The midlife update involves modest cosmetic changes to the front and rear, updated alloys and some interior trim changes.

At the front, the current model's broad bar across the grille behind the numberplate has been removed, replaced by a one-piece plunging grille.

The air intake and foglights surrounds have also been given more pronounced ribs.

The headlights and tail-lights are largely untouched, although the rear lights lose the white reverse bar of the current car.

The shape of the lower lip on the boot has been squared off but the car's profile remains the same. The next-generation A6 is not due here until 2011.

Meanwhile, fuel price spikes and a projected $250,000 price tag haven't turned queues away from the ultimate Audi, the RS6 sedan and the RS6 Avant wagon.

Audi Australia says it expects to sell 50 sedans and wagons a year. Audi's Nadine Giusti says 25 people have expressed interest.

The sedan arrives here early next year with the wagon arriving before Christmas.

The 5.0-litre twin-turbo V10 engine borrowed from Lamborghini has direct injection and dry-sump lubrication.

It is mated to Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive via a six-speed tiptronic automatic tuned for quicker shift response.

The car's peak torque of 650Nm is available from 1500 to 6250 revs. Peak power of 426kW is generated between 6250 revs and 6700 revs.

The sedan accelerates to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds and to an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h. Upgraded suspension copes with the extra oomph.

The top man at Ford Australia is off. One day after announcing 350 axed jobs, Bill Osborne added himself to the body count by resigning as company president. 

Osborne made no apologies for the awful timing, but said it was a personal decision and not related to the troubles at the Blue Oval in Australia. Osborne is the second long-term Ford exec to exit the chair. He said he was leaving to take up a role as chief executive officer of an independent company, but declined to name the business – citing Unites States business regulations as preventing him, and saying only that it was ``in a sector outside the motor industry’’.

``This is an opportunity I’ve been preparing for my whole career,’’ Osborne said.

``It was always my objective to retire from Ford and seek an opportunity as CEO of an independent company.

``It is a wonderful opportunity with a company based in the US and I felt I had to take that opportunity now.’’

The announcement raises doubt about the plans for Ford in Australia, but Osborne was predictably upbeat about the future, and said his decision was unrelated to the downturn in the American company’s figures.

``It’s just unfortunate it comes at a time of great challenges in the industry, but it’s not related to those challenges,’’ he said.

``This is strictly a personal decision.’’

Osborne said that candidates had already been identified for the role as his successor, but that he had not been told who they were.

``I don’t know that information,’’ he said. ``My boss hopes to have somebody identified over the course of the next two weeks.’’

Osborne has been in the motor industry for 31 years, serving at all of the Big Three carmakers in the US – General Motors, Chrysler and Ford.

He was adamant his departure did not indicate a lack of faith in Ford’s prospects here.

``I retain confidence in Ford Australia,’’ he said.

``The difficulties faced by Ford are faced by every other manufacturer in the industry.

``They’re not endemic to Ford.’’

Osborne has seen the launch of the under-performing Falcon since his arrival, and but said changes he has made during his short tenure will help bring better days for the company in Australia.

``I think I put the company on the road to a better relationship with its dealers, and I think we’ve put together an excellent business plan to put the company on sound footing for the next few years,’’ he said.

``I’ve launched and gotten approval for a different business plan for Ford Australia over the next four to five years.

``(With) the large car segment decline, changes around consumer preferences … in that kind of volatile environment it’s crucial to make changes, and the plan will make a strong market response.’’

He said his successor would have to work towards making Ford Australia a global player in the industry.

``My successor will have to keep an eye on our costs … have to be one of the lowest cost producers in the region … (and match) the highest quality producers in the industry.’’

``We’re on a journey to achieve that.’’

Osborne also signalled that the handover to his successor would not be a drawn-out process.

``I don’t intend on hanging around for months and months,’’ he said.

``This team needs to get on with new leadership.’’

Parameters set by Porsche pitch the Panamera as the leader in performance and comfort.

Some company insiders say it will blow the competition wide open and set a new level for the luxury/limousine segment.

Final development testing suggests the Panamera has equalled or exceeded all of its mission statements.

Production is set to begin within a year and it is likely to arrive in Australia in late 2009.

