debating the merits of a $25 billion bailout proposal for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Advocates say the rescue plan is essential to save a crucial sector of the economy, but many lawmakers oppose the bailout, saying the automakers should be forced to pay the price for their business mistakes.
In most need of that cash is General Motors, the nation’s biggest automaker. Its sales slumped 45 percent in October, and it warned that it’s going through cash at a rate of $2 billion a month and without help from the government will run out of money in early 2009. GM and Chrysler have scaled back their involvement in the Los Angeles show and will hold no news conferences.
Aside from the financial considerations, the Big Three’s executives are likely to keep their heads down in Los Angeles, given the ongoing debate in the Senate and the state of crisis facing the industry, said Rebecca Lindland, an automotive analyst with consultancy IHS Global Insight.
“It’s really hard to throw a party when you’re dying, and of course it’s not really appropriate” said Lindland. “These companies are in the throes of throes of chemotherapy right now, so they need to walk a fine line between being excited about new products and respecting the very difficult circumstances they find themselves in.”
GM, for example, has said it won’t send its colorful Vice Chairman Bob Lutz to introduce the sporty Cadillac CTS coupe in Los Angeles. The CTS is a “gorgeous car,” but it’s a high-end vehicle that sends the wrong message at a time when GM is asking the government for billions of dollars, said Lindland.
SOURCE : MSNBC
Mon, 24 November 2008
GM teeters, the auto industry's outlook is dire
November 15, 2008
A GRIM silence will descend on the planet's car factories this Christmas as the assembly lines stop and vehicles, normally made by the million every week, cease being built.
Everywhere the lights will be switched off for longer than usual this holiday season, with scheduled shutdowns extended by weeks.
Millions of car industry employees will leave their places of work uncertain if they will have jobs when they return.
The automotive industry has entered a winter of unparalleled severity that threatens to change the landscape forever.
The extent of the crisis is measured in billions of dollars and dwarfed only by the plight of the finance sector. Even the most successful car companies, such as Toyota, are feeling the pinch of a worldwide slowdown that is slashing demand for vehicles, throttling cash for investment and causing share prices to plummet.
Events are moving so quickly it's hard to keep up. This week General Motors shares were trading below $US3 ($4.50) -- an 88 per cent fall this year.
When it should be celebrating its 100th anniversary, GM has been closing factories, laying off employees and now verges on bankruptcy.
So profound has been GM's demise that the $6.2 billion pledged by the Rudd Government to help the Australian industry this week would have bought GM and left change.
The scale of the market turnaround has taken every car maker by surprise. In the US, demand plummeted 32 per cent last month and is running 15 per cent below last year, 2 million units down.
It's almost as bad in Western Europe, with sales down 6 per cent for the year to date. But precipitous falls in October accelerated the trend.
British sales dropped 23 per cent in October, Italy 19 per cent and Spain 40 per cent. The other big markets, Germany and France, are on the slide.
In Japan, sales are running at their lowest level in more than three decades while previously booming zones such as China, India and Russia have gone into reverse.
Australia has been treated less savagely so far. The car market has achieved records in five of the past six years, culminating in a million-plus figure for the first time last year.
However, the signs of a slowdown are now rattling even the optimists, such as Mazda, or the exclusive, such as Rolls-Royce.
Sales in October were down 11 per cent on the same month in 2007 -- the fourth consecutive decline.
No one believes the industry will go anywhere but backwards next year, with a 5 per cent drop the most optimistic estimate.
"There's no way you'd expect next year to be better than this year," Lexus Australia chief executive John Roca said this week. "Consumer confidence is the biggest issue."
The financial crisis has added a new dimension to the industry's problems -- and it was already in ordinary shape.
Car makers need constant funding on a mammoth scale and it's increasingly hard to get, especially when their credit ratings are being mauled.
The US big three -- GM, Ford and Chrysler -- are burning billions monthly and literally running out of cash. They are appealing to the US Congress for emergency funding of at least $US25 billion and pitching for double that.
At retail level, finance companies are in retreat. In Australia, the recent move by GE and GMAC to withdraw from the financing of showroom stock, known as floorplans, threatens hundreds of dealers with closure.
The remaining finance players, such as St George, will be increasingly picky about the risks they take on.
Regional dealers will find it hardest to make the figures add up.
It's also more difficult for potential buyers to get finance for a car. During the boom years, buyers were funding car purchases from mortgage extensions, confident the value of their real estate would rise. Although they're already a memory, this year's interest rate increases put paid to that.
The current financial chaos means buyers are standing on the sidelines, nursing their share portfolios and super.
Meanwhile, a slump in second-hand values is deterring lease holders and trade-ins.
It's scant consolation that oil and steel prices are falling. It's harder to turn a profit when you're producing fewer cars, and the challenge of making vehicles more efficient and less petro-centric, won't go away.
In Australia, our exports will be more competitive with the recent fall in the value of the dollar, but this year 83 per cent of buyers are choosing imports, and they'll get more expensive. That won't happen, though, until current stocks are cleared, and they're at record highs.
