ITALIAN TAX BREAKS:Italians are getting an extra year of tax breaks on new, less polluting cars, infrastructure minister Antonio Di Pietro said last week.
SAFETY IN SHAPE:It was a standard feature in Swedish cars in the 1950s, but now Ford is working on advancing the design of the current three-point seatbelt. In a nod to the changing shape of western populations, Ford is working on creating a new generation of belts that will incorporate a four-point "belt and suspenders" design, while a second possible future safety belt incorporates an air bag directly into the belt itself.
SEVEN-SPEED FOR GOLF:Volkswagen is to introduce a seven-speed version of its Direct Sequential Gearbox (DSG) automatic transmission to the Golf range. It is not certain that the car will come to the Irish market, but VW has confirmed it will include the new seven-speed gearbox in European versions of its 1.4 TSI and 1.9 TDI engines.
CHINESE COMBINE:China's largest carmaker SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) and its smaller rival Nanjing Automobile, which owns the MG Rover brand, have confirmed their merger, creating a Chinese car group that aims to rival big multinationals.
FORD'S NEW FOCUS:Ford has confirmed it will build an RS version of its revised Focus for 2009. It will be powered by a 3-litre 300bhp six-cylinder engine, but with so much power it's unlikely to remain simply front-wheel-drive. Instead it's likely to incorporate Volvo's all-wheel-drive system, albeit extensively reworked.