Specification levels for the Panamera, which is set to be unveiled at the Paris Auto Salon in November, and engine choices have not yet been defined for Australia. The early prediction is for about 150 units to be sold here each year.

But if Porsche was serious about making a footprint on sales of rival German premium saloons it would start the range with the entry level V6. That would enable it to fight with Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW in the $180,000-plus price range.

A V8 and a twin turbo V8 are also under development along with a hybrid version.

The Panamera is principally set to target rival German long-wheel-base luxo saloons, the BMW 7-series, Audi A8 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Porsche is not acknowledging, at this stage at least, Aston Martin's forthcoming Rapide four-door saloon as a rival.

Jan-Peter Hoffmeister, Porsche's transmission and drivetrain specialist, says the V10-powered BMW M5 was benchmarked for performance along with the Maserati Quattroporte while the Mercedes-Benz CLS was referenced for comfort.

“We simply want to be the best in driving dynamics and driving comfort,” he said.

No one from Porsche would commit to acknowledging that the well-received PDK double-clutch transmission has been used in development testing on the Panamera.

It's hard for me to believe this is real. The scenery, the language, the weather, the open raceway and especially the car.

Down the straight, where the bitumen opens from a winding trail to stretch its width and give the driver some respite from intense concentration, I can glimpse the mountains. But only briefly.

Every upchange in the Maserati GranTurismo also signals time for the engine to briefly draw breath, but only to pick up the next gear and pull harder towards the horizon.

The end of the straight quickly comes into sight. Time for one more jab with the right fingers. Fifth.

The corner is coming up fast on the left. Pull quickly on the broad, cold metal paddle on the left-side of the steering wheel and push the right foot deep within the illusionary depth of the brake pedal.

Fourth gear comes up — I know that by the illuminated “4” between the gauges. The compression braking of the 4.7-litre V8 engine produces explosive barks from the exhaust. The noise, the assault of the senses as the car moves with the flow of the track and the location in northern Italy beside a wide, stone-bottomed river, are almost surreal.

This is the privately owned track at Varano, 25km outside Parma, in mid-summer with the hills still bright green from the long winter.

Last year, 15 Australian owners of new Maseratis travelled to Varano to do what I did: get up close and personal with one of Italy's icons.

They weren't alone. Varano may be privately owned, but it is well known to the Fiat Group — Maserati, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Fiat — for testing each new model. More importantly, it is also known for customer driver training.

Maserati alone sold 8000 vehicles last year and a portion of those owners, from California to Russia to China and New Zealand, came to learn to drive at the Parma track.

At $5500 a person for the two-day course, it isn't cheap.

Andrea Piccini heads the driving instructors. Despite his youth, he has raced at Le Mans and was an F1 test driver for Minardi.

The other instructors have a similar background and have no trouble sitting beside the amateurs to involve themselves — occasionally loudly — in your driving.

Later, when the computers in the pits plug into the car and extract electronic bytes that have been created from your three laps, there is another, more brutal assessment.

“Neil, look here. What is this?” asks touring car racer Sandro Montani. I have no answer for something that, to me, is little more than diverging lines (blue of the ideal graph line of the instructor) and me (the more wriggled line in red ink) on a computer screen.

“You are in understeer. Look! You have come into this corner at 69km/h and here, you see, the instructor is at 62km/h. So the car is going too fast to make it turn correctly and you have lost a lot of time.” I feel like a naughty schoolboy. I thought I did pretty well.

“Now, go out and take it more slowly,” Sandro smiles.

So I go out and slide into another Maserati, this time the luxury Quattroporte. I pull the automatic gearbox's trident-emblazoned gear lever back into its sequential mode, pull the right paddle back to ensure first gear, release the handbrake and, with the track clear, send myself out like a pardoned criminal on to a better path.

Lotus is a car brand known for its innovation, particularly in its philosophy of “performance through light weight” but now it is turning to renewable materials of hemp, wool and sisal as part of its enviro moves.

British-based Group Lotus has developed a show car called the Eco Elise to demonstrate green technology. This includes using materials that can be grown and, when cropped for use, regrown.