Newly appointed Ford Australia chief executive Marin Burela said it had a 43-day supply of locally made cars and a 60-day backlog of imports this week -- far more than needed. That's just months after launching its new Falcon, usually a fillip to sales.
Business fleets, the last buyers standing in Australia this year, are now applying the brakes.
Fleets are holding on to vehicles for four years rather than three, according to consultant Tony Robinson of Innovation Sureplan, and putting more kilometres on the cars. The three local makers rely on fleets for at least 75 per cent of their sales.
The car industry is notoriously prone to boom and bust cycles due to long product gestation periods. Despite intensive use of computer simulation, rapid prototyping and other techniques, it still takes years for an idea to go from drawing board to showroom.
Globalisation spreads the risk but creates problems of its own, such as long supply and distribution chains.
Into this climate the Rudd Government injected $6.2 billion this week to extend transitional assistance to the industry by six years, to 2021. The plan includes $3.2 billion in new funding and expansion of the green car fund to $1.3 billion.
Aside from a reduction in tariffs, the scheme gives the local industry everything it wanted and more. However, Burela says, the money was "never enough" and declined to say whether it guaranteed Ford's presence in Australia.
"There's enough there for us to work with. It isn't a bailout of the industry because the Government has said it will invest in us if we invest in ourselves," he says.
The New Car Plan for a Greener Future spells out the Government's expectations.
"Between 2001 and 2007, Australia spent $3.8 billion on the Automotive Competitiveness and Investment Scheme. The firms taking part in the scheme spent more than 10 times that amount on plant, equipment, research and development, taxes, wages and salaries.
"We can expect even better returns from A New Car Plan for a Greener Future."
Deduct wages and taxes from the calculation and the picture is less rosy. With $6.2 billion from the Government expected to generate $16 billion from the industry, the ratio of investment to assistance is about three to one.
Car makers everywhere have their hands out for government money, but in Australia's case there's a crucial difference.
Australia has a rare capacity to make cars from start to finish but it's also in a small subset of that group that has no sovereign industry. The others include Belgium, Canada, Sweden, Spain and Britain.
With the departure of Mitsubishi early this year, Australia has wholly owned outposts of GM, Toyota and Ford.
Attracting money means diverting resources away from the parent's homebase. With the US makers in special peril and their billions in assistance from Congress unlikely to come without strings, every dollar sent south is one that isn't spent in Detroit.
Overseas reports have already raised the possibility that design and engineering work will be taken from GM Holden to the US.
The US Congress will set tighter conditions on its assistance than Australia, and will expect its low-interest loans to be repaid. It may even take a stake in the car companies.
Bad as it is, the current crisis is merely the latest chapter in Detroit's long downward slide. US car makers are suffering most because they were worst placed to weather a storm.
"Detroit's long reign as the dominant force in the US car industry is over," writes New York Times journalist Micheline Maynard in her book The End of Detroit.
"From small cars to luxury cars, from family sedans to minivans, vehicles made by foreign-based companies have been escalating in popularity.
"Today GM, Ford and Chrysler together control barely the market share that GM itself held four decades ago."
Since that was written in 2003, things have gone from bad to worse.
The big three have paid the price for strategic errors. They focused on trucks and SUVs at the expense of more mundane and less profitable small cars and sedans. When the rise in fuel prices turned buyers against pickups, they had nothing appealing to offer.
Their product development is only now moving away from inefficient competition between regions offering completely different vehicles. The Japanese and Europeans have been building global models for years.
Toyota and Honda also have a decade-long lead in hybrid powertrains. GM has flirted with all the options but its Volt electric car is still at least two years away. Ford and Chrysler are further behind.
Australia's ambitions to be green and innovative need a dose of perspective because this sort of technology requires a lot of research and development.
To catch up with Toyota on hybrids, GM, BMW and Daimler have joined forces and it's taking them years to get a system to market.
Cars like the Toyota Hybrid Camry, which will be built here from 2010 and qualifies for green funds, will rely on technology shipped in.
The mistakes of the US parents have been mirrored by their Australian outposts. GM Holden and Ford have kept making large sedans despite a decade-long decline in demand for them.
Large cars now account for less than 12 per cent of the Australian market as buyers have switched into smaller cars and SUVs. This year, private buyers -- as opposed to fleet buyers -- of locally built vehicles will account for less than 5 per cent of total sales.
However, the locals have kept making them regardless and watched, seemingly helpless, as their sales have suffered and losses mounted. Only Toyota is making a profit thanks to its huge import operation.
With the Government pumping in money and supplying a ready-made market, perhaps the market signals have been too clouded for the locals to read, but by any measure, the transitional assistance so far has failed to make the Australian industry capable of standing on its own two feet.
SOURCE: The Australian
Wed, 10 December 2008
'Happy-snap speeder' jailed to set an example
Tue Dec 9 2008
A man who smiled and waved at a speed camera as he repeatedly triggered it has been jailed as an example to the public.
