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| Congratulations to our survey winners! |
Thanks to everyone for participating in our Annual Surveys. We had a fantastic response with 760 responses to our Driver Survey and 194 responses to our Corporate Survey. Survey results will be published over the next few months but the most important news for our entrants will be the winners of our State prizes of either $120 fuel voucher or a new ipod shuffle. The other winner of course is Conservation Volunteers Australia - a fantastic cause and one which Fleetcare will have a long lasting relationship into the future.
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| Caught (infra)red-handed |
A thief who stole a television from the home of a senior citizen in south-western France returned to the scene of the crime when he realised that the remote control was missing. The home-owner was at the local police station reporting the break-in when the thief came back for the clicker, but luckily nosy neighbours spotted him and called the gendarmerie who arrested him on the spot. |
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| Fastest finger |
A Singaporean student broke the Guinness World Record for the shortest time needed to type a 160-character SMS message last month after whizzing through the task in less than 42 seconds in a competition.
Sixteen-year-old Ang Chuang Yang typed the SMS message in 41.52 seconds, beating the previous record of 42.22 seconds set by American Ben Cook in July, according to the organiser of the competition Singapore Telecommunications.
SMS messaging speed contests around the world use the same SMS text, which is provided by the Guinness organisation: 'The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.' Certainly much more tricky than 'C u l8r m8.' |
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| Wwwacky website |
Well, 'tis the season to be jolly, so this month's website is naturally Christmas-related. www.northpole.com could help to while away those long days of hyperactive anticipation if you have kids in the house, with a combination of seasonal games, puzzles, stories and activities all centring on the white-bearded man of the moment.
There are even the answers to a list of Santa FAQs, such as 'How will Santa deliver my gifts if there is no chimney?', 'How does Santa understand every language?' and 'How can Santa visit the whole world in one night?' and other posers that stressed-out parents might otherwise be tempted to respond to with as snappy 'How should I know?' or 'He just does, ok, now drop it or no presents for you.' |
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Volume 11.12
December 2006 |
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Hello Welcome to the festive December issue of Fleettorque, brought to you by Fleetcare!
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Personalise your Porsche |
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 What Christmas gift do you buy for the spouse who has everything? Well, how about a Porsche with his or her name emblazoned on it in genuine Porsche script?
Dutch company NameYourPorsche is now offering a lettering service to replace the existing Carrera, Cayman or Cayenne badge with a name of the customer's choice.
But because the lettering is hand-cut from aluminium and uses the original Porsche font in black, grey, chrome or gold, this is a gift that doesn't come cheap - especially if you have to buy the Porsche first. Prices start at $634 for five letters, and go up by $124 per letter after that, so good value for Christophers and Philomenas, but not so economical if there's a Jo, Al or Ng in your life. Go to www.nameyourporsche.com for details. |
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Smart Alec Smart-alike |
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 Daimler-Chrysler has threatened to sue Chinese automotive firm Shandong HuoYun Electromobile if it doesn't stop production of its Smart ForTwo-look-alike electric car City Spirit.
As a result, the production line has halted at the Shandong plant while changes are made to the design of the battery-powered car to make sure it doesn't look too much like the Smart's Chinese twin brother. |
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Touareg shows its strength |
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 Determined to show the mighty pulling power of its Touareg, Volkswagen set up this unusual stunt at an aerodrome not far from London last month.
Watched by engineers, Volkswagen personnel and bemused passers-by, the Touareg V10 TDI towed a Boeing 747 for seven laps of the auxiliary runway. Apart from being fitted with a special towing adaptor, the vehicle was a standard production Touareg loaded with 4.3 tonnes of metal ballast to bring its total weight to just over 7,030 kg including the driver, an engineer from the company's headquarters in Germany. The Boeing weighed in at 155 tonnes. |
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High Beamers |
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 Being dazzled by the high-beam lights of a vehicle coming in the other direction could be a thing of the past if BMW's new automatic sensor takes off.
High-Beam Assist is an intelligent new technology feature for the BMW 3 Series that automatically activates and deactivates the high beam using a camera sensor integrated in the rear mirror casing to register activity on the road. The system identifies the headlights and rear lights of vehicles, as well as the surrounding road lighting.
According to a study in the United States on behalf of the US Ministry of Transport, American drivers only use high beam a quarter of the time it would be appropriate to do so. It seems that most drivers can't be bothered to flip the lights from low to high beam and back again and so decide not to use high-beam at all; many who do use it, forget to deactivate it.
BMW first introduced High-Beam Assist on the 5 Series last year and it is now standard on the 335i Coupé and the upcoming 335i Sedan and is also available as a $300 option when ordered in conjunction with Bi-Xenon headlights on the rest of the BMW 3 Series range. |
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Mitsubishi Outlander |
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 The ZG Outlander arrived here last month - three months ahead of schedule and just in time to fill a few Christmas stockings.
The ZG is Mitsubishi Motors' first ever global platform and was co-developed with DaimlerChrysler and competes in the Compact SUV arena. It's substantially bigger than its predecessor, launched in 2003, and shares its platform with the new Lancer and Lancer Evo X, which are due for release next year. At the moment, the ZG is available here in a two-engine, two-spec level, auto-only range, with a manual entry-level version expected to arrive in March 2007 priced under $30,000.
Pricing kicks off with the LS entry-level four-cylinder from $31,990 in five-seat configuration. The seven-seater costs $34,790 and comes equipped with side and curtain airbags as well as seven three-point lap-sash seat belts. Air-conditioning, six-speaker in-dash CD audio, trip computer, height-adjustable sports bolstered front seats and 'one-touch tumble' sliding and reclining split-fold second row are all standard, along with power windows, cruise control, multi-function leather-wrapped steering wheel, two-piece rear tailgate, ABS brakes (with EBD) and LED rear lamps.
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