If you thought the little Elise two-door sports car was light — it is — then consider that this version has taken 32kg off that weight.

This means less fuel being used and therefore fewer emissions when driving. But Lotus says a green car is more than just C02 emissions from the exhaust pipe: it's about less environmental impact when making the car, choosing its materials and being able to recycle materials at the end of the car's life.

Last year Lotus achieved significant improvements in its business practices, compared with 2006. It cut energy use — electricity by 14 per cent and gas by 30 per cent — and used 11 per cent less water across its headquarters at Hethell, Norfolk.

Hemp technical fabrics are

used as the primary constituent in composite body panels and spoiler. It is said to be a very strong fibre (historically, hemp was used in making rope).

Hemp is a natural resource that needs fairly low levels of energy to process and it absorbs CO2 while growing as a plant through photosynthesis.

The Eco Elise seats are upholstered in biodegradeable woollen fabric “ethically produced” and needing no dye. The colour is created by selecting sheep breeds to produce the wool for the yarn.

Sisal is another renewable crop, here used for the Eco Elise carpets because it is a tough, abrasion-resistant material.

The hemp hard top on the Eco Elise has two flexible solar panels embedded. These convert energy from the sun to power electrical systems, so the car's engine needs to work less to provide such electrical power.

Lotus says using the technology on more panels would make it possible to provide more electrical power, especially on a larger vehicle.

Lotus Elise cars have a red light to advise performance drivers that maximum engine revs are approaching and it's time to quickly shift up a gear. The Eco Elise also gets a green light in the instrument panel — to suggest that a higher gear can be selected to save fuel and reduce emissions.

The Lotus Paint Facility in partnership with Du Pont has developed a water-based paint system, catering for primer, colour and lacquer. It's said to be the first time it's possible to hand spray a top-quality production paint finish with water base. It has benefits of giving off less solvents and uses less energy due to the lower temperature for curing. It's anticipated such paint technology will be available for production cars soon.

Other than lighter weight components — even the audio system is revised to shed 1.3kg — special lightweight wheels have been created. Each saves nearly 4kg over the usual Elise wheel.

Lotus sells normal Elise sports cars here from $69,990 for the S with its 1.8-litre engine of 100kW power.

In a 10-model comparison of similar sedans published in Motor Trend, the 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol Sonata (pictured) came in second over a number of high-profile rivals, including the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

The achievement should not be underestimated — think of Motor Trend as Wheels, Motor and Top Gear combined but without the endless Commodore/Falcon comparisons. The mid-size family sedan segment is the most keenly contested in the US.

Motor Trend cited the Sonata's interior styling (for which the car isn't noted in Australia), roominess and best fuel economy in the top five.

However, locally, the Sonata remains somewhat anonymous, with a meagre 117 sold in July. The most recent addition to the range is a diesel variant with a 2.0-litre commonrail direct-injection turbo unit that produces 110kW/305Nm.

The Sonata diesel ranges from $30,990 for the SLX manual to $36,990 for the elite auto. Hyundai has also improved the Tucson compact SUV with a new face and an equipment upgrade. The model line-up remains the same, as do two petrol engine choices — a two-litre four-cylinder (104kW/184Nm) for the two-wheel-drive City versions and the ageing 2.7-litre, V6 (129kW/241Nm) for the AWD jigger.

Stability control (incorporating traction control) is standard across the range, and a Bluetooth audio system is found in all Tucson variants. It allows wireless streaming of music from a Bluetooth compatible mobile phone or music player. The audio system has USB and auxiliary sockets for iPod, MP3 and USB inputs.

Tucson City SX is $25,490 for five-speed manual and $26,990 for four-speed automatic, and has new-design alloy wheels, dual front airbags, four speakers, front fog lamps and automatic headlights. City Elite is automatic-only at $29,990 but has full leather trim, front and rear passenger side curtain airbags, front side airbags, six speakers and power glass sunroof.

The auto only AWD SX is $31,490, but a full airbag pack is extra.

Smart ForTwo electric car, undergoing trials in UK it is a possibility for release early 2010.

A plug-in Smart car will race a baby Mitsubishi to become the first all-electric showroom contender in Australia.