A court was told Robert Jones believed he would escape prosecution because he had registered his car in the name of his 13-year-old daughter and had claimed he sold the vehicle to an unnamed man in a pub, the UK Telegraph reports.
But the photos of Jones driving and gesturing — and his ex-wife in the back seat of the car — were enough to secure a conviction, despite his denials it was him in the photos.
The police prosecutor told the court in South Wales that the defendant had "openly mocked" the camera set up outside the village school and was "putting children's lives at risk" before engaging in an elaborate attempt to avoid prosecution.
"When he received his notices, he did his upmost to deceive his way out of a driving ban," Michael Jones was quoted by the Telegraph as saying.
"His lies came at considerable cost to the police, both financially and in man-hours."
Jones was clocked travelling between 65km/h and 80km/h in a 50km/h zone outside Tonyrefail Comprehensive School between October 31 and November 8.
He was also disqualified from driving for six months.
Source: UK Telegraph
Mon, 29 December 2008
Fluoridated water in SE Qld drinking supply !
Most south-east Queenslanders will be drinking fluoridated water from today.
Premier Anna Bligh says major water treatment plants have been adding fluoride to water over the past two weeks.
She says fluoride will dramatically improve the dental health of Queenslanders.
"Queensland has some of the worst oral health in the country," she said.
"Today we start reversing that trend with 80 per cent of south-east Queenslanders drinking fluoridated water.
"All of the major water treatment plants in south-east Queensland are now putting fluoride in the water and the water coming out of our taps will have fluoride in it."
SOURCE: ABC
Sun, 11 January 2009
Prince Harry sorry for racist language
Sun Jan 11 2009
Britain's Prince Harry has apologised for using racist language after a Sunday newspaper reported he had filmed himself calling an army colleague a "Paki" and telling another he looked like a "raghead".
The video obtained by the News of the World plunges the 24-year-old prince, the third in line to the throne, into fresh controversy four years after he sparked outcry by wearing a Nazi swastika at a fancy dress party.
The newspaper posted the video on its website and said it was made in 2006 when the prince was still an officer cadet.
It begins as he is waiting with his platoon in an airport departure lounge for a flight to a training exercise in Cyprus.
Touring the room with a video camera as his colleagues snooze, he spots an Asian cadet and says: "Anybody else around here?... Ah, our little Paki friend, Ahmed."
"Paki" is a racist term for Indians or Pakistanis.
The royal family issued an apology, but insisted the prince had used the term without malice.
"Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause," a spokesman said.
"However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon.
"There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend."
The report said Harry made the "raghead" remark - a racist term for Arabs - while on the exercise.
Once again he is behind the camera when he spots one of his comrades with camouflage netting over his head and as he looks up at the lens, Harry says: "It's Dan the Man ... F... me, you look like a raghead."
The royal spokesman said: "Prince Harry used the term 'raghead' to mean Taliban or Iraqi insurgent."
The prince served with the army battling the Taliban in Afghanistan last year but was forced to return home after his security was compromised when a carefully arranged media blackout on his deployment was broken.
Harry, an army lieutenant, is to begin training soon as a combat helicopter pilot.
Britain's equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the racism claims "appear to be disturbing allegations".
"We will be asking the MoD (Ministry of Defence) to see the evidence, share that evidence with us and their plans for dealing with it," a spokeswoman said.
"We will then consider what further action might be necessary."
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said: "Neither the Army nor the Armed Forces tolerates inappropriate behaviour in any shape or form.
"The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and all substantive allegations are investigated.
"We are not aware of any complaint having been made by the individual," the spokeswoman said, referring to "Ahmed".
She added: "Bullying and racism are not endemic in the Armed Forces."
In another clip from the three-minute video, Harry pretends to make a mobile phone call to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
He says: "Granny, I've got to go. Send my love to the corgis. And grandpa... God Save You... yeah, that's great. See you, bye."
It is not the first time that the youngest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana has been forced to apologise for his actions.
His decision to attend a friend's fancy dress birthday party wearing a swastika armband in 2005 sparked widespread criticism. The publication of photographs of that incident was followed by a swift apology from the royals.
In the past, it emerged he had smoked cannabis as a teenager and he was once involved in a scuffle outside a nightclub with a paparazzi photographer, but in recent years Harry has sought to shake off his 'playboy prince' reputation.
He is heavily involved in a charity in Lesotho to support children orphaned by AIDS which was launched in memory of his mother, and is patron of several other children's charities.
SOURCE: NINEMSN
Wed, 28 January 2009
Police officer charged with speeding, Brisbane
A Queensland Police Officer was today booked for speeding at 72kms an hour in a 60km zone after the unmarked car he was driving was stopped on the inner city bypass in Brisbane.
The Sergeant, who is based at Police Headquarters, was driving the Police Commissioner's car to an Australia Day event when he was detected at a LIDAR site at 7am and pulled over.
Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson was sitting in the front passenger seat of the vehicle reading briefings in preparation for his public engagements at the time of the detection, and was unaware of the speed being travelled by the vehicle or the speed limit for the stretch road on which they were travelling.
He expressed his apologies for the incident. The Sergeant who was driving is also highly embarrassed about the incident.
"As a service, we are constantly asking drivers to obey the road rules, and pay attention to the road conditions," Commissioner Atkinson said.
“This incident does not diminish the importance of that message.
"As police officers who enforce the road rules, we are put under much greater scrutiny than the general public about such matters, which is why we have informed the media about this matter,” he said.
The Sergeant who was driving, although believing he was in an 80km zone, accepts that this is no excuse, has accepted responsibility for the infringement and will pay the associated fine.
Additionally, all members of the service who are detected speeding face a separate disciplinary process.
Last updated 26/01/2009
SOURCE: POLICE MEDIA
Sat, 14 February 2009
Generosity to Victoria fire victims during telethon 'shows Australian spirit '
Feb 13 2009
AUSTRALIANS continue to offer support for victims of Victoria's bushfires, with more than $75 million raised so far to help fire-ravaged communities rebuild their lives.
A host of A-listers turned out on Channel 9's Australia Unites telethon, aimed at keeping up the momentum of fundraising efforts.
Speaking on the program, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the outpouring of generosity from individuals and companies to those caught in the weekend's horrific bushfires had made him feel proud to be an Australian.
"Back on Australia Day I was saying a few things about what the spirit of Australia is all about," he said.
"It's about courage, it's about resilience and it's about compassion - you know, looking after your mates and looking after your neighbours and people you haven't actually even met before.
"And what I see across the response to floods in the north and these terrible fires in the south, are all those great Australian values and virtues on display in a very practical Australian way.
"It just makes me feel proud to be an Australian."
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Details of a national memorial service and a day of mourning to remember the victims of the bushfires would be announced very soon, Mr Rudd said.
"It's important that the nation has a formal opportunity to grieve," he said.
He also said an emergency warning system that would send text or voice messages to land lines and mobile telephones to help avert such tragedies was high on the Government's agenda.
Victoria had wanted the early warning system operational in time for this year's bushfire season, but privacy and data-security restrictions in the Telecommunications Act, combined with interstate squabbling over funding had caused delays.
"It has been bouncing between governments since about 2003," Mr Rudd said.
"I am determined to see this thing implemented across the nation in a nationally consistent way as rapidly as possible in the year ahead.
"We have to make this happen. If it means cracking heads to ensure it happens we'll do that."
Celebrities who appeared to support Nine's telethon included politicians, musicians, actors and sports stars.
Colin Hay belted out his 1980s Men at Work hit Down Under, while Jimmy Barnes sang Working Class Man, and Shannon Noll and Kate Ceberano performed Don't Give Up.
Athletes Cathy Freeman and Leisel Jones were among the many personalities answering phones.
"It's all about having each other and being Australian," Freeman said.
David Jones' glamorous ambassadors Miranda Kerr and Megan Gale also took calls.
"I was on the phone to a little six-year-old boy who donated $136, which was really sweet," Kerr said.
"I had another couple that donated $2,000 so it's really good to be involved and to see the spirit of everyone coming together and helping out in every way that they can."
Also supporting the appeal were actors Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman and singer Keith Urban.
Funds raised from the telethon will be donated to the Red Cross Bush Fire Appeal.
Donations can be made by phoning 1800 811 700 or www.redcross.org.au.
SOURCE: NEWS.COM
Sun, 08 March 2009
Worlds Greatest Shave Event
40FM.NET and Queensland Lions Football Club
Announce a Worlds Greatest Shave Event for Sunday 15th March at Qld Lions FC 133 Pine Rd Richlands
Come Along and join in the Fun
Shave your Head
Colour your hair for those not so brave.
"We will bring out the 40FM.NET team
to create an event to raise funds
for the Leukaemia Foundations
Worlds Greatest Shave" Said Webmaster of www.40fm.net site. A Truck driver based site for the transport community.
Other Events included raffles with Prizes and Auctions to raise much needed funds, visit
http://40fm.net/forum/index.php/topic,391.0.html for more details.
PLACE
Queensland Lions Football Club
133 Pine Road
Richlands
DATE
Sunday 15th March 2009
TIME
2.30 pm to 6.00 pm.
Join the 40FM Team afterwards for a chat.
www.qldlions.com.au
CONTACTS
Webmaster on webmaster@40fm.net
or phone the Club on 3271 3636
Visit the team online or make a donation online.
http://my.imisfriendraising.com.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=283191
Visit www.worldsgreatestshave.com.au for more details
To see more about Queensland Lions Football Club visit www.qldlions.com.au
All Donations over $2 are Tax Deductible.
