The other motoring news of the day...
THE HEAD of the Garda Traffic Corps Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock is to retire next month.
Assistant Commissioner Rock has been in charge of the Garda unit since it was set up five years ago.
He will formally step down from his role on December 7th, shortly before reaching the official Garda retirement age of 60.
A native of Co Roscommon, the Assistant Commissioner has a degree in police management and a diploma in legal studies. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy in the US state of Virginia.
He previously served in the Garda National Drugs Unit, the Garda College and the Special Detective Unit.
Volvo set to launch S60 in March
THESE ARE the first official shots of Volvo's new S60, due for an official unveiling at next year's Geneva Motor Show in March.
The car is aimed to directly target rivals such as the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4. Production is due to begin next summer at the firm's plant in Ghent, Belgium.
According to Stephen Odell, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars: "It looks and drives like no other Volvo before and the car's technology will help you to be safer and more confident behind the wheel."
It's inspired by the concept which debuted at the Detroit Motor Show in January.
Although the engine line- up has yet to be confirmed, expect to see Volvo's all-new 1.6-litre 180bhp EcoBoost petrol turbo unit in the range.
Car dealer insolvencies doubles in UK
INSOLVENCIES AMONG UK car dealers have doubled this year, according to a report from consultants Ernst & Young.
Uncertainties will continue for dealerships long after the UK comes out of the recession, the report says.
Franchised dealership insolvencies this year, to the end of August, have totalled 24 - compared with just 12 in the January- August 2008 period, the report revealed.
Ernst & Young said that conditions would get worse for dealers before they got better. It added that while the success of the UK government's car scrappage scheme would help the industry through the worst of the economic crisis, the most promising indicator of a recovery in new car registrations was likely to be a return to gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
GM sets target of one Chevrolet sales
GENERAL MOTORS aims to more than double sales for its Chevrolet brand in Europe as part of a business plan that was presented to the company's board earlier this month.
Brent Dewar, vice president of Chevrolet, said the firm is targeting sales of one million Chevrolets in the region, up from slightly more than 500,000 vehicles sold in 2008.
"We have that in our business plan to take that to one million units in Europe as we start to launch products like the Chevrolet Cruze and the Spark," Dewar said.
"We haven't set a target when we'll get to it, but in our planning horizon we look over the 2014 time frame."
General Motors' decision to keep the Opel European business will not impact on its growth plan for Chevrolet there because the two brands have different design cues and focus, Dewar said. "We see growth for both brands," he said.
- Reuters