The battery-powered Smart ForTwo is already undergoing trials in Britain and the worldwide head of Daimler, Dieter Zetsche, says there is a very good chance it willcome to Australia.

The timing could be in the back end of 2009 or early in 2010, which means the ForTwo will be fighting for first with the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which Mitsubishi Motors Australia chief Rob McEniry is fast-tracking for Australia — and the worse-case scenario for its delivery is some time in 2012.

Mercedes-Benz is making a strong electric push with the Smart, which will be followed by battery-powered A-Class and B-Class compacts.

“This idea is not totally out of the possibilities. We have not made final decisions,” is the non-committal response from Zetsche on the electric Smart during a one-day visit to Australia.

“We won't go to all countries. It is a reasonable possibility it could come to Australia.”

But the plug-in Smart is more than just a possibility, as Mercedes-Benz pushes hard on electric cars. It is already leasing a trial fleet and is preparing for full-scale production.

Zetsche says Benz will abandon the twin-floor chassis design it pioneered as a safety move on the original A-Class when the car is renewed in 2010, but left the way open for a similar approach for electric operation.

He says there will be four different body styles, not just A and B hatches, but refuses to give any detail on the potential for a coupe, sedan or wagon.

Zetsche is bullish about Smart, which has come back from a near-death expansion plan to a successful model built around the tiny ForTwo.

“It is the CO2 champion. So I'm very glad with where we are today. In the US we don't know how to deal with the demand,” Zetsche says. “It's always a question of perspective. For now it is all and before it was nothing. We just built more andmore problems.

“Today we are making money with Smart.”

The electric trial will step up in the UK with theproduction of 1000 customer cars and these could open the door for a battery-powered ForTwo in Australia.

“Towards the end of next year we will see another 1000. The earliest possibility [forAustralia] would be one of that 1000,” Zetsche says.

“If that is not the outcome, thelatest would be two or three years later whenwe see high production.”

Many carmakers talk about cutting body sizes to boost efficiency, but VW is turning to the engine room. It has plans for a new family of high-efficiency engines with smaller capacities, starting with its twin-charge 1.4-litre four which boosts outputs with both a turbocharger and supercharger.

The 1.4 twin-charge is fitted to the Golf GT in Australia and for 2009 it will be slotted into a version of the Jetta at the expense of the car's regular 2-litre four. Other engines will follow in everything from the baby Polo to the Passat.

“We are downsizing engines as there are lots of requirements in Europe to go down in CO2 and that is easier with small engines. But we also find we can have good performance with low emissions in smaller engines,” says Volkswagen Group Australia head Jutta Dierks.

“We don't start downsizing. But Volkswagen, as a manufacturer, thinks that downsizing engines is a good strategy. We can achieve these tougher CO2 requirements and achieve good economy and still have performance.”

The new move on downsizing comes, ironically, as Volkswagen begins a stronger push for its high-performance R series cars in Australia. It now has a full-three model line-up with the R32Golf, R50 Touareg and the latest R36 Passat.

The 2009 Jetta will pick up the TSI twin-charge engine from the Golf in a logical next step, although it will lose the GT badge from the hatch.

“We want to try to get people familiar with that sort of engine,” Dierks says.

“A lot of people are interested in that technology. I can think of Polo, Golf, Jetta, and it could also be Passat.”

Meanwhile, the Volkswagen efficiency drive has already given it an important win over GM Holden.

It has picked up a big fleet deal thanks to the diesel models in its range, beating out Holden and Peugeot to a contract with Woolworths.

Peugeot revealed the outcome of the tender, which ended a 25-year run link between Woolworths and Holden.

“We think it came down to the Jetta,” says Peugeot national sales manager Ken Thomas.

“They had a conventional sedan and we didn't, and a lot of fleet drivers coming out of Commodores would want a conventional sedan.

Volkswagen refuses to discuss the finer details of the deal, which it only says is for a “lot of cars”.

“It's big for us and it's over a couple of years. The pleasure is that Golf, Jetta and Passat are all involved,” Dierks says.

The clearest sign of things to come can be seen in the Kizashi 3 concept at the Sydney motor show next month, the last such show car before production begins towards the end of next year.

