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Autos to overtake manuals

By Jack Carfrae Motor Industry 28 February 2007 07:39 Automatic transmissions will finally overtake manuals as the top-selling gearbox choice in 2007. Autos have been long established as the more popular option Stateside and in Japan, but it seems that Europe has now finally caught the two-pedal bug. With the ever-increasing popularity of semi-automatic gearboxes (Tiptronic, DSG, CVT and a whole flood of other acronyms), it isn’t hard to see why.

One-off 1990 Corvette ZR-1 Spyder saved from sinkhole; video shows extraction

You'll have to excuse the National Corvette Museum's timing -- museum staff are excited to report that a one-off 1990 Corvette ZR-1 Spyder has just been pulled from the sinkhole that opened up beneath the show floor in February, and they want you to know that this isn't some sort of cruel April 1 hoax. Don't believe us? Just watch the video below There hasn't been much headline-making news out of the Corvette museum since the 1 millionth Corvette built was saved from the sarlacc pit in early March, bringing the number of cars returned to ground level to five.

Lexus GS 300h: Shanghai Motor Show

Offering much better economy than the GS 450h, it offers not only a viable alternative for private buyers looking for a bit of beautifully built Japanese luxury with lower running costs, but also makes the GS a much more appealing option for company car drivers – probably where most of the sales will be made. Lexus are aiming for Co2 emissions below 110g/km for the GS 300h (the IS 300h manages 99g/km) which will give headline economy around 60mpg – a third better than the GS 450h can manage. Power comes from the same hybrid drivetrain as the IS 300h, which means a 2.5 litre petrol mated to an electric motor and delivering 215bhp and o-62mph in around 8.5 seconds.