Mon, 23 March 2009
Rocks thrown at ambulances
March 23 2009
YOBS threw rocks at two Brisbane ambulances last night - and in a third such attack a truck driver was hurt when his windscreen was smashed.
The first rock throwing attack happened about 11.30pm on Brisbane Rd near the Dinmore Fire Station while paramedics were transporting a two-year-old girl with breathing difficulty to Ipswich Hospital.
The child and her parent were slightly shaken but fine, with minor damage caused to the ambulance.
The second attack occurred about 1.30am on the Mt Lindesay Highway at Regents Park while an ambulance crew was heading back to their station when a rock hit and smashed the left rear window of the ambulance.
Queensland Ambulance Service Commissioner David Melville said he was disgusted that anyone would attack an ambulance.
He said the crew were on their way to collect a replacement vehicle when they responded to a truck driver whose windscreen was struck and smashed by a rock in the same location.
"For one of these incidents to occur is disgusting but to have two in one night is absolutely shocking," he said.
The truck driver was treated for eye injuries and taken to hospital by a second crew after shards of glass flew into his face from the shattered windscreen.
Source;News.COM
Tue, 31 March 2009
FORD’S NEW SMALL CAR DEFIES DOWNTURN IN EUROPE AND ASIA
DEARBORN, Mich., March 26, 2009 – The arrival today on U.S. shores of 100 new Ford Fiestas marks an important step in the rollout of the first of Ford Motor Company’s new generation of global small cars.
The European-built Fiestas arrived today at seaports in Baltimore and Oxnard, Calif., and will be loaned for six months to 100 young trendsetters chosen from more than 3,300 applicants as part of the “Fiesta Movement.” Those picked to drive the European Fiesta will share their experiences online through social media sites such as Facebook, Flickr and YouTube to build buzz and anticipation for the vehicle’s North American launch early next year.
The Fiesta already is a hit in Europe and Asia, where it went on sale last year and earlier this year, respectively. The new Fiesta already is the second-best selling vehicle of any make across Ford's 19 major European markets, and is headed for its best month yet in Europe in March. Early response from buyers in China and other Asia-Pacific markets already is outstripping company expectations.
“In the midst of the toughest economy many of us have ever seen, the Fiesta is becoming a legitimate global success story,” said Jim Farley, Ford Group Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “The Fiesta Movement is all about introducing a new kind of small car to a new generation of buyers.”
The 100 five-door Fiestas coming to the U.S. were built at Ford’s Cologne Assembly Plant in Europe. For many U.S. customers, it will be their first chance to see and read about the small car that is one of three finalists for the World Car of the Year award that will be announced next month at the New York International Auto Show.
“We’re really excited to be able to get our U.S. customers behind the wheel and experience this car,” said Sam De La Garza, small car marketing manager. “It’s all part of a plan to build excitement about the new Fiesta with the next generation of Ford customers.”
Designed and developed as Ford’s first global car, the Fiesta takes the nameplate’s three-decade heritage to a new level with its eye-catching kinetic design, widely acclaimed driving dynamics and unexpected refinement.
Before coming to the U.S., special permission was granted by the EPA and the European-spec vehicles were modified for American drivers.
The language in the vehicles’ instrument panel message center was changed from German to English and the speedometers were changed from kilometers to miles per hour. The voice piping from the Bluetooth-enabled vehicle, however, retains its British accent. All the Fiesta Movement vehicles feature keyless entry with push-button start, EasyFuel™ Capless Fuel-Filler System, 16” or 17” wheels, and many other features typically found on larger or premium vehicles.
SOURCE: Ford Media
Mon, 13 April 2009
P-plater loses licence after speeding
Mon Apr 13 2009
A P-plater has lost his licence after allegedly being caught drink driving and speeding in Sydney's west.
Police conducting speed checks on Dobroyd Road at Haberfield allegedly detected a silver Mazda sedan travelling at 117km/h in a 60 zone just after midnight (AEST) on Monday.
The 24-year-old P1 driver was driving without P-plates and returned a positive reading on a breath test, police said.
He was arrested and taken to Burwood Police Station for a breath analysis and was later charged with driving at a dangerous speed, driving with mid-range PCA, exceeding the limit by more than 45km/h and not displaying P-plates.
His licence was suspended.
He is due to appear at Burwood Local Court on May 5.
SOURCE: NSW POLICE MEDIA RELEASE
Sat, 25 April 2009
Kevin Rudd to announce Australia's biggest military build-up since World War II
April 25, 2009
KEVIN Rudd is set to announce Australia's biggest military build-up since World War II, led by a multi-billion-dollar investment in maritime defence, including 100 new F-35 fighters, a doubling of the submarine fleet, and powerful new surface warships.
The new defence white paper will outline plans for a fundamental shake-up of Australia's defence organisation to ensure that the nation can meet what the Prime Minister sees as a far more challenging and uncertain security outlook in Asia over the next two decades.
