SIGN OF THE TIMES: Having sex while driving at 60 mph down a motorway is not an offence in Germany. A Cologne court fined a man who admitted he was having sex with a hitchhiker when he drove into a road sign, but only because he fled the scene. "The man was convicted of hit-and-run and fined €600," a court spokesman said. "It's hard to believe, but no law was broken with the intercourse on the motorway. It's a situation lawmakers never thought about." The man (23) was also ordered to pay €400 to repair the sign.
ROAD TO FORTUNE 500: For all the doom and gloom in the industry, cars firms are still major forces in the business World. The latest Fortune 500 list of the World's largest companies according to revenues to be published in the July 21st edition shows four car firms in the top 10. The table, topped by Wal Mart, shows General Motors in second place, Ford in sixth, DaimlerChrysler seventh and Toyota eight.
VOLVO CHALLENGE: The S60 R (below) and V70 R from Volvo are due to arrive in Irish showrooms at the end of the summer. Aimed at the likes of BMW's M3 and Audi's S4, the S60 R with six-speed manual will sell for €73,500, while the V70 R with geartronic will retail at €75,757. Both offer over 300 bhp, top speeds in excess of 150 mph and 0-62 mph in less than 5 seconds. And, for our sins, we're putting both models through their paces on and off the racetrack this week and will have a full report next week.
MOVING HOUSE: The folks at BMW are preparing for a change of address from JFK Drive to their new home at Woodford Business Park beside the airport. From October 1st, BMW's Irish operations will come under the control of BMW GB, with Conrad Schmidt as the Irish boss. While Schmidt and his team have been flying back and forth from Britain lately preparing the handover from current distributors Motor Import, a permanent presence is expected to begin from the end of August. The new premises will be home to a staff of about 20, with about half of those making the move from Motor Import.
CLEAN SWEEP: Motorists from the North may seem to keep their cars in pristine condition but they wallow at the bottom of a British survey on car washing which shows that British motorists wash their cars twice a month on average. The IMO survey showed that top spongers were those in the east of England, who recorded an average of 4.7 washes a month, followed by London motorists at four times a month. The North's motorists came last with just 0.8 washes a month. Obviously they don't even bother to wash the roof. Scotland recorded 2.3 washes per month while Welsh motorists lathered up 1.3 times per month on average.
IRISH WINNER: An Irish mechanic has won gold at the 37th WorldSkills Competitions. Jonathan Strang of Tipperary won the competition in automotive technology, ahead of US entrant Rusty Brown from Texas. A total of 36 states take part in the events, which feature 40 separate categories. In the automotive technology competition, competitors were tested for expertise in various areas of car technology, including ABS, suspension systems and electronics.