TINY TRAVELLER: A chipmunk peers from a cage at Wildcare in San Rafael, California. The tiny creature was on its way back to Utah after stowing away in a car and hitching a long ride west to California. The adventurous creature hadn't a clue it was bound for the Golden State when it hopped into Dixie Goldsby's Honda while she was camping in southeastern Utah.
DODGING C-CHARGE: A British firm specialising in digital traffic information, is to introduce a "congestion charge dodger" to its Smartnav system. Trafficmaster will introduce the new feature as standard from November. The facility, the first of its kind, will allow drivers to cross London avoiding the congestion charge areas but will let them pay the toll from their cars through a Smartnav "personal assistant" should they enter pay zones.
Smartnav and Citroën have agreed to offer the system as an option on its models. The system already has deals with Chrysler, Peugeot, Mitsubishi and Hyundai.
BENTLEY GOES EAST: The bullock carts and bicycle rickshaws plying India's roads will soon be jostling beside an icon of western opulence. Bentley, VW's British luxury car arm, is to open its first showroom in India next month and will feature its flagship Arnage-R model. "We should sell eight to 10 cars a year," says Ian Gorsuch, Bentley's regional director for the Middle East, Africa and India. "I'm confident we can hit these figures."
In a country where 80 per cent of cars cost less than €9,800, the appearance of Bentley's Arnage-R, priced at almost €600,000 , is another sign of the growing extremes of wealth in India.
RUNNING ON EMPTY: DaimlerChrysler's US unit reached a tentative labour agreement with the United Autoworkers of America union (UAW) but the deadline for GM and Ford to forge an agreement passed without a resolution. The talks, which began in mid-July, had been aimed at establishing a new labour contract between the union and all of Detroit's "big three" car makers. The current four-year contract covering about 300,000 workers has just expired at midnight Eastern Standard Time in the US.
The talks are being seen as crucial to the future of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler because all three are struggling with the rising cost of paying for healthcare and pensions
VOLVO GOES EAST: Volvo is to open a car plant in China to build its new line of S40 and V50 models. Chief executive Hans-Olov Olsson, the chief executive of the Ford-owned Swedish car maker says initial plans call for the plant to assemble parts shipped from Europe to China. The cars would be sold in Asia.
Olsson says the Ford-owned marque sells 3,000 cars a year in China, but wants to increase that to as many as 20,000.
Mazda is at the design review stage for its new MX-5 roadster. With the current model beloved by soft-top fans the world over and the MX-5 offering a vital halo effect across the rest of the model range, it will be crucial to get the design right.
According to Mazda officials speaking to Motors, we can expect to see some hints at the new look late next year, but expect it to be a mix of the modern look (with several V-shaped features) and the current roadster.
FORD €8.5m PLAN: One of Ford's largest dealerships in Ireland, South Dublin Ford Centre in Rathfarnham, is to embark on an €8.5 million expansion plan in the south-west Dublin area. It's another example of the money now being invested in dealerships with the liberalisation of the car market arising from the lifting of Block Exemption. Planning permission has been granted for a complete rebuild of the centre's existing premises at Whitechurch, Rathfarnham.
Two showrooms are planned for the site, which will house both the car retail and fleet management businesses, the latter operating as Armada Fleet Services. In addition, the company has recently acquired a 2,700 square metre premises on a 1.25 acre site in the Cookstown Industrial Estate, Tallaght. The €5 million investment will see a Ford authorised service centre open in the coming weeks, with a major retail park to follow.
Two businessmen in Britain were shot dead in an argument over a parking space, it emerged today. Amarjit Singh, 52, and his nephew Raginder Singh, 35, were fatally shot after they asked the driver of a parked car to move from behind their hotel.
The car moved but witnesses say three Asian men, believed to have been in the car, came back minutes later and began vandalising a delivery van.
When the Singhs heard the noise and went to investigate they were shot down in a hail of gunfire.
Amarjit Singh's 26-year-old daughter also went outside but escaped the gunfire unhurt.
A family friend said the double murder happened in a mews at the back of the Forest View Hotel in Forest Gate, east London, at 2.20 p.m. on Friday. "There were two cars parked at the back and they were asked to leave," the friend said.
"The driver of one of the cars apologised and left straight away but the other one didn't. There were some lads in the car.
"It did go but then about 10 or 15 minutes later someone came back and broke a window and smashed up the van. We think it was the same lads." He said the Singhs then went outside.
"Just like you would if you heard someone damaging you're property, you would go and find out what was going on," he said. "Then it happened. Everyone is in shock, they can't believe it."
As well as the hotel Amarjit, known as Mark, and Raginder, known as Raj, owned other businesses in the area.
The family live in a substantial property behind a 10ft electric gate in Chigwell, Essex.
Police said the two dead men were businessmen with no criminal links.
A spokesman said: "Officers are aware that immediately prior to the shooting Amarjit Singh's vehicle, which had been parked in Atherton Mews, was attacked and damaged by three men.
"One line of inquiry at this early stage is that this incident, and the subsequent shooting incident, could be linked to a dispute over parking spaces." The three Asian men were later seen running away.
Detective Inspector Ian Stevenson, of Scotland Yard's Specialist Crime Directorate, said: "The roads would have been incredibly busy with many pedestrians in the area and a constant flow of vehicles.
"We are certain these men would have been forced to run in front of several moving vehicles to make their escape."