China's steadily growing military might and the prospect of sharper strategic competition among Asia's great powers are driving the maritime build-up, which will see new-generation submarines and warships equipped with cruise missiles, and a big new investment in anti-submarine warfare and electronic warfare platforms, including new naval helicopters.
The white paper will consider the emerging non-traditional threats to Australia, including cyber security, climate change and its associated risk of large uncontrolled people movements.
Senior government sources say Mr Rudd has insisted that defence spending remain largely insulated from the Government's budget difficulties, but the Defence Department will still have to find at least $15 billion of internal savings over the next decade to help pay for the $100 billion-plus long-term equipment plan.
Mr Rudd said yesterday the delivery of the white paper was proving "acutely challenging as we work to defend ourselves from the global economic storm".
"It is the most difficult environment to frame the Australian budget in modern economic history. It is also the most difficult environment to frame our long-term defence planning in modern economic history as well," he told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
"Nevertheless the Government will not resile even in the difficult times from the requirement for long-term coherence of our defence planning for the long-term security of our nation. This is core business for government.
"That is why we have forged ahead in our preparation of the defence white paper because national security needs do not disappear because of the global recession. If anything, those needs become more acute."
Funding pressures will mean the navy will not get a fourth air warfare destroyer, and the delivery of the first batch of the RAAF's F-35 joint strike fighters will slip by at least one year to 2014-15.
The huge cost of paying for the next-generation defence force, due to be detailed in the white paper and the forthcoming 10-year defence capability plan, will have little impact on the defence budget over the the next four years.
Apart from the air warfare destroyers and the F-35 fighters, most of the planned defence purchases will not have to be paid for until well into the next decade and beyond.
Mr Rudd and Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon are expected to release the long-awaited white paper as early as next week, with the more detailed 10-year defence capability plan due to published by mid-year.
The naval build-up will be led by a planned 12-strong submarine fleet expected to replace the Collins-class boats from 2025.
It will enable the RAN to deploy up to seven boats to protect Australia's northern approaches, including key maritime straits running through the Indonesian archipelago, at times of high threat.
The white paper will outline the requirement for a new class of eight 7000-tonne warships equipped with ballistic missile defence systems similar to the three air warfare destroyers already on order that will eventually replace the Anzac frigates.
A new class of 1500-tonne corvette-size patrol boats able to take a helicopter is slated to replace the Armidale-class vessels from the mid-2020s.
Wed, 13 May 2009
Womens groups applaud Johns sacking
May 13, 2009
Womens groups have given Channel Nine their seal of approval for the network's decision to stand down rugby league personality Matthew Johns.
The former Newcastle and Cronulla NRL star had been under pressure to maintain his public role in the sport as a commentator and presenter on "The Footy Show" following his involvement in a group sex scandal in New Zealand in 2002.
Matthew Johns and his manager John Fordham met with Nine management in Sydney today where it was decided he should stand down from his commitments.
A representative of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children, Pauline Woodbridge says she's sad Johns has been made the "poster boy" of bad male sexual behaviour.
However the issue exposed by the ABC's Four Corners programme was of national importance and Channel Nine made the right call in terminating his employment.
Johns had told the Four Corners programme that the sexual incident identified seven years ago, was a consensual act.
However Channel Nine chief executive David Gyngell said today that the idea to end Johns' contract was by mutual agreement "and in the best interests of the Nine network, the game and its supporters, Matthew Johns and his family".
In a statement issued this afternoon, My Gyngell explained the reasoning for the decision.
"The fact is whatever the argument about the details of the New Zealand incident involving Cronulla players in 2002, the conduct and its aftermath were simply unacceptable full stop."
SOURCE: ABC NEWS
Tue, 26 May 2009
MASERATI MUSCLES UP FOR TOUGHER MARKET
May 26 2009
Italian car maker Maserati expects life to get tougher as stock market woes hit luxury car buyers – but it has a powerful antidote.
Stockmarket jitters, luxury car tax increases and community concerns about global warming have yet to dent luxury car buyers’ enthusiasm for bigger, more powerful V8 engines, according to Maserati.
The Italian car maker has just released a more powerful – and thirstier – version of its Quattroporte sedan and is banking on the new model to offset an expected slump in demand for luxury vehicles.
Maserati is yet to feel any ill effects from the growing global economic pessimism, selling the same amount of cars in Australia in the first six months of this year as it did in the whole of 2007.
But with the luxury car tax expected to add roughly $15,000 to $20,000 to the price of the new Quattroporte range before the first cars even land on Australian shores, local boss Edward Butler is already bracing for a drop off in demand for the top-end luxury cars.
“It’s not just the uncertainty about the luxury car tax. It’s a combination of factors – the stockmarket, interest rates, the economy and the tax changes,” he says.
Maserati sold 134 cars in the first half of this year, but is expecting to finish the year with between 210 and 220 sales.
A major part of that will depend on the new Quattroporte range, which arrives in October, along with a sports version of the Gran Turismo.
