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| Kim kicks out Japanese cars |
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has ordered the seizure of all Japanese-made cars in the communist country after he spotted a broken-down Japanese-made vehicle blocking a Korean road.
Kim's sudden order is thought to be connected with Japan's push for sanctions against North Korea following its first-ever nuclear test last year.
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| Human touch |
A Chinese thief returned a mobile phone and thousands of yuan he stole from a woman after she sent him 21 touching text messages.
Pan Aiying, a teacher in the eastern province of Shandong, had her bag containing her mobile phone, bank cards and 4,900 yuan ($800) snatched by a man riding a motorbike as she cycled home. Rather than calling the police, she decided to try to persuade the young man to return her bag by calling her lost phone. When there was no reply, she began sending friendly text messages, telling the thief that he was welcome to keep the money if he needed it, but asking for the return of her other personal possessions. 'To err is human,' she told him. To her surprise, the bag and all its contents were returned to her the next day with a note of apology. |
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| Driving on auto pilot |
By 2030 we could all be driving around in robot-controlled cars, according to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Scientists are developing vehicles which will not only be driven by robots independently, but will be able to operate in a simulated city environment. The first wave of intelligent robot cars, capable of understanding and reacting to the world around them, will be tested this November in a competition run by DARPA. |
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| Wwwacky website |
Just as kids today know they don't really need to learn how to add up and take away - why bother when you can buy a calculator with just a week's pocket money? - there's no need to do what many of us used to spend our time doing when we should have been paying attention in maths, and that's teaching ourselves to write backwards. All you have to do is go to www.writebackwards.com, input the word or words you'd like to see in backwards script, click 'convert' and - ta da - there it is backwards. The good news is that the boss's name backwards is just as funny as the teacher's. |
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Volume 12.03
March 2007 |
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Hello Welcome to the March issue of Fleettorque, brought to you by Fleetcare!
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Hummer H3 |
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 Still in military use, the rugged credentials of the 'Humvee' have given the Hummer iconic status in its home country, and GM Holden is sure that Australian buyers will warm to the tough 4x4 too, when it hits the roads here later this year.
The H3, although affectionately known as the 'Baby Hummer', is true to the brand's extreme heritage, but is more economical and easier to drive in the city than the original H1 and H2. Three models will be offered here - the basic H3 model, the H3 Adventure and the H3 Luxury - which will have 3.7 litre inline 5-cylinder petrol engines and Australian H3 drivers are welcome to pay the starting price of $52,000 today, although they'll have to wait until July for their brand new monster SUV to be delivered. |
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Hair-brained scheme |
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 A hairdresser-turned-designer has invented an extraordinary plastic made from human hair, which he intends to offer to vehicle manufacturers as an ideal material for car panelling.
According to British coiffeur Ronald Thompson, the material, called PiliusX, crumples on impact more successfully than conventional materials and has the advantage of breaking without leaving sharp edges.
PiliusX is similar to fibre glass and consists of hair smothered in epoxy resin. It is currently being tested at a London university and as long as it passes the endurance tests, its creator hopes that car firms will be as attracted by its eco-friendliness as its functionality - PiliusX biodegrades completely after use. |
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Porsche paws |
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 These new Porsche driving shoes will surely improve your skills, whatever car you drive.
Created by Porsche Design and manufactured by Adidas, this stylish but fully functional footwear features highly sophisticated engineering. The shoes are made from a material that adapts to surfaces for optimum grip and stability, while a firm heel construction offers extra comfort while driving. Currently available in Europe, in red, black, white or grey, Porsche shoes are soon expected to be on sale wherever Porsche cars are sold.
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Fill up and tune up |
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 Service station customers can top up their music collections while they top up with fuel using this clever new device, which made its debut at last month's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Developed with the help of computer giant Microsoft, the Dresser Wayne Ovationē iX fuel dispenser offers a choice of the latest pop and rock tracks as MP3 files ready to download to an iPod while the petrol tank fills. Tracks can be selected on the 15-inch touchscreen and downloaded on to any MP3 player in fact, and the gadgets creator is working on a wireless link that would make tuning up even easier.
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Driving a profit |
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 Porsche tops the list for taking the biggest wedge of profit on the sale of its cars, according to a new study of German vehicle manufacturers. Interestingly, once the total cost of the materials, labour and other outgoings are tallied, some car makers generate very little cash, but others reap huge benefits.
On average, Porsche makes more than $35,000 profit on every vehicle sold, which puts the profits of the second-placed manufacturer, BMW, in the shade with $3,200 average profit per car sold. The reason is that Porsche's sales are much smaller than other manufacturers, such as VW, so its profit margins need to be higher to stay in business.
In third place in the survey was Toyota, which takes an average of $2,800 profit per car, followed by Audi ($2,627), Mercedes/Chrysler ($1,177) and Volkswagen ($535).
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