A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Blood-sample plan deferred
ATTORNEY GENERAL Máire Whelan has advised against a new legal provision that would allow a blood sample to be taken from an unconscious driver, writes David Labanyi.
The intent of the legislation was to allow tests for alcohol and drugs to be carried out because intoxicant levels often fall to undetectable levels by the time incapacitated drivers regain consciousness.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said the provision has been deferred until the next piece of road traffic legislation.
According to the department, the “proposed provision for testing unconscious drivers requires greater legal scrutiny” and, as a result, it has been dropped from the Road Traffic Bill (Number 2) 2011.
The provision was included in a draft of the legislation.
VW to invest €60bn
GERMAN manufacturer Volkswagen will invest a record €62.4 billion over the next five years to underpin its goal of becoming the world’s largest carmaker.
The supervisory board voted yesterday to approve the spending on plants, vehicles and research and development for the carmaker’s nine brands, the Wolfsburg-based company said in a statement.
VW’s Chinese joint ventures, which are not consolidated, will invest another €14 billion up to 2016. VW is expanding in China, its largest market, as part of a broader plan to leapfrog Toyota and General Motors by 2018.
The effort hit two roadblocks in the past week as a merger with Porsche was delayed, while Suzuki Motors said it wants to dissolve its 20-month-old alliance.
Saab workers to call for bankruptcy
A UNION representing around 1,500 workers at struggling carmaker Saab was due to apply yesterday to a Swedish court for the company to be declared bankrupt, as it looks to secure wages for workers who went unpaid in August.
IF Metall said it would hand in the bankruptcy application, joining two other unions at Saab that have already made the same move.
“This is a very painful decision, but we have to secure our members’ wage claims and so we can’t wait any longer,” IF Metal chairman Stefan Lofven and the union’s representative at Saab, Hakan Skott, said in a statement.
Saab owes 3,600 staff wages from last month. If it cannot pay and is declared bankrupt, wages will be paid by a government scheme.
The firm, which has only produced a handful of cars since April, also owes suppliers around €150 million. Hopes for its future are pinned on possible investment by Chinese groups Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile and Pangda.
Saab applied for protection from creditors earlier this month, but its application was rejected.
On Monday it was given leave to appeal the lower court’s decision, giving the 60-year old company a glimmer of hope.
The appeal court could decide as early as Wednesday whether to overturn the lower court’s decision.
– Bloomberg
Toyota FT86 goes on sale in Ireland in May 2012
TOYOTA HAS said that its new FT86 sports car will go on sale in Ireland in May of 2012. Speaking at the launch of the new Toyota Yaris and Auris HSD, Toyota Ireland’s managing director Dave Shannon said that they hope to see the car on sale in May at a price under €40,000. “It is hard to know yet as we have only just set prices on Yaris, and there is a heavily fluctuating Yen, but we’d hope it will be priced very competitvely.”
Clio and Wind recall
RENAULT IRELAND is carrying out a voluntary recall of Clio and Wind models sold in the Republic of Ireland. The recall affects vehicles fitted with 1.2-litre petrol engines manufactured between September and November 2010. The recall is said to affect 388 vehicles. Renault Ireland
said that it took the decision to recall these models due to “a valve issue that could cause damage to the engine”.
Letters will be sent by Renault Ireland to the owners of affected vehicles informing them of the recall and asking them to contact their nearest Renault dealer to arrange for the necessary work to be carried out as soon as possible.
Any work carried out as part of this recall will be completed free of charge.
Rialto Motors changes hands
LEADING DUBLIN Ford dealership Rialto Motors ceased trading on Monday, but the premises and operations have reopened under the control of another Ford dealership group.
Brightstone Trading is taking a 10-year lease on the premises and hopes to retain the 21 staff of Rialto Motors. The new business has been renamed Rialto Ford.
Rialto Motors operated for more than 70 years, but dealer Tom O’Neill said the increasing difficulty in securing credit facilities meant they could no longer continue to trade. He said he approached Brightstone several weeks ago with a view to securing the jobs and customer service at the south Dublin site. “Future sales projections have not been good for the industry, and we were hoping that 2011 was going to be better than 2010, but it hasn’t worked out that way,” O’Neill said.
According to Henry Flanagan, director of Brightstone Trading: “We hope to retain as many of the staff as possible, but we may have to restructure the business. We were initially approached and have agreed to take over the site, though we are not buying the business itself.” Brightstone will operate both sales and service operations from the Herberton Road dealership.
Brightstone Trading is already the holding company for three other Ford dealerships in Dublin: Ashley Ford on the North Circular Road, Canavan Ford on the East Wall Road, and Airside Ford in the Airside Motor Park in Swords.