The new Quattroporte is more a mid-life facelift than an all-new model. Cosmetic changes have been made to the front grille and bumper, there are new head and tail lights with LED daytime running lights and the interior has been restyled.
But the big news lies beneath the bonnet of the new Quattroporte S model.
While the current 4.2-litre V8 will continue in the standard Quattorporte, the S model gets a bigger displacement, 4.7-litre version of the engine.
The bigger bore V8 puts out 317kW, up from 295kW in the standard model. Torque is up from 460Nm to 490Nm.
Maserati claims it is two-tenths quicker than the standard Quattroporte in the 0-100kmh dash, taking 5.4 secs.
The company’s chief engineer, Paul Fickers, says the new version has a broader torque band and better top-end performance.
“It is easier to drive and the power delivery is far more linear at high revs,” he says.
The S model also gets a different version of the Quattroporte’s ZF transmission that delivers quicker shifts for more spirited driving.
There is a sports button that adjusts the sensitivity of the throttle, gear shift patterns and suspension settings to deliver quicker responses and sharper cornering.
Larger diameter front brakes, six-piston calipers and 20-inch wheels complete the performance package.
Maserati expects up to 70 per cent of Quattorporte buyers will opt for the S model, despite the expected higher price tag of about $320,000.
Fickers defends the Quattroporte’s power increase in a world that is downsizing to smaller displacement engines.
“You could also consider it in a different way. If you take a product which we had before like the Gran Sport, which was a 4.2-litre car and was also a lot lighter, this car is 15 per cent more fuel efficient. We are looking into [reducing fuel consumption] but having a bigger displacement engine, the laws of physics cannot be changed - even by Maserati,” he says.
Local Maserati boss Edward Butler says the switch to a bigger capacity engine is designed to distance Maserati from its V8 luxury sports sedan rivals and to begin nipping at the heels of some V12 competitors.
“Perhaps a 4.2-litre wasn’t quite powerful enough versus a V12 for some buyers. The 4.7-litre isn’t quite there either, but it’s a bit closer and does accommodate the need for exclusivity,” he says.
He says the new more powerful sports versions of the Quattroporte and Gran Turismo will provide some protection from the growing economic storm clouds.
New models have helped the marque double its sales while others have stagnated.
“I think we got the right car at the right time with the Gran Turismo,” he says.
“If you look at the luxury market above $250,000 all our competitors’ sales have gone down, with the exception of Aston Martin, which has stayed flat,” he says.
But he also believes the brand’s buyer base is less affected by stockmarket vagaries.
“I think there’s a lot more old money rather than new money and those people are very secure and not so much worried about interest rates and mortgages,” he says.
The Quattroporte was officially launched downunder at the Sydney motor show, along with a new S version of the Gran Turismo coupe.
SOURCE: Drive.COM
Mon, 29 June 2009
40FM Launches New Site
29th June 2009
Australian based Truck Driver site 40FM is a community based support network for not just truck drivers, but help by offering support to other community based charity groups.
40FM launched their new site a few weeks ago, we spoke with the Webmaster to find out some of the new features.
" We had our members asking for some new features like instant chat and a photo gallery, so we upgraded the site to include some of these thing, but we added a few more, classifieds are also now included, as is the ability for us to display videos or music."
Its apparent when looking at the site that its designed for ease of use, with one page per feature, this keeps the site very uncluttered.
"This was one thing we wanted to maintain" , said the webmaster.
Check out their new site by visiting www.40fm.net.au
Mon, 20 July 2009
Lockyer Vallet Sound & Noise Spectacular
20th July 2009
The Annual Lockyer Valley Sound & Noise Spectacular is on again for 2009.
Aiding The Cancer Council, Queensland, the event is an all round motoring enthusiasts treat, whether your into Motorbikes, Cars of all ages, Trucks, Utes or even models of any type of transportation, this event has it all.
Organisers, Murphy's Creek Progress Association spokesperson Murray tells us, "this year will be bigger than ever, with a massive line up of entertainment all day, side show alley for the kids, and shows for all vehicle classes with trophies for each section. We have tried to make the event cater to the whole family.
With the focus on helping those affected by cancer, we simply want the attitude left outside the gate, and everyone in the family to have a great, fun filled weekend here."
For details on the Lockyer Valley Sound & Noise Spectacular to be held at Murhpys Ck Cricket grounds, August 22 2009, visit www.40fm.net.au and see the subject in their forum.
Contact details for the organisers can be found with that site.
Help find a cure for cancer, bring the whole Family to a great day out, or book now for FREE Camping.
Supporting 'The Cancer Council Qld"
Source: 40fm.net.au
Mon, 17 August 2009
2009 Skoda Superb Launched - (Australia)
August 17 2009
Although new to Australia, the Škoda Superb has a long history – there has been a Superb in the Škoda line up at one stage or another, since the 1930s.
It is not only the most luxurious car Škoda has ever built, it is one that sets new standards for quality, practicality, design and value.