Suzuki Australia spokesman Andrew Ellis says that except for the show car's bling 21-inch rims, the Kizashi is close to the eventual product.

The top-shelf model at least will get the concept vehicle's 3.6-litre V6 with WRC-derived weight-saving technology, paddle-shift, six-speed automatic gearbox and Advanced i-AWD (All-Wheel Drive) system.

An entry-level, four-cylinder petrol model is a certainty and an alternative fuel version is at least likely.

Appropriately, Kizashi means “prelude” or “foretaste”.

“It's a huge step forward for Suzuki that's never had a model in that market before,” Ellis says. “But they appreciate you have to go forward.

“They needed something that attracts that next level of customer up from the light-car market.”

Indeed, much hinges on the car if Suzuki is to shed its image as the junior Japanese carmaker which it is, if not in terms of volume or success, then certainly in perception and the segments in which it competes. While a move into mid-size cars is a logical step, Suzuki could not have chosen a tougher segment, one made all the more competitive by the recent trend of Australian buyers to pass it over for small and light cars.

Indeed, Mazda was last month forced into an unprecedented price slice of the class-leading Mazda6.

Nevertheless, Suzuki, whose worldwide vehicle sales grew to more than 2.3 million last year, says a new medium segment car is essential to achieve further sales growth.

This year in Australia up until the end of July, Suzuki has sold 13,645, an increase of 1200 on the same period in 2007. Its best seller remains the Swift, a former Carsguide Car Of The Year.

“The Kizashi3 is the last of the concepts, the closest one to production,” Ellis says. “There are still a lot of details we're not sure about. Powertrain-wise, Mr Suzuki has talked about a four-cylinder version and the V6, but also the possibility of a hybrid or another alternative fuel model.”

* The Australian International Motor Show is at Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre from October 9-19. For more details go to www.australianmotorshow.com

It ranks up there with former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke's 1987 statement that by 1990 no Australian child would live in poverty.

But the safe Swede is not playing politics.

It really believes that by 2020 no-one should be killed or injured in a car wearing a Volvo badge and is taking measures to ensure that its vehicles comply.

It's a visionary declaration but one the head of safety strategy for the company, Jan Ivarsson, believes is attainable.

“We don't accept that people lose their lives in airplane accidents, so why should we regard car accidents as inevitable?” he says.

According to the World Health Organisation about 1.2 million people are killed and more than 50 million are wounded in traffic accidents every year.

By 2020, WHO says deaths from road accidents is set to rise to 8.4 million.

Delve further and the WHO statistics are revealing.

Road crashes rank nineth among the leading causes of disease burden worldwide, accounting for 2.8 per cent of all global deaths and disability.

A startlingly 50 per cent of all road accident fatalities involve people aged between 15 and 44 years.

The figures are similar in Australia, where under 30 year-olds are over-represented in fatality statistics and 22,000 people are seriously injured each year in accidents.

This causes incalculable impacts at all levels of society, on families, the workplace, as well as our health services and rehabilitation hospitals.

While applauding the merits of the Volvo initiative, Sydney-based road safety advocate, John Cadogan, is wary that some technologies could dumb down the actual skill of driving.

“And we don't educate drivers about what the real risks are either,” he says.

“There are heaps of distracting devices in cars and there is also that pesky concept that if you buy a safe car some people think you can drive a little more dangerously as a result.

“Psychologies call it risk homeostasis, that everyone's prepared to accept a certain amount of risk.”

With owners of really safe cars “there is a strong chance you'll take more liberties with safety down the track because you erroneously assume the car will protect you”.

Cadogan, who operates a website called crashprevention.

com.au, says there are identified areas of road safety concern in Australia but few drivers worry about them.

“In Australia 50 per cent of all road trauma occurs at intersections,” he says.

“And it's driver error.

“People think that the driver error that leads to all this trauma is just the guy who ploughs through a red light... but it's also an error on the part of the driver who notionally has the right of way because they don't check that everyone else is complying with the road rules.”

Carmakers may be inventing new ways of preventing and avoiding accidents and injury but it still comes down to the driver, he says.

“The biggest thing holding road safety back is drivers not giving a toss about driving,” he says.