Sitting at the top of the Škoda product range, it demonstrates that through bold design and engineering innovation, Škoda has created one of the most desirable cars in its segment.
Its arrival completes a model range where each line now has distinct Škoda design DNA rather than styling cues borrowed from elsewhere. At the same time, its confidence will ensure Škoda’s plans for growth.
The new Superb offers class leading technology, craftsmanship, elegance and style. Clever features such as the TwinDoor, which turns the car from a sedan to a liftback at the touch of a button, lifts the Superb to even greater heights.
Although the design has retained the traditional sedan concept, the new Superb now has a tailgate which places practically no limits on what can be transported. The unique, patented TwinDoor variable boot opening, designed by engineers at Škoda, offers an extremely practical, functional and well thought out solution to storage woes. Depending on what is required, either the boot lid alone can be opened when smaller items are to be stored or by operating two small buttons on the edge of the boot lid to activate an electro-mechanical release, the Superb driver can lift the entire boot lid together with the rear window.
The rear aperture is then almost doubled in size allowing bulkier items to be loaded. When the rear seat backs are in an upright position, the boot will accommodate 565 litres of luggage and if they are folded forward, the volume increases to an amazing 1,670 litres. The new Škoda Superb is 4,838 millimetres long, 1,817 millimetres wide and 1,462 millimetres high.
The new Superb offers a range of engines to fulfil the needs of most drivers with two petrol variants and one diesel engine available in Australia. All of the engines operate with direct fuel injection and excel as a result of their low fuel consumption and CO2 emission values.
The 1.8 TSI with 118 kW of power, recently introduced to the new Octavia range, will be a popular choice. It provides peak torque of 250 Nm in the range from 1,500 rpm to 4,500 rpm and propels the front-wheel driven Superb to a top speed of 220 km/h. The 1.8 TSI is matched to the latest 7-speed DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) transmission, which delivers exceptionally smooth shifting and utilises the full potential of the engine’s torque. Acceleration is quick, needing only 8.5 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h.
The other petrol choice is in the new Superb 4x4 - a 3.6-litre V6 FSI with 191kW of power and a maximum torque of 350Nm between 2,500 rpm and 5,000 rpm. This engine powers the car from 0 to 100km/h in only 6.5 seconds with a top speed of 250 km/h. The 3.6-litre V6 is supplied with 6-speed DSG and the immense engine power is translated smoothly into driving power through a permanent four-wheel drive system. Torque distribution is designed to be variable and a fourth-generation Haldex clutch monitors this electronically so during normal driving traction conditions, 100% of the power goes to the front axle and when needed, all 350Nm of torque can be sent to the rear wheels.
The 2.0 TDI diesel works with common-rail direct injection delivering outstanding performance with remarkable fuel economy. It provides 125kW and a maximum torque of 350Nm between 1,750 rpm and 2,500 rpm. The potential of this engine range is evident in the high level of driving performance. Top speed is 220 km/h with acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.8 seconds. This powerful diesel engine is coupled with a 6-speed DSG which delivers a combined fuel consumption figure of just 6.9-litres per 100km.
Škoda Superb Pricing
Superb Ambition 1.8 TSI 118kW DSG - $42,990*
Superb Ambition 2.0 TDI 125kW DSG - $45,990*
Superb Elegance 1.8 TSI 118kW DSG - $45,990*
Superb Elegance 2.0 TDI 125kW DSG - $48,990*
Superb Elegance 4x4 V6 3.6 FSI 191kW DSG - $56,990*
* Prices are manufacturer list prices only
SOURCE: Press Portal
Mon, 07 September 2009
Biodiesel Bike To Tackle 20,000km Trip Around Australia
FOLLOWING A 2007 TREK covering 3000 kilometres from Darwin to Adelaide, the University of Adelaide’s BioBike is now set to depart on a 20,000 kilometre round-Australia trip, eclipsing the 2007 ride.
Conceived by Dr Colin Kestrell and built by the University’s Mechanical Engineering students, the BioBike - also known as Betty - will be ridden by author and former offshore oil rigger, Paul Carter.
Unique enough as a diesel motorcycle, the bike takes things a step further by running on used cooking oil and waste fats.
Carter, and the University of Adelaide, is hoping to raise awareness of the potential for used cooking oil as a viable alternative to hydrocarbons as a fuel source.
The average speed of the ride’s highway component will be around 95km/h, and Carter expects to use a total of about 650 litres for the trip.
Proving itself in the Panasonic World Solar Challenge in 2007, where it won the major environment award, ‘Betty’ is capable of impressive fuel economy and carbon output figures: achieving around 3.5 l/100km while releasing only 71g/km of CO2.
“This experience showed that biodiesel can be used to power a commercial-type vehicle over long distances and that it can have a significant, positive impact on the environment,” Dr Kestell says.
Carter and Betty will begin their journey in Adelaide, heading south-east to Melbourne, then up the east coast for an anti-clockwise circuit of Australia.
SOURCE: TMR
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