“They don't think there is a much of a benefit to be derived from being good at driving.

“Drivers just don't take the act of driving seriously because they don't respect of have much appreciation for how hard it can bite you.”

Another issue perculiar to Australia is that the average age of our motoring fleet is more than 10 years old.

“That means the average Australia is more than a decade out on safety technology,” he says.

“The cutting-edge advances that you read about today won't really get into the hands of Joe Average until 2018.

“If Volvo produces a car that you can't die in in 2020, the average Australia won't be driving it until 2030 and a bit.

“Average Aussies are only just getting airbags and anti-skid brakes in their cars.”

Cadogan says there is no question road safety will improve dramatically if the age of the national fleet was lowered.

“And our most vulnerable drivers, our young drivers, are driving the oldest, crappiest and least safe cars on the roads and they're the ones more predisposed to crashing and injuring themselves.”

Volvo's Ivarsson says continuous research and enhancement of safety in and around our cars will be essential for achieving a safer driver environment and a collision-free future.

“In this aim we invite cooperation with authorities and the automotive industry,” he says.

The Volvo Cars Traffic Accident Research Team has investigated traffic accidents since 1970.

It is not alone in such research as several other carmakers, even our own local carmaker Holden in conjunction with the Monash University Accident Research Centre, has performed similar research.

Volvo's accident database contains information about more than 36,000 accidents involving its cars.

By using knowledge from real traffic situations in the research, it has learned how to design cars that offer high levels of in-car safety in a crash.

It says this is an important base when identifying high-tech solutions that can help to avoid or mitigate an accident.

Not only does Volvo study crashed cars, it also investigates driver behaviour in order to learn more about what can lead to hazardous traffic situations.

Other carmakers like Mercedes-Benz do similar work.

With secure data on the actual crashes, Volvo has broadened its research to include an overall view of safety.

Even if the technology to design a collision-free traffic environment is not yet in place, Volvo's safety experts know what they want to achieve.

They are now looking into the driver's whole motoring journey.

Volvo says the car's safety functions can be divided into five phases:

1. Normal driving: Driver kept informed on driving status and driver concentration;

2. Conflict: Driver involved in a potentially hazardous situation, but is able to cope with it;

3. Avoidance: Driver less capable of coping with the situation;

4. Damage reduction: Driver and car not capable of avoiding collision. Preparation for collision, reduction of crash forces; and

5. After collision: Driver offered assistance and rescue.

Volvo follows a principle that the driver should be in command.

The car' s”intelligence” should support the driver, for example by monitoring drowsiness or distraction.

It can also warn them when the distance to other cars is too short. It is not until the driver fails to react and a crash is imminent, that the car “takes over” from the driver, for example by auto-braking.

The lowered impact speed leads to less crash energy, which in turn increases the performance of the car's protective safety systems such as seatbelts, airbags and crumple zones.

Volvo plans to introduce safety technologies that detect and auto-brake for pedestrians and even auto-steer away from oncoming cars.

However, it recognises a collision-free future cannoth be obtained by itself alone.

Cadogan agrees with Volvo that safe traffic has three main stakeholders: the carmakers, the drivers and the owners of the infrastructure like government or companies that operate the roads.

But he says carmakers have done more than drivers and governments to improve safety.

Ivarsson says cooperation between road traffic authorities and the auto industry is important for safer driving.

“There is considerable safety potential in creating communication between cars and infrastructure,” Ivarsson says.

“Two cars could for example warn each other of queues or slippery roads. Infrastructure sensors could warn the driver of people or animals crossing the road.”

This requires that all cars speak the same “language” regardless of car brand, so international standards are needed.

The driver and passengers must understand the importance of following traffic rules and using the car's safety equipment.

Volvo has always been conscious of safety.

It invented the three-point seatbelt almost 50 years ago.

“At that time we believed it was so important to mankind that we offered the patent entirely free of charge to all manufacturers,” Ivarsson says.

“It is still regarded as the most life-saving safety equipment in cars.

“Nevertheless, many people still do not use it.”

And the person behind the wheel is the one mitigating factor in all of this.

“In an ideal world we would all be good drivers,” Cadogan says.

“But we don't live in an ideal world.”